1ngircd.conf(5) ngIRCd Manual ngircd.conf(5)
2
6 ngircd.conf - configuration file of ngIRCd
7
9 /etc/ngircd.conf
10
12 ngircd.conf is the configuration file of the ngircd(8) Internet Relay
13 Chat (IRC) daemon which you should adept to your local preferences and
14 needs.
15 Most variables can be modified while the ngIRCd daemon is already run‐
17 ning: It will reload its configuration when a HUP signal is received.
18
20 The file consists of sections and parameters. A section begins with the
21 name of the section in square brackets and continues until the next
22 section begins.
23 Sections contain parameters of the form
25 name = value
27 Empty lines and any line beginning with a semicolon (';') or a hash
29 ('#') character are treated as a comment and will be ignored. Leading
30 and trailing whitespaces are trimmed before any processing takes place.
31 The file format is line-based - that means, each non-empty newline-ter‐
33 minated line represents either a comment, a section name, or a parame‐
34 ter.
35 Section and parameter names are not case sensitive.
37
39 The file can contain blocks of four types: [Global], [Operator],
40 [Server], and [Channel].
41 The main configuration of the server is stored in the [Global] section,
43 like the server name, administrative information and the ports on which
44 the server should be listening. IRC operators of this server are
45 defined in [Operator] blocks. [Server] is the section where server
46 links are configured. And [Channel] blocks are used to configure pre-
47 defined ("persistent") IRC channels.
48 There can be more than one [Operator], [Server] and [Channel] sections
50 per configuration file, but only one [Global] section.
51
53 The [Global] section is used to define the server main configuration,
54 like the server name and the ports on which the server should be lis‐
55 tening.
56 Name Server name in the IRC network. This is an individual name of
58 the IRC server, it is not related to the DNS host name. It must
59 be unique in the IRC network and must contain at least one dot
60 (".") character.
61 Info Info text of the server. This will be shown by WHOIS and LINKS
63 requests for example.
64 Password
66 Global password for all users needed to connect to the server.
67 The default is empty, so no password is required.
68 WebircPassword
70 Password required for using the WEBIRC command used by some Web-
71 to-IRC gateways. If not set or empty, the WEBIRC command can't
72 be used. Default: not set.
73 AdminInfo1, AdminInfo2, AdminEMail
75 Information about the server and the administrator, used by the
76 ADMIN command.
77 Ports Ports on which the server should listen. There may be more than
79 one port, separated with commas (","). Default: 6667, unless
80 SSL_Ports are also specified.
81 SSLPorts
83 Same as Ports , except that ngIRCd will expect incoming connec‐
84 tions to be SSL/TLS encrypted. Common port numbers for SSL-
85 encrypted IRC are 6669 and 6697. Default: none.
86 SSLKeyFile
88 Filename of SSL Server Key to be used for SSL connections. This
89 is required for SSL/TLS support.
90 SSLKeyFilePassword
92 (OpenSSL only:) Password to decrypt private key.
93 SSLCertFile
95 Certificate file of the private key.
96 SSLDHFile
98 Name of the Diffie-Hellman Parameter file. Can be created with
99 gnutls "certtool --generate-dh-params" or "openssl dhparam". If
100 this file is not present, it will be generated on startup when
101 ngIRCd was compiled with gnutls support (this may take some
102 time). If ngIRCd was compiled with OpenSSL, then
103 (Ephemeral)-Diffie-Hellman Key Exchanges and several Cipher
104 Suites will not be available.
105 Listen A comma separated list of IP address on which the server should
107 listen. If unset, the defaults value is "0.0.0.0" or, if ngIRCd
108 was compiled with IPv6 support, "::,0.0.0.0". So the server lis‐
109 tens on all configured IP addresses and interfaces by default.
110 MotdFile
112 Text file with the "message of the day" (MOTD). This message
113 will be shown to all users connecting to the server.
