Summary: This posting contains useful information regarding IRC and an
        alternative network to the EFnet - the Undernet IRC network. Please
        read this before posting to alt.irc.undernet, alt.irc.questions,
        alt.irc, or alt.irc.ircii

Keywords: IRC irc Undernet faq FAQ  

                Version 2-3   -   written by Mandar Mirashi (Mmmm)
                                  mmmirash@mailhost.ecn.uoknor.edu

I)       IRC for the newcomer
II)      The Undernet (for the newcomer)
III)     The Undernet (for the EFnetter)
IV)      The Undernet (how can you participate?) 
V)       Acknowledgements/References
VI)      Undernet IRC server list

      person on our channel, who proceeded to do a mass deop, and left.
      Can something be done?
3-8)  Can I move my channel to the Undernet? What are the advantages of
      doing so?
3-9)  Can I communicate with someone on the EFnet once I'm on the Undernet?
      (or vice-versa)
3-10) Hmm..can you help dispel some of the aspersions that I have heard
      about the Undernet from EFnet opers?

      looking for an O line.  I just like being nice and helpful to people.
      How do I participate?
4-4)  I have some ideas for the future design of ircd. I may also be
      interested in doing some programming for the Undernet. Whom do I
      approach?

        http://www.undernet.org/~agifford/undernet/underfaq/
        http://www2.undernet.org:8080/~cs93jtl/underfaq/

      IRC servers are connected together in a 'tree' like fashion
      (an undirected acyclic graph to be precise). A collection of
      IRC servers is called an IRC net. The command /links will 
      display all servers on a net. The command /lusers will display
      the number of users, servers, and channels on a given net.

      The term "Undernet" was suggested in jest by some of the original
      operators (dl, Wildthang and Whizzard) who started it. As time
      went by, the name stuck. :-) Upon hearing the name people often
      think that it's a net where something illegal goes on - which isn't
      quite the case. On the other hand, the name also imparts a mysterious
      angle to the IRC net. On the whole, it's a very friendly net with
      an easy going atmosphere. Most people are nice and helpful to
      newcomers. 

           city.state.country.undernet.org               or,
           city.country.continent.undernet.org

      Thus, you can easily locate the closest server to you. In most
      cases, this also turns out to be closest netwise as well. The
      command /links lists all servers. Choose one which is closest
      to you, and simply type  /server servername. Also, the following
      aliases are set up, country/continent wise:
         us.undernet.org  - USA
         eu.undernet.org  - Europe
         au.undernet.org  - Australia
         ca.undernet.org  - Canada
      You can try a /server countrycode.undernet.org and see if that works
      for you.

      You are always welcome on #wasteland - the help channel. Please
      remember that depending upon the time, #wasteland volunteers may be
      slow in responding since most peek into the window once in a while.
      However, someone or the other is sure to help you out!

      Another avenue is the ircnet@undernet.org (general irc help) and
      wastelanders@undernet.org (irc oper mailing list)mailing lists - try
      mailing your question to these. You may even mail your server admin
      for more information (/admin will return information on the admin 
      for that server and his/her email address).

      New channels are starting up on the Undernet almost everyday. Given
      the dynamic nature of channels, the channel names can vary, but a few
      are fairly stable.

       General chat: #chatzone, #chat, #friendly, #hotsex, #popcorn, 
                        #ark, #gayteen
               Help: #wasteland, #help, #irchelp, #vmshelp
              Games: #jeopardy, #balderdash
          Countries: #canada, #dutch, #india, #slovenija, #ireland,
                        #england, #korea, #russian
           Religion: #Christians (with TheBook, an on-line bible), 
                        #Ccm, #Christian, #wicca
          Technical: #unix, #hack, #appleiigs, #linux
          Languages: #espanol, #francais
      Fantasy/Role-playing:  #waste

      Feel free to try any of these. New channels are created each day.
      you can check out these with a /names or a /list command.

