EZ-IRC  --  10/21/1999  --  Alton Moore (www.alton-moore.net)
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OVERVIEW:

This is a simple IRC client, released under the GNU license.  It asks for
the bare minimum it needs to function, namely the server name, your
nickname, and the channel name you wish to join.  I wrote it as an exercise,
and also because mIRC, while a good program, seems to be difficult for most
people to set up.

I've compiled this on my Linux system only.  I'm sure it will compile on
most versions of unix, but be aware that non-blocking keyboard input can
be a bit different from system to system.  I do intend to compile it for
DOS/Windows soon.


COMPILING AND RUNNING:

The program seems to function satisfactorily at it's current version.  Note
that the version of each release is denoted by it's release date.  The
executable I supply is the one off of my Linux ELF system.  To compile for
yourself:
  cc -o ez-irc ez-irc.c

To run, asking the user for server, nickname, and channel:
  ez-irc

To run automatically:
  ez-irc irc.whatever.com YourNick "#channel_name"

Remember that Ctrl-R will usually redraw a line you are entering, if it
should happen to be interrupted by a message while you're typing it.  Also,
the "Del" key on the keypad works better as a delete key than does the
backspace key.  When I refine the keyboard input the program should work
somewhat better in the areas of keyboard input and display, although it
works well enough now.

Unlike mIRC, EZ-IRC pings the IRC server when it has not detected incoming
activity for over 30 seconds.  If two pings are not answered, then the
connection is dropped.  This prevents the situation where you think that you
are still connected but nothing's been coming through, when you have really
been disconnected but mIRC has not checked for that.  All RFC-compliant IRC
servers reply to pings; let me know if your favorite one doesn't.

There are no run-time options at this time.  I may include some, although I
would like to keep the program simple for novice IRC users.


FEEDBACK:

Please send any feedback to alton@alton-moore.net, and/or visit my pages for
other programs I've written over the years.