ctcp.doc

From frechett@ucsu.Colorado.EDU Fri Jul 17 15:56:07 1992
To: hrose@eff.org
Subject: CTCP stuff..
Date: Mon, 13 Jul 92 09:48:54 -0600
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From: Klaus Zeuge  <sojge@Minsk.DoCS.UU.SE>
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To: irc-dev@coke.CS.Berkeley.EDU
Subject: CTCP -- please comment


Sometime in the fall last year I started writing on a paper to
summerize the usage of CTCP (client to client protocoll), quoting etc.
This is it.

It needs proofreading, and suggestions about what's good and bad. It's
not complete either.

Maybe it's a start.

- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
sojge@docs.uu.se Sun Oct 27 17:27:59 1991			-*-Text-*-

The client-to-client protocol (CTCP) *13*

This client-to-client protocol is meant to be used as a way to
	1/	in general send structered data (such as graphics,
		voice and different font information) between users
		clients, and in a more specific case
	2/	place a query to a users client and getting an answer.

As of now, only a simple text encryption scheme is implemented in
category 1, and a few query/reply pairs in category 2. This paper will
concentrate on the latter category.

*****************************************
BASIC PROTOCOL BETWEEN CLIENTS AND SERVER
*****************************************

Characters between client and server are 8 bit bytes (also known as
octets) and can have nummeric values from octal 0 up to 0377 inclusive
(0 up to 255 decimal). Some characters are special.

	CHARS	::= '\000' .. '\377' 
	NUL	::= '\000'
	NL	::= '\n'
	CR	::= '\r'

A line sent to a server, or received from a server (here called "low
level messages") consist or zero or more octets (expcept NUL, NL or
CR) with either a NL or CR appended.

	L-CHARS	::= '\001' .. '\011' | '\013' | '\014' |
		    '\016' .. '\377'
	L-LINE	::= L-CHARS* CR LF

A NUL is never sent over to the server.

*****************
LOW LEVEL QUOTING
*****************

As messages to and from servers can't contain NUL, NL and CR, but it
still might be desirable to send ANY character (in so called "middle
level messages") between clients, those three characters have to be
quoted. Therefor a quote character is needed. Of course, the quote
character itself has to be quoted too.

	M-QUOTE	::= '\020'

(Ie a CNTRL/P).

When sending a middle level message, if finding a character being one
of NUL, NL, CR or M-QUOTE, that character is replaced by a two
character sequence according to the following table.

	NUL	--> M-QUOTE '0'
	NL	--> M-QUOTE 'n'
	CR	--> M-QUOTE 'r'
	M-QUOTE	--> M-QUOTE M-QUOTE

When receiving a low level message, and seeing a M-QUOTE, look at the
next character, and replace those two according to the following table
to get the corresponding middle level message.

	M-QUOTE '0'	--> NUL
	M-QUOTE 'n'	--> NL
	M-QUOTE 'r'	--> CR
	M-QUOTE M-QUOTE	--> M-QUOTE

If the character following M-QUOTE isn't any of the listed characters,
that is an error, so drop the M-QUOTE character from the message,
optionally warning the user about it. Ie, a string 'x' M-QUOTE 'y' 'z'
>from a server dequotes into 'x 'y' 'z'.

Before low level quoting, a message to the server (and in the opposite
direction: after low level dequoting, a message from the server) looks
like

	M-LINE	::= CHARS*

***********
TAGGED DATA
***********

To send both extended data and query/reply pairs between clients, an
extended data format is needed. The extended data are sent in the text
part of a middle level message (and efter low level quoting of course
also in the text part of the low level message).

To send extended data inside the text, we need some way to delimit it.
This is done by starting and ending extended data with a delimiter
character.

	X-DELIM	::= '\001'

As both the starting and ending delimiter looks the same, every second
X-DELIM is called the odd, and every second the even delimiter. The
first one in a message is odd.

When having being quoted (and conversly, before having been dequoted)
any number of characters of any kind except X-DELIM can be used in the
extended data, ie inside the X-DELIM pair.

	X-CHR	::= '\000' | '\002' .. '\377'

An extended message is either empty (ie nothing between the odd and
even delimiter), has one or more non-space characters (ie any
character but '\040') or has one or more non-space characters followed
by a space followed by zero or more characters.

	X-N-AS	::= '\000'  | '\002' .. '\037' | '\041' .. '\377'
	SPC	::= '\040'
	X-MSG	::= | X-N-AS+ | X-N-AS+ SPC X-CHR*

The first characters up until the first SPC (or if no SPC, all of the
X-MSG) is called the tag of the extended message. The tag is used to
know what kind of extended data is used.

The tag can be *any* strings of characters and if the happen to be
letters, they are case sensitive, so upper and lower case matters.

