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/************************************************************************ * IRC - Internet Relay Chat, doc/MANUAL * Copyright (C) 1990, Karl Kleinpaste * * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by * the Free Software Foundation; either version 1, or (at your option) * any later version. * * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the * GNU General Public License for more details. * * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License * along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software * Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. */ Author: Karl Kleinpaste karl@cis.ohio-state.edu Date: 04 Apr 1989 Last modification: 05 Oct 1990 INTERNET RELAY CHAT a real-time conversational system * 1: Irc - replacement for talk(1) Irc is a functional replacement for and improvement to talk(1). Talk is an old, primitive, atrocious, minimalist sort of keyboard/screen conversation tool, using a grotesque, machine-dependent protocol. Irc does everything talk does, but with a better protocol, allowing more than 2 users to talk at once, with access across the aggregate Internet, and providing a whole raft of other useful features. * 2: Entering Internet Relay Chat There are two ways to enter Internet Relay Chat. If you are using the emacs lisp client, you need to load the client into your Emacs session and then M-x irc. If you are using the C client (easier for beginners) then type `irc2 -f'. (the -f option allows for flow control problems to be handled) If you wish to be known by a nickname which is not one's login name, type `irc2 -f chosen-nickname' instead. * 3: How much can be seen from here The universe - seriously. This is most formally called Internet Relay Chat. Server hosts are connected via a tree structure. The various servers relay control and message data among themselves to advertise the existence of other servers, users, and the channels and other resources being occupied by those users. * 4: Structure There is quite a lot of structure to the operation of irc, as compared to crufty old talk(1). Since so little could be done with talk(1), it needed little structure. But to keep track of people spread literally around the world (the system was written by Jarkko Oikarinen of Finland, usually seen on the system as `Wiz'), the structure is useful so that one can speak to exactly those people with whom one wishes to speak. ** 4.1: Nicknames All users of irc are known to the system by a `nickname.' By default, one's nickname is one's login name. Nickname clashes are not allowed; this is enforced by the servers. If one's intended nickname clashes with someone else as one enters chat, one will not be able to complete entry to irc until one changes one's nickname to something else. ** 4.2: Presence on a channel Fundamental to the operation of irc is the concept of a channel. All users are `on a channel' while inside irc. One enters the `null channel,' channel 0, first. One cannot send any messages while in channel 0 unless one has set up a private conversation in some way. The number of channels is essentially unlimited - whatever will fit in a 32-bit integer or a string of some ungodly length, that must start with a plus (+) sign. ** 4.3: Types of channels There are 4 channel types, with increasing levels of privacy and some degree of flexibility afforded them. *** 4.3.1: Public channels Public channels are channels 1-999. If one is on one of these channels, one can be seen by all other users. Anyone can notice users on a public channel and join such a channel's conversation. *** 4.3.2: Secret channels Channels 1000-up are called `secret.' This means that, although anyone can see that one is using chat, no one can tell what channel one is using unless one is already on that channel with oneself. Since the number of potential channels is in the billions, this is quite some security - all one gives away is the acknowledgement that one is using chat. *** 4.3.3: Hidden channels Negative channel numbers are called `hidden.' While one is on a hidden channel, no one who is not on one's channel with oneself can even see that one is there. One's name does not show up in a list of active users. The only indication of one's presence is that, when entering chat, all new users are told that there are "N users on P servers." If one checks on all users and finds less than N of them, one knows that others are hiding on negative channels. But a hidden channel user still cannot be found except by brute-force checking through all channels, a hopeless proposition in the face of 10-digit channel numbers. Security through obscurity finally means something. *** 4.3.4: String Channels Channels starting with a + are string channels. Their status (secret, invite-only, moderated, topic-limited, anonymous, person-number-limited, private, no-messages-to-channel) is set by the channel operator, who is the first person to join a string channel, or someone who has had channel operatorship bestowed on them by another channel operator. *** 4.4: Conversations not using channels It is possible to conduct conversations with others without using the formalized channel structure. Doing so requires that two people set themselves up for private conversation using special commands; see User Commands below. * 5: Screen/keyboard structure Chat is a full-screen utility. It takes over the screen, with the bulk of activity happening in the top N-2 lines, a modeline (vaguely emacs-like) on the next to last line, and one's input being entered on the last line. A very good version of client is the IRC-II client, avaliable on anonymous ftp from rvw2.hhs.ri.cmu.edu. ** 5.1: Keyboard input When typing commands at irc, one has a minimalist line-editing facility in an emacs style. That is, ^A moves the cursor to the beginning of the line, ^E goes to the end, ^D deletes the character under the cursor, ^K kills from the cursor to the end, and so on. ** 5.2: Screen activity Almost everything happens in the upper bulk of the screen. This includes both messages from other users, as well as the output of the control commands. Normal messages from other users appear with the originating nickname in <angle brackets>. Private messages arrive with the originating nickname in *asterisks*. Messages which one sends to everyone appear with a preceding "> " whereas messages which one sends privately to one other user appear with "-> *nickname*." Other output (e.g., /who commands, invitations from other users to join channels, and so forth) appears interspersed with other activity on the screen. * 6: Command structure Ordinary text typed at irc is sent as one's messages to everyone else on the same channel, modulo personal choices for private messages and the like. Commands to irc itself all begin with a command character, which is initially `/' but may be changed to any