comparison doc/FAQ @ 10717:75427cc95dfd

[gaim-migrate @ 12312] Might as well update it here also committer: Tailor Script <[e-mail]>

10716:41a2c35c0941

         9.4. Can I get a list of Yahoo! Chat rooms? What about non-US lists?
         9.5. What protocol does Gaim use to connect to Yahoo!?

10. MSN Protocol

         10.1.  I'm getting lots of "Already in Opposite list" errors on MSN,
                why?
         10.2.  Is there a way to invite more than one person to an MSN chat?
         10.3.  Is MSNP9 (MSN6) going to be supported?
                Will I be able to use Gaim for MSN after October 15th 2003?
         10.4.  (The day they're preventing third party clients from
                connecting)
         10.5.  I just upgraded Gaim and the MSN plugin will not load. Why?
         10.6.  The MSN plugin won't load, but I have Mozilla NSS!
         10.7.  What does "MSN: S: 911 3" in the debug window mean when I
                cannot connect to MSN?
         10.8.  How do I set an MSN avatar?
         10.9.  What does "Has you" in the buddy tooltip mean?
         10.10. How do I set my MSN Friendly Name (the name other users see)?
         10.11. What does "Error reading from switchboard server" mean?

11. Gadu-Gadu Protocol

         11.1. What is Gadu-Gadu?
         11.2. Why doesn't it work right?

 
  You need to install the SILC toolkit (http://silcnet.org/software/download/
  toolkit/) and the Gaim SILC plugin. This plugin is generally provided as a
  separate package (such as a gaim-silc RPM). If you're compiling yourself, see
  the ./configure --help for specifying the SILC includes and libs. If you're
  compiling an SRPM, use "--with silc" to build the gaim-silc RPM.

1.5  Is there some way I can compile just Gaim, without all of these protocols?
 
  Yeah. There are actually three ways to do it.

  AIM: Go to http://my.screenname.aol.com/_cqr/login/login.psp?siteId=
  snshomepage&authLev=1&mcState=initialized&createSn=1.

  MSN (including Hotmail email): Go to http://registernet.passport.com/.

  MSN (using your own email address): Go to https://register.passport.net/
  reg.srf?lc=1033&id=486&ru=
  http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Epassport%2Enet%2FConsumer%2FDefault%2Easp%3Flc%3D1033&sl=1

  Yahoo: Go to http://edit.yahoo.com/config/eval_register.

  Jabber: See the question How do I register a new Jabber account? below.

 
  The font preference in Gaim is used only for the formatting of outgoing
  messages. The display fonts used by the rest of Gaim are those specified by
  GTK. To change this font you need to edit your ~/.gtkrc-2.0 file. If you need
  help you can see our example .gtkrc-2.0 (http://gaim.sf.net/gtkrc-2.0) file.

  You can also just switch to a different GTK theme. You can find GTK themes
  (and information on using them) by visiting themes.freshmeat.net,
  art.gnome.org, or searching on Google.

  the highest, lower-left is second-highest, etc. The most important emblem is
  in the lower-right, always. When an AOL buddy is not away, the fact that [s]
  he's an AOL user is the most important information shown in the icon. The
  consistency is that the user can always look in the same place on the icon to
  find out what he needs to know. Also, importantly, the lower-right corner
  emblem is the only emblem that shows up when "Small list" is on, and only one
  emblem would fit.

2.8  How do I get sound to work correctly?
 
  Gaim uses libao to play sounds. Playing sounds directly through esound or

  (Analog Realtime Synthesizer). '

  To compile Gaim with support for libao you need libao-devel and
  audiofile-devel. To use libao you need libao and audiofile. 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."

2.9  How do I make Gaim use ALSA or OSS for playing sounds? What does the
     "Automatic" option do?
 
  If you choose "Automatic", "ESD", or "Arts", Gaim uses libao to play sounds.

  choosing "Automatic" lets it decide for itself.

  If you choose "Automatic", you can create a file, either /etc/libao.conf or ~
  /.libao, and put one of the following lines in it:


     default_driver=alsa

     default_driver=oss

  Other drivers, like alsa09, arts, esd, irix, macosx, and sun might also be
  supported, depending on your platform, and how libao was compiled. See also
  'man 5 libao.conf'.

2.10  Why does Gaim use the same WM_CLASS for every window? It makes it
      impossible to control window size and placement for the buddy list
      separately from the conversations.
 

