PURPOSE

This plugin was developed to enhance the usability of the IRC protocol in Gaim.
See the PHILOSOPHY file for more details.


COMPATIBILITY

This plugin *should* work with all (non-beta) released versions of
Gaim >= 1.0.0 on all architectures where Gaim runs.  If it doesn't, report that
as a bug.  NOTE: This plugin may not compile with old versions of GTK+ or glib.
If that's important to you, please file a feature request with a copy of the
compiler errors you get when attempting to build the plugin.

This plugin has (at some point) been tested on the following networks:
	FreeNode
	DALnet
	GameSurge
	Jeux (by BNI on irc.freenode.net)
	QuakeNet
	Undernet
	SlashNET (by uilleann@users.sf.net)

If it doesn't work on these networks, please file that as a bug.

It may work with other networks.  I encourage users to report networks that it
works on.  I also try to support new networks as requested by users.  I want to
keep this plugin fairly simple, so I'm not currently looking to add preferences
or a configuration file so that new networks can be supported without editing
the source.


BUG REPORTS & FEEDBACK

Bug reports and patches are welcome: http://sf.net/projects/gaim-irchelper

You can contact me in a number of ways:
	E-Mail: rlaager@users.sf.net
	IRC (FreeNode): rlaager
	AIM: richielaager
	Yahoo: rlaager

I'd be especially interested to hear if anyone would like to translate the
strings in this plugin.  I haven't setup gettext yet, because there are no
translations, but I could certainly do that if someone was interested.  All of
the user-visible strings should already be marked for translation.  There are
about 20 of them at the moment and that number isn't likely to increase much.


USAGE

See the INSTALL file for specific directions about how to install this plugin.
NOTE: It's very important you read the INSTALL file or things will likely not
work for you.

Once you have the plugin installed, activate it (Tools -> Plugins).  All of the
options are customized on a per account basis (see Accounts -> [an IRC account]
-> Edit Account -> Advanced).

The plugin suppresses lots of messages with no configuration.  However, a few
features require configuration.  The options currently available are:

Auth name:
	Set a username to use when authenticating to AuthServ.

	If an auth name is not set, the account's screen name (i.e. the IRC
	nickname) is used instead.  This is normally what you want anyway.
	This option is only necessary if your nickname and AuthServ username
	differ.

	NOTE: This only applies to networks that use an AuthServ.  It does not
	apply to those using a NickServ, as all currently supported
	implementations of NickServ have no concept of a auth username.

Nick password:
	Set a password to use when authenticating to AuthServ, NickServ or
	Q (for QuakeNet).

	SECURITY NOTE:
		Do not set a nick password on any network (other than those
		listed above as supported networks) that doesn't use NickServ
		for authentication or you could expose your credentials to a
		user impersonating NickServ.

Disconnect ghosts (Duplicate nicknames):
	Disconnect duplicate copies of your nickname.

	Typically, this is used to kill ghosted usernames.  A username is
	referred to as "ghosted" when your connection to the IRC server is
	disconnected, but the server hasn't noticed yet.

	When this option is activated and the plugin notices your username
	immediately after signing on is different than the nickname set on the
	account, it will ask NickServ to kill your (regular) nickname, wait for
	NickServ to report the nickname was killed, and then change your
	nickname to what it should be.

	NOTE:
		This is currently not supported on QuakeNet.  I don't know if
		the Q bot provides the ability to disconnect ghosted usernames.
		Their General FAQ (http://quakenet.org/faq/faq.php?c=4&f=8#8)
		seems to imply that it does not.

Operator password:
	Set a password to use to become an IRCop.

	This will issue the following IRC command on signon:
		OPER your_nickname specified_password

- Richard Laager <rlaager@users.sf.net>
