The Perfect irssi Configuration or 3 Apps in One.

I love irssi! I use irssi as an all in one irc, instant messenger and twitter client. Here is how I did it.

IRC
First irssi as an irc client. This is what irssi was originally designed to be. irssi is a console application that can run in screen. You can install irssi by:

sudo aptitude irssi

If you are unfamiliar with irc, then here is a quick explanation and how to.

irc stands for instant relay chat. It essentially gives you access to a chat room. I connect to a few linux irc groups on a regular basis to interact with fellow Linux-ites and to ask questions. Just type irssi at the command line. Once started, You will need to connect to a server. Freenode has tons of interesting irc groups. You can see a list of Freenode irc groups here. to connect to Freenode type the following in irssi:

/connect irc.freenode.net

to join the general linux group, type:

/j #linux

You use esc+# (could also be alt+#) key to move through the irssi 'screens'. (i.e. esc+1 for screen one, esc+2 for screen two, etc)



IM
Now let's set up Your instant messenger in irssi with bitlbee.
Install bitlbee:

sudo aptitude install bitlbee

In irssi, connect to a bitlbee server. There are several servers available, I use the following:

/connect im.bitlbee.org

If this is your first time connecting to bitlbee you will need to register. You may need to move to the newly created bitlbee screen in irssi for the following.

register password

This should be a newly create password, used specifically for logging onto the bitlbee server. To set up your IM accounts.

Use the following as model to add your various accounts:

Yahoo

account add yahoo handle password

AIM

account add oscar MyScreenName MyPassword login.oscar.aol.com

Jabber

account add jabber example@server.com password server.address:port:ssl(?)

MSN

account add msn handle password

Once you have added your accounts, activate your accounts:

accounts on

Save your settings:

/save

To see your buddies type:

blist

To chat, type your buddies name and message,

name: Hello world!

The next time you log on to bitlbee, identify yourself with your new bitlbee password:

identify [password]

Twitter
Finally, Let's get twitter going.

Download the twitter perl script from here and save it to your ~/.irssi/scripts directory as wd.pl. Then install a few dependencies.

sudo aptitude install libjson-perl libdatetime-format-strptime-perl libwww-perl

Next you will need to create the following file ~/.netrc by typing,

nano ~/.netrc

copy and paste the following in the file and save.

# set your username (e-mail address) and password in your ~/.netrc file.
# eg.
# % echo "machine twitter.com login your@email.address password
# yourpass" > ~/.netrc
# % chmod 0600 ~/.netrc
#
my $username;
my $password;

Change $username to your twitter username and $password to your twitter password and save the file. You can find this information in the wd.pl file you downloaded earlier. Once the file is saved, change the permissions of the file.

chmod 600 ~/.netrc

In irssi create an alias,

/alias twit /exec ~/.irssi/scripts/wd.pl $*

and save.

/save

Now twitter away by using the following.

/twit

will update all your friends twits and to post a twit, use the following:

/twit -sv "hello World"

OOOOHHH YEAH! the perfect irssi set up. Now doesn't that feel good.
Learn more about twitter here.

NOTE:  THE wd.pl SCRIPT NO LONGER WORKS DUE TO A CHANGES
WITH TWITTER. I CURRENTLY DON'T HAVE A FIX FOR THE SCRIPT.
I HAVE BEEN IN CONTACT WITH THE DEVELOPER, BUT SEEMS TO
HAVE LOST INTEREST IN THE PROJECT.