proper way to set IRCSERVER env environment variable?

Question

the IRC BitchX guide says two conflicting things:

earlier, when describe all the env vars:

IRCSERVER - Server(s) separated by spaces to use, in the format irc.host.com:port[:password]

Then later when providing a sample configuration file:

REM This is a list of servers to connect to, separated by a ":". If the first REM one can't be connected to, then the next one is used, and so on. SET IRCSERVER=irc.primenet.com:irc.cs.cmu.edu:irc.mindspring.com

I need to use both a nonstandard port and password for the main and backup servers. So i'd need something like:

IRCSERVER=a.c.com:6660:passA,b.c.com:6661:passB,b.c.com:6662:passC

but when i use this way, my client properly understand the "separated by space" and even if i use , but ignores the : everywhere. It tries to resolve the server name as a.c.com:6660:passA which obviously fails.

What is the proper way to set the env var to specify a list of hosts, each with one port? (i don't really need different passwords, but would be good to know)

Edit: ok, i can actually set different ports by just not putting the password there. This works for the host+port list: IRCSERVER=a.c.com:6660,b.c.com:6661,b.c.com:6662 as well as the space version IRCSERVER="a.c.com:6660 b.c.com:6661 b.c.com:6662"

Answer 1

ok, found yet a third way on the guide that shows how to set a list of servers in a file, and then the password (and even a nick field) works!

How do I set my own list of IRC servers? In your home directory create a file called .ircservers

In that file you would create the list of servers as follows:

irc.mindspring.com irc.vrfx.com irc.he.net

etc...

Servers can be optionally followed by any of port, password and nick, using the format:

server:port:password:nick

-- https://stuff.mit.edu/afs/sipb/user/ssen/src/BitchX/doc/entire-faq.html