Bersirc is a multi-platform Open Source IRC client currently in development for the Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X operating systems. It utilises the Claro toolkit, which aims to provide an interface to native windowing systems and widgets on all operating systems. Microsoft .NET and Qt toolkit ports are also planned.

Bersirc 2.1 was originally to be released under the Qt Public License. The Qt toolkit and licence have since been abandoned, most likely due to pressure from Qt's detractors. Despite this, the available source code is still under that license at the time of this writing. The website has provided no other information as to which license the client will eventually be released under, simply saying it is yet to be decided.

The official website has confirmed that Bersirc 2.1 will include support for mIRC script via a Plugin, something which was a long-standing rumour among Bersirc fans. The site cautions that its implementation will not be completely compatible with mIRC. This appears to be the only internal scripting planned for Bersirc, but the plugin interface will allow third party scripting engines.

The older Delphi client, Bersirc 1.4, will continue to be maintained under the name Bersirc 1.5. The original site has also been archived by the new owner, including all the old plugins and extensions.

History

Bersirc was originally developed in Delphi by Jamie Frater in 1999 as a Windows_only IRC client, comparable to HydraIRC and Klient. However, development stagnated due to the developer's growing responsibilities in Real life.

The Bersirc source code was subsequently purchased from the original developer on February 10, 2004 by Nicholas Copeland and released as Open Source. The primary developer, Theo Julienne, announced plans to develop the next version in C++ with the use of the Qt toolkit, though this was later changed.

External links

• Bersirc website (http://www.bersirc.com/)
• Sourceforge.net project page (http://sourceforge.net/projects/bersirc21/)
• Archived copy of Bersirc 1.4 site (http://bersirc.free2code.net/presite/www.bersirc.com/plugscr.php)
• Official IRC channel (irc://irc.free2code.net/bersirc)
• As-yet unused mailing list (http://mail.bersirc.com/mailman/listinfo/announce_bersirc.com)