TCP-IP Multi-Client Chat Application

A terminal-based client/server chat system written in C using POSIX sockets and pthread. The server assigns each client a unique ID, enabling targeted private messages in addition to broadcast.

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Components

File	Role
TCP-IP Server.c	Accepts connections, assigns IDs, relays messages to targets
TCP-IP First Client.c	Simple client (interactive stdin)
TCP-IP Second Client.c	Alternate client variant (example of multiple binaries)

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Features

• Concurrent clients – server handles up to MAX_CLIENTS connections via a thread per client.
• ID assignment – upon login the server responds Your ID is: N; clients can prepend the destination ID to any message to send privately.
• Graceful exit – typing exit closes sockets and cleans up threads.
• Cross-platform – compiles on Linux/macOS; uses standard BSD sockets.

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Build

# Compile server
gcc -pthread -o server "TCP-IP Server.c"

# Compile clients
gcc -pthread -o client1 "TCP-IP First Client.c"
gcc -pthread -o client2 "TCP-IP Second Client.c"

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Run Example

Terminal 1 (server):

./server

Terminal 2 (client A):

./client1
Hello everyone!

Terminal 3 (client B):

./client2
1 Hey client 1, private message!

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Notes

• All sockets use localhost (127.0.0.1) on port 8080 – adjust in source if needed.
• For learning purposes: no encryption/authentication implemented.

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License

Released under the MIT License.