other character desired. Commands may in general be abbreviated to a unique prefix. ** 6.1: Leaving irc The way to get out of irc is to enter the /signoff command. "/si" is sufficient. Also equivalent are "/exit," "/bye," and perhaps "quit." ** 6.2: Getting help Type "/help." Follow the instructions. ** 6.3: User commands Other commands supported by irc are: help signoff who whois list topic join channel links msg invite summon users stats nick away info clear query cmdch date *** 6.3.1: help Information on how to use the rest of the system is available via /help. The modeline says so as well. *** 6.3.2: signoff /signoff exits chat. *** 6.3.3: who /who returns information on who is using chat. /who without arguments prints info on all users that can be seen. Users of public channels show up with their channel identified. Users of secret channels appear, but they are specified as being on a private, unspecified channel. Users of hidden channels do not appear at all. Giving a numeric argument to /who returns only those users of the specified channel. This still doesn't show users of secret or hidden channels unless one is actually on that channel. *** 6.3.4: whois This returns information about individual users. Say "/whois nickname" to get information on the login name and host from which the nicknamed user comes. *** 6.3.5: topic Channels can be given off-the-cuff "topics." Saying "/topic some string of text" will associate that topic with the current channel. *** 6.3.6: list /list will give lists of active channels, the number of users of each, and the topics therewith associated. Again, secret and hidden channels do not appear. *** 6.3.7: join & channel /join or /channel are the means to enter a channel. Give a numeric argument for the channel one wishes to enter. If this is a secret or hidden channel, /who commands will show oneself and any other users of one's channel. One's arrival on a channel is announced to the rest of the users already on that channel. Silent, anonymous "lurking" is not supported. *** 6.3.8: links /links lists the currently-active set of chat servers. Beware: this list can be quite long, and will undoubtedly get longer as chat gains wider use. As of 13 October, 1990, about 90 servers is typical. *** 6.3.9: msg A single message can be sent privately to a certain user with /msg. Type /msg nickname and the text to be sent. It will be sent privately to the indicated nickname. *** 6.3.10: invite If there is a user online to whom one wishes to speak, one may invite that user to join oneself on a certain channel. One types "/invite nickname" with an optional channel number. The receiving user gets a one-line message indicating the sender and the invitation. The receiving user is free to ignore the invitation, of course. *** 6.3.11: summon An extreme form of /invite is /summon. "/summon user@host" will request the user on the specified host to enter the chat system. Do not do this unless one is fairly sure that one's request will be welcome - it can be a fairly disturbing and sometimes irritating intrusion. In order for /summon to work, the specified host must be a connected chat server - one can't summon random people from around the Internet. *** 6.3.12: users /users will return a list of the users logged into one's system. With an optional hostname identifying a chat server host, the users logged into that system will be listed. *** 6.3.13: stats This command returns counts of various protocol operations of one's chat server. It is neither particularly useful nor interesting; it was, at one time, a debugging aid. *** 6.3.14: nick One can change nicknames by issuing "/nick new-nickname." All users on one's channel will be advised of the change. NOTE: If one enters chat with a nickname clash (e.g., one's login name is the same as someone else's, and the other user got there first), the system will not let one enter until one issues a /nick command with a unique nickname. *** 6.3.15: away Sometimes, one wishes to remain connected to the chat system, but one must be elsewhere for a while. One can issue an /away command with arbitrary text as argument, which will mark oneself as being away. If someone sends an away'd user a private message (via /msg or in a private session set up via /query; see below), the sender will get a message back from the server indicating the away-ness and the message which was set. *** 6.3.16: info /info returns information regarding the author and copyright of the chat system. *** 6.3.17: clear At times, one wishes that one's screen weren't so cluttered. /clear makes it so. *** 6.3.18: query This command is used to set up private communications `outside' the normal channel system. When one enters "/query nickname," the indicated nickname is set up as the sole recipient of anything which one types thereafter. Thus, if user A executes "/query B" and user B executes "/query A," they have set up a private communication between themselves. Significantly, it remains possible for them to stay on their respective channels, which need not be the same, and listen to whatever conversation is going on around them as well, though they cannot respond to that ambient conversation without leaving the private conversation they have set up. One leaves this private mode by issuing /query without arguments. *** 6.3.19: cmdch The `/' character may not be best for some people to use as their command character. It can be changed with "/cmdch <character>." ** 6.4: Operator commands The chat system administrators on each host have additional responsibilities and power over the configuration and operation of the servers. The commands to do so are delineated below. *** 6.4.1: oper Users who have the potential for operator privileges initially invoke those privileges by "/oper nickname password," where nickname is the nickname under which operation is intended, and password is the password known to the chat system for that nickname. *** 6.4.2: kill Obnoxious users had best beware the operator who's fast on the /kill command. "/kill nickname" blows any given nickname completely out of the chat system. Obnoxiousness is not to be tolerated. But operators do not use /kill lightly. *** 6.4.3: quote Raw access to the underlying server protocol is possible through the user of the /quote command. "/quote any text at all" is used to send direct, unmodified commands to the servers. This has a wide variety of uses, such as deliberately killing a local or remote chat daemon, invoking operator privileges for otherwise-operator-priv-forbidden users, and related tasks. It is, again, a very powerful operation, and not to be used lightly. * 7: Questions, problems, troubles? If you have problems, please contact Christopher Davis (ckd@cs.bu.edu) or Helen Rose (hrose@cs.bu.edu). Known as "ckd" and "Trillian" on irc, respectively. They will be able to assist you in whatever problems you are having with IRC. |