      The list  ircnet@undernet.org  has been set up for people requesting
      general help regarding irc questions. The list
      wastelanders@undernet.org  has been set up as a medium for IRC opers
      to communicate, and discuss ideas, amongst other things. To join
      either of these, send mail to listserv@undernet.org with the word
      "help" in the body  which will send you back further information.

       Undernet FTP sites -> ftp.undernet.org  (aka rush.cc.edu)
                             ftp2.undernet.org (aka sci.dixie.edu)

       Undernet WWW URLs -> 
          http://sci.dixie.edu/~agifford/IRC.html
          http://esquilino.enserb.u-bordeaux.fr:8001/TOP/irc/index.html
          http://http2.brunel.ac.uk:8080/~cs93jtl/Undernet.html
          http://http2.brunel.ac.uk:8080/~cs93jtl/IRC.html
                            
          www.undernet.org is an alias for sci.dixie.edu
          www2.undernet.org is an alias for http2.brunel.ac.uk

       Undernet gopher site -> gopher.undernet.org (aka sci.dixie.edu)

          To get to the Undernet gopher site, follow these directions:
          Main menu 
            -> Other Gopher and Information Servers/
              -> North America/    
                -> USA/
                  -> Utah/
                    -> Dixie College Science Gopher (St. George, Utah)/ 
                      -> IRC (Internet Relay Chat)/

      The Undernet is a separate collection of IRC servers on a different
      network. The servers follow a much better server-server protocol,
      while maintaining the same server-client protocol. It's much smaller
      than its counterpart the EFnet, and was designed to supplement the
      EFnet. The term EFnet stands for eris-free net. (eris.berkeley.edu
      was a server on the net which is now no longer there) The small size
      of the Undernet also works to advantage and is often considered by
      many as a good thing. On the Undernet all the operators know one
      another, people are more friendly and there are (as yet) no unsavoury
      characters.

      Why not? At the moment the EFnet IRC is overloaded with users. There 
      are frequent netsplits involving not just the odd servers, but in 
      increasing cases a significant number of servers. Too much pressure 
      is put onto the EFnet IRC due to the (unforeseen) explosion of users 
      it has gained. Many people don't ask _if_ the EFnet irc will survive, 
      but when will it go...

      For this reason the Undernet stands out as a Good Thing (tm). It can
      help take the load off of the EFnet IRC and prolong its day of 
      judgement, hopefully for long enough that a solution to its problems 
      can be found. The Undernet consists of some very highly motivated and 
      dedicated people enthusiastic to make a success of their venture.

      There is another reason why the Undernet is here. EFnet IRC is becoming
      more and more politicized, day by day. With various EFnet IRC admins
      forming groups against one another, the amount of co-operation between 
      them has become almost nil. The time which they could spend in serving 
      you, the user, is instead spent in endless bickering.

      Undernet is a net where the operators are friendly easy going folks, and 
      are always happy to help the users as far as possible. Abusing users is 
      *highly* frowned upon, and opers follow a certain "Undernetiquette". 
      Feel free to ask any questions that you may have, and though you may 
      not always be guaranteed of an answer, we will surely do our best to 
      help you in any way whenever possible, and in making your stay more 
      comfortable.

      Yet another goal of the Undernet is to provide a better environment
      for users to communicate in, with protection against malicious users
      who try to work *against* IRC and its principles. The Undernet has an
      improved server-server protocol which disallows netsplit op riders,
      with no channel desynchs, or intentional nick collides possible.

      As time has gone by, Undernet IRC programmers have come forward with
      innovative solutions to stem some of the problems plaguing the
      current EFnet. A lot of creative solutions have been coded  by our
      major ircd programmer - Run (carlo@sg.tn.tudelft.nl), and implemented 
      on the Undernet servers. These include:

      * TSpre8 - This patch makes it impossible for anyone to abuse
        netsplits and ride ops and do mass deops on your channel or lock it
        up. Mode changes are followed with a channel creation TS (timestamp) 
        which is used to then reverse invalid mode changes.  TS pre8 also
        includes code which makes it difficult for even irc admins to hack
        their server to do fake mode changes without HACK notices being 
        sent to all opers. TSpre8 also enables oper wallops.

