Dev:How to use IRC

IRC, or Internet Relay Chat, is a low-bandwidth chat platform that has been around for decades — and it's the best place to ask development questions and help others with their questions. If you're new to it, it can be a little tricky to figure out, but it's worthwhile because a lot of experienced iOS extension developers use it to share information and hang out. Other technical communities often use IRC for their projects as well.

Where to go, and a bit of advice
A bunch of people who develop for jailbroken iOS are in #iphonedev and #theos on irc.saurik.com. Feel free to drop by and listen for a bit. If you ask a question and nobody responds right away, leave your IRC client open for a while to wait for answers, since not everyone is always awake and online. It's also helpful to do your best finding an answer yourself (via Google, etc.) before asking in the channel. Here's a convenient link to an IRC web client for #iphonedev that you can use to start chatting right away (ignore the "password" option on that page).

Other public channels on irc.saurik.com include #theos (for discussing development with Theos), #cycript (for discussing Cycript), #winterboard (for discussing WinterBoard and Cydget), and #iphone (a general-purpose channel for iOS-related discussion). If you'd like to join multiple channels in that web-based client: click one channel to open the client, and after you click "Start", type  to join the second one.

For lots more help beyond this page, see irchelp.org.

How to use IRC beyond temporary webchat
In order to connect to an IRC server, you can use those webchat links above or install a client application. If you plan to use IRC regularly, installing a client application is much more convenient than using that web-based client. All clients have a place to type in the server name (like irc.saurik.com) and channel name (like #iphonedev), and a place to type in a nickname for yourself.

Here are some recommended IRC clients:


 * Web (as linked above): Kiwi IRC (free).


 * Web and iOS for long-term use: IRCCloud - this has a free trial version that keeps you online for 2 hours, and for $5/month, it'll keep you online indefinitely even when your computer/phone is off, so you can see all the history in all your channels.


 * OS X: Colloquy (free) or Textual (free trial, $5 for full version).


 * iOS: Colloquy ($2) or Palaver ($3).


 * Windows: HexChat (free).


 * Linux: XChat (free).


 * Command line on any operating system for long-term use: irssi (free). If you have access to a server, you can set up irssi so that it stays connected indefinitely (so you can see all the history), with the help of a program called "screen". If you don't already have access to a server, and if you're willing to do a bit of setup work, you can get a year of a free "microinstance" on Amazon Web Servers and set up irssi with "screen" there - here are instructions.

Details about saurik's IRC network
(You probably don't need these details, but maybe you're curious.)

saurik runs an InspirIRCd instance on his server at irc.saurik.com.

Port 6667 is opened as raw, unencrypted IRC. This is the default port most clients will connect to.

Port 6697 is opened as encrypted SSL IRC.