What is IRC and Github

[snowflake]

Hi,

i want to know what is IRC

this might be a simple question but i still wanted to know?


i know what is Github but i want to know why its used for

[oleastre]

For IRC: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Relay_Chat
It's an instant messaging system (think facebook messages for example, or google hangout) that works with different channels. There is a channel dedicated to minetest where you can talk with other people.

For github, it's a "git" hosting platform. Git is a version tracking system; it's used by developers to store, archive and exchange their source code. Git is done in such a way that it's easy to track the history of different versions of the same file.
It's used by the core minetest team to build the minetest engine source code, but also by modders to track the history of their mods.
See also: https://git-scm.com/

Hope it helps.

[benrob0329]

IRC = Internet Relay Chat, its a chat service that is P2P, or server to client when there is a group.

Github is used to host open source projects using the Git code management tool.

(Google hangouts uses XMPP I believe, and FB prob uses a proprietary one.)

[Wuzzy]

IRC is short for “Internet Relay Chat”.
It is a very old but proven Internet protocol for chatting, i.e. sending and recieving text messages from multiple persons in real time.
To use IRC, you need to install an IRC client. Just search the Internet to find a good one. I personally use Hexchat, it is for GNU/Linux but if I recall correctly it works for Windows, too.
There are many IRC servers and each IRC server has numerours channels. In each channel people discuss about a particular topic.

On the FreeNode server (a popular IRC server) there is a channel for general Minetest discussions, called “#minetest”.

If you have an IRC client installed, you can click the following link to instantly join the chat:
irc://irc.freenode.net/#minetest

If you want to know more about IRC, visit http://www.irchelp.org/ in your web browser. They explain it much better than I do.


GitHub is mainly there to share code with others, based on the Git revision control system. GitHub also features an “issue tracker” which is basically a system where people can report bugs and feature requests. So GitHub is not a developer-only place.
Why it is used? Well, my guess is that it is relatively simple to use and has many features. Or maybe it just spread by word-of-mouth. I don't know. But GitHub is pretty popular, yeah.


@benrob0329:
IRC is not P2P-based, it is good old server/client architecture.

Google Hangouts NEVER used XMPP. In fact, Google ditched their XMPP server (known as “Google Talk”) in favor of their proprietary Google Hangouts.

[snowflake]

K thanks Wuzzy and benrob

[Ferk]

If you just want to check the minetest channel out you don't need to install an IRC client, you can just use the webchat for the freenode IRC server: http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=#minetest

But of course a proper client would be better in the long term if you plan to stay in the channel regularly.

About Google hangouts.. you can still use the XMPP protocol to connect with a XMPP client to google hangouts.. but it's kind of shoe-horned, Google doesn't use XMPP internally and it won't have federation (you can't talk from a Google account connected to XMPP with people using other XMPP servers that are not Google). It used to have federation, but they removed that when they released hangouts because, they say, they were getting a lot of spammy traffic from third party servers, even though messages from people not in your list were disabled, the traffic was still being sent and they had to filter them out.

It seems we are stuck with email when it comes to messaging in a federated way. Maybe someone could create a mail client that was designed to look like instant messaging. Even if this meant a lot of polling, if something like this became popular email servers will be pushed into trying to actually offer proper messaging federation to prevent too much traffic when people use the far worse alternative..

[benrob0329]

Or we could all use Jitsi (or other XMPP servers..)

[Wuzzy]

By the way, my XMPP adress is Wuzzy2@jabber.ccc.de. I don't need stinky Google for chatting. :P

If anyone here uses XMPP, you should update your forum profile, it is possible to enter the XMPP adress. :) It is hidden behind the little light bulb icon.

[snowflake]

so THX for all ur relpy