This is the BitlBee User Guide. For now, the on-line help is the most up-to-date documentation. Although this document shares some parts with the on-line help system, other parts might be very outdated.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
The latest BitlBee release is always available from http://www.bitlbee.org/. Download the package with your favorite program and unpack it: tar xvfz bitlbee-<version>.tar.gz where <version> is to be replaced by the version number of the BitlBee you downloaded (e.g. 0.91).
BitlBee's build system has to be configured before compiling. The
configure script will do this for you. Just run
it, it'll set up with nice and hopefully well-working defaults. If you
want to change some settings, just try
./configure --help and see what you can do.
Some variables that might be of interest to the normal user:
prefix, bindir, etcdir, mandir, datadir - The place where
all the BitlBee program files will be put. There's usually no reason to
specify them all separately, just specifying prefix (or keeping the default
/usr/local/) should be okay.
config - The place where BitlBee will save all the per-user
settings and buddy information. /var/lib/bitlbee/
is the default value.
msn, jabber, oscar, yahoo - By default, support for all these IM-protocols (OSCAR is the protocol used by both ICQ and AIM) will be compiled in. To make the binary a bit smaller, you can use these options to leave out support for protocols you're not planning to use.
debug - Generate an unoptimized binary with debugging symbols, mainly useful if you want to do some debugging or help us to track down a problem.
strip - By default, unnecessary parts of the generated binary will be stripped out to make it as small as possible. If you don't want this (because it might cause problems on some platforms), set this to 0.
flood - To secure your BitlBee server against flooding attacks, you can use this option. It's not compiled in by default because it needs more testing first.
ssl - The MSN and Jabber modules require an SSL library for some of their tasks. BitlBee can use three different SSL libraries: GnuTLS, mozilla-nss and OpenSSL. (OpenSSL is, however, a bit troublesome because of licensing issues, so don't forget to read the information configure will give you when you try to use OpenSSL!) By default, configure will try to detect GnuTLS or mozilla-nss. If none of them can be found, it'll give up. If you want BitlBee to use OpenSSL, you have to explicitly specify that.
After running configure, you should run
make. After that, run make install as
root.
By default, BitlBee runs as the user nobody. You might want to run it as a seperate user (some computers run named or apache as nobody).
Since BitlBee uses inetd, you should add the following line to /etc/inetd.conf:
6667 stream tcp nowait nobody /usr/local/sbin/bitlbee bitlbee
Inetd has to be restarted after changing the configuration. Either killall -HUP inetd or /etc/init.d/inetd restart should do the job on most systems.
You might be one of the.. ehr, lucky people running an xinetd-powered distro. xinetd is quite different and they seem to be proud of that.. ;-) Anyway, if you want BitlBee to work with xinetd, just copy the bitlbee.xinetd file to your /etc/xinetd.d/ directory (and probably edit it to suit your needs).
You should create a directory where BitlBee can store it's data files. This
should be the directory named after the value 'CONFIG' in Makefile.settings.
The default is /var/lib/bitlbee, which can be created
with the command mkdir -p /var/lib/bitlbee. This
directory has to be owned by the user that runs bitlbee. To make
'nobody' owner of this directory, run chown nobody /var/lib/bitlbee.
Because things like passwords are saved in this directory, it's probably
a good idea to make this directory owner-read-/writable only.
Since BitlBee acts just like any other irc daemon, you can connect to it with your favorite irc client. Launch it and connect to localhost port 6667 (or whatever host/port you are running bitlbee on).
Once you are connected to the BitlBee server, you are automatically joined to &bitlbee on that server. This channel acts like the 'buddy list' you have on the various other chat networks.
The user 'root' always hangs around in &bitlbee and acts as your interface to bitlbee. All commands you give on &bitlbee are 'answered' by root.
