path: root/docs/startup-HOWTO.txt

 To new Irssi users (not to new IRC users ..)

 Copyright (c) 2000-2001 by Timo Sirainen


Index with some FAQ questions that are answered in the chapter:

 1. For all the lazy people
 2. Basic user interface usage
 3. Server and channel automation
      - how do I automatically connect to servers at starup?
      - how do I automatically join to channels at startup?
 4. Setting up windows and automatically restoring them at startup
 5. Status and msgs windows & message levels
      - I want /WHOIS to print reply to current window
      - I want all messages to go to one window, not create new windows
      - I want to have own status and/or msgs window for each servers
 6. How support for multiple servers works in irssi
      - I connected to some server that doesn't respond and now irssi
        keeps trying to reconnect to it again and again, how can I stop it??
 7. /LASTLOG and jumping around in scrollback
      - How can I save all texts in a window to file?
 8. Logging
 9. Irssi's settings


 1. For all the lazy people
 --------------------------

These settings should give you pretty good defaults (the ones I use):

I don't like automatic query windows, I don't like status window, I do
like msgs window where all messages go:
  /SET autocreate_own_query OFF
  /SET autocreate_query_level DCCMSGS
  /SET use_status_window OFF
  /SET use_msgs_window ON

Disable automatic window closing when /PARTing channel or /UNQUERYing
query:
  /SET autoclose_windows OFF
  /SET reuse_unused_windows ON

And example how to add servers:

(openprojects network, identify with nickserv and wait for 2 seconds before
joining channels)
  /IRCNET ADD -autosendcmd "/^msg nickserv ident password;wait -opn 2000" opn

Then add some servers to different networks (ircnet is already set up 
for them), irc.kpnqwest.fi is used by default for IRCNet but if it fails,
irc.funet.fi is tried next:
  /SERVER ADD -auto -ircnet ircnet irc.kpnqwest.fi 6667
  /SERVER ADD -ircnet ircnet irc.funet.fi 6667
  /SERVER ADD -auto -ircnet efnet efnet.cs.hut.fi 6667

Automatically join to channels after connected to server, send op request
to bot after joined to efnet/#irssi:
  /CHANNEL ADD -auto #irssi ircnet
  /CHANNEL ADD -auto -bots *!*@bot@host.org -botcmd "/^msg $0 op pass"
	       #irssi efnet


 2. Basic user interface usage
 -----------------------------

By default, irssi uses "hidden windows" for everything. Hidden window is
created every time you /JOIN a channel or /QUERY someone. There's several
ways you can change between these windows:

  ALT-1, ALT-2, ... ALT-0 - Jump directly between windows 1-10
  ALT-q .. ALT-p          - Jump directly between windows 11-20
  ESC-1 .. ESC-0          - ALT-keys don't work everywhere, but you can use
                            ESC-key instead of ALT.
  /WINDOW <number>        - Jump to any window with specified number
  Ctrl-P, Ctrl-N          - Jump to previous / next window

Clearly the easiest way is to use ALT-number keys. Some terminals just
don't allow it, with xterm and rxvt you should be able to fix it with
changing X resources:

  XTerm*eightBitInput:   false
  XTerm*metaSendsEscape: true

And how exactly does it happen? For Debian, there's
/etc/X11/Xresources/xterm file where you can put them and it's read
automatically when X starts. ~/.Xresources file might also work. If you
can't get anything else to work, just copy&paste those lines to
~/.Xresources and directly call "xrdb -merge ~/.Xresources" in some
xterm. The resources affect only the new xterms you start, not existing
ones.

Many windows SSH clients also don't allow usage of ALT. One excellent
client that does allow is putty, you can download it from
http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/.

Irssi also supports split windows, they've had some problems in past
but I think they should work pretty well now :) Here's some commands
related to them:

  /WINDOW NEW                    - Create new split window
  /WINDOW NEW HIDE               - Create new hidden window
  /WINDOW CLOSE                  - Close split or hidden window

  /WINDOW HIDE [<number>|<name>] - Make the split window hidden window
  /WINDOW SHOW <number>|<name>   - Make the hidden window a split window

  /WINDOW SHRINK [<lines>]       - Shrink the split window
  /WINDOW GROW [<lines>]         - Grow the split window
  /WINDOW BALANCE                - Balance the sizes of all split windows

By default, irssi uses "sticky windowing" for split windows. This means
that windows created inside one split window cannot be moved to another
split window without some effort. For example you could have following
window layout:

  Split window 1: win#1 - Status window, win#2 - Messages window
  Split window 2: win#3 - ircnet/#channel1, win#4 - ircnet/#channel2
  Split window 3: win#5 - efnet/#channel1, win#6 - efnet/#channel2

When you are in win#1 and press ALT-6, irssi changes jumps to split
window #3 and moves the efnet/#channel2 the active window.

