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finch(1)		     General Commands Manual			finch(1)

NAME
     Finch  - A Pimpin' Penguin console frontend to libpurple. Instant Messaging
     client.

SYNOPSIS
     finch [options]

DESCRIPTION
     finch is a console-based modular messaging client based on libpurple  which
     is  capable of connecting to XMPP, IRC, SILC, Novell GroupWise, Lotus Same-
     time, Zephyr, Gadu-Gadu, and QQ all at once. It has  many	common	features
     found in other clients, as well as many unique features.

OPTIONS
     The  following options are provided by finch using the standard GNU command
     line syntax:

     -c, --config=DIR
	    Use DIR as the directory for config files instead of ~/.purple.

     -d, --debug
	    Print debugging messages to stderr and start with the Debug  window.
	    The  messages  shown  in  the  Debug window are the same as the ones
	    printed in stderr.

     -h, --help
	    Print this help and exit.

     -n, --nologin
	    Don't automatically login when finch starts.  Sets all  accounts  to
	    Offline.

     -v, --version
	    Display the version information window.

GNT Shortcuts
     You can use the following shortcuts (see the "Widget Actions" section for a
     more complete list):

     Alt + a
	    Bring  up  a list of available actions. You can use this list to ac-
	    cess the accounts window, plugins window, preference window etc.

     Alt + n
	    Go to the next window.

     Alt + p
	    Go to the previous window.

     Alt + w
	    Show the list of windows. You can select and jump to any window from
	    the list.

     Alt + c
	    Close the current window.

     Alt + q
	    Quit.

     Alt + m
	    Start moving a window. Press the cursor keys  to  move  the  window.
	    When you are done, press Enter or Escape.

     Alt + r
	    Start resizing a window. Press the cursor keys to resize the window.
	    When you are done, press Enter or Escape.

     Alt + D
	    Dump the contents of the screen in HTML format.

     Alt + .
	    Move the position of the current window in the window list one place
	    to the right.

     Alt + ,
	    Move the position of the current window in the window list one place
	    to the left.

     Alt + l
	    Refresh the windows. This is useful after resizing the terminal win-
	    dow.

     Alt + 1 2 ... 0
	    Jump to the 1st, 2nd ... 10th window.

     Alt + Tab
	    Jump to the next URGENT (highlighted) window.

     Alt + Shift + Tab
	    Jump to the previous URGENT (highlighted) window.

     Ctrl + o  or  F10
	    Bring up the menu (if there is one) for a window.

     F11  or  Ctrl + x
	    Popup the context menu (if there is one) for the selected widget.

     Alt + /
	    Show  a list of available key-bindings for the current widget in fo-
	    cus.

     Alt + >
	    Switch to the next workspace

     Alt + <
	    Switch to the previous workspace

     Alt + t
	    Tag (or untag) the current window

     Alt + T
	    Attached all the tagged windows to the current workspace

     Alt + s
	    Show the workspace list

     F9     Create a new workspace and switch to it

FILES
     ~/.gntrc: configuration file for gnt applications.

     A sample file looks like:
	    [Finch]
	    color-available = green; black
	    color-away = blue; black
	    color-idle = gray; black
	    color-offline = red; black
	    color-message-sent = cyan; default
	    color-message-received = red; default
	    color-message-highlight = black; green
	    color-message-action = yellow; default
	    color-timestamp = blue; default
	    #See below for details on color

	    [general]
	    shadow = 0
	    # There is experimental mouse support
	    mouse = 1
	    # To use some custom window-manager
	    wm = /usr/local/lib/gnt/s.so
	    # There's also a custom window manager called irssi.so
	    # Remember window-positions based on the titles (on by default)
	    remember_position = 1
	    # Use borderless one-line high buttons
	    small-button = true

	    # Workspaces are created simply by adding Workspace-X groups as fol-
	    lows:
	    [Workspace-1]
	    name = blist
	    # window-names specifies that windows with	these  semi-colon  sepa-
	    rated names are placed into this workspace
	    window-names = buddylist;debug-window

