
The Lounge – Modern cross-platform, self-hosted web IRC client - LinuxBender
https://github.com/thelounge/thelounge
======
KeyboardFire
One feature I really miss in a lot of chat clients (that this doesn't appear
to have) is the ability to reply to specific messages, like in Stack Exchange
chat or Telegram. It makes it a lot easier to follow several simultaneous
conversations, or groups with many members.

~~~
crooked-v
I don't think that's really feasible with IRC unless you invent your own
extension to the standard and then convince every other IRC client to adopt
it.

~~~
ObsoleteNerd
Couldn't it be done in the UI by referencing the line/message ID, kinda like
how forums "quote" the message you clicked Reply on, or 4ch references a link
back to the one you're quoting?

Let a user click the timestamp to the left of the messages (or a "#" or other
symbol), which inserts something like this into the reply box:

> Replying to username:

Then your message you send ends up looking like:

> Reply to username: I agree!

Clicking on "Reply to username" or just the username could scroll back the
chat and highlight the message you replied to.

~~~
wild_preference
One problem with IRC is that everyone is using a different client. It's like
how you can set it up so you receive messages when you're offline... but
nobody else does that, so it's not a real solution.

Of course, the context here is a client that does indeed implement extra
features, and you're right that a text format per message would be an
interesting way to implement this: the client could simply hide those messages
from the normal view and slot them into the thread system. People using other
clients would just see some extraneous line noise like "Replying to
<username>|<timestamp>: hello world".

~~~
ObsoleteNerd
Yeah exactly, it's still "useful" to people without the client just by showing
them it's a reply to someone else, even without the embedded link and extra
functionality the client adds. I think it's a good compromise.

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kodablah
Any consideration to packaging this as a portable archive that can be
extracted and executed easily (e.g. w/ like pkg [0])? While adoption may not
be a goal, asking users of software to obtain it from a JS package manager is
a bit much. Don't underestimate the value of a download button/link.

0 - [https://github.com/zeit/pkg](https://github.com/zeit/pkg)

~~~
MaxLeiter
It’s meant to be run on a server. A docker container and deb exist, and it’s
on the AUR. If any users are interested in maintaining it on a different
package manager they’re encouraged to hop on to #thelounge on freenode and
talk to the maintainers.

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NickBusey
The Lounge is included with my project HomelabOS
([https://gitlab.com/NickBusey/HomelabOS](https://gitlab.com/NickBusey/HomelabOS)).

I've been using it for a while now and it's been working great. Nice, simple,
and quick to load.

~~~
albertgoeswoof
What are some common use cases for homelabOS?

~~~
NickBusey
Hmmm, use cases? I guess really just the one, people who want to use cloud
type services, prefer to self host, and need an easy way to deploy those
services.

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jgresty
I'd be interested to know if anyone actually seriously uses something like
this. I can't imagine there is much crossover in the irc audience and the
people who would want to use a web based client. Even less so when you need to
self host it.

~~~
wooby
I've been using it daily for about a year. I run it behind Apache (for SSL
with LetsEncrypt) on a 1 year reserved T2.Nano VM in AWS ($3.125/month) that I
also occasionally use for other things.

I'm involved in a lot of open source but had used IRC only intermittently
until I got The Lounge running.

I've really enjoyed it. I'm able to log in and see the same unreads and direct
messages across my work PC, personal PC, and phone and iPad. The software has
been reliable and relatively painless to update. The UI functions nicely on
touch devices.

Before The Lounge I operated ZNC in EC2, but configuring device-specific
clients to use it was a chore, and I didn't find myself using IRC very much.
Now, I use IRC all the time.

Obviously if you're not comfortable maintaining a server then this isn't the
option for you, but as a "power user" I've found the web UI perfectly
tolerable. Instead of maintaining IRC clients on multiple devices and pointing
them at ZNC, I maintain a single IRC client -- The Lounge.

~~~
wild_preference
irccloud.com ($50/year) is a good option for people who don't want to run
their own server. Only costs $13/year more than your solution.

Though paying money to receive messages while offline (or fiddling with ZNC)
is one of the reasons IRC getting its lunch eaten by everything.

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diminoten
How mature is this project? For some reason (possibly just scars from years
past), I'm pretty wary of IRC clients that aren't mature, due to concerns
around security.

The first PR is from Feb 2016, so that makes it a little under 3 years old. Is
that old enough for an IRC client?

I really like how it looks! Feels much more modern than HexChat (what I
currently use).

~~~
MaxLeiter
The Lounge is a fork (well, really a continuation) of shout, which was started
4-5 years ago
([https://github.com/erming/shout](https://github.com/erming/shout))

Additionally, the backend irc framework used was changed to one used by
another popular web client, kiwiirc.

Are there any specific security concerns you have?

~~~
diminoten
Nope! I am possibly overly paranoid about my IRC client, if only because of my
time many years ago in some slightly shady (but honestly entirely benign)
areas of the Internet, where if your client wasn't properly configured you'd
(sometimes) find out about it in negative ways.

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albertgoeswoof
Is there a hosted version of this (or similar) that persists IRC connections,
with a good iOS/Android app?

I’m thinking something that can compete with Slack for usability that runs
over standard IRC networks

~~~
jonty
You're looking for [https://www.irccloud.com](https://www.irccloud.com)

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Aeolun
That was really pleasant to set up with the docker image. I just wish it would
tell me it stores it’s data in /home/lounge/data so I can create a persistent
volume for it.

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avgDev
I was thinking about implementing slack at our workplace, this looks like it
might be a nice open source alternative.

Anyone running this at a medium-sized company?

~~~
lima
Not a good fit for a corporate environment, unless you're already using IRC
and need a web UI.

It's basically a personal IRC client and lacks most of the features you would
expect from Slack (media upload, user management, editing/deleting messages,
public channels...).

Take a look at Rocket Chat and Zulip instead.

~~~
Sir_Cmpwn
Editing/deleting messages is a misfeature, and naturally IRC supports public
channels, given that it invented them.

~~~
lima
I mean the UI part, of course - Slack has public channels that everyone can
easily discover and join.

Of course, IRC can do all of that (much better than Slack, from a technical
point of view). But IRC + The Lounge is not a drop-in replacement for Slack.

~~~
Sir_Cmpwn
You just mean recommending channels, then? Put them in your motd and a
clickable list will show up when they log in.

~~~
lima
Sure - I know more than one company who uses IRC internally, and it works just
fine. However, Slack or Rocket Chat have much better usability for non-
technical users.

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cork
I think i’d still rather use irssi inside a tmux session, but this is cool

