Design-L, hope you find the enclosed worth the post...
sp/net
---------- Forwarded message ----------
A short IRC primer
====================
Written by:
~~~~~~~~~~
Nicolas Pioch, (Nap on IRC)
< Nicolas.Pioch@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
Edition 1.1b, February 28, 1993.
Abstract
~~~~~~~~
Have you ever wanted to talk with other computer users in other parts
of the world? Well guess what... You can! The program is called IRC,
(Internet Relay Chat), and it is networked much over North America, Asia
Europe, and Oceania. This program is a substitution for 'talk', and many
other multiple talk programs you might have read about. When you are
talking on IRC, everything you type will instantly be transmitted around
the world to other users that might be watching their terminals at the
time, they can then type something and respond to your messages, and vice
versa. I should warn you that the program can be very addictive once you
begin to make friends and contacts on IRC, especially when you learn how
to discuss in 14 languages...
Topics of discussion on IRC are varied, just like the topics of Usenet
newsgroups are varied. Technical and political discussions are popular,
especially when world events are in progress. IRC is also a way to
expand your horizons, as people from many countries and cultures are on,
24 hours a day. Most conversations are in English, but there are always
channels in German, Japanese, French, Finnish, and occasionally other
languages.
IRC gained international fame during the late Persian Gulf War, when
updates from around the world came across the wire, and most people on
IRC gathered on a single channel to hear these reports.
CONTENTS
~~~~~~~~~~
1. Getting started
1.1 Clients and Servers
1.2 How to Behave on IRC
1.3 Privacy on IRC
1.4 First Steps
1.5 Screen and Keyboard activity
2. Let's go!
2.1 General Commands
2.2 Communication and Private Conversations
2.3 Channels and Public Conversations
2.4 Channel and User Modes
2.5 Client to Client Protocol
2.6 Network Related Commands
2.7 Quick Reference Panel
2.8 Further into ircII Wizardry
2.9 Sample .ircrc
2.10 Writing Automatons
3. Frequently Asked Questions
3.1 How do I set up an IRC client?
3.2 Which server do I connect to?
3.3 What are good channels to try while using IRC?
3.4 How do I get nifty effects with ircII?
3.5 What if someone tells me to type something cryptic?
3.6 I get strange characters on my screen, what are they?
3.7 What about NickServ?
3.8 I'm being flooded and harassed by a jerk. Help!
3.9 How do I get rid of a ghosted IRC session?
3.10 About KILL usage.
3.11 Where can I find more?
4. Administrativia
4.1 Revision history
4.2 Release sites for the IRCprimer
4.3 Copyright (C) 1993 Nicolas PIOCH
4.4 Credits
List of Tables
--------------
Table 1: Editing keys
Table 2: Editing commands
Table 3: Simple screen activity
Table 4: General commands
Table 5: Private conversation commands
Table 6: Channel commands
Table 7: Mode commands
Table 8: Channel modes
Table 9: User modes
Table 10: Client to client commands
Table 11: Network related commands
Table 12: Setting environment tables
Table 13: Environment variables
Table 14: Advanced commands
Table 15: FTP sites with IRC clients
Table 16: Open telnet IRC clients
Table 17: Open IRC servers
Table 18: Highlighting ircII output
Table 19: Nordic countries character translations
Table 20: IRC related mailing lists
Table 21: IRCprimer release sites
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 you 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.
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 autogreets. 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 when using autogreets. If somebody wants to
be autogreeted on joining a channel, he will autogreet 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.
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 its
server in "debug" mode and log whatever messages are transmitted through
his node, (it has already been done), so a good thumb rule 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.
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 <return>. To
escape from HELP mode, keep pressing <return> 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 "/" character. |
+------------------------------------------------+
The slash is the default command character. Commands are not case
sensitive, and can be abbreviated to their first letters: "/SI" and
"/sign <text>" stand for /SIGNOFF and will both end your IRC session,
(more in section 2.1).
