WeeChat
 | |
 WeeChat 3.4 with the default configuration | |
| Developer(s) | Sébastien Helleu |
|---|---|
| Initial release | June 26, 2003 |
| Stable release | 4.5.0[1] 
/ 15 December 2024 |
| Repository | |
| Written in | C |
| Operating system | Linux, BSD, OS X, GNU Hurd, Microsoft Windows (using Cygwin) |
| Size | 17.2 MB |
| Available in | 14 languages[2] |
| Type | IRC client |
| License | GPL-3.0-or-later |
| Website | weechat |
WeeChat (Wee Enhanced Environment for Chat) is a free and open-source Internet Relay Chat client that is designed to be light and fast. It is released under the terms of the GNU GPL-3.0-or-later and has been developed since 2003.
WeeChat comes with a default ncurses interface, and it is possible to use other interfaces (e.g. Glowing Bear,[3] a web frontend) through the use of the relay plugin.[4]
Features
WeeChat's features include:[5]
- IPv6
- SSL
- Proxy connections
- The screen can be split up to display multiple windows at the same time.
- Incremental text search
- Aspell support for spell checking
- Scripting support for many languages (Perl, Python, Ruby, Lua, Tcl, Scheme with GNU Guile, JavaScript with V8 (JavaScript engine), PHP)
- FIFO pipes for remote control
- Support for multiple character encodings
- User-defined aliases and shortkeys
Supported platforms
WeeChat supports most platforms and operating systems, including Linux, BSD, macOS, Debian GNU/Hurd, HP-UX, Solaris, QNX, Haiku, and Microsoft Windows (via the Cygwin library and API).[6]
Binary packages and builds of WeeChat are available for installation as well as the source code for self compilation.[7] This includes most Linux distributions and BSD package management systems, such as Debian,[8] Ubuntu,[9] Mandriva Linux,[10] Fedora,[11] Gentoo Linux,[12] Arch Linux,[13] FreeBSD via the FreeBSD Ports system, OpenBSD via the Ports collection, as well on NetBSD via Pkgsrc.[14]
Reception
In his review for Free Software Magazine, Martin Brown graded WeeChat with 43 points out of a possible 50, noting that "At first glance, WeeChat is not as friendly or easy to use as Rhapsody", but, "There’s a lot of hidden power built into the application", including Python, Perl, Ruby and Lua extensions which can be selected at installation.[15]
See also
References
- ^ https://github.com/weechat/weechat/releases/tag/v4.5.0.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ "WeeChat translations". WeeChat. Retrieved 2021-09-04.
- ^ "Glowing Bear - A web client for WeeChat". github.com. glowing-bear.org. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
- ^ Helleu, Sébastien. "WeeChat user's guide". weechat.org. Retrieved 2017-09-27.
- ^ "WeeChat :: about :: Features". weechat.org. Retrieved 2014-01-28.
- ^ "WeeChat in Cygwin". weechat.org. 2013-10-19. Retrieved 2014-08-06.
- ^ "WeeChat: Downloads". weechat.org. 2009-03-04. Retrieved 2009-04-14.
- ^ "Debian: WeeChat packages". packages.debian.org. Retrieved 2009-04-14.
- ^ "Ubuntu: WeeChat packages". packages.ubuntu.org. Retrieved 2009-04-14.
- ^ "Mandriva: WeeChat packages". mandriva.com. Retrieved 2009-04-14.
- ^ "Fedora: WeeChat packages". fedoraproject.org. Retrieved 2009-04-14.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Gentoo: WeeChat packages". gentoo.org. Retrieved 2009-04-14.
- ^ "Arch Linux: WeeChat packages". archlinux.org. Retrieved 2009-04-14.
- ^ "FreeBSD Ports: WeeChat". freebsd.org. Retrieved 2009-04-14.
- ^ Brown, Martin (2005-09-07). "Free IRC clients : Choosing the best IRC client for your needs". Free Software Magazine (7). Retrieved 2014-01-28.