New IRCNet Channel Modes and Other Changes

by Thomas ‘Engerim’ Kuiper

January 26, 1999

In late 1998, a new version 2.10.x of the IRCnet ircd server code was released, replacing the 2.9.x version. As of the date above about half of the servers have upgraded. Here we have a very detailed view of the new channel modes (+e, +I, +O, +r), the !channel type, and a few other miscellaneous changes.

+e

This mode stands for ban exception, so that a specific subset of the banned mask can still join. For example, to ban all users from example.org except for the user using “test” as his username/ident:

    /mode #foo +b *!*@example.org
    /mode #foo +e *!test@example.org

Disadvantage of this new Mode: Many scripts and bots kick users from a channel if they match a +b mask. They don’t care about the new mode +e yet. If you choose to use the +e feature, you should deactivate such functions of your script or bot. Why? The kicked user can still rejoin because he matches the +e mask. If he has autorejoin turned on, he gets kicked, rejoins, kicked, etc. Another disadvantage is that these modes are not exchanged if between two 2.10.x servers are linked via a 2.9.x server, resulting in two +e masks on each 2.10.x server.

+I

If +I (notice the upper case “I for India”) is set on a specific channel, all users from the matching mask can join the channel even if its +i (invite only), without getting invited. This is very intresting if you need a very secure, secret channel. And if you like to manage that without getting invited by a bot, script, or channel operator.

!channels and +O, +r

The !channel is an “uncollideable channel” to avoid problems arising from people trying to exploit server splits to takeover channels. It also prevents the problem where if you try to rejoin your own channel during a split, during the first 15 minutes or so you run into “Nick/channel temporarily unavailable” errors.

Each !channel gets a unique name on your server. To create the equivalent of #test as an “uncollideable channel”, you would you would type:

    /join !!test        (Note 2 exclamation marks.)

The The unique ID could be !42AQWtest for example. If you were the first to try to /join !!test, you as the first user get the +O mode (uppercase “O for Oscar”) denoting you as a “channel master”. On some clients you will see yourself with the the modes +oO.

If you now type /join !!test from another 2.10.x server currently linked, you will get the following error message:

Duplicate : !!channels recipients. Join aborted.

This means the channel was already requested. In this case we can only join it by using the uncollideable name via:

    /join !42AQWtest     (Note 1 exclamation mark.)

If someone on a split server tries to /join !!test, it gets another unique ID like !hjzittest so there will be no collision when the server rejoins.

With the +O channel master status (which can’t be given away to others or taken from you) its possible to set the new +r mode (reoping, which doesnt seem to work on the latest 2.10.1), or remove it (in general this should only be done on channel creation). With this new +r mode, if no operators are on the channel, a random user gets them. I don’t suggest using this new mode, because the operators are choosen by a random server. (Note to the ircd developers, this reoping should not prefer clones.)

A !channel can split too. It has a delay of 60 minutes (versus 15 minutes on #channels), before you can recreate that channel again (via /join !!test). Another big difference between !channels and #channels is, that you can rejoin them on a split as long as the channel modes allow this. But you won’t become a channel op.

Some clients (especially mIRC) have trouble joining such channels, because they try to join a #!#test channel for example. This is true of mIRC 5.5, the latest version as of the date above. It does work fine with ircII and other compatible clients.

Disadvantage of this new !channels: It’s confusing and terrible to handle. Currently you shouldnt use them, because users of 2.9.x servers can’t join them. But you can test if your client is able to handle it.

Miscellaneous Other Changes

If the channel limit (for example +l 10) is reached, users can stil get in there by getting invited (/invite #name “nick”)

Users who are banned (but not kicked) can only talk if they are voiced (+v) or if they are a channel operator (+o). Also they can override a ban, by being invited.

There are some newer changes not covered in this file at Christophe Kalt’s page on Stealth.

Is my server 2.10.x?

Type /quote version in your client to get the server version.

Example of 2.9.x server: 2.9.5+Cr15e1+Fl4. irc.u-net.com AaeEfFHiIkMprRuY$

Example of 2.10.x server: 2.10.0p5+Cr22e1+FL4f1.: irc.vsp.cz AaeEfijJKMRtuZ