Irssi is a free and open-source Internet Relay Chat client originally released in 1999.
It is intended to be lightweight, and offers fine-grained control over security and
extensions. Irssi is primarily for *NIX based operating systems (GNU/Linux, BSD, MacOS), though it is also available for use on Windows.
Official site: https://irssi.org
=== Connection setup ===
Below we have generic instructions for torifying Irssi using torsocks (the recommended methodology) and adding servers as mapaddresses to your torrc file (for when torsocks is not available). This is followed up by additonal steps that can be performed to enhance the clients security.
=== Option 1: Using Torsocks ===
While these instructions show a {{{.onion}}} address as an example, they will also apply to clearnet-based servers.
1. Launch Irssi with Torsocks by issuing the command {{{torsocks irssi}}}
'''Note:''' {{{Server1}}} is generic, and can be changed to your preferences.
3. Connect to the server with {{{/connect Server1}}}.
=== Option 2: Without Torsocks ===
If Torsocks is not available for you, it is also possible to add desired servers as a {{{mapaddress}}} to the {{{/etc/tor/torrc}}} file. This will allow you to connect to the local 10.10.x address directly, and Tor will translate it to the desired address.
1. Open up {{{/etc/tor/torrc}}} in your favourite text editor and add the following line:
{{{
mapaddress 10.10.10.10 examplesite.onion
}}}
'''Note:''' The map address is generic, though it must be one not in use on your local network.
2. Launch Irssi by simply issuing the comand {{{irssi}}}
3. Add your server preferences as done in the option 1 example. Note that the server name can be omitted with the 10.10.x address defined in your {{{torrc}}}.
Note that {{{tor}}} could look for the {{{torrc}}} file in a different location, like {{{/usr/local/etc/tor/torrc}}}, so check {{{man tor}}} to be sure.
=== Additional steps ===
==== (Recommended) Disable CTCP / DCC ====
1. Turn off CTCP and DCC replies with the following command in Irssi:
{{{
/ignore * CTCPS
/ignore * DCC
/save
}}}
==== (Optional) Enabling SASL ====
If you already have a registered account on the server and would like to authenticate using SASL, this can be done by issuing the following command in Irssi: