Provided by: swirc_3.5.4-1_amd64 
NAME
swirc.conf — swirc configuration file
DESCRIPTION
This manual page describes swirc.conf which is a configuration file for swirc(1) (a curses based irc
client). NOTE Certain settings take effect first after program restart while others don't!
SETTING TYPES
bool Bools are case insensitive and can have one of the following values:
• on, true or yes
• off, false or no
int Integers. swirc implements a min/max value for each integer in order to keep its value safe.
The error log will tell if the restrictions for an integer aren't within limits and, if so, that
a preprogrammed fallback value is being used instead.
string An arbitrary sequence of characters
SETTINGS
account_notify (bool)
Allows a client to be notified when another client’s accountname changes
account_tag (bool)
Turns the IRCv3 account tag extension on/off.
alt_nick (string)
Alternative nickname. This nickname is used when processing a connection to a server and the
default nickname is busy.
auto_op_yourself (bool)
Automatically op yourself on channel join when you're identified as an IRC operator
awaymsgs_in_privconv (bool)
Output away messages in private conversations? Away messages are often displayed each time you
message the user who's marked as being away which can be annoying if the user isn't really away,
i.e. he/she just forgot to unset the status. This setting defaults to YES.
away_notify (bool)
Allows a client to specify that it would like to be notified when users are marked/unmarked as
away
batch (bool)
Enable or disable the IRCv3 batch extension. The batch extension provides a way for servers to
mark certain messages as related. swirc(1) takes advantage of this.
beeps (bool)
swirc(1) alerts the user by sending a beep in certain cases. However, with the help of this
setting, beeps can be turned on/off.
chanserv_host (string)
ChanServ hostname
chghost (bool)
Allows servers to send a notification when clients change their username or host (IRCv3 feature).
Defaults to yes.
cipher_suite (string)
Cipher suite. Which can have one of the following values:
• secure
• compat
• legacy
• all
cmd_hist_size (int)
Command history size. No more than this number of commands will be stored in the memory.
cmd_type_prot (bool)
Command type protection. Detects up to 5 leading spaces followed by a command character
preventing a command to be accidentally transmitted as a chat message.
connection_timeout (int)
Connection timeout in seconds
ctcp_reply (bool)
Reply to CTCP requests? (For example TIME and VERSION.)
ctcp_userinfo (string)
A string to return on a CTCP userinfo request.
dcc (bool)
Use DCC (Direct Client-to-Client)? swirc(1) implements its own variant of DCC meaning it's
incompatible with other IRC clients. Transport Layer Security is forced and for now the DCC
feature isn't available in ICB mode.
dcc_cipher_suite (string)
DCC cipher suite. Which can have one of the following values:
• secure
• compat
• legacy
• all
dcc_own_ip (string)
IPv4 address for incoming DCC connections. If empty swirc(1) attempts to resovle the address
automatically.
dcc_port (int)
Port number for incoming DCC connections (1024-65535), defaults to 8080. Must not be blocked by
a firewall.
dcc_upload_dir (string)
Where shall swirc(1) look for DCC uploads? If empty it defaults to uploads in the home dir of
Swirc. On OpenBSD this dir is made available with read-only permissions by using unveil(2).
However, that is done once at startup. Changing it while Swirc is running will not work.
extended_join (bool)
Turns the extended-join IRCv3 feature on/off.
ftp_host (string)
FTP hostname.
ftp_port (int)
FTP port number (1-65535). Defaults to 21.
ftp_user (string)
FTP username. Defaults to anonymous.
ftp_pass (string)
FTP password.
ftp_upload_dir (string)
FTP upload directory.
hostname_checking (bool)
Enable or disable TLS/SSL hostname verification
iconv_conversion (bool)
Perform character conversion using GNU libiconv? If having this option set to 'on' causes
troubles or if you don't need it, it can safely be switched off. Switching it off boosts the
performance of the printtext module significantly.
identd (bool)
Use the built-in ident protocol daemon/server? It's automatically started and stopped during the
connection process if this option is enabled. During the connection process to an IRC server the
IRC server often attempts to send an ident query to port 113 on your computer. You might have
seen something like:
*** Processing connection to irc.server.com
*** Looking up your hostname...
*** Checking Ident
*** No Ident response <---
*** Found your hostname
This requires port 113 to be open, i.e. not behind a firewall.
identd_fakenames (bool)
Respond to ident queries with fake (randomized) names?
identd_port (int)
Which port shall the ident server listen on? In general, on Unix only root can listen on ports
below 1024. Since you neither CAN or SHOULD run swirc(1) as root you should specify a different
port using this setting and configure your firewall to redirect connections to port 113 to this
one.
If you're using OpenBSD and pf(4), pose that you want use port 6500 and that the name of the
target interface is vio0. You could then add the following lines to your pf.conf(5):
pass in on vio0 inet proto tcp from any to any port auth \
rdr-to 127.0.0.1 port 6500
pass in on vio0 inet6 proto tcp from any to any port auth \
rdr-to ::1 port 6500
invite_notify (bool)
Allows a client to specify that it would like to be notified when users are invited to channels
joins_parts_quits (bool)
Show JOIN/PART/QUIT events?
kick_close_window (bool)
If the active user gets kicked out from a channel, should the channel window be terminated?
max_chat_windows (int)
Max chat windows that can be open simultaneously
mouse (bool)
Use the mouse?
mouse_events (string)
Which mouse events shall be reported?
