ngircd.conf - configuration file of ngIRCd

/etc/ngircd/ngircd.conf

ngircd.conf is the configuration file for ngircd(8) which you should adept to your local preferences and needs.

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 begins.

Sections contain parameters of the form

name = value

Any line beginning with a semicolon (';') or a hash ('#') character is treated as a comment and ignored.

The file format is line-based - that means, each newline-terminated line represents either a comment, a section name or a parameter.

Section and parameter names are not case sensitive.

The file can contain blocks of four types: [Global], [Operator], [Server], and [Channel].

In the [Global] section, there is the main configuration like the server name and the ports on which the server should be listening. IRC operators of this server are defined in [Operator] blocks. [Server] is the section where server links are configured. And [Channel] blocks are used to configure pre-defined ("persistent") IRC channels.

There can be more than one [Operator], [Server] and [Channel] sections per configuration file, but only one [Global] section.

The [Global] section is used to define the server main configuration, like the server name and the ports on which the server should be listening.

Name

Server name in the IRC network

Info

Info text of the server. This will be shown by WHOIS and LINKS requests for example.

AdminInfo1, AdminInfo2, AdminEMail

Information about the server and the administrator, used by the ADMIN command.

Ports

Ports on which the server should listen. There may be more than one port, separated with ','. Default: 6667.

Listen

The IP address on which the server should listen. Default is empty, so the server listens on all configured IP addresses and interfaces.

MotdFile

Text file with the "message of the day" (MOTD). This message will be shown to all users connecting to the server.

MotdPhrase

A simple Phrase (<256 chars) if you don't want to use a MOTD file. If it is set no MotdFile will be read at all.

ServerUID

User ID under which the server should run; you can use the name of the user or the numerical ID.

Attention:

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!

ServerGID

Group ID under which the ngIRCd should run; you can use the name of the group or the numerical ID.

Attention:

For this to work the server must have been started with root privileges!

ChrootDir

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.

Attention:

For this to work the server must have been started with root privileges!

PidFile

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).

PingTimeout

After <PingTimeout> seconds of inactivity the server will send a PING to the peer to test whether it is alive or not. Default: 120.

PongTimeout

If a client fails to answer a PING with a PONG within <PongTimeout> seconds, it will be disconnected by the server. Default: 20.

ConnectRetry

The server tries every <ConnectRetry> seconds to establish a link to not yet (or no longer) connected servers. Default: 60.

OperCanUseMode

Should IRC Operators be allowed to use the MODE command even if they are not(!) channel-operators? Default: no.

OperServerMode

If OperCanUseMode 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.

MaxConnections

Maximum number of simultaneous connection the server is allowed to accept (<=0: unlimited). Default: -1.

MaxConnectionsIP

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.

MaxJoins

Maximum number of channels a user can be member of (<=0: no limit). Default: 10.

[Operator] sections are used to define IRC Operators. There may be more than one [Operator] block, one for each local operator.

Name

ID of the operator (may be different of the nick name).

Password

Password of the IRC operator.

Mask

Mask that is to be checked before an /OPER for this account is accepted. Example: nick!ident@*.example.com

Other servers are configured in [Server] sections. If you configure a port for the connection, then this ngIRCd tries to connect to to the other server on the given port; if not, it waits for the other server to connect.

The ngIRCd allows "server groups": You can assign an "ID" to every server with which you want this ngIRCd to link. If a server of a group won't answer, the ngIRCd tries to connect to the next server in the given group. But ngIRCd never tries to connect to two servers with the same group ID.

There may be more than one [Server] block.

Name

IRC name of the server

Host

Internet host name of the peer

Port

Port of the server to which the ngIRCd should connect. If you assign no port the ngIRCd waits for incoming connections.

MyPassword

Own password for this connection. This password has to be configured as "PeerPassword" on the other server.

PeerPassword

Foreign password for this connection. This password has to be configured as "MyPassword" on the other server.

Group

Group of this server (optional).

Pre-defined channels can be configured in [Channel] sections. Such channels are created by the server when starting up and even persist when there are no more members left.

Persistent channels are marked with the mode 'P', which can be set and unset by IRC operators like other modes on the fly.

There may be more than one [Channel] block.

Name

Name of the channel

Topic

Topic for this channel

Modes

Initial channel modes.

It's wise to use "ngircd --configtest" to validate the configuration file after changing it. See ngircd(8) for details.

Alexander Barton, alex@barton.de

Homepage: http://arthur.ath.cx/~alex/ngircd/

ngircd(8)