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I am not sure if there's really a need for that at all. Like @totally_not_banned said above, IRC didn't change much over the last two decades, plenty of us still use good old psyBNC (the last proper version was released 2005) or old IRC clients like mIRC, IRSSI... etc. (any BitchX user here?
)
IRCnet (one of the biggest and oldest IRC networks) still runs on 2.11.2p3 IRCd version released 15 years ago.
HexChat from 2024 won't be outdated anytime soon.
The sad thing is that isn't any actual alternative. Centralization aside, beyond the annoying forced Electron client Discord is for the most part a quite well made piece of software with no real competition.
XMPP makes a couple steps forward from where IRC left off but at the same time being so crazily overengineered that the result is hardly going to go anywhere (which is basically the time proven assessment - ~25 years of XMPP and still 99% of all people wouldn't even know what it is) and as much as i want to like it it's simply way to annoying to in practical usage. Let alone recommending to other - god forbid maybe even non-technical - people. IRC on the other hand used to thrive on the fact that a big portion of the userbase just came for the social aspects.
Then there's Matrix, which seems to be a convoluted mess, which (from what i understand) is quite resource hungry and makes calculating the actual risks of using it pretty hard. I'll openly admit that i didn't spend a lot of time looking into it as the whole project seems pretty off-putting to me, but i think it's save to say that this won't be an IRC replacement either.
And beyond that there's only really niche stuff. TOX seems to be gaining a bit of traction but then i don't even know if it does multiuser chat or offers anything akin to a channel list at all. It's also a pretty unique approach from what i understand, so likely not really the next IRC either. If i wouldn't have so much on my plate already designing some kind of upgraded IRC would be a ton of fun but sadly time is precious and i also don't think it wouldn't go that far beyond being fun.
Yeah, the only problem that might arise is the dreaded switch from GTK2 to GTK4. I have no idea where Hexchat stands in that regard but i'd totally understand the authors not being interested in sacrificing their time just to follow the nowadays everchanging GTK api. I'm a total GTK fanboy myself but i doubt that to be the case for a long anymore as the newer versions pretty much suck and the Gnome project is also doing everything in their power to piss off independent devs.
You could upgrade to znc, the latest version was released a few days ago ...
Telegram is competition.
Well, yeah but i was rather looking at open competition. At the end of the day Telegram is much of a proprietary and centralized solution as is Discord, so from an IRC fans point of view it's not really an interesting alternative. Besides, i don't really see Telegram posing much of a threat to Discord in general, even if it surely got a sizeable userbase.
Telegram is the "fish market"... they also sell nicknames
I remember EFNet on Usenet is this still going ?
yes, but pretty much dead. I'm on ircnet and undernet still, for the sake of the good old times
For the IRC server, I'd recommend looking into InspIRCd or Unrealircd. Both are solid options and offer good performance and flexibility.
When it comes to services bots, Anope and Atheme are popular choices. Anope, especially, has a strong connection with InspIRCd, which could be beneficial for your setup.
As for the bouncer, ZNC is widely used and reliable. It'll help keep you connected and provide a seamless experience across devices.
Keep in mind, though, that setting up and configuring your own server can be quite involved, so don't hesitate to reach out for help if you run into any hurdles along the way.
And while hosting your own server is a fantastic learning experience, if you're just looking to jump into IRC for casual use, services like IRCCloud might be worth considering. They offer bouncer-like benefits and work well through web browsers and mobile apps.
Whatever path you choose, I wish you the best of luck on your IRC journey!
if you want to experiment with new technologies https://github.com/ergochat/ergo
if you are looking for bouncers, i'd recommend thelounge https://thelounge.chat/
Still hanging around with with the high council?
Damn you just reminded me that I've got something like this happening as well. I'll go check later today and see just how huge those files are now, they've not been running for nearly as long, but it's gotta be at least 7 or 8 years now, and on a pretty active channel.
For some of us, this is a feature and not a bug. I totally understand why people want to use something like Discord or Telegram or any number of other apps, and I use those too myself (kind of have to, at this point), but, I still prefer using something like IRC. I guess I'm "old school" in that way. Personally it just feels better not having everything you're typing and doing in Discord being sent out to some server controlled by a shady Chinese company like Tencent anyway.
https://tools.suckless.org/ii/
@DP
From the Arch wiki: " Irssi is a modular, ncurses based IRC (Internet Relay Chat) client."
Even c9x's irc uses curses. "The display mechanism uses any standard curses library." -- https://c9x.me/irc/
What's a good IRC client which stays in line mode and doesn't use curses or ncurses? 🙃
While i pretty much agree with the second part, i think the first part is a bit, well, let's say euphemistic. Sure, IRC works and it isn't half bad but it's also in parts pretty clunky and lacks quite a bit of useful functionality. Some stuff could at least be added by hacks and duct tape (like Nickserv/Chanserv and friends) but there won't ever be any voice functionality or integrated storage. I totally see the upsides of an open system but outdated is still outdated and while IRC sure is no XMPP calling the protocol elegant is also rather far fetched.
I doubt you'll find much in this regard as having even some semi-complex UI without those (or something similar) isn't all that realistic due to not being able to repaint the screen and stuff like that. Given any such client will be super simple you could probably even script something like that though. Just send your nick to the server and print everything that comes back while providing a handful of commands for joining channels and sending messages. I figure that won't come down to more than a lowish 3 digit number of lines in most languages.
Found https://rcr.io/rirc/ repo https://sr.ht/~rcr/rirc/
Taking a quick look, rirc doesn't seem to use curses, and it definitely does seem impressively well organized. But rirc seems to store channels in buffers, wheras what I think I want is to allow everything to scroll up like an old fashioned roll of paper terminal. Something like TERM=clueless™ TERM=dumb
It's been like 20 years that I was in so many (active) IRC channels and networks.
Hm, so whose alt are you, and which type?
No one. There is more than 1 type?
Sounds like irc2!
For more backstory context, see https://web.archive.org/web/20210212162456/https://mcpcpc.com/2021/02/12/netcat-irc-client.html
Very impressive, less than 40 LOC
@Not_Oles try WeeChat
Oh, of course.
Seen all sorts
My biggest issue with Discord is the amount of resources the client uses..
Discord also wants to know your panty size
Agreed. Everything that wants to know your phone number will never be a serious option.
The only reason I'm on Discord is to keep in touch with some LE* folks and some other friends of an online game which I used to be a GM of years ago.
Other than that, I'm fine with just IRC, Signal and Session