Ubuntu Manpage: epic5 — Internet Relay Chat client for UNIX like systems

NAME

       epic5 — Internet Relay Chat client for UNIX like systems

SYNOPSIS

       epic5  [-a]  [-b]  [-B]  [-c  chan]  [-d]  [-f]  [-F]  [-h]  [-H  hostname]  [-l  filename] [-L filename]
             [-n  nickname]  [-o]  [-O]  [-p  port]  [-q]  [-s]  [-S]  [-v]  [-x]   [-z   username]   [nickname]
             [server description list]

DESCRIPTION

       The EPIC5 program is a unix-based character oriented user agent ('client') to Internet Relay Chat.  It is
       a  fully functional ircII client with many useful extensions.  This version works with modern irc2 server
       networks as of early 2006.  Support for non-irc2 networks (such as OPN or MS Comic Chat) is hit-and-miss.

OPTIONS

-a Append the server description list to the default server list. The default behavior is for the
server description list to replace the default server list.

-b Operate in so called “bot mode.” This implies the [-d] option. EPIC5 will fork(2) immediately and
the parent process will exit, returning you to your shell. Some system administrators do not look
kindly to their users running bots, and they have disabled this option. Even if your administrator
has not disabled it, you should not assume this gives you automatic permission to run a bot. If
you do run a bot without permission, your administrator may get very angry with you, and possibly
revoke your account. In addition, most IRC operators on public irc networks have very little
tolerance for people who run bots. So just a word of caution, make sure that your system
administrator and your irc administrator have given you permission before you run a bot.

-c chan
Join the specified channel the first time you successfully connect to a server.

-d Operate in “dumb mode.” The client will not put up a full screen display, and will read from
standard input and write to standard output. This is useful if the output normally looks awful
(because you are using an incorrect TERM setting, or your terminal description is spectacularly
broken), or you just don't want to use the pretty interface. This option will be turned on
automatically if your current TERM setting is not capable of a full screen display.

-h Display a moderately concise help message and exit immediately.

-H hostname
Use the IP address of the specified hostname as your default local IP address. This can be used if
you have multiple IP addresses on the same machine and you want to use an address other than the
default address. You might need to use this option when gethostname(3) does not return a hostname
(in some poorly configured NIS environments). The use of multiple IP addresses on a single machine
is commonly referred to as "virtual hosting", and each IP address is a "virtual host". Please
understand that an irc client may not tell the irc server what your hostname should be: the server
alone determines that. Servers typically use the canonical hostname for an IP address as your
hostname. Because of this, this option will not permit you to use a CNAME (secondary hostname for
an IP address), because the server will use the canonical hostname instead. This option overrides
the IRCHOST environment variable.

-l filename,[filename]
Use the specified filename(s) as the startup file. The startup file is loaded the first time you
successfully connect to a server, unless you specify the [-B] option. This overrides the EPICRC
environment variable. If this option is not specified, and the EPICRC environment variable is not
set, then ~/.epicrc is the default startup file.

-n nickname
Use the specified nickname as the default nickname whenever you connect to an irc server. This
option overrides the IRCNICK environment variable. This option can be overridden if you specify
nickname argument in the command line (see below).

-p port
Use the specified port as the default port for new server connections. The default port is usually
6667. Make sure that the servers you want to connect to are listening on this port before you try
to connect there.

-q Suppress the loading of any file when you first establish a connection to an irc server.

-s Do not connect to a server after reading the startup script. Instead, present the server list and
advise the user to connect to a server manually.

-S The EPIC5 program is being run as a shell script. You must make this look like #/path/to/epic -S
other args.

-v Output version identification (VID) information and exit.

-x This undocumented feature turns on all of the XDEBUG flags. Refer to the help files for XDEBUG if
you want to know what happens if you use this.

-z username
Use the specified username when negotiating a connection to a new irc server. This overrides the
IRCUSER environment variable. If this option is not specified, then the user name specified in
/etc/passwd for your user is used. This feature was formerly undocumented, but because of
identd(8) this option isn't as useful as it once was. If you are a sysadmin, please install
identd, and then this flag will provide no value to your users.

nickname
The first bare word found is taken as the default nickname to use. This overrides all other
options, including the -n option and the IRCNICK environment variable. If all else fails, then the
client uses your login name as the default nickname.

server,[server]
After the nickname, a list of one or more server specifications can be listed. Unless you specify
the -a option, this will replace your default server list! The -a option forces any servers listed
here to be appended to the default server list. The format for server specifications is:

hostname:port:password:nick

Any item can be omitted by leaving the field blank, and any trailing colons can also be omitted.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

   The Screen:
       The screen is split into two parts, separated by an inverse-video status line (if supported).  The  upper
       (larger)  part of the screen displays responses from the ircd(8) server.  The lower part of the screen (a
       single line) accepts keyboard input.

