List of Tables
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1. Getting Started
1.1 Clients and Servers
IRC (original code was written by
Jarkko Oikarinen) is a multi-user, multi-channel
chatting network. It allows people all over the
internet to talk to one another in real-time. It is a
functional replacement and improvement to 'talk';
'talk' is an old, primitive, atrocious, minimalist
sort of keyboard/screen conversation tool, using a
grotesque, machine- dependent protocol (blah!). IRC
does everything 'talk' does, but with better protocol,
allowing more than 2 users to talk at once, with
access across the aggregate Internet, and providing a
whole raft of other useful features.
There are two ways to enter
IRC from a Unix system. If you are using the emacs
(editor from Richard Stallman and the Free Software
Foundation) lisp client, you just have to type
"M-x irc", (if this doesn't work you may
need to load the client into your emacs session). If
you are using the C client, (easier for beginners),
then you usually type "irc". Non-Unix boxes
have special clients, each of which has to be
configured using a special procedure. Check the manual
or help screen for more information.
If you wish to be known by a
nickname which is not your login name, type "irc
nickname" instead. Each IRC user,
("client"), chooses a nickname. All
communication with another user is either by nickname
or by the channel that they or you are on (more
information about channels later on).
The most important thing to
remember about IRC is that you have to be willing to
explore and learn to use it. Take your time, try not
to get flustered, enjoy yourself, and you will soon be
making new friends all over the world!
IRC is based on a
client-server model. Clients are programs that connect
to a server, a server is a program that transports
data, (messages), from a user client to another. There
are clients running on many different systems, (Unix,
emacs, VMS, MSDOS, VM...), that allow you to connect
to an IRC server. The client which will be spoken of
here is the most widespread: ircII, (originally
designed by Michael Sandrof). Other clients are
similar, and often accept ircII commands.
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1.2 How to behave on IRC
The most widely understood and
spoken language on IRC is English. However, as IRC is
used in many different countries, English is by no
means the only language. If you want to speak some
other language than English, (for example with your
friends), go to a separate channel and set the topic
to indicate that. On the other hand, you should check
the topic before you move to a channel to see if there
are any restrictions about language. On a
non-restricted channel, please speak a language
everybody can understand. If you want to do otherwise,
change channels and set the topic accordingly.
It's not necessary to greet
everybody on a channel personally. Usually one
"Hello!" or equivalent is enough. And don't
expect everybody to greet you back. On a channel with
20 people that would mean one screenful of hellos.
It's sensible not to greet, in order not to be rude to
the rest of the channel. If you must say hello to
somebody you know, do it with a private message. The
same applies to goodbyes.
Also note that using your
client facilities, (ircII "ON"
command, for instance), to automatically say hello or
goodbye to people is extremely poor etiquette. Nobody
wants to receive auto-greets. They are not only
obviously automatic, but even if you think you are
polite, you are actually sounding insincere and also
interfering with the personal environment of the
recipient. If somebody wants to be auto-greeted on
joining a channel, he will auto-greet himself.
Remember, people on IRC form
their opinions about you only by your actions,
writings and comments, so think before you type. If
you use offensive words, you'll be frowned upon. Do
not "dump" to a channel or user, (send large
amounts of unwanted information). This is likely to
get you kicked off the channel or killed off from IRC.
Dumping causes network "burps", connections
going down because servers cannot handle the large
amount of traffic anymore. Other prohibited actions
include:
- Harassing another user.
Harassment is defined as behavior towards another
user with the purpose of annoying them.
- Annoying a channel with
constant beeping.
- Any behavior reducing the
functionality of IRC.
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1.3 Privacy on IRC
You should always keep in mind
that messages you send to someone over IRC are passed
along all the servers between you and and the person
you are writing to. When you're sending a letter to
someone, any postman on the way could open it and read
its contents.
Well, it's the same on the
network. Any IRC-Admin could compile their server in
"debug" mode and log whatever messages are
transmitted through his node, (it has already been
done), so a good rule of thumb is not to trust the
servers.
IRC IS NOT A SECURE WAY OF
COMMUNICATION!
How to establish direct
communications between clients will be explained
later, (see DCC CHAT in section
2.5). This should be used when you wouldn't want
anybody else on IRC to intercept your private
messages.
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1.4 First Steps
Note: ircII, the client most
people are using, has most of this information online.
If you are stuck, type "/HELP" and hit
. To escape from HELP mode, keep pressing
until your edit line, (the line at the bottom of the
screen), is empty. Most of the information in this
file can be found typing these commands: "/HELP
INTRO" or "/HELP NEWUSER".
All ircII commands begin with a
"/aditya/" character.
The slash is the default
command character. Commands are not case sensitive,
and can be abbreviated to their first letters: "/SI"
and "/sign
" stand for /SIGNOFF and will both end your IRC
session, (more in section 2.1).
Anything that does not begin
with "/aditya/" is assumed to be a message
to someone and will be sent to your current channel,
or to a person you are QUERYing, (the QUERY command
will be detailed later on, maybe in section
2.2).
If you are not sure about the
spelling of an ircII command, type the prefix of that
command, and press the ESCape key twice; ircII will
give you a listing of commands and aliases that start
with that prefix. Don't forget the "/aditya/"
in front of the command though.
/W <ESC><ESC>
*** Commands:
*** WAIT WALL WALLOPS WHICH
*** WHILE WHO WHOIS WHOWAS
*** WINDOW
*** Aliases:
*** W
This is an example. Your
screen may show more aliases, and less commands than
shown here, or less aliases and more commands - in
other words "your mileage may vary."
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1.5 Screen and Keyboard
activity
IRC is a full-screen utility. It
takes over the screen, with the bulk of activity
happening in the top (N-2) lines, a status line,
(vaguely emacs-like), on the next to last line, and
your input being entered on the last line. When typing
commands at ircII, you have a minimalist line-editing
facility in an emacs style.
Table 1: Editing keys
----------------------
Key Effects
~~~ ~~~~~~~
^P recalls previous command line
^N recalls next command line
^F moves forward one character
^B moves backward one character
^A moves the cursor to the beginning of the line
^E moves the cursor to the end of the line
^D deletes the character under the cursor
^K kills from the cursor to the end
^Y reinserts the last stretch of killed text
^U clears the whole line
^L redraws the screen
Table 2: Editing commands
--------------------------
Keyword Action
~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~
! recalls previous commands for re-editing
HISTORY displays the command history
LASTLOG lists the most recent messages
CLEAR puts some white space on your screen
The ! command is used to
recall previous commands in your command history for
re-execution. The ! command is unique in that when it
is used, it leaves the matching history entry in the
input line for re-editing. You can specify a history
entry either by its number in the history list, or by
a match with a given wildcard expression. For
instance, "/!10" will put entry 10 in the
history list into the input line. "/!/MSG"
will search the history for a line beginning with a
/MSG, (a "*" is implied at the end).
/! [<history
number>|<history match>]
Recalls previous commands for
re-editing.
/HISTORY
[<number>]
Displays the command history on
the screen. You can specify the number of history
entries you wish to view as well.
Almost everything happens in
the upper bulk of the screen. This includes both
messages from other users, as well as the output of
the control commands. Normal messages from other users
appear with the originating nickname in <angle
brackets>. Private messages arrive with the
originating nickname in *asterisks*. Messages you send
to everyone appear with a preceding "> "
whereas messages you send privately to another user
appear with "-> *nickname*". Other output
(invitations from other users to join channels, and so
forth), appears interspersed with other activity on
the screen.
