Open Source IRC Client
A multiple-document interface IRC client for Windows and Linux
Download MERK 0.022.105
Plugin Development Guide

MERK is a graphical open source Internet relay chat client. The current development version is 0.022.105. It uses a multiple-document interface, much like the popular Windows IRC client mIRC. MERK is written in Python 3, using the PyQt5 and Twisted libraries, and runs on both Windows and Linux.

MERK is in beta, but it works, and can be used for most IRC activities.

Screenshots

MERK connected to Libera, 2600net, and a local IRC server, on Windows 11.

MERK connected to EFnet and 2600net on Linux Mint 20.2.

Features

• Runs on Windows and Linux
• Supports multiple connections (you can chat on more than one IRC server at a time)
• Open source (GPL 3)
• A built-in list of over 80 IRC servers to connect to
• Text colors are customize-able
• Built-in spell checker (supports English, Spanish, French, and German)
• Emoji support
  • Insert emojis into chat by using shortcodes (such as :joy: 😂, :yum: 😋, etc.)
• Command/nickname auto-completion
• Full IRC color support
• Automatic logging of channel and private chats
• Includes a utility to export logs to JSON, CSV, or your own custom format
• Plugins
  • Plugins are written in Python 3, just like MERK

Requirements

MERK requires Python 3, PyQt5, and Twisted. PyQt5 and Twisted can be installed by using pip:

pip install pyqt5
pip install Twisted

To connect to IRC servers via SSL, two additional libraries may be needed:

pip install pyOpenSSL
pip install service_identity

MERK is being developed with Python 3.7 on Windows 11, and Python 3.8.5 on Linux Mint.

If you're running Windows, and you're getting errors when trying to run MERK, you may have to install another library, pywin32. You can also install this with pip:

pip install pywin32

To run properly on Linux, the latest version of all required software is recommended.

There are four libraries that comes bundled with MERK:

• qt5reactor
• pyspellchecker
• emoji
• pike

Running MERK

First, make sure that all the requirements are installed. Next, download MERK. Extract the zipfile to a directory of your choice using your favorite archive/zip program. Open a command prompt, navigate to the directory you extracted MERK to, and type:

python merk.py

Usage

usage: python merk.py [-h] [--ssl] [--reconnect] [-p PASSWORD]
                      [-c CHANNEL[:KEY]] [-n NICKNAME] [-u USERNAME]
                      [-a NICKNAME] [-r REALNAME] [-D DIRECTORY] [-L]
                      [--config-name NAME] [--qtstyle NAME]
                      [--generate [FILE]] [--noplugins] [-N] [-X]
                      [SERVER] [PORT]

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit

Connection:
  SERVER                Server to connect to
  PORT                  Server port to connect to (6667)
  --ssl, --tls          Use SSL/TLS to connect to IRC
  --reconnect           Reconnect to servers on disconnection
  -p PASSWORD, --password PASSWORD
                        Use server password to connect
  -c CHANNEL[:KEY], --channel CHANNEL[:KEY]
                        Join channel on connection
  -n NICKNAME, --nickname NICKNAME
                        Use this nickname to connect
  -u USERNAME, --username USERNAME
                        Use this username to connect
  -a NICKNAME, --alternate NICKNAME
                        Use this alternate nickname to connect
  -r REALNAME, --realname REALNAME
                        Use this realname to connect

Configuration:
  -D DIRECTORY, --config-directory DIRECTORY
                        Location to store configuration files
  -L, --config-local    Store configuration files in install directory
  --config-name NAME    Name of the configuration file directory (default:
                        .merk)
  --qtstyle NAME        Set Qt widget style (default: Windows)

Plugins:
  --generate [FILE]     Create a "blank" plugin for editing
  --noplugins           Disable plugins

Miscellaneous:
  -N, --noask           Don't ask for connection information on start
  -X, --nocommands      Don't auto-execute commands on connection

Writing plugins for MERK

MERK plugins are written in Python 3, the same language that MERK is written in. At its core, a plugin is just a Python 3 class that inherits from a parent class built into MERK. Here's a basic example. All it does is print all incoming and outgoing IRC traffic to the console:

from merk import *

class ExamplePlugin(Plugin):

  NAME = "Example Plugin"
  VERSION = "1.0"
  DESCRIPTION = "Displays all IRC network traffic"

  def line_in(self,data):
    print(self.irc.server+":"+str(self.irc.port)+" <- "+data)

  def line_out(self,data):
    print(self.irc.server+":"+str(self.irc.port)+" -> "+data)

Everything you need to write your own MERK plugins is in the Plugin Development Guide, included with every download.

Developing MERK

Several tools are included in the official MERK repository for developing MERK. The pyrcc5 utility is required, and should be installed automatically when you install PyQt. These are only needed if you're developing MERK, and can be ignored if you're only using the MERK IRC client.

• compile_resources.bat - This batch file compiles the miscellaneous resources (graphics, fonts, etc) required by MERK into a single file, resources.py, and inserts the file into the MERK source code. This is for development on the Windows platform.
• compile_resources.sh - This shell script basically does the same thing that compile_resources.bat does, only it's for development on the Linux platform.
• build_dist.py - This is a Python 3 script that, when executed, does several things:
  • Executes either compile_resources.bat (if the host system is Windows) or compile_resources.sh (if the host system is Linux); if the host system is not running either Windows or Linux, build_dist.py will exit with an error
  • Increments the MERK's minor version (which is stored in merk/data/minor.txt) and saves it
  • ReadsREADME.txt into memory and replaces several symbols in it:
    • ! _VERSION_ ! (without spaces) is replaced with MERK's major version
    • ! _MINOR_ ! (without spaces) is replaced with MERK's minor version
    • ! _FULL_VERSION_ ! (without spaces) is replaced with MERK's major and minor version, with a period in between them.
  • Overwrites README.md with the edited contents of README.txt
  • Creates a new directory named dist, and copies into it:
    • merk.py
    • LICENSE
    • README.md
    • The merk directory and its contents
    • The qt5reactor directory and its contents
    • The spellchecker directory and its contents
    • The emoji directory and its contents
    • The pike directory and its contents
  • Zips up the dist directory either using PowerShell (if the host system is Windows) or the zip utility (if the host system is Linux) into a file named dist.zip
  • Deletes the dist directory and its contents
  • Renames dist.zip to "merk-MAJOR VERSION.zip", referred to as merk.zip in this description.
  • If merk.zip exists in the downloads directory, the version in the downloads directory is deleted
  • If merk-latest.zip exists in the downloads directory, it is deleted
  • merk.zip is copied into the downloads directory, and is copied to merk-latest.zip