Irssi and tmux (or screen)

In my last post I described a basic setup for bitlbee and irssi. Now I’ll describe my current irssi configuration. The setup described here has been tested on my Kubuntu Oneiric laptop.

Irssi is highly configurable via Perl scripts. You can write your own scripts, use those included in your GNU/Linux distro or download them from the scripts section of the irssi website or from other places. I’ve used the last two methods.

Currently I’m using three scripts: adv_windowlist.pl (downloaded from here), nicklist.pl and hilightwin.pl (both of them from the irssi-scripts Kubuntu package).

The advanced window list script allows you to customise the channels status bar and the active windows list.

The nicklist script places all nicknames in a channel in a bar at the side of the window like many other IRC-channels. You can use it in two modes: fifo or screen.

With the hilightwin.pl script every time you get hilighted (someone types your nickname or any other higlighted word or sends you a private message) a copy of that message will be sent to a separate window.

In order to run the scripts automatically at irssi startup I’ve created the recommended ~/.irssi/scripts/autorun subtree. I’ve put adv_windowlist.pl under the scripts directory and created symbolic links to all the three scripts mentioned above under the autorun directory.

And now for the scripts configuration. Start irssi and from the status window run the following commands to setup the hilightwin.pl script so that it displays a window on the top of the terminal at all time. That way it will be difficult for you to miss important messages:

/run autorun/hilightwin.pl
/window new split
/window name hilight
/window size 6
/layout save

Next configure the adv_windowlist.pl script. The settings and explanations for them are atop the script, in the OPTIONS section. From the status window run the command:

/set awl_display_key $Q%K|%n$H$C$S
/set awl_block -15

where $Q is the meta-keymap key (ALT on my system), %K changes the color of the pipe character, %n changes the color of the window name, $H means start hilighting, $S means stop hilightning and $C is the name of the window. The second line defines the width of the status bar region dedicated to every window. Unfortunaltely the hilight part fails for me (maybe I’m misunderstanding something, suggestions are welcome 🙂

Next configure the nicklist.pl script. Here I’ll assume you’re running irssi in a tmux session. From the status window execute (comments have been added for clarity, obviously you don’t have to write them):

# split the terminal window in two panes
CTRL+b %
# resize the right pane to its minimum with
CTRL+b right_arrow_pressed until the desired width is get
# back to the pane where irsii is running
CTRL+b o
# Configure the nicklist script in FIFO mode
/nicklist fifo
# back to the right pane and get its size (rows, columns)
$ stty size
42 20
$ cat ~/.irssi/nicklistfifo
# back to the pane where irsii is running
/set nicklist_height 42
/set nicklist_width 20
/nicklist fifo

If you use screen instead of tmux the setup is easier, but it doesn’t work so smoothly:

/nicklist screen

Eventually save your configuration:

/save

Here you can see the whole thing in action:

PS: As an added bonus of running irssi inside a tmux session the nicklist script works even if you are not running a X session. It is fun to see it working in a Linux console 🙂

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BitlBee and Irssi

If you are a real geek and want to do your chatting (IRC or IM) on text mode instead of using a GUI then this entry is for you.

After searching the Internet and trying some nice applications for chatting using the command line (e.g. CenterIM) my choice is the pair BitlBee/Irssi. The setup described in this entry has been tested on my Kubuntu Oneiric laptop.

BitlBee is an IRC gateway program for MSN, ICQ, AIM, Jabber and Google Talk. It behaves as a IRC server, creates a IRC channel with all your contacts and allows you to talk to them as if they were normal IRC users. So it must be combined with a IRC client such as Irss  (other cool combination you can try is done with web browser IRC clients such as cgi-irc).

BitlBee can be used in two different ways, via its public servers or installing it on your computer. Using a public server does involve a security risk, where as running your own BitlBee server does not. So my advice is to install your own server locally and run it via xinetd as it seems the safer option.

I’ve installed the following packages:

• xinetd
• bitlbee
• irssi
• irssi-scripts

It is recommended to run bitlbee via xinetd but the bitlbee package doesn’t provide/create the right file under /etc/xinetd.d/ so we have to add it by hand. The filename is bitlbee and its contents are:

service ircd
{
socket_type = stream
protocol = tcp
wait = no
user = bitlbee
server = /usr/sbin/bitlbee
port = 6667
disable = no
bind = localhost # prevent non-local access by binding to the loopback device
}

At this point one should stop the bitlbee daemon if it is running and restart the xinetd:

# /etc/init.d/bitlbee stop
# /etc/init.d/xinetd restart


The next step is to configure the BitlBee server. You have to launch irss and connect it to the BitlBee server:

$ irssi
/connect localhost


This is done in the status window (which prompt is [(status)]). If everything goes fine the control channel window (which prompt is [&bitlbee]) will be created. Change to the control channel window with the command:

/window 2

or with ALT+2 (you can cycle between windows using ALT+left/right arrow). Then you register yourself in the server using a password:

register your_password

(note that this is not an IRC command but a BitlBee one so it is not prefixed with a slash). After registering all your IM settings (passwords, contacts, etc.) will be saved on the BitlBee server. Finally you add your IM accounts. For instance, if you want to add a Google Talk account enter the following command:

account add jabber example@gmail.com

Then you will be asked to use the /OPER command to enter the account password. Do it:

/OPER

At the prompt, enter your account password (it won’t be visible). That’s all, the account has been added.

Once you’ve created all your accounts you’ll need to activate them. The following command does it:

account on

Lastly, save the settings on your account and quit the program:

save
/quit

Now that the basic BitlBee setup is done let’s see how a typical session is run. On your favorite terminal launch the Irssi client:

$ irssi

A new Irssi session will be started and you will see the status window (with prompt [(status)]). Type the command:

/connect localhost

A message saying that the connection has been established should be displayed. Change to the bitlbee control channel pressing ALT+2 or typing the command:

/window 2

The prompt on this window is [&bitlbee]. Now identify yourself with the password used for registering in the BitlBee server:

identify your_password

Now you are recognized and logged on to all your IM accounts automatically. In the bitlbee control channel there are 2 users now, @your_nick and @root. You can see the list of IM accounts you’re connected to:

account list

Or you can see the list of all your contacts (buddies):

blist


You can chat with your buddies on the bitlbee control channel:

buddy_nick: Hi, how are you?

If you prefer to create a dedicated window for private chatting you can use the /msg or /query IRC commands:

/msg buddy_nick Hi, how are you?

Move to the just created window (which will have a [buddy_nick] prompt) and chat normally.
You can close this window with the /q command or with the /wc command (which is useful too for parting channels on disconnected networks).

Irssi can handle multiple IRC connections simultaneously, thus it is possible to be active in channels on different networks at the same time. So being connected to your Google Talk account you can move to the status window, connect to, let’s say, the Freenode network, switch to that network and join to the #ubuntu channel:

/connect irc.freenode.net
CTRL+X
/join #ubuntu

You can use Ctrl-X to switch between network connections and see which the active network is by looking at the status bar.

As expected, you can leave a given channel on a connected network using /part, disconnect from a network using /disconnect and quit your IRC session using /quit.

This has been just a brief introduction to BitlBee/Irssi but there are lots of things you can do yet: customise your Irssi instalation, enhance it via themes and scripts, run it in a screen session (this is really cool :-)…