bsflite(1)bsflite(1)NAMEbsflite - Minimalist AIM(R) client
SYNOPSISbsfliteDESCRIPTION
BSFlite is a very light and minimal client for AOL(R)'s Instant Messen‐
ger(TM) service that works (or should work) under most varieties of
UNIX. It features only the basics that every client should have, that
is sending and receiving messages, adding and deleting buddies and
viewing the buddy list, with other features included for convenience
and simplicity.
Running bsflite
BSFlite runs without any command-line options or configuration files.
Simply execute bsflite at a shell prompt. It will prompt for your
AIM(R) screen name and password and connect. Note that these can be
stored along with other options in a configuration file, detailed
below.
Once connected, you may enter commands at the prompt. Most commands are
either one or two characters long, and are meant to be run without a
space in between the command and the argument. For example, to send a
message, type:
mscreename This is my message.
That is, the screen name immediately follows the m command, and is
entered in lowercase without any spaces. This is the general convention
for screen names in bsflite in order to allow the parser to detect
where your message begins.
Commands
h, ? Displays a list of commands.
w, ws, wf
Displays the buddy list. ws displays the list sorted by status,
with indicators next to the screen name to indicate this. Status
is indicated by [o], online and active, [i], idle for more than
10 minutes, [a], away for less than 10 minutes, and [g], gone
with away message for over 10 minutes (idle). wf displays the
buddy list sorted in alphabetical order regardless of status,
and additionally displays buddies' idle times. Note that w is an
alias for ws.
mscreenname message
Sends message to screenname, where screenname is entered in low‐
ercase and without spaces.
r Replies to the last person whom you messaged or who messaged
you. This is a command alias for m that automatically enters the
appropriate screen name and a space so that you may begin typing
the message immediately.
pscreenname
Pastes a block of text to screenname. After pressing return, you
may paste your text. BSFlite will begin sending once the send
buffer is full, so multiple lines may be sent in one single mes‐
sage. Type '.' in a line by itself to end paste mode and send
whatever is left in the buffer. Press Ctrl-X to leave paste mode
without sending what is in the buffer. Note that text may have
already been sent if you have entered any text in paste mode,
even if you press Ctrl-X.
L, lscreenname, lg
Displays the last 20 lines from the last person to message you
(L) or screenname (l). This information is stored in log files
detailed below. If single_log is turned on in the configuration
file, L or lg display the last 20 lines of the single log file.
ascreenname, dscreenname
Adds or deletes, respectively, screenname from your buddy list.
I, iscreenname, Ascreenname, Pscreenname
Retrieves information about screenname (or, for I, the last per‐
son who sent you a message). I and i retrieve the user's away
message and profile, and if the user is in your buddylist it'll
also show the user's idle time. A and P can be used to retrieve
only the away message and profile, respectively.
gmessage (if not away), g (if away)
Sets an away message if not away, and removes the away message
if away.
G, Gnum
Displays a numbered list of pre-defined away messages (see FILES
below) when run without an argument, and sets the away message
when run with a number. Use g to remove this away message.
v Toggles invisibility on and off.
z! Reloads your profile and list of pre-defined away messages (see
FILES below).
q! Exits bsflite.
Configuration file
The configuration file is located in ~/.bsflite/config and can contain
any of the following options:
username username
Your screen name.
password password
Your password.
squelchconnect true/false
Hide notifications when a buddy signs on or off. (Default:
false)
squelchidle true/false
Hide notifications when a buddy becomes idle or is back from
being idle. (Default: false)
squelchaway true/false
Hide notifications when a buddy sets or unsets an away message.
(Default: false)
respond_idle_only true/false
Send an auto-response with your away message only when an away
message is set and you are idle. (Default: false)
report_idle true/false
Report idle times to the AIM server. (Default: true)
netspeak_filter true/false
Enable or disable the "netspeak" and typo filter, which trans‐
lates expressions like "u" into "you," and other such things.
This is a bad idea if you write or receive messages in any lan‐
guage other than English. A complete list of replacements can be
viewed in the source file cleaner.c. (Default: false)
oscarport port
Connect to the AIM server using port port. (Default: 5190)
proxy, proxyport, proxytype
Connect through a proxy. proxy specifies the IP address or host‐
name of the proxy server, proxyport is the proxy port number and
proxytype is one of socks5 or https. Authentication is not cur‐
rently supported.
set_window_title true/false
Set the xterm/screen window title with "bsflite: screen name."
(Default: false)
colors true/false
Enables colors. (Default: false)
single_log true/false
Logs to a single file (log/log). (Default: false)
Lines beginning with '#' are ignored.
FILES
~/.bsflite/config
Configuration file
~/.bsflite/profile
User profile, written in HTML.
~/.bsflite/awaymessages
Pre-defined away messages, one per line. Multi-line away mes‐
sages may be entered by entering <br> between lines.
~/.bsflite/log/screenname.log
Log of all conversations with screenname, used for l commands.
~/.bsflite/log/log
Log if single_log is turned on.
AUTHOR
Claudio Leite
version 0.85 October 19th, 2008 bsflite(1)