NAME

       ircd - The IRCD-Hybrid Internet Relay Chat server

SYNOPSIS

       ircd   [-configfile  filename]  [-dlinefile  filename]  [-klinefile  filename] [-xlinefile
              filename] [-logfile filename] [-pidfile filename] [-foreground] [-version]

DESCRIPTION

       ircd is the server (daemon) program for the Internet Relay Chat Program.  The  ircd  is  a
       server  in  that its function is to "serve" the client program irc(1) and other compatible
       programs with messages and commands. All commands and user messages are passed directly to
       the ircd for processing and relaying to other IRC servers.

       This  is ircd-hybrid, the highly modified (and hopefully improved) variant of the original
       ircd program by Jarkko Oikarinen.

OPTIONS

       -configfile filename
              Specifies the ircd.conf file to be used for  this  ircd.  The  option  is  used  to
              override  the  default  ircd.conf  given  at  compile  time.  By  default,  this is
              "etc/ircd.conf" within the prefix you installed the ircd in.

       -dlinefile filename

       -klinefile filename

       -xlinefile filename
              Specifies the database files to be used for D-lines (host bans), K-lines  (hostmask
              bans), and X-lines (gecos bans), which by default are within the var/lib/ directory
              of your installation prefix as dline.db, kline.db, and xline.db.

       -logfile filename
              Specifies an alternative logfile to be used than that specified in defaults.h

       -pidfile filename
              Specifies the file used by the ircd to store its process ID. The option is used  to
              override the default ircd.pid given at compile time.

       -foreground
              Makes ircd run in the foreground

       -version
              Makes ircd print its version, and exit.

USAGE

       If you plan to connect your ircd server to an existing IRC network, you will need to alter
       your local IRC configuration file (typically named "ircd.conf") so that it will accept and
       make connections to other IRC servers. This file contains the hostnames, IP addresses, and
       sometimes passwords for connections to other ircds around the world.

       The example reference.conf in the etc/ directory documents itself. Read  it  carefully  or
       you may expose a risk on your network simply by having your ircd running!

BOOTING THE SERVER

       It  is  sufficient  to  type  ircd  at  the  command  line  to  start ircd-hybrid into the
       background. If you wish to run ircd in the foreground (perhaps  for  debugging  purposes),
       use the -foreground parameter.

       The ircd-hybrid package in your distribution may ship with an rc-script which handles this
       for you. In Debian, it is /etc/init.d/ircd-hybrid.

EXAMPLE

       # ircd -configfile /usr/share/ircd/ircd.conf -logfile /var/log/ircd.log

       Starts  ircd  with  the  config  file  /usr/share/ircd/ircd.conf  and  with  a  log   file
       /var/log/ircd.log.  It  implicitly  forks  back  to  the  console  --  to prevent this use
       -foreground.

       Many of the above paths are hardcoded at compile time in the include/defaults.h  file,  so
       it may be convenient to edit these to suit your needs before you compile the ircd.

COPYRIGHT

       (c) 1988,1989 University of Oulu, Computing Center, Finland,

       (c) 1988,1989 Department of Information Processing Science, University of Oulu, Finland

       (c) 1988-1991 Jarkko Oikarinen

       (c) 1997-2016 ircd-hybrid development team

       For full COPYRIGHT see the COPYING file within the IRC source package.

BUGS

       If  you  find  a  bug  and you have a core file from ircd as a result, use a debugger like
       gdb(1) to process the core file and send a backtrace to bugs@ircd-hybrid.org.

AUTHORS

       irc2.8 and earlier: Jarkko Oikarinen, currently  jto@tolsun.oulu.fi.  See  doc/old/Authors
       for more credits.

       ircd-hybrid-8: the IRCD-Hybrid Project, bugs@ircd-hybrid.org.

       Manual   page   written   by   Jeff   Trim,  jtrim@orion.cair.du.edu,  later  modified  by
       jto@tolsun.oulu.fi.

       Updated     by     W.     Campbell,      wcampbel@botbay.net,      Edward      Brocklesby,
       ejb@klamath.uucp.leguin.org.uk,  and highly revised by Joshua Kwan (joshk@triplehelix.org)
       for the Debian distribution.