FAQ

I'm going to put frequently asked questions here, based on answers given in #bitlbee.

Work in progress! Currently covers questions from IRC logs from 2014-03-01 to 2014-06-01.

General

How to get the bitlbee version

/ctcp root version

The result might be in the status window, depending on irc client.

Version "3.2.1+otr4-1" losing messages or crashing

Upgrade to latest bzr (apt repo here) or 3.2.2. Applies to early development versions and the ones that are currently shipped with debian testing/unstable and ubuntu trusty 14.04.

See: VersionReference http://bugs.bitlbee.org/bitlbee/ticket/1109 http://bugs.bitlbee.org/bitlbee/ticket/1110

The nick is (probably) not registered / Unknown error while loading configuration

Check that the permissions of the files in /var/lib/bitlbee match the user that is running the bitlbee daemon.

See logs 2014-05-30 for some debugging on why it happens

Do people still use <insert service name here>?

Yes.

Loop of "Trying to take over existing session"

The session takeover feature isn't particularly good, and should be avoided. Do set allow_takeover off and consider using a bouncer like ZNC instead if you need this.

<root> Setting ` ' does not exist. (and similar errors)

You might have a OTR plugin in your irc client or bouncer, which sends a whitespace pattern (made of spaces and tabs) when it's set to "opportunistic" mode, and having that at the end of root commands confuses bitlbee. Find a way to disable it.

(Note that the bitlbee otr plugin does the same, but only where it makes sense).

How to show offline nicks in /names list

chan &bitlbee set show_users online+,away+,offline

I restarted bitlbee and my settings didn't save

Some methods of restarting don't save the user settings - do "save" in the control channel to ensure they are saved. Of course, you need an account for that.

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SSL / TLS

How to connect to the bitlbee server with SSL/TLS?

Use stunnel or tls-enabled irc bouncer (e.g. ZNC) in front of it. (TODO: docs)

What SSL/TLS library does bitlbee use?

Either gnutls, openssl, or nss, depending on compilation parameters.

GnuTLS is the most common one, most distros use it, and it's the recommended option.

OpenSSL has no detection code (will never be used unless chosen explicitly) and will show a warning about the possible GNU GPL license incompatibility when trying to compile against it. Last time i checked, only openbsd compiled bitlbee against openssl.

NSS is used by redhat based distros - RHEL, centos, fedora, etc. Affected by this bug http://bugs.bitlbee.org/bitlbee/ticket/785 - but should be okay when using the systemd scripts provided in their packages, or inetd mode.

Using NSS, can't establish connections ("Unusuable response" etc)

(NSS is the default ssl/tls library in redhat based distros like centos or fedora)

Workaround, start bitlbee like this:

nohup bitlbee -Dn &

Or start bitlbee using xinetd. Or use the distro provided systemd units / init scripts (the fedora ones start it correctly)

Ticket

There's a fix for this issue in the fedora 22 packages.

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Compilation / installation issues

"help otr" gives a help message but "otr foo" says "unknown command"

The help text is always included even if you don't have the otr plugin installed. Install it.

I've rebuilt bitlbee and everything seems the same

Check ps aux, kill all old bitlbee processes. Disconnect your irc client. Ensure that you installed to the right place (the configure script installs to /usr/local by default)

`make install` throws errors about xmlto not found

It's building the user guide. Install asciidoc. You could also ignore the error.

Random issues that make no sense at all and absolutely nobody understands

Might be selinux. If you're on a redhat distro, use their packages and init scripts, which are correctly configured. Otherwise, learn to configure it or disable it.

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Jabber

Can't connect to google talk

Probably a SRV resolution error, related to http://bugs.bitlbee.org/bitlbee/ticket/1098

account jabber set server talk.google.com

jabber: Setting `oauth' does not exist.

You're using bitlbee-libpurple, which has a different jabber implementation without oauth. Install the normal bitlbee if you don't need any libpurple specific plugins.

