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Portable Mirc client

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johndoe2k4
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Portable Mirc client

Hi,

I think that there should be a portable IRC client. I personally love Mirc because it has a very powerful scripting language and it is easy to create add-ons. I have already created my own "portable" version of Mirc that I use daily. It also has a relatively small footprint (about 3 MB). There is no installer necessary and I have configured a few options to keep the footprint as small as possible ( Such as disabling logging of chats, and prompting for location to save files to when downloading).

I have a question though about this. Mirc is shareware software. After 30 days it displays nagware to register but you can continue using it.That won't be a problem as far as this site is concerned is it ?

I have experienced random problems which may or may not be related to only my memory stick when running Mirc from a memory stick as opposed to a hard drive so I have written a powerful batch file that automatically determines the full path to the desktop, copies Mirc to the desktop, runs it and copies it back to the desktop automatically after you close Mirc. The batch file is pretty fast and it only takes a few seconds on a 1.8 GHZ system to copy the files from the mem stick to the desktop and back because of Mirc's small footprint. As a result of doing this, Mirc runs much faster than if you run it directly from the memory stick. I am adding a few configurable options in the batch file so that when it copies the mirc folder from the desktop to the memory stick, you can either

1. Delete the mirc folder on the memory stick
2. rename it with the date and time stamp
3. Compress it into a single file with the date and time stamp

what do you guys think ?

There isnt a portable irc client ATM

Can I submit it for approval ?

JD

John T. Haller
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Illegal

It is illegal to distribute a modified or repackaged version of nearly all closed-source software (whether paid, free, shareware, etc) without the express written consent of the publisher.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

johndoe2k4
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redistributing closed source

well I am not arguing about legality but there are many other IRC clients which are customized versions of Mirc and no one (the authors ) seems to have a problem with them. I can find out from the authors if it is ok to redistribute mirc.

John T. Haller
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Doesn't matter

Even if there are others and the authors haven't cracked down on it. It's still illegal. And the authors can shut those modified versions down any time they want to.

You need express written permission. Either in a publicly available contract online or as part of the software that gives you permission. Or as a contract you enter into with them. And, keep in mind, if they publish permission on their site, they can rescind it any time they want, too.

Add to that the fact that you'll need to host the bandwidth. All the apps available here are open source right now. And all downloads go through SourceForge. If they didn't, it would cost me $9,000 a month in bandwidth costs. So, even with permission, we'll be considering portable close source apps very differently than the open source ones... since I'll have to pay for the bandwidth of downloads of them.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

johndoe2k4
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First of all, I have

First of all, I have requested permission from the authors. Assuming that they agree, I can upload it to any site for hosting. Does it have to be on sourceforge.net ? Can I host it on another site ?

thanks,
JD

John T. Haller
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You could, but...

bandwidth can grow pretty quick... especially if it's mentioned here.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

johndoe2k4
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No offense but you didnt

No offense but you didnt answer my question. Does the file have to be hosted on sourceforge ?

Ryan McCue
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Nope

But it has to be open source for SourceForge.
Try PortaSoft.
----
R McCue

"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate."

fistandoodle
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Portable irc client?

Portable irc client?
Well, you don't need to get mIRC to get one of those.
And there are free (open source) ones out there.

The one I've been using predominately the past few months has been X-Chat.
Xchat.org is the site, but they charge for the windows binary. They release the source code for free.
If you don't feel like compiling it, don't worry, though.
( http://silenceisdefeat.org.nyud.net:8090/~b0at/xchat/win32/ )
Go there and check out other windows versions, that people have written.
I use/suggest the Daemon404 build. ( http://xchat-win32.berlios.de.nyud.net:8090/ )
His site also includes a patch for making X-Chat portable, just meaning it sets X-Chat's default configuration directory and downloads directory to ./config and ./downloads. Perfect for running of of a USB flash drive.

Or, you could check out 0irc. ( http://www.dev0.de.nyud.net:8090/products_0irc.html )
Very small, not many features but gets you into irc with a nice tiny open source client.

Hopefully one of those will help you, or someone?

johndoe2k4
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No offense but if you are

No offense but if you are hapy with Xchat then great. I am going to stick to Mirc. Whether or not you guys want a portable version of it is up to you guys. I think its the best IRC client.

fistandoodle
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Oh. Heh. Sorry, for some

Oh. Heh. Sorry, for some reason I thought you wanted suggestions on other irc clients. My bad. Smile

I used to use mIRC. Loved it. Always nagged me, but you could just hit OK. Much like WinZip.

Oh, and sourceforge is for opensource applications. I doubt the guys at mIRC will grant you permission to not only make the program portable, but also change it to opensource.
For hosting downloads you could always use a service like rapidshare.de, filehd.com, or megaupload.com. They offer free downloads of files. A thought if you do happen to do anything.

As for portability, I don't think that apps that you have to register for will be great portable apps. Photoshop, Fruity Loops, Microsoft Word, Nero, all of these and tons more you need to register to use. Some you even need to go online to register. Making them portable in essence 'cracks' them of this check, and then ANYONE can use them. So I doubt that anyone who hopes to make money off their software will agree to let it be made portable. Hey, if they do decide to let you, more power to ya. Great. Smile

Rob Loach
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Miranda

Portable Miranda comes packed with an IRC plugin.

Rob Loach [Website] [Projects]

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