.\"
.\" ngircd.conf(5) manual page template
.\"
-.TH ngircd.conf 5 "Dec 2010" ngircd "ngIRCd Manual"
+.TH ngircd.conf 5 "Jun 2011" ngircd "ngIRCd Manual"
.SH NAME
ngircd.conf \- configuration file of ngIRCd
.SH SYNOPSIS
.BR ngircd.conf
is the configuration file of the
.BR ngircd (8)
-Internet Relay Chat (IRC) daemon which you should adept to your local
+Internet Relay Chat (IRC) daemon, which must be customized to the local
preferences and needs.
.PP
Most variables can be modified while the ngIRCd daemon is already running:
-It will reload its configuration when a HUP signal is received.
+It will reload its configuration file when a HUP signal or REHASH command
+is received.
.SH "FILE FORMAT"
The file consists of sections and parameters. A section begins with the name
of the section in square brackets and continues until the next section
line represents either a comment, a section name, or a parameter.
.PP
Section and parameter names are not case sensitive.
+.PP
+There are three types of variables:
+.I booleans,
+.I text strings,
+and
+.I numbers.
+Boolean values are
+.I true
+if they are "yes", "true", or any non-null integer. Text strings are used 1:1
+without leading and following spaces; there is no way to quote strings. And
+for numbers all decimal integer values are valid.
+.PP
+In addition, some string or numerical variables accept lists of values,
+separated by commas (",").
.SH "SECTION OVERVIEW"
-The file can contain blocks of four types: [Global], [Operator], [Server],
-and [Channel].
+The file can contain blocks of seven types: [Global], [Limits], [Options],
+[SSL], [Operator], [Server], and [Channel].
.PP
The main configuration of the server is stored in the
.I [Global]
-section, like the server name, administrative information and the
-ports on which the server should be listening. IRC operators of this
-server are defined in
+section, like the server name, administrative information and the ports on
+which the server should be listening. The variables in this section have to be
+adjusted to the local requirements most of the time, whereas all the variables
+in the other sections can be left on there defaults very often.
+.PP
+Options in the
+.I [Limits]
+block are used to tweak different limits and timeouts of the daemon, like the
+maximum number of clients allowed to connect to this server. Variables in the
+.I [Options]
+section can be used to enable or disable specific features of ngIRCd, like
+support for IDENT, PAM, IPv6, and protocol and cloaking features. The
+.I [SSL]
+block contains all SSL-related configuration variables. These three sections
+are all optional.
+.PP
+IRC operators of this server are defined in
.I [Operator]
-blocks.
-.I [Features]
-can be used to disable compile-time features at run time, e.g. if ngircd
-was built to support ident lookups, but you do not want ngircd to perform
-ident lookups you can disable them here.
-This section is optional.
+blocks. Links to remote servers are configured in
.I [Server]
-is the section where server links are configured. And
+sections. And
.I [Channel]
blocks are used to configure pre-defined ("persistent") IRC channels.
.PP
-There can be more than one [Operator], [Server] and [Channel] sections
-per configuration file, but only one [Global] and one [Features] section.
+There can be more than one [Operator], [Server] and [Channel] section per
+configuration file (one for each operator, server, and channel), but only
+exactly one [Global], one [Limits], one [Options], and one [SSL] section.
.SH [GLOBAL]
The
.I [Global]
-section is used to define the server main configuration, like the server
-name and the ports on which the server should be listening.
+section of this file is used to define the main configuration of the server,
+like the server name and the ports on which the server should be listening.
+These settings depend on your personal preferences, so you should make sure
+that they correspond to your installation and setup!
.TP
-\fBName\fR
+\fBName\fR (string; required)
Server name in the IRC network. This is an individual name of the IRC
server, it is not related to the DNS host name. It must be unique in the
IRC network and must contain at least one dot (".") character.
.TP
-\fBInfo\fR
-Info text of the server. This will be shown by WHOIS and LINKS requests for
-example.
-.TP
-\fBPassword\fR
-Global password for all users needed to connect to the server. The default
-is empty, so no password is required.
-.TP
-\fBWebircPassword\fR
-Password required for using the WEBIRC command used by some Web-to-IRC
-gateways. If not set or empty, the WEBIRC command can't be used.
-Default: not set.
-.TP
-\fBAdminInfo1\fR, \fBAdminInfo2\fR, \fBAdminEMail\fR
+\fBAdminInfo1\fR, \fBAdminInfo2\fR, \fBAdminEMail\fR (string)
Information about the server and the administrator, used by the ADMIN
-command.
