Wireguard setup
Installed wireguard and set up a tunnel to my VPS
apt update && apt install wireguard-tools iptables sudo git curl
cd /etc/wireguard
touch nl.conf
nc -n -l 9999 > nl.conf
// On PC with config
nc 192.168.1.51 9999 < client5.conf
wg-quick up nl
cd ~
curl ifconfig.so
NodeJS install
From there I had to install nodeJS from the source repo as the debain trixie 12 apt version of nodeJS is too old.
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_22.x -o /tmp/ns.sh && bash /tmp/ns.sh
apt update && apt install -y nodejs
node -v
The Lounge install
curl https://github.com/thelounge/thelounge-deb/releases/download/v4.5.2/thelounge_4.5.2_all.deb
apt install -y ./thelounge_4.5.2_all.deb
systemctl enable --now lounge
systemctl status lounge
It does run at some local host address but this is on my server and I’m accessing it from my PC. However it does advertise to port 9000 via HTTP by default.
Then I had to make an account so I can use it;
sudo -u thelounge thelounge add shark
Then it prompts you for a password and you can login.
Final thoughts
Besides it using NodeJS bleh, it’s very good. IRC is kinda shaky, catgirl has weird keybinds, senpai doesn’t have a bouncer, weechat is weird with SSL certs. This works on my friends IRC server, libera, and ergo with no problems. Runs persistently, chat history, bouncing, easy management, honestly super smooth and nice to use. Nowadays with matrix and XMPP clients you have to kinda force yourself to use IRC, with the Lounge you don’t have to. It’s an actually convenient effective form of communication now.