Ubuntu Manpage: ngIRCd - the "next generation" IRC daemon

NAME

       ngIRCd - the "next generation" IRC daemon

SYNOPSIS

       ngircd [ Options ]

DESCRIPTION

       ngIRCd  is  a  free,  portable  and  lightweight  Internet  Relay  Chat (IRC) server for small or private
       networks, developed under the GNU General Public License (GPL).

       The server is quite easy to configure and runs as a single-node server or can be part  of  a  network  of
       ngIRCd  servers  in  a  LAN  or  across  the internet. It optionally supports the IPv6 protocol, SSL/TLS-
       protected client-server and server-server links, the Pluggable Authentication Modules  (PAM)  system  for
       user authentication, IDENT requests, and character set conversion for legacy clients.

       The  name  ngIRCd  stands  for next-generation IRC daemon, which is a little bit exaggerated: lightweight
       Internet Relay Chat server most probably would have been a better name :-)

       By default ngIRCd logs diagnostic and informational  messages  using  the  syslog  mechanism,  or  writes
       directly to the console when running in the foreground (see below).

OPTIONS

       The default behavior of ngircd is to read its standard configuration file (see below), to detach from the
       controlling terminal and to wait for clients.

       You can use these options to modify this default:

       -f file, --config file
              Use file as configuration file.

       -n, --nodaemon
              Don't fork a child and don't detach from controlling terminal.  All log messages go to the console
              and you can use CTRL-C to terminate the server.

       -p, --passive
              Disable  automatic  connections  to other servers. You can use the IRC command CONNECT later on as
              IRC Operator to link this ngIRCd to other servers.

       -y, --syslog
              Write log messages to the syslog even when running in the foreground. This only makes  sense  when
              -n/--nodaemon was given on the command line before this option!

       The following options prevent ngIRCd from starting regularly, but perform a specific action and then exit
       the daemon again:

       -h, --help
              Display a brief help text and exit.

       -t, --configtest
              Read, validate and display the configuration; then exit.

       -V, --version
              Output version information and exit.

FILES

       /etc/ngircd/ngircd.conf
              The system wide default configuration file.
       /etc/ngircd/ngircd.motd
              Default "message of the day" (MOTD).

SIGNALS

       The daemon understands the following signals:

       TERM   Shut down all connections and terminate the daemon.

       HUP    Shut down all listening sockets, re-read the configuration file and re-initialize the daemon.

HINTS

       It  is  always  wise  to  use  "ngircd --configtest" to validate the configuration of ngIRCd after making
       changes to the configuration files!

DEBUGGING

ngIRCd can log additional debug messages, which can be enabled with the command line option --debug (-d)
or by sending the USR1 signal to the running daemon. Some of those messages may leak personal
information, be very technical and can be very verbose. Therefore the debug mode is meant for
troubleshooting only and should definitely be disabled during normal operation!

In addition, a "protocol sniffer" can be enabled on build time by passing the "--enable-sniffer" option
to the ./configure script which enables the "--sniffer" (-s) command line option (which is not available
by default): this "sniffer" logs all incoming and outgoing IRC commands on all connections, which can be
handy to debug problems with the daemon itself or IRC clients.

Both modes are indicated in the version string shown by the IRC "VERSION" command: if the version ends in
a dot (like in "26.1."), the daemon operates in "normal" mode (the version used in the example is
"26.1"). If it ends in ".1" (like in "26.1.1") the "debug-mode" is enabled; and if it ends in ".2" (like
in "26.1.2") the "IRC sniffer" is enabled, too.

Options:

-d, --debug
Enable debug mode and log extra messages.

-s, --sniffer
Enable IRC protocol sniffer, which logs all sent and received IRC commands to the console/syslog.
This option requires that ngIRCd has been ./configure'd with "--enable-sniffer" and enables debug
mode automatically, too.

Signals:

Note: Usage of these signals is broadcasted to all users with the +s ("receive server notices") mode set!

USR1 Toggle debug mode on and off during runtime.

USR2 Dump internal server state to the console/syslog when debug mode is on (use command line option
--debug or signal USR1).

AUTHORS

       Alexander Barton, <alex@barton.de>
       Florian Westphal, <fw@strlen.de>

       Homepage: http://ngircd.barton.de/