IRC is powered by ngircd, since it's one of the few servers nicely packaged into Debian.

====== Bouncer ======

We use ZNC for bouncing services (irc-bouncer:6676). Apparently you add new users [[http://wiki.znc.in/FAQ#How_do_I_add_a_new_user.3F|like this]]. This amounts to:-

  * Use ''znc --makepass'' to generate a sha256 password hash
  * Ignore their whining about not editing the config and add:

  <User frank>
        Pass = sha256#password#salt#
        Nick = frank
        AltNick = frank_1
        Ident = frank
        RealName = New User
        QuitMsg = *poof*
        StatusPrefix = *
        Buffer = 100
        KeepBuffer = true
        MultiClients = true
        BounceDCCs = true
        DenyLoadMod = false
        Admin = false
        DenySetVHost = false
        DCCLookupMethod = default
        TimestampFormat = [%H:%M:%S]
        AppendTimestamp = false
        PrependTimestamp = true
        TimezoneOffset = 0.00
        JoinTries = 10
        MaxJoins = 5
        IRCConnectEnabled = true
  
        Server = irc.wormnet.eu 6667
  </User>

   * ''# killall -HUP znc''
   * Login to the bouncer, supplying nick and password

===== SSL notes =====

As of 2020, ZNC is now listening with [[https://irc.wormnet.eu:6697/|SSL/TLS on port 6697]].

Browsers might not enjoy connecting to "naughty" ports, and might need hidden knobs tweaking, eg ''network.security.ports.banned.override'' on Firefox.

===== Authentication notes =====

There's a difference between a nick password and a connection password. Some clients, like Thunderbird, seem not to believe in the sensibilities of the latter--although they left hidden knobs ''messenger.account.account0.options.username'' and ''messenger.account.account0.options.serverPassword'' (browse about:config and replace the ''0'' with the relevant number).

====== Bitlbee ======

Bitlbee is an IRC -> Jabber/Twitter/ICQ/Whatever-else gateway, running on port localhost:6666.
  * A reasonable terse guide to getting going: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Bitlbee
  * More in-depth: http://wiki.redbrick.dcu.ie/mw/Bitlbee

===== Bitlbee and IRSSI =====

You can auto-connect to bitlbee on startup with these sorts of things in your config:-

  servers = (
    {
      address = "localhost";
      chatnet = "bitlbee";
      port = "6666";
      use_ssl = "no";
      ssl_verify = "no";
      autoconnect = "yes";
    },

  chatnets = {
    bitlbee = { type = "IRC"; };

  channels = (
    {
      name = "&bitlbee";
      chatnet = "bitlbee";
      autojoin = "yes";
      autosendcmd = "/msg root identify my-secret-identity";
    },

There may be a better way to do the last bit, but meh.