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Quassel

Introduction

Quassel is a program to connect to an IRC network. It has the unique ability to split the graphical component (quasselclient) from the part that handles the IRC connection (quasselcore). This means that you can have a remote core permanently connected to one or more IRC networks and attach a client from wherever you are without moving around any information or settings. However, Quassel can easily behave like any other client by combining them into one binary which is referred to as "Quassel Mono".

Quassel's distributed approach:

Quassel's setup

In simpler terms, the "monolithic" client is a response to requests for a client that behaves like every other IRC client. The monolithic client (GUI) is what makes the connections to the IRC networks. In normal operation, the client (GUI) connects to a core, it is completely incapable of connecting to anything else. The core receives connections from clients, and makes connections to the IRC networks, it also handles logging (currently everything gets put in the database).

Getting started

Setting up Quassel is fairly easy and straightforward. Since we have a separated core and client, we will configure them in two steps. If you are using the Quassel Mono version, then you can skip the core part as this is done internally.

Installation

The best and most reliable way is to simply install the packages provided by your distribution. However, we do offer some static binaries at http://quassel-irc.org/downloads along with Git instructions for those who prefer to compile Quassel themselves. Some community members also provide unofficial builds for various platforms.

Connecting to the core

Before starting the core, you could set up Client-Core SSL encryption or have a look at the PostgreSQL article before moving on.
All that is completely optional.

Check if Quassel Core is listening on the right interface and if TCP port 4242 is open in your firewall to allow remote connections to Quassel Core.
On openSUSE, take a look at the QUASSELCORE_LISTEN line in /etc/sysconfig/quasselcore and go to YaST2 Firewall→allowed services and add "Quassel Core" to the list of allowed services.

Now start the core and launch quasselclient on your local machine. A connection dialog will show up. Enter the IP address or hostname of the server running the core, enter the port number used by the core and select SSL if applicable. You can also specify a proxy but note that domain names will still be resolved locally (see Qt4.4).

During the first connection, you will be guided through a graphical wizard to configure the core properly. Enter a username and password, this will be the administrator. Next, select a database back-end (for now this is SQLite only). Click finish and your core is ready!

More users can be added by passing command line arguments to the core (see Managing core users).

IRC Configuration

Now you have to specify which network(s) Quassel should connect to. First you will have to create an identity.

Creating an identity

Set a real name (which doesn't actually have to be real) and add the nicknames you want to use. If the first nickname is not available, the second one (if specified) will be used instead. Change the other settings if you like, this is optional however.

After creating an identity, you have to define the IRC network(s) along with the servers they use. If Quassel was installed properly, there should be a preconfigured list of the most popular networks already.

Configuring the IRC network

Make sure you select the identity you just created (which should be the default). Click OK and you're done. Feel free to visit us in the #quassel channel on Libera Chat!

Manuals

Core
  • Autostart QuasselCore on:
  • Backends
    • PostgreSQL: Setting up PostgreSQL database back-end
    • SQLite: Some information about the SQLite back-end

Shared

Client

Frequently asked questions

Check the FAQ

Known issues

GSoC 2016

  • DCC chat and file transfers are not yet supported.
  • See Issues for specific bugs and feature requests.

Unofficial builds

See also the Mobile page.

Linux

Mac

Windows

Android

Development

Roadmap

Build guides

Manuals

Feature Drafts

Technical Documentation