Anything that does not begin with "/" 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 even
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 "/" 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"...
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.
The command history can be dumped using:
/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.
Example:
/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.
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!
poly ~ >
/HELP [<command>]
Shows help on the given command.
/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@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (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@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (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 unsuccess 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 automagically 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
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 <nickname> 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
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. Recall 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.
Example:
/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@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
(Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur)
#Twilight_ msa H msa@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Markku Savela)
#Twilight_ tober H ircuser@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (tober)
#Twilight_ phone H mrgreen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Third
row seats to the Cure? WHO ME? nah.. *grin*)
#Twilight_ julia G*@ julie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
( Future graduate of ACME Looniversity)
#Twilight_ SirLance G*@ lancelot@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
(Sir Lancelot)
#Twilight_ igh G igh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (igh)
#Twilight_ Daemon G*@ frechett@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
(-=Runaway Daemon=-)
#Twilight_ Avalon H*@ avalon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Avalon...)
#Twilight_ Waftam G*@ danielce@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Daniel
Carosone)
#Twilight_ Trillian G*@ hrose@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ( I turn to
stone when you are gone )
#Twilight_ tzoper H*@ tzoper@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (/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 chanop ("@").
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 to not forget the period
at the end of the sentence!
/ME <action description>
Tells the current channel or query about what you are doing.
/ME opens up the fridge.
* Nap opens up the fridge.
You can also use your own nickname as command, i.e. you can type
the line with a leading slash:
/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.
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"). He/She 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 command 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 <nick> 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)
2.5 Client to Client Protocol
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
/CTCP <nickname> <command> [<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@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx) 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 <COMMAND> 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. For people registered on NickServ, you can "/MSG
NickServ@xxxxxxxxxx WHOIS nick" to get their E-mail address). 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 behavior of DCC is
determined by the specified <function>.
/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 <type>, <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.
However, 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 much 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 ...".
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 he/she 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)
### <pioch@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
/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 on 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).
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
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 "/"), is only necessary when you type
commands interactively, when you program things it is no more needed, it
used to be though.
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...
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 = [<empty>]
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
# $userdomain(username@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx) returns username@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
# This eliminates the hostname which may change frequently
alias userdomain {
@ function_return = LEFT($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@xxxxxxxxxx
alias NoteServ msg NoteServ@xxxxxxxxxx
# -------------------------------------------------------------------
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@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx) 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@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx) 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@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx) 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. |
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
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
~~~~~~~~~~
cs.bu.edu - /irc/clients
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
~~~~~~~~~~~
cs.bu.edu - /irc/clients/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
~~~
cs.bu.edu - /irc/clients/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
cs.bu.edu - /irc/clients/rxirc
coombs.anu.edu.au - /pub/irc/rxirc
nic.funet.fi - /pub/unix/irc/rxirc
MSDOS
~~~~~
cs.bu.edu - /irc/clients
nic.funet.fi - /pub/unix/irc/msdos
Macintosh
~~~~~~~~~
cs.bu.edu - /irc/clients
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 full 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.
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.
3.3 What are good channels to try while using IRC?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
#Hottub and #initgame are almost always teeming with people. #Hottub
is meant to simulate a hot tub, and #initgame is a non-stop game of
"inits" (initials). 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
concentrate 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!
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
~~~ ~~~~~~
^B Video reverse
^V Underline
^_ Bold
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.
3.6 I get strange characters on my screen, what are they?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
IRC has quite a lot of 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 ("/") 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?)
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@xxxxxxxxxx OPERWHO
Nicknames with a "*" next to them are online at the time.
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
IGNORE on that person, (preferably on his userid@hostname). Remember you
can use wildcard expressions for IGNORE. More about this in section 2.2.
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...
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 abusively 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.