      * bquiet - This patch prevents someone banned on the channel to send
        to it or change nicks. Extremely useful since /kick is almost never
        needed, and counters annoying nick changing automatons with a
        single ban until they flood themselves out.

      * silence - This patch cuts off flooding at the *local* server. Thus,
        unlike /ignore where your client continues to receive floods (even
        though you don't see them) and gets ping timed out, silence enables
        you to completely get rid of intentional flooders. To use silence,
        the syntax is: /silence +user@host   or /silence nick.

      * ANC - The anti-nick collide patch foils intentional nick colliders
        who try changing servers during netsplits on the EFnet and obtain 
        the same nick in order to collide you when the net rejoins. With
        the anc patch, this is no longer possible, and the person who 
        signs on *later* is rejected from the server.
      
      In addition to the above obligatory patches for all Undernet servers
      (all developed by Run), many Undernet servers also run the foll. 
      optional patches:
     
      * ban - Developed FIRST on the Undernet by SIO, it was soon adopted 
        by some servers on the EFnet. This patch allows you to see who
        set bans and when on a channel.

      * To - topic info - Also developed first on the Undernet by SIO, this 
        patch allows you to see who set the topic on a channel and the time 
        that it was set.

      * S - Signon time  - Another Undernet first, coded by SIO, this patch
        allows you to see when another person on the same server as
        yourself, signed on.

      The foll. patches which are also optionally installed, are more of 
      interest to IRC admins:

      * KL - Kill line comments - Developed by Mmmm. Allow you to specify
        a comment on the K line instead of the plain stupid error message
        of "ghosts are not allowed". You may even choose to have a file
        output to a K lines client.

      * TT - Trace times - Developed by Tonto. Appends a number indicating 
        in milliseconds, the amount of time lapse since the server last heard 
        from the server/ client. Depending upon your Y lines setup, you can
        use this as a judge to determine ping timeouts.

      * Cl - Client connect - Developed by Twilight1. Notifies you of local
        client connects/disconnects. Useful for spotting clone bots.

      * sw - /stats w - Developed on the EFnet by mlv. Lets you gather
        statistics on average client connects per hour, day, etc. and keeps
        track on maxconnections on the server so far.

      * MC - mixed case - Developed by Jon2/mlv. Helpful patch to disallow
        users with mixed case userids (usually fake) from connecting.

      * OF - oper fail - Developed by Jon2/bry. Notifies local opers when
        a local user tried to /oper and failed.

      For more information on these patches and how they work, you can
      ftp to ftp2.undernet.org and fetch /irc/servers/README.patches 

      Yes, you will need to add the following lines to your .ircrc if you
      use ircII, and would like to take full advantage of all the patches.

#      {
#        //quote join $2
#        echo $mid(11 5 $stime($time())) * You have been kicked off channel $2 by $left($index(! $0) $0) \($mid(1 256 $4-)\)
#       }
#     {
#        echo $mid(11 5 $stime($time())) * $3 has been kicked off channel $2 by $left($index(! $0) $0) \($mid(1 256 $4-)\)
#      }
#                           }

      It is very easy to switch to the Undernet if you're currently on the
      EFnet. Simply use the command,   
            /server servername
      or if a port is specified  (all European Undernet servers run on
      port  7000)
            /server servername port#

      Sometimes, the "symbolic" name for the server may not work, and you
      may need the "numeric" address (a string of numbers) instead. Listed
      in the Appendix is a list of Undernet servers along with their
      numeric addresses and ports wherever relevant.

      All Undernet servers are registered in the undernet.org domain. Also,
      they follow the format: city.state.country.undernet.org or,
      city.country.continent.undernet.org E.g US servers are
                *.US.undernet.org
      and european servers are 
                *.eu.undernet.org
      This will make it easy for you to remember how to get to the Undernet.

      person on our channel, who proceeded to do a mass deop, and left.
      Can something be done?

