Provided by: ngircd_25-3_amd64 bug

NAME

       ngircd.conf - configuration file of ngIRCd

SYNOPSIS

       /etc/ngircd/ngircd.conf

DESCRIPTION

       ngircd.conf  is  the configuration file of the ngircd(8) Internet Relay Chat (IRC) daemon,
       which must be customized to the local preferences and needs.

       Most variables can be modified while the ngIRCd daemon is already running: It will  reload
       its configuration file when a HUP signal or REHASH command is received.

FILE FORMAT

       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

       Empty lines and any line beginning with a semicolon (';') or a hash  ('#')  character  are
       treated  as  a  comment  and will be ignored. Leading and trailing whitespaces are trimmed
       before any processing takes place.

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

       Section and parameter names are not case sensitive.

       There  are  three types of variables: booleans, text strings, and numbers.  Boolean values
       are true if they are "yes", "true", or any non-null integer. Text  strings  are  used  1:1
       without  leading  and  following spaces; there is no way to quote strings. And for numbers
       all decimal integer values are valid.

       In addition, some string or numerical variables  accept  lists  of  values,  separated  by
       commas (",").

SECTION OVERVIEW

       The  file  can  contain  blocks  of  seven  types:  [Global],  [Limits], [Options], [SSL],
       [Operator], [Server], and [Channel].

       The main configuration of the server is stored in the [Global] section,  like  the  server
       name,  administrative  information  and the ports on which the server should be listening.
       The variables in this section have to be adjusted to the local requirements  most  of  the
       time,  whereas  all the variables in the other sections can be left on their defaults very
       often.

       Options in the [Limits] block are used to tweak  different  limits  and  timeouts  of  the
       daemon, like the maximum number of clients allowed to connect to this server. Variables in
       the [Options] section can be used to enable or disable specific features of  ngIRCd,  like
       support for IDENT, PAM, IPv6, and protocol and cloaking features. The [SSL] block contains
       all SSL-related configuration variables. These three sections are all optional.

       IRC operators of this server are defined in [Operator] blocks. Links to remote servers are
       configured  in  [Server]  sections. And [Channel] blocks are used to configure pre-defined
       ("persistent") IRC channels.

       There can be more than one [Operator], [Server] and [Channel]  section  per  configuration
       file, one for each operator, server, and channel. [Global], [Limits], [Options], and [SSL]
       sections can occur multiple times, too, but each variable overwrites itself, only the last
       assignment is relevant.

[GLOBAL]

       The  [Global]  section  is  used  to define the main configuration of the server, like the
       server name and the ports on which the server should be listening.  These settings  depend
       on  your  personal  preferences,  so  you  should  make  sure that they correspond to your
       installation and setup!

       Name (string; required)
              Server name in the IRC network. This is an individual name of the IRC server, it is
              not  related  to  the  DNS host name. It must be unique in the IRC network and must
              contain at least one dot (".") character.

       AdminInfo1, AdminInfo2, AdminEMail (string)
              Information about the server and the administrator, used by the ADMIN command. This
              information is not required by the server but by RFC!

       HelpFile (string)
              Text  file  which  contains  the ngIRCd help text. This file is required to display
              help texts when using the "HELP <cmd>" command.  Please note: Changes made to  this
              file   take  effect  when  ngircd  starts  up  or  is  instructed  to  re-read  its
              configuration file.

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

       Listen (list of strings)
              A  comma separated list of IP address on which the server should listen.  If unset,
              the defaults value is "0.0.0.0" or, if  ngIRCd  was  compiled  with  IPv6  support,
              "::,0.0.0.0".  So  the server listens on all configured IP addresses and interfaces
              by default.

       MotdFile (string)
              Text file with the "message of the day" (MOTD). This message will be shown  to  all
              users  connecting to the server. Please note: Changes made to this file take effect
              when ngircd starts up or is instructed to re-read its configuration file.

       MotdPhrase (string)
              A simple Phrase (<127 chars) if you don't want to use a MOTD file.

       Network (string)
              The name of the IRC network to which this server belongs. This  name  is  optional,
              should only contain ASCII characters, and can't contain spaces.  It is only used to
              inform clients. The default is empty, so no network name is announced to clients.

       Password (string)
              Global password for all users needed to connect  to  the  server.  The  default  is
              empty,  so  no  password is required. Please note: This feature is not available if
              ngIRCd is using PAM!

