BarnOwl is a curses-based instant messenger client.
The software is forked from the ktools owl project.
BarnOwl is released under an open source license.
Features include:
- Supports Zephyr, Jabber, IRC, and Twitter.
- Expressive filter language that can be used to describe sets of messages. This language is used both for coloring messages and for selectively viewing subsets of your messages.
- Easily extensible and customizable through a Perl plugin interface. Available plugins:
- Alias – change the displayed name of select classes, for example to abbreviate long class names or to hide private class names from shoulder-surfers.
- ClassFilters – creates filters from files in the ~/.owl/classfilters directory.
- DevUtils – contains some utilities useful for BarnOwl plugin developers.
- ZStatus – exposes the zstatus and zbars commands, for sending status bars to Zephyr.
- ColorUtils – a module for BarnOwl to make managing color filters easy.
- Experimental support for the Zulip chat system. It supports:
- Sending and receiving zulip stream and personal messages (including
with multiple recipients, mostly-functionally). - Listing, adding, and removing subscriptions
- Minimal support for stream creatio.
- Full filter language support (message attributes are mostly the same
as zephyr) including support for “punt” and mostly-functional
smartfilter. - Support for displaying message edits (they show up as new messages
with the correct stream/topic/sender with the new text and opcode
EDIT).
- Sending and receiving zulip stream and personal messages (including
- Keyboard shortcuts.
BarnOwl currently requires the following Perl modules available from CPAN: AnyEvent, Class::Accessor, ExtUtils::Depends, Glib, Module::Install, PAR. The IRC module requires AnyEvent::IRC.
Website: barnowl.mit.edu
Support: GitHub code repository
Developer: Nelson Elhage and Alejandro Sedeno at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Many other people have made contributions
License: 3-clause BSD license
BarnOwl is written in C. Learn C with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
Return to IRC Clients Home Page | Return to Console-Based XMPP Clients Home Page
| Popular series | |
|---|---|
 | New to Linux? Read our Linux for Starters series. We start right at the basics and teach you everything you need to know to get started with Linux. |
 | The largest compilation of the best free and open source software in the universe. Each article is supplied with a legendary ratings chart helping you to make informed decisions. |
 | Hundreds of in-depth reviews offering our unbiased and expert opinion on software. We offer helpful and impartial information. |
 | Replace proprietary software with open source alternatives: Google, Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, IBM, Autodesk, Oracle, Atlassian, Corel, Cisco, Intuit, and SAS. |
 | Linux Around The World showcases events and usergroups that are relevant to Linux enthusiasts. |
 | Surveys popular streaming services from a Linux perspective: Amazon Music Unlimited, Myuzi, Spotify, Deezer, Tidal. |
 | Saving Money with Linux looks at how you can reduce your energy bills running Linux. |
 | Essential Linux system tools focuses on small, indispensable utilities, useful for system administrators as well as regular users. |
 | Linux utilities to maximise your productivity. Small, indispensable tools, useful for anyone running a Linux machine. |
 | Home computers became commonplace in the 1980s. Emulate home computers including the Commodore 64, Amiga, Atari ST, ZX81, Amstrad CPC, and ZX Spectrum. |
 | Now and Then examines how promising open source software fared over the years. It can be a bumpy ride. |
 | Linux at Home looks at a range of home activities where Linux can play its part, making the most of our time at home, keeping active and engaged. |
 | Linux Candy reveals the lighter side of Linux. Have some fun and escape from the daily drudgery. |
 | Getting Started with Docker helps you master Docker, a set of platform as a service products that delivers software in packages called containers. |
 | Best Free Android Apps. We showcase free Android apps that are definitely worth downloading. There's a strict eligibility criteria for inclusion in this series. |
 | These best free books accelerate your learning of every programming language. Learn a new language today! |
 | These free tutorials offer the perfect tonic to our free programming books series. |
 | Stars and Stripes is an occasional series looking at the impact of Linux in the USA. |