VCHAT(1)

NAME
vchat - user frontend to the VChat conference system.

SYNOPSIS
vchat [-c channel] [-n nick] [-p port] [-s host]

DESCRIPTION
VChat is the user frontend program to the VChat system, an interactive conference system operating over TCP/IP networks.

Upon startup vchat looks out for the user's .vchatrc file (see below), loads the appropriate termcap entry, to determine the capabilities of the user's terminal and then tries to make a connection to the vserver(8) on the host specified by the environment variable VSERVER, the user's .vchatrc file, the -s host commandline option, or by default the localhost. If not noted otherwise by the -p port commandline option, vchat uses port 1168 to connect the vchat-server.

The connect will fail, if the nickname which was used when connecting the server is not a registered nickname and is already in use by another vchat client instance.

Once connected to the vchat-server, the screen is split up into a conference-window and an input-window, divided by a status bar. All output takes place in the (upper) conference-window and the input-window is used to send chat messages and to enter VChat commands.

See the online help-menu, which can be requested by entering ``.h'' from the input-window, for a most recent list of VChat commands.

OPTIONS
The recognized commandline options are as follows:

-c channel
    specifies the initial conference channel to use when connected to the remote conference server

    NOTE: This option will not be recognized by vchat conference servers of version 2.36m or below.

-n nick
    set initial nickname to nick.

-p port
    connect to VChat server on TCP port port.

-s host
    connect to VChat server on host.

Commandline options take priority over settings in the environment or the users .vchatrc file.

CONFERENCES
Conferences can take place on multiple channels which are expressed as any positive or negative number including a channelvalue of ``0'' which is the Lounge, to which all new client connections are assigned at first.

The conference channels are divided into "public" and "private" channels. Positive channel values are public conferences - negative channel values represent private conferences, which means other users will not see which negative channel a user is on, unless he invites them to join the channel he is currently on, using the ``.i'' - invite command of VChat.

NICKNAMES
Each user has a nickname assigned, which by default is his username. The initial nickname which is used when first connecting the vchat-server can be changed to some other value, by specifying it via the environment variable NICK, in a user's .vchatrc file or using the -n nick commandline option.

During the conference the nickname can be changed at any time, by using the ``.n'' command of VChat.

Nicknames are handled in a case-sensitive manner.

VCHATRC FILE
Upon startup vchat looks in the users home-directory for a file named .vchatrc to initialize certain user configurable parameters.

Most of the vchat options are to be configured via the .vchatrc file only. Settings in the .vchatrc file take priority over settings in the environment, but can be overridden by commandline options.

For a detailed description on creating and using a .vchatrc file see vchatrc(5).

ENVIRONMENT SETTINGS
vchat recognizes the following environment settings:

VSERVER host --- Default vserver to connect to.

NICK nick --- Nickname to use upon startup.

Environmental settings are overridden by commandline options or settings in the users .vchatrc file.

TERMINAL CAPABILITIES
VChat uses the terminfo or termcap libraries to utilize an optimal use of your terminal's capabilites. In doing so, it looks out for several entries in the terminal database appropriate to your terminal, some of which are optional and others being mandatory.

Mandatory functions which must be supported by the terminal are erasing the screen [cl], positioning the cursor [cm], clear to end of line [ce] or end of display [cd] and setting up a scrolling region [cs]. If these capabilities are not supported by your terminal or are not mentioned in your terminal database, vchat will abort with an appropriate error message.

Optional capabilities which are used to speed up scrolling and editing in the input-window include the terminal database entries for deleting a character [dc], inserting a character [ic] or using an insert-mode [im,ei].

COLOR SUPPORT
On terminals with ANSI color support, vchat is able to use colors, given that the correct terminal database entries are present on your system.

TERMCAP EXTENSIONS
On systems using termcap rather than terminfo, vchat supports terminfo style extensions to termcap entries. These extensions allow you to add color support to your termcap entries by adding terminfo equivalent control sequences. The following is an example entry for color support using termcap:

    :Co#8:pa#64:\
    :Sf=\E[%p1%{30}%+%dm:Sb=\E[%p1%{40}%+%dm:\
    :AF=\E[3%p1%dm:AB=\E[4%p1%dm:\
    :op=\E[m:

Sample terminfo and termcap files are also included in the VChat client distribution for your convenience.

You can determine if vchat uses terminfo or termcap from the message that is displayed at startup when the corresponding terminal database entry is loaded.

SEE ALSO
vchatrc(5), terminfo(5), termcap(5), environ(7)

COPYRIGHT
Copyright (c) 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001

by Andreas S. Wetzel

All rights reserved.