       Some terminals do not support certain features required by epic5 , in which case you  receive  a  message
       stating this.  If this occurs, try changing the terminal type or run epic5 with the -d option.

   Irc Commands:
       Any  line  beginning  with the slash character “/” is regarded as an epic5 command (the command character
       may be changed).  Any line not beginning with this character is treated as a message to be  sent  to  the
       current  channel.   The  client  has  a  built  in  help  system.  Install the help files (they should be
       available at the same place you got the client) and then type “/help” to open up the help system.

   The .epicrc File:
       When epic5 is executed, it checks the user's home directory for a ~/.epicrc file, executing the  commands
       in  the  file.   Commands  in  this  file  do  not need to have a leading slash character “/” This allows
       predefinition of aliases and other features.

PRACTICAL EXAMPLES

Certainly any description of epic5 in this man page will be sorely inadequate because most of the
confusion doesn't even start until after you get the client to connect to a server. But if you really
have problems getting the client to connect to a server, try some of these:

epic5
Try this first. This will assume all the defaults. If the person who is maintaining epic at your
site has done a halfway decent job, this will put you on a server that is somewhat local to you.

epic5 nickname irc.domain.com
or something similar will attempt to connect to the irc server running on the host "irc.domain.com"
(fill in a real irc server here) with the nickname of well, "nickname". This is the most common
way to specify an alternate server to use.

epic5 nickname irc.domain.com:6664
Sometimes, some servers are really busy, and it can take them a long time to establish a connection
with you on the default port (6667). Most major servers on big public networks accept connections
on many different ports, with the most common being most or all of the ports between 6660 and 6675.
You can usually connect much faster if you use a port other than 6667, if the server you're
connecting to supports an alternate port.

epic5 nickname irc.efnet.net
If you're totally stumped and trying to get on efnet, try this.

epic5 nickname irc.undernet.org
If you're totally stumped and trying to get on undernet, try this.

epic5 nickname irc.dal.net
If you're totally stumped and trying to get on dalnet, try this.

FILES

       /usr/local/bin/epic5    the default location of the binary

       ~/.epicrc               default initialization file

       ~/.epic/                directory you can put your own epic5 scripts into, that can then be  loaded  with
                               /load

       /usr/local/share/epic5  default  directory  containing  message-of-the-day,  master  initialization, help
                               files and epic5 scripts

THE HELP FILES

       Starting up the client is the easy part.  Once you get connected, you'll probably find you have  no  idea
       what  you're  doing.   That's where the help files come in.  If the person who maintains irc at your site
       didn't install the help files, pester them until they do.  Once the help files  are  available,  use  the
       “/help” command to get started.  There are a bazillion commands and a multitude of nuances that will take
       a few months to get down pat.  But once you do, you will be so firmly addicted to irc that your wife will
       divorce  you, your kids will leave you, your dog will run away, and you'll flunk all your classes, and be
       left to sing the blues.

USEFUL WEB RESOURCES

       <http://www.epicsol.org/> The EPIC home page

       <http://help.epicsol.org/> The Online EPIC Help Pages

       <http://www.irchelp.org/> Lots of great help for new irc users.

SIGNALS

       epic5 handles the following signals gracefully

       SIGUSR1    Closes all DCC connections and EXEC'd processes.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

       It can be helpful to predefine certain variables in in the ~/.cshrc , ~/.profile , or ~/.login file:

       IRCNICK    The user's default IRC nickname

       IRCNAME    The user's default IRC realname (otherwise retrieved from /etc/passwd )

       IRCSERVER  The user's default IRC server list (see server option for details)

       HOME       Overrides the default home page in /etc/password

       TERM       The type of terminal emulation to use

BUGS

       Any non-trivial piece of software has bugs.  EPIC5 is no exception.  You can refer to the KNOWNBUGS  file
       that is distributed with the client source code for a list of problems that are known to exist and may or
       may  not  be  fixed  some day.  If you find a bug that is not listed there, you can refer to the BUG_FORM
       file that is also distributed with the source code.  It will give you instructions on how to fill out the
       report and where to send it.

ERRATA

       The online documentation probably should be in docbook form rather than in the current help format.   The
       entire help system is a hack.

       This  manual  page  only  describes  the  options  to  epic, but doesn't tell you what to do once you get
       connected.

AUTHORS

       IRC II was created by Michael Sandrof (ms5n+@andrew.cmu.edu).  The current copyright holder of IRC II  is
       Matthew Green (mrg@mame.mu.oz.au).  EPIC5 is maintained by EPIC Software Labs (list@epicsol.org).

MANPAGE AUTHORS

       At  one  time or another, this man page has been edited by Darren Reed, R.P.C. Rodgers, the lynX, Matthew
       Green, and EPIC Software Labs.

                                                  July 31, 2006                                         EPIC5(1)