= Using unix sockets to connect from your irc client =

Some IRC clients such as irssi allow you to connect to unix sockets, which have filesystem paths instead of hostnames as addresses.

!BitlBee doesn't exactly support this, but there are workarounds.

== With systemd socket activation and inetd mode ==

Just change the `ListenStream` entry of the `bitlbee.socket` unit to be a filesystem path instead of a port number.

Example contents of `bitlbee.socket`

{{{
[Socket]
ListenStream=/run/bitlbee.sock
Accept=yes
}}}

Example contents of `bitlbee@.service` (no need to change anything)

{{{
[Unit]
Description=BitlBee Per-Connection Server
After=syslog.target

[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/sbin/bitlbee -I
StandardInput=socket
User=bitlbee
}}}

If you don't have these, just place them with `/etc/systemd/system/`. Then just enable and start `bitlbee.socket`. (not the service)

{{{
systemctl enable bitlbee.socket
systemctl start bitlbee.socket
}}}

And connect from your irc client with `/connect /run/bitlbee.sock`

== Other methods ==

As far as I know inetd/xinetd don't support `AF_UNIX` sockets. Edit this if i'm wrong.