IRC/Guide

This article provides a broad overview of things IRC related. Topics such as the usefulness of IRC, available clients, making IRC convenient, and securing IRC will be covered.

What is Internet Relay Chat (IRC)?
Internet Relay Chat can be thought of as a room filled with people. Some of the people are actively in converastion, where others in the room are observing others in conversation, or are working on some tasks and largely ignoring what is happening to in the room. When using Gentoo, IRC is useful for communication. It is among the primary means of:


 * Getting support
 * Providing support to others
 * Fulfilling the desire for a community
 * Watching for new bug reports
 * Watching for changes on the Wiki
 * Discussing Wiki related changes
 * Discussing Gentoo website related changes
 * Making a complaint, feature request, or suggestion (any project specific channel)

Installation
Before an IRC client can be installed, available clients should be discussed. An IRC client enables users connect to an IRC server. Many clients exist, each with their own features, advantages and disadvantages.