.\" @(#)ircd.8 2.0 (beta version) 29 Mar 1989 
.TH IRCD 8 "8 July 2000"
.SH NAME
ircd \- The Undernet Internet Relay Chat Daemon
.SH SYNOPSIS
.hy 0
.IP \fBircd\fP
[-t] [-d directory] [-f configfile] [-x debuglevel] [-h hostname]
.SH DESCRIPTION
.LP
\fIircd\fP is the server (daemon) program for the Internet Relay Chat
Program.  The \fIircd\fP is a server in that its function is to "serve"
the client program \fIirc(1)\fP with messages and commands.  All commands
and user messages are passed directly to the \fIircd\fP for processing
and relaying to other ircd sites.  The \fIirc(1)\fP program depends upon
there being an \fIircd\fP server running somewhere (either on your local
UNIX site or a remote ircd site) so that it will have somewhere to connect
to and thus allow the user to begin talking to other users.
.LP
There are many common clients including ircii, epic, BitchX and other ones
for Non unix platforms as well, such as mIRC, Pirch, Ircle etc.
.SH OPTIONS
.TP
.B \-d directory
This option tells the server to change to that directory and use
that as a reference point when opening \fIircd.conf\fP and other startup
files.
.TP
.B \-o
This option is obsolete.
.TP
.B \-a
This option is obsolete.
.TP
.B \-t
Instructs the server run in the foreground and to direct debugging output to
standard output.
.TP
.B \-x#
Defines the debuglevel for ircd. The higher the debuglevel, the more stuff
gets directed to debugging file (or standard output if -t option was used
as well).
.TP
.B \-i
This option is obsolete.
.TP
.B \-w interface
This command is depreciated.  Outgoing connections are bound to the
interface specified in the M:, and Incoming connections are accepted only on
interfaces specified in the P:'s.
.TP
.B \-f filename
Specifies the ircd.conf file to be used for this ircdaemon. The option
is used to override the default ircd.conf given at compile time.
.TP
.B \-c
This flag must be given if you are running ircd from \fI/dev/console\fP or
any other situation where fd 0 isnt a tty and you want the server to fork
off and run in the background. This needs to be given if you are starting
\fIircd\fP from an \fIrc\fP (such as \fI/etc/rc.local\fP) file.
.TP
.B \-q
This option is obsolete.
.TP
.B \-h hostname
Allows the user to manually set the server name at startup. The default
name is hostname.domainname.
.B \-p portname
This is depreciated in favour of specifying server ports in P:'s

.SH CONFIGURATION
If you plan to connect your \fIircd\fP server to an existing Irc-Network,
you will need to alter your local IRC CONFIGURATION FILE (typically named
"ircd.conf") so that it will accept and make connections to other \fIircd\fP
servers.  This file contains the hostnames, Network Addresses, and sometimes
passwords for connections to other ircds around the world.  Because 
description of the actual file format of the "ircd.conf" file is beyond the
scope of this document, please refer to the file INSTALL in the IRC source
files documentation directory.
.LP
BOOTING THE SERVER:  The \fIircd\fP server can be started as part of the
UNIX boot procedure or just by placing the server into Unix Background.
Keep in mind that if it is *not* part of your UNIXES Boot-up procedure 
then you will have to manually start the \fIircd\fP server each time your
UNIX is rebooted.  This means if your UNIX is prone to crashing
or going for for repairs a lot it would make sense to start the \fIircd\fP
server as part of your UNIX bootup procedure.  In some cases the \fIirc(1)\fP
will automatically attempt to boot the \fIircd\fP server if the user is
on the SAME UNIX that the \fIircd\fP is supposed to be running on.  If the
\fIirc(1)\fP cannot connect to the \fIircd\fP server it will try to start
the server on it's own and will then try to reconnect to the newly booted
\fIircd\fP server.
.SH EXAMPLE
.RS
.nf
tolsun% \fBircd\fP
.fi
.RE
.LP
Places \fIircd\fP into UNIX Background and starts up the server for use.
Note:  You do not have to add the "&" to this command, the program will
automatically detach itself from tty.
.SH COPYRIGHT
(c) 1988,1989 University of Oulu, Computing Center, Finland,
.LP
(c) 1988,1989 Department of Information Processing Science,
University of Oulu, Finland
.LP
(c) 1988,1989,1990,1991 Jarkko Oikarinen
.LP
For full COPYRIGHT see LICENSE file with IRC package.
.LP
.RE
.SH FILES
 /etc/utmp
 "irc.conf"
.SH "SEE ALSO"
irc(1)
.SH BUGS
See the file 'BUGS' included in the distribution.
.SH AUTHOR
The current authors of the undernet IRC daemon are coder-com@undernet.org,
the original author was Jarkko Oikarinen, currently jto@tolsun.oulu.fi,
manual page written by Jeff Trim, jtrim@orion.cair.du.edu, later modified by
jto@tolsun.oulu.fi and then isomer@coders.net.