My New IRC Client – Irssi : Ubuntu (6.06 / 6.10)
I’ve been hearing about the Irssi IRC client for some time and I finally took some time over the weekend to seriously look into it. After the initial learning curve that often comes with a new application (and a terminal based application at that!) I’m hooked on Irssi. I’m using it as my main IRC client and I also use it to access my other IM networks (ie; Jabber) that you read about in my previous post.
Before I get into some steps that I used to cut down my learning curve I wanted to link into the Irssi writeup on the community documentation page. Props go to my good friend Aaron for putting that writeup together and for telling me about Irssi.
First of all you’ll want to install the irssi client.
sudo aptitude install irssi
Second you’ll simply start up the program using the command
irssi
Now you’ll be presented with a very basic, terminal-looking interface. You’ll want to connect to your favorite IRC network using a command similar to that below.
/connect irc.freenode.net
Irssi will then connect to that freenode network. Of course you can replace that command with any network of your choice and you can connect to multiple networks by repeating that command for each. note: there is also a /server command that acts in a similar fashion however it limits you to a single server connection.
A few quick tips on setting up Irssi for auto-login, auto-connect and auto-identify.
To set your IRC nick use
/nick MyIRCNick
To auto-connect to freenode or another network and identify yourself.
/SERVER ADD -auto -network freenode irc.freenode.net 6667 password
Another method of auto-identifying is seen below. The above is generally preferred.
/NETWORK ADD -autosendcmd "/^msg NickServ IDENTIFY password;wait 2000" freenode
Lastly, to auto-join a channel at connection use
/CHANNEL ADD -auto #ubuntu freenode
There are many other commands you can use and Irssi is *very* flexible. I’m a big fan now as it offers me a lot of control and flexibility. If you haven’t yet I do suggest you go back and read the community writeup at the docs irssi page.
If you enjoy irssi you can stop by to say thanks in the #irssi channel or give a quick hello to me and my team in #ubuntu-utah. Enjoy!
There is a better way to auto-identify to NickServ- it’s using your nickserv password as your server password:
/server add -auto -network freenode irc.freenode.net 6667 (password)
And the best is that as it’s a terminal app, you can “screen” it and attach/detach screen whereever you are with just an ssh access
I really liked this post, I have been grappling with irssi for a long time. I still can’t get screen to work but it is something I want to work. thanks for the guide.
Freddy – I’ll have a tutorial on adding screen soon as well. It ads another layer of complication(?) that I didn’t want to tackle all in one post. I’m glad you’re getting a better handle on it though.
Stop by and say hello in #ubuntu-utah ehh?
Hehe, thanks! Finally I have the auto network and channel join, and even the identify, after 2 years or so of using irssi:)
This post was useful for me.
dabaR – I’m glad I could help. That was one of the key reasons that I kept flip-flopping back to other clients is being able to handle those basics.
I’m sure I’ll be writing more about irssi, screen & bitlbee in the future. I love my new client
it works on Ubuntu 8?
Of course it does !
for set nickname
irssi -n
Pretty decent post. But perhaps it could be a little more detailed and informative. Cover a little more.
Tried to, "…give a quick hello to me and my team in #ubuntu-utah…" but was refused entry because I haven't been, "invited." Nice!
I didn't know the channel was by invitation only–it shouldn't be.
The channel has actually changed (as have all of the US based Ubuntu channels). Give #ubuntu-us-ut a try.
Great post man! Thanks for the help I was having awful trouble overcomplicating things with the configuration file. This is a nice clear cut and concise walk through