Internet Relay Chat

Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is a popular form and forum of communication for many Red Hat Linux developers and users because it allows an interactive, real-time exchange of information and ideas. To use IRC, you must have an IRC client and the address of a network and server hosting the desired chat channel for your discussions.

You can use the irc.freenode.net IRC server, or one listed at http://www.freenode.net/ to chat with other Fedora Project users. Two current channels are

• #fedora channel General chat about Fedora

• #fedora-devel Hangout for a number of The Fedora Project developers

Sadly, the list of active IRC channels that has been referred to in previous editions of this book has disappeared from the Internet. However, Google can once again be your savior. Simply enter in the distribution name and IRC into the search options to retrieve information on any IRC channels relevant to your requirements. To get started with IRC, browse to http://www.irchelp.org/. Some of the channels of interest might be

• #linux General discussions about Linux

• #linuxhelp Help chat discussion for new users

Most IRC networks provide one or more Linux channels, although some providers require sign up and registration before you can access any chat channel.