Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is a form of real-time Internet text messaging (chat) or synchronous conferencing. It is primarily a method of group communication in discussion forms called channels, but the facility to participate in one-to-one communication is also available. IRC was invented by Jarkko Oikarinen (known as WiZ) when he was employed at the University of Oulu, Finland. This system enables millions of people around the world to communicate in real time.
IRC is an essential way of engaging with the Linux community. Being able to tap into the wealth of knowledge of individuals logged into IRC enables users to engage directly with developers and other users of distributions and applications. IRC is not just limited to obtaining and giving technical support to others; it can be used for many other activities.
Users typically connect to an IRC network using an IRC client. The client takes the raw IRC traffic and turns it into an easy-to-use interface. The number of Linux IRC clients that are available is rather daunting. To narrow it to a small selection of clients, this article focuses on proficient clients that run from the console. The graphical desktop environment has become so ingrained in almost everyone’s computer activities. However, console-based IRC clients are a good fit; small, lean clients, that can be run on any hardware, and still make full use of the power of IRC.
To provide an insight into the quality of software that is available, we have compiled a list of 18 high quality console based open source IRC clients. Hopefully, there will be something of interest for anyone who wishes to engage with the IRC community via the console. Here’s our verdict captured in a legendary LinuxLinks-stylized ratings chart.
Click the links in the table below to learn more about each client.
| Console IRC Clients | |
|---|---|
| WeeChat | Wee Enhanced Environment for Chat; very light and extensible |
| Irssi | Console based client supporting SILC and ICB protocols |
| glirc | Advanced client maintaining a model of the IRC connection state |
| tiny | Rust based IRC client |
| ERC | Powerful, modular, and extensible IRC client for Emacs |
| ScrollZ | Advanced ircII-based IRC client |
| EPIC | Based on ircII, EPIC excels at scripting |
| catgirl | Targets FreeBSD, OpenBSD, macOS and Linux |
| ircc | A single C file which implements a usable IRC client |
| rirc | Minimalistic IRC client |
| kirc | Tiny IRC client |
| Swirc | Console based ICB and IRC client |
| Xaric | irc client similar to (and forked from) BitchX and ircII |
| insomnia | Frontend for the hii IRC client |
| ii | Minimalist FIFO and filesystem-based IRC client |
| hii | File-based IRC client |
| Circada | Comes with two modes, normal chat mode and the navigation mode |
| BarnOwl | Forked from the ktools owl project |
This article has been revamped in line with our recent announcement.
 Explore our comprehensive directory of recommended free and open source software. Our carefully curated collection spans every major software category.This directory is part of our ongoing series of informative articles for Linux enthusiasts. It features hundreds of detailed reviews, along with open source alternatives to proprietary solutions from major corporations such as Google, Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, IBM, Cisco, Oracle, and Autodesk. You’ll also find interesting projects to try, hardware coverage, free programming books and tutorials, and much more. Know a useful open source Linux program that we haven’t covered yet? Let us know by completing this form. |