SYNOPSIS
irc [-c chan] [-p portno] [-P portno] [-b] [-f] [-F] [-s] [-S] [-t]
[-T] [-d] [nickname [server list]] [-a] [-v] [-q] [-h hostname ] [-icb]
[-irc]
DESCRIPTION
The ircII program is a full screen, termcap based interface to Internet
Relay Chat. It gives full access to all of the normal IRC functions,
plus a variety of additional options.
OPTIONS
-c chan
Automatically join channel chan .
-p portno
Set the IRC port number to portno (default: 6667, the standard
IRC port). Only supply this if you connect to a server which
uses a port other than 6667.
-P portno
Set the ICB port number to portno (default: 7326, the standard
ICB port).
-b Load the .ircrc file before connection to a server, not after-
wards.
-f Use flow control (^S and ^Q) to stop/start the display. Nor-
mally these are both bound to other functions within irc. This
switch is ignored if the -d switch is used.
-F Don't use flow control (^S and ^Q) to stop start the display.
This switch is ignored if the -d switch is used.
-s Don't start up the ircio process to connect to the IRC server
(default).
-S Start up the ircio process to connect to the IRC server.
-t Don't use the termcap ti and te sequences when starting and
exiting (default).
-T Do use the termcap ti and te sequences when starting and exiting
if they exist.
-d Start in "dumb" mode. All input is taken directly from stdin
and all output goes to stdout without using any of the term-
cap(5) screen control codes.
nickname
Set the nickname (overrides the environment variable IRCNICK;
default: the username).
-a This adds the normal irc server list to the command line list of
irc servers.
-v Print the version and release date of ircII and exit.
-q Start up irc quickly -- don't load the IRCRC file.
-h hostname
This option instructs ircII to use the given hostname as the
local address. Useful only on multi-homed hosts.
-icb Use ICB connections by default.
-irc Use IRC connections by default.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
The Screen:
The screen is split into two parts, separated by an inverse-video sta-
tus line (if supported). The upper (larger) part of the screen dis-
plays responses from the IRC server. The lower part of the screen (a
single line) accepts keyboard input.
Some terminals do not support certain features required by ircII, in
which case you receive a message stating this. If this occurs, try
changing the terminal type or run ircII with the -d option.
Irc Commands:
Any line beginning with the slash character '/' is regarded as an ircII
command (the command character may be changed; type '/help set cmd-
char'). Any line not beginning with this character is treated as a
message to be sent to the current channel. To produce a listing of
commands, type '/help ?'. To receive information about the commands
type '/help <command> '.
The .ircrc File:
When ircII is executed, it checks the user's home directory for a
.ircrc file, executing the commands in the file. Commands in this file
do not need to have a leading slash character '/'. This allows predef-
inition of aliases and other features.
EXAMPLES
irc -c #users -p 5555
Connect IRC to port number 5555 of the default host and enter on
channel #users.
irc Mermaid
Use the nickname "Mermaid".
irc Mermaid server1:5000 server2::passwd server3
Use the nickname "Mermaid" and the modified server list.
setenv IRCNICK Mermaid
setenv IRCNAME "The one and only :)"
irc Set the username (if not specified elsewhere) to "Mermaid". The
user's name (when provided inside parentheses in response to a
WHOIS command) is set to "The one and only :)".
FILES
.../bin/ircII the executable program
~/.ircrc default initialization file
~/.irc/ directory you can put your own ircII scripts
into, that can then be loaded with /load
.../lib/irc/ directory containing message-of-the-day, master
initialization, help files and ircII scripts
.../lib/irc/script/global file loaded at the
start of every ircII session.
THE HELP FILES
All of the ircII commands are fully described in the help files pack-
age. The best way to start here is with the /HELP ? command as this
prints a listing of all available help files.
SIGNALS
ircII handles the following signals
SIGUSR1
Closes all DCC connections and EXEC'ed processes.
SIGUSR2
Drops ircII back to the command line.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
It can be helpful to predefine certain variables in in the .cshrc,
.profile, or .login file:
IRCNICK
The user's IRC nickname.
IRCNAME
The user's IRC realname (otherwise retreived from /etc/passwd)
IRCSERVER
The default IRC server(s) (see server option for details)
IRCSERVERSFILE
The file containing the default list of server(s), usually PRE-
FIX/lib/irc/ircII.servers. This file should contain one server
entry per line.
Message of the day. This file is displayed only once each time
it is changed.
SEE ALSO
irc(1), ircd(8)
BUGS
Please notify the current developer of the software of any bugs in cur-
rent versions.
AUTHORS
Program written by Michael Sandrof (ms5n+@andrew.cmu.edu). Now being
maintained by Matthew Green (mrg@eterna.com.au) Names of contributors
and contact address can be retrieved with the /info command. This man-
ual page written by Darren Reed (avalon@coombs.anu.EDU.AU), revised by
R. P. C. Rodgers (rodgers@maxwell.mmwb.ucsf.edu), by the lynX, and by
Matthew Green (mrg@eterna.com.au).
31 October 2002 IRCII(1L)
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