Extended data is only valid in PRIVMSG and NOTICE commands. If the
extended data is a reply to a query, it is sent in a NOTICE, else it
is sent in a PRIVMSG. Both PRIVMSG and NOTICE to a user and to a
channel may contain extended data.

The text part of a PRIVMSG or NOTICE might contain zero or more
extended messages, intermixed with zero or more chunks of non-extended
data.

******************
CTCP LEVEL QUOTING
******************

In order to be able to send the delimiter X-DELIM inside an extended
data message, it has to be quoted. This introduces another quote
character (which should differ from the low level quote character so
it won't have to be quoted yet again).

	X-QUOTE	::=	'\134'

(Ie a back slash).

When quoting on the CTCP level, only actual CTCP message (ie extended
data, queries, replies) are quoted. This enables users to actually
send X-QUOTE characters at will. The following translations should be
used

	X-DELIM	--> X-QUOTE 'a'
	X-QUOTE	--> X-QUOTE X-QUOTE

and when dequoting on the CTCP level, only CTCP messages are dequoted
whereby the following table is used.

	X-QUOTE 'a'	--> X-DELIM
	X-QUOTE X-QUOTE	--> X-QUOTE

If a X-QUOTE is seen with another the character following it than the
ones above, that's an error and the X-QUOTE character should be
dropped. Ie the CTCP-quoted string 'x' X-QUOTE 'y' 'z' becomes after
dequoting the three character string 'x' 'y' 'z'.

If a X-DELIM is found outside a CTCP message, the message will contain
the X-DELIM. (This should only happen with the last X-DELIM when there
are an odd number of X-DELIM's in a middle level message.

***************
QUTING EXAMPLES
***************

There are basically three levels of messages. The highest level (H) is
the text on the user-to-client level. The middle layer (M) is on the
level where CTCP quoting has been applied to the H-level message. The
lowest level (L) is on the client-to-server level, where low level
quoting has been applied to the M-level message.

The following relations are true, with lowQuote(message) being a
function doing the low level quoting, lowDequote(message) the low
level dequoting, ctcpQuote(message) the CTCP level quoting,
ctcpDequote(message) the CTCP level dequoting, and
ctcpExtract(message) the removing of all CTCP messages from a message.
The operator || denotes string concatenation.

	L = lowQuote(M)
	M = ctcpDequote(L)

	M = ctcpQuote(H)
	H = ctcpDequote(ctcpExtract(M))

When sending CTCP message imbedded in normal text

	M = ctcpQuote(H1) || '\001' || ctcpQuote(X) || '\001' || ctcpQuote(H2)

Of course, there might be zero or more normal text messages and zero
or more CTCP messages mixed.

- --- Example 1 -----------------------------------------------------------------

A user (called actor) wanting to send the string

	Hi there!\nHow are you?

to user victim, ie a message where the user has entered an inline
newline (how this is done, if at all, differs from client to client),
will result internaly in the client in the command

	PRIVMSG victim :Hi there!\nHow are you? \K?

which will be CTCP quoted into

	PRIVMSG victim :Hi there!\nHow are you? \\K?

which in turn will be low level quoted into

	PRIVMSG victim :Hi there!\020nHow are you? \\K?

and sent to the server after appending a newline at the end.

This will arrive on victim's side as

	:actor PRIVMSG victim :Hi there!\020nHow are you? \\K?

(where the \\K would look similar to OK in SIS D47 et al) which after
low level dequoting becomes

	:actor PRIVMSG victim :Hi there!\nHow are you? \\K?

and after CTCP dequoting

	:actom PRIVMSG victim :Hi there!\nHow are you? \K?

How this is displayed differs from client to client, but it suggested
that a line break should occour between the words "there" and "How".

- --- Example 2 -----------------------------------------------------------------

If actor's client wants to send the string "Emacs wins" this might
become the string "\n\t\big\020\001\000\\:" when being
SED-encrypted using some key, so the client starts by CTCP-quoting
this string into the string "\n\t\big\020\\a\000\\\\:" and
builds the M-level command

	PRIVMSG victim :\001SED \n\t\big\020\\a\000\\\\:\001

which after low level quoting becomes

	PRIVMSG victim :\001SED \020n\t\big\020\020\\a\0200\\\\:\001

which will be sent to the server, with a newline tacked on.

On victim's side, the string

	:actor PRIVMSG victim :\001SED \020n\t\big\020\020\\a\0200\\\\:\001

will be received from the server and low level dequoted into

	:actor PRIVMSG victim :\001SED \n\t\big\020\\a\000\\\\:\001

whereafter the string "\n\t\big\020\\a\000\\\\:" will be extracted
and first CTCP dequoted into "\n\t\big\020\001\000\\:" and then
SED decoded getting back "Emacs wins" when using the same key.

