Quassel IRC, or Quassel, is a graphical, distributed, cross-platform

IRC client IRC (Internet Relay Chat) is a text-based chat system for instant messaging. IRC is designed for Many-to-many, group communication in discussion forums, called ''#Channels, channels'', but also allows one-on-one communication via instant mess ...

, introduced in 2008."Changelog"
. Quassel-IRC.org. It is released under the

GNU General Public License The GNU General Public Licenses (GNU GPL or simply GPL) are a series of widely used free software licenses, or ''copyleft'' licenses, that guarantee end users the freedom to run, study, share, or modify the software. The GPL was the first ...

version 2 and version 3, for

GNU GNU ( ) is an extensive collection of free software (394 packages ), which can be used as an operating system or can be used in parts with other operating systems. The use of the completed GNU tools led to the family of operating systems popu ...

and

Unix-like A Unix-like (sometimes referred to as UN*X, *nix or *NIX) operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, although not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification. A Uni ...

operating systems,

macOS macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...

, and

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

. It has also been ported to

OS/2 Warp OS/2 is a proprietary computer operating system for x86 and PowerPC based personal computers. It was created and initially developed jointly by IBM and Microsoft, under the leadership of IBM software designer Ed Iacobucci, intended as a replac ...

due to its cross-platform nature. Since the release of

Kubuntu Kubuntu ( ) is an official flavor of the Ubuntu operating system that uses the KDE Plasma Desktop Environment instead of the GNOME desktop environment. As part of the Ubuntu project, Kubuntu uses the same underlying systems. Kubuntu shares th ...

9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) Quassel is Kubuntu's default IRC client.Overa, Adam (October 19, 2009)
"Large IRC Clients"

Tom's Hardware ''Tom's Hardware'' is an online publication owned by Future plc and focused on technology. It was founded in 1996 by Thomas Pabst. It provides articles, news, price comparisons, videos and reviews on computer hardware and high technology. The s ...

. Quassel uses the Qt application framework. Quassel's key feature is in storing chat history on a user's server and providing it to the user, including chat history of when the user's computer was offline.

Structure

Quassel is based on a

client–server model The client–server model is a distributed application structure that partitions tasks or workloads between the providers of a resource or service, called servers, and service requesters, called clients. Often clients and servers communicate ov ...

. The core application uses a LAN or the Internet to connect to one or more clients, and also various IRC servers. The client does not communicate with the IRC server directly; it does so through the core. This way, the connection to the IRC network is maintained by the core, even though no clients are using it."10 of the Best Free Linux IRC Clients : Quassel IRC"
LinuxLinks.com. August 30, 2009. A ''monolith'' version of the application is also supported; which acts like a normal IRC client, with no separation between core and client. Android (Quasseldroid) and iOS (iQuassel) clients are also available. This system is similar to what

Irssi Irssi ( ) is an Internet Relay Chat (IRC) Client (computing), client program for Linux, FreeBSD, macOS and Microsoft Windows. It was originally written by Timo Sirainen, and released under the terms of the GNU General Public License, GNU GPL-2.0- ...

WeeChat WeeChat (Wee Enhanced Environment for Chat) is a free and open-source Internet Relay Chat client that is designed to be light and fast. It is released under the terms of the GNU GPL-3.0-or-later and has been developed since 2003. WeeChat comes ...

with

GNU Screen GNU Screen is a terminal multiplexer: a software application that can be used to multiplex several virtual consoles, allowing a user to access multiple separate login sessions inside a single terminal window, or detach and reattach sessions from ...

, and

Smuxi Smuxi is a cross-platform IRC client for the GNOME desktop inspired by Irssi. It pioneered the concept of separating the frontend client from the backend engine which manages connections to IRC servers inside a single graphical application. Arch ...

use.

Features

Quassel allows simultaneous connections to multiple IRC servers. Different identities can be created, and used on one or more of the servers the core connects to. These identities each contain default nicknames, fallback nicknames, away messages and so on. Each identity can be assigned to one or more servers."About Quassel IRC"
Quassel-IRC.org Quassel stores discussion history in either a

PostgreSQL PostgreSQL ( ) also known as Postgres, is a free and open-source software, free and open-source relational database management system (RDBMS) emphasizing extensibility and SQL compliance. PostgreSQL features transaction processing, transactions ...

or a

SQLite SQLite ( "S-Q-L-ite", "sequel-ite") is a free and open-source relational database engine written in the C programming language. It is not a standalone app; rather, it is a library that software developers embed in their apps. As such, it ...

database. When scrolling up through the chat window, older sections of chat are loaded automatically from stored logs. In this way, one can seamlessly view logs of past discussions. Aliases, command ''shortcuts'', are also available; with these, a user can create an alias for a long command with many parameters. The connection between the client and the core can be encrypted using

Secure Sockets Layer Transport Layer Security (TLS) is a cryptographic protocol designed to provide communications security over a computer network, such as the Internet. The protocol is widely used in applications such as email, instant messaging, and voice over IP, ...

(SSL), and proxies are supported. In a 2009 roundup of large IRC clients for

, Adam Overa described Quassel as being "fully featured" with "tons of options", and said "even new users should have no problem connecting to servers and finding channels using the GUI tools for server presets and channel lists."

References

{{IRC clients Software using the GNU General Public License Free software programmed in C++ Cross-platform free software Free software for Linux Free software for Windows Free software for macOS Windows IRC clients Unix IRC clients Software that uses Qt

Structure

Features

See also

References