KISS for IRC, a tiny IRC client written in POSIX C99.
## Features
* Excellent cross-platform compatibility (due to [POSIX](https://opensource.com/article/19/7/what-posix-richard-stallman-explains) standard compliance).
* No dependencies other than a [C99 compiler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C99).
* Native [SASL PLAIN and EXTERNAL](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4422) authentication support.
* [TLS/SSL](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_Layer_Security) protocol capable (via external TLS utilities).
* Full chat history logging.
* Multi-channel joining at server connection.
* Simple shortcut commands and full support for all IRC commands in the [RFC 2812](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2812) standard:
```shell
Send a PRIVMSG to the current channel.
@ Send a message to a specified channel or nick
/ Send command to IRC server (see RFC 2812 for full list).
/# Assign new default message channel.
/? Print current message channel.
```
* Color scheme definition via [ANSI 8-bit colors](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANSI_escape_code), allowing for uniform color definition across all shell applications.
## Installation & Usage
Building and installing on **KISS Linux** using the Community repository:
```shell
kiss b kirc
kiss i kirc
```
Building and installing on **Arch** and **Arch-based** distros using the AUR:
```shell
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/kirc-git.git
cd kirc
makepkg -si
```
Building and installing from source (works on **Raspbian**, **Debian**, **Ubuntu** and many other Unix distributions):
```shell
git clone https://github.com/mcpcpc/kirc.git
cd kirc
make
make install
```
### Usage
Consult `man kirc` for a full list and explanation of available `kirc` arguments.
```shell
kirc [-s hostname] [-p port] [-c channels] [-n nickname] [-r realname] [-u username] [-k password] [-a token] [-x command] [-w nick_width] [-W max_width] [-o logfile] [-e|v|V]
```
## Transport Layer Security (TLS) Support
There is no native TLS/SSL support. Instead, users can achieve this functionality by using third-party utilities (e.g. stunnel, [socat](https://linux.die.net/man/1/socat), ghosttunnel, etc).
* Example using `socat`. Remember to replace items enclosed with `<>`.
```shell
socat tcp-listen:6667,reuseaddr,fork,bind=127.0.0.1 ssl::6697
kirc -s 127.0.0.1 -c 'channel' -n 'name' -r 'realname'
```
## SASL PLAIN Authentication
In order to connect using `SASL PLAIN` mechanism authentication, the user must provide the required token during the initial connection. If the authentication token is base64 encoded and, therefore, can be generated a number of ways. For example, using Python, one could use the following:
```shell
python -c 'import base64; print(base64.encodebytes(b"nick\x00nick\x00password"))'
```
For example, lets assume an authentication identity of `jilles` and password `sesame`:
```shell
$ python -c 'import base64; print(base64.encodebytes(b"jilles\x00jilles\x00sesame"))'
b 'amlsbGVzAGppbGxlcwBzZXNhbWU=\n'
$ kirc -n jilles -a amlsbGVzAGppbGxlcwBzZXNhbWU=
```
## SASL EXTERNAL Authentication
Similar to `SASL PLAIN`, the `SASL EXTERNAL` mechanism allows us to authenticate using credentials by external means. An example where this might be required is when trying to connect to an IRC host through [Tor](https://www.torproject.org/). To do so, we can using third-party utilities (e.g. stunnel, [socat](https://linux.die.net/man/1/socat), ghosttunnel, etc).
* Example using `socat`. Remember to replace items enclosed with `<>`.
```shell
socat TCP4-LISTEN:1110,fork,bind=0,reuseaddr SOCKS4A:127.0.0.1::,socksport=9050
socat TCP4-LISTEN:1111,fork,bind=0,reuseaddr 'OPENSSL:127.0.0.1:1110,verify=0,cert='
kirc -e -s 127.0.0.1 -p 1111 -n -x 'wait 5000'
```
## Color Scheme Definition
Applying a new color scheme is easy! One of the quickest ways is to use an application, such as [kfc](https://github.com/mcpcpc/kfc), to apply pre-made color palettes. Alternatively, you can manually apply escape sequences to change the default terminal colors.
* Example using `kfc`
```shell
kfc -s gruvbox
```
* Example using ANSI escape sequences
```shell
printf -e "\033]4;;#"
# Replace with the desired Hex code (e.g. #FFFFFF is white).
# Replace with the one of the numbers below:
# 0 - Regular Black
# 1 - Regular Red
# 2 - Regular Green
# 3 - Regular Yellow
# 4 - Regular Blue
# 5 - Regular Magenta
# 6 - Regular Cyan
# 7 - Regular White
# 8 - Bright Black
# 9 - Bright Red
# 10 - Bright Green
# 11 - Bright Yellow
# 12 - Bright Blue
# 13 - Bright Magenta
# 14 - Bright Cyan
# 15 - Bright White
```
## FAQ
* **KISS** is an acronym for [Keep It Simple Stupid](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KISS_principle), which is a design principle noted by the U.S. Navy in 1960s. The KISS principle states that most systems work best if they are kept simple rather than made complicated; therefore, simplicity should be a key goal in design, and unnecessary complexity should be avoided.
* **POSIX** is an acronym for [Portable Operating System Interface](https://opensource.com/article/19/7/what-posix-richard-stallman-explains), which is a family of standards specified by the IEEE Computer Society for maintaining compatibility between operating systems. The *C99* Standard is preferred (as opposed to *C89* or *C11*) since this currently the only one specified by [POSIX](https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/utilities/c99.html).
## Known Bugs
Depending on the terminal emulator, some users may experience abnormal *BACKSPACE* key press behavior. For example, when inputting text that exceeds the width of the terminal window and wraps to a new line, the user is unable to return to editing the previous line of text. This has been confirmed to be an [upstream issue](https://github.com/mcpcpc/kirc/issues/39) and has been reported accordingly. While we wait for the upstream fixes, I would recommend using [urxvt](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Rxvt-unicode) or a terminal multiplexer (such as [screen](https://www.gnu.org/software/screen/) or [tmux](https://github.com/tmux/tmux/wiki)), which seemed to have resolved these issues.
## Contact
For any further questions or concerns, feel free to reach out to me, [mcpcpc](https://github.com/mcpcpc), on `#kirc`
or `#kisslinux` channels of the _irc.freenode.org_ server.