ngIRCd is a free open source server for Internet Relay Chat (IRC), which is being developed under the GNU General Public License (GPL). It has been written from scratch and is consequently, unlike most other IRC daemons, not based on the originator, the daemon of the IRCNet.
The name ngIRCd means next generation IRC daemon, which is a little bit exaggerated: lightweight Internet Relay Chat server most probably would be a better name :-)
Hint: at freshmeat.net there's an entry for the ngIRCd project. You can inform about new releases and get update notifications via E-Mail.
Why you should be using ngIRCd? For these and other reasons:
ngircd --help
ngIRCd supports a whole range of platforms: Linux, BSD, Mac OS X, but ngIRCD also runs on Solaris, HP-UX, AIX and other Unices.
After the installation of ngIRC, which is executed via packet installation or configure-make-make-install, and once you have edited the ngircd.conf, you can get started after 5 minutes. – only a few lines need adapting, the rest is purely optional.