Version 21 (modified by 17 years ago) (diff) | ,
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Using Pidgin
- All Platforms
- How do I use AIM, MSN, Yahoo!, Jabber/XMPP, ICQ, or any other protocol?
- How do I change the font Pidgin uses? The background color?
- How do I make Enter make a newline and Ctrl+Enter send?
- How do I make Pidgin use emacs-like keybindings?
- How do I bind keystrokes to menu items?
- How do I make Escape close conversation windows?
- How do I register for a new account?
- How do I use/make smiley themes?
- Why are the status icons so big?
- How do I get sound to work correctly?
- How do I make Pidgin use ALSA or OSS for playing sounds? What does …
- Windows Specific
- How does Pidgin for Windows determine which language to use?
- Where are my settings and data (including logs) saved?
- How do I run multiple instances of Pidgin on Windows?
- How do I change the Look and Feel?
- What should I do if Pidgin Crashes?
- Why can't I connect? My firewall is configured to allow Pidgin access.
- What is a gtkrc file and where can I find it?
- Where is my
.purple
directory? - Running Windows Pidgin From a USB Drive
- Linux and Unix-like platforms
All Platforms
How do I use AIM, MSN, Yahoo!, Jabber/XMPP, ICQ, or any other protocol?
Use the Account Editor (Accounts->Add/Edit?) to add the account of the appropriate messaging service. Use the checkbox in the account editor to enable the current account.
How do I change the font Pidgin uses? The background color?
The font preference in Pidgin applies only for the formatting of outgoing messages on those protocols which support said formatting. The display fonts used by the rest of Pidgin are those specified by GTK+, the toolkit we use to create the user interface. To change this font, you need to edit your ~/.gtkrc-2.0
file. On Windows, this file is located at C:\Documents and Settings\username\.themes\Default\gtk-2.0\gtkrc
. If that file does not exist, simply create it.
As an example, you can put this into .gtkrc-2.0
to change the font size for all GTK+ applications:
# Sets the font used by all gtk applications. gtk-font-name = "Verdana 9"
Alternatively, you can do this to change the font size for other elements:
# This is the style section. You need this for the examples below. # If you are going to copy the example, copy the entire block, # including the "{" and "}" lines. style "imhtml-fix" { font_name = "Sans 10" } # This will apply the font style just shown to various components. # If you are going to copy the example, copy the line that does # what you want. # Conversation entry box--where you type. widget "*pidgin_conv_entry" style "imhtml-fix" # Conversation history pane--where you read the conversation. widget "*pidgin_conv_imhtml" style "imhtml-fix" # Log viewer--where you read stored logs widget "*pidgin_log_imhtml" style "imhtml-fix" # formatting-capable entry areas (IMHtml widgets) in request dialogs widget "*pidgin_request_imhtml" style "imhtml-fix" # formatting-capable notification areas in dialogs (again, IMHtml widgets) widget "*pidgin_notify_imhtml" style "imhtml-fix"
Background colors can be changed similarly, by finding the correct widget names and setting appropriate bg elements. Other widgets in Pidgin can be controlled in a similar manner.
You could also switch GTK+ themes. Themes and information on using them can be found at http://themes.freshmeat.net, http://art.gnome.org, or by searching on your favorite search engine, such as Google.
How do I make Enter make a newline and Ctrl+Enter send?
Locate or create your gtkrc-2.0
file and insert:
binding "my-bindings" { bind "Return" { "insert-at-cursor" ("\n") } bind "<ctrl>Return" { "message_send" () } } widget "*pidgin_conv_entry" binding "my-bindings"
How do I make Pidgin use emacs-like keybindings?
Locate or create your .gtkrc-2.0
file and insert the following:
gtk-key-theme-name = "Emacs"
You will need to restart Pidgin when you have finished. Note that this will affect other GTK+ applications as well.
How do I bind keystrokes to menu items?
Locate or create your gtkrc-2.0
file and insert:
gtk-can-change-accels = 1
After coercing Pidgin into rereading this file (for instance, by restarting it), you can hover over a menu item and hit the keystroke you want to bind to it, and your wish will be granted! (You might want to turn off gtk-can-change-accels
again when you're done, since it's pretty easy to bind keys by mistake with it turned on.)
