Screenshot of XChat 2.8.0 |
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| Developer(s) | Peter Železný (zed) |
| Stable release | 2.8.9 / August 28, 2010 |
| Development status | Active |
| Written in | C |
| Operating system | Mac OS X, Windows, Unix-like |
| Platform | Cross-platform |
| Available in | Multilingual |
| Type | IRC client |
| License | Proprietary for Windows version, GNU General Public License for others |
| Website | www.xchat.org |
XChat, commonly written X-Chat or xchat, is a popular Internet Relay Chat (IRC) client. It is available for Unix-like systems, Microsoft Windows (with additional features), Mac OS X (X-Chat Aqua), and for other X Window System-based systems (Fink project). It has a choice of a tabbed document interface or tree interface, support for multiple servers and is highly configurable. Both command line and graphical versions are available. The main code is licensed under the GNU General Public License, but the official Windows version is Shareware, and uses the GTK+ toolkit for its interface. It is also available as an app for Joli OS.
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XChat is a full-featured IRC client and includes all basic functionalities that are found in most other IRC clients, including CTCP, DCC file transfers and chats, and a plugin system for various languages (including at least C or C++, Perl, Python, Tcl, Ruby,[1] Lua,[2] CLISP, D, and DMDScript[3]). By writing plugins, one can extend the features and customize the functionality of XChat.
XChat runs on the following operating systems: GNU/Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris, AIX, IRIX, Mac OS X, Windows 98/ME/NT/2000/XP and others. Support for 98/ME was dropped from the official Windows build,[4]
As of August 23, 2004, official Windows build of XChat has become shareware, and must be purchased after a 30-day trial period. Previous (freeware) builds for Windows have been removed from the official site.[5]
There has been a great deal of discussion about the legality of this move. Since the XChat project has not required copyright assignment, the maintainer (Peter Železný, or zed) of the XChat project does not actually hold copyright to the entirety of the code. While he has offered to remove and rewrite any patches, provided the author of the patches asks him to, there are many who feel that he is still in violation of the GPL, especially since the code for the shareware enforcement is not disclosed. As the code may be in violation of the GPL, a developer whose code is currently in the XChat source code may be entitled to legal action. Code which is included under a more permissive license such as LGPL (as a library), BSD, or public domain, does not entitle the developer to this legal option.
It is stated that the shareware fee is required due to the excessive amount of time it takes to make it compile under Windows.[6]
Unofficial Windows builds of XChat are made available by contributors, most of whom maintain binaries of the latest release, yet may release more often with builds based on SVN.[5][7]
A review at Softonic of the official shareware version 2.8.9 called it a "good looking and easy to use IRC client", and appreciated the UI layout, which color codes nicknames, and left-justifies conversational text, but gave the software a grade of 6/10.[8]
In a review in IRCReviews.org of the "Silverex" contributed Windows build, Allan Preston wrote, "Overall, XChat is a very capable, solid, and robust client, but it is not a mIRC copy. You can alter almost every aspect of it, either by altering the config files, or by scripting. I would recommend XChat to any windows user who is looking for a free alternative to mIRC, or to users who are bored with mIRC’s limitations."[5]
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