The standard IRC client is the original ircII. It's part of most
Linux distributions, and most other text-based IRC clients (notably
BitchX and EPIC) are derived from it.
4.1. Running the ircII program
It's easy to use ircII. Let's say you want to connect to
irc.freenode.net as mini-HOWTO.
At the command line, type:
$ irc mini-HOWTO irc.freenode.net
You can also export variables, so you won't need to use them at
the command line. For bash and zsh users:
$ export IRCNICK=mini-HOWTO IRCSERVER=irc.freenode.net
For csh and tcsh users, replace export with
setenv.
Add them to your shell profile (e.g. ~/.bash_profile or
~/.zprofile) when you're done.
Other common variables are IRCNAME and IRCUSER, to respectively
set the ircname part of a /whois and username as seen at the first line
'mini-HOWTO is ~username@hostname (ircname)'. Keep in mind that IRCUSER
won't work if you run an ident daemon (default on most distributions).
If you still need to change your username (not recommended, and I hope
you're not using IRC logged as root !), install oidentd from
http://ojnk.sourceforge.net/ . To configure,
read the oidentd.conf man page. Finally run '/usr/local/sbin/oidentd -g
nobody -u nobody'. Add this to your startup scripts (e.g.
/etc/rc.d/rc.local) when you're done.
If not set, IRCNICK, IRCUSER, and IRCNAME will be retrieved from
/etc/passwd .
4.2. Commands
Use /help to get a list on all available commands (/help help is a
good start). Replace nick by any IRCNICK.
First, /set NOVICE off
/nick IRC-mini-HOWTO changes your IRCNICK to
IRC-mini-HOWTO
/set realname The Linux IRC mini-HOWTO changes your IRCNAME to
The Linux IRC mini-HOWTO (doesn't change on the
same connection)
/j #mini-HOWTO joins channel
#mini-HOWTO
/j #unmaintained-HOWTO joins
channel#unmaintained-HOWTO
/j #mini-HOWTO changes the active current channel to
#mini-HOWTO
/msg nick Hi. sends a private message to
nick containing Hi.
/notice nick (or #mini-HOWTO) Hi. sends a
notice to nick (or #mini-HOWTO) containing
Hi.
/query nick starts a private conversation
with nick. /query ends the private
conversation
/me uses Linux. sends an action to the
current channel or query containing IRC-mini-HOWTO loves
Linux.
/dcc chat nick starts a chat with
nick. Use /msg =nick (notice
the =) to send messages over the chat
/dcc send nick /etc/HOSTNAME sends the given
file to nick
/dcc get nick receives the file offered by
nick
/part leaves the active current channel
/part #unmaintained-HOWTO leaves channel
#unmaintained-HOWTO
/discon disconnects from current IRCSERVER
/server irc.oftc.net connects to IRCSERVER
irc.oftc.net
/quit Bye. quits your IRC session with a reason
Bye.
Most of the above commands (including the use of environmental
variables) will also work in other console-based clients.