Foreword
--------

This repository contains legacy source code, but may be of historical
interest to someone.

Please note, most of the URLs and e-mail addresses mentioned no longer
work. Please use archive.org from around year 2000 to access the content.
For contacting the original author, you can try namhas at gmail . com.

What is Jicra?
--------------

The name Jicra comes from words "Java IRC Chat Room Applet" and it was made
for the Majik Project (http://www.majik3d.org/) as the project wanted to
lessen the curve needed for the new users to participate our discussions in
the IRC. Without such an applet they would have needed to download an IRC
client, find a right server and join the channel. A lot of work to do if
just wanting to say hello.

Jicra is a very simple IRC client Java applet that includes only minimal
functionatily and doesn't try to look like an IRC client in any way. It just
tries to be a chat room limited to one channel without any fancy commands.
This way the applet is very light-weight and doesn't require the user to
learn anything.

See http://www.majik3d.org/~namhas/jicra/ for the homepage.

Installation
------------

To install just type "make clean && make" or alternatively "javac *.java" or
use pre-compiled class files and then customise one of the .html-files to suit
your needs. There is a version for PHP and for JavaScript, along with the
index-plain.html, which doesn't use scripting and thus is suitable only
for testing or for a chat room that allows only anonymous connections.

One caveat with this applet is that the Java does allow connecting only local
services so that's why there is no variable to et the IRC server's address.
You need to be a root at your server and set the local port 6667 (or whatever
you want) to be forwarded to the IRC server you want to use, if you're not
going to set up a local IRC server. You can also use program like aproxy,
tircproxy or similar to forward the connection or then use the ForwardServer
Java Port Forwarder that comes along with this package. It handles the
forwarding and it may be possible to use without root privileges. On Linux
system you would set up the port forwarding using ForwardServer like this,
assuming that you have JDK installed and you have compiled the .java files
or you use the supplied pre-compiled binaries.

  $ java ForwardServer irc.stealth.net 6667 6667

That would forward local port 6667 to irc.stealth.net's port 6667.

Yes, there is a way in Java to avoid this problem but it would fire up a
dialog for the user asking whether the user wants to grant the applet a
"high security risk" feature that would allow the applet to connect the
outside world, and to make that happen, it would require me to have a
Developer Certificate which costs just too much money. I will not buy
one for a freely available program. If you for some reason can't set up
local IRC server or use port forwarding, then I suggest you to visit
http://www.jpilot.com for a shareware Java chat room.

Release history
---------------

1.0.0 - The first public release.
1.0.1 - Added support for ACTION, works by placing '*' to the beginning and
        the end of a message.
      - Disabled sending messages starting with a '/' to prevent people
        confusing Jicra with a real IRC client.
      - Added support for 465 error reply, ERR_YOUREBANNEDCREEP.
1.1.0 - The automatic scrolling in the text window should work now.
      - Added Java Port Forwarder, ForwardServer.
      - Added port parameter.
      - Various bugs has been fixed.
      - Added JavaScript version of login-script for those without PHP.
1.2.0 - Nick change bug fixed by Kalani Sanders.
      - Better checking for nickname restrictions.
      - Jicra now knows how to display NOTICE's.
      - Support for server's ERROR command.
      - Added user parameter.
1.2.1 - If a NOTICE message was sent by a server, Jicra crashed. Applied
        a patch from Kalani Sanders which fixed this.
1.2.2 - Jicra crashed on KICK. No longer.

Contact information
-------------------

Tommi Leino <namhas@taikatech.com>