Date: 2023-05-01
Last update: 2024-02-19

Long live netcat! IRC clients suck too much
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Connect to the great IRC server, nc can be replaced with telnet
$ nc morena.rip 6667

Tell the great server your sweet nick
$ nick boby

Tell the server your username and :realname
Parameters: user mode unused :realname
$ user boby * * :boby

Join channel #morena
$ join #morena

Send message to the channel. The message has to start with ":"
$ privmsg #morena :Hello there from the netcat!

Send private message to somebody (in this case to nick morena)
It is the same as with a channel, just replace with a nick
$ privmsg morena :hello monster!

Leave that wonderful channel
$ part #morena

Leave this wonderful IRC server in one nice shot
$ quit


If you see "PING :SOMETHING" reply with "PONG :SOMETHING"
"SOMETHING" has to match. This is the way how a server tests if your
client is still connected. Some servers send it like every 2 minutes.
If you don't respond with PONG you will be disconnected. IRC clients
respond this automatically without noticing you.

Write all commands without any prefix like '/' what is usually
the case in IRC clients. Just a command like privmsg, join, part ...

If you need help with any command, on the sane server you just type
"help [command]". For example, "help privmsg". You will get help
from the ircd. As with IRC clients, most IRC servers are trash.
After you joined a channel, you still have to type:
"privmsg #channelname :message" all the time. You can join to more
channels.


Why all this gibberish? For fun or necessity. Imagine you install your
new cool operating system, just to discover you have no idea how to
install any package. Boom, you open telnet or nc, connect to your
favorite IRC network and ask helpful, kind and great people out
there how to install an IRC client ;/

Use telnet or nc - netcat for this purpose. You will get pure
IRC experience. Maybe you will find out, that most IRC clients don't
really add much of value.

What else do you need on a computer, right?

IRC clients that suck:
sic, ircII, EPIC5, Swirc, catgirl, rirc, Irssi, WeeChat, glirc,
Emacs clients and GUI clients like HexChat, Srain, Polari, Quassel,
Konversation.

Each client mentioned above fails in his own area.
Rirc and Irssi are usable. The rest suck so much that they
don't deserve any mention at all.

More about IRC clients next time ;/

Netcat is powerful tool, it can be used for IRC, Gopher, HTTP, Finger.
You can even send an email or create simple chat, web server with it.

Finger with netcat:
$ echo | nc domain.tld 79

Gopher with netcat:
$ echo | nc domain.tld 70

Web with netcat:
$ printf "GET / HTTP/1.0\r\n\r\n" | nc morena.rip 80

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Truth is not something outside to be discovered, it is something
inside to be realized.
.