IPChat is a  ncurses-based chat program written undo GNU General Public License v2 which operates peer to peer, identifying contacts by IP address. It features a nice interface with colors, easy line editing, line history, terminal window resizing, a persistent contact list, online help, separate windows for each contact, and much more.

IPChat is a very simple and small chat program, written in C, where you find your partners (what we call contacts) by their IP addresses (or hostnames, so you may use it with dyn-dns things). It can mantains a persistent contact list, and it works like an « instant messenger » program in the sense that when a contact connects, you immediatly see that she/he is connected (and she/he sees you).

You have a « window » for every connected contact (like ircII or BitchX windows). On the right of the terminal, you see a list of all contacts (connected or not). That’s where you see which contacs are connected, which contacts said something while you’re not in their windows, etc. You add contacts with the « /add » command. Other commands exist to modify and remove contacts.