Bitlbee Gtalk Howto

There's a lot of bad information out on the Internet about how to add a google talk account. It's actually very simple!

15:28 <@you> account add jabber you@gmail.com
15:28 <@root> Account successfully added with tag gtalk
15:28 <@root> You can now use the /OPER command to enter the password
15:28 <@root> Alternatively, enable OAuth if the account supports it: acc gtalk set oauth on
15:29 <@you> acc gtalk set oauth on
15:29 <@root> oauth = `true'
15:29 <@you> acc gtalk on
15:29 <@root> gtalk - Logging in: Starting OAuth authentication

A private message will pop up:

15:29 <jabber_oauth> Open this URL in your browser to authenticate: https://...
15:29 <jabber_oauth> Respond to this message with the returned authorization token.

The URL will open a page saying "BitlBee is requesting permission to:". Click "Allow access" and paste the OAuth code back into the private window. Your account will then come online, and your contacts will appear.

You're done!

If you have a Google+ account, your G+ contacts will also appear with odd names. To fix this, set the nick_format account setting to %full_name, like this:

account gtalk set nick_format %full_name

Enter:

help nick_format

or:

help set nick_format

For more details. (Note that you must acc off and acc on for the new format to take effect.)

See also:

• Using Google Talk with a non-GMail address

• Using Google Talk with a Google Apps for Domains Address

• Group chats in bitlbee using GTalk accounts

• Managing contact lists

Not working?

Some home routers have a "feature" that screws up the account settings for Google Talk in bitlbee. If you are having issue connecting, and the account's server setting has become unset, check out http://bugs.bitlbee.org/bitlbee/ticket/988 . Or, more briefly, change the following settings:

server = `talk.google.com'