Table 3: Simple screen activity
--------------------------------
What is displayed What you typed Sender Recipients
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~
> Morning people Morning, people You Channel
<some1else> hello some1else Channel
-> *some1else* hi! /msg some1else hi! You some1else (only)
*some1else* wassup? some1else You (only)
Last ircII outputs can be
recalled with:
/LASTLOG [<number of
entries>|<text> [<from entry>]]
Displays the contents of the
lastlog. This is a list of the most recent messages
that have appeared on the screen, useful if you
inadvertantly miss messages. If no arguments are
given, the entire lastlog is displayed. If the first
argument is a number, it determines how many log
entries to show. Otherwise it is searched for in
every lastlog entry. The second argument determines
how many lines back to start display from.
/LASTLOG
> Public message I send to all in the channel
<some1else> Public message from some1else
*some1else* Private message sent to me by some1else
-> *some1else* Private message I send to some1else
Finally, if your screen gets
garbage from a 'talk', 'write', 'wall' or any other
form of primitive communication (smirk), hit ^L to
redraw it, or CLEAR it.
/CLEAR
Clears the screen.
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2. Let's Go!
2.1 General Commands
Table 4: General commands
--------------------------
Keyword Action
~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~
NICK changes your nickname
QUIT exits your IRC session, (same as BYE, SIGNOFF and EXIT)
HELP prints help on the given command
WHOIS displays information about someone
WHOWAS displays information about someone who just left
AWAY leaves a message saying you're not paying attention
/NICK
[<nickname>]
Changes your nickname to
whatever you like.
Everyone who wants to talk to
you sees this name - also, at the moment, nicknames
are limited to 9 characters max. Your nickname will be
the same as your login name by default. You can also
set an environment variable, IRCNICK, the value of
which will be used instead. Nickname clashes are not
allowed; this is enforced by the servers. If your
intended nickname clashes with someone else's as you
enter IRC, you will not be able to enter until you
change it to something else.
/NICK Nappy
*** Nap is now known as Nappy
/QUIT [<reason>]
Exits your IRC session. You can
also use BYE, SIGNOFF and EXIT. If a reason is
supplied, it is displayed to other people on your
channels.
/QUIT Lunch Time!
/HELP [<command>]
Shows help on the given
command. Note: This is not installed for all
clients, which can be kind of annoying.
/HELP HELP
Usage: HELP [command]
Shows help on the given command. The help documentation is set
up in a hierarchical fashion. That means that certain help
topics have sub-topics under them.
[boring stuff deleted]
/WHOIS
[<nickname>]
Shows information about
someone.
/WHOIS Nap
*** Nap is pioch@poly.polytechnique.fr (Klein bottle for sale...
inquire within.)
*** on channels: @#Twilight_Zone @#EU-Opers
*** on via server poly.polytechnique.fr (Ecole Polytechnique,
Paris, FRANCE ! )
*** Nap has a connection to the twilight zone (is an IRC operator)
*** Nap has been idle 0 seconds
/WHOIS Nappy
*** Nappy: No such nickname
Sometimes WHOIS won't help you
much, because the person you want to know more about
just left IRC or changed nick. However, you can use
WHOWAS to get this information for a while:
/WHOWAS
[<server>] [<nickname>]
Shows information about who
used the given nickname last, even if no one is
currently using it.
/WHOWAS Nappy
*** Nappy was pioch@poly.polytechnique.fr (Artistic ventures
highlighted. Rob a museum.) on channel *private*
*** on irc via server poly.polytechnique.fr (Signoff: Mon Jun 22
20:15:23)
Very often, an unsuccessful
call to WHOIS will lead you to try WHOWAS. That's why
ircII allows you to "/SET AUTO_WHOWAS ON";
that way, a "*** <nickname>: No such
nickname" message will auto-magically generate a
"/WHOWAS <nickname>". Try typing
"/HELP SET AUTO_WHOWAS" for more information
on this topic.
/AWAY
[<away message>]
Leave a message explaining that
you are not currently paying attention to IRC.
Whenever someone sends you a MSG or does a WHOIS on
you, they automatically see whatever message you
set. Using AWAY with no parameters marks you as no
longer being away.
/AWAY Gone to get a cup of coffee.
*** You have been marked as being away
/AWAY
*** You are no longer marked as being away
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2.2 Communication and Private
Conversation
Table 5: Private conversation commands
--------------------------------------
Keyword Action
~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~
MSG sends a private message
QUERY starts a private conversation
NOTICE sends a private message
NOTIFY warns you of people logging in or out IRC
IGNORE removes output from specific people off your screen
You can use the MSG command,
(usually "M" is an alias for it), to send
someone a message that only that person can read.
/MSG
<nickname>|<channel> <text>
Send a private message to
specified nickname.
/MSG Nap This message is for Nap only.
-> *Nap* This message is for Nap only.
On my screen will appear:
*YourNick* This message is for Nap only.
If you want to send a private
message to more than one person, you can specify a
list of nicknames separated by commas, (no spaces).
/MSG Nap,Sorg This message for both Nap and Sorg.
-> *Nap* This message for both Nap and Sorg.
-> *Sorg* This message for both Nap and Sorg.
Two special case nicknames are
defined. If the nickname is "," (a comma),
the message is sent to the last person who sent you a
MSG. If the nickname is "." (a period), the
message is sent to the last person to whom you sent a
message.
You can have a private
conversation by only using /MSG. However, typing
"/MSG <nick> <text>" or
"/MSG . <text>" gets cumbersome.
That's where the /QUERY command comes in handy.
/QUERY
[<nickname>|<channel>]
Starts a private conversation
with <nickname>.
All text you type that would
normally be sent to your channel now goes to the
supplied nickname in the form of MSGs. To cancel a
private conversation, use QUERY with no arguments.
/QUERY Nap
*** Starting conversation with Nap
Blahblahblah
-> *Nap* Blahblahblah
/QUERY
*** Ending conversation with Nap
There is also another command
to send messages, called NOTICE. Unlike MSGs, NOTICEs
are surrounded by '-' when printed, and no automated
responses, (such as generated by IGNORE or an
automaton), will be sent in reply. Services, (robots),
on IRC often use this form of interaction.
/NOTICE
<nickname>|<channel> <text>
Sends a private message to the
specified <nickname>.
/NOTICE Nap Better use /MSG instead of /NOTICE.
-> -Nap- Better use /MSG instead of /NOTICE.
On my screen will appear:
-YourNick- Better use /MSG instead of /NOTICE.
As you begin to make new
friends over IRC, you'll want to mark certain
nicknames such that you will be warned when they
signon or off.
/NOTIFY
[[-]<nickname>]
Adds or removes
to the list of people you'll be warned when they
enter or quit IRC (in ircII versions prior to 2.2,
too many people in the NOTIFY list cause excessive
slowness).
/NOTIFY Nap Nappy
*** Signon by Nap detected
/NOTIFY
*** Currently present: Nap
*** Currently absent: Nappy
Eventually, you may wish some
day not to see messages from a specific user on your
screen. This may happen when someone is dumping large
amounts of garbage, or if someone is harassing you.
The proper response to such a behavior is to IGNORE
that person. IGNORE is a very powerful command, and
can be used in many ways. However the basic usage of
this tool is the following.
