user323: I recently read an article on Bitcoin Media, that claimed:

Jeff Garzik pointed out that Bitcoin-Qt no longer operates using the IRC bootstrap, and on inspection he’s right. This mainly applies to older versions of bitcoin.

Implying that the IRC channel is no longer used by Bitcoin-QT. Is this true, and if so, which version of the standard Bitcoin client was the first not to use the IRC channel?

user208: The IRC bootstrapping method is deprecated and default off since the 0.6 release. It's still implemented and can be enabled using the -irc command line option.
The function of the IRC bootstrapping system will get replaced by DNS seeding and peer exchange, however.

323: <p>I recently read an <a href="http://bitcoinmedia.com/the-irc-bootstrap-method-is-flawed/">article on Bitcoin Media</a>, that claimed:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Jeff Garzik pointed out that Bitcoin-Qt no longer operates using the IRC bootstrap, and on inspection he’s right. This mainly applies to older versions of bitcoin.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Implying that the IRC channel is no longer used by Bitcoin-QT. Is this true, and if so, which version of the standard Bitcoin client was the first not to use the IRC channel?</p>
 208: <p>The IRC bootstrapping method is deprecated and default off since the 0.6 release. It's still implemented and can be enabled using the -irc command line option.</p>

<p>The function of the IRC bootstrapping system will get replaced by DNS seeding and peer exchange, however.</p>