      The Undernet has a special service known as Uworld which takes care
      of reopping channels, and is accessible by operators. However, strict
      guidelines are in effect for its use. An oper will refuse to use
      Uworld if there already exist chanops on the channel. Uworld can be
      used if a channel has lost channel ops for some reason *and* channel
      users are unhappy about it *and* they are decided upon who's to be 
      opped. To make sure that users realise the responsibility of the
      decision of sharing ops with someone else, a time delay may occur
      before the channel is reopped. Above all, it is *your* responsibility
      that you do not lose ops on your channel - an oper is not *obliged*
      to reop channels who lose ops due to carelessness on behalf of the
      current chanops.

      You're welcome to start up your favourite channel on the Undernet as
      well. Consider the many advantages. Much better facilities for
      chatting, without the annoyingly frequent netsplits; much lesser lag
      (check with /ping #channelname for yourself :); protection against
      netsplit op riders who try to disrupt channels; no channel desynchs;
      amongst the other advantages listed earlier.  We may even be able to
      set up a gateway service between the same channels on both nets, if
      all channel members are willing. (email wastelanders@undernet.org,
      if you wish to do this; or email dvmitche@mailhost.ecn.uoknor.edu or
      carlo@sg.tn.tudelft.nl). Undernet operators are always willing to
      help you in this endeavour, so don't hesitate to ask us.

      Occasionally, a few gateway services can be found on the Undernet
      which allow you to communicate to someone not on the same net, or
      which link channels. These include 'ul' - programmed by Tonto 
      (vencill@bga.com), || - programmed by Wildthang (dvmitche@mailhost.
      ecn.uoknor.edu), Orac - programmed by Ensor (dholmes@rahul.net),
      and miscellaneous others (including some by Run). Look around if
      any of these is present, and if so, try /msg servicename help.

      You can also be simultaneously on *both* nets if you use ircII. Try
      the command:
                    /window new server servername
      where servername is the name of a server on the other net. This will
      split your screen into two windows, with each window on different
      servers. If you specify a server on a different net, then you will be 
      on different nets. You can use Ctrl-x p  (hit ctrl-x, release, then 
      hit p) to flip between windows. (if that doesn't work, you may try 
      /window goto 1 and  /window goto 2) Type /help window   to get more 
      extensive help.

      Not surprisingly, many EFnet opers resent the existence of the
      Undernet, and go to great lengths to deny it the credit it deserves.
      Some of the often quoted "statements" are:

      * "The Undernet is lame."

        Response: The word "lame" seems to have permeated into the
        vocabulary of most EFnet operators. So much so that the Undernet's
        dubbed "lame" without any concrete reasons, out of *sheer*
        prejudice. Many do not even make an effort to understand the
        philosophy behind the Undernet before wantonly flaming it.

      * "The Undernet has no users" or "The Undernet has more servers 
         than users".

         It's often amusing for most Undernetters to see this argument
         from the horse's mouth. To quote from a previous version  of the 
         doc/US-Admin/Networking document: (those doubting the validity
         of this quote can ftp any server version before 2.8.16, and 
         verify it for themselves)

         "In August of 1990, IRC suffered a critical split in viewpoints of
          key people in the IRC hierarchy. The result was IRC split into two 
          networks, EFnet (Eris Free network) and Anet (Anarchy network). This 
          split continues today. There is some debate over whether IRC will 
          ever reunite, however, neither side is willing to bend from their 
          standpoint.  Currently, there are about 95 servers on EFnet (and 
          the same number of users) and 15 servers on Anet (and about half the 
          number of users)."

         Thus in August 1990, the EFnet had 95 users on 95 servers. Many
         opers who trumpet its userbase of "thousands of users" seem to
         neglect this very fact. (On a sidenote, the Anet no longer exists
         and died after a few months of existence) It took many years for 
         the EFnet to arrive at its current userbase. Not to mention that
         after the death of the Anet, it had almost no competition from
         other nets until 1993. While it may not make sense to have as many 
         servers as users, a skeletal network was needed with servers in 
         good locations to provide access points to users. 