/IGNORE
[<nickname>|<user@host> [[-]<message
type>]]
Suppresses output from the
given people from your screen. IGNORE can be set by
nickname or by specifying a userid@hostname format.
Wildcards may be used in all formats. Output that
can be ignored includes MSGs, NOTICEs, PUBLIC
messages, INVITEs, ALL or NONE. Preceding a type
with a "-" indicates removal of ignoring
of that type of message.
/IGNORE *@cheshire.oxy.edu ALL
*** Ignoring ALL messages from *@CHESHIRE.OXY.EDU
/IGNORE
*** Ignorance list:
*** *@CHESHIRE.OXY.EDU ALL
/IGNORE *@cheshire.oxy.edu NONE
*** *@cheshire.oxy.edu removed from ignorance list
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2.3 Channels and Public
Conversations
On IRC, there are a lot of places
where you can "hang out"; those places are
called 'channels', (most of the information in this
section can also be obtained by issuing "/HELP
CHANNEL"). You can compare conversations on a
channel to a conversation among a group of people: you
see/hear everything that is said, and you can reply to
anything that's said. What you type is received by
everyone who's willing to listen - and everyone who is
late will not hear what was said before, unless
repeated by one of the ones who were there. (Who said
"real life" ?)
All channels on IRC have
names: a "#" sign followed by some kind of
text-string, like "#C++" or
"#Asians" or "#EU-Opers". Usually,
the name of the channel will indicate the type of
conversation that's going on in there. Don't count on
it, though.
Table 6: Channel commands
--------------------------
Keyword Action
~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~
LIST lists channels, number of users, topic
NAMES shows the nicknames of the users on each channel
JOIN sets your current channel, (same as CHANNEL)
WHO gives a listing of users
INVITE sends an invitation to another user
LEAVE leaves a channel, (same as PART)
KICK gets rid of someone on a channel
TOPIC changes the topic of the channel
ME sends anything about you to a channel or QUERY
DESCRIBE sends anything about you to a person or channel
Every channel has certain
characteristics, called channel modes. These will also
be explained below. Remember the NAMES and LIST
commands; they will show you the names of the existing
channels.
/LIST [[<flags>]
<channel mask>]
Lists all current
"channels", number of users, and topic.
The displayed list may be quite long, so you can
limit it using flags. "/LIST -MIN n" for
instance removes channels with less than 'n' users
of the output.
/LIST -MIN 5
*** #aussies 5
*** #amiga 5 Daily Amiga Silence...join&enjoy
*** #hottub 21 Imagine sky, high above...
*** #tuebingen 11 Happy Borthday CHUCK!!!
*** #Christian 6 Jesus!
*** #Twilight_ 15 The Oper Bar & Grill
*** #initgame 5 More players needed!!!!!!!!!!!!
*** #Taiwan 8 Welcome good friends.
*** #espanol 6 EMERGENCIA SE Necesitan Mujeres!
*** #sherwood 7
*** #francais 6 on apprend le japonais (japanese welcome)
/NAMES [[<flags>]
<channel mask>]
Shows the nicknames of all
users on each "channel", (these may be
very long. Remember to filter them with "-MIN
n" or "-MAX n").
/NAMES -MIN 5
Pub: #twilight> Mycroft @sojge scorpio @Troy @Avalon @Nap phone
Merlinus Lumberjak @tzoper
Pub: #espanol Cacique Bonjovi leopardo Carina Miguel Cisco r2
Pub: #amiga @gio @Radix @xterm @mama @AmiBot
Pub: #aussies @Bleve @GrayElf @Insomniac @Morkeleb @titus
Pub: #hottub baby @Aldur KnightOrc @Toasty Gwydion @Belkira
@Aiken Edge @Spockobot @Nada @ZBot @Aurik @anna @RedBaron
@Katzen @esashi IceWolf @Eniigma @Digger @TheHeck
To join in the conversation on
a certain channel you may use the JOIN command.
/JOIN [<channel>]
Sets your current channel to
the supplied channel.
/JOIN #Twilight_Zone
*** Nap has joined channel #Twilight_Zone
*** Topic: The Gernsback Continuum
*** Users on #Twilight_Zone: Nap msa tober phone @julia @SirLance
igh @Daemon @Avalon @Waftam @Trillian @tzoper
The CHANNEL command has the
same effects. Note that if no parameters are given,
your current channel is displayed.
Upon entering a channel, you
are given useful details about it: list of users
talking in that channel, topic... Joining a channel
does not cause you to leave your previous channel
unless NOVICE is set to ON. See "/HELP SET
NOVICE".
Once in a channel, you may
wish to get a detailed list of the people IRCing
inside. That's where the WHO command comes in handy:
/WHO[<channel>|<wildcard
expression>]
Gives a listing of users.
"/WHO *" for the list of users in your
current channel.
/WHO #Twilight_Zone
Channel Nickname S User@Host (Name)
#Twilight_ Nap H* pioch@poly.polytechnique.fr
(Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur)
#Twilight_ msa H msa@tel1.tel.vtt.fi (Markku Savela)
#Twilight_ tober H ircuser@kragar.eff.org (tober)
#Twilight_ phone H mrgreen@munagin.ee.mu.OZ.AU (Third
row seats to the Cure? WHO ME? nah.. *grin*)
#Twilight_ julia G*@ julie@turing.acs.Virginia.EDU
( Future graduate of ACME Looniversity)
#Twilight_ SirLance G*@ lancelot@tdsb-s.mais.hydro.qc.ca
(Sir Lancelot)
#Twilight_ igh G igh@micom1.servers.unsw.EDU.AU (igh)
#Twilight_ Daemon G*@ frechett@spot.Colorado.EDU
(-=Runaway Daemon=-)
#Twilight_ Avalon H*@ avalon@coombs.anu.edu.au (Avalon...)
#Twilight_ Waftam G*@ danielce@munagin.ee.mu.OZ.AU (Daniel
Carosone)
#Twilight_ Trillian G*@ hrose@rocza.eff.org ( I turn to
stone when you are gone )
#Twilight_ tzoper H*@ tzoper@azure.acsu.buffalo.edu (/msg
tzoper help)
The first field is the current
channel, then nickname, status, real name (in internet
user@host form), and a small witty comment you can set
yourself with the environment variable IRCNAME, (this
will be detailed in section 2.8).
Status indicates if a user is "H"ere or
"G"one, (see AWAY), if
IRCop ("*"), and/or a channel operator
("@").
It is also possible, when you
are already on a channel, to ask someone to join your
channel. The command is called INVITE.
/INVITE
<nickname> [<channel>]
Invites another user to a
channel. If no channel is specified, your current
channel is used.
/INVITE Nap
*** Inviting Nap to channel #Twilight_Zone
If you receive an INVITE
message, you can type "/JOIN -INVITE" to
join the channel to which you were last invited, or
simply "/JOIN <channel>".
To leave a channel, just issue
a LEAVE command, (PART has the same effects):
/LEAVE <channel>
Leave a channel.
/LEAVE #Twilight_Zone
*** Nap has left #Twilight_Zone
Well, you guessed it, if there
is a way to invite someone on a channel, there's also
the possibility to KICK someone out of it, for example
if this person is behaving like a jerk, annoying
people or flooding the channel with unwanted
information:
/KICK [<channel>]
<nickname>
Kicks named user off a given
channel. Only 'channel operators' are privileged to
use this command.
/KICK #Twilight_Zone Target
*** Target has been kicked off channel #Twilight_Zone by Nap
Channels have topics, that
indicate the current topic of conversation. You can
change this topic on a channel with the TOPIC command.