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@xxxxxxx to join. Another mailing list,
ircd-three@xxxxxxx exists to discuss protocol revisions for the 3.0
release of ircd, currently in planning. Mail ircd-three-request@xxxxxxx
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@xxxxxxx Server code, routing and protocol.
ircd-three-request@xxxxxxx ircd 3.0 protocol
listserv@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx European IRC-Operators mailing list
dl2p+@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx ircII mailing list
vmsirc-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx VMS IRC mailing list
irchat-request@xxxxxxxxx irchat mailing list
((1) 129.0.0.1 but you already know that.)
4. ADMINISTRATIVIA
===================
4.1 Revision history
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is version 1.1 of this paper. Version 1.0 of the IRCprimer was
released in postscript form in June 1992 because I was sick of people
asking for an IRC or ircII manual (and it was a good way to learn
LaTeX!). During summer 1992 Owe Rasmussen did a very nice text
conversion of the paper. Due to the support and many remarks I got, a
new version is finally completed (special thanks to Olaf Titz !), along
with Owe's plain ascii conversion.
The primer is available in 3 formats:
IRCprimer.ps.Z: Postscript version
IRCprimer.txt: Plain text version
IRCprimer.tex.Z: Source code.
4.2 Release sites for the IRCprimer
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The latest version of the primer can be found on the following ftp
sites, thanks to their admins:
Table 21: IRCprimer release sites
---------------------------------
ftp site location
~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~
nic.funet.fi /pub/unix/irc/docs
cs.bu.edu /irc/support
coombs.anu.edu.au /pub/irc/docs
Here's how to get the latest primer postscript version for example:
~ > ftp
ftp> verbose off
Verbose mode off.
ftp> open cs.bu.edu
Name (cs.bu.edu:yourname): ftp
Password: yourname@yourhost
ftp> cd irc/support
ftp> bin
ftp> get IRCprimer.ps.Z
ftp> quit
~ > uncompress IRCprimer.ps.Z
~ >
4.3 Copyright (C) 1993 Nicolas PIOCH
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This manual is free; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free
Software Foundation; either version 2 of the license, or (at your option)
any later version.
This manual is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General
Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this manual; if not, write to the
Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
675 Mass Ave,
Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
4.4 Credits
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Interesting informations contained in this paper are due to the work
of various people interested in IRC improvement; I'm only responsible for
omissions and mistakes :-)
It's impossible to give here a full list, however special thanx are
due to (in analphabetical order):
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Real life (uh ?) IRC E-mail |
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~~ |
| Christopher Davis ckd ckd@xxxxxxx |
| Christophe Wolfhugel Zolf wolf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx |
| Darren Reed Avalon avalon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx |
| Greg Lindahl, Wumpus gl8f@xxxxxxxxxxxx |
| Helen Rose Trillian hrose@xxxxxxx |
| Ian Frechette Daemon frechett@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx |
| Jarkko Oikarinen WiZ jto@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx |
| Jeff Trim jtrim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx |
| Jonathon E. Tidswell Ernie jont@xxxxxxxxxxx |
| Karl Kleinpaste poptart KarlKleinpaste@xxxxxxxxxx |
| Matthew Alderson thecure thecure@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx |
| Matthew Green phone phone@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx |
| Mauri Haikola Mauri mjh@xxxxxxxxxxxxx |
| Michael Sandrof BigCheese ms5n+@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx |
| Olaf Titz praetorius stitz@xxxxxxxxxx |
| Ove Ruben R. Olsen Gnarfer rubenro@xxxxxxxxxxxx |
| Ronald van Loon rvl rvloon@xxxxxxxxx |
| Troy Rollo Troy troy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
Feel free to bug me with your comments, I hope I'll have enough time
to reply.
Paris, February 21, 1993,
Ecole Polytechnique,
Nicolas PIOCH.
