{"id":450,"date":"2024-02-19T15:03:21","date_gmt":"2024-02-19T15:03:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/serverhost.com\/blog\/announcement-of-the-final-release-from-leading-open-source-irc-client\/"},"modified":"2024-12-09T06:13:13","modified_gmt":"2024-12-09T06:13:13","slug":"announcement-of-the-final-release-from-leading-open-source-irc-client","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/serverhost.com\/blog\/announcement-of-the-final-release-from-leading-open-source-irc-client\/","title":{"rendered":"Announcement of the Final Release from Leading Open-Source IRC Client"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><p>The open-source IRC client <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/HexChat\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">HexChat<\/a> has announced its final ever release.<\/p>\n<p>HexChat 2.16.2 arrives with a small selection of bug fixes and new features for its long-standing fans to enjoy, but also bad news: after almost 12 years of continued development the party is over.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis will be the last release I make of HexChat,\u201d app maintainer TingPing says in a <a href=\"https:\/\/hexchat.github.io\/news\/2.16.2.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">blog post announcement<\/a>. \u201cThe project has largely been unmaintained for years now and nobody else stepped up to do that work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Prior to this one, HexChat\u2019s previous release was back in 2021. That release was accompanied by a call for help to try and keep development of the client (in particular its Windows builds) going.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><p>Regrettably, the much-needed assistance never arrived for this user-oriented GTK IRC application that originated as a XChat fork (does that ring a bell?).<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><p><em>&#8220;I am grateful to all contributors, users, and conversationalists that I have engaged with over the years. HexChat was a significant and influential project for me; it was while I was a teenager that I started working on it, gained ample knowledge, met numerous remarkable people, and it opened doors to bigger opportunities in my life.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><p><em>&#8220;Parting ways is difficult, but the moment has arrived for me to head towards a new direction.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><p>Modifications in HexChat 2.16.2:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><code>\/server<\/code> now uses TLS by default (with flag to disable)<\/li>\n<li>Preferences dialog is now a modal<\/li>\n<li>Support for the <code>extended-monitor<\/code><\/li>\n<li>Support for <code>SCRAM<\/code> SASL mechanisms<\/li>\n<li>Option to hide nickname from window title<\/li>\n<li>Max server password length increased to 1024<\/li>\n<li>Python updated to 3.8 (Windows)<\/li>\n<li>Installer options for start menu and app shortcuts (Windows)<\/li>\n<li>Bug fixes<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><p>You can download the latest final release <a href=\"https:\/\/hexchat.github.io\/downloads.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">from the project\u2019s website<\/a> (where Windows installers are provided), or <a href=\"https:\/\/flathub.org\/apps\/io.github.Hexchat\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">get it from Flathub<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><p>All of HexChat\u2019s code, data, documentation, and dependencies have been <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/hexchat\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">moved over to GitHub<\/a>. The logic being these will be there until the end of Microsoft.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><p>Of course, nothing is truly dead in open-source, as TingPing notes: \u201cForks of the project are welcomed. Nobody can stop the code from living on\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><h2>Do you still use IRC?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p><p>Despite a declining popularity in an era of modern messaging platforms, IRC (Internet Relay Chat) remains a reliable, low-barrier way to engage in real-time communication with people across the world. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><p>Although HexChat may not see any future releases the current version will continue to work until it doesn\u2019t, and a handful of actively maintained desktop IRC clients for Linux are available for those looking to switch, including <em>Polari<\/em>, <em>Smuxi<\/em>, and <em>Konversation<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><p><strong>Did you ever use HexChat? Do you have memories of IRC? Do you still use it? Share your thoughts, memories, and opinions down in the comments. <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><p><em>h\/t Chris<\/em><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The open-source IRC client HexChat has announced its final ever release. HexChat 2.16.2 arrives with a small selection of bug fixes and new features for its long-standing fans to enjoy, but also bad news: after almost 12 years of continued development the party is over. \u201cThis will be the last release I make of HexChat,\u201d [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":451,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,262,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-app-updates","category-irc","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Open Source IRC Client\u2019s Final Release Now Available | ServerHost<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"HexChat announces its final release after 12 years of development, bringing bug fixes and 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