Chatting with Emacs rcirc and ZNC
=================================

How to stop worrying and use Emacs as your IRC client.

rcirc
-----
ERC and rcirc, the IRC clients included in Emacs, don't require
the installation of extra software. From the two, rcirc is my
favorite Emacs IRC client.

Unlike ERC, rcirc uses the same layout for the chat buffers like
most IRC clients.

The layout from left to right:
* time stamp
* the nick of the sender
* the message

The default format of the time stamp is "HH:MM", use setopt
to chose to another format:

    (setopt rcirc-time-format "%m-%d %H:%M ")

ZNC
---
ZNC, the most used open source IRC bouncer, keeps the connection
to the IRC server running 24x7. The the client connects and
disconnects to ZNC, without missing any chat messages.

When the client disconnects, ZNC buffers the chats until the
client reconnects. When the client reconnects, it replays the
messages.

Use an IRC bouncer when your IRC client runs on a laptop or
computer which is not up all the time, when you use IRC clients
on several devices, or when your internet connection is unstable.

Don't connect more than one client to ZNC at the same time.
First disconnect the current client before connecting the next.

Connect rcirc with ZNC
----------------------
Use this configuration for rcirc to connect and authenticate with
a ZNC server with TLS:

(setq rcirc-server-alist '(("192.168.12.34"
                            :port 6666
                            :encryption tls
                            :nick "eskarina"
                            :password "weatherwax/liberachat:supersecret"
                            :full-name "Eskarina")))

Explanation:
* 192.168.12.34: ip-address or FQDN of the ZNC server
* 6666: port the ZNC server listens to
* eskarina: nick name
* weatherwax: username for ZNC
* liberachat: the network name in the ZNC configuration
* supersecret: the password to authenticate to the ZNC server

Note that the password to authenticate to the ZNC server is not
the password to authenticate to the IRC network (like Libera
Chat).

Logging
-------
ZNC can create IRC logs. Do this only on machines in your own
network. Because of the risk of compromised confidentiality of
private chats, it not advised to run IRC logging on a server
maintained by a third party.

rcirc writes IRC logs when "rcirc-log-flag" is set to 't'. Set
"rcirc-log-directory" to the desired directory for the logging,
or use the default directory "rcirc-log".

Starting rcirc
--------------
Start rcirc with:

    M-x irc

See you on IRC!


Last edited: $Date: 2023/12/03 16:26:39 $