Maintaining a Persistent IRC Connection?

[McC]

I'm looking for a way to maintain a continuous IRC connection at home that can be accessed from any computer. I've seen this done with Irssi Proxy server on Linux, but the primary machine is a Windows box. I've tried running Irssi under Cygwin, but with no success.

The ideal solution is one that allows me to connect to the home connection via any IRC client (i.e. I can point mIRC or XChat or whatever at this home IRC "server"), which in turn treats the client connection as though it were the static one. Any channels the static connection is in are automatically joined, any private chats the static connection receives are relayed, etc. To other users, it would appear as though the persistent connection was always present, even when I was not connected to the static connection from a second client.

Anyone have any ideas how to achieve this?

For a better description, here's what irssi-proxy does that I want to achieve, but have been unable to due to there not being a Windows implementation of irssi-proxy. At least, not that I've seen.

[phongn]

I used irssi in screen session and then SSH'ed in when needed and attached back.

[McC]

I used irssi in screen session and then SSH'ed in when needed and attached back.

The only way I've managed to get Irssi working (on Windows) is by downloading the Windows installer (or pre-compiled package) and running it from there. My attempts to compile my own version with Cygwin have always met with failure. Unfortunately, while the available Windows version of Irssi includes two files that appear to be related to the Proxy (libirc_proxy.a and libirc_proxy.la), Irssi does not show the Proxy module as available when I issue the /load command, and typing /load proxy results in a file not found error.

Any idea what file I might be missing? I've tried following these instructions, but get the message "make: Nothing to be done for 'all'." when I type "make".

I don't want to use Irssi as my client; I just want its proxy functionality, or another solution that provides similar functionality.

[Starglider]

Is there any reason why you can't just run an IRC client on your server and use a remote desktop client (presumably in windows mode) to access it as required? I do this with TightVNC sometimes.

[McC]

Is there any reason why you can't just run an IRC client on your server and use a remote desktop client (presumably in windows mode) to access it as required? I do this with TightVNC sometimes.

Multiple platforms, for one thing. Plus, that's a helluva lot slower -- downloading the entire desktop image -- than just using a text-based IRC proxy/relay.

[Terralthra]

I use a program called ZNC. It's an IRC bouncer, which can run on any linux or cygwin environment. You connect to it as if it were the IRC server, and it echoes everything from the server(s) and channel(s) to which it is connected.

[McC]

I use a program called ZNC. It's an IRC bouncer, which can run on any linux or cygwin environment. You connect to it as if it were the IRC server, and it echoes everything from the server(s) and channel(s) to which it is connected.

This looks like it might have some promise. Does it serve the purpose of maintaining a persistent connection (as far as the outside world sees it) and permitting multiple log-ins (internally)? It seems to from the FAQ, but I want to be sure.

[Terralthra]

Yes, and yes.

[McC]

Yes, and yes.

Excellent. I will definitely try it out when I get home this evening.

Does it also perform its own logging?

[Terralthra]

It can keep logs, if you want it to, yes.

[McC]

No joy. I can compile ZNC without modules, but module support is borked under Cygwin. There's a workaround here (discussed here in a #znc log excerpt), but I'm afraid I don't understand it. I tried fiddling around inside the Makefile, but I'm way out of my depth. I tried asking in the #znc channel, but everyone seemed to be lurking.



I also tried fiddling around with JBouncer, but it seems really limited compared to ZNC or Irssi.

[Terralthra]

How many channels/servers are we talking about here? If it's not too many, I can host a bouncer for you on my server.

[McC]

Actually, this morning, psychon -- one of the devs -- responded to my pleas for help in #znc. He provided me with alterations I could make to the Makefile.in files in the core and modules folders. After doing so, it compiled like a charm! Unfortunately, I'm at work right now, so I won't be able to implement it until I get home, but at least I now know I'll be able to.

Thanks for the offer, though.