PChat 2.1.0-alpha1

Changes since PChat 2.0.0.

This is an alpha: the first release on GTK 4, with a new GNOME frontend.
Expect rough edges, and please report what you find.

Highlights

• PChat now runs on GTK 4. The classic frontend has been ported, and there
  is a new GNOME frontend built on libadwaita.
• Broad IRCv3 support: SASL (including SCRAM and late SASL), STS, batch,
  labeled-response, standard replies, setname, bot mode, typing
  notifications, MONITOR, UTF8ONLY and more.
• Network passwords are kept in the system keyring by default.
• New ways to get PChat: an AppImage that runs on any Linux, a Flatpak,
  a portable Windows build, a reworked Windows installer, and a macOS app.
• Many security and crash fixes. Most were found in a review before this
  release.

New GNOME frontend (libadwaita)

• A new frontend built on libadwaita. It is the one shipped in the AppImage
  and the Flatpak (--enable-libadwaita).
• It has the classic frontend’s features: channel and ban lists, channel
  settings, the URL grabber, the raw log, plugins and scripts with their
  menus, DCC transfers, spell checking with Enchant, and a choice of chat
  font.
• It has a tray icon: StatusNotifierItem on Linux and BSD, the
  notification area on Windows, the menu bar on macOS.
• Clicking an image link shows the image in the chat, and clicking it
  again shows it bigger. A new host is asked about before anything is
  fetched. Size, redirects and time are all limited.
• It can run in the background through the portal. Starting PChat again
  shows the hidden window instead of starting a second copy.
• Start at login works from the AppImage, on Windows and on macOS.
• Quitting while connected asks first, as the classic frontend does.
• Clicking a notification shows the tab it came from.
• A channel you’ve left is dimmed in the sidebar.
• mIRC’s extended colours (32–98) are shown as they’re meant to be.
• The chat stays at its newest line as lines come in and when you switch
  to it.
• The chat title is centred, with the whole topic shown.
• DCC downloads ask where to save and can be opened afterwards.

Classic frontend (GTK 4)

• Ported from GTK 3 to GTK 4. Its list, tree and combo box widgets have
  been replaced.
• Italic text (^]) is shown slanted.
• Files dropped on a window go to the person in that window, not to
  whichever tab has focus.
• On Windows, the download folder can be chosen, and save dialogs start
  with an empty file name.
• /lastlog no longer prints lines without a nick twice.
• Misspelt words are underlined in red even when colors.conf doesn’t set
  a colour.
• Links in the chat only open http, https, ftp and mailto.

IRCv3 and protocol

• IRCv3 support, from ZoiteChat. This includes message tags, server-time,
  account-notify, extended-join, chghost, echo-message, invite-notify and
  cap-notify.
• SASL with PLAIN, EXTERNAL and SCRAM-SHA-1/256/512. SASL offered after
  connecting is used to log in (SASL 3.2).
• STS: a server can require TLS for itself.
• Netsplits and netjoins are one line each (batch), and they’re hidden
  when a channel hides joins and parts.
• A command’s answer goes to the window it was run in (labeled-response).
• Standard replies (FAIL, WARN, NOTE) are shown as messages.
• /setname changes your real name on servers that support it.
• Bots are marked in the user list.
• Typing notifications are shown.
• The notify list works on networks that use MONITOR (Libera, OFTC, Ergo
  and others).
• On a UTF8ONLY network, PChat sends UTF-8.
• Long messages are always split correctly, whatever host the server
  gives you.
• NICK and USER are sent separately, which fixes logging in to some
  servers.
• Nick completion adds : after the nick by default, not ,.

Security

Passwords and logins

• Network passwords go in the system keyring by default, except in
  portable mode. servlist_.conf is made private every time it’s saved.
• A password removed from a network, or the network itself, is removed
  from the keyring too. A renamed network’s passwords move with it.
• A network’s saved passwords and commands are only sent when the
  connection is as secure as that network asks for. A plain-text /server
  or irc:// link to one of its hosts no longer sends them.
• /server and /reconnect to a different host no longer send the
  previous server’s password.
• A network’s client certificate is only sent to that network.

TLS, STS and SASL

• /server, /reconnect and ircs:// links check the server’s certificate.
  -insecure turns that off, explicitly.
• STS connections always verify the certificate. A plain-text connection
  can’t save an STS policy, and an STS duration is capped at ten years.
• SCRAM login requires the server to prove it knows the password.
• SCRAM accepts only 4,096 to 1,000,000 iterations, and wipes its keys
  after use.
• SASL keeps going when the server turns down other capabilities.
• A server can’t grow the CAP LS and SASL buffers without end.

DCC

• Files received over DCC are named safely and can’t leave the download
  folder.
• On Windows, received files are marked as coming from the internet.
• DCC replies only count when they come from the nick the transfer is
  with.
• Passive DCC tokens are random.

Commands, plugins and the system

• Every line sent to the server ends at the first CR or LF in it.
• identd only answers the server, and can’t be held open or flooded.
• The D-Bus interface uses GDBus and only answers when remote control is
  on.
• Log file names can’t leave the log folder.
• Hosts from the server can’t block PChat, and can’t reach /DNS as
  options.
• On Windows, DLLs and plugins aren’t loaded from the current directory.
  !cmd popups pass each argument as one.
• The CTCP and message flood limits keep working after their first window.

