ShadowIRC FAQ

What is ShadowIRC?
ShadowIRC is a new MacOS IRC client, written specifically with speed and extensibility in mind.

ShadowIRC is extensible. How? Can I use my Ircle scripts?
ShadowIRC is extensible with C-coded plugins, compiled with CodeWarrior. This makes ShadowIRC plugins much faster and much more flexible than Ircle's AppleScript-based scripts. It also has the side-effect of requiring knowledge of C and a copy of CodeWarrior to write plugins. ShadowIRC plugins are fundamentally different from Ircle scripts, and are NOT compatible. You can't use Ircle scripts in ShadowIRC, and you can't use ShadowIRC plugins with Ircle. For more information about available plugins, go to the plugins page.

What can plugins do?
Almost anything you want. The API is extremely flexible, and by release, will allow a programmer to do anything they want, within reason. The side effect of this flexibility is that, just like with Ircle scripts, backdoors can be coded into a plugin. I _WILL NOT_ support plugin authors who write plugins with malicious backdoors.

What cool features does ShadowIRC have?
ShadowIRC has its share of useful - and unique - features. Among them are:

  • Ability to process both Ircle and mIRC color codes (though not at the same time)
  • ShadowIRC is smart about doing actions if you hit option-return when the inputline starts with "/me". (how many times have you forgotten you had already typed "/me", hit option-return, and do an action that begins with "/me"?)
  • Pop-Up menus for various items in the inputline. (Plugins will be able to extend the Inputline's functions.)
  • Cursor focusing, as in the old Homer client
  • The Commands menu intelligently inserts channel names and insertion points appropriately so that it's actually useful> (Cmd-L, for example, will put "/mode #currentchannel " in the inputline if you're in a channel, or "/mode yournickname " if you're in the console; Cmd-I will put "/invite #currentchannel" in the inputline, and an insertion point between "/invite" and the channel name so you can type in the user's name, hit return, and invite the user to your channel quickly and easily.
  • ShadowIRC is extremely - perhaps excessively - configurable. Just because I like something one way doesn't mean you like it that way, so where feasable, ShadowIRC allows you to configure any aspect of its behavior.
  • ShadowIRC has a very flexible userlist plugin, included in the basic package. It allows the userlist to be a separate window, or on either side of each channel window.

ShadowIRC also has such security features such as the "/msgq" and "/noticeq" commands which don't display your outgoing text to screen, and not putting a line into the inputline buffer if a command begins with "//". "//msgq x@channels.undernet.org login #channel password", for example, would log you into X on the UnderNet, but not leave the password on your screen or in your inputline buffer.

Of course, this is only scratching the surface of ShadowIRC's capabilities. When coupled with it's plugins API, ShadowIRC becomes quite a formidible IRC client.

Can I write plugins too?
Yes! To write plugins, though, you will need to know C, have a compiler (such as Metrowerk's excellent CodeWarrior), and get the SDK. This holds the info needed to start coding your plugin. You can get it from the ShadowIRC Plugins page.

For more help, join #macdev on Undernet.

Where do I pay?
Glad you asked. Check out the Register page.

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