BitchX is a text-based Internet Relay Chat (IRC) client that first appeared publicly in 1996. The program was written in the C programming language and has historically been distributed without charge.
History and releases
The original series of BitchX releases matured through the late 1990s and early 2000s. The last widely distributed stable release in that original line was version 1.1, published around 2004. After a period of little activity, some contributors restarted work on the project around 2010 under the informal name "BitchX2".
Security and maintenance
Several older BitchX releases contained numerous programming flaws that could lead to exploitable conditions. Because of those issues, users and administrators were warned to exercise caution; many recommended applying available fixes, using maintained forks, or choosing actively supported IRC clients instead. The project’s historical problems are often discussed in the context of security for networked software.
Practical notes
- BitchX is a terminal-oriented client; it is suited to users comfortable with command-line interfaces.
- Given the age of the original releases, prefer actively maintained forks or other modern clients unless you can ensure all relevant patches are applied.
- Anyone interested in the source or development history should look for community repositories and recent forks rather than relying on unmaintained binary releases.