Help‎ > ‎

FAQ

Contents

  1. 1 License / Pricing
    1. 1.1 Does FBCMD cost anything?
    2. 1.2 Who Developed FBCMD / Why? / Were you paid?
  2. 2 Design
    1. 2.1 Why did you write it in PHP? (yuck).
    2. 2.2 Why is it so slow / how much overhead is PHP introducing?
    3. 2.3 What version of PHP is required?
  3. 3 Features
    1. 3.1 Can I send messages / send emails?
    2. 3.2 Can I accept a friend request?
    3. 3.3 Can I send pokes?
  4. 4 Privacy
    1. 4.1 Why can't I see Friend A's status or Friend B's birthday or Friend C's photos or Friend D's stream or...?

License / Pricing

Does FBCMD cost anything?

No... FBCMD is completely free.  It's distributed under the GNU General Public License and will always be free.

Who Developed FBCMD / Why? / Were you paid?

It was developed by Dave Tompkins because he went looking for something like this and couldn't find it.  It was done completely for free in his so-called "free time".

Design

Why did you write it in PHP? (yuck).

It was written in PHP because originally the only API that Facebook officially supported was PHP.  It wasn't my first choice either, and I had to learn PHP.  However, in retrospect, It's turned out to be a wise decision.  The code is reasonably clean and very portable.  Sure, it might be a bit of a pain to install PHP if it's not already there, but compared to the ordeal of getting code that will compile easily on any platform (including Windows) it's pretty painless.

Why is it so slow / how much overhead is PHP introducing?

The overhead isn't that bad -- try fbcmd HELP and that's the overheard you're encountering to load all the code and all your preferences.  Try fbcmd WHOAMI and that's how long it takes for the initial overhead plus the time required to initially connect to Facebook.  Most of the delay is from Facebook itself.

What version of PHP is required?

I haven't been paying that close attention... It was designed on 5.2.6..  Please contact the author if you're having any problems.

Features

Can I send messages / send emails?

No. Currently the Facebook API does not support this.

Can I accept a friend request?

No. Currently the Facebook API does not support this.

Can I send pokes?

No. Currently the Facebook API does not support this.

Privacy

Why can't I see Friend A's status or Friend B's birthday or Friend C's photos or Friend D's stream or...?

These individuals likely have their privacy settings very high, and don't allow you (or possibly any applications) access to their information.
Comments