As of 3.2.2 you can build bitlbee with the builtin jabber module and libpurple by running ./configure with --jabber=1 --purple=1

Tickets: http://bugs.bitlbee.org/bitlbee/ticket/1141 http://bugs.bitlbee.org/bitlbee/ticket/731

How to register a new jabber account in a server?

Not supported yet. You can use a client like psi or gajim one time just to do the registration step, then do the rest in bitlbee.

Is there google hangouts groupchat support?

No. One to one chats should still work through jabber.

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Facebook's jabber

More questions in HowtoFacebook

Is facebook's jabber deprecated?

It will continue to work until April 30th, 2015. Details

Several "FacebookUser" contacts that can't be identified

These are most likely profiles that were deleted or that blocked you. They might be included in the friends list of your facebook profile. The facebook mobile app might show an option to remove those contacts.

facebook: Users join before sending messages, then quit

This is bitlbee showing exactly what the facebook xmpp server says. You might want to ignore it in your irc client.

Example /ignore for irssi (will not work for other clients)

/ignore *!*@chat.facebook.com JOINS QUITS

Facebook says that I use an application called "Rtgw_xmpp_username_password_login"

This probably means "Realtime gateway xmpp username/password login" and it happens when you use password based login instead of oauth. See HowtoFacebook

Is there facebook groupchat support?

No. Groupchats aren't supported in Facebook's XMPP, so Bitlbee can't support them.

Other weird issues with facebook

The fallback answer for most facebook issues is "blame their server" - it's not a real xmpp server but a gateway to their service, which doesn't have a history of being particularly stable.

(But if the issue is not here or in HowtoFacebook, ask on IRC! We might find a solution)

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Twitter

See also issues listed in HowtoTwitter

twitter: Error: Could not retrieve /1.1/favorites/create.json: 404 Not Found (Sorry, that page does not exist)

The tweet was deleted

twitter: Error: Stream closed (200 OK)

Bitlbee has to reconnect due to twitter server side maintenance. It's often harmless, but might be annoying, see the following question.

twitter - Login error: Could not retrieve /friends/ids.xml: 403 Forbidden (SSL is required)

Upgrade to 3.2.1 (or 3.2.2)

Note that some builds are labeled 3.2-1, this is not the same as 3.2.1

Twitter shows messages from blocked users

Turns out we're supposed to get a list of blocked users and hide them on our side. Ticket

Is the "mute" feature implemented?

Twitter has not specified yet how we're supposed to implement that feature. So we haven't.

Twitter reconnects too often, it's annoying

Try this:

account twitter set show_old_mentions 0

How can i change the name of the #twitter_<username> channel?

It's a hack, but you can remove the "username" part of it like this

account twitter set username ""

And you get a channel named #twitter_. (It doesn't break because the username is irrelevant when using oauth)

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MSN

More questions in HowtoMsn

msn - Error: Session terminated by remote server (RCT)

RCT means reconnect. The remote server needs to restart for maintenance.

Is MSN still alive?

Yes, and microsoft still uses the msn protocol internally. See HowtoMsn

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Development

Are there docs?

No. But the bitlbee-steam plugin is wonderfully documented. Go look at that. Also, read the source, and feel free to ask any questions in #bitlbee.

Can I write plugins in languages other than C?

Python bindings coming soon. Meanwhile you could do like the skype plugin (connects to a daemon over a plain tcp+ssl connection).

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Other questions

(Add new questions here, move them later.)

Skype plugin losing messages

See known issues section of HowtoSkype, a few workarounds there.

Whatsapp?

See HowtoWhatsapp

Telegram?

Probably not. Ticket with longer explanation

"Message from unknown participant" in groupchats

Patch

GLib-CRITICAL **: Source ID ... was not found when attempting to remove it

This is not a "critical" bug, these are just warnings that something redundant is being done, only labeled as "critical" because that's the error level that glib gives to potential "​programming errors", but it really is harmless in this case

Ticket

Can I rename/remove &bitlbee?

You can create a new control channel with a different name, see "help channel".

Bitlbee will always join &bitlbee because you get messages there before logging in to your user. Currently there is no way to avoid this.

This is often asked as a way to workaround IRC client bugs - remember to report those to the developers!