Nixpkgs: Suggestion: add, to Firefox, a bookmark to a free web IRC client

[fusion809]

Issue description

Presently the NixOS live graphical image has Firefox, but no standalone IRC client. If users need help, but do not necessarily realize they can access a help IRC channel in their browser, they might get stuck. Plus, for those of us that already know there are web clients for IRC, it is still more convenient to be able to click on a bookmark to get there.

Which IRC web client should Firefox bookmark to? Well, I personally use KiwiIRC, but as I was informed by srhb in the #nixos channel there is, in fact, an official web client for Freenode itself, here: https://webchat.freenode.net/, which seems more appropriate.

As was also mentioned in #nixos, the channel itself requires users to be registered, but #nixos-unregistered for unregistered users is still better than nothing, IMO.

[jtojnar]

This sounds like a good idea but adding a bookmark might be difficult (they are stored in SQLite database IIRC). We might add a desktop file with the link like the one for manual (though I would suggest to use makeDesktopItem instead of writing the desktop file manually). http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=%23nixos sounds like a good target.

[fusion809]

Not sure what the "good-first-bug" label refers to, but this isn't my first bug in this repo: https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=is%3Aissue+fusion809. But I agree this sounds like a reasonable workaround.

[jtojnar]

It means that it is a simple self-contained task that beginning contributors can tackle without much research.

[Synthetica9]

I think the freenode webchat would be the most "appropriate". However, if we want something a bit more full-featured, IRCCloud might also be an option.

That one is a bit more fully featured (I use it day-to-day), but it is also an external commercial party. However, other projects, such as Idris also "endorse" it (by having a clickable invite button in their README.md)

[fusion809]

@Synthetica9 Ah, minor point but your IRCCloud link goes to the wrong place (https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues/www.irccloud.com), so you may wish to remove the .../issues/ part of that link.

Do most users really need all the features IRCCloud provides? KiwiIRC and Freenode's WebChat have more than enough features for me, at least. KiwiIRC is also open-source, if it matters (here's the source code repo: https://github.com/kiwiirc/kiwiirc).

[flokli]

Pointing to the freenode webchat seems to be most appropriate IMHO.

[davidak]

Wouldn't it be enough to just link to it on https://nixos.org/nixos/support.html?

[stale[bot]]

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This has been automatically marked as stale because it has had no activity for 180 days.

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[flokli]

Some work has already happened, and there's more work ongoing to improve the website and manual, to make these things better available.

Currently, the main website has a "Community" tab, and that page a prominent green "Open Webchat" button. It's probably most sustainable in the long run to improve both website and documentation to better expose these channels, than adding more links to the installation ISO.