Gossip IRC Server

Gossip is a Golang-based IRC server designed to provide a persistent user experience, eliminating the need for external bouncers.

Features

• Client Connection Management:

  • Accepts incoming TCP connections from IRC clients
  • Handles multiple clients per user transparently
  • Maintains user sessions even when clients disconnect
  • Delivers missed messages upon client reconnection

• User Management:

  • Tracks user presence and state (nickname, real name, last activity timestamp)
  • Associates multiple client connections with a single user
  • Persists user state across client disconnections

• Channel Management:

  • Supports creation and joining of channels
  • Manages user lists within channels
  • Stores and retrieves channel message history

• Message Handling:

  • Parses incoming IRC messages according to the IRC protocol
  • Handles standard IRC commands (e.g., NICK, USER, JOIN, PART, PRIVMSG, NOTICE)
  • Stores all messages with timestamps, regardless of user connection status
  • Delivers missed messages to reconnecting clients

• SSL Support:

  • Optional SSL/TLS encryption for client connections

Usage

Building the Server

To build the Gossip IRC server, run:

go build -o gossip_server cmd/server/main.go

Running the Server

To start the server with default settings:

./gossip_server

Command-line Options

• -host: Host to listen on (default: "localhost")
• -port: Port to listen on (default: 6667)
• -ssl-port: SSL Port to listen on (default: 6697)
• -ssl-cert: Path to SSL certificate file
• -ssl-key: Path to SSL key file
• -use-ssl: Enable SSL support
• -verbosity: Logging verbosity (info, debug, trace)

Example with SSL enabled:

./gossip_server -use-ssl -ssl-cert /path/to/cert.pem -ssl-key /path/to/key.pem -verbosity debug

Connecting to the Server

You can connect to the Gossip IRC server using any standard IRC client. Point your client to the server's address and port (default: 6667, or 6697 for SSL).

Future Enhancements

• Persistent storage for server state
• User authentication and registration
• Operator privileges
• Support for more advanced IRC features
• Performance optimization for handling a large number of concurrent users and channels

Contributing

Contributions to the Gossip IRC Server are welcome! Please feel free to submit pull requests or open issues for bugs and feature requests.

License

MIT License