0.052.250

Summary

MERK is a free, open source, multiple-document interface Internet relay chat for Windows, Linux, and macOS. It can be run with Python 3.9+ if PyQt5 and Twisted are installed; to connect to TLS/SSL enabled servers, install pyOpenSSL and service_identity. If you encounter problems running MERK with Python 3.9+ on Windows, you may need to install pywin32. All PyInstaller versions of MERK are built for 64-bit operating systems.

What's New

• Many dialogs have been made easier to use for users that are new to IRC.
• The options in the input options menu will only have an effect on the subwindow it was used on. This allows users to temporarily disable MERK markdown, emojis, ASCIImojis, IRC color input, or change the spellchecking language for a specific subwindow.
• The QUIT message bug has been fixed. When disconnecting from a server with the /quit command, the quit message was not always being sent to the server.
• The "Windows" menu is much more useful. Currently active subwindows are shown in bold and hidden windows in italics. Shortcuts are displayed for every subwindow entry.
• Many, many bugfixes.

Files

• Python distribution
  • merk-0.052-250.zip contains the Python code for MERK; unzip the source to any folder, navigate to that folder with your favorite console application, and type python merk.py to run MERK. Instructions for running the source on Windows, Linux, and macOS can be found in the repository.
• Windows PyInstaller distributions
  • merk-windows-0.052-250.zip can be unzipped to any folder, and contains an executable and a directory with support files; unzip to any folder, and double click on merk.exe to run MERK.
  • merk-windows-setup-0.052-250.zip contains an installer for MERK; unzip and double click setup.exe.
• Linux PyInstaller distribution
  • merk-linux-0.052-250.zip can be unzipped to any folder, and contains an executable and a directory with support files; unzip to any folder, and double click on merk to run MERK.
  • merk-linux-0.052-250.flatpak can be installed with flatpack install --user merk-linux-0.052-250.flatpak.
• Other files
  • MERK_User_Guide.pdf contains a guide for using MERK, as well as writing scripts and plugins. It is available in the app, in the "help" menu.
  • CHANGELOG contains a list of changes in new release.

All downloads contain README.html, which contains usage information about the application and a list of all commands supported by MERK. Further information can be found in the MERK_User_Guide.pdf, available here or from the Help menu.

MERK has a plugin framework. For more information about how to write plugins, please see MERK_User_Guide.pdf. The official repository contains some example plugins right here.

Configuration files and logs are stored in a directory named .merk in the user's home directory.