Crash and bug fixes

From the server or other users

• Fixed crashes and out-of-bounds reads that a server or another user could
  trigger with:
• an out-of-range server-time tag
• irc:// links without a channel
• a bare \001 CTCP
• a bare ERROR
• a CTCP PING notice with no time
• a DCC CHAT line of just \001ACTION
• malformed PREFIX=
• chanopt.conf lines without a value
• Lines read after a reconnect aren’t handled as if they came from the new
  connection.

Commands and windows

• /exec output with ANSI colours, text events over 4 KB, theme events
  over 4 KB, plugin preferences and the WATCH/MONITOR list sent on connect
  can no longer overflow their buffers.
• Tab completion of a very long word no longer overflows its buffers.
  Long nicks, user names and sound settings no longer overflow the
  preferences.
• Closing a window while choosing a file for it no longer crashes.
• Answering a file or chat offer that has already gone no longer crashes.
• A connect command, user command or /timer that closes its own window
  or deletes itself no longer crashes.
• A plugin unhooking another while hooks run, or asking about a closed
  window, no longer crashes.
• A warning while connecting from the network list no longer locks the
  main window.
• On first run, closing the network list without connecting quits PChat
  instead of leaving it running unseen.
• A nick before a join’s address is no longer turned into a link.

Text and display

• A line too long for the text area is no longer cut in the middle of a
  character.
• Logging a line made only of colour codes no longer reads before it.
• A link under the pointer no longer outlives its line.
• An image that couldn’t be shown can be tried again, and an image of a
  kind PChat can’t read says so.

Connecting and DCC

• A TLS handshake the server cuts off fails at once, not after 90 seconds.
• On Windows, a connect attempt you’ve given up on can no longer disturb
  the next one.
• A connect that can’t be started says so and doesn’t kill anything else.
• A line in a multibyte character set that is cut off mid-character still
  converts.
• DCC downloads and client certificates work under a non-ASCII Windows
  profile name. Credential Manager keeps a non-ASCII network’s name.
• A DCC port range with only a first port set works, and ports still in
  TIME_WAIT can be reused.

Configuration

• The network list reads its last line in full, and lines of any length.
• A channel with no network in chanopt.conf is skipped rather than causing
  a crash.
• --url is checked when PChat starts, as when it’s already running.
• Portable mode is detected next to pchat.exe, not in the current
  directory.

Plugins

• FiSHLiM, checksum and sysinfo plugins, from ZoiteChat.
• A media player plugin, built separately with cargo.
• New Lua plugin, built against LuaJIT.
• FiSHLiM
• A DH1080 key exchange that fails its check no longer crashes PChat.
• DH1080_INIT no longer silently replaces a stored key.
• The key file is readable only by you.
• An empty CBC message is no longer read past its end.
• It no longer leaks memory with every message.
• It says so when it can’t load Blowfish, and finds OpenSSL’s legacy
  provider in the Windows and macOS builds.
• checksum: tells only the recipient of a DCC file its checksum. It
  used to send your local file path to the channel.
• winamp: a title with no . or many % signs no longer crashes it.
• sysinfo: reads any /proc/asound/cards without overrunning or
  crashing.
• Python: holds its lock from the start, as Python 3.13 and newer
  require.
• Plugin menu icons: found where PChat is installed, not in the
  current directory.

Windows

• Built with autotools in MSYS2 (clang64), with new 32- and 64-bit
  installers.
• The installer:
• can include the Python, Perl, Tcl and Lua plugins with what each
  needs
• can make irc:// and ircs:// links open in PChat
• waits for a running PChat to be quit
• upgrades in place, not into a nested bin folder
• make-dist.sh -p makes a portable PChat.
• GLib’s proxy lookup replaces MS Proxy support.

macOS

• PChat builds on macOS. build/macos/make-app.sh makes a self-contained
  PChat.app.
• Shortcuts use Command, the tray icon is in the menu bar, and irc://
  links open in PChat.

Linux and packaging

• An AppImage that runs on any Linux and updates itself. It converts every
  character set a network can use.
• A Flatpak, with the app ID org.pchat_irc.PChat. It owns only the D-Bus
  names PChat uses.
• The desktop file offers PChat for irc:// and ircs:// links.
• AppStream metadata, so software centres can show PChat.
• IPv6 is enabled by default on every platform.
• The RPM spec builds again, and make dist makes a tarball.
• Every available translation is installed. The translation template
  includes the GNOME frontend.

Removed

• The mail checker.
• The XDCC plugin, which was never built.
• The unused iso-codes lookup and the libxml2 dependency.
• MS Proxy support, replaced by GLib’s proxy lookup.

Downloads

Linux Appimage: https://git.thatzachbacon.com/PChat/PChat/releases/download/v2.1.0-alpha1/PChat-x86_64.AppImage
32bit Windows: https://git.thatzachbacon.com/PChat/PChat/releases/download/v2.1.0-alpha1/PChat-2.1.0-alpha1-x86-setup.exe
64bit Windows: https://git.thatzachbacon.com/PChat/PChat/releases/download/v2.1.0-alpha1/PChat-2.1.0-alpha1-x64-setup.exe
macOS: Still stabilizing things, alpha 2 will cover that
Source code: https://git.thatzachbacon.com/PChat/PChat/releases/download/v2.1.0-alpha1/pchat-2.1.0-alpha1.tar.gz