/TOPIC
[[<channel>] <topic for channel>]
Changes the topic for the
channel.
/TOPIC The silent channel.
*** Nap has changed the topic on channel #EU-Opers to The silent
channel.
At times, you may want to send
a description of what you are doing or how you are
feeling or just anything concerning you to the current
channel or query. It is absolutely good style not to
forget the period at the end of the sentence!
/ME <action
description>
Tells the current channel or
query about what you are doing. You can also use
your own nickname as command, i.e. you can type the
line with a leading slash.
/ME opens up the fridge.
* Nap opens up the fridge.
/Nap reaches out for the orange juice.
* Nap reaches out for the orange juice.
The same goal can be achieved
towards a specific nickname using:
/DESCRIBE <nickname>|<channel>
<action description>
Sends anything concerning you
to the <nickname> or <channel> you pass
as first argument.
(Note: The look of the result
depends on each client version, and might not be
exactly the same as in the examples shown here.)
These commands make use of
CTCP, a client-to-client protocol crafted to perform
specific actions, but not understood by all clients,
(more about CTCP in section 2.5).
If you get an error message, your description may not
have arrived properly.
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2.4 Channel and User Modes
Channels can have additional
constraints, which can be set by the MODE command,
(most of the information in this section can also be
obtained by issuing "/HELP MODE"). To
understand this, recall that the first person to JOIN
a channel effectively creates it and is initially
"in charge" of the channel, ("Channel
Operator" or "chanop"). S/he can
subsequently add those constraints, make other people
chanops at leisure.
Table 7: Mode commands
-----------------------
Keyword Action
~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~
MODE changes channel or user mode
Public is the default mode for
a channel. When someone is on a public channel, he can
be seen by all other users, (if his own user mode
permits this). Anyone can notice users on a public
channel and join such a conversation.
Private means that, although
anyone can see members of such a channel, you can't
tell what channel they are on unless you are already
on that channel with them. They just appear as "Prv:
*" in LIST or NAMES. Since the number of
potential channels is in the billions, this is quite
some security - all you give away is the
acknowledgement that you're IRCing.
If you are on a secret
channel, someone who is not on the same channel can't
even see that you are there. Your name does not show
up in a LIST of active users. The only indication of
your presence is that, when entering IRC, all new
users are told that there are "NNNNN users on XXX
servers". If someone checks on all users and
finds less than NNNNN of them, he knows that other
people are hiding on secret channels. But a secret
channel user still cannot be found except by
brute-force checking through all channels, a hopeless
proposition in the face of the huge number of possible
channel names. Security through obscurity finally
means something.
/MODE
<channel>|<nickname> [[+|-]<modechars>
[<parameters>]]
Allows channel operators to
change channel mode, or any user to change their
personal mode, (don't use this co mmand too often,
it floods the net with worthless information).
/MODE #Twilight_Zone +m
*** Mode change "+m" on channel #Twilight_Zone by Nap
/MODE Nap -i
*** Mode change "-i" for user Nap by poly.polytechnique.fr
And this is how to give 'chanop' status to someone on the channel
/MODE #Twilight_Zone +o sojge
*** Mode change "+o sojge" on channel #Twilight_Zone by Nap
A + or - sign determines
whether the mode should be added or deleted. Try
typing "/HELP MODE" to get further
information. Channels can be moderated (only chanops
can talk), secret, private, with a limited number of
users, anonymous, invite-only, topic-limited, with a
list of banned users.
The MODE command also allows
you to modify your personal parameters, your
"user mode". You can check your usermode
with the command "/MODE <YourNick>" or
sometimes "/UMODE". Note that user mode +i
may be the default on some servers, in order to
protect privacy of users. This should not be seen as a
problem, since any user can change his/her personal
mode whatever defaults a server may set.
Table 8: Channel modes
-----------------------
ModeChar Effects on channels
~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
b <person> ban somebody, <person> in "nick!user@host" form
i channel is invite-only
l <number> channel is limited, <number> users allowed max
m channel is moderated, (only chanops can talk)
n external /MSGs to channel are not allowed
o <nick> makes
a channel operator
p channel is private
s channel is secret
t topic limited, only chanops may change it
Table 9: User modes
--------------------
ModeChar Effects on nicknames
~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
i makes yourself invisible to anybody that does
not know the exact spelling of your nickname
o IRC-operator status, can only be set
by IRC-ops with OPER
s receive server notices
w receive wallops (abused and deprecated)
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2.5 Client to Client Protocol
/CTCP
[<argument>]
Allows you to perform certain
client specific actions on the network.
/CTCP Nap VERSION
*** CTCP VERSION reply from Nap: ircII 2.2 *IX
:ircII 2.2, SL0 The one you thought you'd never see.
This can be used to get information about how long a person has
been idle:
/CTCP Nap FINGER
*** CTCP FINGER reply from Nap: PIOCH Nicolas - Nap on IRC, X90,
(pioch@poly.polytechnique.fr) Idle 0 seconds
Table 10: Client to Client Commands
------------------------------------
Keyword Action
~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~
CTCP performs certain client specific actions
DCC handles direct connections to remote clients
DCC SEND initiates a file transfer
DCC GET accepts a file transfer
DCC CLOSE ends a DCC connection or offer
DCC LIST shows current DCC connections
DCC CHAT initiates a secure chat between two clients
There are many other CTCP
commands, and new ones are introduced all the time.
There is a mechanism for you to find out what you can
use: CTCP CLIENTINFO. To find out about your own
client services, execute a CLIENTINFO on yourself.
/CTCP Nap CLIENTINFO
*** CTCP CLIENTINFO reply from Nap: SED VERSION CLIENTINFO
USERINFO ERRMSG FINGER TIME ACTION DCC UTC PING :Use
CLIENTINFO
to get more specific information
If you are interested in this
powerful CTCP mechanism, have a look in the various
ircII help files. "/HELP CTCP" might tell
you more. However the client-to-client protocol has a
very powerful feature: Allowing two people to exchange
files.
To send small text files,
electronic mail is probably the best solution, (don't
rely on the user@host given by the WHOIS command to
send mail. However, ircII provides you a way to
establish Direct Client Connections ("DCC")
to perform functions like sending and receiving files.
If NickA wants to send a file
to NickB, then NickA should type: "/DCC SEND
NickB filename". On NickB's screen will appear:
"*** DCC SEND (filename) request received from
NickA". If he, (NickB), wants to get the file, he
just needs to type: "/DCC GET NickA
filename"
A few seconds later
*** DCC GET connection with NickA established
*** DCC GET filename connection to NickA completed
will inform both users that data transfer has been successfully
completed.
Here's a quick overview of the
subject:
/DCC <function> [<arguments>]
Handles direct connections to
remote clients. The behaviour of DCC is determined
by the specified
.
/DCC SEND
<nickname> <filename>
Initiates a file transfer by
direct client connection.
/DCC GET
<nickname> <filename>
Accepts a file transfer by
direct client connection. The sender must first have
offered the file with DCC SEND.
/DCC CLOSE <type>
<nickname> [<arguments>]
Ends an unwanted DCC connection
or offer. The
, <nickname> and <arguments> must be the
same as those shown by "/DCC LIST". If the
arguments are not supplied, the oldest connection of
the specified type is closed.
/DCC LIST
Shows current /DCC connections
with their types, status and nicknames involved.
