HexChat announces the latest release after 12 years of development.
In the era of rapid development of Internet technologies and social networks, IRC clients remain a symbol of a bygone era. One such symbol, HexChat, has announced its latest update. For almost 12 years of development, HexChat has won the love and respect of users due to its reliability and convenience. However, all good things end sooner or later.
The main developer of HexChat, known under the pseudonym TingPing, announced in a blog post about the completion of work on the project.
"This is the last HexChat release I'm responsible for. The project was not actually supported for a long time, and no one took on this task, " the report says.
The last update was released in 2021, and at the same time, developers were looking for help in continuing development, especially for Windows versions, but the necessary support was never found.
HexChat, which started out as a fork of XChat, has become a significant project for many. TingPing notes its importance in his life:
"I started contributing to the project as a teenager, learned a lot, met great people, and it led to big changes in my life," says TingPing.
The latest update 2.16.2 introduced improvements and fixes:
The latest version can be downloaded from the official website of the project or via Flathub. All of HexChat's code, data, documentation, and dependencies are now available on GitHub, "where they will continue to exist for the rest of Microsoft's existence," as TingPing jokingly notes.
Despite the completion of development, the spirit of open source code lives on. As TingPing pointed out, "no one can stop the code from living on." Forks of the project are welcome, which leaves hope for new HexChat revivals in the future.
In the era of rapid development of Internet technologies and social networks, IRC clients remain a symbol of a bygone era. One such symbol, HexChat, has announced its latest update. For almost 12 years of development, HexChat has won the love and respect of users due to its reliability and convenience. However, all good things end sooner or later.
The main developer of HexChat, known under the pseudonym TingPing, announced in a blog post about the completion of work on the project.
"This is the last HexChat release I'm responsible for. The project was not actually supported for a long time, and no one took on this task, " the report says.
The last update was released in 2021, and at the same time, developers were looking for help in continuing development, especially for Windows versions, but the necessary support was never found.
HexChat, which started out as a fork of XChat, has become a significant project for many. TingPing notes its importance in his life:
"I started contributing to the project as a teenager, learned a lot, met great people, and it led to big changes in my life," says TingPing.
The latest update 2.16.2 introduced improvements and fixes:
- / server now uses TLS by default (with a flag to disable);
- The settings dialog has become a modal window;
- Extended-monitor.
- Support for SASL SCRAM mechanisms;
- Ability to hide a nickname from the window title;
- Maximum server password length increased to 1024;
- Python updated to version 3.8 (Windows);
- Installer settings for creating shortcuts in the Start menu and on the Windows Desktop;
- Correction of errors.
The latest version can be downloaded from the official website of the project or via Flathub. All of HexChat's code, data, documentation, and dependencies are now available on GitHub, "where they will continue to exist for the rest of Microsoft's existence," as TingPing jokingly notes.
Despite the completion of development, the spirit of open source code lives on. As TingPing pointed out, "no one can stop the code from living on." Forks of the project are welcome, which leaves hope for new HexChat revivals in the future.