You might be slightly confused by the & in the channel name. This is, however, completely allowed by the IRC standards. Just try it on a regular IRC server, it should work. The difference between the standard #channels and &channels is that the #channels are distributed over all the servers on the IRC network, while &channels are local to one server. Because the BitlBee control channel is local to one server (and in fact, to one person), this name seems more suitable. Also, with this name, it's harder to confuse the control channel with the #bitlbee channel on OFTC.
Table of Contents
BitlBee doesn't come with a warranty and is still (and will probably always be) under development. That means it can crash at any time, corrupt your data or whatever. Don't use it in any production environment and don't rely on it, or at least don't blame us if things blow up. :-)
http://www.bitlbee.org/ is the homepage of bitlbee and contains the most recent news on bitlbee and the latest releases.
Table of Contents
Welcome to BitlBee, your IRC gateway to ICQ, MSN, AOL, Jabber and Yahoo Instant Messaging Systems.
The center of BitlBee is the control channel, &bitlbee. Two users will always be there, you (where "you" is the nickname you are using) and the system user, root.
You need register so that all your IM settings (passwords, contacts, etc) can be saved on the BitlBee server. It's important that you pick a good password so no one else can access your account. Register with this password using the register command: register <password> (without the brackets!).
Be sure to remember your password. The next time you connect to the BitlBee server you will need to identify <password> so that you will be recognised and logged in to all the IM services automatically.
When finished, type help quickstart2 to continue.
Step Two: Add and Connect To your IM Account(s).
To add an account to the account list you will need to use the account add command: account add <protocol> <username> <password> [<server>].
For instance, suppose you have a Jabber account at jabber.org with handle bitlbee@jabber.org with password QuickStart, you would:
< you>account add jabber bitlbee@jabber.org QuickStart< root>Account successfully added
Other available IM protocols are msn, oscar, and yahoo. OSCAR is the protocol used by ICQ and AOL. For more information about the account add command, see help account add.
When you are finished adding your account(s) use the account on command to enable all your accounts, type help quickstart3 to continue.
Step Three: Managing Contact Lists: Rename
Now BitlBee logs in and downloads the contact list from the IM server. In a few seconds, all your on-line buddies should show up in the control channel.
BitlBee will convert names into IRC-friendly form (for instance: tux@example.com will be given the nickname tux). If you have more than one person who would have the same name by this logic (for instance: tux@example.com and tux@bitlbee.org) the second one to log on will be tux_. The same is true if you have a tux log on to AOL and a tux log on from Yahoo.
It would be easy to get these two mixed up, so BitlBee has a rename command to change the nickname into something more suitable: rename <oldnick> <newnick>
< you>rename tux_ bitlbeetux* tux_ is now known as bitlbeetux< root>Nick successfully changed
When finished, type help quickstart4 to continue.
Step Four: Managing Contact Lists: Add and Remove.
Now you might want to add some contacts, to do this we will use the add command. It needs two arguments: a connection ID (which can be a number (try account list), protocol name or (part of) the screenname) and the user's handle. It is used in the following way: add <connection> <handle>
< you>add 0 r2d2@example.com* r2d2 has joined &bitlbee
In this case r2d2 is online, since he/she joins the channel immediately. If the user is not online you will not see them join until they log on.
Lets say you accidentally added r2d3@example.com rather than r2d2@example.com, or maybe you just want to remove a user from your list because you never talk to them. To remove a name you will want to use the remove command: remove <nick>
When finished, type help quickstart5 to continue.
Step Five: Chatting.
First of all, a person must be on your contact list for you to chat with them (unless it's a group chat, help groupchats for more). If someone not on your contact list sends you a message, simply add them to the proper account with the add command. Once they are on your list and online, you can chat with them in &bitlbee:
< you>tux: hey, how's the weather down there?< tux>you: a bit chilly!
Note that, although all contacts are in the &bitlbee channel, only tux will actually receive this message. The &bitlbee channel shouldn't be confused with a real IRC channel.
