IRC is likely one of the main technique of communication throughout the Linux group. Regardless of its age, main initiatives nonetheless use it. There are a whole lot of completely different IRC shoppers on Linux to select from, however by far probably the most standard is Irssi. The cause that Irssi is so standard is that it’s a terminal program. Which means that so long as you’ve bought a terminal, you’ll be capable to talk over IRC. Better of all, since it’s a text-only program, it makes use of little or no sources. Right here’s learn how to set up Irssi in your Linux distribution of alternative.
SPOILER ALERT: Scroll down and watch the video tutorial on the finish of this text.
Set up
Ubuntu
sudo apt set up irssi
Debian
sudo apt-get set up irssi
Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S irssi
Fedora
sudo dnf set up irssi
OpenSUSE
sudo zypper set up irssi
Different Linuxes
Constructing Irssi from supply requires a number of dependencies however not too many, as this system is textual content oriented. To construct, just remember to’ve bought Glib 2.6 or newer, pkg-config, OpenSSL, git and Terminfo. Needless to say these dependencies could have completely different names, relying on the working system. For greatest outcomes, examine pkgs.org, or search your Linux PC’s bundle supervisor.
Begin the Irssi compilation course of by first grabbing the supply code from Github utilizing the git command in terminal.
git clone
Use the CD command to alter the terminal working listing from ~/ to the newly cloned Irssi folder.
cd irssi
Within the folder, all the code crucial to construct the Irrsi IRC shopper is there. The first step to constructing it’s to run the autogen script. This can mechanically generate crucial information.
./autogen.sh
Operating the autogen script will generate a number of information, together with the configure script. Configure is used to scan a PC and create a brand new “make” file (aka construct directions).
./configure
Configure generated a brand new “make” file. From right here, use the makefile to begin the compilation of Irssi. Perceive that this would possibly take a little bit of time as compiling software program isn’t fast.
make
When GCC finishes constructing the software program, log in as the basis consumer in your PC and set up Irssi to the system.
su make set up
From right here you’ll be capable to launch the Irssi IRC shopper by opening a terminal and coming into “irssi” as a command.
Configuration
The Irssi IRC shopper works fairly effectively out of the field, however if you wish to get probably the most out of it, it’s greatest to configure it. The configuration file for Irssi is in ~/ for every consumer. Each consumer on the PC that needs to make use of the IRC shopper should configure their very own ~/.irssi/config file. To edit the file, open up a terminal and kind out the next command.
nano ~/.irssi/config
Becoming a member of Channels
Use the /server command to hitch the IRC server of your alternative.
/server irc.check.web
Optionally, make it in order that Irssi all the time joins your IRC server at startup, by coming into:
/server add -auto -network check irc.check.web /save
With the server configuration setup, be part of the channel utilizing /be part of.
/be part of #testchannel
Depart with:
/depart /stop
Setting A “nick”
When Irssi installs, it’ll create a brand new configuration from the default settings in your PC. For instance, in case your “real name” on Ubuntu is “John Smith”, and your username “jsmith”, Irssi will add “John Smith” in your config as your “real_name”, and “jsmith” as each the “nick” and “user_name”.
For most individuals, there isn’t a cause to alter the settings, because the defaults are effective. Nonetheless, in case you’re very explicit about IRC, there’s a option to change it. Begin out by urgent Ctrl + W, and trying to find “real_name”. After real_name, user_name, and nick, change the values to one thing else. Then save the config file with Ctrl + O.
Auto Join
Want your IRC shopper to mechanically join to numerous channels at startup? Right here’s learn how to do it. Begin off by becoming a member of the server with the /server command.
/server irc.check.web
Use the /channel command with -auto to mechanically log in.
/channel add -auto #check check
As soon as all channels are added, save the adjustments to your config file.
/save
Backup And Encrypt Irssi Configuration
We’ve solely coated the fundamentals in Irssi configuration, as the typical consumer probably gained’t must do something greater than this. Nonetheless, in case you’re a complicated consumer and also you’ve bought a whole lot of private stuff in your ~/.irssi/config folder, it’s greatest to maintain an encrypted backup.
Going the encryption route means no person however you’ll have the flexibility to entry your configuration file. To begin the encryption, make sure that GPG is put in. Then, open up a terminal window and encrypt your config.
cd ~/.irssi
gpg -c config
The output of the encryption ought to be ~/.irssi/config.gpg. Transfer the encrypted configuration file to your /dwelling/ folder.
mv config.gpg ~/
Now that the file is safe, be at liberty to add it to Dropbox, Google Drive and and so forth. Decrypt the file at any time by working the decryption command in GPG.
gpg config.gpg mv config ~/.irssi