(If you're a Gnome user, you should set the /desktop/gnome/interface/can_change_accels key with gconf-editor
instead. You don't need to restart Pidgin for this to take effect.)
How do I make Escape close conversation windows?
Locate .purple
directory, and open the accels
file within it. Uncomment or add the following line:
(gtk_accel_path "<main>/Conversation/Close" "Escape")
This must be done while Pidgin is not running.
How do I register for a new account?
This depends on the protocol.
- AIM: Go to this website.</p>
- MSN (including Hotmail email):Go to http://registernet.passport.com/
- MSN (using your own email address): Go to http://register.passport.net/
- Yahoo: Go to http://edit.yahoo.com/config/eval_register
- Jabber: This will depend on the Jabber server in question. All Jabber servers use the XMPP account type.
- ICQ: Go to http://web.icq.com/register
- Gadu-Gadu: Use the official client to create an account.
- Novell: See your Novell server administrator.
How do I use/make smiley themes?
See the page on smileys.
Why are the status icons so big?
We believe that, by adding a second line of text to each buddy list entry, we're able to show more information about each buddy on the buddy list. The "Big List," as we call it, shows status text and idle time concisely and attractively. Most importantly, it puts the buddy icon in the list, making it far easier to locate buddies within a large list where names are harder to pick out than images. Due to the increased usability of this interface, we have made it the default.
We are aware that some people feel more comfortable using an interface more similar to IM clients they may have used in the past. The 'Big List' can be disabled by un-checking "Show buddy details" in the Buddies menu.
How do I get sound to work correctly?
Pidgin uses gstreamer to play sounds. Playing sounds directly through esound or arts is no longer supported. To compile Pidgin with support for gstreamer you need libgstreamer0.10-dev and its dependencies. These packages are named differently on different platforms. If you do not wish to install these packages you can also just change your sound playing method in preferences to Command
and use esdplay %s
or artsplay %s
.
How do I make Pidgin use ALSA or OSS for playing sounds? What does the "Automatic" option do?
The "Automatic" option lets gstreamer pick how the sounds are played. You can use the gstreamer-properties
tool to control this if you use GNOME.
Windows Specific
How does Pidgin for Windows determine which language to use?
For the user who installed Pidgin, the language selected during installation will be the default.
This can be overridden by setting the PIDGINLANG
environment variable (for example, PIDGINLANG=de
).
If neither of these are specified, it will fall back to the default Windows user locale setting.
Where are my settings and data (including logs) saved?
Data is stored in your user's "Application Data" directory in a .purple
subdirectory. The location of this will vary according to your setup and version of Windows.
- For Windows 2000/XP/Vista(?), entering
%APPDATA%
in your Windows Explorer address bar will take you to the right directory (probably something likeC:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data
). - For Windows 98/ME it will be something like
C:\Windows\Profiles\username
.
This can be overridden by setting the PURPLEHOME
environment variable.
Logs are stored in a subdirectory called logs
.
How do I run multiple instances of Pidgin on Windows?
Pidgin will, by default, prevent multiple instances from running simultaneously.
You can override this restriction by defining the PIDGIN_MULTI_INST
environment variable.
If you do this, you may find the -c
parameter useful to specify unique configuration directories for each instance (e.g. -c c:\home\.pidgin-alt
).
How do I change the Look and Feel?
Pidgin doesn't support skinning. It does, however, support using various GTK+ themes to render the widgets. The default theme, MS-Windows,
is designed to fit in with Windows. The GTK+ Runtime installer now includes a utility, accessible from the Start Menu, to change the theme.
What should I do if Pidgin Crashes?
Follow the instructions here to submit a bug report.
Why can't I connect? My firewall is configured to allow Pidgin access.
We've had a lot of problems with various firewalls, particularly Norton Internet Security (and Symantec Client Firewall). Many firewalls will not fully stop interfering with a program's ability to connect when configured to do so.
