Multitail + Vim
To make ii a bit more comfortable, use it in combination with the multitail program and for example with vim. Run vim in the server directory and use key mapping like:
map w1 :.w >>\\#ii/in<cr>
map w2 :.w >>\\#wmii/in<cr>
to post to channels. Thanks to Matthias Kopfermann for this hint.
Another cool thing is to use it with splitvt so you have multitail windows on top and for example four lines of vim at the bottom.
There is also a blog post which describes the whole configuration: http://nion.modprobe.de/blog/archives/440-Using-the-ii-irc-client.html
Popup Chat Windows
You can also try pcw which will (by default) open a new terminal for each channel you join. On startup, and after receiving SIGUSR1, pcw will open a terminal for every channel you are already in. By default it depends on srw as a line editing wrapper. Just run 'pcw ~/irc' (or whichever directory you have ii using) then start up ii. Note that closing a terminal does not exit the channel. If that channel receives a new message the terminal will open again. To leave the channel you must first '/l' and then close the window. (the combination of pcw
- ii + bitlbee let me stop using pidgin :-D)
Web frontend
phpii is a simple web frontend for ii. You can see a demo of it and download the php source here: phpii homepage
iii
iii (maybe interactive ii, or something) is a collection of shell scripts to produce a cli frontend to ii. iii looks like a "normal" irc client (ie irssi), working on top of ii.
It features connections to multiple servers and autojoin of channels, auto-reconnect to servers and channels on network failure, autocompletion through rlwrap, formatted and colored output etc.
It can be used directly in the command line, or like pcw spawning terminals for each channel, or inside a dedicated tmux session.
Read the readme file, and do not hesitate to ask c00kiemon5ter for help on freenode and oftc.
iil
The iil (short for iiless) is fast viewer/reader for ii irc client, using your shell and less.
uii
uii (usable irc it) is a set of shell scripts that provides readline support, uses inotify to monitor channels and pops up notifications.
im-scripts
im-scripts is a set of sh-scripts for convenient use of ii and ji.
wii
wii is a simple web frontend for ii. It just uses HTML, java-script and shell-script.
xii
xii is a simple X11 frontend for ii. It is written in plain C based on Xaw and Xt library.
hysteria
hysteria is another set of scripts (mostly shell) which provide support for highlighting, autojoining, etc.
lchat
lchat is a line oriented terminal font-end.
yaic
Yet Another Ii Client is a shell script for ii with channel switching, proper line folding, and pretty formatting.
TLS/SSL
To connect to a TLS/SSL encrypted channel, it is possible to use the SSL patch or a proxy:
stunnel is a proxy for an unencrypted TCP connection to TLS:
In /etc/stunnel/stunnel.conf
:
[irc.oftc.net]
accept = 127.0.0.1:<your-port>
connect = irc.oftc.net:6697
inetd listens on multiple TCP ports and can connect a program standard input and output to a TCP socket.
This enables it to act as a simple proxy using any command line TLS client, such as openssl s_client, brssl client, nc -ssl, socat... or any other:
In /etc/inetd.conf
:
/tmp/irc.oftc.net stream unix nowait nobody /usr/bin/openssl openssl s_client -quiet -connect irc.oftc.net:6697
Then a proxy should be available as an unix socket for ii to connect to:
ii -s irc.oftc.net -u /tmp/irc.oftc.net