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| IRC has a decentralized ] of ] that can be accessed by special client programs. The ] for IRC is open, and there are many client (and server) implementations. Unlike popular instant messaging applications, there is not an inherent login id that one must acquire; it's typically a much more anonymous medium than instant messaging. | IRC has a decentralized ] of ] that can be accessed by special client programs. The ] for IRC is open, and there are many client (and server) implementations. Unlike popular instant messaging applications, there is not an inherent login id that one must acquire; it's typically a much more anonymous medium than instant messaging. | ||
| IRC was created by Jarkko Oikarinen (WiZ) in August 1988. It was first written to replace a program called MUT (MultiUser ]) on a ] called OuluBox in ]. Jarkko Oikarinen found inspiration in ] which operated on the ]. Humorously enough, the famous "idiot user" ], who was allegedly a ] user, was actually a well known ]. | IRC was created by Jarkko Oikarinen (WiZ) in August 1988. It was first written to replace a program called MUT (MultiUser ]) on a ] called OuluBox in ]. | ||
| IRC is a plaintext protocol, which means that it is fully possible to use IRC via ], although quite inconvenient. It also means that it is possible to intercept and read the communication between client and server, and even hijack and inject the connection. This is unfortunate, as there has been quite a lot of ]s on various IRC Networks. | IRC is a plaintext protocol, which means that it is fully possible to use IRC via ], although quite inconvenient. It also means that it is possible to intercept and read the communication between client and server, and even hijack and inject the connection. This is unfortunate, as there has been quite a lot of ]s on various IRC Networks. | ||
Revision as of 17:24, 19 October 2002
Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is a form of instant communication over the Internet. IRC is a predecessor to the class of applications known as instant messaging.
IRC has a decentralized network of servers that can be accessed by special client programs. The protocol for IRC is open, and there are many client (and server) implementations. Unlike popular instant messaging applications, there is not an inherent login id that one must acquire; it's typically a much more anonymous medium than instant messaging.
IRC was created by Jarkko Oikarinen (WiZ) in August 1988. It was first written to replace a program called MUT (MultiUser Talk) on a BBS called OuluBox in Finland.
IRC is a plaintext protocol, which means that it is fully possible to use IRC via telnet, although quite inconvenient. It also means that it is possible to intercept and read the communication between client and server, and even hijack and inject the connection. This is unfortunate, as there has been quite a lot of IRC takeover wars on various IRC Networks.
RFC 1459 describes the protocol used by the early IRC2; 2810, 2811, 2812 and 2813 describe one set of proposed IRC extensions: most IRC implementations consist of IRC2 with various add-ons and protocol extensions, resulting in incompatibilities preventing connection of servers running different software.
Today there are many IRC networks, the largest include EFNet, UnderNet, IRCNet and Dalnet. They run various implemenations of IRC servers, but the protocol exposed to IRC users is very similar, and all IRC networks can be accessed by the same client software.
There are also many programs which are clients, called "bots", short for "robot". The first 'bot was written by Greg Lindahl and provided moderation for the game of Wumpus, but most modern bots either are used to exercise operator privs (controlling channels), to annoy other users (perhaps by spamming them with lots of traffic), or to serve as permanent points of contact for information exchange (an answering machine, file transfer, etc.)
IRC served as an early laboratory for many kinds of Internet attacks, such as using fake ICMP unreachable messages to break TCP-based IRC connections to annoy users or facilitate takeovers.
Popular IRC clients:
Misplaced Pages has an IRC channel called #wikipedia on irc.openprojects.net.