# Introduction

This chapter describes WeeChat and pre-requisites for its installation.

## Description

WeeChat (Wee Enhanced Environment for Chat) is a free chat client, fast and light, designed for many operating systems.

Main features are:

- multi-protocols (IRC and other soon)

- multi-servers connection (with SSL, IPv6, proxy)

- many GUI: Curses (wxWidgets, Gtk and Qt under development)

- small, fast and light

- customizable and extensible with plugins and scripts

- compliant with IRC RFCs 1459, 2810, 2811, 2812 and 2813

- multi-platform (GNU/Linux, *BSD, MacOS X, Windows and other)

- 100% GPL, free software

WeeChat homepage is here: http://weechat.flashtux.org/

## Pre-requisites

In order to install WeeChat, you need:

- a running GNU/Linux system (with compiler tools for source package), or compatible OS (see above)

- "root" privileges (to install WeeChat in a system directory)

- according to GUI, one of the following libraries:

  - Curses: ncurses library

  - Gtk: *** GUI not developed ***

  - WxWidgets: *** GUI not developed ***

  - Qt: *** GUI not developed ***