If you prefer chatting in a separate window, use the /msg or /query command, just like on real IRC. BitlBee will remember how you talk to someone and show his/her responses the same way. If you want to change the default behaviour (for people you haven't talked to yet), see help set private.
You know the basics. If you want to get to know more about BitlBee, please type help quickstart6.
So you want more than just chatting? Or maybe you're just looking for a feature?
You can type help set to learn more about the possible BitlBee user settings. Among these user settings you will find options for common issues, such as changing the charset, HTML stripping and automatic connecting (simply type set to see current user settings).
For more subjects (like groupchats and away states), please type help index.
If you're still looking for something, please visit us in #bitlbee on the OFTC network (you can connect via irc.bitlbee.org), or mail us your problem/suggestion. Good luck and enjoy the Bee!
Table of Contents
Syntax:
account <action> [<arguments>]
Available actions: add, del, list, on, off and set. See help account <action> for more information.
Syntax:
account add <protocol> <username> <password>
Adds an account on the given server with the specified protocol, username and password to the account list. Supported protocols right now are: Jabber, MSN, OSCAR (AIM/ICQ) and Yahoo. For more information about adding an account, see help account add <protocol>.
Syntax:
account add jabber <handle@server.tld> <password>
The handle should be a full handle, including the domain name. You can specify a servername if necessary. Normally BitlBee doesn't need this though, since it's able to find out the server by doing DNS SRV lookups.
In previous versions it was also possible to specify port numbers and/or SSL in the server tag. This is deprecated and should now be done using the account set command. This also applies to specifying a resource in the handle (like wilmer@bitlbee.org/work).
Syntax:
account add msn <handle@server.tld> <password>
For MSN connections there are no special arguments.
Syntax:
account add oscar <handle> <password>
OSCAR is the protocol used to connect to AIM and/or ICQ. The servers will automatically detect if you're using a numeric or non-numeric username so there's no need to tell which network you want to connect to.
< wilmer>account add oscar 72696705 hobbelmeeuw< root>Account successfully added
Syntax:
account del <account id>
This commands deletes an account from your account list. You should signoff the account before deleting it.
The account ID can be a number (see account list), the protocol name or (part of) the screenname, as long as it matches only one connection.
Syntax:
account on [<account id>]
This command will try to log into the specified account. If no account is specified, BitlBee will log into all the accounts that have the auto_connect flag set.
The account ID can be a number (see account list), the protocol name or (part of) the screenname, as long as it matches only one connection.
Syntax:
account off [<account id>]
This command disconnects the connection for the specified account. If no account is specified, BitlBee will deactivate all active accounts and cancel all pending reconnects.
The account ID can be a number (see account list), the protocol name or (part of) the screenname, as long as it matches only one connection.
Syntax:
account list
This command gives you a list of all the accounts known by BitlBee, including the numbers you'll need for most account commands.
Syntax:
account set <account id> account set <account id>/<setting> account set <account id>/<setting> <value> account set -del <account id>/<setting>
This account can be used to change various settings for IM accounts. For all protocols, this command can be used to change the handle or the password BitlBee uses to log in and if it should be logged in automatically. Some protocols have additional settings. You can see the settings available for a connection by typing account set <account id>.
For more infomation about a setting, see help set <setting>. For details about the syntax of this command, see help set.
The account ID can be a number (see account list), the protocol name or (part of) the screenname, as long as it matches only one connection.
Syntax:
add <connection> <handle> [<nick>] add -tmp <connection> <handle> [<nick>]
Adds the given buddy at the specified connection to your buddy list. The account ID can be a number (see account list), the protocol name or (part of) the screenname, as long as it matches only one connection.
If you want, you can also tell BitlBee what nick to give the new contact. The -tmp option adds the buddy to the internal BitlBee structures only, not to the real contact list (like done by set handle_unknown add). This allows you to talk to people who are not in your contact list. This normally won't show you any presence notifications.
