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libtwirc

libtwirc is a Twitch IRC client library written in C, developed on and for Linux. It allows you to easily implement chat bots or clients for Twitch with C or any language that can call into C libraries. The interface is pretty similar to that of libircclient.

libtwirc specifically implements the Twitch IRC flavor. This means that many features described in the IRC protocol are not supported, most notably DCC and SSL. On the other hand, IRCv3 tags, CAP REQ, WHISPER and other Twitch-specific commands are supported.

Part of the development happens live on Twitch: twitch.tv/domsson

Status

The library is feature-complete for the current (initial) release and seems to work well. However, I have not unit-tested it yet, so there are most likely some bugs lurking still. I would love some feedback from actual users, so why not give it a try?

How to use

Check out the wiki, which should have all the information to get you started. Also, there is some example code available over at twircclient. The rough and overly simplified outline of using libtwirc looks something like this:

twirc_state_t *s = twirc_init();                             // create twirc state
twirc_connect(s, "irc.chat.twitch.tv", "6667", USER, TOKEN); // connect to Twitch IRC
twirc_loop(s);                                               // run in a loop until disconnected
twirc_kill(s);                                               // free resources

Motivation

I wanted to write a Twitch chat bot in C. I found libircclient and was using it happily, but ran into two issues. First, it doesn't support IRCv3 tags, which Twitch is using. Second, it uses a GPL license. Now, my bot (and almost all my software) is CC0 (aka public domain) and even after more than 4 hours of research, I couldn't figure out if I would be able to release my code as CC0 when using a GPL licensend library. This, plus the fact that I'm still learning C and am looking for small projects to help me gain more experience, I decided to write my own IRC library. To keep the scope smaller, I decided to make it Twitch-specific and, for now, Linux only.

Code style

If you want to contribute code or are, for whatever reason, otherwise interested in my "code guidelines", here is a rough list:

  • I keep it simple, 'cause I'm stupid
  • I add plenty of comments for future me
  • I always use braces, even for one-liners
  • I always put braces on their own lines
  • I prefix public functions with twirc_
  • I prefix private functions with libtwirc_
  • I try to use little memory (lots of malloc)
  • I put the asterisk next to the var/func name
  • I prefer many small funcs over a few big ones
  • I only use typedef sparingly
  • I add _t to typedef'd variable names
  • I try to keep lines to 80 chars if possible
  • I rather exceed 80 chars a bit than wrap a line
  • I rather wrap a line than exceed 80 chars by a lot