How To Install Irssi
Contents
Introduction
- Q: What is Irssi?
- A: Irssi is a terminal based IRC client for UNIX systems. It also supports SILC and ICB protocols via plugins.
What you will need
- A copy of irssi compiled for Intel OS X.
- An AppleTV set up with SSH access.
- Some spare time.
Installation
As with anything in Unix, there's usually a few ways to do things. Clearly things will differ if you have your own username set up on the AppleTV, if you set up a different sshd, if you used a pre-authorized key, and so on. I will center this on how-to from a relatively stock OS X perspective.
Extracting the files
First, unarchive the file on your local machine:
tar jxfv irssi-0.8.11-osx.tar.bz2
Copying
Use scp (or your favorite ftp or sftp client, such as Cyberduck on OS X, or FileZilla on Windows - see their instructions) to transfer them to your AppleTV. In the following examples, replace 192.168.0.5 with whatever your AppleTV's address is. On OS X, open up Terminal.app and do:
scp -1r irssi-0.8.11-osx frontrow@192.168.0.5:~/
Installing
Now, log in to your AppleTV with SSH:
ssh frontrow@192.168.0.5
Once you're in, do:
cd irssi-0.8.11-osx sudo ./installme
Environment settings
Now you may create a file called .profile in your home directory, either by using nano and pasting the following, or just do:
echo export PATH="/bin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin" > ~/.profile
CAUTION! This will erase the previous contents of your ~/.profile file, if one already existed!
There is also a more global way of doing this, if you set up your path in the file /etc/profile
Running it
Now just run irssi, or better yet, screen irssi and you have a text-mode IRC client on your AppleTV! Now you can chat with me on #AwkwardTV! The basics of using screen is to type Ctrl+A then Ctrl+D and you can exit out of things, but leave Irssi running. Next time you need to access it, SSH back in to your AppleTV and type screen -rd and boom!
Resources
- Irssi site - Read the Documentation page!
- Where to get Irssi for AppleTV - I think this will work on MacBook (Pro) and Mac Minis as well. Someone please let me know if you have tried.
- Install SSH without an Intel Mac - It's a good idea to use the sshd from this how-to, since it supports SSH2 and you don't need to use -1 when SSH'ing anymore.
- See also: How To Install rTorrent