         The Undernet has long since crossed the "users == servers" ratio.
         People who tell you this are mistaken, and haven't checked up
         since July '93. The user record at the time of writing (July 94)
         stands at 239 users on approximately 25 servers. 
    
      * "The Undernet was formed by people who couldn't get to be IRC
         operators on the EFnet"

        Wrong. The Undernet was formed by people who already were IRC
        operators on the EFnet. It was started as an experiment to get away
        from the ways of the EFnet.

      * "The Undernet servers are run on-the-sly with no approval from
         system administrators"
       
        Wrong again. System admin approval is a standard prerequisite for
        sites requesting new links. In many cases, the people running
        servers are sysadmins themselves. While this statement may have been
        true in the early days of the Undernet, it is no longer the case.

      * "The Undernet solutions to protocol work only on a small net. They
         do not work on large nets."

        This was an oft quoted remark by people who were prejudiced against
        Undernet ircd developments, for the sole fact that they stemmed 
        from the Undernet. To prove this wrong, we need to consider the 
        foll.: First of all, all test ircd versions on the EFnet are run
        on a test net *much* smaller that the Undernet. Secondly, the pre-
        releases that run on the EFnet are by *no means* bug free. Thirdly,
        a TSpre7 server ran on the EFnet for *six* months without any
        major problems. It would have worked optimally if everyone had
        changed to TSpre7, but the fact that it ran without major problems
        for such a long time speaks for itself. In fact, it was much much
        more trouble free than the server versions which had either the oper
        bug in it, or the server/nick collide bug.

      * "The Undernet operators are clueless and know nothing about
        routing."
         
        This perhaps is the most humorous of all allegations :-) On the
        Undernet, all routing decisions are done based on maps of the
        physical nets and subnets (NSFnet, ANSnet, Alternet, Midnet, CICnet,
        Suranet, Cerfnet, Barrnet, Ebone, etc), and on the basis of pings
        and traceroutes. This is very unlike the EFnet where links are
        often handed out to someone else due to nepotism. Further, the
        Undernet now also has an automatic router designed by Run, which
        keeps track of ping times between servers and the average net
        mean ping time.

      PS: The statements mentioned above should not be taken as reflective
          of *all* EFnet opers. To be fair, some EFnet opers have no
          problems with the existence of the Undernet and have even been
          supportive. We can only show our deep appreciation for their
          impartial opinions.

      The Undernet programming team has many members - all of them very
      enthusiastic and deeply dedicated to the cause. Here's a brief 
      description of what each person does/codes/maintains:

      * Run (carlo@sg.tn.tudelft.nl) - Our magic ircd programmer. He
        coded the foll. important patches:
         o TSpre8    o ANC    o bquiet   o silence
        In addition, Run also maintains Undernet's automatic Router. He
        also coded Underworld.nl, a backup for Uworld. 
      
      * WildThang (danny@mailhost.ecn.uoknor.edu) - Our magic "user services"
        programmer. Wildthang is the coder for Uworld, Murc, quick
        ircIIhelp, and telnet client services. The Undernet hosts the
        world's first MURC (Join #waste on the Undernet to find out what
        a murc is :). Wildthang's also the coder for the gateway service ||.

      * SIO (pfoley@vuw.ac.nz) - Coder for the Undernet Nickserv. Also
        coded the ban, topic and signon info patches which are found with
        the .mu versions of the server.

      * hop (jnelson@iastate.edu) - Our magic ircII client enhancer. Hop
        has done an extensive facelift to current ircII versions. His latest
        version was ircII2.3.17+10.4. The UPDATES file which reflect new
        additions to the client is 500 lines in size! You can ftp this from
        ftp2.undernet.org under /irc/clients

      * Mmmm (mmmirash@mailhost.ecn.uoknor.edu) - He's responsible for
        maintaining the auto-magic ircII install on sci.dixie.edu. He also
        codes and maintains the smallirc client, and does minor  ircd
        patches and releases.

      * Karll (agifford@sci.dixie.edu) - Multipurpose programmer. He has
        coded useful routines for both ircd as well as hop's client.