6.10  Why can't I connect via either Oscar or TOC?
 
  If you are using Linux, your kernel may be using a network option called
  "ECN". It seems that the AOL servers are currently dropping packets marked as
  "ECN-capable". In order to turn this off, run the command "echo 0 > /proc/sys
  /net/ipv4/tcp_ecn" as root, or (if your distribution supports it) put the
  line "net.ipv4.tcp_ecn = 0" in the file /etc/sysctl.conf.

6.11  English is not my native language, and some of my friends have trouble
      seeing my IMs/I have trouble seeing my friends' IMs. How do I use a
      native language character set with ICQ?
 

  to the url to fetch the list for another country. For example, for the German
  list, you would use "http://de.insider.msg.yahoo.com/ycontent/".

  The list of known country codes for this url is:

  aa => Asia
  ar => Argentina
  au => Australia
  br => Brazil
  ca => Canada
  cf => Central African Republic
  cn => China
  de => Germany
  dk => Denmark
  es => Spain
  fr => France
  hk => Hong Kong
  in => India
  it => Italy
  kr => Korea, Republic of
  mx => Mexico
  no => Norway
  se => Sweden
  sg => Singapore
  tw => Taiwan
  uk => United Kingdom

9.5  What protocol does Gaim use to connect to Yahoo!?
 
  Normally Gaim uses the YMSG protocol, which is the same protocol that the
  official Yahoo! clients use. If an attempt to login returns the "Invalid

+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 10. MSN Protocol
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------

10.1  I'm getting lots of "Already in Opposite list" errors on MSN, why?
 
  The reason this happens is because you have a screen name in both your permit
  list and your deny list. There are two ways to fix this: the correct way and
  the quick way. The correct way is to go to Tools->Privacy, and manually scan
  the list and remove the duplicate entries. The quick way is to remove the
  blist.xml file from the ~/.gaim directory. Be aware that this contains your
  buddy list for all accounts, and also stores the "Contact" grouping of
  Buddies. Also, the MSN server stores the screen names of your contacts, but
  does not store what group they are in, so you will have to re-sort your MSN
  contacts into the appropriate groups.

10.2  Is there a way to invite more than one person to an MSN chat?
 
  Not at this time. When the conversation framework gets another rewrite, it is
  possible that it will be worked on. Until that time, sorry. :)

10.3  Is MSNP9 (MSN6) going to be supported?
 
  MSNP9 support has existed in Gaim since 0.69. However, at this point,
  features such as custom smileys aren't yet implemented.

10.4  Will I be able to use Gaim for MSN after October 15th 2003? (The day
      they're preventing third party clients from connecting)
 
  Yes. We use MSNP9, which is available in 0.69 and up, and MSNP9 is supported
  after October 15th 2003.

10.5  I just upgraded Gaim and the MSN plugin will not load. Why?
 
  You did not compile with SSL support, or the SSL plugin failed to load. As of
  protocol version 9, the MSN protocol requires the use of SSL, which Gaim
  provides by either GnuTLS or the combination of NSS and NSPR from the Mozilla
  project. Install one or both of these and recompile Gaim, and see the next
  question.

10.6  The MSN plugin won't load, but I have Mozilla NSS!
 
  Some distributions, including Slackware, install Mozilla NSS to a
  non-standard directory. The fix is simple. Edit /etc/ld.so.conf and add /usr/
  lib/mozilla-1.4 (or whatever version you're using, but it's usually 1.4) to
  the file, and run ldconfig as root. Then re-run configure and recompile Gaim.

  Mozilla 1.5 has a broken .pc file and does not install the necessary .h
  files, and so will not be detected.

  See http://gaim.sf.net/faq-ssl.php on getting SSL to work with Gaim.

10.7  What does "MSN: S: 911 3" in the debug window mean when I cannot connect
      to MSN?
 
  See http://gaim.sf.net/911.txt.

10.8  How do I set an MSN avatar?
 
  Gaim calls these Buddy Icons. Go to Tools->Accounts and click to Modify your
  MSN account. You can drag and drop a file to the resulting dialog, or use the
  Open button.

10.9  What does "Has you" in the buddy tooltip mean?
 
  It shows you if that MSN user has added you to his/her buddy list. "Has you:
  No" does not mean you can't talk to that person.

