Path: utzoo!censor!geac!torsqnt!lethe!yunexus!ists!helios.physics.utoronto.ca!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!europa.asd.contel.com!sig
From: sig@europa.asd.contel.com.asd.contel.com (Sigurd P. Crossland - Contel WTP 2214N 703-818-4202)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: What iRe: What is IRC?
Message-ID: <910029.092207.sig@SCrossland>
Date: 29 Jan 91 14:22:07 GMT
Lines: 55
Nntp-Posting-Host: scrossland.asd.contel.com


Mike Matthews (matthews@lewhoosh.umd.edu) writes:

>Has anyone gotten ircd running on a NeXT?  That still don't work.  I'm sure
>other IRC sites are getting sick of lewhoosh.umd.edu going up and down and
>up and down all the time...
>
>I've tried everything.  I even made an rc.local.ircd, and bypassed THAT in an
>act of desparation.  Now I'm just grasping at straws.

And Eric O. Scott (eps@toaster.SFSU.EDU) replies:

>None of this is plug-and-play; there are Makefiles and
>configurations to edit, and you have to be reasonably
>UNIX-literate to get irc working.

I am not what most people would consider eUnuchs literate and all I did was
edit four lines in the file config.h to indicate the location of directories.
After that I simply typed make, moved the compiled binaries to the locations
specified earlier, and, only for the server, edited a half dozen lines in the
file ircd.conf.  Both client and server function perfectly and I have since
linked three additional servers in our own internal IRC network.

There might be a bit of confusion caused when the ircd process is first
started.  (Here's where I get in well over my head.)  The process must
continue to run after the user (not superuser) logs off, so it apparently
forks a process that will continue running and the 'startup' process dies.  If
you attempt to connect, using a client process, or simply telnet to port 6667,
you will find that the server process, is, in fact, executing.

That's really all there is to it.  Compile the client (irc) and run the
process with the command:

   irc <nickname> <servername>

<nickname> may be your initials or something 'cutesy' and servername may be
arrakis.engin.umich.edu initially.  (Once you have a connection, type /LINKS
to determine the closest server and substitute that for subsequent
connections.)

IRC is quite flexible in that it provides for environment parameters for the
common configuration items and a configuration file, if you wish to tailor the
environment.  They are both optional.

Use is quite simple, commands are preceded with a "/" character, everything
else goes out over the channel.  Help is available for all commands by typing
/HELP.

Hope this helps a bit.  See you on IRC.  Take care.

- Sig


Sigurd P. Crossland                                Contel Federal Systems
Principal Engineer                                 FSS/GSY/SWE WTP-2214N
Internet: sig@europa.asd.contel.com                15000 Conference Center Dr.
Telephone: (703) 818-4202                          Chantilly, VA  22021