-.TP
-\fBPorts\fR
-Ports on which the server should listen. There may be more than one port,
-separated with commas (","). Default: 6667, unless \fBSSL_Ports\fR are also
-specified.
-.TP
-\fBSSLPorts\fR
-Same as \fBPorts\fR , except that ngIRCd will expect incoming connections
-to be SSL/TLS encrypted. Common port numbers for SSL-encrypted IRC are 6669
-and 6697. Default: none.
-.TP
-\fBSSLKeyFile\fR
-Filename of SSL Server Key to be used for SSL connections. This is required for
-SSL/TLS support.
-.TP
-\fBSSLKeyFilePassword\fR
-(OpenSSL only:) Password to decrypt private key.
+command. This information is not required by the server but by RFC!
.TP
-\fBSSLCertFile\fR
-Certificate file of the private key.
-.TP
-\fBSSLDHFile\fR
-Name of the Diffie-Hellman Parameter file. Can be created with gnutls
-"certtool \-\-generate-dh-params" or "openssl dhparam".
-If this file is not present, it will be generated on startup when ngIRCd
-was compiled with gnutls support (this may take some time). If ngIRCd
-was compiled with OpenSSL, then (Ephemeral)-Diffie-Hellman Key Exchanges and several
-Cipher Suites will not be available.
+\fBInfo\fR (string)
+Info text of the server. This will be shown by WHOIS and LINKS requests for
+example.
.TP
-\fBListen\fR
+\fBListen\fR (list of strings)
A comma separated list of IP address on which the server should listen.
If unset, the defaults value is "0.0.0.0" or, if ngIRCd was compiled
with IPv6 support, "::,0.0.0.0". So the server listens on all configured
IP addresses and interfaces by default.
.TP
-\fBSyslogFacility\fR
-Syslog "facility" to which ngIRCd should send log messages. Possible
-values are system dependant, but most probably "auth", "daemon", "user"
-and "local1" through "local7" are possible values; see syslog(3).
-Default is "local5" for historical reasons, you probably want to
-change this to "daemon", for example.
-.TP
-\fBMotdFile\fR
-Text file with the "message of the day" (MOTD). This message will be shown
-to all users connecting to the server. Changes made to this file
-take effect when ngircd is instructed to re-read its configuration file.
+\fBMotdFile\fR (string)
+Text file with the "message of the day" (MOTD). This message will be shown to
+all users connecting to the server. Please note: Changes made to this file
+take effect when ngircd starts up or is instructed to re-read its
+configuration file.
.TP
-\fBMotdPhrase\fR
+\fBMotdPhrase\fR (string)
A simple Phrase (<256 chars) if you don't want to use a MOTD file.
.TP
-\fBServerUID\fR
-User ID under which the server should run; you can use the name of the user
-or the numerical ID.
-.PP
-.RS
-.B Attention:
-.br
-For this to work the server must have been
-started with root privileges! In addition, the configuration and MOTD files
-must be readable by this user, otherwise RESTART and REHASH won't work!
-.RE
+\fBPassword\fR (string)
+Global password for all users needed to connect to the server. The default is
+empty, so no password is required. Please note: This feature is not available
+if ngIRCd is using PAM!
.TP
-\fBServerGID\fR
+\fBPidFile\fR (string)
+This tells ngIRCd to write its current process ID to a file. Note that the
+pidfile is written AFTER chroot and switching the user ID, e.g. the directory
+the pidfile resides in must be writable by the ngIRCd user and exist in the
+chroot directory (if configured, see above).
+.TP
+\fBPorts\fR (list of numbers)
+Ports on which the server should listen. There may be more than one port,
+separated with commas (","). Default: 6667, unless \fBSSL_Ports\fR are also
+specified.
+.TP
+\fBServerGID\fR (string or number)
Group ID under which the ngIRCd should run; you can use the name of the
group or the numerical ID.
.PP
.RS
.B Attention:
.br
-For this to work the server must have
-been started with root privileges!
+For this to work the server must have been started with root privileges!
.RE
.TP
-\fBChrootDir\fR
-A directory to chroot in when everything is initialized. It doesn't need
-to be populated if ngIRCd is compiled as a static binary. By default ngIRCd
-won't use the chroot() feature.
+\fBServerUID\fR (string or number)
+User ID under which the server should run; you can use the name of the user
+or the numerical ID.
.PP
.RS
.B Attention:
.br
-For this to work the server must have
-been started with root privileges!
+For this to work the server must have been started with root privileges! In
+addition, the configuration and MOTD files must be readable by this user,
+otherwise RESTART and REHASH won't work!