10.10  How do I set my MSN Friendly Name (the name other users see)?
 
  In the Buddy List window, go to Tools->Account Actions->account->Set Friendly
  Name.

10.11  What does "Error reading from switchboard server" mean?
 
  We haven't fully figured that out yet, but even Microsoft's client seems to
  get similar errors, although with less frequency than we do. See Bug 1060205
  for further information.

      initialize zephyr".
 
  Your site might require the use of Kerberos 4 for authentication, though few
  prepackaged Gaim binaries use Kerberos. One solution is to compile Gaim with
  the --with-krb4 flag to point to the location of your Kerberos 4 devel files,
  usually one of /usr, /usr/local, or /usr/athena , e.g. ./configure
  --with-krb4=/path/to/kerberosIV

12.3  Gaim isn't working, but I never got any other Zephyr client working on
      this machine.
 
  You need to have zhm (which comes with the standard Zephyr distribution)

  Alternately, if you have tzc working on your machine, you can enable "Use
  tzc", and set the tzc command to

  /path/to/tzc -e "%s"

+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 13. SILC Protocol
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------

13.1  What is SILC?

15.2  How do I compile a plugin for Gaim?
 
  To compile a plugin for Gaim, you must have Gaim's source code. To download
  Gaim's source code, get the most recent tarball from http://
  gaim.sourceforge.net/downloads.php (http://gaim.sf.net/downloads.php) and
  untar it with the command:

  tar zxvf filename

  where filename is the file you downloaded.

  After you have a Gaim source code tree:

   1. Change to the resulting directory and run the command:

      ./configure

      This will create the necessary make files.
   2. Move the plugin you wish to compile into the plugins/ directory in the
      Gaim source code tree.
   3. Change to the plugins/ directory.
   4. On Unix/Linux Type:

  and try out one of these.

17.5  Why are the passwords in accounts.xml not encrypted?
 
  This is a case of a really long answer to a short question. Read our
  explanation at http://gaim.sf.net/plaintextpasswords.txt.

17.6  What is gaim-remote?
 
  gaim-remote is a second executable included with Gaim starting with 0.60. It
  allows you to perform some actions to control/manipulate an existing Gaim

10717:75427cc95dfd

         9.4. Can I get a list of Yahoo! Chat rooms? What about non-US lists?
         9.5. What protocol does Gaim use to connect to Yahoo!?

10. MSN Protocol

         10.1.  Why are my file transfers so slow?
         10.2.  I'm getting lots of "Already in Opposite list" errors on MSN,
                why?
         10.3.  Is there a way to invite more than one person to an MSN chat?
         10.4.  Is MSNP9 (MSN6) going to be supported?
                Will I be able to use Gaim for MSN after October 15th 2003?
         10.5.  (The day they're preventing third party clients from
                connecting)
         10.6.  I just upgraded Gaim and the MSN plugin will not load. Why?
         10.7.  The MSN plugin won't load, but I have Mozilla NSS!
         10.8.  What does "MSN: S: 911 3" in the debug window mean when I
                cannot connect to MSN?
         10.9.  How do I set an MSN avatar?
         10.10. What does "Has you" in the buddy tooltip mean?
         10.11. How do I set my MSN Friendly Name (the name other users see)?
         10.12. What does "Error reading from switchboard server" mean?

11. Gadu-Gadu Protocol

         11.1. What is Gadu-Gadu?
         11.2. Why doesn't it work right?

 
  You need to install the SILC toolkit (http://silcnet.org/software/download/
  toolkit/) and the Gaim SILC plugin. This plugin is generally provided as a
  separate package (such as a gaim-silc RPM). If you're compiling yourself, see
  the ./configure --help for specifying the SILC includes and libs. If you're
  compiling an SRPM, use --with silc to build the gaim-silc RPM.

  In Windows, the SILC toolkit is installed with Gaim.

  Some distributions provide the SILC toolkit and include Gaim's SILC plugin in
  their Gaim package.

1.5  Is there some way I can compile just Gaim, without all of these protocols?
 
  Yeah. There are actually three ways to do it.

  AIM: Go to http://my.screenname.aol.com/_cqr/login/login.psp?siteId=
  snshomepage&authLev=1&mcState=initialized&createSn=1.

  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: See the question How do I register a new Jabber account? below.

 
  The font preference in Gaim is used only for the formatting of outgoing
  messages. The display fonts used by the rest of Gaim are those specified by
  GTK. To change this font you need to edit your ~/.gtkrc-2.0 file. If you need
  help you can see our example .gtkrc-2.0 (http://gaim.sf.net/gtkrc-2.0) file.
  On Windows, this file is located at C:\Documents and Settings\username
  \.themes\Default\gtk-2.0\gtkrc.

  You can also just switch to a different GTK theme. You can find GTK themes
  (and information on using them) by visiting themes.freshmeat.net,
  art.gnome.org, or searching on Google.

  the highest, lower-left is second-highest, etc. The most important emblem is
  in the lower-right, always. When an AOL buddy is not away, the fact that [s]
  he's an AOL user is the most important information shown in the icon. The
  consistency is that the user can always look in the same place on the icon to
  find out what he needs to know. Also, importantly, the lower-right corner
  emblem is the only emblem that shows up when "Small list" is on, as only one
  emblem would fit.

2.8  How do I get sound to work correctly?
 
  Gaim uses libao to play sounds. Playing sounds directly through esound or

  (Analog Realtime Synthesizer). '

  To compile Gaim with support for libao you need libao-devel and
  audiofile-devel. To use libao you need libao and audiofile. 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.

2.9  How do I make Gaim use ALSA or OSS for playing sounds? What does the
     "Automatic" option do?
 
  If you choose "Automatic", "ESD", or "Arts", Gaim uses libao to play sounds.

  choosing "Automatic" lets it decide for itself.

  If you choose "Automatic", you can create a file, either /etc/libao.conf or ~
  /.libao, and put one of the following lines in it:

  default_driver=alsa

  default_driver=oss

  Other drivers, like alsa09, arts, esd, irix, macosx, and sun might also be
  supported, depending on your platform and how libao was compiled. See also
  man 5 libao.conf.

2.10  Why does Gaim use the same WM_CLASS for every window? It makes it
      impossible to control window size and placement for the buddy list
      separately from the conversations.
 

6.10  Why can't I connect via either Oscar or TOC?
 
  If you are using Linux, your kernel may be using a network option called
  "ECN". It seems that the AOL servers are currently dropping packets marked as
  "ECN-capable". In order to turn this off, run the command

  echo 0 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_ecn

  as root, or (if your distribution supports it) put the line

  net.ipv4.tcp_ecn = 0

  in the file /etc/sysctl.conf.

6.11  English is not my native language, and some of my friends have trouble
      seeing my IMs/I have trouble seeing my friends' IMs. How do I use a
      native language character set with ICQ?
 

  to the url to fetch the list for another country. For example, for the German
  list, you would use "http://de.insider.msg.yahoo.com/ycontent/".

  The list of known country codes for this url is:

    • aa => Asia
    • ar => Argentina
    • au => Australia
    • br => Brazil
    • ca => Canada
    • cf => Central African Republic
    • cn => China
    • de => Germany
    • dk => Denmark
    • es => Spain
    • fr => France
    • hk => Hong Kong
    • in => India
    • it => Italy
    • kr => Korea, Republic of
    • mx => Mexico
    • no => Norway
    • se => Sweden
    • sg => Singapore
    • tw => Taiwan
    • uk => United Kingdom

9.5  What protocol does Gaim use to connect to Yahoo!?
 
  Normally Gaim uses the YMSG protocol, which is the same protocol that the
  official Yahoo! clients use. If an attempt to login returns the "Invalid

+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 10. MSN Protocol
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------

10.1  Why are my file transfers so slow?
 
  Gaim only supports tranferring files over MSN via the MSN servers. This means
  all your data is sent to an MSN server and then forwarded to the person at
  the other end of the transfer. It is unknown whether we will support true
  peer to peer file transfer over MSN.

10.2  I'm getting lots of "Already in Opposite list" errors on MSN, why?
 
  The reason this happens is because you have a screen name in both your permit
  list and your deny list. There are two ways to fix this: the correct way and
  the quick way. The correct way is to go to Tools->Privacy, and manually scan
  the list and remove the duplicate entries. The quick way is to remove the
  blist.xml file from the ~/.gaim directory. Be aware that this contains your
  buddy list for all accounts, and also stores the "Contact" grouping of
  Buddies.