More details can be found in
ircII online help: try "/HELP DCC" for more
information.
If someone asks you to send
him a file,
don't
do it unless you
exactly
know what you are doing. For instance,
NEVER
send the password file of your system to anybody. This
could grant crackers illegal access to your machines,
and put you and your system administrator in a lot of
trouble.
DCC also allows two clients to
establish a direct client connection for chat. This is
a secure form of communication, since messages are not
sent through the IRC network.
/DCC CHAT
Initiates a direct client
connection chat to the given nick, who must repond
with DCC CHAT. Once established, messages are sent
over with "/MSG =Nickname ...".
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2.6 Network Related Commands
If you encounter any problem,
contact your local IRC-Administrator or an IRC-Operator.
An IRC-Admin is a person who has access to all files
concerning 'ircd' (the server program). An IRC-Operator
or "IRC-op" is a person who has privileges
given to him by an IRC-Admin and tries to maintain a
fast reliable IRC network. Information on how you can
find out who s/he is, can be found below.
Each time you are prompted for
a server name, remember you can supply the nickname of
someone being connected on that server instead. This
may be useful at times.
Table 11: Network related commands
-----------------------------------
Keyword Action
~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~
ADMIN displays information about a server
LINKS shows the servers on the IRC network
SERVER switches your primary server
MOTD displays the server message-of-the-day
USERS prints users logged on the server machine
DATE shows server current date and time
TIME shows server current date and time
LUSERS gives a brief listing of users, servers and operators
TRACE shows the server connections of the given server
STATS shows some irc server usage statistics
INFO shows useless information about IRC
VERSION shows client and server version number
/ADMIN [<server>]
Displays the administrative
details about the given server. If no server is
supplied, the server you are connected to is used.
/ADMIN
### Administrative info about poly.polytechnique.fr
### Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau, FRANCE
### IRC-Administrator Nicolas Pioch (Nap@IRC)
###
/LINKS
[[<server>] <wildcard expression>]
Shows a list of servers
currently connected to the IRC network. If
<wildcard expression> is given, /LINKS asks
the given <server> for a list of servers
matching the given expression, (this list can get
very long!).
/LINKS *po*
*** nova.unix.portal.com 7 Cupertino California, USA
*** poe.acc.Virginia.EDU 6 University of Virginia 2.7.1f
*** polaris.utu.fi 9 University of Turku, Finland
*** polaris.ctr.columbia.edu 6 Columbia University, New York City
*** csd.postech.ac.kr 4 POSTECH Computer Science Dept.
*** cdc853.cdc.polimi.it 2 Polytechnic of Milan, Italy
*** poly.polytechnique.fr 0 Ecole Polytechnique, Paris, FRANCE
/SERVER
[<server>|<server number> [<port
number>]]
Switches your primary server to
the supplied <server> at the specified
<port number>. If no port number is given, the
default port number is used (normally 6667).
/SERVER poly.polytechnique.fr 6667
*** Connecting to port 6667 of server poly.polytechnique.fr
*** Welcome to the Internet Relay Network, Nap
*** Your host is poly.polytechnique.fr, running version 2.7.2g.ID
*** This server was created Sat Jan 16 1993 at 12:16:10 MET
Occasionally, you can switch
servers faster than the IRC network can send out the
information that you have left your previous server.
So don't be surprised if you are told your nickname is
already in use... Just wait a moment and set it with
/NICK again.
/MOTD [<server>]
Gives the Message-Of-The-Day
for the named server. If no server is given, your
server is used.
/MOTD
MOTD - poly.polytechnique.fr message of the day -
MOTD - _____________________________________
MOTD - /\ \
MOTD - \_| Bienvenue sur le serveur
MOTD - Internet Relay Chat
MOTD - de l'Ecole Polytechnique, FRANCE
MOTD - _________________________________|__
MOTD - \_/___________________________________/
MOTD -
MOTD - En cas de probleme,
MOTD - )_) )_) )_) tapez / admin
MOTD - )___))___))___)\
MOTD - )____)____)_____)\\ Nicolas PIOCH
MOTD - _____|____|____|____\\\__ Nap sur IRC
MOTD - --\ Welcome to IRC ! /---------
MOTD - ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^
* End of /MOTD command
/USERS [<server>]
Shows the users logged into the
machine where the server is running, (it's up to the
server administrator to implement this feature or
not. It may not work on some machines).
/USERS
*** UserID Terminal Host
*** pioch ttyp9 rotule.polytechn
*** pioch ttypc rotule.polytechn
*** pioch ttyq0 rotule.polytechn
*** pioch ttyq1 rotule.polytechn
/DATE [<server>]
/TIME [<server>]
Shows the current time of day
and date. If a server is specified, the time of day
and date are reported from that server. DATE and
TIME are identical.
/DATE
*** poly.polytechnique.fr Saturday June 20 1992 -- 02: 35 +01:00
/LUSERS
Gives a brief listing of the
number of servers, operators and users matching the
given <wildcard expression>, as seen from the
specified <server>.
/LUSERS
*** There are 1008 users and 291 invisible on 135 servers
*** 72 users have connection to the twilight zone
*** There are 458 channels
*** I have 16 clients and 4 servers
*** 22 maximum connections, 19 clients
/TRACE [<server>]
Shows the server connections of
the given <server>.
/TRACE
*** Serv Class[9] ==> 134S 1331C eff.org[192.88.144.3]
*** Serv Class[8] ==> 1S 6C Julia.Enst.FR
*** Serv Class[8] ==> 1S 6C Eurecom8.Cica.FR[192.70.34.208]
*** Serv Class[1] ==> 2S 0C athina.cc.uch.gr[147.52.80.102]
*** Serv Class[8] ==> 1S 5C dafne.mines.u-nancy.fr[192.70.66.2]
*** Serv Class[8] ==> 1S 0C cnam.cnam.fr
*** Class 0 Entries linked: 16
*** Class 9 Entries linked: 1
*** Class 8 Entries linked: 4
*** Class 1 Entries linked: 1
/STATS c|i|k|l|m|u|y
[<server>]
Shows some irc server usage
statistics.
/STATS u
*** Server Up 12 days, 12:28:44
/INFO [<server>]
Shows information about the IRC
creators, debuggers, slaves and a lot of other
people who no longer have much to do with IRC.
/VERSION
Shows the ircII version number
and the version number of the server.
/VERSION
*** Client: ircII 2.2
*** Server poly.polytechnique.fr: ircd 2.7.2g.Nap+6(privacy).
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2.7 Quick Reference Panel
Keyword Action
------- ------
! recalls previous commands for re-editing
ADMIN displays information about a server
AWAY leaves a message saying you're not paying attention
CLEAR puts some white space on your screen
CTCP performs certain client specific actions
DATE shows server current date and time
DCC handles direct connections to remote clients
DESCRIBE sends anything about you to a person or channel
HELP prints help on the given command
HISTORY displays the command history
IGNORE removes output from specific people off your screen
INFO shows useless information about IRC
INVITE sends an invitation to another user
JOIN sets your current channel
KICK gets rid of someone on a channel
LASTLOG lists the most recent messages
LEAVE leaves a channel
LINKS shows servers on the IRC network
LIST lists channels, number of users, topic
LUSERS gives a brief listing of users, servers and operators
ME sends anything about you to a channel or QUERY
MODE changes channel mode
MOTD displays the server message-of-the-day
MSG sends a private message
NAMES shows the nicknames of users on each channel
NICK changes your nickname
NOTICE sends a private message
NOTIFY warns you of people logging in or out IRC
QUERY starts a private conversation
QUIT exits your IRC session
SERVER switches your primary server
STATS shows some irc server usage statistics
TIME shows server current date and time
TOPIC changes the topic of the channel
TRACE shows the server connections of the given machine
USERS prints users logged on the server machine
VERSION shows client and server version number
WHO gives a listing of users
WHOIS displays information about someone
WHOWAS displays information about someone who just left
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2.8 Further into ircII
Wizardry
Note: This part should be
reserved for experienced IRC'ers.