       PidFile (string)
              This tells ngIRCd to write its current process ID to a file.  Note  that  the  "PID
              file"  is  written  AFTER chroot and switching the user ID, therefore the directory
              the file resides in must be writable by the ngIRCd user and  exist  in  the  chroot
              directory (if configured, see above).

       Ports (list of numbers)
              Port  number(s)  on  which  the  server  should listen for unencrypted connections.
              There may be more than one port, separated with commas (","). Default: 6667.

       ServerGID (string or number)
              Group ID under which the ngIRCd daemon 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!

       ServerUID (string or number)
              User  ID under which the ngIRCd daemon 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!

[LIMITS]

       This section is used to define some limits and timeouts for this ngIRCd instance.  Default
       values should be safe, but it is wise to double-check :-)

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

       IdleTimeout (number)
              Number of seconds after which the whole daemon should shutdown when no  connections
              are  left  active after handling at least one client (0: never). This can be useful
              for testing or when ngIRCd is started using "socket  activation"  with  systemd(8),
              for example. Default: 0.

       MaxConnections (number)
              Maximum  number  of simultaneous in- and outbound connections the server is allowed
              to accept (0: unlimited). Default: 0.

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

       MaxNickLength (number)
              Maximum length of an user nickname (Default: 9, as in RFC 2812). Please  note  that
              all servers in an IRC network MUST use the same maximum nickname length!

       MaxPenaltyTime (number)
              Maximum penalty time increase in seconds, per penalty event. Set to -1 for no limit
              (the default), 0 to  disable  penalties  altogether.  ngIRCd  doesn't  use  penalty
              increases  higher  than 2 seconds during normal operation, so values greater than 1
              rarely make sense.

       MaxListSize (number)
              Maximum number of channels returned in response to a LIST command. Default: 100.

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

[OPTIONS]

       Optional features and configuration options to further tweak the behavior  of  ngIRCd  are
       configured  in  this  section. If you want to get started quickly, you most probably don't
       have to make changes here -- they are all optional.

       AllowedChannelTypes (string)
              List of allowed channel types (channel prefixes) for newly created channels on  the
              local  server.  By  default,  all  supported  channel  types are allowed.  Set this
              variable to the empty string to disallow creation of new channels by local  clients
              at all. Default: #&+

       AllowRemoteOper (boolean)
              If  this option is active, IRC operators connected to remote servers are allowed to
              control this local server using administrative commands, for example like  CONNECT,
              DIE, SQUIT etc. Default: no.

       ChrootDir (string)
              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!

       CloakHost (string)
              Set  this  hostname for every client instead of the real one. Default: empty, don't
              change. Use %x to add the hashed value of the original hostname.

       CloakHostModeX (string)
              Use this hostname for hostname cloaking on clients that have  the  user  mode  "+x"
              set, instead of the name of the server. Default: empty, use the name of the server.
              Use %x to add the hashed value of the original hostname

       CloakHostSalt (string)
              The Salt for cloaked hostname hashing. When undefined a random  hash  is  generated
              after each server start.

       CloakUserToNick (boolean)
              Set  every  clients'  user  name  and  real name to their nickname and hide the one
              supplied by the IRC client. Default: no.

       ConnectIPv4 (boolean)
              Set this to no if you do not want ngIRCd to connect to other IRC servers using  the
              IPv4 protocol. This allows the usage of ngIRCd in IPv6-only setups.  Default: yes.

       ConnectIPv6 (boolean)
              Set  this to no if you do not want ngIRCd to connect to other IRC servers using the
              IPv6 protocol.  Default: yes.

       DefaultUserModes (string)
              Default user mode(s) to set on new local clients. Please note that only  modes  can
              be  set  that  the  client could set using regular MODE commands, you can't set "a"
              (away) for example!  Default: none.

       DNS (boolean)
              If set to false, ngIRCd will not make any DNS lookups when clients connect.  If you
              configure  the  daemon  to connect to other servers, ngIRCd may still perform a DNS
              lookup if required.  Default: yes.

       Ident (boolean)
              If ngIRCd is compiled with IDENT support this can be used to disable IDENT  lookups
              at run time.  Users identified using IDENT are registered without the "~" character
              prepended to their user name.  Default: yes.

