ircfs

IRC filesystem based on Suckless' ii

About

ircfs uses FUSE to map IRC servers to directories on your computer. Each channel appears as a directory under the mountpoint:

freenode
├── #bash
│   ├── send
│   └── receive
├── ##linux
│   ├── send
│   └── receive
├── send
├── receive
└── raw

Usage

ircfs -s SERVER -n NICKNAME MOUNTPOINT

Alternatively, a TOML configuration file can be provided and specified with the -c flag. An example ircfs.toml file is provided. If flags are used in addition to a configuration file, then the flags take precedence.

Messages are sent by writing data to the send file for a channel or user: echo "How do I install Gentoo?" > '##linux/send'

Messages can be read via the corresponding receive file.

Commands are performed by writing to the server's send file. The following commands have been implemented:

• /join CHANNELS [KEYS]: Joins the comma-separated list of channels, using the (optional) comma-separated list of keys.
• /msg TARGET [MESSAGE]: Sends a message to the target, whether it's a channel or user. If no message is specified, this creates a directory for the target without sending a message.
• /part TARGETS: Parts the comma-separated list of channels.

The /raw file contains the raw messages sent from the IRC server (along with a timestamp).

Functionality

Current Functionality

ircfs is very much a work-in-progress, and its functionality is therefore very limited at the moment.

The following has been implemented:

• Channels can be joined
• Messages can be sent to and received from channels/users

Planned Functionality

• Support for connecting via SSL
• Standard IRC commands: /me, /kick, /part, /quit, etc.

Additionally, ircfs may eventually be modified so that one ircfs instance handles connections to multiple IRC servers.

Comparison to ii

Pros

• ii uses a regular file for output. This means that a disk write occurs for every single message from the IRC server. That is in no way optimal. ircfs instead stores all messages in memory.
• ii uses a FIFO file for input. This means that messages sent to the in file are essentially lost; no record of them is kept (aside from your shell's history, perhaps). ircfs saves the data written to the in files so that you may read from them if desired.

Cons

• Since ircfs stores message in memory rather than on an actual file, creating permanent logs would need to be done via some external means (such as a cron job copying the file to some other location)