IRK

File Release Notes and Changelog

Release Name: irk0.01

Notes:
Welcome to IRK, a Tcl IRC client library. IRK is intended for Tcl
programmers that want to use the IRC protocol for communication. It
can be used to ease the creation of IRC "bots", as shown by the
examples in the examples directory, and it can also serve as the basis
for graphical chat clients. Finally, it can be used to allow IRKs to
find each other without centralized coordination, by meeting on a
designated IRC server and channel. It is therefore ideal for setting
up the initial contact for P2P programs without requiring a central
registry or server.


Changes:
IRK 0.01, 02/07/2002
    This is the first release of IRK.

    What's implemented:

    * Connection management.
    * Integrated support for SOCKS5 to get through firewalls.
    * Rudimentary flow control and queueing. Needs more work.
    * Ping, MOTD, and informational messages management.
    * Channel and nick management.
    * Users on channels tracking.
    * CTCP and all its subcommands.
    * Special CTCP TCL protocol for communication between IRKs. All Tcl code
      received from remote IRKs is run in a safe interpreter.
    * Generalized persistent authorization and password management mechanism.
    * Two usage examples:
      + tontalou.tcl: a "bot" modelled after SmallSaints on DalNet. This
        bot is unfinished.
      + fortunebot.tcl: a "bot" that demonstrates grabbing a page from
        the web and presenting its information in IRC.
      Unfortunately no documentation is provided for these bots but they do
      provide excellent examples on how you can use IRK to write Tcl "bots".