With non-sticky windowing the windows don't have any relationship with
split windows, pressing ALT-6 in win#1 moves win#6 to split window 1
and sets it active, except if win#6 was already visible in some other
split window irssi just changes to that split window. This it the way
windows work with ircii, if you prefer it you can set it with

  /SET autostick_split_windows OFF

Each window can have multiple channels, queries and other "window
items" inside them. If you don't like windows at all, you disable
automatic creating of them with

  /SET autocreate_windows OFF

If you want to group only some channels or queries in one window, use

  /JOIN -window #channel
  /QUERY -window nick


 3. Server and channel automation
 --------------------------------

Irssi's multiple IRC network support is IMHO very good - at least
compared to other clients :) Even if you're only in one IRC network you
should group all your servers to be in the same IRC network as this
helps with reconnecting if your primary server breaks and is probably
useful in some other ways too :) For information how to actually use
irssi correctly with multiple servers see the chapter 6.

First you need to have your IRC network set, use /IRCNET command to see
if it's already there. If it isn't, use /IRCNET ADD yourircnet. To make
Irssi work properly with different IRC networks, you might need to give
some special settings to /IRCNET ADD, see manual.txt for more
information about them. Irssi defaults to IRCNet's behaviour.

After that you need to add your servers. For example:

  /SERVER ADD -auto -ircnet ircnet irc.kpnqwest.fi 6667
  /SERVER ADD -auto -ircnet worknet irc.mycompany.com 6667 password

The -auto option specifies that this server is automatically connected
at startup. You don't need to make more than one server with -auto
option to one IRC network, other servers are automatically connected in
same network if the -auto server fails.

And finally channels:

  /CHANNEL ADD -auto -bots *!*@bot@host.org -botcmd "/^msg $0 op pass"
	       #irssi efnet
  /CHANNEL ADD -auto #secret ircnet password

-bots and -botcmd should be the only ones needing a bit of explaining.
They're used to send commands automatically to bot when channel is
joined, usually to get ops automatically. You can specify multiple bot
masks with -bots option separated with spaces (and remember to quote
the string then). The $0 in -botcmd specifies the first found bot in
the list. If you don't need the bot masks (ie. the bot is always with
the same nick, like chanserv) you can give only the -botcmd option and
the command is always sent.


 4. Setting up windows and automatically restoring them at startup
 -----------------------------------------------------------------

First connect to all the servers, join the channels and create the
queries you want. If you want to move the windows or channels around
use commands:

  /WINDOW MOVE LEFT/RIGHT/number    - move window elsewhere
  /WINDOW ITEM MOVE <number>|<name> - move channel/query to another window

When everything looks the way you like, use /LAYOUT SAVE command (and
/SAVE, if you don't have autosaving enabled) and when you start irssi
next time, irssi remembers the positions of the channels, queries and
everything. This "remembering" doesn't mean that simply using /LAYOUT
SAVE would automatically make irssi reconnect to all servers and join
all channels, you'll need the /SERVER ADD -auto and /CHANNEL ADD -auto
commands to do that.

If you want to change the layout, you just rearrange the layout like
you want it and use /LAYOUT SAVE again. If you want to remove the
layout for some reason, use /LAYOUT RESET.


 5. Status and msgs windows & message levels
 -------------------------------------------

By default, all the "extra messages" go to status window. This means
pretty much all messages that don't clearly belong to some channel or
query. Some people like it, some don't. If you want to remove it, use

  /SET use_status_window OFF

This doesn't have any effect until you restart irssi. If you want to
remove it immediately, just /WINDOW CLOSE it.

Another common window is "messages window", where all private messages
go. By default it's disabled and query windows are created instead. To
make all private messages go to msgs window, say:

  /SET use_msgs_window ON
  /SET autocreate_query_level DCCMSGS  (or if you don't want queries to
                                        dcc chats either, say NONE)

use_msgs_window either doesn't have any effect until restarting irssi.
To create it immediately say:

  /WINDOW NEW HIDE     - create the window
  /WINDOW NAME (msgs)  - name it to "(msgs)"
  /WINDOW LEVEL MSGS   - make all private messages go to this window
  /WINDOW MOVE 1       - move it to first window

Note that neither use_msgs_window nor use_status_window have any effect
at all if /LAYOUT SAVE has been used.

This brings us to message levels.. What are they? All messages that
irssi prints have one or more "message levels". Most common are PUBLIC
for public messages in channels, MSGS for private messages and CRAP for
all sorts of messages with no real classification. You can get a whole
list of levels with

  /HELP levels

Status window has message level "ALL -MSGS", meaning that all messages,
except private messages, without more specific place go to status
window. The -MSGS is there so it doesn't conflict with messages window.