.RE
+.SH [LIMITS]
+Define some limits and timeouts for this ngIRCd instance. Default values
+should be safe, but it is wise to double-check :-)
.TP
-\fBPidFile\fR
-This tells ngIRCd to write its current process ID to a file. Note that the
-pidfile is written AFTER chroot and switching the user ID, i. e. the
-directory the pidfile resides in must be writeable by the ngIRCd user and
-exist in the chroot directory (if configured, see above).
-.RE
-.TP
-\fBPingTimeout\fR
-After <PingTimeout> seconds of inactivity the server will send a PING to
-the peer to test whether it is alive or not. Default: 120.
-.TP
-\fBPongTimeout\fR
-If a client fails to answer a PING with a PONG within <PongTimeout>
-seconds, it will be disconnected by the server. Default: 20.
-.TP
-\fBConnectRetry\fR
+\fBConnectRetry\fR (number)
The server tries every <ConnectRetry> seconds to establish a link to not yet
(or no longer) connected servers. Default: 60.
.TP
-\fBOperCanUseMode\fR
-Should IRC Operators be allowed to use the MODE command even if they are
-not(!) channel-operators? Default: no.
-.TP
-\fBOperServerMode\fR
-If \fBOperCanUseMode\fR is enabled, this may lead the compatibility problems with
-Servers that run the ircd-irc2 Software. This Option "masks" mode requests
-by non-chanops as if they were coming from the server. Default: no.
-.TP
-\fBAllowRemoteOper\fR
-Are IRC operators connected to remote servers allowed to control this server,
-e. g. are they allowed to use administrative commands like CONNECT, DIE,
-SQUIT, ... that affect this server? Default: no.
-.TP
-\fBPredefChannelsOnly\fR
-If enabled, no new channels can be created. Useful if
-you do not want to have channels other than those defined in
-[Channel] sections in the configuration file.
-Default: no.
-.TP
-\fBConnectIPv4\fR
-Set this to no if you do not want ngIRCd to connect to other IRC servers using
-IPv4. This allows usage of ngIRCd in IPv6-only setups.
-Default: yes.
-.TP
-\fBConnectIPv6\fR
-Set this to no if you do not want ngIRCd to connect to other irc servers using IPv6.
-Default: yes.
-.TP
-\fBMaxConnections\fR
+\fBMaxConnections\fR (number)
Maximum number of simultaneous in- and outbound connections the server is
allowed to accept (0: unlimited). Default: 0.
.TP
-\fBMaxConnectionsIP\fR
+\fBMaxConnectionsIP\fR (number)
Maximum number of simultaneous connections from a single IP address that
the server will accept (0: unlimited). This configuration options lowers
the risk of denial of service attacks (DoS). Default: 5.
.TP
-\fBMaxJoins\fR
+\fBMaxJoins\fR (number)
Maximum number of channels a user can be member of (0: no limit).
Default: 10.
.TP
-\fBMaxNickLength\fR
+\fBMaxNickLength\fR (number)
Maximum length of an user nick name (Default: 9, as in RFC 2812). Please
note that all servers in an IRC network MUST use the same maximum nick name
length!
.TP
-\fBClientHost\fR
+\fBPingTimeout\fR (number)
+After <PingTimeout> seconds of inactivity the server will send a PING to
+the peer to test whether it is alive or not. Default: 120.
+.TP
+\fBPongTimeout\fR (number)
+If a client fails to answer a PING with a PONG within <PongTimeout>
+seconds, it will be disconnected by the server. Default: 20.
+.SH [OPTIONS]
+Optional features and configuration options to further tweak the behavior of
+ngIRCd. If you want to get started quickly, you most probably don't have to
+make changes here -- they are all optional.
+.TP
+\fBAllowRemoteOper\fR (boolean)
+Are IRC operators connected to remote servers allowed to control this server,
+e.g. are they allowed to use administrative commands like CONNECT, DIE,
+SQUIT, ... that affect this server? Default: no.
+.TP
+\fBChrootDir\fR (string)
+A directory to chroot in when everything is initialized. It doesn't need
+to be populated if ngIRCd is compiled as a static binary. By default ngIRCd
+won't use the chroot() feature.
+.PP
+.RS
+.B Attention:
+.br
+For this to work the server must have been started with root privileges!
+.RE
+.TP
+\fBCloakHost\fR (string)
Set this hostname for every client instead of the real one. Default: empty,
don't change.
+.PP
+.RS
+.B Please note:
+.br
+Don't use the percentage sign ("%"), it is reserved for future extensions!
