ircII
IRCII(I)                                               IRCII(I)



NAME
       ircII - interface to the Internet Relay Chat system

SYNOPSIS
       irc  [-c chan] [-p portno] [-f] [-F] [-s] [-S] [-d] [nick-
       name [server list]] [-l filename ]  [-L  filename  ]  [-a]
       [-v] [-q]

DESCRIPTION
       The  ircII  program is a full screen, termcap based inter-
       face to Internet Relay Chat.  It gives full access to  all
       of  the normal IRC functions, plus a variety of additional
       options.

OPTIONS
       -c chan
              Automatically join channel chan .

       -p portno
              Set the port number to portno (default:  6667,  the
              standard  IRC  port).  Only supply this if you con-
              nect to a server which uses a port other than 6667.

       -f     Use flow control (^S and ^Q) to stop/start the dis-
              play.  Normally these are both bound to other func-
              tions  within  irc.   This switch is ignored if the
               -d switch is used.

       -F     Don't use flow control (^S and ^Q)  to  stop  start
              the  display.   This  switch  is ignored if the  -d
              switch is used.

       -s     Don't start up the ircio process to connect to  the
              IRC server (default).

       -S     Start  up  the  ircio process to connect to the IRC
              server.

       -d     Start in "dumb" mode.  All input is taken  directly
              from  stdin  and  all output goes to stdout without
              using any of the termcap(p) screen control codes.

       nickname
              Set the nickname (overrides the  environment  vari-
              able IRCNICK; default: the username).

       server Set  the list of servers with which irc will try to
              connect upon startup.  This list is  also  used  by
              the  program's  /server  command.   The  format for
              lines in the list is:

              hostname [:portno[:password[:nick]]]

       -l filename
              Selects a different file to be used as  the  .ircrc
              file for ircII.  There is no exansion of $ expandos
              when   using   this   option.    The   default   is
              $HOME/.ircrc.

       -L filename
              Selects  a  different file to be used as the .ircrc
              file for ircII.  Expansion of  $  expandos  happens
              with this option.  The default is $HOME/.ircrc.

       -a     This adds the normal irc server list to the command
              line list of irc servers.

       -v     Print the version and release  date  of  ircII  and
              exit.

       -q     Start  up irc quickly -- don't load the IRCRC file.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION
   The Screen:
       The screen is  split  into  two  parts,  separated  by  an
       inverse-video  status  line  (if  supported).   The  upper
       (larger) part of the screen displays  responses  from  the
       IRC  server.  The lower part of the screen (a single line)
       accepts keyboard input.

       Some terminals do not support certain features required by
       ircII,  in  which case you receive a message stating this.
       If this occurs, try changing  the  terminal  type  or  run
       ircII with the -d option.

   Irc Commands:
       Any  line  beginning  with  the  slash  character  '/'  is
       regarded as an ircII command (the command character may be
       changed;  type  '/help set cmdchar').  Any line not begin-
       ning with this character is treated as  a  message  to  be
       sent to the current channel.  To produce a listing of com-
       mands, type '/help ?'.  To receive information  about  the
       commands type '/help <command> '.

   The .ircrc File:
       When  ircII  is executed, it checks the user's home direc-
       tory for a .ircrc file,  executing  the  commands  in  the
       file.  Commands in this file do not need to have a leading
       slash character '/' This allows predefinition  of  aliases
       and other features.

EXAMPLES
       irc -c 128 -p 5555
              Connect IRC to port number 5555 of the default host
              and enter on channel number 128.

       irc Mermaid
              Use the nickname "Mermaid".

       irc Mermaid server1:5000 server2::passwd server3
              Use the nickname "Mermaid" and the modified  server
              list.

       irc -d Use dumb mode.

       irc -f Allow use of ^S/^Q to stop/start screen display.

       irc -e elisa
              Interface IRC with a program called elisa.

       setenv IRCNICK Mermaid
       setenv IRCNAME

       irc    Set  the  username  (if not specified elsewhere) to
              "Mermaid".  The user's name (when  provided  inside
              parentheses  in response to a WHOIS command) is set
              to "The one and only :)".

FILES
       .../bin/ircII         the executable program

       ~/.ircrc              default initialization file

       ~/.irc/               directory you can put your own ircII
                             scripts   into,  that  can  then  be
                             loaded with /load

       .../lib/irc/          directory containing message-of-the-
                             day,   master  initialization,  help
                             files and ircII scripts

THE HELP FILES
       All of the ircII commands are fully described in the  help
       files  package.   The  best  way to start here is with the
       /HELP ?  command as this prints a listing of all available
       help files.

SIGNALS
       ircII handles the following signals

       SIGUSR1
              Closes all DCC connections and EXEC'ed processes.

       SIGUSR2
              Drops ircII back to the command line.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
       It can be helpful to predefine certain variables in in the
       .cshrc, .profile, or .login file:

       IRCNICK
              The user's IRC nickname.

       IRCNAME
              The user's IRC realname (otherwise  retreived  from
              /etc/passwd)

       IRCSERVER
              The  default  IRC  server(r) (see server option for
              details)

       HOME   Overrides the default home path in /etc/passwd.

       TERM   The type of terminal in use.

SEE ALSO
       irc(c), ircd(d)

BUGS
       Please notify the current developer of the software of any
       bugs in current versions.

AUTHORS
       Program written by Michael Sandrof (ms5n+@andrew.cmu.edu).
       Now being maintained by Matthew Green  (mrg@mame.mu.oz.au)
       Names of contributors and contact address can be retrieved
       with the /info command.  This manual page written by  Dar-
       ren  Reed  (avalon@coombs.anu.EDU.AU), revised by R. P. C.
       Rodgers (rodgers@maxwell.mmwb.ucsf.edu), by the lynX,  and
       by Matthew Green (mrg@mame.mu.oz.au).



                          25 March 1995                 IRCII(I)