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+# HexChat ReadMe
+
+X-Chat ("xchat") Copyright (c) 1998-2010 By Peter Zelezny.
+HexChat ("hexchat") Copyright (c) 2009-2013 By Berke Viktor.
+
+This program is released under the GPL v2 with the additional exemption
+that compiling, linking, and/or using OpenSSL is allowed. You may
+provide binary packages linked to the OpenSSL libraries, provided that
+all other requirements of the GPL are met.
+See file COPYING for details.
+
+For building instructions, see [Building](http://docs.hexchat.org/en/latest/building.html).
+
+
+## What is it?
+
+HexChat is an IRC client for Windows and UNIX operating systems. I.R.C. is
+Internet Relay Chat, see [IRCHelp.org](http://irchelp.org) for more information about IRC
+in general. HexChat runs on most BSD and POSIX compliant operating systems.
+
+
+## Requirements:
+
+ * GTK+ 2.24
+ * GLib 2.28
+
+HexChat is known to work on, at least:
+
+ * Windows Vista/7/8
+ * Linux
+ * FreeBSD
+ * OpenBSD
+ * NetBSD
+ * Solaris
+ * AIX
+ * IRIX
+ * DEC/Compaq Tru64 UNIX
+ * HP-UX 10.20 and 11
+ * OS X
+
+
+## Notes for packagers:
+
+If you need your packages to work on i386, you don't need to compile with
+--disable-mmx, because it's also checked at run-time.
+
+
+## Python Scripts:
+
+Consider using the Python interface for your scripts, it's a very nice
+API, allows for loading/unloading individual scripts, and gives you
+almost all the features of the C plugin API. For more info, see the
+[HexChat Python Interface](http://docs.hexchat.org/en/latest/script_python.html).
+
+
+## Perl Scripts:
+
+Perl 5.8 or newer is required. For more info, see the
+[HexChat Perl Interface](http://docs.hexchat.org/en/latest/script_perl.html).
+
+
+## Autoloading Scripts and Plugins:
+
+The root of your HexChat config is:
+
+ * Windows: %APPDATA%\HexChat
+ * Unix: ~/.config/hexchat
+
+Referred to as <config> from now. HexChat automatically loads, at startup:
+
+ * <config>/addons/*.pl Perl scripts
+ * <config>/addons/*.py Python scripts
+ * <config>/addons/*.dll Plugins (Windows)
+ * <config>/addons/*.so Plugins (Unix)
+
+## Control Codes:
+
+ * %%     -  A single percentage sign
+ * %C     -  Control-C (mIRC color code)
+ * %B     -  Bold Text
+ * %U     -  Underline Text
+ * %R     -  Reverse Text
+ * %O     -  Reset all Text attributes
+ * %XXX   -  ASCII XXX (where XXX is a decimal 3 digit number, e.g.: %007 sends a BEEP)
+
+%Cforeground,background will produce a color code, e.g.: %C03,10
+
+These are now disabled by default (see _Settings_ `->` _Preferences_ `->` _Input Box_).  
+Instead you can insert the real codes via ctrl-k, ctrl-b and ctrl-o.