Because ircII is not a simple
client program, but an Operating System, its
programming language is just as simple as you could
expect (it's horrendous), but if you want to get into
it, here's a little note for you.
There are a few Unix
environment variables you can set in your shell
configuration file, but you need to find out your
shell name before that. "echo $SHELL" should
give you a hint.
Table 12: Setting environment variables
----------------------------------------
Shell type Shell name Command
~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~
Bourne shells sh $ VARNAME="value" ; export VARNAME
ksh $ export VARNAME="value"
bash $ export VARNAME="value"
C-shells csh % setenv VARNAME "value"
tcsh > setenv VARNAME "value"
Table 13: Environment variables
--------------------------------
Name Effects
~~~~ ~~~~~~~
HOME where your home directory is
IRCNAME any lunacy you want instead of your real name
(text that appears between parentheses in a WHOIS)
IRCNICK your default IRC nickname
IRCPATH a directory path to LOAD scripts
IRCRC a file to use instead of your $HOME/.ircrc
IRCSERVER a default server list for ircII
TERM your terminal type
The command character,
(usually "/aditya/"), is only necessary
when you type commands interactively. When you program
things it is no longer needed although it used to be.
Table 14: Advanced commands
---------------------------
Keyword Action
~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~
# same as COMMENT except for the lenght
@ performs variable expressions
ALIAS creates command aliases
ASSIGN creates user variables (expandable with $)
BIND binds a keystroke sequence to a function
CD changes ircII working directory
COMMENT does nothing, but very useful. Strange, uh?
ECHO displays all of its arguments
EXEC allows you to start subprocesses
FLUSH flushes all pending output from the server
IF standard boolean expression checker
LOAD loads an ircII command script file
ON sets up actions to occur when certain events happen
REDIRECT forwards the output from a command
SAVE saves all ircII settings into a file
SAY same as sending text to a channel
SEND same as sending text to a channel
SET sets a variable to a given value
SLEEP suspends ircII for a few seconds
TYPE simulates keystrokes
WAIT waits for all server output to finish
WHILE another control command to make loops
WINDOW lets you manipulate multiple "windows" in ircII
XECHO like ECHO, but takes flag arguments
If you want to type to the
channel from within an ALIAS or on BINDing, you have
to use SAY or SEND.
The ";" has a
special meaning in ALIASes, BINDings and ONs: it's
treated as command separator, that means you can
execute multiple commands in a row separated by
semicolons. The semicolons are not considered
separators when you use them interactively, (to be
able to type ";-)"), and within an ircII
script file. You can escape the meaning of
";" in an ALIAS with "\;".
When you use ircII on a (semi)regular
basis, you will discover that every time you start the
program you will issue the same initialization
sequence. If that is the case, I have good news for
you: you don't have to do that anymore! ircII will, at
startup, load a file called ".ircrc", (full
path: $HOME/.ircrc). It will treat each line in that
file as if you typed it manually.
For example, if the content of
your .ircrc file is:
JOIN #Twilight_Zone
then each time you will start IRC,
you will join this channel.
Advanced commands may come in
handy if you need them. Feel free to browse in ircII
online help to find out more about them. A few of them
are probably worth learning.
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2.9 Sample .ircrc
As a sample, here's part of my .ircrc
file. Since ircII2.2, this file can be found in the
"script" directory, and loaded with
"/load ircprimer"
# Sample .ircrc script, from the IRCprimer v1.1
# -------------------------------------------------------------------
# IRCII sample configuration file (~/.ircrc) (Nicolas Pioch)
# -------------------------------------------------------------------
# The aim of this file is to shorten all useful commands to 1 letter.
set NOVICE off
set INPUT_ALIASES off
set AUTO_WHOWAS on
set SHOW_CHANNEL_NAMES on
set SHOW_AWAY_ONCE on
# Speeds up ircII display 2 times
set SCROLL_LINES 2
# Put Hack notices down under
on ^SERVER_NOTICE "\*\*\* Notice -- Hack: *" set status_user Hack: $4-
# Modified killpath script from YeggMan
ALIAS kpath ECHO ### Last received KILL for $nkp.path
@ nkp.path = [
]
ALIAS nkp.msg ECHO ### $Z -- KILL by $1 for $0 $2-
ALIAS nkp.idx @ FUNCTION_RETURN = RINDEX(! $0) + 1
ALIAS nkp.srv @ FUNCTION_RETURN = INDEX(. $MID($nkp.idx($0) 512 $0))
ON ^SERVER_NOTICE "\*\*\* Notice -- Received KILL*" {
# if (index(. $mid(${rindex(! $11) +1} 512 $11))
IF ( nkp.srv($11) > -1 )
{ nkp.msg $7 $9 }
{ nkp.msg $7 $9 $12- }
@ nkp.path = [$7-]
}
# Function to strip the less significant part of an internet hostname
# $userdomain(username@host.subdomain.dom) returns username@subdomain.dom
# This eliminates the hostname which may change frequently
alias userdomain {
@ function_return = LEFT($INDEX(@ $0) $0)##[@]##MID(${1+INDEX(. $0)} 99 $0)
}
# Who is that ?
on ^msg * echo *$0!$userdomain($userhost())* $1-
# /w [<nickname>] get info on someone
# /q [<nickname>] query someone
# /m <nickname> <text> send a message
# /n <nickname> <text> send a notice
# /r <text> reply to last message I got
# /a <text> followup on my last message
alias w whois
alias q query
alias m msg
alias n notice
alias r msg $,
alias a msg $.
# /j <channel> join a channel
# /l <channel> list people in a channel
# /ll list in the current channel
# /i <nickname> [<channel>] invite someone
# /hop leave the current channel
alias j join
alias l who
alias ll who *
alias i invite
alias hop part $C
# /o <nickname> [<nickname> <nickname>] give channel op status
# /d <nickname> [<nickname> <nickname>] remove channel op status
# /k <nickname> kick someone
# /mo [+|-]<modechars> change current channel mode
alias o mode $C +ooo
alias d mode $C -ooo
alias k kick $C
alias mo mode $C
# the "wrong person" alias! /oops <nickname> to resend message to
alias oops {
@ _whoops = [$B]
msg $. Whooops ! Please ignore, that wasn't meant for you.
msg $0 $_whoops
}
alias unset set -$*
alias unalias alias -$*
alias NickServ msg NickServ@Service.de
alias NoteServ msg NoteServ@Service.de
# -------------------------------------------------------------------
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2.10 Writing automatons
An automaton, (also called robot
or service), is a program that is connected to the IRC
network to provide services. Many people try to set
that up with a few ircII commands like:
on ^msg "% help" notice $0 This is LameBot 1.0
However, you should know that
setting up an automaton using ircII ON facilities is
quick and dirty, and should be reserved for robots
that rely on ircII specific features such as DCC (file
servers for instance). Writing a program in C, perl or
any decent programming language should take longer in
the beginning, but your efforts will be rewarded. You
can download skeletons of such programs on some ftp
sites that keep IRC related stuff (check in the
Frequently Asked Questions part).
