BitlBee, The only buzzword your manager doesn't know about

Latest Releases


Stable: 3.2.2
2014-07-05
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BZR logs


Main dev tree

1059
doc/AUTHORS updated to the current state of things.
1058
[merge] Bunch of merges from dx.
1057
Debian bug #764181: Accidentally had an LGPL header in a bunch of files.

What is BitlBee?


BitlBee brings IM (instant messaging) to IRC clients. It's a great solution for people who have an IRC client running all the time and don't want to run an additional MSN/AIM/whatever client.

BitlBee currently supports the following IM networks/protocols: XMPP/Jabber (including Google Talk), MSN Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, AIM and ICQ, and the Twitter microblogging network (plus all other Twitter API compatible services like identi.ca and status.net).

How to use it?

Just install the program and connect to the BitlBee server with your favourite IRC-client. You will be force-joined into the control channel where root (the bot, your assistant, the bee) will try to help you to get the program working.

As soon as you get your accounts working, you can add users to your contact list and talk to them, just like you normally do on IRC. Open a query, talk to the person in the channel, or even talk to them in groupchats that will look to you like just another IRC channel.

If you don't want to (or can't) install BitlBee on your own machine you can also use one of the public servers. If you use Windows, this is the preferred option, as the Win32 port isn't very reliable yet.