Set up IRC on Linux & Windows

Install an IRC Program

This section explains how you can install an IRC program called Hexchat.

For a Linux distributions like Debian, Ubuntu, or Mint open a terminal and type:

For Linux distributions like Redhat, Fedora, or CentOS open a terminal and type:

For a Windows environment, download the latest Hexchat installation binary from Hexchat download and install it.

Now open the hexchat program just like you would for any Linux program.

Edit Nick Name Settings

  1. Lets first fill out the Nick name and User name field with our choice of a nickname:

  2. From the list of Networks you should select OFTC network.

  • ircs://irc.oftc.net:6697 for SSL (alternative port: 9999), IPv4 and IPv6.

  • irc://irc.oftc.net:6667 for non-SSL (alternative ports: 6668-6670, 7000), IPv4 and IPv6.

Edit Server Settings

  1. Click the edit button and

  2. Make sure that Use SSL for all the servers on this network is checked.

Register Your Nick Name

If you don’t already have an account, you can register one with /msg NickServ REGISTER <password> <e-mail>. The OFTC Guide will guide you through the rest of the registration process. Make sure to follow the instructions and complete the verification process.

When you login to the server for the first time with your nickname, it will be used by you, but it’s still not registered yet.

In order to register you need to send a message to nickserv on OFTC, which is a bot that allows you to register and identify yourselves as the owner of a nick name.

If all goes well you should receive a message back instantly that the nick name is registered by you and an activation email will be sent to the email address you provided.

Auto-Login On Connecting To OFTC

In order to identify yourselves that you own the nick name upon logging in, you need to tell Hexchat to communicate your password upon connecting.

  1. Click Hexchat from the menu and then click Network List. You will see a familiar first screen of servers listed. Make sure OFTC is highlighted and click edit.

  2. In the Password put in the password you picked in the previous step and click close.

In case of more question about OFTC, read these FAQs

Done

Congratulations you’re now ready to communicate with the OpenStack community and have a registered nick name on OFTC! From here on out when you connect to OFTC with Hexchat you will be identified with your nickname.

A good channel to join right away is the #openstack-dev channel. A lot of people hang around in that channel so come on in and say hello! If there is a specific project you are also interested in working on, feel free to join that one as well and introduce yourself there. Interested in joining more channels or need to look up what one is called? Check out IRC Channels for more information.

It’s also important to note that contributors are located all over the world across different time zones, so channels may be quieter outside of their work hours. Be patient when asking questions, and it might be a while before someone responds. Additionally, keep in mind that IRC does not natively support a message backlog, so you may miss messages sent while you were disconnected. Many contributors keep a persistent IRC session to avoid missing important communications, and IRC Archives can be helpful for catching up on missed messages.

IRC bots

IRC allows different programs to listen to the IRC channels and do some actions. These programs are called IRC bots. There are several bots used in the OpenStack IRC channels, this section contains the ones which are useful from the first days of OpenStack development. A more comprehensive list can be found in the OpenDev team IRC page.

Thanksbot

This bot allows people to recognize each other and be thankful. Anyone can post a message in the OpenStack IRC channels to say thanks. The way to say thanks is:

#thanks <irc_nick> <message>

The irc_nick is the IRC nick of the person who is receiving the thanks. The message is a short text to explain the reason for the thanks. The bot collects all thanks to a wiki page.

Statusbot

Statusbot is used to distribute urgent information from the OpenDev team to OpenStack channels.

Successbot

Successbot is an IRC bot to express small successes in OpenStack development. To celebrate in the OpenStack IRC channel way just type:

to any OpenStack IRC channel where the Statusbot is listening. The message will be posted to the Successes wiki page.