XChat

Infobox_Software
name = XChat



caption = screenshot of XChat 2.8.0
developer = Peter Železný (zed)
latest_release_version = 2.8.6 (Source), 2.8.7 (Windows)
latest_release_date = March 20, 2008
operating_system = Multi-platform
genre = IRC client
license = Proprietary for Windows version, GNU General Public License for others
website = http://www.xchat.org/

XChat, commonly written X-Chat or xchat, is one of the most popular IRC clients for Unix-like systems. An additional version is made for Microsoft Windows with additional features not available elsewhere and a different version number. It is also available for Mac OS X as a Mac OS X native version called X-Chat Aqua, and an X11 version maintained by the Fink project. It has a choice of a tabbed or tree interface, support for multiple servers, and a high level of configurability. Both command line and graphical versions are available, although use of the graphical version far outweighs use of the command line version. The main code is licensed under the GNU General Public License (but the Official Windows version is Shareware) and uses the GTK+ toolkit for its interface.

Features

XChat is a full-featured IRC client and includes all basic functionalities that are found in most other IRC clients, including CTCP, DCC file transfers and chats, and a plugin system for various languages (including at least C or C++, Perl, Python, Tcl, Ruby [ [http://xchat-ruby.sourceforge.net/ Xchat-Ruby Plugin Website] ] , Lua [ [http://ankh-morp.org/~vetinari/projects/xchat-lua/ xchat lua plugin] ] , CLISP, D, and DMDScript [ [http://unborn.ludost.net/xcdscript/ xcdscript home page] ] ). By writing plugins, one can extend the features and customize the functionality of XChat.

XChat runs on at least the following operating systems: GNU/Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris, AIX, IRIX, Mac OS X, Windows 98/ME/NT/2000/XP and others. Support for 98/ME was dropped from the official windows build [ [http://forum.xchat.org/viewtopic.php?t=3989 XChat Forum - Support for Windows 98/ME dropped] ] , but XChat can still be compiled from source or obtained from an alternate build site.

Shareware controversy

As of August 23, 2004, the [http://www.xchat.org/windows/ official Windows build of XChat] has become shareware, and must be purchased for USD $20, AUD $25 or 14.95€ after a 30-day trial period. Previous (freeware) builds for Windows have been removed from the official site. There has been a great deal of discussion about the legality of this move. Since the XChat project has not required copyright assignment, the maintainer of the XChat project does not actually hold copyright to the entirety of the code. While he has offered to remove and rewrite any patches, provided the author of the patches asks him to, there are many who feel that he is still in violation of the GPL, especially since the code for the shareware enforcement is not disclosed.

It is stated that the shareware fee is required due to the excessive amount of time it takes to make it compile under Windows [ [http://www.xchat.org/windows/ XChat for Windows] ] .

[http://b0at.tx0.org/xchat Unofficial Windows builds of XChat] are made available (at no cost) by contributors, who maintain binaries of the latest release, and also compile frequently from CVS.

See also

*Comparison of IRC clients

References

External links

Support

* [http://www.xchat.org/ XChat website]
** [http://www.xchat.org/faq/ FAQ]
** [http://forum.xchat.org/ Forum]
** [http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/Xchat linuxquestions.org wiki] , Information beyond the [http://www.xchat.org/faq/ FAQ]
* [http://xchataqua.sourceforge.net/ XChat Aqua website]
* [irc://irc.freenode.net/xchat XChat support channel on freenode]
* [irc://irc.efnet.info/xchat XChat support channel on efnet]

Unofficial versions and builds

* [http://xchataqua.sourceforge.net/ XChat Aqua] for Mac OS X
* [http://www.freesmug.org/portableapps/xchataqua/ Portable XChat Aqua]
* [http://xchat-gnome.navi.cx/ XChat Gnome]

Windows builds

* [http://b0at.tx0.org/xchat/ XChat on Windows Build Lineup]

Builds that are still being updated:
* [http://www.silverex.info/ SilvereX build] ( [http://www.silverex.org/ alternate] )
* [http://www.zerostress.org/dls/ Zerostress build]

Third-party plugins

Programming languages

* [http://www.scriptkitties.com/tclplugin/ Tcl Plugin for XChat]
* [http://xchat-ruby.sourceforge.net/ Ruby Plugin for XChat]
* [http://www.cliki.net/X-Chat%20Common%20Lisp%20Plugin Common Lisp Plugin for XChat]
* [http://www.linuxirc.com/download/xchat-guile-0.1.tar.gz Scheme Plugin for XChat]
* [http://unborn.ludost.net/xcdscript/ DMDScript (ECMAScript) Plugin for XChat]

Derivative software

* [http://code.google.com/p/lurc/ lurc] , an IRC client based on xchat 1.0
*Conspire, an IRC client based on xchat 2.8-cvs with support for more modern IRC protocol features