Although most robots-writers
believe they have created a "smart thing",
99% of the robots online happen to be a nuisance to
the IRC community, because a few simple rules were not
respected by their owners. The main idea is that
robots should neither be seen nor heard:
- automatons should be
clearly identified as such, having "bot","serv"
or "srv" in their nickname.
- they should use NOTICES to
communicate with the rest of the world, and not
reply to NOTICES they get.
- they should be able to
always be killed (craziness is a frequent disease
among robots).
- they should be able to be
killed remotely by their owner via IRC.
- they should not give access
to their owner's real files, (bandits have already
been able to crack people's accounts through their
robots).
- they should not send
messages to channels (unless the channel is
dedicated to that robot).
- they should not flood
channels with MODE changes. Basically, if you have
such a command as:
on -JOIN "Lamer #BotTub" mode #BotTub +o Lamer
then you are wrong. Because this
is what you will get:
*** Lamer (clueless@where.the.hell) has joined channel #bottub
*** Mode change "+o Lamer" on channel #bottub by LameBot
*** Mode change "+o Lamer" on channel #bottub by StupidSrv
*** Mode change "+ooo Lamer Lamer Lamer" on channel #bottub by FloodServ
*** Mode change "+o Lamer" on channel #bottub by Dumbbot
And this will get boring very
soon, so don't be surprised if such robots get banned
from most channels. A good kludge is to wait until
someone asks explicitly the robot to be opped on a
channel. This could be:
on -MSG "Lamer op me on #BotTub" mode #BotTub +o Lamer
If you don't respect rules 2
and 6 above, this may happen too:
*** TalkBot (clueless@where.the.hell) has joined channel #bottub
<LameBot> Hi TalkBot!
<TalkBot> Hello LameBot! How are you?
*** Mode change "+o TalkBot" on channel #bottub by LameBot
<LameBot> Fine thanx.
<TalkBot> Thank you for the op, LameBot.
<LameBot> No problem, TalkBot.
*** Signoff: Talkbot (ircserver.irc.edu where.the.hell)
*** TalkBot (clueless@where.the.hell) has joined channel #bottub
*** Mode change "+o TalkBot" on channel #bottub by where.the.hell
*** Mode change "+o LameBot" on channel #bottub by TalkBot
*** Mode change "+o TalkBot" on channel #bottub by LameBot
<TalkBot> Thank you for the op, LameBot.
<LameBot> No problem, TalkBot.
...
See? Remember the golden rule:
A smart bot won't act unless
explicitly asked by someone to.
[ table
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3. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
3.1 How do I set up an IRC
client?
Here is a list of FTP sites from
which you can download a client for your specific
operating system.
Table 15: FTP sites with IRC clients
-------------------------------------
UNIX ircII
~~~~~~~~~~
calypso.cs.uregina.ca - /public/outgoing
ftp.acsu.buffalo.edu - /pub/irc
slopoke.mlb.semi.harris.com - /pub/irc
plod.cmbe.unsw.oz.au - /pub
coombs.anu.edu.au - /pub/irc
nic.funet.fi - /pub/unix/irc/ircII
ftp.informatik.tu-muenchen.de - /pub/net/irc
EMACS elisp
~~~~~~~~~~~
slopoke.mlb.semi.harris.com - /pub/irc/emacs
nic.funet.fi - /pub/unix/irc/Emacs
lehtori.cc.tut.fi - /pub/irchat
ftp.informatik.tu-muenchen.de - /pub/net/irc
VMS
~~~
coombs.anu.edu.au - /pub/irc/vms
nic.funet.fi - /pub/unix/irc/vms
ftp.informatik.tu-muenchen.de - /pub/net/irc
REXX for VM
~~~~~~~~~~~
ftp.informatik.uni-oldenburg.de - /pub/irc/rxirc
ftp.informatik.tu-muenchen.de - /pub/net/irc/VM
coombs.anu.edu.au - /pub/irc/rxirc
nic.funet.fi - /pub/unix/irc/rxirc
MSDOS
~~~~~
nic.funet.fi - /pub/unix/irc/msdos
Macintosh
~~~~~~~~~
calypso.cs.uregina.ca
nic.funet.fi - /pub/unix/irc/mac
sumex.stanford.edu - /info-mac/comm
ftp.ira.uka.de - /pub/systems/mac
For Unix machines, you either
compile the source yourself, or have someone else on
your machine compile the source for you. The current
"official" ircII release is version 2.2.1.
That means that it is said to be quite bugfree (Hehe,
you never know...) In addition to this
"official" distribution, you may find
preversions of the client to come floating around, for
people who like to track down bugs and taste things to
come. However, you should be aware of that those
clients are being worked on, and may not have all
features working properly.
Here are the commands to type
to setup an ircII client:
~ > ftp
ftp> verbose off
Verbose mode off.
ftp> open cs.bu.edu
Name (cs.bu.edu:yourname) : ftp
Password: yourname@yourhost
ftp> cd irc/clients
ftp> bin
ftp> get ircII2.2.1.2.tar.Z "|zcat|tar xf -"
ftp> get ircII2.2.1help.tar.Z "|zcat|tar xf -"
ftp> quit
~ >
You now have to go into
ircII2.2.1 and read the files explaining how to
achieve a successful installation. Have a look at
README and INSTALL, edit config.h to define
DEFAULT_SERVER, edit Makefile to define
INSTALL_EXECUTABLE, IRCII_LIBRARY and the C compiler
you will be using, then type make install and wait.
If you can't set up a client
on any local machine, you can still use any telnet
client:
Table 16: Open telnet clients
------------------------------
Area Command login name
~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~
America telnet bradenville.andrew.cmu.edu
telnet chatsubo.nersc.gov bbs
Asia telnet cc.nsysu.edu.tw irc
Europe telnet ircclient.itc.univie.ac.at 6668
telnet irc.ibmpcug.co.uk 9999
Please only use telnet when
you have no other way of reaching IRC, as this
resource is quite limited.
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3.2 Which server do I connect
to?
It's usually best to try and
connect to one geographically close, even though that
may not be the best. You can always ask when you get
on IRC. Here's a list of servers available for
connection:
Table 17: Open IRC servers
---------------------------
America Canada ug.cs.dal.ca
~~~~~~~ USA csa.bu.edu
ucsu.coloradu.edu
irc.caltech.edu
Europe Finland nic.funet.fi
~~~~~~ France poly.polytechnique.fr
Germany noc.belwue.de
Sweden irc.nada.kth.se
Oceania Australia munagin.ee.mu.oz.au
~~~~~~~
This is by no means, a
comprehensive list, but merely a start. Connect to the
closest of these servers and join the channel #Twilight_Zone
or, if you are in Europe, #EU-Opers. When you are
there, immediately ask what you want. Don't say
"I have a question" because then everyone
will ignore you until you say it a few times, and then
they'll jump down your throat and rip your lungs out.
No one knows if he can answer your question until you
ask it.
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3.3 What are good channels to
try while using IRC?
#Hottub and #riskybus
are almost always teeming with people. #Hottub is
meant to simulate a hot tub, and #riskybus is a
non-stop quiz show similar to Jeopardy. Just join the
fun and find out! (German users may try channels named
after German university towns...)
