irc_client (pending new name) is a terminal irc client written in C++11 using ncurses and boost heavily. irc_client exposes a python interface to allow the user to configure and extend the client using python.

• A modern C++11 compiler (tested with g++ version: 4.7.2, 4.82 and clang: 3.2)
• A modern boost installation (tested with boost 1.50 and 1.54)
• ncurses libs
• python2.7 libs (should also work with other python versions ify ou change the Makefile

You may need ot alter the $(LIB) and $(INC) in the Makefile at the root directory if your libraries are not in the normal places.

Ensuring that the prerequisites are met, we can simply build using:

make

Note you maybe speed up compilation by building in parallel (using make -jN) however note that building can be very memory hungry.

###Connecting

/connect <server name>
/connect irc.freenode.net

###Joining a channel

From the session or associated channel buffers you may issue the following to join a channel:

/join <channel name>
/join ##irc_client

###Leaving a channel

To leave a channel, on the associated channel buffer issue:

/leave <your exit message>
/leave "goodbye cruel world" 

By default irc_client will look in your current directory for an irc_config.py, a specific config file may be specified with following flag:

irc_client --config-script=<your_script>
irc_client --config-script=my_annoying_irc_bot.py

###Basic configuration The basic configuration settings used by the irc_client include

irc.default_username("myname145")
irc.default_nick("mynick145")
irc.default_port("6667")

of course, with this just being python you may do:

import getpass
#...
irc.default_username(getpass.getuser())

Or whatever else you wish.

###Connecting to a server You maybe initiate connections to a server from your config file.

irc.connect("<your_host_name>")
irc.connect("irc.freenode.net")

###IO You can print to the status buffer using python build in print statement.

Please notify all error using stderr with sys.stderr.write, note you need to terminate with a \n to flush to the status buffer.

if(success):
	print "success!"
else:
	sys.stderr.write("failed!\n")

###Running python from the GUI

You may run any valid python code from the GUI using:

/python <code>

For example:

/python print "hello world"
/python execfile("my_py_file.py")
/python my_func() #assuming my_func is defined

###Advice

• It is strongly recommend that you do not store any persistent references to sessions, channels, or users; instead get them from the API.
• It is recommended that you filter by registering handlers only the objects you are interested in. For example:

If you are only interested in certain users messages, prefer:

if(user.get_nick() == interesting_nick):
	user.connect_on_channel_message(
		lambda ch, us, m:
			foo(ch, us, m)
	)

to:

channel.connect_on_message(
	lambda chan, u, m:
		if(u.get_nick()==interesting_nick):
			foo(ch, u, m)
)

However if you wish to capture every users messages in a channel use the channel

###Thread safety

• Do not call into any of the exposed interface from any threads you may have spawned yourself
• Do not block the main thread of execution (writing to a file is okay, waiting for a condition is not)

This maybe relaxed later at a later date.