Modernising IRC

Updated: Apr 22, 2023

IRC Protocol

IRC [1] is one of the oldest protocol from the Dinosaur Age [2] which is still alive. It is very simple, there is one IRC Server running somewhere in the Internet. You connect to that server using an IRC Client, join one Channel (in other words a Room), and start chatting with people in that channel.

Limitations

Since IRC is very simple text based protocol, it doesn’t have a mechanism to store the history, means, if you disconnect from the server, you no longer receive messages from other people in the Channel. In Order to receive all the messages from a particular Channel, your IRC Client need to stay connected with the IRC Server.

Also, we cannot watch what is happening in the Channel all the day. So, the IRC Client should have the ability to provide notification so that when you see the notification, you can decide whether you want to switch look at the conversation happening in the Channel or not. Most of the IRC Clients developed for Desktop Operating Systems do this notification without any issue. Also, they can stay connected with the IRC Server as long as you keep them running.

IRC requires the client to be connected to the server through TCP Socket, but modern mobile operating systems don’t like apps which keep on running and stay connected through TCP Socket, these modern mobile operating systems want the apps to use Push Notification [3] to save battery, these mobile operating systems will kill the IRC Client process if they think that the process is not doing anything. Thus, IRC Clients developed for Mobile Operating Systems cannot effectively stay connected forever with IRC Server through TCP Socket.

WeeChat

WeeChat [4] is a terminal based IRC Client. Just like any other IRC Client, WeeChat provides all the functionality of an IRC Client and also provides functionalities more then the normal ordinary IRC Client. We can extend WeeChat through plugins. Plugins can be written using C, Python, Perl etc. Infact, most of the core functionalities are implemented as plugins in WeeChat.

WeeChat Relay

One of the plugin in WeeChat is called Relay. This plugin can act as a proxy so that you can use another IRC Client to connect to WeeChat and WeeChat will connect to the actual IRC Server. This plugin also provide another type of communication using WeeChat Protocol [5], we can use this protocol and write a WeeChat Client which act like WeeChat but without using IRC Protocol.

WeeChat Android

WeeChat Android [6] is a WeeChat Client for Android [7] which communicates with WeeChat running in a remote machine through WeeChat Protocol. WeeChat Android acts like WeeChat so we get a IRC Client for Android. WeeChat Android provides all the functionality of WeeChat but unfortunately it also suffers from the battery optimization in the Android operating system. It cannot stay connected to the remote WeeChat all the time. Also, WeeChat Android not able to use Push Notification because of the Proprietary Infrastructure [3] those Push Notifications depends on.

IrssiNotifier

IrssiNotifier [8] is one Android App which uses Push Notification to receive messages from a remote server. The IrssiNotifier Servers which send those Push Notification through the Proprietary Infrastructure are open for any valid clients to send those messages from a remote server.

We have to first create one client through IrssiNotifier website. Using the Client Id, we can develop one WeeChat plugin. This plugin will catch all the notification from WeeChat and send those notification messages to IrssiNotifier Servers. Those IrssiNotifier Servers then send those notification messages to IrssiNotifier Android App in our Android mobile. In this way, we can receive all the notification from WeeChat in our Mobile.

WeeNotifier

WeeNotifier [9] is a plugin for WeeChat which uses IrssiNotifier Infrastructure to broadcast notifications from WeeChat. With the combined use of Weechat, WeeChat Android and WeeNotifier, we can emulate a Modern Messaging System on top of IRC Protocol

Steps to Modernize IRC

These are the methods I used to improve my IRC experience on par with any Modern Messaging System especially in Android.

  • Lease one very small cloud VM to run WeeChat continuously. You can also use your Desktop/Laptop to run WeeChat, but we need some way for WeeChat Android running in the mobile to connect with WeeChat running in your Desktop/Laptop. You can ask your Internet Service Provider to provide a Static IP or you can use Dynamic DNS method to make your Desktop/Laptop available through Internet. In the end, all we need is to somehow make WeeChat Android connect to WeeChat.

  • Keep WeeChat running in that small cloud VM continuously.

  • Configure WeeChat to generate notification for all the messages of a particular Channel.

  • Configure WeeChat Relay [10] in WeeChat so that WeeChat Android can connect securely.

  • Install WeeChat Android App in your Mobile and configure it to connect to your WeeChat running in the small cloud VM.

  • Create an account in IrssiNotifier Infrastructure through their website [11]. You need to generate Client Id to use it in WeeNotifier plugin as well as in IrssiNotifier Android App.

  • Install WeeNotifier [12] plugin in WeeChat to send notification to IrssiNotifier Servers. Configure it so that it is able to send data to the servers.

  • Install IrssiNotifier App in your Mobile and configure it to connect to the IrssiNotifier Servers. If you want, you can change the encryption key to a different one from the default. In this case, you have to also configure WeeNotifier plugin in WeeChat with the same encryption key.

  • That’s all. When WeeChat generate notifications, it will be captured by WeeNotifier and sent to IrssiNotifier Servers, then IrssiNotifier Servers will push those notifications to IrssiNotifier App in your mobile, Once you see the notification, you can then open Weechat Android App in your mobile to connect back to WeeChat to see whats going in the IRC Channel. Since, WeeChat is running continuously connected to actual IRC Server, the history is preserved.

Why I wrote WeeNotifier

When I was looking for some way to do push notifications from WeeChat, I came to know about IrssiNotifier and its Infrastructure. Immediately, I found that there is already one plugin available in WeeChat called IrssiNotifier which does exactly what I wanted. But when I tried, It didn’t work, I looked it to fix it, then I saw that the plugin invokes openssh for every message to do encryption. I’m not agree to do this way. Invoking a subprocess for each and every message is not a good thing.

So, I decided to write my own plugin. I know that WeeChat will not accept competing plugins for same functionality, but I don’t care whether WeeChat accepts or not. It is my own Itch which I scratched. I’m now happy with the result. I submitted [13] my plugin to WeeChat anyway.