For Norton Internet Security, a workaround that seems to work is to add the following ports to the global HTTP Ports
list:
- 443 -> MSN (ssl)
- 1863 -> MSN
- 5050 -> Yahoo
- 5190 -> AIM/ICQ
- 5222 -> XMPP (including Google Talk)
- 6667 -> IRC
The Mozilla folks maintain a good Windows Firewall information resource here.
What is a gtkrc file and where can I find it?
The windowing toolkit that Pidgin uses, GTK+, is configurable via a text file.
There is a global file found in the etc\gtk-2.0
directory your GTK+ Runtime install directory (C:\Program Files\Common Files\GTK\2.0
, by default).
There is also per-user file (named .gtkrc-2.0
) in your user's home directory, the location of this varies according to the version of Windows you're using and the configuration.
- For Windows 2000/XP/Vista(?), entering
%USERPROFILE%
in your Windows Explorer address bar will take you to the right directory (probably something likeC:\Documents and Settings\username
). - For Windows 98/ME it will be something like
C:\Windows\Profiles\username
.
Note that Windows Explorer will not allow you create a file that starts with a period; you'll need to use a text editor or rename the file in a cmd shell.
It is recommended that you edit your per-user file instead of the global file as the global file will be replaced when GTK+ is upgraded.
Where is my .purple
directory?
It is in C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data
Note, that things within this directory can only be edited when Pidgin is not running.
Running Windows Pidgin From a USB Drive
It is relatively easy to set up Pidgin to run from a USB Drive. Most of Pidgin is very good about not assuming that it is installed; a slightly customized launcher makes it all come together nicely.
The way that this is set up, other GTK+ applications can use the same GTK+ runtime.
- How to setup your USB-Drive Pidgin
- Download and Install Pidgin
- Prepare your USB Drive: (This assumes that your USB Drive is
U:
for the purpose of explanation)- Create a directory:
U:\Programs
(This can be whatever you want, the idea is that GTK and Pidgin are at the same level) - Create
GTK
andPidgin
directories in this directory.
- Create a directory:
- Copy a minimal part of your Pidgin installation to the USB Drive from the installed instance. The directory structure stays the same, but we don't need everything that is included in the standard installation.
- Copy the whole
pixmaps
andsounds
directories. - Create a
U:\Programs\Pidgin\plugins
directory and copy the contents of the installedPidgin\plugins
directory into it excludingperl.dll
,tcl.dll
. - If you want to use a language other than en_US, create a
U:\Programs\Pidgin\locale
directory and copy any language directories that you want from your installedPidgin\locale
directory. - Copy the contents of your root installed Pidgin directory except
pidgin.exe
,pidgin-uninst.exe
, and if you don't want spell-checking support,libgtkspell.dll
. - Download pidgin-portable.exe (use gaim-portable.exe for 2.0.0beta4-6 or this version for versions older than 2.0.0beta4) and put it in
U:\Programs\Pidgin
. The file uses the same source as the standardpidgin.exe
, the difference being that when it was compiledPORTABLE
was defined which causes some of the initialization to be done differently.
- Copy the whole
- In the same spirit, create a minimal GTK+ runtime installation from your GTK+ installation.
- Copy the
bin
andetc
directories to yourU:\Programs\GTK
directory. - Create a
U:\Programs\GTK\lib
directory and copy the contents of the installed GTK+ runtime'slib
directory, except thelocale
subdirectory. - If you want to use a language other than en_US, create a
U:\Programs\GTK\lib\locale
directory and copy any language directories that you want from your installed GTK+ runtime'slib\locale
directory.
- Copy the
- If you want spell-checking support, you will also need to create a minimal ASpell runtime installation from your ASpell installation.
- Create a
U:\Programs\Aspell
directory with abin
subdirectory. - Copy
aspell-15.dll
into your ASpellbin
directory. - Copy the
data
anddict
subdirectories intoU:\Programs\Aspell
.
- Create a
You are done! Running U:\Programs\Pidgin\pidgin-portable.exe
will cause pidgin to run off the USB Drive, saving the settings, logs and etc. to U:\Programs\.purple
.
Linux and Unix-like platforms
Where are Pidgin's settings and logs?
Because Pidgin is a libPurple client, it stores its settings and logs in ~/.purple.