1. Introduction

This document is still WIP, and should be treated as such. I'll do my best to keep it updated and accurate.

The following bibles shouldn't be ignored:

Also be sure to check the following links:

http://www.irchelp.org/

1.1. Objectives

Among others, the objectives of this mini-HOWTO are:

  • Link important resources about IRC;

  • Avoid common misuses of IRC by writing an IRC Etiquette;

  • List popular clients, servers, bots, and bouncers, along with their maintainers, #channel, small description, download location, home page, and hints;

  • List IRC tools available in the latest release of all major distributions.

1.2. Miscellaneous

The latest version of this document is available at http://www.pervalidus.net/documentation/IRC-mini-HOWTO/

A WIP of the next draft may be available at http://www.pervalidus.net/documentation/IRC-mini-HOWTO/WIP/

All drafts are archived at http://www.pervalidus.net/documentation/IRC-mini-HOWTO/old/

Everything may be mirrored at http://www2.pervalidus.net/documentation/IRC-mini-HOWTO/

You can e-mail me (in English, French, or Portuguese) with suggestions about the mini-HOWTO. I know this is far from finished, but hope you find it useful. Just try to avoid asking me to add your application, distribution, or site. Most likely I won't, but you can try to persuade me. Also don't ask for technical support. I have no time to help everyone.

BTW, someone to work on the protocol and server sides would be very welcome.

Frédéric L. W. Meunier - http://www.pervalidus.net/contact.html

1.3. Translations

Proposed translations will be linked here. Although I can write in Brazilian Portuguese and French, I'm not going to translate this document in the near future, so feel free to make them.