< ctrlsoft>add 3 gryp@jabber.org grijp* grijp has joined &bitlbee
Syntax:
info <connection> <handle> info <nick>
Requests IM-network-specific information about the specified user. The amount of information you'll get differs per protocol. For some protocols (ATM Yahoo! and MSN) it'll give you an URL which you can visit with a normal web browser to get the information.
< ctrlsoft>info 0 72696705< root>User info - UIN: 72696705 Nick: Lintux First/Last name: Wilmer van der Gaast E-mail: lintux@lintux.cx
Syntax:
remove <nick>
Removes the specified nick from your buddy list.
< ctrlsoft>remove gryp* gryp has quit [Leaving...]
Syntax:
block <nick> block <connection> <handle> block <connection>
Puts the specified user on your ignore list. Either specify the user's nick when you have him/her in your contact list or a connection number and a user handle.
When called with only a connection specification as an argument, the command displays the current block list for that connection.
Syntax:
allow <nick> allow <connection> <handle>
Reverse of block. Unignores the specified user or user handle on specified connection.
When called with only a connection specification as an argument, the command displays the current allow list for that connection.
Syntax:
set set <variable> set <variable> <value> set -del <variable>
Without any arguments, this command lists all the set variables. You can also specify a single argument, a variable name, to get that variable's value. To change this value, specify the new value as the second argument. With -del you can reset a setting to its default value.
To get more help information about a setting, try:
< ctrlsoft>help set private
Syntax:
help [subject]
This command gives you the help information you're reading right now. If you don't give any arguments, it'll give a short help index.
Syntax:
save
This command saves all your nicks and accounts immediately. Handy if you have the autosave functionality disabled, or if you don't trust the program's stability... ;-)
| Type: boolean |
With this option enabled, when you identify BitlBee will automatically connect to your accounts, with this disabled it will not do this.
This setting can also be changed for specific accounts using the account set command. (However, these values will be ignored if the global auto_connect setting is disabled!)
| Type: boolean |
If an IM-connections breaks, you're supposed to bring it back up yourself. Having BitlBee do this automatically might not always be a good idea, for several reasons. If you want the connections to be restored automatically, you can enable this setting.
See also the auto_reconnect_delay setting.
This setting can also be changed for specific accounts using the account set command. (However, these values will be ignored if the global auto_reconnect setting is disabled!)
| Type: integer |
Tell BitlBee after how many seconds it should attempt to bring an IM-connection back up after a crash. It's not a good idea to set this value very low, it will cause too much useless traffic when an IM-server is down for a few hours.
See also the auto_reconnect setting.
| Type: boolean |
With this option enabled, the root user devoices people when they go away (just away, not offline) and gives the voice back when they come back. You might dislike the voice-floods you'll get if your contact list is huge, so this option can be disabled.
| Type: boolean |
By default, when you send a message to someone, BitlBee forwards this message to the user immediately. When you paste a large number of lines, the lines will be sent in separate messages, which might not be very nice to read. If you enable this setting, BitlBee will buffer your messages and wait for more data.
Using the buddy_sendbuffer_delay setting you can specify the number of seconds BitlBee should wait for more data before the complete message is sent.
Please note that if you remove a buddy from your list (or if the connection to that user drops) and there's still data in the buffer, this data will be lost. BitlBee will not try to send the message to the user in those cases.
| Type: integer |
Tell BitlBee after how many (mili)seconds a buffered message should be sent. Values greater than 5 will be interpreted as miliseconds, 5 and lower as seconds.
See also the buddy_sendbuffer setting.
| Type: string |
This setting tells BitlBee what your IRC client sends and expects. It should be equal to the charset setting of your IRC client if you want to be able to send and receive non-ASCII text properly.