---
Eric Jaron Stieglitz ephraim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Home: (212) 853-6771 Assistant Systems Manager at the
Work: (212) 854-6020 Center for Telecommunications Research
Fax : (212) 854-2497 (preferred) (212) 316-9068 (secondary fax)
sp/net
---------- Forwarded message ----------
A short IRC primer
====================
Written by:
~~~~~~~~~~
Nicolas Pioch, (Nap on IRC)
< Nicolas.Pioch@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
Edition 1.1b, February 28, 1993.
Abstract
~~~~~~~~
Have you ever wanted to talk with other computer users in other parts
of the world? Well guess what... You can! The program is called IRC,
(Internet Relay Chat), and it is networked much over North America, Asia
Europe, and Oceania. This program is a substitution for 'talk', and many
other multiple talk programs you might have read about. When you are
talking on IRC, everything you type will instantly be transmitted around
the world to other users that might be watching their terminals at the
time, they can then type something and respond to your messages, and vice
versa. I should warn you that the program can be very addictive once you
begin to make friends and contacts on IRC, especially when you learn how
to discuss in 14 languages...
Topics of discussion on IRC are varied, just like the topics of Usenet
newsgroups are varied. Technical and political discussions are popular,
especially when world events are in progress. IRC is also a way to
expand your horizons, as people from many countries and cultures are on,
24 hours a day. Most conversations are in English, but there are always
channels in German, Japanese, French, Finnish, and occasionally other
languages.
IRC gained international fame during the late Persian Gulf War, when
updates from around the world came across the wire, and most people on
IRC gathered on a single channel to hear these reports.
CONTENTS
~~~~~~~~~~
1. Getting started
1.1 Clients and Servers
1.2 How to Behave on IRC
1.3 Privacy on IRC
1.4 First Steps
1.5 Screen and Keyboard activity
2. Let's go!
2.1 General Commands
2.2 Communication and Private Conversations
2.3 Channels and Public Conversations
2.4 Channel and User Modes
2.5 Client to Client Protocol
2.6 Network Related Commands
2.7 Quick Reference Panel
2.8 Further into ircII Wizardry
2.9 Sample .ircrc
2.10 Writing Automatons
3. Frequently Asked Questions
3.1 How do I set up an IRC client?
3.2 Which server do I connect to?
3.3 What are good channels to try while using IRC?
3.4 How do I get nifty effects with ircII?
3.5 What if someone tells me to type something cryptic?
3.6 I get strange characters on my screen, what are they?
3.7 What about NickServ?
3.8 I'm being flooded and harassed by a jerk. Help!
3.9 How do I get rid of a ghosted IRC session?
3.10 About KILL usage.
3.11 Where can I find more?
4. Administrativia
4.1 Revision history
4.2 Release sites for the IRCprimer
4.3 Copyright (C) 1993 Nicolas PIOCH
4.4 Credits
List of Tables
--------------
Table 1: Editing keys
Table 2: Editing commands
Table 3: Simple screen activity
Table 4: General commands
Table 5: Private conversation commands
Table 6: Channel commands
Table 7: Mode commands
Table 8: Channel modes
Table 9: User modes
Table 10: Client to client commands
Table 11: Network related commands
Table 12: Setting environment tables
Table 13: Environment variables
Table 14: Advanced commands
Table 15: FTP sites with IRC clients
Table 16: Open telnet IRC clients
Table 17: Open IRC servers
Table 18: Highlighting ircII output
Table 19: Nordic countries character translations
Table 20: IRC related mailing lists
Table 21: IRCprimer release sites
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 you 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.
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 autogreets. 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 when using autogreets. If somebody wants to
be autogreeted on joining a channel, he will autogreet 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.
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 its
server in "debug" mode and log whatever messages are transmitted through
his node, (it has already been done), so a good thumb rule 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.
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 <return>. To
escape from HELP mode, keep pressing <return> 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 "/" character. |
+------------------------------------------------+
The slash is the default command character. Commands are not case
sensitive, and can be abbreviated to their first letters: "/SI" and
"/sign <text>" stand for /SIGNOFF and will both end your IRC session,
(more in section 2.1).