+.RE
.TP
-\fBClientUserNick\fR
+\fBCloakUserToNick\fR (boolean)
Set every clients' user name to their nick name and hide the one supplied
by the IRC client. Default: no.
-.SH [OPERATOR]
-.I [Operator]
-sections are used to define IRC Operators. There may be more than one
-.I [Operator]
-block, one for each local operator.
.TP
-\fBName\fR
-ID of the operator (may be different of the nick name).
+\fBConnectIPv4\fR (boolean)
+Set this to no if you do not want ngIRCd to connect to other IRC servers using
+the IPv4 protocol. This allows the usage of ngIRCd in IPv6-only setups.
+Default: yes.
.TP
-\fBPassword\fR
-Password of the IRC operator.
+\fBConnectIPv6\fR (boolean)
+Set this to no if you do not want ngIRCd to connect to other IRC servers using
+the IPv6 protocol.
+Default: yes.
.TP
-\fBMask\fR
-Mask that is to be checked before an /OPER for this account is accepted.
-Example: nick!ident@*.example.com
-.SH [FEATURES]
-An optional section that can be used to disable features at
-run-time. A feature is enabled by default if if ngircd was built with
-support for it.
-\fBDNS\fR
-If set to false, ngIRCd will not make DNS lookups when clients connect.
+\fBDNS\fR (boolean)
+If set to false, ngIRCd will not make any DNS lookups when clients connect.
If you configure the daemon to connect to other servers, ngIRCd may still
perform a DNS lookup if required.
Default: yes.
.TP
-\fBIdent\fR
+\fBIdent\fR (boolean)
If ngIRCd is compiled with IDENT support this can be used to disable IDENT
lookups at run time.
Default: yes.
.TP
-\fBPAM\fR
+\fBMorePrivacy\fR (boolean)
+This will cause ngIRCd to censor user idle time, logon time as well as the
+part/quit messages (that are sometimes used to inform everyone about which
+client software is being used). WHOWAS requests are also silently ignored.
+This option is most useful when ngIRCd is being used together with
+anonymizing software such as TOR or I2P and one does not wish to make it
+too easy to collect statistics on the users.
+Default: no.
+.TP
+\fBNoticeAuth\fR (boolean)
+Normally ngIRCd doesn't send any messages to a client until it is registered.
+Enable this option to let the daemon send "NOTICE AUTH" messages to clients
+while connecting. Default: no.
+.TP
+\fBOperCanUseMode\fR (boolean)
+Should IRC Operators be allowed to use the MODE command even if they are
+not(!) channel-operators? Default: no.
+.TP
+\fBOperServerMode\fR (boolean)
+If \fBOperCanUseMode\fR is enabled, this may lead the compatibility problems
+with Servers that run the ircd-irc2 Software. This Option "masks" mode
+requests by non-chanops as if they were coming from the server. Default: no;
+only enable it if you have ircd-irc2 servers in your IRC network.
+.TP
+\fBPAM\fR (boolean)
If ngIRCd is compiled with PAM support this can be used to disable all calls
to the PAM library at runtime; all users connecting without password are
allowed to connect, all passwords given will fail.
Default: yes.
.TP
+\fBPredefChannelsOnly\fR (boolean)
+If enabled, no new channels can be created. Useful if you do not want to have
+other channels than those defined in [Channel] sections in the configuration
+file on this server.
+Default: no.
+.TP
+\fBRequireAuthPing\fR (boolean)
+Let ngIRCd send an "authentication PING" when a new client connects, and
+register this client only after receiving the corresponding "PONG" reply.
+Default: no.
+.TP
+\fBScrubCTCP\fR (boolean)
+If set to true, ngIRCd will silently drop all CTCP requests sent to it from
+both clients and servers. It will also not forward CTCP requests to any
+other servers. CTCP requests can be used to query user clients about which
+software they are using and which versions said software is. CTCP can also be
+used to reveal clients IP numbers. ACTION CTCP requests are not blocked,
+this means that /me commands will not be dropped, but please note that
+blocking CTCP will disable file sharing between users!
+Default: no.
+.TP
+\fBSyslogFacility\fR (string)
+Syslog "facility" to which ngIRCd should send log messages. Possible
+values are system dependent, but most probably "auth", "daemon", "user"
+and "local1" through "local7" are possible values; see syslog(3).
+Default is "local5" for historical reasons, you probably want to
+change this to "daemon", for example.
+.TP
+\fBWebircPassword\fR (string)
+Password required for using the WEBIRC command used by some Web-to-IRC
+gateways. If not set or empty, the WEBIRC command can't be used.
