#1120756 hexchat: unmaintained upstream

Package:
src:hexchat
Source:
src:hexchat
Submitter:
Jeremy Bícha
Date:
2026-04-29 22:43:01 UTC
Severity:
normal
Tags:
#1120756#5
Date:
2025-11-15 20:49:03 UTC
From:
To:
hexchat has been archived upstream, which means that bug reports, bug
fixes, and translation updates are no longer accepted.

https://hexchat.github.io/news/2.16.2.html
https://github.com/hexchat/hexchat

Linux Mint has announced a replacement app using Python 3 and GTK 3,
Jargonaut, but it is not yet packaged in Debian:
https://github.com/linuxmint/jargonaut

Two other maintained IRC apps are
- Polari, a GNOME Circle app
- Quassel, an app for KDE

Thank you,
Jeremy Bícha
#1120756#10
Date:
2026-01-07 23:55:24 UTC
From:
To:
Another maintained IRC app is srain

Thank you,
Jeremy Bícha
#1120756#19
Date:
2026-04-29 22:39:36 UTC
From:
To:
zoitechat entered Debian Testing last night. It is a fork of hexchat
that switched to gtk3.

I think we should remove hexchat from Debian Unstable now. We could
maybe have zoitechat provide a transitional package.

https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/zoitechat

Thank you,
Jeremy Bícha