How do I set a default nick for new Irssi connections?

Question

When trying to connect to an IRC server in Irssi, I get the following error:

root Erroneous Nickname: Reserved for services

I don't know how to change the nickname before the connection is established. I'm currently connected to one server, where I have my proper nick, but when trying to connect to another server with connect irc.foo.com, which should open another connection, it's trying with the nickname root.

How do I change this nickname?

Answer 1

You can use Irssi's -n option to specify your nick:

irssi -n test123

Or you can go to the bottom of your $HOME/.irssi/config file and in the settings section, change the entry "nick".

Answer 2

You can use the command:

irssi -n nickname1234 

and to change the default nickname after you are connected

/SET default_nick = <nick>, defaults to user_name

/SET alternate_nick = <nick>, defaults to <default_nick>

/SET user_name = <user>, defaults to your login name

/SET real_name = <name>, taken from /etc/passwd by default

Answer 3

In a terminal, go to the user home directory and cd into the .irssi directory.

Then

touch config

Paste in the following:

servers = (
  {
    address = "irc.freenode.net";
    chatnet = "freenode";
    port = "6667";
    use_ssl = "no";
    ssl_verify = "no";
    autoconnect = "yes";
  }
);

chatnets = {
  Freenode = {
    type = "IRC";
    autosendcmd = "/msg nickserv identify yourname yourpass";
  };
};

channels = (
  { name = "#test-channel"; chatnet = "Freenode"; autojoin = "Yes"; }
  { name = "#private-test-channel"; chatnet = "Freenode"; password = "yourpass"; autojoin = "Yes"; }
);

settings = {
  core = { real_name = "real name"; user_name = "user name"; nick = "yourusername"; };
  "fe-text" = { actlist_sort = "refnum"; term_force_colors = "yes"; scrollback_time = "7day "; };
  "fe-common/core" = { theme = "default"; };
};