IRC

The BBS has an IRC server, and its channels are the chat rooms. Someone in HexChat, irssi, WeeChat or any other IRC client talks with callers on telnet, SSH, 3270s, the web terminal and the API. IRC is just one more way into the same chat.

[irc]
address = :6667
tls_address = :6697
tls_cert = /etc/bbs/tls.crt
tls_key = /etc/bbs/tls.key

Setting	Default	What it sets
address	:6667	plain IRC (none: TLS only)
tls_address	(none)	IRC over TLS, with tls_cert and tls_key
server_name	the host's name	the server's name to clients
network	the BBS's name	the NETWORK clients show
max_clients	64	connections at once
max_per_ip	4	from one address
service	BBSServ	the services bot's nick
chanserv	ChanServ	the rooms' bot's nick
chanserv_expire	90	days a registered room may go unused before it is dropped (0: never)

bbs check warns about a plain address without a tls_address, because passwords then travel in the clear. The deny list and bans in [security] apply as they do everywhere else.

Logging in

Every IRC user is a BBS user, logged in with their BBS name and password in one of these ways:

• SASL PLAIN, which most clients offer as "SASL" or "account login";
• the server password (PASS), set to name:password, or to the password alone with your nick as your name.

Failed logins count towards the throttle and the hack log, like any other login. The user's access level must allow chat.

Your nick is your BBS name. Spaces and dots become underscores, so Carol Ann is Carol_Ann. A client that asked for another nick is told of the change, and NICK can't change it later.

Each connection is a node, shown in Who's online as irc. Others can send it node messages, and the sysop can throw it off like any caller.

Channels

#ROOM is the room ROOM: #main is the main room, and any other name (letters, digits and -, up to 20) makes a room. One client can be in up to 20 at once. Joining shows the room's last 20 lines.

On IRC	On the BBS
PRIVMSG #room :text	a line in the room
/me waves (CTCP ACTION)	* alice waves
PRIVMSG nick :text	a message to that user's nodes; to one not on, kept for them (301 says so)
a caller's node message	a PRIVMSG to you
NAMES, WHO, WHOIS	who is in a room, on which node and how (bob!telnet@node3)
LIST	the rooms in use
a page, mail, a notice	a NOTICE from the server

In a room no one has registered, sysops show as channel operators (@) and no one else does. A user can register a room with ChanServ: then its access list says who is opped or voiced on coming in, and its ops can MODE +o/-o/+v/-v, KICK and set the topic. Permanent and registered rooms have topics; others don't. Colours and other formatting are stripped from lines going into the rooms. A registered room's ops set its channel modes.

Channel modes

A registered room has Solanum's channel modes, set by its ops with MODE (/mode in the BBS's chat). A room nobody has registered is +Ccnt, and its modes can't change. Like ops and bans, the modes are the room's, so a caller on the text BBS, AOL or Yahoo is kept out or kept quiet just as an IRC user is, and they are kept across restarts.

Mode	What it does
o, v	an operator; a voice
n	no lines from outside the room (on when registered)
t	only ops set the topic (on when registered)
s	secret: not in LIST or the BBS's room lists, its members not shown, to those outside
p	private: no KNOCK
m	moderated: only ops and voices talk
i	invite only: in by INVITE, an I mask, or the i flag
k KEY	a key to come in: JOIN #room KEY, or /join room KEY
l N	at most N users (someone on two nodes counts once)
z	lines that m, b or q stop go to the ops instead
g	anyone in the room may INVITE
T	no NOTICEs to the room
b MASK	banned: kept out, and quiet if in
q MASK	quieted: may not talk
e MASK	an exception to b and q
I MASK	an exception to i
c, C	colours stripped, CTCPs dropped: always on

A mask is nick!user@host, where a BBS user is Nick!how@nodeN (how they came: irc, telnet, ssh...): +b alice bans alice!*@*, which, nicks being BBS names, is alice's account, and +q *!telnet@* quiets everyone on telnet. Extbans: $a matches every account (so $~a no one of ours), $a:MASK an account by name, $o sysops. Each list holds 100.

An invite lasts an hour, gets past i, k and l, and is used up by coming in. KNOCK #room [why] asks the ops of a room that is invite only, keyed or full to let you in, once a minute. Sysops and a room's founder come in always, and sysops, ops and voices always talk; someone with the e flag isn't kept out by bans, and one with i gets past i, k and l. Modes beside these (f, j, S, P, L...) are refused.

A sysop is told of a page by a NOTICE. Joining #sysop-N answers the page from node N, just as /answer does in the BBS's chat.

Messages kept for you while you were away come as PRIVMSGs once you log in, each with its time: as server-time if your client takes it, otherwise at the start of the line.

The server offers the IRCv3 capabilities sasl, server-time (the time of each line, the history replayed on join included), echo-message, multi-prefix and userhost-in-names.

Permanent rooms

A room closes when its last caller leaves, unless the sysop makes it permanent. BBSServ holds a permanent room open, empty or not and across restarts. It sits in the channel as an operator (@BBSServ in NAMES and WHO), and LIST and BBSServ's ROOMS show the room with its topic even when no one is in it. Permanent rooms are the BBS's own: on the text BBS and 3270s too, /rooms lists them with their topics, and coming in shows the topic.

