Internet Relay Chat. Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is an application layer protocol that facilitates transfer of messages in the form of text.
The chat process works on a client/server model of networking. IRC clients are computer programs that a user can install on their system. These clients are able to communicate with chat servers to transfer messages to other clients.[1] It is mainly designed for group communication in discussion forums, called channels,[2] but also allows one-to-one communication via private message[3] as well as chat and data transfer,[4] including file sharing.[5] Client software is available for every major operating system that supports Internet access.[6] As of April 2011, the top 100 IRC networks served more than half a million users at a time,[7] with hundreds of thousands of channels[7] operating on a total of roughly 1,500 servers[7] out of roughly 3,200 servers worldwide.[8] History [edit] Technical information[edit] A screenshot of HexChat, an IRC client for GTK environments.
IRC.org - Home of IRC. Comparison of IRC clients. The following tables compare general and technical information between a number of IRC client programs which have been discussed in independent published literature.
General[edit] Basic general information about the clients: creator/company, license etc. Clients listed on a light purple background are no longer in active development. Release history[edit] A brief overview of the release history. Operating system support[edit] The operating systems on which the clients can run natively (without emulation). Unix and Unix-like operating systems: mIRC will run on *NIX systems under WINE: confirmed Protocol support[edit] What IRC related protocols and standards are supported by each client.
Direct Client-to-Client (DCC) support[edit] Features[edit] Information on what features each of the clients support. Mobile IRC clients. The following tables compare general and technical information between a number of IRC client programs for mobile devices.
Please see the individual products articles for further information. General[edit] Basic general information about the clients: creator/company, license/price etc. Clients listed on a light purple background are no longer in active development. Freenode. Characteristics[edit] Freenode is centrally managed.
Staffers or staff (as IRC operators are called) have the same access across all servers and are voiced in the support channel (#freenode). Some operations that would normally only apply to one server (like k-lines) are propagated across the whole network. Freenode network. Celestia Radio Chat. Flankbook-NP. GeekShed IRC. Chat « #brony.