UbuntuHandbook

HexChat IRC Client Discontinued By Releasing v2.16.2

Last updated: March 11, 2024 — 2 Comments

HexChat, the popular free open-source IRC chat client, discontinued!

HexChat is a IRC chat client forked from XChat. It’s a GTK app written in mostly C programming language. Features include customizable interface, Windows and Linux support, scripting support with Lua, Python, and Perl, multi-network with auto-connect, join, and identify, and more.

By announcing the 1.6.2 release today, the developer TingPing finally discontinued working on the project, after almost 12 years of development.

“This will be the last release I make of HexChat. The project has largely been unmaintained for years now and nobody else stepped up to do that work.“

In News HexChat, IRC client

HexChat 2.14.3 Released with Fix for Ubuntu’s Yaru Theme

Last updated: December 22, 2019

HexChat IRC client 2.14.3 was released a day ago with important bug-fixes. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu.

It has been more than one year since the last release. HexChat 2.14.3 was released with following changes:

fix various incorrect parsing of IRC messages relating to trailing parameters
fix SASL negotiation combined with multi-line cap
fix input box theming with Ubuntu’s new default Yaru theme
python: Work around Python 3.7 regression causing crash on unload
sysinfo: Add support for /etc/os-release
sysinfo: Ignore irrelevant mounts when calculating storage size

HexChat with Radiance Theme

How to Install HexChat 2.14.3 in Ubuntu:

The software is available as both Snap and Flatpak packages, unfortunately no PPA with recent .deb packages.

HexChat Snap package (runs in sandbox) maintained by the principal developer is available to install in Ubuntu Software.

Note the snap is still 2.14.2 at the moment, though it will auto-update to 2.14.3 once the new package published.

The official HexChat Flatpak package (also runs in sandbox) has been updated to 2.14.3. You can install it via following steps:

1. Open terminal either by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard or from Application launcher.

If you’re first time installing a Flatpak package, run following commands to setup the framework.

Install flatpak framework via command:
```
sudo apt install flatpak
```

Then add Flathub, the official repository that hosts a large list of Flatpak packages:

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

2. Finally install HexChat Flatpak package via command:

flatpak install flathub io.github.Hexchat

After installation, open the software either from application menu or by running command:

flatpak run io.github.Hexchat

(Optional) To remove the Flatpak package, simply run command in terminal:

flatpak uninstall flathub io.github.Hexchat

In Howtos, News HexChat, IRC client

Install and Keep HexChat IRC Client Updated via Snap in Ubuntu

Last updated: January 15, 2019

HexChat IRC Client now is available to install via Snap package in Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, and higher.

HexChat is a free, open-source, and extensible IRC Client based on XChat. It supports features such as: DCC, SASL, proxies, spellcheck, alerts, logging, custom themes, and Lua scripts.

HexChat offers official Snap package, which is a containerized software packages bundles all required libraries, and auto-update itself.

HexChat with Radiance Theme

Install HexChat via Snap in Ubuntu:

For Ubuntu 18.04 and higher, the snap package can be easily installed from Ubuntu Software:

For Ubuntu 16.04, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to install snapd first:

sudo apt-get install snapd

Then install the HexChat snap package via command:

sudo snap install hexchat

Note if you installed both HexChat legacy and Snap packages, you’ll see two launch icons from software menu. To make sure you’re running HexChat snap package, launch it from terminal via command:

snap run hexchat

Uninstall:

To remove the IRC client, either use Ubuntu Software or run command in terminal:

sudo snap remove hexchat

In Howtos Auto-update HexChat, HexChat, IRC client

How to Install The Latest HexChat IRC Client in Ubuntu 16.04

Last updated: June 7, 2016

This tutorial is going to show you how to install the latest HexChat GTK+ IRC client and receive future software updates along with other system updates.

HexChat is a XChat based IRC client that’s completely free for Windows and Unix-like systems. It features Python and Perl scripting support, a plugin API, multiple server/channel windows, spell checking, multiple authentication methods including SASL, and customizable notifications.

HexChat is available in official Ubuntu repositories, but Canonical does not provide future updates for this software. While Ubuntu 16.04 provides the old 2.10.2 release, the HexChat website refers to Gwendal LE BIHAN’s PPA (unofficial) for the latest release.

1. Add PPA.

Open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run the command below:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gwendal-lebihan-dev/hexchat-stable

Type in password (no visual feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.

2. Update system package index by either launching Software Updater and wait checking for updates, or running command:

sudo apt update

3. If you don’t a previous release installed, you can now install HexChat from Ubuntu Software, or via command:

sudo apt install hexchat

or upgrade the client via Software Updater:

4. (Optional) To remove the PPA, launch System Settings and navigate to Software & Updates -> Other Software.

In Howtos HexChat, IRC client, xchat

Archives For November 30, 1999