Most systems use UTF-8 these days. On older systems, an iso8859 charset may work better. For example, iso8859-1 is the best choice for most Western countries. You can try to find what works best for you on http://www.unicodecharacter.com/charsets/iso8859.html
| Type: boolean |
Some debugging messages can be sent to the control channel if you wish. They're probably not really useful for you, unless you're doing some development on BitlBee.
| Type: string |
With this value set to root, lines written in the control channel without any nickname in front of them will be interpreted as commands. If you want BitlBee to send those lines to the last person you addressed in the control channel, set this to last.
| Type: string |
Currently only available for MSN connections. This setting allows you to read and change your "friendly name" for this connection. Since this is a server-side setting, it can't be changed when the account is off-line.
| Type: boolean |
With this option enabled, root will inform you when someone in your buddy list changes his/her "friendly name".
| Type: string |
Messages from unknown users are echoed like this by default:
If you want this lame user to be added automatically, you can set this setting to "add". If you prefer to ignore messages from people you don't know, you can set this one to "ignore". "add_private" and "add_channel" are like add, but you can use them to make messages from unknown buddies appear in the channel instead of a query window.
| Type: boolean |
Hereby you can change whether you want all lower case nick names or leave the case as it intended by your peer.
| Type: boolean |
Some protocols (MSN, Yahoo!) can notify via IM about new e-mail. Since most people use their Hotmail/Yahoo! addresses as a spam-box, this is disabled default. If you want these notifications, you can enable this setting.
| Type: string |
Some people prefer themself and root to have operator status in &bitlbee, other people don't. You can change these states using this setting.
The value "both" means both user and root get ops. "root" means, well, just root. "user" means just the user. "none" means nobody will get operator status.
| Type: string |
Use this global setting to change your "NickServ" password.
This setting is also available for all IM accounts to change the password BitlBee uses to connect to the service.
Note that BitlBee will always say this setting is empty. This doesn't mean there is no password, it just means that, for security reasons, BitlBee stores passwords somewhere else so they can't just be retrieved in plain text.
| Type: integer |
Currently only available for Jabber connections. Specifies the port number to connect to. Usually this should be set to 5222, or 5223 for SSL-connections.
| Type: integer |
Can be set for Jabber connections. When connecting to one account from multiple places, this priority value will help the server to determine where to deliver incoming messages (that aren't addressed to a specific resource already).
According to RFC 3921 servers will always deliver messages to the server with the highest priority value. Mmessages will not be delivered to resources with a negative priority setting (and should be saved as an off-line message if all available resources have a negative priority value).
| Type: boolean |
If value is true, messages from users will appear in separate query windows. If false, messages from users will appear in the control channel.
This setting is remembered (during one session) per-user, this setting only changes the default state. This option takes effect as soon as you reconnect.
| Type: string |
This changes the order in which the questions from root (usually authorization requests from buddies) should be answered. When set to lifo, BitlBee immediately displays all new questions and they should be answered in reverse order. When this is set to fifo, BitlBee displays the first question which comes in and caches all the others until you answer the first one.
Although the fifo setting might sound more logical (and used to be the default behaviour in older BitlBee versions), it turned out not to be very convenient for many users when they missed the first question (and never received the next ones).
| Type: string |
Can be set for Jabber connections. You can use this to connect to your Jabber account from multiple clients at once, with every client using a different resource string.
| Type: string |
Because the IRC interface makes it pretty hard to specify the resource to talk to (when a buddy is online through different resources), this setting was added.
Normally it's set to priority which means messages will always be delivered to the buddy's resource with the highest priority. If the setting is set to time, messages will be delivered to the resource that was last used to send you a message (or the resource that most recently connected).
| Type: string |
Normally the "bot" that takes all your BitlBee commands is called "root". If you don't like this name, you can rename it to anything else using the rename command, or by changing this setting.
| Type: boolean |
If enabled causes BitlBee to save all current settings and account details when user disconnects. This is enabled by default, and these days there's not really a reason to have it disabled anymore.
| Type: string |
Can be set for Jabber- and OSCAR-connections. For Jabber, you might have to set this if the servername isn't equal to the part after the @ in the Jabber handle. For OSCAR this shouldn't be necessary anymore in recent BitlBee versions.
| Type: boolean |
Some IRC clients parse quit messages sent by the IRC server to see if someone really left or just disappeared because of a netsplit. By default, BitlBee tries to simulate netsplit-like quit messages to keep the control channel window clean. If you don't like this (or if your IRC client doesn't support this) you can disable this setting.
| Type: boolean |
Currently only available for Jabber connections. Set this to true if the server accepts SSL connections.
| Type: boolean |
Determines what BitlBee should do with HTML in messages. Normally this is turned on and HTML will be stripped from messages, if BitlBee thinks there is HTML.
