1. General

1.1. Why choose WeeChat? X-Chat and Irssi are so good…

Because WeeChat is very light and has new features. Some features (version > = 0.3.x):

More info on this page: http://www.weechat.org/features

2. Compilation / install

2.1. I heard about many GUI’s for WeeChat. How can I compile/use them?

Today only a Curses GUI is available.

Other GUI’s will be available as remote clients (currently under development).

2.2. I can’t compile WeeChat after cloning git repository, why?

The recommended way to compile WeeChat is with cmake.

If you’re compiling with autotools (and not cmake), check that you have latest version of autoconf and automake (WeeChat is developed with autoconf 2.61 and automake 1.10.1).

The other way is to install "devel package", which needs less dependencies. This package is built almost every day using git repository. Note that this package may not correspond exactly to git base and that it’s less convenient than git cloning for installing updates.

3. Using WeeChat

3.1. I’ve launched WeeChat, but I’m lost, what can I do?

For help you can type /help. For help about a command, type /help command. Keys and commands are listed in documentation.

It’s recommended for new users to read the quickstart guide (see the doc page on the website).

3.2. I heard about "buffers" and "windows", what’s the difference?

A buffer is composed by a number, a name, lines displayed (and some other data).

A window is a screen area which displays a buffer. It is possible to split your screen into many windows.

Each window displays one buffer. A buffer can be hidden (not displayed by a window) or displayed by one or more windows.

3.3. I don’t see some chars with accents, what can I do?

It’s common issue, please read carefully and check ALL solutions below.

For versions < 0.2.3, please upgrade to the latest stable version.

For versions > = 0.2.3:

Note
UTF-8 locale is recommended for WeeChat. If you’re using ISO or other locale, please check that all your settings (terminal, screen, ..) are ISO and not UTF-8.

3.4. Bars like title and status are not filled, background color stops after text, why?

This may be caused by a bad value of the TERM variable in your shell (look at output of echo $TERM in your terminal).

Depending on where you launch WeeChat, you should have:

If needed, fix your TERM variable: export TERM="xxx".

3.5. When I’m using weechat under screen, I have weird random chars, how do I fix that?

This may be caused by bad value of the TERM variable in your shell (look at output of echo $TERM in your terminal).

For example, xterm-color may display such weird chars, you can use xterm which is ok (like many other values).

If needed, fix your TERM variable: export TERM="xxx".

3.6. How can I customize key bindings?

Key bindings are customizable with /key command.

Default key Meta-k (usually Alt-k) lets you grab key code and insert it in command line.

3.7. I’m using OpenBSD and WeeChat does not load any plugins, what’s wrong?

Under OpenBSD, plugin filenames end with ".so.0.0" (".so" for Linux).

You must set that up:

Then: /plugin autoload.

3.8. How can I load Perl/Python/Ruby/Lua/Tcl scripts? Are scripts compatible with other IRC clients?

You can use the commands /perl, /python, /ruby, /lua and /tcl to load scripts (default path for scripts is ~/.weechat/<language>/).

Scripts are not compatible with other IRC clients.

Notes:

3.9. I want to change the language used by WeeChat for messages, but without exiting WeeChat, is it possible?

Yes, you have to use a python script, shell.py (available on WeeChat website) and issue these commands when script is loaded:

/shell setenv LANG=en_US.UTF-8
/upgrade

To have english messages with UTF-8 encoding for terminal, for ISO users, you can issue: /shell setenv LANG=en_US.

3.10. How can I copy/paste text without pasting nicklist?

You can use a terminal with rectangular selection (like rxvt-unicode, konsole, gnome-terminal, …). Key is usually ctrl + alt + mouse selection.

Another solution is to move nicklist to top or bottom, for example:

3.11. How can I click on long URLs (more than one line)?

WeeChat displays time and prefix for each line and optional bars around chat area, so it is not possible to display long URLs without truncating them.

You can use one of following scripts:

urlbar.py

display URLs in a bar

urlgrab.py

logs URLs and open them in browser

url_shorten.rb
tinyurl.py
shortenurl.py

shorten long URLs

List of scripts about URLs: http://www.weechat.org/scripts/stable/tag/url

3.12. How can I be warned when someone highlights me on a channel?

According to WeeChat version:

Many other scripts exist for notification, please look at plugins/scripts page: http://www.weechat.org/scripts

3.13. How can I filter join/part/quit messages on IRC channels?

According to WeeChat version:

3.14. What is the difference between the /ignore and /filter commands?

The /ignore command is an IRC command, so it applies only for IRC buffers (servers and channels). It lets you ignore some nicks or hostnames of users for a server or channel (command will not apply on content of messages). Matching messages are deleted by IRC plugin before display (so you’ll never see them).

The /filter command is a core command, so it applies to any buffer. It lets you filter some lines in buffers with tags or regular expression for prefix and content of line. Filtered lines are only hidden, not deleted, and you can see them if you disable filters (by default, the key alt + "=" toggles filters).

4. Development

4.1. How should I report bugs, ask for new features or send patches?

There are 3 ways:

  1. you can join us on IRC: irc.freenode.net, channel #weechat

  2. you can use the savannah website:

  3. you can mail developers, look at support page for developer’s mails: http://www.weechat.org/about (you can subscribe and send to "support" mailing list)

4.2. What is the list of supported platforms for WeeChat? Will it be ported to other operating systems?

The full list is on this page: http://www.weechat.org/download

We do our best to run on as many platforms as possible. Help is welcome for some OS' we don’t have, to test WeeChat.

4.3. I want to help WeeChat developers. What can I do?

There’s many tasks to do (testing, code, documentation, …)

Please contact us via IRC or mail, look at support page: http://www.weechat.org/about

You can give us money to help development. Details on http://www.weechat.org/donate