WeeChat explained

WeeChat should not be confused with WeChat.

WeeChat
Developer:	Sébastien Helleu
Programming Language:	C
Operating System:	Linux, BSD, OS X, GNU Hurd, Microsoft Windows (using Cygwin)
Size:	17.2 MB
Language:	14 languages^[1]
Genre:	IRC client
License:	GPL-3.0-or-later

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,^[2] a web frontend) through the use of the relay plugin.^[3]

Features

WeeChat's features include:^[4]

• 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).^[5]

Binary packages and builds of WeeChat are available for installation as well as the source code for self compilation.^[6] This includes most Linux distributions and BSD package management systems, such as Debian,^[7] Ubuntu,^[8] Mandriva Linux,^[9] Fedora,^[10] Gentoo Linux,^[11] Arch Linux,^[12] FreeBSD via the FreeBSD Ports system, OpenBSD via the Ports collection, as well on NetBSD via Pkgsrc.^[13]

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.^[14]

See also

• Comparison of Internet Relay Chat clients
• List of Internet Relay Chat commands
• irssi

Notes and References

1. Web site: WeeChat translations . WeeChat . 2021-09-04.
2. Web site: Glowing Bear - A web client for WeeChat. github.com. glowing-bear.org. 16 December 2015.
3. Web site: WeeChat user's guide. Helleu. Sébastien. weechat.org. en. 2017-09-27.
4. Web site: WeeChat :: about :: Features. 2014-01-28. weechat.org.
5. Web site: WeeChat in Cygwin. 2014-08-06. 2013-10-19. weechat.org.
6. Web site: WeeChat: Downloads. 2009-04-14. 2009-03-04. weechat.org.
7. Web site: Debian: WeeChat packages. 2009-04-14. packages.debian.org.
8. Web site: Ubuntu: WeeChat packages. 2009-04-14. packages.ubuntu.org.
9. Web site: Mandriva: WeeChat packages. 2009-04-14. mandriva.com.
10. Web site: Fedora: WeeChat packages. fedoraproject.org. 2009-04-14.
11. Web site: Gentoo: WeeChat packages. 2009-04-14. gentoo.org.
12. Web site: Arch Linux: WeeChat packages. 2009-04-14. archlinux.org.
13. Web site: FreeBSD Ports: WeeChat. 2009-04-14. freebsd.org.
14. Free Software Magazine . 7 . Free IRC clients : Choosing the best IRC client for your needs . Martin. Brown. 2005-09-07 . 2014-01-28.