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Introduction

In our first post introducing the IRC Server we introduced the concept of bots and messaging them to register an account, i’ve had several queries about how to work with this so thought it might be good to explain to newer users to IRC how things fit together and some common commands which they may find useful.

Whilst the starting point was, and remains, to allow for a 235Alive channel, allowing users of the Net to chat during the net and off-air, the broader idea was to make it available for the wider Amateur radio community who are free to create and manage their own channels. 

 

Current Setup

End users do not need to know this information, but for anyone who is interested:

The IRC server is hosted on a Dell Optiplex 7040 running Proxmox which creates an environment for hosting Virtual Machines and LXC Containers.

We run both UnrealIRCD and Anope services on a virtual machine running Ubtunu Server 24.04.1 LTS.

 

Services

UnrealIRCD: This is the IRC server itself, it contains a number of modules which allow for core functionality. With very little configuration, this is up and running and allowing users to connect to the server, join a room and chat. It does not easily allow users to register their username (preventing others from obtaining it, allowing users to be granted operator permissions and so on), allow for Channels to be registered and allow for dynamic, but persistent Channel topics, and various other functions. This is where Anope comes in to the mix.

Anope: Most people who used IRC in the past – and let’s face, it IRC is an archaic but still fundamentally useful technology, will be familiar with services such as Nickserv, Chanserv and others. These are essentially bots that allow users to perform a range of functions, depending on their permissions:

Nickserv: Allows users to register their username, preventing others from using it. Once registered, users can be granted a range of permissions including automatic operator permissions in channels, where appropriate. 

Chanserv: Allows for the permanent registration of channels, setting of channel topics modes and access rights to registered users.

Other Services: Anope also includes other bots which most regular users won’t need to concern themselves with such as Botserv, Hostserv and Memoserv. Do feel free to look into these seperately to find out what they are and what they do.

 

Commands

Having set the scene, it is worth listing some of the more common commands that users would benefit from knowing.

For those who are unfamiliar, all commands entered into IRC clients must start with a / prefix. I will give some worked examples below for clarity.

 

Registering a username

This is an essential task on joining the server as it allows users to maintain their username – first come, first served. It also means that registered users can be given automatic, persistent permissions for the channels they run (more on that shortly).

The command below shows the syntax to register

/msg Nickserv REGISTER password youremail@address.com

Lets say your password was going to be “*#cheese20291” (minus the quotation marks) and your email address was john@smith.com, you would enter the following:

/msg Nickserv register *#cheese20291 john@smith.com

Then press enter on the keyboard.

It is recommended you do NOT use a password you use elsewhere. This is good security practice.

 

Identifying to Nickserv

Now you are registered, you are automatically Identified to the server. Next time you join the server, you need to tell the server you are the person who registered the username otherwise it will be changed after 60 seconds.

In which case, you need to identify

/msg nickserv identify password

Using our example above, this would be

/msg nickserv identify *#cheese20291

Again, press enter on the keyboard.

 

Most IRC clients, including Hexchat, as recommended in our first post, allow users to specify commands to run when connecting to a specific server, so once you are familiar with this, you can automate the Identify process. These Connect Commands can be found in the following location:

• Hexchat Menu at the top right of the screen, select Network List.
• Highlight the network you created to join and click Edit.
• In the dialogue box, you will see the servers tab selected but note there are also Autojoin Channels and Connect Commands tabs. Click on Connect Commands.
• In the top right, click Add, this will create a field for your to enter your Identify command exactly as above, then press enter.
• Now press Close at the bottom of the box and Close the network list.

 

Next time you join, it will automatically run the command and you no longer have to do so manually.

 

Setting a Channel Topic

Providing you have sufficient permissions, you can set the topic in a channel, for #235Alive, for example we may say who is running the net, what the theme of the upcoming net is and where to find more information. For this, we use Chanserv. The process is fairly straightfoward.

Basic syntax for updating a topic is below.

/msg ChanServ topic #235Alive TOPIC

Lets assume we were to update #235Alive to say “Find more information at https://www.235Alive.com”

We would enter

/msg ChanServ topic #235Alive Find more information at https://www.235Alive.com

Then press enter.

The topic would remain in force until someone changes it. 

 

Final Comments

There are a huge number  of commands and actions that can be performed on the network, these barely scratch the surface. However, as many of the users i’ve spoken with recently are new to IRC entirely or have not used it for decades, i thought it would be worth putting some initial commands together as a reference. I expect to update this with more in due course, but think this is a good starting point to get people familiar with the fundemantals.