      * Tonto (vencill@bga.com) - He was the author of the gateway service
        'ul'. He's also done some ircd programming for the Undernet.

      * dl/President/S_Avatar/TheJester/epa/Snarf - these are our other 
        programmers who have chipped in useful things from time to time.

      All of us envisage a bright future for the Undernet. Userbase has
      been slowly rising. So has the stability of servers in general. 
      More and more improvements have been done to the protocol in
      general, and have proven successful. 

      Given the surprising success of the Undernet, many attempts have
      been made to imitate it in the form of other nets. Other nets such
      as the Lamenet, 3l33tnet, and the Overnet sprung up in recent years.
      None of these however have exhibited the originality of ideas or
      creativity  shown by innovative Undernet programmers. The Overnet
      at the time of writing, switched to using the Undernet ircd code
      *without* even giving credit to the Undernet in its version numbers. 
      A famous saying goes: "Imitation is the best form of flattery".

      We hope that you will take time to visit us on the Undernet, and
      share in its bright future. The final goal of Undernet ircd 
      programmers is to eliminate or minimize all problems that plague
      the current EFnet. The journey has just begun....

      The Undernet admins do not give ops to people who *ask* for them.
      If you participate in the net by helping people, and in general
      following proper Undernetiquette, you might merit attention and
      your name may be suggested on the wastelanders mailing list. IRC
      ops are scrutinized carefully before being added. Basically, no
      ops are handed out to people who (i) are hardly around or (ii)
      ignore pleas for help or (iii) want ops just for kill power or
      (iv) want ops because it gives them a sense of "power" over other 
      users, and to look "cool". Remember, asking for ops only makes your
      case *worse*. If you're worthy, and other feel that you're competent
      enough, you'll be approached to volunteer for oper. IRC ops are
      expected to have been on IRC for a long time, and must possess an
      adequate amount of knowledge to help Undernet users. They are also
      responsible for keeping servers connected and abiding by the general
      guidelines of the Undernet.

      At the time of writing this document, the Undernet will not consider
      any more links unless you're situated in an exceptionally good
      location (read "one hop off the T3 backbone in the US, or other
      equivalent backbone networks in Europe/elsewhere"). Use traceroute
      and ping to determine your location. If you feel you are eligible
      for a link, read the files in the /irc/newlinks directory at ftp.
      undernet.org. Post your proposal to the wastelanders mailing list
      - wastelanders@undernet.org. Remember, all Undernet servers *must*
      run with the approval of the system admin at that site. If you do not
      receive a response within a week, you can safely assume that the 
      Undernet cannot provide you links (though usually, a response, either
      positive or negative will be sent). For a more elaborate discussion,
      you may join #wasteland and talk to other IRC admins to discuss your
      proposal.

      looking for an O line.  I just like being nice and helpful to people. 
      How do I participate?

      The Undernet is *always* looking for people like you. We are always
      short of volunteers to help other people. Have you benefitted from
      your experience with the Undernet? Have you enjoyed your time on
      IRC here? We encourage you to give back to the net what you got from
      it. You are encouraged to help. Even if you lurk around on #wasteland
      and familiarize yourself with frequently asked questions on the
      channel, and their answers, it would take a BIG load off many of the
      operators who were quite selflessly devoted to helping you, when you
      started off. You can join the wastelanders mailing list (mail
      listserv@undernet.org with the word "help" in the body for
      information on how to subscribe). Please do what you can. Every little 
      bit counts! 

      interested in doing some programming for the Undernet. Whom do I
      approach?

      The Undernet is always on the search of new solutions to existing
      problems. If you think you can help us in this endeavour, welcome
      aboard! Subscribe to the wastelanders mailing list (send mail to
      listserv@undernet.org with "subscribe wastelanders" in the body)
      and tell us about your ideas. After a period of discussion, and
      depending upon everyone's views, we may give you the "go ahead"
      to program it! Yes, watch *your* code being run on servers around
      the world, with your name in our acknowledgements. The Undernet
      programming team is a tightly knit set of enthusiastic individuals.
      Feel free to participate.