 6. How support for multiple servers works in irssi
 --------------------------------------------------

ircii and several other clients support multiple servers by placing the
connection into some window. IRSSI DOES NOT. There is no required
relationship between window and server. You can connect to 10 servers
and manage them all in just one window, or join channel in each one of
them to one sigle window if you really want to. That being said, here's
how you do connect to new server without closing the old connection:

  /CONNECT irc.server.org

Instead of the /SERVER which disconnects the existing connection. To
see list of all active connections, use /SERVER without any parameters.
You should see a list of something like:

  -!- IRCNet: irc.telia.fi:6667 (IRCNet)
  -!- OPN: tolkien.openprojects.net:6667 (OPN)
  -!- RECON-1: 192.168.0.1:6667 () (02:59 left before reconnecting)

Here you see that we're connected to IRCNet and OPN networks. The the
IRCNet at the beginning is called the "server tag" while the (IRCnet)
at the end shows the IRC network. Server tag specifies unique tag to
refer to the server, usually it's the same as the IRC network. When
the IRC network isn't known it's some part of the server name. When
there's multiple connections to same IRC network or server, irssi adds
a number after the tag so there could be ircnet, ircnet2, ircnet3 etc.

Server tags beginning with RECON- mean server reconnections. Above we
see that connection to server at 192.168.0.1 wasn't successful and
irssi will try to connect it again in 3 minutes.

To disconnect one of the servers, or to stop irssi from reconnecting,
use

  /DISCONNECT ircnet   - disconnect server with tag "ircnet"
  /DISCONNECT recon-1  - stop trying to reconnect to RECON-1 server
  /RMRECONNS           - stop all server reconnections

  /RECONNECT recon-1   - immediately try reconnecting back to RECON-1
  /RECONNECT ALL       - immediately try reconnecting back to all
                         servers in reconnection queue

Now that you're connected to all your servers, you'll have to know how
to specify which one of them you want to use. One way is to have an
empty window, like status or msgs window. In it, you can specify which
server to set active with

  /WINDOW SERVER tag    - set server "tag" active
  Ctrl-X                - set the next server in list active

When the server is active, you can use it normally. When there's
multiple connected servers, irssi adds [servertag] prefix to all
messages in non-channel/query messages so you'll know where it came
from.

Several commands also accept -servertag option to specify which server
it should use:

  /MSG -tag nick message
  /JOIN -tag #channel
  /QUERY -tag nick

/MSG tab completion also automatically adds the -tag option when nick
isn't in active server.


 7. /LASTLOG and jumping around in scrollback
 --------------------------------------------

/LASTLOG command can be used for searching texts in scrollback buffer.
Simplest usages are

  /LASTLOG word     - print all lines with "word" in them
  /LASTLOG word 10  - print last 10 occurances of "word"
  /LASTLOG -topics  - print all topic changes

If there's more lines to be printed than 1000, irssi doesn't thinks
that you probably made some mistake and won't print them without -force
option. If you want to save the full lastlog to file, use

  /LASTLOG -file ~/irc.log

With -file option you don't need -force even if there's more than 1000
lines. /LASTLOG has a lot of other options too, see /HELP lastlog for
details.

Once you've found the lines you were interested in, you might want to
check the discussion around them. Irssi has /SCROLLBACK (or alias /SB)
command for jumping around in scrollback buffer. Since /LASTLOG prints
the timestamp when the message was originally printed, you can use /SB
GOTO hh:mm to jump directly there. To get back to the bottom of
scrollback, use /SB END command.


 8. Logging
 ----------

Irssi can automatically log important messages when you're set away
(/AWAY reason). When you set yourself unaway (/AWAY), the new messages
in away log are printed to screen. You can configure it with:

  /SET awaylog_level MSGS HILIGHT     - Specifies what messages to log
  /SET awaylog_file ~/.irssi/away.log - Specifies the file to use

Easiest way to start logging with Irssi is to use autologging. With it
Irssi logs all channels and private messages to specified directory.
You can turn it on with

  /SET autolog ON

By default it logs pretty much everything execept CTCPS or CRAP (/WHOIS
requests, etc). You can specify the logging level yourself with

  /SET autolog_level ALL -CRAP -CLIENTCRAP -CTCPS (this is the default)

By default irssi logs to ~/irclogs/<servertag>/<target>.log. You can
change this with

  /SET autolog_path ~/irclogs/$tag/$0.log (this is the default)

The path is automatically created if it doesn't exist. $0 specifies the
target (channel/nick). You can make irssi automatically rotate the logs
by adding date/time formats to the file name. The formats are in "man
strftime" format. For example

  /SET autolog_path = ~/irclogs/%Y/$tag/$0.%m-%d.log

For logging only some specific channels or nicks, see /HELP log


 9. Irssi's settings
 -------------------

You probably don't like Irssi's default settings. I don't like them.
But I'm still convinced that they're pretty good defaults. Here's some
of them you might want to change (the default value is shown):


 - Queries

/SET autocreate_own_query ON - Should new query window be created when
you send message to someone (with /msg).

