Using Pidgin

1. Windows Specific
   1. How does Pidgin for Windows determine which language to use?
   2. Where are my settings and data (including logs) saved?
   3. How do I run multiple instances of Pidgin on Windows?
   4. How do I change the Look and Feel?
   5. What should I do if Pidgin Crashes?
   6. What is a gtkrc file and where can I find it?
   7. Running Windows Pidgin From a USB Drive
2. Linux and Unix-like platforms
   1. Where are Pidgin's settings and logs?

Windows Specific

How does Pidgin for Windows determine which language to use?

For the user who installed Pidgin, the language selected during installation will be the default. This can be overridden by setting the PIDGINLANG environment variable (for example, PIDGINLANG=de). If neither of these are specified, it will fall back to the default Windows user locale setting.

Where are my settings and data (including logs) saved?

Data is stored in your user's "Application Data" directory in a .purple subdirectory. The location of this will vary according to your setup and version of Windows.

• For Windows 2000/XP/Vista(?), entering %APPDATA% in your Windows Explorer address bar will take you to the right directory (probably something like C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data).
• For Windows 98/ME it will be something like C:\Windows\Profiles\username.

This can be overridden by setting the PURPLEHOME environment variable.
Logs are stored in a subdirectory called logs.

How do I run multiple instances of Pidgin on Windows?

Pidgin will, by default, prevent multiple instances from running simultaneously. You can override this restriction by defining the PIDGIN_MULTI_INST environment variable. If you do this, you may find the -c parameter useful to specify unique configuration directories for each instance (e.g. -c c:\home\.pidgin-alt).

How do I change the Look and Feel?

Pidgin doesn't support skinning. It does, however, support using various GTK+ themes to render the widgets. The default theme, MS-Windows, is designed to fit in with Windows. The GTK+ Runtime installer now includes a utility, accessible from the Start Menu, to change the theme.

What should I do if Pidgin Crashes?

Follow the instructions here to submit a bug report.

What is a gtkrc file and where can I find it?

The windowing toolkit that Pidgin uses, GTK+, is configurable via a text file.

There is a global file found in the etc\gtk-2.0 directory your GTK+ Runtime install directory (C:\Program Files\Common Files\GTK\2.0, by default). There is also per-user file (named .gtkrc-2.0) in your user's home directory, the location of this varies according to the version of Windows you're using and the configuration.

• For Windows 2000/XP/Vista(?), entering %USERPROFILE% in your Windows Explorer address bar will take you to the right directory (probably something like C:\Documents and Settings\username).
• For Windows 98/ME it will be something like C:\Windows\Profiles\username.

Note that Windows Explorer will not allow you create a file that starts with a period; you'll need to use a text editor or rename the file in a cmd shell.

It is recommended that you edit your per-user file instead of the global file as the global file will be replaced when GTK+ is upgraded.

Running Windows Pidgin From a USB Drive

It is relatively easy to set up Pidgin to run from a USB Drive. Most of Pidgin is very good about not assuming that it is installed; a slightly customized launcher makes it all come together nicely.
The way that this is set up, other GTK+ applications can use the same GTK+ runtime.

• How to setup your USB-Drive Pidgin
  • Download and Install Pidgin
  • Prepare your USB Drive: (This assumes that your USB Drive is U: for the purpose of explanation)
    • Create a directory: U:\Programs (This can be whatever you want, the idea is that GTK and Pidgin are at the same level)
    • Create GTK and Pidgin directories in this directory.
  • Copy a minimal part of your Pidgin installation to the USB Drive from the installed instance. The directory structure stays the same, but we don't need everything that is included in the standard installation.
    • Copy the whole pixmaps and sounds directories.
    • Create a U:\Programs\Pidgin\plugins directory and copy the contents of the installed Pidgin\plugins directory into it excluding perl.dll, tcl.dll.
    • If you want to use a language other than en_US, create a U:\Programs\Pidgin\locale directory and copy any language directories that you want from your installed Pidgin\locale directory.
    • Copy the contents of your root installed Pidgin directory except pidgin.exe, pidgin-uninst.exe, and if you don't want spell-checking support, libgtkspell.dll.
    • Download pidgin-portable.exe (use gaim-portable.exe for 2.0.0beta4-6 or this version for versions older than 2.0.0beta4) and put it in U:\Programs\Pidgin. The file uses the same source as the standard pidgin.exe, the difference being that when it was compiled PORTABLE was defined which causes some of the initialization to be done differently.
  • In the same spirit, create a minimal GTK+ runtime installation from your GTK+ installation.
    • Copy the bin and etc directories to your U:\Programs\GTK directory.
    • Create a U:\Programs\GTK\lib directory and copy the contents of the installed GTK+ runtime's lib directory, except the locale subdirectory.
    • If you want to use a language other than en_US, create a U:\Programs\GTK\lib\locale directory and copy any language directories that you want from your installed GTK+ runtime's lib\locale directory.
  • If you want spell-checking support, you will also need to create a minimal ASpell runtime installation from your ASpell installation.
    • Create a U:\Programs\Aspell directory with a bin subdirectory.
    • Copy aspell-15.dll into your ASpell bin directory.
    • Copy the data and dict subdirectories into U:\Programs\Aspell.

You are done! Running U:\Programs\Pidgin\pidgin-portable.exe will cause pidgin to run off the USB Drive, saving the settings, logs and etc. to U:\Programs\.purple.

Linux and Unix-like platforms

Where are Pidgin's settings and logs?

Because Pidgin is a libPurple client, it stores its settings and logs in ~/.purple.