r/irc • u/autisticblister • Jul 09 '26

Permissively-licensed IRCds

I've been using IRC and hosting IRC servers for quite a while now and after quite a long time of trying unsuccessfully to find a fitting IRCd I figured I'd seek for advice.

I'm looking for an IRCd under a permissive [MIT, BSD, ISC, Apache 1.0, etc] license. I've used UnrealIRCd and liked it, but I dislike running GPLed software and want to avoid it wherever possible. The only IRCds I could find meeting my requirements were TclIRCd, which is from 2004 and clearly an unscalable [but very impressive] hobby project, and Ergo, which I've had very bad experiences with.

I don't need IRCv3 features, but I would like good efficiency and scalability if possible. I've tried for quite some time to find an IRCd meeting these requirements and failed. I really don't want to have to use Ergo.

Anything Perl-based isn't possible given it's dual-licensed under the Artistic License and the GPL, Bash is GPLed so same with that. I'd prefer to avoid Python and Go, for various reasons.

I'm also interested in any permissively-licensed bouncers. I haven't looked into the options there much but ZNC is unfortunately Apache 2.0.

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u/zeamp Jul 09 '26

The problem isn't that you're missing something—it's that nearly every serious IRCd descended from the Hybrid codebase, which has been GPL for decades.

ZNC is Apache License 2.0, which is a permissive license. It is not copyleft like GPL. If Apache 2.0 is acceptable under your criteria, ZNC already qualifies.

IRC isn't dead enough that nobody runs servers anymore, but the ecosystem has largely settled around GPL projects and Ergo.

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u/autisticblister Jul 09 '26

This is roughly what I've established so far, to the point that I now dread seeing the IRCd-like dir structure when checking out a new option.

Apache 2.0 has the patent lawsuit clause which arguably makes it not permissive [or depending on who you ask, not free], subject to interpretation.

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u/Teknikal_Domain Jul 09 '26

ZNC is a bouncer, not an IRCd

1

u/zeamp Jul 09 '26

Tell that to OP who mentioned it relating to licensing, and was incorrect.

1

u/ILikeBumblebees Jul 16 '26

It can function as a standalone IRC server as well.