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ICBIRC(8)              DragonFly System Manager's Manual             ICBIRC(8)

NAME
     icbirc - proxy IRC client and ICB server

SYNOPSIS
     icbirc [-d] [-l listen-address] [-p listen-port] [-s server-name]
            [-P server-port]

DESCRIPTION
     icbirc is a proxy that allows to connect an IRC client to an ICB server.
     The proxy accepts client connections, connects to the server, and
     forwards data between those two connections.

     Commands from the IRC client are translated to ICB commands and forwarded
     to the ICB server.  Messages from the ICB server are translated to IRC
     messages and forwarded to the IRC client.

     The options are as follows:

     -d                 Do not daemonize (detach from controlling terminal)
                        and produce debugging output on stdout/stderr.

     -l listen-address  Bind to the specified address when listening for
                        client connections.  If not specified, connections to
                        any address are accepted.

     -p listen-port     Bind to the specified port when listening for client
                        connections.  Defaults to 6667 when not specified.

     -s server-name     Hostname or numerical address of the ICB server to
                        connect to.

     -P server-port     Port of the ICB server to connect to.  Defaults to
                        7326 when not specified.

     Example:

           $ icbirc -s default.icb.net

     IRC (Internet Relay Chat) and ICB (Internet Citizen's Band) are two
     separate chat protocols.  ICB is an older and simpler protocol, basically
     a subset of IRC.  The two most significant differences (from the client's
     perspective) are:

     An ICB client can only join a single channel (called group).  Joining a
     second channel automatically parts the first channel.

     An ICB channel can only have a single operator (called moderator).
     Giving operator status to a second client automatically removes operator
     status from the first client.

SUPPORTED COMMANDS
     icbirc supports the following IRC commands:

     PASS          Set the default group, used during login.

     NICK          Set or change nickname.

     USER          Supply additional user information (like ident), used
                   during login.

     LIST          List all groups.

     WHOIS         Shows information about a user.

     WHO           Lists matching users.  Arguments starting with '#' are
                   interpreted as channel names (listing all users in the
                   specified channel), anything else is used for a simple
                   string search within users' 'nick!ident@host'.

     JOIN          Join a group.

     PRIVMSG       Send an open or personal message.

     NOTICE        Same as PRIVMSG.

     TOPIC         Set group topic.

     KICK nick     Boot nick from group.

     MODE +o nick  Pass moderation to nick.

     QUIT          Close client and server connection, wait for next client
                   connection.

     Additionally, the command RAWICB can be used to send custom ICB commands.
     The proxy automatically prefixes the correct command length and replaces
     commas with ICB argument separators.  For example:

     RAWICB hm,nick,msg  Send msg to nick.

SEE ALSO
     Internet Relay Chat Protocol, RFC 1459.

     Internet Relay Chat: Client Protocol, RFC 2812.

     Internet Relay Chat: Channel Management, RFC 2811.

     ICB Protocol, ftp://ftp.icb.net/pub/icb/src/icbd/Protocol.html.

     The History of ICB, http://www.icb.net/history.html.

     General guide to Netiquette on ICB,
     http://www.icb.net/_jrudd/icb/netiquette.html.

HISTORY
     The first version of icbirc was written in 2003.

AUTHORS
     Daniel Hartmeier <daniel@benzedrine.cx>

CAVEATS
     ICB is not IRC.  Depending on the ICB community on a particular server,
     netiquette rules vary greatly from common IRC rules (or lack thereof).

     Client scripts or other forms of automated client actions might generate
     noise or violate ICB community policies, and lacking support for some
     commands might confuse the script.  Clients should be properly configured
     and tested on a dedicated server before connecting to a public server.

     In particular, WHOIS and WHO filtering is done on the proxy. Each such
     request causes the proxy to fetch the entire user list from the ICB
     server (there are no ICB commands that take filters), hence automatic
     WHOIS requests from the IRC client can cause unwanted load on the ICB
     server (turn off 'WHOIS on JOIN' in the IRC client, if enabled).

BUGS
     On ICB, a moderator (channel operator) can leave the group (channel) and
     rejoin later, preserving his status, as compared to IRC, where the
     channel would be left operator-less in this case.  The proxy does not
     currently detect the operator status on rejoin in this case, and the IRC
     client will (temporarily) show the channel op-less.

     IPv6 is not supported yet.

DragonFly 6.5-DEVELOPMENT       August 6, 2003       DragonFly 6.5-DEVELOPMENT