10.3  Is there a way to invite more than one person to an MSN chat?
 
  Yes. Right click a buddy on your list and choose "Initiate Chat". In the
  conversation window that appears, choose "Invite" from the "Conversation"
  menu to invite another user. When the conversation framework gets another
  rewrite, it is possible that this will be simplified.

10.4  Is MSNP9 (MSN6) going to be supported?
 
  MSNP9 support has existed in Gaim since 0.69. However, at this point,
  features such as custom smileys aren't yet implemented.

10.5  Will I be able to use Gaim for MSN after October 15th 2003? (The day
      they're preventing third party clients from connecting)
 
  Yes. We use MSNP9, which is available in 0.69 and up, and MSNP9 is supported
  after October 15th 2003.

10.6  I just upgraded Gaim and the MSN plugin will not load. Why?
 
  You did not compile with SSL support, or the SSL plugin failed to load. As of
  protocol version 9, the MSN protocol requires the use of SSL, which Gaim
  provides by either GnuTLS or the combination of NSS and NSPR from the Mozilla
  project. Install one or both of these and recompile Gaim, and see the next
  question.

10.7  The MSN plugin won't load, but I have Mozilla NSS!
 
  Some distributions, including Slackware, install Mozilla NSS to a
  non-standard directory. The fix is simple. Edit /etc/ld.so.conf and add /usr/
  lib/mozilla-1.4 (or whatever version you're using, but it's usually 1.4) to
  the file, and run ldconfig as root. Then re-run configure and recompile Gaim.

  Mozilla 1.5 has a broken .pc file and does not install the necessary .h
  files, and so will not be detected.

  See http://gaim.sf.net/faq-ssl.php on getting SSL to work with Gaim.

10.8  What does "MSN: S: 911 3" in the debug window mean when I cannot connect
      to MSN?
 
  See http://gaim.sf.net/911.txt.

10.9  How do I set an MSN avatar?
 
  Gaim calls these Buddy Icons. Go to Tools->Accounts and click to Modify your
  MSN account. You can drag and drop a file to the resulting dialog, or use the
  Open button.

10.10  What does "Has you" in the buddy tooltip mean?
 
  It shows you if that MSN user has added you to his/her buddy list. "Has you:
  No" does not mean you can't talk to that person.

10.11  How do I set my MSN Friendly Name (the name other users see)?
 
  In the Buddy List window, go to Tools->Account Actions->account->Set Friendly
  Name.

10.12  What does "Error reading from switchboard server" mean?
 
  We haven't fully figured that out yet, but even Microsoft's client seems to
  get similar errors, although with less frequency than we do. See Bug 1060205
  for further information.

      initialize zephyr".
 
  Your site might require the use of Kerberos 4 for authentication, though few
  prepackaged Gaim binaries use Kerberos. One solution is to compile Gaim with
  the --with-krb4 flag to point to the location of your Kerberos 4 devel files,
  usually one of /usr, /usr/local, or /usr/athena, e.g. ./configure --with-krb4
  =/path/to/kerberosIV

12.3  Gaim isn't working, but I never got any other Zephyr client working on
      this machine.
 
  You need to have zhm (which comes with the standard Zephyr distribution)

  Alternately, if you have tzc working on your machine, you can enable "Use
  tzc", and set the tzc command to

  /path/to/tzc -e "%s"


+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 13. SILC Protocol
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------

13.1  What is SILC?

15.2  How do I compile a plugin for Gaim?
 
  To compile a plugin for Gaim, you must have Gaim's source code. To download
  Gaim's source code, get the most recent tarball from http://
  gaim.sourceforge.net/downloads.php (http://gaim.sf.net/downloads.php) and
  untar it with the command: tar zxvf filename where filename is the file you
  downloaded.

  After you have a Gaim source code tree:

   1. Change to the resulting directory and run the command: ./configure This
      will create the necessary make files.
   2. Move the plugin you wish to compile into the plugins/ directory in the
      Gaim source code tree.
   3. Change to the plugins/ directory.
   4. On Unix/Linux Type:

  and try out one of these.

17.5  Why are the passwords in accounts.xml not encrypted?
 
  This is a case of a really long answer to a short question. Read our
  explanation at http://gaim.sf.net/plaintextpasswords.php.

17.6  What is gaim-remote?
 
  gaim-remote is a second executable included with Gaim starting with 0.60. It
  allows you to perform some actions to control/manipulate an existing Gaim