ircII - interface to the Internet Relay Chat system


SYNOPSIS

       irc  [-c chan] [-p portno] [-P portno] [-b] [-f] [-F] [-s]
       [-S] [-d] [nickname [server  list]]  [-a]  [-v]  [-q]  [-h
       hostname ] [-icb] [-irc]


DESCRIPTION

       The  ircII  program is a full screen, termcap based inter­
       face 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 afterwards.

       -f     Use flow control (^S and ^Q) to stop/start the dis­
              play.  Normally these are both bound to other func­
              tions  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.

       -d     Start in "dumb" mode.  All input is taken  directly
              from  stdin  and  all output goes to stdout without
              using any of the termcap(5) screen control codes.

       nickname
              Set the nickname (overrides the  environment  vari­
              able IRCNICK; default: the username).

       server Set  the list of servers with which irc will try to
              connect upon startup.  This list is  also  used  by
              the  program's  /server  command.   The  format for


              hostname [:portno[:password[:nick]]] for  IRC  con­
              nections.  For ICB connections, the format is:

              ICB/hostname  [:portno[::nick[:group[:mode]]]] with
              group being the initial group and  mode  being  the
              initial  group mode.  See /HELP ICB for more infor­
              mation about ICB.

       -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 host­
              name 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  status  line  (if  supported).   The  upper
       (larger)  part  of  the screen displays 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 cmdchar').  Any line  not  begin­
       ning  with  this  character  is treated as a message to be
       sent to the current channel.  To produce a listing of com­
       mands,  type  '/help ?'.  To receive information about the
       commands type '/help <command> '.

   The .ircrc File:
       When ircII is executed, it checks the user's  home  direc­
       tory  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 predefinition of aliases



EXAMPLES

       irc -c 128 -p 5555
              Connect IRC to port number 5555 of the default host
              and enter on channel number 128.

       irc Mermaid
              Use the nickname "Mermaid".

       irc Mermaid server1:5000 server2::passwd server3
              Use  the nickname "Mermaid" and the modified server
              list.

       irc -d Use dumb mode.

       irc -f Allow use of ^S/^Q to stop/start screen display.

       irc -e elisa
              Interface IRC with a program called elisa.

       setenv IRCNICK Mermaid
       setenv IRCNAME

       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  package.   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

              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)

       HOME   Overrides the default home path in /etc/passwd.

       TERM   The type of terminal in use.


SEE ALSO

       irc(1), ircd(8)


BUGS

       Please notify the current developer of the software of any
       bugs in current 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 manual page written by  Dar­
       ren  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).


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