VyQChat v.0.2.7
(w)by Pawel Stolowski <yogin@linux.bydg.org>
Released under terms of GNU General Public License

1. Introduction

VyQChat is a real-time, text-based, serverless chat program dedicated to
LANs, that runs on Linux using Qt/X11 library. It is almost 100%
compatible with Vypress Chat(TM) for Windows. It allows you to chat with
friends on public or private channels, send and recieve messages etc.
The GUI is meant to be user-friendly and lets you to do most things with
mouse. There is also optional sound support.

2. Requirements

To compile this program you need:
- gcc C++ compiler
- make
- Qt 3.3.x
- OpenSSL library
- XFree-libs
Make sure you have headers for these packages installed too (usually named -devel in many
distros).

And optionally for sound support:
- libsndfile
- libao (for oss, alsa, aRts, esd... support through libao)
- aRts library (for built-in aRts sound support)

Current version of VyQChat has been tested under Fedora Core 3 with qt 3.3.3.

3. Installation

After unpacking sources somewhere type:
./configure
make all
make install

And you should be done. You may add some flags to configure -- see './configure --help'
for details. If something goes wrong, make sure you got all the needed stuff (see 2nd
chapter -- requirements and FAQ).

This is my first try with automake/autoconf, so if something fails and you
think it is a bug in configure or Makefile, please report it. The configure
script uses bnv_have_qt macro by Bastiaan N. Veelo. See aclocal.m4 for details.

4. Sound support

Vyqchat uses libsndfile to load wav files and libao and/or arts for playing sound.
Thanks to libao, you can use oss/alsa/esd/arts depending on your libao plugins.
See libao documentation on how to set desired sound output. If you don't have libao,
you can still use arts (if detected while compiling vyqchat). Please note that
libsndfile is *required* for libao and arts.

If you don't have libsndfile, libao and arts you can use external command to play
sounds (/usr/bin/play by default). Keep in mind however, that this is rather
inefficient.

5. Bugs

If you think you found a bug, please contact me: yogin@linux.bydg.org.
But first, read this README and TODO carefully and make sure it is
really a bug. Don't hesitate to report even trivial bugs. And please don't
send me any binary files without approval. Besides, any comments are welcome.
I'm really interested in hearing from you: what should be improved, added etc.
to make this program better!

6. Donations

If you think vyqchat is useful and want to donate my efforts, you are welcome!
Any money support will be appreciated and may help me in many ways.

7. Known issues

Please keep in mind that VyQChat is not finished and polished yet (although
it is usable and I encourage you to give it a try). If you need something
more reliable, try echat (see below).

* It seems like libao doesn't play 8-bit sounds well -- they seem to be
  shortened.

* Currently pasting large text from clipboard doesn't work correctly. It
  requires some more work, but it will be done soon.

* IPX is not and won't be supported.

* Due to its design (no server needed, just using UDP packets on port
  8167) there is a limitation of one user per machine. Although it would
  be probably possible to workaround this on Linux, it would broke
  compatibility with Vypress Chat for Windows, so it doesn't make sense
  at all. If you need such functionality, look for some client-server
  based software.

* Many settings require restarting of vyqchat when changed (like changing sound
  system or character encoding). This may change in the future. You won't be
  notified if restart is required, so better restart just for sure.
  
* VypressChat protocol is not secure. If security is a point, use other
  software.
 
* Currently VyQChat doens't resolve nick conflicts; strange things may happen.

7. References

See http://www.vypress.com for original software as well as other clones,
including echat by Vasily Krysin (see THANKS file).

