Joing the world of open source is the popular IRC client, ShadowIRC. Version 1.1 is a powerful and full-featured IRC application, and is now in position for continued development, increased stability, and enhanced features. According to ShadowIRC developer John Bafford:
ShadowIRC 1.1 Moved To Open Source & ShadowIRC 1.0.4 Made Freeware
John Bafford, the author of ShadowIRC, reportedly the second most popular IRC client for the Macintosh, has generously decided to open up the development of ShadowIRC under the GNU GPL license. Mr. Bafford is doing this in hopes of seeing a faster development of both the ShadowIRC client software, and ShadowIRC plug-ins software. In addition, he is making ShadowIRC 1.0.4 freeware as a service to the Macintosh community, whom he feels should have at least one free Macintosh IRC client.
Binary and source packages will be available at the ShadowIRC website. Mr. Bafford has decided to use the services of the SourceForge website to help present this Open Source project. SourceForge is a free hosting service for Open Source developers which offers, among other things, a CVS repository, mailing lists, bug tracking, message forums, task management software, web site hosting, permanent file archival, full backups, and total web-based administration. The URL of the SourceForge ShadowIRC 1.1 Project is:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/shadowirc/
The ShadowIRC CVS repository will be located on the SourceForge website.
For a good tutorial on what a Concurrent Version System or CVS is, and how to use one, the following website is a good place to start:
http://www.cyclic.com/docs/index.html
ShadowIRC 1.1 is being released under the GNU GPL license. The license is included with the distribution, and the license can also be scrutinized at:
http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
In addition, a beta of ShadowIRC 1.1 will be available for those who do not want to download the source.
Mr. Bafford strongly urges all interested developers to closely read the information contained at SourceForge, and in the downloaded source and documentation, before addressing questions to him. He intends to attempt to respond to all legitimate questions insofar as time permits.
The following is a list of the most significant changes made to ShadowIRC 1.1, released July 27, 2000. A complete list of changes can be found on the ShadowIRC website. This version adds over 20 new features and fixes at least 20 bugs since the previous version of ShadowIRC.
- Fixed the parse errors common with older versions.
- Fixed several bugs that could lead to crashes.
- Added option for inputlines in message windows.
- Improved overall perfomance. In partuclar, plugins are faster, and have additional features
- Takes better advantage of, and requires, the Appearance Manager.
- Some User Interface cleanup.
ShadowIRC 1.0.4 is also available. It removes the registration timeouts in ShadowIRC 1.0.3 and incorporates a few bug fixes. It does not require the Appearance Manager, and its use is only reccommended when it is not possible to run ShadowIRC 1.1.
You can find more information at the ShadowIRC web site.