Tuesday, October 16, 2012

HexChat updated to version 2.9.3

Sample image via the HexChat.org website. This is a picture of the client connected to the Freenode IRC network, in channel #defocus. The IRC client itself is running on the Windows platform, and the platform version being Windows 8.
HexChat is my favorite graphic IRC client. It is based off of the very popular and open source XChat IRC client, but HexChat was created after development for XChat halted. Since then, it is "known" for users to use HexChat because it is still in active development.

Yesterday, on Sunday (I'm posting it today), they released an update that added some new features, while correcting bugs in the program. If you are running the Windows version, the update checker plugin should check for updates, and should provide you a link to a new executable of a later version to update your HexChat installation. Make sure that HexChat is closed when installing the update, as some updated DLLs can't be written because they are in use.

The list version of the changes can be found below.


  • fix various URL detection bugs
  • fix default folders for file transfers in portable mode
  • fix Autotools warnings with recent releases
  • add /ADDSERVER command
  • add option to save URLs to disk on-the-fly
  • add option to omit alerts when marked as being away
  • add default icons for channel tree and option to turn them off
  • change certain default colors
  • enhance Non-BMP filtering performance
  • accept license agreement by default on Windows
  • update the network list

If you did not download the update, or if you are willing to try the latest version of HexChat, then go ahead and click here (32 or 64 bit) for a direct link . Their project website can be found by clicking here. Since HexChat is open source, you can also grab the source code for HexChat by visiting their downloads page. They have a github if you are interested.