	    [Workspace-2]
	    name = IM
	    window-names = conversation-window
	    #  window-titles  specifies that windows with these semi-colon sepa-
	    rated titles are placed into this workspace. These	are  matched  as
	    substrings. Window titles take precedence over names.
	    window-titles = Preferences;Pounce

	    [colors]
	    # The RGB values range in [0, 1000]
	    black = 0; 0; 0
	    red = 1000; 0; 0
	    green = 0; 1000; 0
	    blue = 250; 250; 700
	    white = 1000; 1000; 1000
	    gray = 700; 700; 700
	    darkgray = 256; 256; 256

	    [colorpairs]
	    normal = white; black
	    highlight = white; blue
	    highlightd = black; gray
	    shadow = black; darkgray
	    title = white; blue
	    titled = white; gray
	    text = white; blue
	    disabled = gray; black
	    urgent = green; black

	    # Remap some keys for GntEntry
	    [GntEntry::remap]
	    # Remap the up-arrow to the left-arrow
	    ^[[A = ^[[D
	    # Remap the down-arrow to the right-arrow
	    ^[[B = ^[[C
	    # Remap 'a' to 'bcd'
	    a = bcd
	    # Completely ignore the key 'q'
	    q =
	    # But the following will NOT work
	    #abc = bcd

	    # Hitting 'space' will activate a button
	    [GntButton::remap]
	    \  = \r

Widget Actions
     You can specify key-bindings for specific widgets. The following entries in
     ~/.gntrc correspond to the default keybindings for the actions:

     [GntBox::binding]
     tab = focus-next
     right = focus-next
     left = focus-prev

     [GntComboBox::binding]
     down = dropdown
     up = dropdown

     [GntEntry::binding]
     c-a = cursor-home
     home = cursor-home
     c-e = cursor-end
     end = cursor-end
     backspace = delete-prev
     del = delete-next
     c-d = delete-next
     c-u = delete-start
     c-k = delete-end
     c-b = cursor-prev
     left = cursor-prev
     c-f = cursor-next
     right = cursor-next
     tab = suggest-show
     down = suggest-next
     up = suggest-prev
     page-down = suggest-next-page
     page-up = suggest-prev-page
     c-w = delete-prev-word
     a-b = cursor-prev-word
     a-f = cursor-next-word
     a-d = delete-next-word
     c-v = clipboard-paste
     c-p = history-prev
     c-n = history-next
     c-r = history-search
     c-up = history-prev
     c-down = history-next

     [GntTree::binding]
     up = move-up
     down = move-down
     c-n = move-down
     c-p = move-up
     pageup = page-up
     pagedown = page-down
     backspace = move-parent
     home = move-first
     end = move-last
     # Following is the default binding for the context-menu
     menu = context-menu
     # The following will let you open the context-menu in the buddylist with c-
     b
     # c-b = context-menu

     [GntWidget::binding]
     f11 = context-menu
     c-x = context-menu

     [GntWindow::binding]
     c-o = show-menu
     f10 = show-menu

     The  c-  corresponds  to the Control key. You can also use ctrl- or ctr- or
     ctl- to indicate a combination. For alt-keys, you can use one of a-,  alt-,
     m- or meta-. You can also use home, end, left, right etc. keys.

     To  unbind  a  key  which	has a default binding, you simply bind it to the
     empty string.  For example, to unbind Alt + q from the Quit  function,  you
     would use:

     [GntWM::binding]
     a-q =

Menus
     You can also specify key-bindings to trigger specific menuitems in windows.
     For  example,  the  following  entry  in ~/.gntrc will bind Ctrl + t to the
     'Send IM...' item in the buddylist:

     [buddylist::menu]
     c-t = send-im

     The following is the list of IDs of the current menuitems in the buddylist:

     send-im
     join-chat
     show-empty-groups
     show-offline-buddies
     sort-status
     sort-alpha
     sort-log
     add-buddy
     add-chat
     add-group

Mouse Support
     There is experimental mouse support. You can focus windows,  activate  but-
     tons,  select  rows in a list, scroll using the wheel-scroll etc. Selecting
     text in a text-view copies it to the gnt clipboard. Mouse support	is  dis-
     abled  by	default,  so  you  need to enable it in ~/.gntrc (see the sample
     above).