• all
• wheel (default)
multi_prefix (bool)
When requested, the multi-prefix client capability will cause the IRC server to send all possible
prefixes which apply to a user in NAMES, WHO and WHOIS output.
(These prefixes are in order of ‘rank’, from highest to lowest.)
nickname (string)
Online nickname
nickname_aliases (string)
A space separated list of nickname aliases which are used, in addition to the default nickname,
to highlight a message if it matches any of the aliases given by this setting.
nickserv_host (string)
NickServ hostname
notifications (bool)
Turns notifications on/off. Takes effect at once.
part_message (string)
Message when leaving a channel
qbot_host (string)
Q bot hostname. The Q bot is a QuakeNet: https://www.quakenet.org/ service.
quit_message (string)
Message when disconnecting from a server
real_name (string)
Specifies the real name. But can be set to anything.
reconnect_backoff_delay (int)
The number of seconds that should be added to each reconnect attempt (0-99)
reconnect_delay (int)
Seconds to consume before the first reconnect attempt (0-999)
reconnect_delay_max (int)
Maximum reconnect delay in seconds (0-999). Regardless of the other related reconnect settings.
reconnect_retries (int)
If the IRC connection is lost, how many attempts should be performed to get the connection
working again before giving up?
sasl (bool)
Request SASL authentication on connection to a server?
sasl_mechanism (string)
SASL mechanism. Available mechanisms are:
• ECDSA-NIST256P-CHALLENGE
• EXTERNAL
• PLAIN
• SCRAM-SHA-1
• SCRAM-SHA-256
• SCRAM-SHA-512
Be sure to write them in all uppercase!
sasl_password (string)
SASL password. (For mechanism PLAIN and SCRAM-SHA-256.)
It is recommended to set this setting using the interactive sasl command. However, if the
initial character is a question mark (‘?’) it symbolizes that the password is in plain
text/unencrypted; while a hash mark (‘#’) symbolizes that the password is encrypted. The initial
character must be either of them and is not interpreted as a part of the password.
sasl_username (string)
SASL username
sasl_x509 (string)
Filename for your certificate chain file. The file shall be located in Swirc's home dir and be
in PEM format.
The certificate chain file is used for automatic NickServ authentication using the external SASL
auth mechanism. A file of this sort can be generated by running the following scripts:
• 1-root-ca.sh (Create the root CA)
• 4-client-cert.sh (Create the client certificate and sign it with the root CA)
After running the scripts stated above in given order you can set this setting to client.pem.
server_time (bool)
Enable or disable IRCv3 server time extension. The server time extension is particularly useful
if you're using an IRC bouncer like ZNC: https://znc.in/
show_ping_pong (bool)
Show ping pong events? The default is NO.
skip_motd (bool)
Skip message of the day (MOTD) on connection to a server?
socks (bool)
Use the SOCKS proxy client? The SOCKS proxy client is particularly suited for use with Tor.
Examples of IRC networks that are accessible via Tor are Libera Chat and OFTC. In order to
access Libera Chat or OFTC using the previously mentioned technique you can add the following
lines to your torrc(5):
# Libera Chat
MapAddress palladium.libera.chat libera75jm6of4wxpxt4aynol3xjmbtxgfyjpu34ss4d7r7q2v5zrpyd.onion
# OFTC
MapAddress irc.oftc.net oftcnet6xg6roj6d7id4y4cu6dchysacqj2ldgea73qzdagufflqxrid.onion
After this has been done (and after restarting Tor) you should be able to connect to one of the
mapped addresses inside Swirc. The socks host setting should point to the machine where the Tor
service is running.
socks_atyp (int)
SOCKS address type. Which can have one of the following values:
• (0) Fully qualified domain name. The default.
• (1) IPv4 address
• (2) IPv6 address
socks_host (string)
SOCKS hostname.
socks_port (string)
SOCKS port. The default is 9050 which is used by Tor: https://www.torproject.org/.
spell (bool)
Use spelling?
spell_lang (string)
Spelling language. The default is en_US.
spell_syswide (bool)
Where shall Swirc look for spelling dictionaries? (System wide or in the program settings dir.)
ssl_verify_peer (bool)
Verify peer? Setting it to NO decreases TLS/SSL security significantly, but is a must on servers
with trusted self signed certificates.
startup_greeting (bool)
Enable or disable swirc startup greeting
textbuffer_size_absolute (int)
Max number of elements in a text buffer before head gets removed from scroll back history. Each
open window is assigned a buffer with this size, so set a sane value!
theme (string)
swirc theme.
username (string)
User identity. Preferably to be set to the same as the nickname.
FILES
~/.swirc/swirc.conf swirc configuration file
SEE ALSO
swirc(1), swirc.theme(5)
Debian January 13, 2025 SWIRC.CONF(5)