this post was submitted on 11 Feb 2024
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Popular IRC client HexChat gets a final release, is no longer maintained (hexchat.github.io)
submitted 9 months ago by amaki@jlai.lu to c/opensource@lemmy.ml
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[–] MeanEYE@lemmy.world 59 points 9 months ago (3 children)

IRC is sadly going away slowly. Which is a shame, it's a great protocol that is easy to implement and simple to work with. Biggest problem I see is its inability to embed images and other multimedia. Had that been the case protocol would live on I feel. We just needed few more channel modes, some that ban or allow specific multimedia and inline image support and we are good.

Some people, if not most who use IRC, would claim otherwise, but there's a reason why Slack became popular even though it's shitty electron application.

[–] poVoq@slrpnk.net 32 points 9 months ago (2 children)

There are multiple IRC clients that render inline images just fine and also some very nice web clients that allow posting such images directly from the app.

The main problem of IRC is IMHO that the large networks refuse to implement most of the newer IRCv3 standards or alternatively provide multi-client bouncers to their users.

[–] einlander@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago

Adiirc has an option to do inline images. The client pulls the image in on its own. Makes it look similar to Discord.

[–] MeanEYE@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

IRCv3 doesn't bring multimedia as far as I know. There are good changes to the protocol proposed, but they are moving too slow.

[–] poVoq@slrpnk.net 9 points 9 months ago (1 children)

This would require an HTML image upload service, which is out of scope for IRCv3 protocol specs.

But nothing stops a server implementation from providing this, and as already said several client+bouncer combinations already support media uploads very well.

The slow moving isn't the problem of the IRCv3 specs, the issue is the adoption by the large networks and subsequently the clients (which rarely implement features the vast majority of their users on the large networks can't use).

[–] MeanEYE@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago

Yeah, I'd assume there would be a level of resistance to changes from big networks.

[–] doubletwist@lemmy.world 16 points 9 months ago

Biggest problem I see is its inability to embed images and other multimedia.

That's one of its best features as far as I'm concerned, and one of the reasons I still use it every day.

[–] bionicjoey@lemmy.ca 6 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I wonder if multiple IRC clients all agreed at the same time to extend the protocol by rendering markdown in the messages if that would help.

[–] MeanEYE@lemmy.world 14 points 9 months ago (1 children)

There's a "new" draft for version 3 being worked on but to be honest they are not addressing in my opinion the right features. Yay, we are going to get unicode nicknames? I think people are fine with what is there now. But not being able to paste code or images, now that's a real hindrance.

[–] poVoq@slrpnk.net 6 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

Convos.chat has both those features, via an built in image server and pastebin service. In addition it renders Markdown just fine.

[–] MeanEYE@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

That's great, although protocol level support would be preferable.

[–] pingveno@lemmy.ml 2 points 9 months ago

Exactly. If you have a simple protocol, but then everyone layers a bunch of proprietary extensions on, is it really a simple protocol anymore? Or is it just a bunch of chat clients that only kind of talk to each other anymore?

[–] Mio@feddit.nu 24 points 9 months ago

Thank you for all this time. I still use it today, along with pidgin.

[–] SomeBoyo@feddit.de 14 points 9 months ago (7 children)

Is there something good to replace it?

[–] OsrsNeedsF2P@lemmy.ml 24 points 9 months ago (3 children)

It doesn't need a replacement. IRC is amazing the way it is, and Hexchat is a perfect example of "a finished product".

[–] tiramichu@lemm.ee 56 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

I agree as far as the feature set is concerned, but software unfortunately doesn't exist in a vacuum.

A vulnerability could be discovered that needs a fix.

The operating system could change in such a way that eventually leads to the software not functioning on later versions.

The encryption algorithms supported by the server could be updated, rendering the client unable to connect.

It might be a really long time before any of that happens, but without a maintainer, that could be the end.

[–] deadcream@sopuli.xyz 32 points 9 months ago

That can be true for self-contained command line tools, but not for complex programs with actively development dependencies (especially anything dealing with networking or encryption). For example hexchat uses GTK2 which is likely to be removed from mainstream distro repos in the coming years because it has been obsolete for a long time. Also openssl which is known to change its API occasionally which means that anything that uses it needs to be updated to stay compatible.

[–] venia_sil@fedia.io 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

This. Sometimes a software is just finished. IRC itself has not seen change in like... about all the time I remember.

[–] me@t.joeldebruijn.nl 1 points 8 months ago

@venia_sil @SomeBoyo @amaki @OsrsNeedsF2P
Is it different with XMPP?
Adoption relatively low but still in active development?

[–] smotherlove@sh.itjust.works 14 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

You can fork it and continue developing it if you want

edit: you downvoting losers probably don't seed your torrents either

[–] andrew@radiation.party 3 points 9 months ago

The lifecycle would continue. Xchat to ychat to hexchat to dodecahedronchat…

[–] SorteKanin@feddit.dk 13 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Maybe Matrix is the way forward.

[–] mp3@lemmy.ca 8 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I hope so, but the protocol seems to be complex by several order of magnitude.

[–] SorteKanin@feddit.dk 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I'm not familiar with either protocol - what is it that makes IRC so simple and Matrix complicated?

[–] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 9 months ago (1 children)

a lot of the complexity in matrix comes from it trying to make a robust platform where users on each server don't have to worry the other servers, beyond the ability to reach users on those servers.

Basically the way it works is that each server keeps a copy of all the important data in a channel/room, so that no matter which or how many other servers become unreachable, local users are unaffected beyond being unable to reach the users on those servers.

It's really nice and IMO absolutely worth the complexity, and it's not like most devs really have to worry about this as they can simply use a library to handle the details.

And as for clients, that remains pretty trivial to implement a basic shitty one like what most people's first experience is with IRC..

[–] EngineerGaming@feddit.nl 1 points 9 months ago

This is also a drawback imo, as it locks out people with limited storage. Like me. I need this storage for media on my site. I don't mind chats existing on several servers, but let people opt out of that at least.

[–] EngineerGaming@feddit.nl 1 points 9 months ago

It's more akin to XMPP rather than IRC. From what I've seen, a Matrix server would be more resource-heavy than an XMPP one. Synapse one would probably not run on my weak machine at all, and Dendrite/Conduit are not feature-complete. And the primary reason I still haven't been on Matrix is that I have very limited disk space on my VPS, and Matrix saves media from every chat its servers are on, and I still haven't figured out how to opt out of that.

[–] hyperhopper@lemmy.world 8 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Weechat is the only other irc client I recommend

[–] SomeBoyo@feddit.de 3 points 9 months ago

How are it's xdcc capabilities?

[–] toketin@feddit.it 5 points 9 months ago

Konversation

[–] caveman@lemmy.ml 1 points 7 months ago

I enjoy XMPP with Gadjim client and Cheogram on Android.

Since then I don't miss IRC anymore

[–] pastermil@sh.itjust.works 7 points 9 months ago

What a shame :(

Hopes the project lives on, one way or another.