114 MotdPhrase
116 A simple Phrase (<256 chars) if you don't want to use a MOTD
117 file. If this variable is set, no MotdFile will be read at all
118 which can be handy if the daemon should run inside a chroot
119 directory.
120 ServerUID
122 User ID under which the server should run; you can use the name
123 of the user or the numerical ID.
124 Attention:
126 For this to work the server must have been started with root
127 privileges! In addition, the configuration and MOTD files must
128 be readable by this user, otherwise RESTART and REHASH won't
129 work!
130 ServerGID
132 Group ID under which the ngIRCd should run; you can use the name
133 of the group or the numerical ID.
134 Attention:
136 For this to work the server must have been started with root
137 privileges!
138 ChrootDir
140 A directory to chroot in when everything is initialized. It
141 doesn't need to be populated if ngIRCd is compiled as a static
142 binary. By default ngIRCd won't use the chroot() feature.
143 Attention:
145 For this to work the server must have been started with root
146 privileges!
147 PidFile
149 This tells ngIRCd to write its current process ID to a file.
150 Note that the pidfile is written AFTER chroot and switching the
151 user ID, i. e. the directory the pidfile resides in must be
152 writeable by the ngIRCd user and exist in the chroot directory
153 (if configured, see above).
154 PingTimeout
156 After <PingTimeout> seconds of inactivity the server will send a
157 PING to the peer to test whether it is alive or not. Default:
158 120.
159 PongTimeout
161 If a client fails to answer a PING with a PONG within <PongTime‐
162 out> seconds, it will be disconnected by the server. Default:
163 20.
164 ConnectRetry
166 The server tries every <ConnectRetry> seconds to establish a
167 link to not yet (or no longer) connected servers. Default: 60.
168 OperCanUseMode
170 Should IRC Operators be allowed to use the MODE command even if
171 they are not(!) channel-operators? Default: no.
172 OperServerMode
174 If OperCanUseMode is enabled, this may lead the compatibility
175 problems with Servers that run the ircd-irc2 Software. This
176 Option "masks" mode requests by non-chanops as if they were com‐
177 ing from the server. Default: no.
178 AllowRemoteOper
180 Are IRC operators connected to remote servers allowed to control
181 this server, e. g. are they allowed to use administrative com‐
182 mands like CONNECT, DIE, SQUIT, ... that affect this server?
183 Default: no.
184 PredefChannelsOnly
186 If enabled, no new channels can be created. Useful if you do not
187 want to have channels other than those defined in [Channel] sec‐
188 tions in the configuration file. Default: no.
189 NoDNS If set to true, ngIRCd will not make DNS lookups when clients
191 connect. If you configure the daemon to connect to other
192 servers, ngIRCd may still perform a DNS lookup if required.
193 Default: no.
194 NoIdent
196 If ngIRCd is compiled with IDENT support this can be used to
197 disable IDENT lookups at run time. Default: no.
198 ConnectIPv4
200 Set this to no if you do not want ngIRCd to connect to other IRC
201 servers using IPv4. This allows usage of ngIRCd in IPv6-only
202 setups. Default: yes.
203 ConnectIPv6
205 Set this to no if you do not want ngIRCd to connect to other irc
206 servers using IPv6. Default: yes.
207 MaxConnections
209 Maximum number of simultaneous in- and outbound connections the
210 server is allowed to accept (0: unlimited). Default: 0.
211 MaxConnectionsIP
213 Maximum number of simultaneous connections from a single IP
214 address that the server will accept (0: unlimited). This config‐
215 uration options lowers the risk of denial of service attacks
216 (DoS). Default: 5.
217 MaxJoins
219 Maximum number of channels a user can be member of (0: no
220 limit). Default: 10.
221 MaxNickLength
223 Maximum length of an user nick name (Default: 9, as in RFC
224 2812). Please note that all servers in an IRC network MUST use
225 the same maximum nick name length!
226
228 [Operator] sections are used to define IRC Operators. There may be more
229 than one [Operator] block, one for each local operator.