Anything that does not begin with "/" 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 even
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 "/" 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"...
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.
The command history can be dumped using:
/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.
Example:
/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.
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!
poly ~ >
/HELP [<command>]
Shows help on the given command.
/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@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (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@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (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 unsuccess 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 automagically 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
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 <nickname> 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
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. Recall 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.
Example:
/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@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
(Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur)
#Twilight_ msa H msa@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Markku Savela)
#Twilight_ tober H ircuser@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (tober)
#Twilight_ phone H mrgreen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Third
row seats to the Cure? WHO ME? nah.. *grin*)
#Twilight_ julia G*@ julie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
( Future graduate of ACME Looniversity)
#Twilight_ SirLance G*@ lancelot@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
(Sir Lancelot)
#Twilight_ igh G igh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (igh)
#Twilight_ Daemon G*@ frechett@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
(-=Runaway Daemon=-)
#Twilight_ Avalon H*@ avalon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Avalon...)
#Twilight_ Waftam G*@ danielce@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Daniel
Carosone)
#Twilight_ Trillian G*@ hrose@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ( I turn to
stone when you are gone )
#Twilight_ tzoper H*@ tzoper@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (/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 chanop ("@").
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 to not forget the period
at the end of the sentence!
/ME <action description>
Tells the current channel or query about what you are doing.
/ME opens up the fridge.
* Nap opens up the fridge.
You can also use your own nickname as command, i.e. you can type
the line with a leading slash:
/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.
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"). He/She 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 command 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 <nick> 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)
2.5 Client to Client Protocol
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
/CTCP <nickname> <command> [<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@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx) 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 <COMMAND> 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. For people registered on NickServ, you can "/MSG
NickServ@xxxxxxxxxx WHOIS nick" to get their E-mail address). 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 behavior of DCC is
determined by the specified <function>.
/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 <type>, <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.
However, 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 much 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 ...".
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 he/she 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)
### <pioch@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
/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 on 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).
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
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 "/"), is only necessary when you type
commands interactively, when you program things it is no more needed, it
used to be though.
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...
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 = [<empty>]
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
# $userdomain(username@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx) returns username@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
# This eliminates the hostname which may change frequently
alias userdomain {
@ function_return = LEFT($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@xxxxxxxxxx
alias NoteServ msg NoteServ@xxxxxxxxxx
# -------------------------------------------------------------------
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@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx) 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@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx) 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@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx) 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. |
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
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
~~~~~~~~~~
cs.bu.edu - /irc/clients
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
~~~~~~~~~~~
cs.bu.edu - /irc/clients/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
~~~
cs.bu.edu - /irc/clients/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
cs.bu.edu - /irc/clients/rxirc
coombs.anu.edu.au - /pub/irc/rxirc
nic.funet.fi - /pub/unix/irc/rxirc
MSDOS
~~~~~
cs.bu.edu - /irc/clients
nic.funet.fi - /pub/unix/irc/msdos
Macintosh
~~~~~~~~~
cs.bu.edu - /irc/clients
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 full 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.
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.
3.3 What are good channels to try while using IRC?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
#Hottub and #initgame are almost always teeming with people. #Hottub
is meant to simulate a hot tub, and #initgame is a non-stop game of
"inits" (initials). 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
concentrate 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!
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
~~~ ~~~~~~
^B Video reverse
^V Underline
^_ Bold
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.
3.6 I get strange characters on my screen, what are they?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
IRC has quite a lot of 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 ("/") 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?)
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@xxxxxxxxxx OPERWHO
Nicknames with a "*" next to them are online at the time.
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
IGNORE on that person, (preferably on his userid@hostname). Remember you
can use wildcard expressions for IGNORE. More about this in section 2.2.
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...
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 abusively 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.
