The KBiff Handbook: Questions and answers

6.1 Why not use Korn?

Why did I write KBiff when Korn, another mail notification utility, is already included in the KDE distribution, you ask? Well, Korn had three fatal flaws in my eyes:

It doesn't dock into the panel. With a monitor as small as mine, this alone was enough to keep me from using Korn.
It doesn't have cute icons showing no mail, old mail, and new mail. I like cute little mail icons.
Somebody else wrote it. I wanted to get my feet wet with programming KDE and this was as good an app as any to start with.

That said, Korn is much better at handling multiple mailboxes then KBiff.

6.2 How do I use my own pixmaps?

Short answer: select them using the setup dialog.
Longer answer: KBiff searches for its icons in the standard KDE icon path. Currently, this is

kdedir()/share/apps/kbiff/toolbar
kdedir()/share/toolbar
kdedir()/share/icons
kdedir()/share/apps/kbiff/pics
$HOME/.kde/share/apps/kbiff/toolbar
$HOME/.kde/share/toolbar
$HOME/.kde/share/icons
$HOME/.kde/share/apps/kbiff/pics

where kdedir() is usually /opt/kde and $HOME is your home directory. If you put your pixmaps in any of those directories (the last one listed is recommended), then KBiff should have problems finding and using them.

If you plan on docking KBiff, you should have a 22x22 (or smaller) version of your pixmap. The name of the small pixmap should be the name of the larger pixmap preceded by "mini-." So if you want to use the default "oldmail.xpm" pixmap for old mail but want to use your own "mycoolpixmap.xpm" smaller pixmap when it's docked, you should rename your pixmap "mini-oldmail.xpm" If you do not do this, KBiff will use the large version even in the panel (not a good thing).

Note that KBiff determines its size by the old mail pixmap. So if your pixmap for old mail is 100x100 but all the other ones are 32x32... well, KBiff will look very strange every time new mail arrives.

6.3 How do I use elm (or mutt or PINE) with KBiff?

You tried putting "elm" into the Command edit box, didn't you? Whoops! elm, mutt, and PINE all need a terminal to run in and KBiff does not supply one. The author uses the following as his default Command:
kvt -vt_geometry 80x35 -caption Mail -no_scrollbar -e mutt &

If you use a graphical email client (such as KMail or Netscape), then you simply need to put the name of the client in the edit box. No terminal is necessary.

6.4 Why won't KBiff play my newmail.au file?

KBiff uses the KAudio class to play sounds when new mail arrives. Currently, this class only supports .wav files. If you wish to play an .au file when new mail arrives, try getting the SOX package and put play newmail.au (or just

cat newmail.au > /dev/audio

) in the Run Command option.

6.5 Session management doesn't work.

KBiff's session management should work in the majority of cases. Unfortunately, in some cases, it has been known to fail. If this bothers you, try turning off session management in the setup dialog. Then, put KBiff into your Autostart folder with the -profile <profile> option.

6.6 Clicking on your email address in About does nothing!

It would nice to pass the 'mailto:kurt_granroth@pobox.com' URL to kfm to process it.. unfortunately, this does not work yet. I did code in some support, though. Just set an environment variable MAILER to whatever your mailer is and the link should work.

  e.g.
  % setenv MAILER kvt -e mutt

6.7 I found a bug. How do I report it?

Send all bugs to the author at kurt_granroth@pobox.com. If you have a fix for it, so much the better!

6.8 I want a new feature. How do I request it?

See reporting bugs. The same procedure applies.

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