This weechat guide is broken into two parts. The first part is all about how to use weechat. It starts by handing you a git repo of weechat config files to give you a better “default”. After getting that set up the rest of the guide will go over how to use these configs. The second guide is the advanced guide, which goes over the changes made to these configs as individual changes with the what, why, and how of the change. If you are an existing weechat user and dont want to uproot your current set up I recommend you go through the advanced guide and decide which parts of the guide you want to add to your configs.
THE MOST AWESOMEST CONFIGS EVER
Weechat stores all of its configs in ~/.weechat. If you start up weechat without
configs it will generate default configs and put them there. If you have
already been using weechat you will want to save your old config at ~/.weechat
first. Make sure that there is no .weechat folder in your home dir and
run:
git pull something.cool/some/place/git.git
This git repo has been set up to ignore the logs dir and the server config both of witch are stored in ~/.weechat.
Connecting
Now if you start weechat it will grab the new configs. The first thing you will want to do is pick your username(s). You can set more then one incase your first pick is already being used. This can be changed later and once you have a registered nick you can set this variable to that, but you do need to have at least one nick to connect to a server.
/set irc.server_default.nicks “nick1,nick2,nick3”
Next we need to connect to freenode.
/connect freenode
If the nick you set is already in use freenode will add ‘_’ to the end until it finds a free nick (this is called a tail). In this case you will want to change your nick.
/nick [nickname]
Once you find a nick you like you should register your nick so other people cannot take it.
/msg nickserv register <password for your nick> <email>
Then you will need to confirm your email by following the instructions in your email.
In the future you can identify for that nick and also set your nick to enforce which means people only have 30 seconds to try to identify to your nick.
/msg nickserv identify <password>
/msg nickserv set enforce
Now join the LUG channel.
/join #osu-lug
You can join as many channels as you want at the same time.
You can also create a new buffer that is a private message with someone.
/q [username]
Now we are going to set weechat to autoconnect to this network and auto authenticate
/set irc.server.freenode.autoconnect on /set irc.server.freenode.nicks [nick] /set irc.server.freenode.password [password]
Lastly we want to save, anytime you use the /set command to change an option
you need to run /save to write the changes to disk. If you don’t save then
when weechat is restarted it will not have any of these changes.
/save
###DON’T FORGET TO SAVE
Weechat 101
###Buffers
In weechat everything lives in a buffer (kinda like a tab). On the left side of
the screen there is a list of all of your current buffers. you can use
Alt-[1-0] to go to buffers 1-10. As you get more then 10 buffers you can
simply use:
/buffer #
/b # (an alias to /buffer)
An even faster way of doing this is Alt-j (jump) quickly followed by the number of
the buffer you want to go to 00-99, note that 01-09 have leading zeros.
You can also use Alt-[left,right,up,down] to move through one buffer at a
time.
Alt-a will go to the next buffer in your hotlist (see status
bar), This is the main why I move between buffers.
/buffer move # will move your current buffer to that number, pushing all
others back. Not only will this help you keep your buffers orginized, but
latter on could help with your hotlist order (get to that in a little).
To close your curent buffer use /buffer close or just /close.
###Status Bar
The second line from the bottom of your screen is your status bar, this is your hub for everthing happening in weechat:
[13:12] [2] [irc/freenode] 2:#osu-lug(+nt){86} [2(14,4) 3(2)]
^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | -- hotlist (see below)
| | | | | | ------ Number of people in current channel
| | | | | ---------- Current channle's flags (will talk more about this later, maybe)
| | | | ---------------- Current buffer's name (normally channel name)
| | | ---------------------- Current buffer's number
| | ------------------------------ Current buffer's network
| ---------------------------------------- Total number of buffers
---------------------------------------------- Current time (based on local systeam clock)
The hotlist shows buffers that have activity in them, activity can be someone joining/parting, saying a masage, changing the topic or anthing else that would apper in that buffer. In he above example we see that:
- Buffer number 2 has had 14 new massages and 4 non-massage actions
- Buffer number 3 has had 2 actions but with only one number we will have to look at its color to see what type of action it is (probably a massage)
The action could be repersented by one of the following colors:
- White: non-talk activity (such as someone joining).
- Blue: someone has said something in that channel.
- Red: someone is speaking directly to you (highlight) or someone has sent you a private massage.
- Buffer number not shown: nothing has happened in that channel since you last checked.
The red and blue colors are also used on the buffers bar witht the same meaning.
###Settings
WeeChat settings are really easy, we are going to use a script installed as part of the configs.
/iset
This will open a new buffer with iset, it gives you a list of every setting in weechat. To search for a setting just start typing and hit enter, to clear your search just search for ‘*’. The top bar of iset will show you a few of the commands you can use. The 3 line box below that will show you a description of the current setting, available options, and its default option. To change a settings value you can use the following commands.
- Alt-enter: edit value*
- Alt-Space: toggle value*
*You may have issues with you local terminal trying to grab these key combos, the solution to this can vary based on terminal. If you run into problems just ask in #osu-lug.
once you have made a change it will go into effect immediately, you can run
/save to save the changes to disk. DONT FORGET TO SAVE, if you don’t save
changes will not persist though weechat restarts. like any buffer you can close
iset by using /close.
its also worth noting that without iset an option can be changed using /set option value or just /set option to see its current vaule.
for more information on how settings are strucured and how to find diffrent settings look at the advanced guide.
###Help
/help is a pretty cool command, so much so it gets its own section. Weechat
actually has pretty good documentation built into it. If you type /help you
will get a list of all available commands, including commands added by scripts.
If you then type /help command you will get a description and examples of how
to use that command.
/help
Using the Configs
One of the biggest changes these configs give you is themes/colors. Congraulations you’re using that part! Dosen’t it look pretty?
###New Keys
There are a few new key bindings added in with these configs
Alt-n - toggles the nick list on the right of the screen on and off Alt-b - toggles the buffers list of the left of the screen on and off Alt-f - toggles the smart fillter (see below) on and off
###Auto Join
We set up weechat to auto connect to feenode but now lets set it to autojoin all of the channels we are in
/autojoin
/save
That will populate the list of channels to autojoin and save those changes to disk, as you change which channels you are in you will need to rerun this command.
###Smart Filters
A smart filter intelligently hides information that weechat doesn’t think you care about. It will hides all joins/parts unless the person joining/parting has talked in the last five minutes. It will unmask any joins if tha person talks within 30 minutes of joining. This helps keep your channels clean.