/SET autocreate_query_level MSGS - New query window should be created
when receiving messages with this level. MSGS, DCCMSGS and NOTICES
levels work currently. You can disable this with /SET -clear
autocrate_query_level.

/SET autoclose_query 0 - Query windows can be automatically closed
after certain time of inactivity. Queries with unread messages aren't
closed and active window is neither never closed. The value is given in
seconds.


 - Windows

/SET use_msgs_window OFF - Create messages window at startup. All
private messages go to this window. This only makes sense if you've
disabled automatic query windows. Message window can also be created
manually with /WINDOW LEVEL MSGS, /WINDOW NAME (msgs).

/SET use_status_window ON - Create status window at startup. All
messages that don't really have better place go here, like all /WHOIS
replies etc. Status window can also be created manually with /WINDOW
LEVEL ALL -MSGS, /WINDOW NAME (status).

/SET autocreate_windows - Should we create new windows for new window
items or just place everything in one window

/SET autoclose_windows OFF - Should window be automatically closed when
the last item in them is removed (ie. /PART, /UNQUERY).

/SET reuse_unused_windows OFF - When finding where to place new window
item (channel, query) Irssi first tries to use already existing empty
windows. If this is set ON, new window will always be created for all
window items. This setting is ignored if autoclose_windows is set ON.

/SET window_auto_change OFF - Should Irssi automatically change to
automatically created windows - usually queries when someone sends you
a message. To prevent accidentally sending text meant to some other
channel/nick, Irssi clears the input buffer when changing the window.
The text is still in scrollback buffer, you can get it back with
pressing arrow up key.

/SET print_active_channel OFF - When you keep more than one channel in
same window, Irssi prints the messages coming to active channel as
"<nick> text" and other channels as "<nick:channel> text". If this
setting is set ON, the messages to active channels are also printed in
the latter way.

/SET window_history OFF - Should command history be kept separate for
each window.


 - User information

/SET nick (or default_nick in 0.7.95 and older) - Your nick name
/SET alternate_nick - Your alternate nick.
/SET user_name, /SET real_name - Your user- and real name.


 - Server information

/SET skip_motd OFF - Should we hide server's MOTD (Message Of The Day).

/SET server_reconnect_time 300 - Seconds to wait before connecting to
same server again. Don't set this too low since it usually doesn't help
at all - if the host is down, the few extra minutes of waiting won't
hurt much.

/SET lag_max_before_disconnect 300 - Maximum server lag in seconds
before disconnecting and trying to reconnect. This happens mostly only
when network breaks between you and IRC server.


 - Appearance

/SET timestamps ON - Show timestamps before each message.

/SET hide_text_style OFF - Hide all bolds, underlines, MIRC colors, etc.

/SET show_nickmode ON - Show the nick's mode before nick in channels, ie.
ops have <@nick>, voices <+nick> and others < nick>

/SET show_quit_once OFF - Show quit message only once in some of the
channel windows the nick was in instead of in all windows.

/SET topicbar ON - Show the channel's topic in top of screen.

/SET lag_min_show 100 - Show the server lag in status bar if it's
bigger than this, the unit is 1/100 of seconds (ie. the default value
of 100 = 1 second).

/SET indent 10 - When lines are longer than screen width they have to
be split to multiple lines. This specifies how much space to put at the
beginning of the line before the text begins. This can be overridden in
text formats with %| format.

/SET noact_channels - If you don't want to see window activity in some
certain channels or queries, list them here. For example
"#boringchannel =bot1 =bot2". If any highlighted text or message for
you appears in that window, this setting is ignored and the activity is
shown.

/SET mail_counter ON - Show the number of mails in your mbox in status
bar. The mbox file is taken from $MAIL environment setting. Only mbox
format works for now.

/SET statusbar_xxx - Change these to change the colors of the
statusbar. Type "/SET statusbar" to see all the different settings.


 - Nick completion

/SET completion_auto OFF - Automatically complete the nick if line
begins with start of nick and the completion character. Learn to use
the tab-completion instead, it's a lot better ;)

/SET completion_char : - Completion character to use.