- --- Example 3 -----------------------------------------------------------------

If the user actor want's to query the USERINFO of user victim, and is
in the middle of a conversation, the client may decide to tack on
USERINFO request on a normal text message. Then the client wants to
send the textmessage "Say hi to Ron\n\t/actor" and the CTCP request
"USERINFO" to victim.

	PRIVMSG victim :Say hi to Ron\n\t/actor

plus

	USERINFO

which after CTCP quoting become

	PRIVMSG victim :Say hi to Ron\n\t/actor

plus

	USERINFO

which gets merged into

	PRIVMSG victim :Say hi to Ron\n\t/actor\001USERINFO\001

and after low level quoting

	PRIVMSG victim :Say hi to Ron\020n\t/actor\001USERINFO\001

and sent off to the server.

On victim's side, the message

	:actor PRIVMSG victim :Say hi to Ron\020n\t/actor\001USERINFO\001

arrives. This gets low level dequoted into

	:actor PRIVMSG victim :Say hi to Ron\n\t/actor\001USERINFO\001

and thereafter split up into 

	:actor PRIVMSG victim :Say hi to Ron\n\t/actor

plus

	USERINFO

After CTCP dequoting both, the message

	:actor PRiVMSG victim :Say hi to Ron\n\t/actor

gets displayed, while the CTCP command

	USERINFO

gets replied to. The reply might be

	USERINFO :CS student\n\001test\001

which gets CTCP quoted into

	USERINFO :CS student\n\\atest\\a

and sent in a NOTICE as it is a reply:

	NOTICE actor :\001USERINFO :CS student\n\\atest\\a\001

and low level quoted into

	NOTICE actor :\001USERINFO :CS student\020n\\atest\\a\001

after which is it sent to victim's server.

When arriving on actor's side, the message

	:victim NOTICE actor :\001USERINFO :CS student\020n\\atest\\a\001

gets low level dequoted into

	:victim NOTICE actor :\001USERINFO :CS student\n\\atest\\a\001

At this point, all CTCP replies get extracted, giving 1 CTCP reply and
no normal NOTICE

	USERINFO :CS student\n\\atest\\a

The remaining reply gets CTCP dequoted into

	USERINFO :CS student\n\001test\001

and presumly displayed to user actor.

*******************
KNOWN EXTENDED DATA
*******************

<To be written by msa? Should include something about X-DELIM X-DELIM,
ie CTCP message with empty tag, should translate into just X-DELIM in
message.> 

*************************
KNOWN REQUEST/REPLY PAIRS
*************************

A request/reply pair is sent between the two clients in two phases.
The first phase is to send the request. This is done with a "privmsg"
command (either to a nick or to a channel -- it doesn't matter).

The second phase is to send a reply. This is done with a "notice"
command.

The known request/reply pairs are for the following commands.

CLIENTINFO	- Dynamic master index of what a client knows
ERRMSG		- Used when an error needs to be replied with
FINGER		- Mainly used to get a users idle time
USERINFO	- A string set by the user (never client coder)
VERSION		- The version and type of the client

FINGER
This is used to get some data stored locally at a users system about
the user and also the idle time of the user. The request is in a
"privmsg" and looks like

	\001FINGER\001

while the reply is in a "notice" and looks like

	\001FINGER :#\001

where the # denotes contains information about the users real name,
login name at clientmachine and idle time and is of type X-N-AS.

VERSION
This is used to get information about the name of the other client and
the version of it. The request in a "privmsg" is simply

	\001VERSION\001

and the reply

	\001VERSION #:#:#\001

where the first # denotes the name of the client, the second # denotes
the version of the client, the third # the enviroment the client is
running in.

Using

	X-N-CLN	::= '\000' .. '\071' | '\073' .. '\377' 

the client name is a string of type X-N-CLN saying things like "Kiwi"
or "ircII", the version saying things like "5.2" or "2.1.5c", the
enviroment saying things like "GNU Emacs 18.57.19 under SunOS 4.1.1 on
Sun SLC" or "Compiled with gcc -ansi under Ultrix 4.0 on VAX-11/730".


SOURCE
This is used to get information about where to get a copy of the
client. The request in a "privmsg" is simply

	\001SOURCE\001

and the reply is zero or more CTCP replies of the form

	\001SOURCE #:#:#\001

followed by an end marker

	\001SOURCE\001

where the first # is the name of an Internet host where the client can
be gotten from with anonymous FTP the second # a directory names, and
the third # a space separated list of files to be gotten from that
directory.

Using

	X-N-SPC	::= '\000' .. '\037' | '\041' .. '\377' 

the name of the FTP site is to be given by name like "cs.bu.edu" or
"funic.funet.fi".