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@xxxxxxx to join. Another mailing list,
ircd-three@xxxxxxx exists to discuss protocol revisions for the 3.0
release of ircd, currently in planning. Mail ircd-three-request@xxxxxxx
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@xxxxxxx Server code, routing and protocol.
ircd-three-request@xxxxxxx ircd 3.0 protocol
listserv@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx European IRC-Operators mailing list
dl2p+@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx ircII mailing list
vmsirc-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx VMS IRC mailing list
irchat-request@xxxxxxxxx irchat mailing list
((1) 129.0.0.1 but you already know that.)
4. ADMINISTRATIVIA
===================
4.1 Revision history
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is version 1.1 of this paper. Version 1.0 of the IRCprimer was
released in postscript form in June 1992 because I was sick of people
asking for an IRC or ircII manual (and it was a good way to learn
LaTeX!). During summer 1992 Owe Rasmussen did a very nice text
conversion of the paper. Due to the support and many remarks I got, a
new version is finally completed (special thanks to Olaf Titz !), along
with Owe's plain ascii conversion.
The primer is available in 3 formats:
IRCprimer.ps.Z: Postscript version
IRCprimer.txt: Plain text version
IRCprimer.tex.Z: Source code.
4.2 Release sites for the IRCprimer
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The latest version of the primer can be found on the following ftp
sites, thanks to their admins:
Table 21: IRCprimer release sites
---------------------------------
ftp site location
~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~
nic.funet.fi /pub/unix/irc/docs
cs.bu.edu /irc/support
coombs.anu.edu.au /pub/irc/docs
Here's how to get the latest primer postscript version for example:
~ > ftp
ftp> verbose off
Verbose mode off.
ftp> open cs.bu.edu
Name (cs.bu.edu:yourname): ftp
Password: yourname@yourhost
ftp> cd irc/support
ftp> bin
ftp> get IRCprimer.ps.Z
ftp> quit
~ > uncompress IRCprimer.ps.Z
~ >
4.3 Copyright (C) 1993 Nicolas PIOCH
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This manual is free; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free
Software Foundation; either version 2 of the license, or (at your option)
any later version.
This manual is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General
Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this manual; if not, write to the
Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
675 Mass Ave,
Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
4.4 Credits
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Interesting informations contained in this paper are due to the work
of various people interested in IRC improvement; I'm only responsible for
omissions and mistakes :-)
It's impossible to give here a full list, however special thanx are
due to (in analphabetical order):
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Real life (uh ?) IRC E-mail |
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~~ |
| Christopher Davis ckd ckd@xxxxxxx |
| Christophe Wolfhugel Zolf wolf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx |
| Darren Reed Avalon avalon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx |
| Greg Lindahl, Wumpus gl8f@xxxxxxxxxxxx |
| Helen Rose Trillian hrose@xxxxxxx |
| Ian Frechette Daemon frechett@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx |
| Jarkko Oikarinen WiZ jto@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx |
| Jeff Trim jtrim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx |
| Jonathon E. Tidswell Ernie jont@xxxxxxxxxxx |
| Karl Kleinpaste poptart KarlKleinpaste@xxxxxxxxxx |
| Matthew Alderson thecure thecure@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx |
| Matthew Green phone phone@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx |
| Mauri Haikola Mauri mjh@xxxxxxxxxxxxx |
| Michael Sandrof BigCheese ms5n+@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx |
| Olaf Titz praetorius stitz@xxxxxxxxxx |
| Ove Ruben R. Olsen Gnarfer rubenro@xxxxxxxxxxxx |
| Ronald van Loon rvl rvloon@xxxxxxxxx |
| Troy Rollo Troy troy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
Feel free to bug me with your comments, I hope I'll have enough time
to reply.
Paris, February 21, 1993,
Ecole Polytechnique,
Nicolas PIOCH.
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Eric Jaron Stieglitz ephraim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Home: (212) 853-6771 Assistant Systems Manager at the
Work: (212) 854-6020 Center for Telecommunications Research
Fax : (212) 854-2497 (preferred) (212) 316-9068 (secondary fax)