CHANGELOG for 0.052.250

APPLICATION CHANGES

• Bugfix: changed the "create channel script" and "edit channel script" options
  in the windowbar right click menu for channel windows to make a little more
  sense.
• Tweaked the right click menu for the server window chat display to show the
  reported hostname for the server for disconnection, rather than just the
  connecting server's IP/host and port.
• A server's reported hostname is now used in the "IRC" menu for disconnection.
• The "Quit" entry in the "IRC" menu is now showed in bold, to match changes
  in a lot of right click menus to show a "this will do something immediately"
  vibe for the entry.
• Tweaked the "Tools" menu. Now, if there are no logs to view, the "Logs" entry
  will no longer be visible in the menu. Also, the "Logs" entry has been moved
  to the bottom of the menu.
• Tweaked the "Help" menu, and removed some duplicated entries.
• Moved the functionality for the "/window restart" command to the main
  application window.
• Added an option to the "/window restart" command to reconnect to all currently
  connected servers on restart.
• Added the "reconnect to all servers" option to the "dark mode" restart option
  triggered from the "Settings" menu.
• Added the "reconnect to all servers" option to the "apply & restart" option
  in the "Settings" dialog.
• Bugfix: the "apply & restart" button could be hidden in some circumstances
  in the "Settings" dialog, even if it was needed.
• Channel and private chat status bars now identify exactly what the window is
  for (channels state the name, and private chats identify the user), as well
  as how MERK is connected to the server (SSL or TCP/IP).
• Added an option to toggle the window information display on channel and
  private chat status bars. The option has been added to the "Subwindows"
  section in the "Settings" dialog.
• Tweaked the right click menu for channel chat displays.
• Reduced the amount of "spam" displayed in server windows during registration.
• Bugfix: when using the "/quit" command, quit messages weren't always being
  sent to the server.
• Bugfix: the URL "detector" function would recognize FTP as a valid schema.
• If a dialog is going to make a permanent change (delete or overwrite a file,
  etc), the application will now set the default button to "cancel".
• Resized the application icon in the resource file to match the size of all
  other icons (48x48).
• Cleaned up the layout of the text styler. Some of the elements are now smaller
  to make the dialog a bit slimmer, and the "Apply" and "Cancel" buttons are now
  "on their own", to make them a bit clearer.
• Created a setting for the minimum font point size for the application in the
  configuration file. This can only be changed by the editing the configuration
  file or with the "/config" command.
• Added a setting to show all channel status symbols in a user's right click
  menu in the userlist. The setting has been added to the "Settings" dialog, on
  the "Channels" page.
• Added a messagebox to ask the user if they're sure they want to unban specific
  users.
• Rearranged the "Tools" menu.
• Cleaned up some of the icons. The "command" icon was removed, and instead the
  "script" icon is used wherever it was used.
• Rearranged the various subwindow right click menus.
• Re-worked the "Windows" menu. All subwindows now appear at the top, and the
  server submenus are now under a "header" at the bottom of the subwindow list.
• Added an option to toggle the "edit installed/connection scripts and plugins"
  options in the "Tools" menu. The setting has been added to the config file
  and the "Settings" dialog, on the "Menubar" page.
• Moved alias interpolation/emoji/ASCIImoji/markdown injection to individual
  subwindows, rather than from the "main" application module.
• All of the options in the input options menu now ONLY affect the current
  subwindow, rather than setting a global setting. This matches how the
  spellcheck menu has worked for a few dozen versions. If all of the options
  that can be en/disabled or executed in the input options menu are disabled,
  the input options button will be hidden
• Removed the ability to toggle input highlighting and autocomplete from the
  input options menu. The only way to toggle these settings is from the
  "Settings" dialog, from the "Settings" menu, or with the "/config" command.
• Bugfix: the "Servers" option for autocomplete on the "Input" section of the
  "Settings" dialog would be disabled even if "autocomplete" was enabled if
  had ever been disabled.
• The "active connections" section of the "Windows" menu will only be shown if
  there is at least one REGISTERED connection to a server; after that, server
  submenus for unregistered connections will be shown, but disabled.
• Bugfix: disabling scripting could cause the connection dialog to crash the
  application.
• The "Run a script" entry in subwindow right click menus now launches a dialog
  to get the script filename and any arguments to pass to the script, rather
  than just getting a filename and executing it. This is the same dialog that
  appears if "/script" is ran without any arguments.
• Bugfix: disconnecting from a server could sometimes crash the client.
• Shortcuts for subwindows are now shown every place that subwindow appears in
  the "Windows" menu.
• Added channel list subwindows to the server submenu in the "Windows" menu.
• Re-added "run a script on this window" option to the windowbar right click
  menus.
• The currently active window is now shown in bold in the "Windows" menu.
• Bugfix: turning off IRC network links would not "refresh" subwindow status
  bars.
• Bugfix: right clicking on a channel list, editor, README, or log manager
  entry in the windowbar could crash the client.
• The buttons used in the windowbar can no longer accept focus.
• Added an optional option (heh) to restart the client to the "Settings" menu.
  This option is turned off by default, but can be enabled on the "Menubar"
  section of the dialog.
• Server submenus are now hidden for connections that have not completed
  registration in the "Windows" menu.
• Removed some unneeded settings from the configuration file.
• Bugfix: fixed some entries in the server submenu in the "Windows" menu.
• Added settings to control whether the options to change the nickname, join a
  channel, or set away/back status are shown in the server submenu in the
  "Windows" menu.
• Redid the layout of the "Run a script..." dialog.
• Private chat windows now have a new icon.

WARNING! MERK may appear to be infected with something by your Windows antivirus. It is not infected with anything, it just seems to appear that way because some malware in the past was packed with PyInstaller (at least, this is my theory). I have uploaded all binaries to VirusTotal.

Released Saturday September 5, 2026