       IncludeDir (string)
              Directory containing configuration snippets (*.conf), that should be read in  after
              parsing the current configuration file.  Default: none.

       MorePrivacy (boolean)
              This  will  cause  ngIRCd  to  censor  user  idle  time,  logon time as well as the
              PART/QUIT messages (that are sometimes used to inform everyone about  which  client
              software  is  being  used).  WHOWAS  requests  are also silently ignored, and NAMES
              output doesn't list any clients for non-members.  This option is most  useful  when
              ngIRCd  is being used together with anonymizing software such as TOR or I2P and one
              does not wish to make it too easy to collect statistics on the users.  Default: no.

       NoticeBeforeRegistration (boolean)
              Normally ngIRCd doesn't send any messages to  a  client  until  it  is  registered.
              Enable  this  option  to  let  the daemon send "NOTICE *" messages to clients while
              connecting. Default: no.

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

       OperChanPAutoOp (boolean)
              Should IRC Operators get AutoOp (+o) in persistent (+P) channels?  Default: yes.

       OperServerMode (boolean)
              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; only enable it if you have
              ircd-irc2 servers in your IRC network.

       PAM (boolean)
              If ngIRCd is compiled with PAM support this can be used to disable all calls to the
              PAM  library  at  runtime;  all  users  connecting  without password are allowed to
              connect, all passwords given will fail.  Users identified using PAM are  registered
              without the "~" character prepended to their user name.  Default: yes.

       PAMIsOptional (boolean)
              When  PAM  is  enabled,  all  clients  are  required to be authenticated using PAM;
              connecting to the server without successful PAM authentication isn't possible.   If
              this  option  is  set, clients not sending a password are still allowed to connect:
              they won't become "identified" and  keep  the  "~"  character  prepended  to  their
              supplied  user  name.   Please  note:  To  make  some use of this behavior, it most
              probably isn't useful to enable "Ident", "PAM"  and  "PAMIsOptional"  at  the  same
              time,  because  you  wouldn't  be  able to distinguish between Ident'ified and PAM-
              authenticated users: both don't have a "~" character prepended to their  respective
              user names!  Default: no.

       PAMServiceName (string)
              When  PAM  is  enabled,  this  value  determines  the used PAM configuration.  This
              setting allows running multiple ngIRCd instances with different PAM  configurations
              on each instance. If you set it to "ngircd-foo", PAM will use /etc/pam.d/ngircd-foo
              instead of the default /etc/pam.d/ngircd.  Default: ngircd.

       RequireAuthPing (boolean)
              Let ngIRCd send an "authentication PING" when a new client connects,  and  register
              this client only after receiving the corresponding "PONG" reply.  Default: no.

       ScrubCTCP (boolean)
              If  set  to  true, ngIRCd will silently drop all CTCP requests sent to it from both
              clients and servers. It will also not forward CTCP requests to any  other  servers.
              CTCP requests can be used to query user clients about which software they are using
              and which versions said software is. CTCP can also be used  to  reveal  clients  IP
              numbers.  ACTION  CTCP  requests are not blocked, this means that /me commands will
              not be dropped, but please note  that  blocking  CTCP  will  disable  file  sharing
              between users!  Default: no.

       SyslogFacility (string)
              Syslog  "facility"  to  which  ngIRCd should send log messages. Possible values are
              system dependent, but most probably "auth", "daemon", "user" and  "local1"  through
              "local7"  are  possible  values; see syslog(3).  Default is "local5" for historical
              reasons, you probably want to change this to "daemon", for example.

       WebircPassword (string)
              Password required for using the WEBIRC command used by some Web-to-IRC gateways. If
              not set or empty, the WEBIRC command can't be used.  Default: not set.

[SSL]

       All SSL-related configuration variables are located in the [SSL] section. Please note that
       this whole section is only recognized by ngIRCd when it is compiled with support  for  SSL
       using OpenSSL or GnuTLS!

       CertFile (string)
              SSL Certificate file of the private server key.

       CipherList (string)
              Select   cipher   suites   allowed  for  SSL/TLS  connections.   This  defaults  to
              "HIGH:!aNULL:@STRENGTH:!SSLv3"  (OpenSSL)  or  "SECURE128:-VERS-SSL3.0"   (GnuTLS).
              Please  see  'man 1ssl ciphers' (OpenSSL) and 'man 3 gnutls_priority_init' (GnuTLS)
              for details.