The file name field is a directory specification optionally followed
by one or more file names, delimited by spaces. If only a directory
name is given, all files in that directory should be copied when
retrieving the clients source. If some files are given, only those
files in that directpry should be copied. Note that the spcification
allows for all characters but space in the names, this includes
allowing :. Examples are "pub/emacs/irc/" to get all files in
directory pub/emacs/irc/, the client should be able to first login as
user "ftp" and the give the command "CD pub/emacs/irc/", followed by
the command "mget *". (It of course has to take care of binary and
prompt mode too). Another example is "/pub/irc Kiwi.5.2.el.Z" in which
case a "CD /pub/irc" and "get Kiwi.5.2.el.Z" is what should be done.


USERINFO
This is used to transmit a string which is settable by the user (and
never should be set by the client). The query is simply

	\001USERINFO\001

with the reply

	\001USERINFO :#\001

where the # is the value of the string the client's user has set.

CLIENTINFO
This is for client developers use to make it easier to show other
client hackers what a certain client knows when it comes to CTCP. The
replies should be fairly verbose explaining what CTCP commands are
understood, what arguments are expected of what type, and what replies
might be expected from the client.

The query is the word CLIENTINFO in a "privmsg" optionally followed by
a colon and one or more specifying words delimited by spaces, where
the word CLIENTINFO by itself,

	\001CLIENTINFO\001

should be replied to by giving a list of known tags (see above in
section TAGGED DATA). This is only intended to be read by humans.

With one argument, the reply should be a description of how to use
that tag. With two arguments, a description of how to use that
tag's subcommand. And so on.

ERRMSG
This is used as a reply whenever an unknown query is seen. Also, when
used as a query, the reply should echo back the text in the query,
together with an indication that no error has happened. Should the
query form be used, it is

	\001ERRMSG #\001

where # is a string containing any character, with the reply

	\001ERRMSG # :#\001

where the first # is the same string as in the query and the second #
a short text notifying the user that no error has occurred.

A normal ERRMSG reply which is sent when a corrupted query or some
corrupted extended data is received, looks like

	\001ERRMSG # :#\001

where the first # is the the failed query or corrupted extended data
and the second # a text explaining what the problem is, like "unknown
query" or "failed decrypting text".

********
EXAMPLES
********


Sending

	PRIVMSG victim :\001FINGER\001

might return

	:victim NOTICE actor :\001FINGER :Please check my USERINFO
	instead :Klaus Zeuge (sojge@mizar) 1 second has passed since
	victim gave a command last.\001

(this is only one line) or why not

	:victim NOTICE actor :\001FINGER :Please check my USERINFO
	instead :Klaus Zeuge (sojge@mizar) 427 seconds (7 minutes and
	7 seconds) have passed since victim gave a command last.\001

if Klaus Zeuge happens to be lazy? :-)

Sending

	PRIVMSG victim :
CLIENTINFO


might return

	:victim NOTICE actor :
CLIENTINFO :You can request help of the
	commands CLIENTINFO ERRMSG FINGER USERINFO VERSION by giving
	an argument to CLIENTINFO.


Sending

	PRIVMSG victim :
CLIENTINFO CLIENTINFO


might return

	:victim NOTICE actor :
CLIENTINFO :CLIENTINFO with 0
	arguments gives a list of known client query keywords. With 1
	argument, a description of the client query keyword is
	returned.


while sending

	PRIVMSG victim :
clientinfo clientinfo


probaly will return something like

	:victim NOTICE actor :
ERRMSG clientinfo clientinfo :Query is
	unknown


as tag "clientinfo" isn't known.

Sending

	PRIVMSG victim :
CLIENTINFO ERRMSG


might return

	:victim NOTICE actor :
CLIENTINFO :ERRMSG is the given answer
	on seeing an unknown keyword. When seeing the keyword ERRMSG,
	it works like an echo.


Sending

	PRIVMSG victim :\001USERINFO\001

might return the somewhat pathetically long

	:victim NOTICE actor :
USERINFO :I'm studying computer
	science in Uppsala, I'm male (somehow, that seems to be an
	important matter on IRC:-) and I speak fluent swedish, decent
	german, and some english.


Sending

	PRIVMSG victim :\001VERSION\001

might return

	:victim NOTICE actor :\001VERSION Kiwi:5.2:GNU Emacs
	18.57.19 under SunOS 4.1.1 on Sun
	SLC:FTP.Lysator.LiU.SE:/pub/emacs Kiwi-5.2.el.Z
	Kiwi.README\001

if the client is named Kiwi of version 5.2 and is used under GNU Emacs
18.57.19 running on a Sun SLCwith SunOS 4.1.1. The client claims a
copy of it can be found with anonymous FTP on FTP.Lysator.LiU.SE after
giving the FTP command "cd /pub/emacs/". There, one should get files
Kiwi-5.2.el.Z and Kiwi.README; presumly one of the files tells how to
proceed with building the client after having gotten the files.
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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