Add a python script plugins/startup.py which will first check whether a client with the same home directory is running. If so, it will do a purple_blist_show() and exit. Otherwise, it will start the client. Usage example: startup.py pidgin -c /tmp/ I wanted to do a purple_notify_ to notify the user. But because we can't/ don't expose functions with callbacks as parameters to dbus, that was not possible.