If BitlBee fails to detect this sometimes (most likely in AIM messages over an ICQ connection), you can set this setting to always, but this might sometimes accidentally strip non-HTML things too.
| Type: boolean |
Newer Jabber servers allow clients to convert a plain-text session to a TLS/SSL-encrypted session. Normally (with this setting set to try) BitlBee will do this, if possible.
If you want to force BitlBee to use TLS sessions only (and to give up if that doesn't seem to be possible) you can set this setting to true. Set it to false if you want the session to remain plain-text.
| Type: string |
It's customary that messages meant for one specific person on an IRC channel are prepended by his/her alias followed by a colon ':'. BitlBee does this by default. If you prefer a different character, you can set it using set to_char.
Please note that this setting is only used for incoming messages. For outgoing messages you can use ':' (colon) or ',' to separate the destination nick from the message, and this is not configurable.
| Type: boolean |
Sends you a /notice when a user starts typing a message (if supported by the IM protocol and the user's client). To use this, you most likely want to use a script in your IRC client to show this information in a more sensible way.
| Type: string |
ICQ allows people to see if you're on-line via a CGI-script. (http://status.icq.com/online.gif?icq=UIN) This can be nice to put on your website, but it seems that spammers also use it to see if you're online without having to add you to their contact list. So to prevent ICQ spamming, recent versions of BitlBee disable this feature by default.
Unless you really intend to use this feature somewhere (on forums or maybe a website), it's probably better to keep this setting disabled.
| Type: boolean |
The Jabber module allows you to add a buddy xmlconsole to your contact list, which will then show you the raw XMPP stream between you and the server. You can also send XMPP packets to this buddy, which will then be sent to the server.
If you want to enable this XML console permanently (and at login time already), you can set this setting.
Syntax:
rename <oldnick> <newnick>
Renick a user in your buddy list. Very useful, in fact just very important, if you got a lot of people with stupid account names (or hard ICQ numbers).
< itsme>rename itsme_ you* itsme_ is now known as you
Syntax:
yes [<number>]
Sometimes an IM-module might want to ask you a question. (Accept this user as your buddy or not?) To accept a question, use the yes command.
By default, this answers the first unanswered question. You can also specify a different question as an argument. You can use the qlist command for a list of questions.
Syntax:
no [<number>]
Sometimes an IM-module might want to ask you a question. (Accept this user as your buddy or not?) To reject a question, use the no command.
By default, this answers the first unanswered question. You can also specify a different question as an argument. You can use the qlist command for a list of questions.
Syntax:
qlist
This gives you a list of all the unanswered questions from root.
Syntax:
register <password>
BitlBee can save your settings so you won't have to enter all your IM passwords every time you log in. If you want the Bee to save your settings, use the register command.
Please do pick a secure password, don't just use your nick as your password. Please note that IRC is not an encrypted protocol, so the passwords still go over the network in plaintext. Evil people with evil sniffers will read it all. (So don't use your root password.. ;-)
To identify yourself in later sessions, you can use the identify command. To change your password later, you can use the set password command.
Syntax:
identify <password>
BitlBee saves all your settings (contacts, accounts, passwords) on-server. To prevent other users from just logging in as you and getting this information, you'll have to identify yourself with your password. You can register this password using the register command.
Once you're registered, you can change your password using set password <password>.