Command	What it does
/msg BBSServ ROOMS	the permanent rooms (anyone)
/msg BBSServ ROOM ADD #room [topic]	make a room permanent (the sysop)
/msg BBSServ ROOM TOPIC #room [topic]	set its topic, or clear it
/msg BBSServ ROOM DEL #room	permanent no more: it goes with its last caller
TOPIC #room :text	the sysop sets the topic from the channel
/topic [text]	in the BBS's chat: the room's topic; the sysop sets it
bbs room list, add, topic, del	the same from the shell

When a topic is set, everyone in the room is told: on IRC as a TOPIC from BBSServ, on the BBS as a line ("sysop set the topic: ..."). Changes made with the bbs command reach a running BBS at its next start; those made through BBSServ apply at once.

ChanServ

ChanServ looks after registered rooms: who founded each, and who has which flags there. A room is registered by someone in it, who becomes its founder and is opped. Like everything about rooms, it holds for every way in: a caller on the text BBS, AOL, Yahoo or AIM is opped, voiced, kept out or put out just as an IRC user is. Talk to it with /msg ChanServ COMMAND or /CS COMMAND; on the text BBS, /cs COMMAND in chat.

Command	Needs	What it does
REGISTER #room	to be in it	makes the room yours
DROP #room	the founder	unregisters it
INFO #room		its founder, when registered and last used, settings, topic
FLAGS #room	A	the access list
FLAGS #room nick +flags-flags	f	changes an entry; a template (VOP, AOP, SOP, FOUNDER) sets it, -* takes it off
OP, DEOP #room [nick ...]	o	ops you, or them
VOICE, DEVOICE #room [nick ...]	v	voices you, or them
TOPIC #room [text]	t	sets the topic
INVITE #room	i	invites you in (past +i, +k and +l, for the hour)
GETKEY #room	i	tells you the key
KICK #room nick [reason]	r	puts one out
BAN, UNBAN #room nick	r	keeps one out (b on their entry), or lets them in again
CLEAR #room USERS [reason]	R	puts everyone out but you
SET #room FOUNDER nick	the founder	gives the room away
SET #room GUARD, TOPICLOCK, PRIVATE ON|OFF	s	ChanServ holds the room open; only t sets the topic; INFO shows little to those without A
SET #room DESCRIPTION, URL, ENTRYMSG [text]	s	the room's texts; the entry message is told to everyone coming in
LIST		the rooms you have flags in (a sysop's LIST ALL: every room)
WHY #room [nick]		what gives you (or them) their flags

The flags are Atheme's:

Flag		Flag
v	voice through ChanServ	V	voiced on coming in
o	ops through ChanServ	O	opped on coming in
t	sets the topic	i	INVITE, GETKEY; gets past +i, +k, +l
r	KICK, BAN, UNBAN	R	CLEAR
f	changes the access list	s	SET
A	sees the access list	e	not kept out by a ban
b	banned: kept out	F	founder: everything

Templates: VOP is +AV, AOP +AOiortv, SOP +AORefiorstv, and FOUNDER +AFORefiorstv. Someone with f gives or takes only flags they have; F is a founder's to give. A sysop acts as a founder in every room, but is opped in a registered one only as anyone is. Only a sysop puts a sysop out, and no one but a sysop puts out the founder.

Page rooms (sysop-N) and rooms a linked network or MRC carries can't be registered: the network's own services look after those. A permanent room is registered by the sysop alone, who can then give it away with SET FOUNDER. A room no one on its access list has come into for chanserv_expire days is dropped. When a founder's account is deleted, the room goes to the oldest entry with F, else with f, else the oldest entry; with no one left, it is dropped.

BBSServ

BBSServ is a services bot, like an IRC network's NickServ, for your BBS account. Everyone on the server is logged in, so it always acts on the account of whoever asks. Talk to it with /msg BBSServ COMMAND, or with its own command, /BS COMMAND (/BBSSERV also works). Its answers come as notices.

Command	What it does
HELP [command]	the commands, or how to use one
INFO	your account: level, where you call from, alias, signature, settings, unread mail, keys, tokens, new scan
SET LOCATION, ABOUT, ALIAS value	your profile's fields (no value, or -, clears one)
SET SIGNATURE line | line	up to three lines under what you write
SET ANSI, UTF8, SIXEL, RIP, WIDTH, EDITOR, EXPERT value	your terminal and menu settings; cleared, a terminal setting goes back to what your terminal says
PASSWD now new	your password
SCAN, SCAN ON|OFF area|ALL	the areas of your new scan (and of your QWK packets)
KEYS, KEYS ADD password key, KEYS DEL n	your SSH keys. Adding one asks for your password, since a key opens your account
TOKENS, TOKENS REVOKE id	your HTTP API tokens
ROOMS; ROOM ADD|DEL|TOPIC #room	the permanent rooms; making them (the sysop)
FRIENDS, FRIENDS ADD|DEL nick	your friends list, and who on it is on
HISTORY, HISTORY nick [lines]	those you have talked with; your last lines with one (50, up to 500)

The same checks apply as on the BBS: an alias that is someone's name is refused, and so is a setting's wrong value. A wrong password (KEYS ADD, PASSWD) counts as a failed login. CTCP VERSION, PING and TIME are answered, and notices sent to the bot are ignored. A user whose BBS name is the bot's nick can't be reached by nick over IRC.

service = Account in [irc] gives the bot another nick, and its own command becomes /ACCOUNT.

Ergo

The IRC protocol's parts come from ergo:

• messages are read and written by ergo's irc-go library (ircmsg, ircreader, and ircfmt for stripping formatting);
• the numerics and the ISUPPORT list builder are taken from ergo's source, under its MIT license (internal/ircd/LICENSE.ergo);
• BBSServ's framework (its command table, parameters, HELP, CTCP) is adapted from ergo's services (irc/services.go), on which its NickServ and ChanServ run.

Its tests also use irc-go's client (ircevent).

See also: Chat and paging, IRC server linking, MRC, Security