:author: Sébastien Helleu
:email: flashcode@flashtux.org
:lang: en


pass:[<p align="center">] image:https://weechat.org/media/images/weechat_logo_large.png[align="center"] pass:[</p>]

image:https://img.shields.io/badge/diaspora*-follow-blue.svg["Diaspora*", link="https://diasp.eu/u/weechat"]
image:https://img.shields.io/badge/mastodon-follow-blue.svg["Mastodon", link="https://hostux.social/@weechat"]
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image:https://img.shields.io/badge/devel%20blog-follow-blue.svg["Devel blog", link="https://blog.weechat.org/"]
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*WeeChat* (Wee Enhanced Environment for Chat) is a free chat client, fast and
light, designed for many operating systems.
It is highly customizable and extensible with scripts.

Homepage: https://weechat.org/

== Features

* *Modular chat client*: WeeChat has a lightweight core and optional https://weechat.org/files/doc/stable/weechat_user.en.html#plugins[plugins]. All plugins (including https://weechat.org/files/doc/stable/weechat_user.en.html#irc_plugin[IRC]) are independent and can be unloaded.
* *Multi-platform*: WeeChat runs on GNU/Linux, *BSD, GNU/Hurd, Haiku, macOS and Windows (Bash/Ubuntu and Cygwin).
* *Multi-protocols*: WeeChat is designed to support multiple protocols by plugins, like IRC.
* *Standards-compliant*: the IRC plugin is compliant with RFCs https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1459[1459], https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2810[2810], https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2811[2811], https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2812[2812] and https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2813[2813].
* *Small, fast and very light*: the core is and should stay as light and fast as possible.
* *Customizable and extensible*: there are a lot of options to customize WeeChat, and it is extensible with C plugins and https://weechat.org/scripts/[scripts] (https://weechat.org/scripts/stable/language/perl/[Perl], https://weechat.org/scripts/stable/language/python/[Python], https://weechat.org/scripts/stable/language/ruby[Ruby], https://weechat.org/scripts/stable/language/lua/[Lua], https://weechat.org/scripts/stable/language/tcl/[Tcl], https://weechat.org/scripts/stable/language/guile/[Scheme], https://weechat.org/scripts/stable/language/javascript/[JavaScript] and https://weechat.org/scripts/stable/language/php/[PHP]).
* *Fully documented*: there is comprehensive https://weechat.org/doc/[documentation], which is https://weechat.org/files/doc/stable/weechat_dev.en.html#translations[translated] into several languages.
* *Developed from scratch*: WeeChat was built from scratch and is not based on any other client.
* *Free software*: WeeChat is released under https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html[GPLv3].

pass:[<p align="center">] image:https://weechat.org/media/images/screenshots/weechat/medium/weechat_2013-04-27_phlux_shadow.png[align="center"] pass:[</p>]

On WeeChat's website you can find https://weechat.org/about/screenshots/[more screenshots].

== Install

=== Dependencies

Following packages are *required*:

* CMake
* libncurses
* libcurl
* zlib
* libgcrypt

Following packages are optional:

* for i18n: gettext
* for SSL: gnutls, ca-certificates
* for spell checking: aspell or enchant
* for scripting: python, perl, ruby, lua, tcl, guile, libv8 (javascript), php
* for building doc and man page: asciidoctor
* for building tests: C++ compiler, CppUTest

For a complete list of dependencies and versions recommended, please look at
https://weechat.org/files/doc/devel/weechat_user.en.html#dependencies[user's guide].

=== Compile

WeeChat can be built with https://cmake.org/[CMake] (recommended) or autotools.

[NOTE]
Only CMake is officially supported to build WeeChat. You should only use
autotools if you are not able to use CMake. +
Building with autotools requires more dependencies and is slower than with CMake.

* Installation in system directories (requires _root_ privileges):

----
$ mkdir build
$ cd build
$ cmake ..
$ make
$ sudo make install
----

* Installation in custom directory (for example your home):

----
$ mkdir build
$ cd build
$ cmake .. -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/path/to/directory
$ make
$ make install
----

For more information or installation with autotools, please look at
https://weechat.org/files/doc/devel/weechat_user.en.html#compile_with_autotools[user's guide].

=== Run tests

Following packages are *required* to compile tests:

* libcpputest-dev
* C++ compiler

Tests must be enabled when compiling WeeChat:

----
$ cmake .. -DENABLE_TESTS=ON
----

They can be launched after compilation from the build directory:

----
$ ctest -V
----

== Copyright

Copyright (C) 2003-2020 Sébastien Helleu <flashcode@flashtux.org>

This file is part of WeeChat, the extensible chat client.

WeeChat is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.

WeeChat is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with WeeChat.  If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