Many IRC Operators are in #Twilight_Zone,
while European Operators congregate in #EU-Opers. So
if you join an Operator channel and don't hear much
talking, don't worry; it's not because you joined.
Operators don't talk much on such channels anyways!
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3.4 How do I get nifty
effects with ircII?
You can highlight messages you
send using control chars: parts of text surrounded by
control-b (^B) will appear in video reverse to most
ircII users for instance. However the appearance of
such effects relies on the terminal abilities of the
user you're writing to.
In some cases keys are already
bound to something. For instance, ^B is normally bound
to BACKWARD_CHARACTER, so you will need to define a
"quote-character" key: just enter
"/BIND ^W QUOTE_CHARACTER" then "/BIND
^W^B SELF_INSERT" and it may work.
Table 18: Highlighting ircII output
------------------------------------
Key Effect
~~~ ~~~~~~
^V Video reverse
^_ Underline
^B Bold
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3.5 What if someone tells me
to type something cryptic?
NEVER
type anything anyone tells you to without knowing what
it is. There is a problem with typing a certain
command with the ircII client that gives anyone
immediate control of your client, (and thus can alter
your account environment also). Look in the ircII
on-line help each time you can.
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3.6 I get strange characters
on my screen, what are they?
IRC has quite a few people from
Scandinavian countries, }{|][\ are letters in their
alphabet (IRC is supposed to support the ISO Latin-1
8-bit character set, but your client must be able to
display them.) This has been explained on IRC about a
thousand and one times, so read the following, do not
ask it on IRC:
Table 19: Nordic countries character translations
--------------------------------------------------
Character Description
~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~
[, { 'a' with two dots over it
], } 'a' with a small circle above it
\, 'o' with two dots over it, or a dash ("/aditya/") through it
("[", "]", and "\" = upper case)
In addition to that, Japanese
IRC'ers use a special ANSI escape control sequences to
transmit their Kanji alphabet. This may also look
funny if you get some of it. Here's a sample:
[$B$?$K$7[$B;$m$K# (nice, uh?)
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3.7 What about NickServ?
To quote from NickServ's help
text, NickServ's purpose is to help avoiding nickname
confusions on IRC. There's no such thing as
"nickname ownership", however NickServ sends
a warning to anyone else who signs on with your
nickname. If you don't use IRC for 10 weeks, your
nickname registration expires for reuse.
Only a NickServ operator can
change your NickServ password. To find out which
NickServ operators are on-line, send:
/MSG NickServ@Service.de OPERWHO
Nicknames with a "*"
next to them are online at the time.
Note: As of this writing,
NickServ is down and it is uncertain when or if it
will return.
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3.8 I'm being flooded or
harassed by a jerk. HELP!
If somebody is behaving like a
jerk on IRC, like dumping to a channel Mb's of
garbage, then he should be KICKed and eventually
banned from the channel, (see "/HELP MODE"
for details).
If it's a matter of personal
harassment, then you should set a proper IGNOREon
that person, (preferably on his userid@hostname).
Remember you can use wildcard expressions for IGNORE.
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3.9 How do I get rid of a
ghosted IRC session?
Sometimes you may have a
"ghosted" IRC session, a process still
running on your machine you would like to get rid of,
but can't control anymore to issue a QUIT command.
Going back to a unix shell, try listing your
processes: ("ps -ux" or "ps -f"
depending on your system)
poly ~ > ps -ux
USER PID %CPU %MEM SZ RSS TT STAT TIME COMMAND
pioch 10410 1.4 0.2 839 402 pf S 0:00 /usr/local/bin/emacs
pioch 25441 0.6 0.9 2888 1908 ? S 0:32 xterm -ls
pioch 25444 0.4 0.2 550 341 pf S 0:17 -tcsh (tcsh)
pioch 10404 0.1 0.3 897 624 pf S 0:00 irisVx 5 4 10403
pioch 25634 0.0 0.3 1022 678 p6 S 0:22 irc
pioch 25451 0.0 0.2 953 326 ? S 0:07 xmailbox
pioch 25452 0.0 0.1 386 147 ? S 0:00 xdaliclock
pioch 25459 0.0 0.3 1109 617 ? S 0:02 xman
pioch 10403 0.0 0.1 574 124 pf I 0:00 mapleV
pioch 10423 0.0 0.2 614 459 pf R 0:00 /bin/ps -ux
Locate the line about your
lost IRC session, (irc should appear in the COMMAND
field of the line), and its PID, (process number,
second field of the line here). In this example the
PID is 25634, as shown here:
USER PID %CPU %MEM SZ RSS TT STAT TIME COMMAND
pioch 25634 0.0 0.3 1022 678 p6 S 0:22 irc
All you then need to type is
"kill -KILL" or "kill -9"
immediatly followed by the PID found above: "kill
-kill 25634" here.
You can get more details about
the commands involved here in the standard unix
manual, ("man 1 ps" or "man 1
kill").
If your machine crashed, and
your nick is still in use on the IRC network, you'll
have to wait 4 to 5 minutes for your server to
recognize the fact. Getting an Operator to kill the
ghost is almost never necessary, just sign on as
another nickname and wait for the "Ping
timeout" or "Bad link" message, then
you can change your nick back.
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3.10 About KILL usage
KILL is a command restricted to
IRC-Operators to deal with protocol errors heavily
reducing the IRC network functionality. It's to be
used with extreme caution, if at all.
KILL should never interfere
with channel-operator status.
If you op someone on a
channel, you take the consequences. If someone joins
#Whatever, you op them, then they kick everyone and
lock the channel with some "Mode change +ib
*!*@*", then suffer it: it's your fault, don't go
whining to an IRC-op to fix it. If a channel is
locked, you should start a new one.
Effective methods to deal with
obnoxious people are IGNORE, KICK and various MODEs on
channels, such as +i and/or +b.
If you have been unjustifiably
killed by an IRC-Operator abusing his power to gain
illegal channel-operator status for instance, yell!
Mail a log to his server IRC-Administrator, (see
ADMIN), join #Twilight_Zone or #EU-Opers for
European-related problems, and explain what happened.
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3.11 Where can I find more?
Should your question not be
listed above, you may want to check the
"Frequently Unasked Questions", (FUQ) list,
which will be shipping real soon now, featuring
replies to:
<lamer1>> Are there any good FTP sites? (1)
<lamer2> How do I join a channel?
<lamer3> How do I become an IRCop?
If you have access to Usenet
News, (usually through a program called rn, trn, xrn
or nn), you may want to join alt.irc debates, flamings
and whinings.
You can also join various IRC
related mailing lists. "Operlist" discusses
current (and past) server code, routing and protocol.
Mail operlist-request@eff.org to join. Another mailing
list, ircd-three@eff.org exists to discuss protocol
revisions for the 3.0 release of ircd, currently in
planning. Mail ircd-three-request@eff.org to be added
to that. There is also low-traffic mailing-lists for
ircII vmsirc and irchat clients.
Table 20: IRC related mailing lists
------------------------------------
E-mail for subscriptions What's being talked about
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
operlist-request@eff.org Server code, routing and protocol.
ircd-three-request@eff.org ircd 3.0 protocol
listserv@grasp1.univ.lyon1.fr European IRC-Operators mailing list
dl2p+@andrew.cmu.edu ircII mailing list
vmsirc-request@vax1.elon.edu VMS IRC mailing list
irchat-request@cc.tut.fi irchat mailing list
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