                 Installation Instructions for BitchX 1.2

BitchX is known to compile on the following systems (maybe others as well):
    * FreeBSD 2.x and above
    * NetBSD 3 and above
    * OpenBSD 2 and above
    * SunOS 4.1.4, 5.x and above
    * Linux (All)
    * IRIX 5, 6
    * HP-UX 9.x, 10.x
    * OSF/1 (DEC Alpha)
    * Ultrix
    * AIX
    * OS/2 (with EMX)
    * Windows 9x/2000/NT/XP (with Cygwin)
    * QNX

Introduction:

	Problems may occur during the compilation process of BitchX. Some common
problems are described below under "Compile Problems". If you do have a 
problem you can't resolve, please gather as much information about the error
(*FULL* output of "make") and join #BitchX on EFNet, or use the Sourceforge
page at http://sourceforge.net/projects/bitchx/.

	Several script writers tend to hang in the #BitchX on EFNet to
distribute their work to others. scripts.bitchx.org is a great place where
scripts can be found.  You can also check out the scripting forum at the
previously mentioned forums site.

	Some features will only work with certain servers -- IRCUMODE and
/4OP for example. Therefore, servers such as UnderNet, DalNet, and NewNet,
to name a few, will not respond to the user modes given. Scripts can cause
problems as well, usually due to bugs within the script. If there is a
known bug in the client, please contact the appropriate people, caf
or any of the non-idling ops in #BitchX. If the bug can be reproduced
faithfully, then we have enough to determine how it can be resolved.

	Please check out the FAQ at http://wiki.bitchx.org/faq:start if you
have any trouble compiling.  A number of common mistakes and problems
users run into are posted in the FAQ.

Compiling BitchX:

In order to compile BitchX you need to do the following: (Optional steps
are marked with an asterisk, "*")

  1) Enter the BitchX directory tree; this is the most important step.
     Executing configure outside the tree is now possible, for example:

     # mkdir obj-i586-mandrake-linux
     # cd obj-i586-mandrake-linux
     # ../configure --prefix=/usr --with-plugins

  2) Run the GNU configuration script, "configure". It should find
     whatever it needs for the compilation of BitchX, such as system
     includes, ncurses, Tcl, and locations of important files. There are
     options that can be given to "configure". "configure --help" will detail
     all of them. Using at least "configure --with-plugins" is recommended
     if you plan on using one or more of the many plugins that are
     distributed with BitchX. Add "--with-tcl" if you want Tcl script
     support (Note: most users do not need this).

     If you are not root, pass the --prefix=$HOME option to have BitchX
     install to your home directory.
      
* 3) "include/config.h" may need tweaking if you intend to change the
     default server list. To change, locate "DEFAULT_SERVER" and remove the
     original default servers and add as many as you please (These will
     be appended to the "/usr/local/lib/bx/ircII.servers" and "~/.ircservers"
     list). Alternatively, you can run "make bxconf" and use the graphical
     configuration utility to change many of BitchX's options.

  4) Execute "make" inside the BitchX directory (on BSD-based platforms, use
     "gmake" instead). If any error messages are shown (Error, *not* Warning 
     messages!!!) that you are unable to resolve on your own, seek help. 
     "README" has more information on where you can go for help.

  5) Execute "make install" (on BSD-based platforms, use "gmake install" 
     instead). This should install the BitchX binary to /usr/local/bin, or
     to $HOME/bin if you supplied the "--prefix=$HOME" option in step 2.

     Users without superuser access will typically see a "permission denied"
     error here if they try to install to the default prefix.

Compile Problems:

	BitchX requires either the terminfo or termcap terminal-handling library.
This is commonly provided by the ncurses package, so if you get the error:

Cannot find terminfo or termcap - try installing the ncurses-dev / ncurses-devel package.

	..then you should try to find the ncurses development package for your OS.
Some examples of what this package may be called:

	Debian, Ubuntu:	libncurses5-dev
	Fedora, CentOS, OpenSuSE: ncurses-devel
	Cygwin: libncurses-devel

--
Last Updated:
caf
caf@bitchx.org
January 7th, 2017

Previous authors:
Rob Andrews <sin@bitchx.org>
David Walluck
BarK0de
BlackJac
