Weechat

Once upon a time there was BitchX. Then there was Irssi. Now there is Weechat. More and more people are switching over to Weechat from Irssi, probably coz the colours make IRC easier to read and follow. Problem is, for the Irssi user, Weechat may be a tad confusing.

Weechat documentation can be tricky to follow, so this page is an attempt to make simple those bizarre and abstract commands.

Running Weechat

Dregin is a big Weechat fanboi. And as such, he has his own special builds designed for Redbrick. Azazel is the current login machine, and like the hero that he is, dregin has compiled a version of Weechat that runs on azazel:

 /home/associat/d/dregin/root_azazel/bin/weechat-curses

Copy and paste that into your terminal command line, hit enter, and give yourself a pat on the back.

Basic use

Connecting to a server

When you hit 'chat' on Redbrick, you start Irssi, you're automatically connected to a server, then you're joined to Redbrick's #lobby. This all happens behind the scenes, and with Weechat, you need to do this manually. Fear not: it's easy.

When you start Weechat, you won't get connected to a server or channel. To connect to Redbrick's IRC sever, type:

 /connect irc.redbrick.dcu.ie

Then to join #lobby:

 /join #lobby

As well as showing you how IRC clients (such as Weechat or Irssi or whatever) connect to stuff, this should also show you how to connect to other servers and channels outside of Redbrick.

Navigation

Like Irssi, you can move between windows/buffers using Alt+<num>. You can also type /buffer <num> (similar to /win <num> in Irssi).

F5 and F6 move to the predecessing and successing buffer, respectively.

You can move buffers (chat windows) with /buffer move. In a channel, type:

 /buffer move <num>

(where <num> is any number you want). That channel is now accessible at Alt+<num>

Special commands

Keybinds

Keybinds are handy, especially if you have over 10 channels open. I use Alt+<num> to get to channels, but clearly this only works from 1 up to 0 (on a keyboard). So for channels in higher numbers, you can bind keys: i.e. Alt+q gets me to channel 11; Alt+y gets me to channel 16.

 /key bind meta-q /buffer 11

"Key" and "bind" are self-explanatory. "Meta" is Weechat's word for Alt (so meta-q is the same as Alt+q). /buffer 11 is the command that's executed once meta-q (Alt-q) is typed.

You can build up these to meta-w, meta-e, meta-r for buffer 2, buffer 3, buffer 4, etc etc.

Of course, you can bind any key combo to any weechat command; it's not necessary to make them Alt+<num> commands.

Note: Watch out for caps lock if you're keybinding. If you bind Alt+y to a command, Alt+Y won't work (unless you bind that separately). If you find your binds aren't working, check your caps.