XChat, frequently written X-Chat or xchat, is one of the most popular IRC clients for Unix-like systems. It is also available for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X (via an offshoot of the project, called X-Chat Aqua, which keeps in sync with the main development branch and is much more popular than the official version maintained by the Fink project). It has a choice of a tabbed or tree interface, support for multiple servers, and a high level of configurability. Both command line and graphical versions are available, although use of the graphical version far outweighs use of the command line version. It is licensed under the GNU General Public License and uses the GTK+ toolkit for its interface.

Features

X-Chat is a full-featured IRC client and includes all basic functionalities that are found in most other IRC clients, including CTCP, DCC file transfers and chats, and a plugin system for various languages (including at least C or C++, Perl, Python, Tcl, Ruby, Lua, CLISP, D, and DMDScript). By writing plugins, one can extend the features and customize the functionality of X-Chat.

X-Chat runs on at least the following operating systems: GNU-Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris, AIX, IRIX, Mac OS X, Windows 98/ME/NT/2000/XP and others.

Shareware controversy

As of August 23, 2004, the official Windows build of X-Chat has become shareware, and must be purchased for USD $20, AUD $25 or 14.95€ after a 30-day trial period. Previous (freeware) builds for Windows have been removed from the official site. There has been a great deal of discussion about the legality of this move. Since the X-Chat project has not required copyright assignment, the maintainer of the X-Chat project does not actually hold copyright to the entirety of the code. While he has offered to remove and rewrite any patches, provided the author of the patches asks him to, there are many who feel that he is still in violation of the GPL, particularly since the code for the shareware enforcement is not disclosed.

It is stated that the shareware fee is required due to the excessive amount of time it takes to make it compile under Windows.

Unofficial Windows builds of XChat are made available (at no cost) by contributors, who maintain binaries of the latest release, and also compile frequently from CVS.