+Default: not set.
+.SH [SSL]
+All SSL-related configuration variables are located in the
+.I [SSL]
+section. Please note that this whole section is only recognized by ngIRCd
+when it is compiled with support for SSL using OpenSSL or GnuTLS!
+.TP
+\fBSSLCertFile\fR (string)
+SSL Certificate file of the private server key.
+.TP
+\fBSSLDHFile\fR (string)
+Name of the Diffie-Hellman Parameter file. Can be created with GnuTLS
+"certtool \-\-generate-dh-params" or "openssl dhparam". If this file is not
+present, it will be generated on startup when ngIRCd was compiled with GnuTLS
+support (this may take some time). If ngIRCd was compiled with OpenSSL, then
+(Ephemeral)-Diffie-Hellman Key Exchanges and several Cipher Suites will not be
+available.
+.TP
+\fBSSLKeyFile\fR (string)
+Filename of SSL Server Key to be used for SSL connections. This is required
+for SSL/TLS support.
+.TP
+\fBSSLKeyFilePassword\fR (string)
+OpenSSL only: Password to decrypt the private key file.
+.TP
+\fBSSLPorts\fR (list of numbers)
+Same as \fBPorts\fR , except that ngIRCd will expect incoming connections
+to be SSL/TLS encrypted. Common port numbers for SSL-encrypted IRC are 6669
+and 6697. Default: none.
+.SH [OPERATOR]
+.I [Operator]
+sections are used to define IRC Operators. There may be more than one
+.I [Operator]
+block, one for each local operator.
+.TP
+\fBName\fR (string)
+ID of the operator (may be different of the nick name).
+.TP
+\fBPassword\fR (string)
+Password of the IRC operator.
+.TP
+\fBMask\fR (string)
+Mask that is to be checked before an /OPER for this account is accepted.
+Example: nick!ident@*.example.com
.SH [SERVER]
Other servers are configured in
.I [Server]
.I [Server]
block.
.TP
-\fBName\fR
+\fBName\fR (string)
IRC name of the remote server.
.TP
-\fBHost\fR
+\fBHost\fR (string)
Internet host name (or IP address) of the peer.
.TP
-\fBBind\fR
+\fBBind\fR (string)
IP address to use as source IP for the outgoing connection. Default is
to let the operating system decide.
.TP
-\fBPort\fR
+\fBPort\fR (number)
Port of the remote server to which ngIRCd should connect (active).
If no port is assigned to a configured server, the daemon only waits for
incoming connections (passive, default).
.TP
-\fBMyPassword\fR
+\fBMyPassword\fR (string)
Own password for this connection. This password has to be configured as
\fBPeerPassword\fR on the other server. Must not have ':' as first character.
.TP
-\fBPeerPassword\fR
+\fBPeerPassword\fR (string)
Foreign password for this connection. This password has to be configured as
\fBMyPassword\fR on the other server.
.TP
-\fBGroup\fR
+\fBGroup\fR (number)
Group of this server (optional).
.TP
-\fBPassive\fR
+\fBPassive\fR (boolean)
Disable automatic connection even if port value is specified. Default: false.
You can use the IRC Operator command CONNECT later on to create the link.
.TP
-\fBSSLConnect\fR
+\fBSSLConnect\fR (boolean)
Connect to the remote server using TLS/SSL. Default: false.
.TP
-\fBServiceMask\fR
+\fBServiceMask\fR (string)
Define a (case insensitive) mask matching nick names that should be treated as
IRC services when introduced via this remote server. REGULAR SERVERS DON'T NEED
this parameter, so leave it empty (which is the default).
.I [Channel]
block.
.TP
-\fBName\fR
+\fBName\fR (string)
Name of the channel, including channel prefix ("#" or "&").
.TP
-\fBTopic\fR
+\fBTopic\fR (string)
Topic for this channel.
.TP
-\fBModes\fR
+\fBModes\fR (string)
Initial channel modes.
.TP
-\fBKey\fR
+\fBKey\fR (string)
Sets initial channel key (only relevant if channel mode "k" is set).
.TP
-\fBKeyFile\fR
+\fBKeyFile\fR (string)
Path and file name of a "key file" containing individual channel keys for
different users. The file consists of plain text lines with the following
syntax (without spaces!):
the daemon re-reads its configuration!
.RE
.TP
-\fBMaxUsers\fR
+\fBMaxUsers\fR (number)
Set maximum user limit for this channel (only relevant if channel mode "l"
is set).
.SH HINTS
projects / ngircd-alex.git / blobdiff