KTalkd is an enhanced talk daemon - a program to handle incoming talk requests, announce them and allow you to respond to it using a talk client.
Note that KTalkd is designed to run on a single-user workstation, and shouldn't be run on a multi-user machine: since it reads users' configuration files, users can get the talk daemon to run any command, which is particularly dangerous. Do not use KTalkd if you create accounts on your machine, to people you don't fully trust.
In this document, if somebody wants to talk to you, you are designated as the “callee”.
KTalkd has the following features :
If the callee isn't logged on, or doesn't answer after the second announcement, an answering machine is launched, takes the message, and mails it to the callee.
If desired, a sound is played with the announcement.
If compiled with KDE installed, KTalkd will use ktalkdlg, a KDE dialog, for announcement. If KTalk is running, it will be asked to make the announcement itself. (New since 0.8.8).
If you are logged remotely (for example, with an
export
command), the X announcement will be made on this display too. Answer on
the one you want! If you're also logged in a text terminal, and if
you're not using xterms (internal restriction),
then you'll see a text announcement too, in case you're using the text
terminal at the time of the announcement.
DISPLAY
=...
You can set up a forward to another user even to another host if you're away. There are 3 different forwarding methods. See section Usage.
If KTalkd is compiled for KDE, it reads config from KDE config
files, the sitewide
($
) and
the user one, in its home folder. The sitewide one has to be manually
edited by the administrator, but there is now a configuration dialog for
the user one. It's called kcmktalkd and can be found
in the KControl after installing KTalkd. On non-KDE systems,
KTalkd will read TDEDIR
/share/config/ktalkdrc/etc/talkd.conf
.
Under KDE, the announcement will be in your language provided that you set it in the KDE menus and that someone translated ktalkdlg to your language. The same goes for the configuration dialog, kcmktalkd.
KTalkd now supports both protocols, even when forwarding. KTalk supports both protocols as well.
I hope you will enjoy this talk daemon,
David Faure (faure AT kde.org)
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