230 Name ID of the operator (may be different of the nick name).
232 Password
234 Password of the IRC operator.
235 Mask Mask that is to be checked before an /OPER for this account is
237 accepted. Example: nick!ident@*.example.com
238
240 Other servers are configured in [Server] sections. If you configure a
241 port for the connection, then this ngIRCd tries to connect to to the
242 other server on the given port (active); if not, it waits for the other
243 server to connect (passive).
244 ngIRCd supports "server groups": You can assign an "ID" to every server
246 with which you want this ngIRCd to link, and the daemon ensures that at
247 any given time only one direct link exists to servers with the same ID.
248 So if a server of a group won't answer, ngIRCd tries to connect to the
249 next server in the given group (="with the same ID"), but never tries
250 to connect to more than one server of this group simultaneously.
251 There may be more than one [Server] block.
253 Name IRC name of the remote server.
255 Host Internet host name (or IP address) of the peer.
257 Bind IP address to use as source IP for the outgoing connection.
259 Default is to let the operating system decide.
260 Port Port of the remote server to which ngIRCd should connect
262 (active). If no port is assigned to a configured server, the
263 daemon only waits for incoming connections (passive, default).
264 MyPassword
266 Own password for this connection. This password has to be con‐
267 figured as PeerPassword on the other server. Must not have ':'
268 as first character.
269 PeerPassword
271 Foreign password for this connection. This password has to be
272 configured as MyPassword on the other server.
273 Group Group of this server (optional).
275 Passive
277 Disable automatic connection even if port value is specified.
278 Default: false. You can use the IRC Operator command CONNECT
279 later on to create the link.
280 SSLConnect
282 Connect to the remote server using TLS/SSL. Default: false.
283 ServiceMask
285 Define a (case insensitive) mask matching nick names that should
286 be treated as IRC services when introduced via this remote
287 server. REGULAR SERVERS DON'T NEED this parameter, so leave it
288 empty (which is the default).
289 When you are connecting IRC services which mask as a IRC server
291 and which use "virtual users" to communicate with, for example
292 "NickServ" and "ChanServ", you should set this parameter to
293 something like "*Serv".
294
296 Pre-defined channels can be configured in [Channel] sections. Such
297 channels are created by the server when starting up and even persist
298 when there are no more members left.
299 Persistent channels are marked with the mode 'P', which can be set and
301 unset by IRC operators like other modes on the fly.
302 There may be more than one [Channel] block.
304 Name Name of the channel, including channel prefix ("#" or "&").
306 Topic Topic for this channel.
308 Modes Initial channel modes.
310 Key Sets initial channel key (only relevant if channel mode "k" is
312 set).
313 KeyFile
315 Path and file name of a "key file" containing individual channel
316 keys for different users. The file consists of plain text lines
317 with the following syntax (without spaces!):
318 user : nick : key
320 user and nick can contain the wildcard character "*".
322 key is an arbitrary password.
323 Valid examples are:
325 *:*:KeY
327 *:nick:123
328 ~user:*:xyz
329 The key file is read on each JOIN command when this channel has
331 a key (channel mode +k). Access is granted, if a) the channel
332 key set using the MODE +k command or b) one of the lines in the
333 key file match.
334 Please note:
336 The file is not reopened on each access, so you can modify and
337 overwrite it without problems, but moving or deleting the file
338 will have not effect until the daemon re-reads its configura‐
339 tion!
340 MaxUsers
342 Set maximum user limit for this channel (only relevant if chan‐
343 nel mode "l" is set).
344
346 It's wise to use "ngircd --configtest" to validate the configuration
347 file after changing it. See ngircd(8) for details.
348
350 Alexander Barton, ⟨mailto:alex@barton.de⟩
351 Homepage: ⟨http://ngircd.barton.de/⟩
352
354 ngircd(8)
355ngircd Dec 2008 ngircd.conf(5)