Window Management
     The default window management is very limited. But it is possible to  write
     custom window managers to suit your needs. There is a sample window-manager
     included  (named  s.so) which adds a little 'close-button' for the windows,
     removes the borders from the buddylist and pops up new windows in the  mid-
     dle of the screen, instead of at the upper-left corder. It is provided as a
     sample simple manager, but it should be possible to write more complex man-
     agers,  and  it's very possible that the window-manager API will need to be
     enhanced. Look at the sample ~/.gntrc file above to see  how  to  select  a
     window-manager.

     It is also possible to rebind the window-manager actions in ~/.gntrc, eg:

     [GntWM::binding]
     a-n = window-next
     a-p = window-prev
     a-c = window-close
     a-w = window-list
     a-d = dump-screen
     a-, = shift-left
     a-. = shift-right
     a-a = action-list
     a-m = start-move
     a-r = start-resize
     a-q = wm-quit
     a-l = refresh-screen
     a-s = workspace-list
     a-t = window-tag
     a-T = place-tagged
     a-C = toggle-clipboard
     a-/ = help-for-widget
     a-c-j = window-scroll-down
     a-c-k = window-scroll-up
     #	The  following	action	is  still incomplete, and doesn't have a default
     binding
     # switch-window-n
     # Other actions: window-next-urgent, window-prev-urgent

     # For the sample custom window manager
     [GntS::binding]
     a-b = toggle-buddylist

     # For the irssi window manager
     [Irssi::binding]
     a-L = move-right
     a-H = move-left
     a-J = move-down
     a-K = move-up

Conversation Commands
     There are a few helpful commands in addition to the regular  commands.  You
     can use these from any conversation to access other windows.

     accounts
	    for the accounts window.

     buddylist
	    for the buddylist.

     debugwin
	    for the debug window.

     plugins
	    for the plugins window.

     prefs  for the preferences window.

     status
	    for the status window.

FAQ
     FAQ for finch is located at
     http://developer.pidgin.im/wiki/Using%20Finch

BUGS
     Known bugs are listed at
     http://developer.pidgin.im/query?status=new&status=assigned&status=re-
     opened&component=finch+%28gnt%2Fncurses%29&order=priority

     Before sending a bug report, please verify that you have the latest version
     of  finch and libpurple.  Many bugs (major and minor) are fixed at each re-
     lease, and if yours is out of date,  the  problem	may  already  have  been
     solved.

PATCHES
     If  you fix a bug in finch (or otherwise enhance it), please submit a patch
     (using mtn diff > my.diff against the  latest  version  from  the	Monotone
     repository) at http://developer.pidgin.im/simpleticket

     You are also encouraged to drop by at #pidgin on irc.libera.chat to discuss
     development.

SEE ALSO
     http://pidgin.im/
     http://developer.pidgin.im/
     purple-remote(1)
     pidgin(1)

LICENSE
     This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it un-
     der  the  terms  of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free
     Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at  your  option)
     any later version.

     This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
     ANY  WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FIT-
     NESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License for more
     details.

     You should have received a copy of the GNU  General  Public  License  along
     with  this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51
     Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA  02111-1301  USA

AUTHORS
     Sadrul Habib Chowdhury <sadrul@users.sourceforge.net>

     This manpage was written by Sadrul  Habib	Chowdhury  <sadrul@users.source-
     forge.net> and Dennis Ristuccia <dennis@dennisr.net>.

									finch(1)

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