       DHFile (string)
              Name of the Diffie-Hellman Parameter file. Can be  created  with  GnuTLS  "certtool
              --generate-dh-params" or "openssl dhparam". If this file is not present, it will be
              generated on startup when ngIRCd was compiled with GnuTLS support  (this  may  take
              some  time).  If  ngIRCd was compiled with OpenSSL, then (Ephemeral)-Diffie-Hellman
              Key Exchanges and several Cipher Suites will not be available.

       KeyFile (string)
              Filename of SSL Server Key to be used for SSL connections.  This  is  required  for
              SSL/TLS support.

       KeyFilePassword (string)
              OpenSSL only: Password to decrypt the private key file.

       Ports (list of numbers)
              Same  as  Ports , except that ngIRCd will expect incoming connections to be SSL/TLS
              encrypted. Common port numbers for SSL-encrypted IRC are 6669  and  6697.  Default:
              none.

[OPERATOR]

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

       Name (string)
              ID of the operator (may be different of the nickname).

       Password (string)
              Password of the IRC operator.

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

[SERVER]

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

       ngIRCd  supports  "server  groups":  You can assign an "ID" to every server with which you
       want this ngIRCd to link, and the daemon ensures that at any given time  only  one  direct
       link  exists  to servers with the same ID.  So if a server of a group won't answer, ngIRCd
       tries to connect to the next server in the given group (="with the same  ID"),  but  never
       tries to connect to more than one server of this group simultaneously.

       There may be more than one [Server] block.

       Name (string)
              IRC name of the remote server.

       Host (string)
              Internet host name (or IP address) of the peer.

       Bind (string)
              IP  address  to use as source IP for the outgoing connection. Default is to let the
              operating system decide.

       Port (number)
              Port of the remote server to which ngIRCd should connect (active).  If no  port  is
              assigned  to  a  configured  server, the daemon only waits for incoming connections
              (passive, default).

       MyPassword (string)
              Own  password  for  this  connection.  This  password  has  to  be  configured   as
              PeerPassword on the other server. Must not have ':' as first character.

       PeerPassword (string)
              Foreign  password  for  this  connection.  This  password  has  to be configured as
              MyPassword on the other server.

       Group (number)
              Group of this server (optional).

       Passive (boolean)
              Disable automatic connection even if port value is specified. Default: false.   You
              can use the IRC Operator command CONNECT later on to create the link.

       SSLConnect (boolean)
              Connect to the remote server using TLS/SSL. Default: false.

       ServiceMask (string)
              Define a (case insensitive) list of masks matching nicknames that should be treated
              as IRC services when introduced via this remote server, separated by commas  (",").
              REGULAR  SERVERS  DON'T  NEED  this  parameter,  so  leave  it  empty (which is the
              default).

              When you are connecting IRC services which mask as  a  IRC  server  and  which  use
              "virtual  users"  to  communicate  with, for example "NickServ" and "ChanServ", you
              should  set  this  parameter  to  something  like  "*Serv",  "*Serv,OtherNick",  or
              "NickServ,ChanServ,XyzServ".

[CHANNEL]

       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 (string)
              Name of the channel, including channel prefix ("#" or "&").

       Topic (string)
              Topic for this channel.

       Modes (string)
              Initial channel modes.

       Key (string)
              Sets initial channel key (only relevant if channel mode "k" is set).

       KeyFile (string)
              Path and file name of a "key file" containing individual channel keys for different
              users. The file consists of plain text lines with  the  following  syntax  (without
              spaces!):

                     user : nick : key

              user and nick can contain the wildcard character "*".
              key is an arbitrary password.

              Valid examples are:

                     *:*:KeY
                     *:nick:123
                     ~user:*:xyz

              The key file is read on each JOIN command when this channel has a key (channel mode
              +k). Access is granted, if a) the channel key set using the MODE +k command  or  b)
              one of the lines in the key file match.

              Please note:
              The file is not reopened on each access, so you can modify and overwrite it without
              problems, but moving or deleting the file will have not effect until the daemon re-
              reads its configuration!

       MaxUsers (number)
              Set maximum user limit for this channel (only relevant if channel mode "l" is set).

HINTS

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

AUTHOR

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

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

SEE ALSO

       ngircd(8)