Syntax:
drop <password>
Drop your BitlBee registration. Your account files will be removed and your password will be forgotten. For obvious security reasons, you have to specify your NickServ password to make this command work.
Syntax:
blist [all|online|offline|away]
You can get a better readable buddy list using the blist command. If you want a complete list (including the offline users) you can use the all argument.
Syntax:
nick <connection> [<new nick>] nick <connection>
Deprecated: Use the per-account display_name setting to read and change this information.
< wouter>account set 1/display_name "The majestik møøse"< root>display_name = `The majestik møøse'
Syntax:
join_chat <connection> <room name> [<channel name>] [<room nickname>] [<password>]
On most IM-networks groupchats can be started using the /join command. (/join #foo to start a chatroom with you and foo) This doesn't work with names groupchats though (which exist on Jabber networks and AIM, for example), instead you can use this command.
The first two arguments are required. room name is the name of the chatroom on the IM-network. channel name is the IRC channel name BitlBee should map this to. room nickname is the nickname you want to have in this channel. If you don't give these options, BitlBee will do the right guesses.
The following command will join you to the chatroom called bitlbee@conference.bitlbee.org. The channel will be called &bitlbee-help because &bitlbee will already be in use. Your nickname will be help-me.
< wilmer>join_chat jabber bitlbee@conference.bitlbee.org &bitlbee-help help-me
Table of Contents
All MSN smileys (except one) are case insensitive and work without the nose too.
Thumbs up
Thumbs down
Beer mug
Martini glass
Girl
Boy
Devil smiley
Vampire bat
Right hug
Left hug
MSN Messenger or Windows Messenger icon (think a BitlBee logo here ;)
Crooked smiley (Confused smiley)
Embarrassed smiley
Smiley with sunglasses
Angry smiley
Angel smiley
Red heart (Love)
Broken heart
Red lips (Kiss)
Gift with bow
Red rose
Wilted rose
Camera
Film strip
Telephone receiver
Cat face
Dog's head
Coffee cup
Light bulb
Half-moon (Case sensitive!)
Star
Musical eighth note
Envelope
Birthday cake
Clock
BitlBee now supports groupchats on all IM networks. This text will try to explain you how they work.
As soon as someone invites you into a groupchat, you will be force-joined or invited (depending on the protocol) into a new virtual channel with all the people in there. You can leave the channel at any time, just like you would close the window in regular IM clients. Please note that root-commands don't work in groupchat channels, they only work in the control channel (or to root directly).
Of course you can also create your own groupchats. Type help groupchats2 to see how.
If you want to start a groupchat with the person lisa_msn in it, just join the channel #lisa_msn. BitlBee will refuse to join you to the channel with that name, but it will create a new virtual channel with root, you and lisa_msn in it.
Of course a channel with only two people isn't really exciting yet. So the next step is to invite some other people to the channel. For this, you can use the /invite command of your IRC client. Please do keep in mind that all the people have to be on the same network and contact list! You can't invite Yahoo! buddies into an MSN groupchat.
Some protocols (like Jabber) also support named groupchats. BitlBee now supports these too. You can use the join_chat command to join them. See help join_chat for more information.
As you might've expected, you can just use the /away command in your IRC client to set an away-state. BitlBee supports most away-states supported by the protocols.
Not all away states are supported by all protocols, and some protocols have different names for them. BitlBee will try to pick the best available alias from this list for every connection:
| Away from computer, Away, Extended away |
| NA, N/A, Not available |
| Busy, Do not disturb, DND, Occupied |
| Be right back, BRB |
| On the phone, Phone, On phone |
| Out to lunch, Lunch, Food |
| Invisible, Hidden |
So /away Food will set your state to "Out to lunch" on your MSN connection, and for most other connections the default, "Away" or "Away from computer" will be chosen.
You can also add more information to your away message. Setting it to "Busy - Fixing BitlBee bugs" will set your IM-away-states to Busy, but your away message will be more descriptive for people on IRC. Most IM-protocols can also show this additional information to your buddies.