anope/docs/README

Anope -- a set of IRC services for IRC networks
-----------------------------------------------

Anope is          2003-2022 Anope Team    <team@anope.org>.
Based on Epona    2000-2002 PegSoft       <epona@pegsoft.net>.
Based on Services 1996-1999 Andrew Church <achurch@achurch.org>.

This program is free but copyrighted software; see the file COPYING for
details.

Information about Anope may be found at https://www.anope.org/

Table of Contents
-----------------
1) Credits
2) Presentation
3) Installation
4) Command Line Options
5) Messages Translation
6) Contact

1) Credits

    Anope is based on Lara's Epona version 1.4.14.
    Epona is based on Andy Church's IRC Services version 4.3.3.

    The original credits:

        * Mauritz Antunes
            Portuguese translation
        * Jose R. Holzmann, Raul S. Villarreal
            Spanish translation
        * Andrew Kempe <theshadow@shadowfire.org>
            News system
        * <d.duca@eurcom.net>
            Italian translation
        * <mikado@holyfire.com>
            Turkish translation
        * Andrew Kempe <theshadow@shadowfire.org>
            Session limiting

    Epona credits:

        * lara <lara@pegsoft.net>
            Main coding
        * CafeiN <oytuny@yahoo.com>
            Turkish translation
        * Sylvain Cresto aka tost <scresto@netsante.fr>
            FreeBSD 5 patch
        * Marcelo Conde Foscarini aka Bras <ircadmin@brmarket.net>
            Portuguese translation
        * Alvaro Toledo aka POLLITO <atoledo@keldon.org>
            Spanish translation
        * chemical <chemical@musicplay.de>
            German translation
        * shine <dh@shinewelt.de>
            German translation
        * Guven Guzelbey aka MeShGuL <guzelbey@cs.utk.edu>
            Turkish translation
        * Jordi Pujol <jordi.pujol@aujac.org>
            Catalan translation
        * Eva Dachs <evadachs@terra.es>
            Catalan translation
        * Toni Perez <toni.perez@aujac.org>
            Catalan translation
        * Sergios Karalis <sergios_k@hotmail.com>
            Greek translation
        * Thomas J. Stensas aka ShadowMaster <shadowmaster@shadow-realm.org>
            Ultimate 3.x support

    Anope credits:

        * Adam Kramer <ribosome@anope.org>
        * Adam <adam@anope.org>
        * Alvaro Toledo <atoledo@keldon.org>
        * Amanda Folson <amanda@anope.org>
        * Andrew Berquist <vash@anope.org>
        * Björn Stiddien <keeper@anope.org>
        * Charles Kingsley <chaz@anope.org>
        * Chris Hogben <heinz@anope.org>
        * Daniel Engel <dane@zero.org>
        * David <dv@diboo.net>
        * David Narayan <jester@phrixus.net>
        * David Robson <rob@anope.org>
        * Daniele Nicolucci <jollino@sogno.net>
        * Florian Schulze <certus@anope.org>
        * Gabriel Acevedo H. <drstein@anope.org>
        * Jan Milants <viper@anope.org>
        * Jens Voss <dukepyrolator@anope.org>
        * JH <jh@irc-chat.net>
        * Joris Vink <joris@anope.org>
        * Lee Holmes <lethality@anope.org>
        * Lucas Nussbaum <lucas@lucas-nussbaum.net>
        * Mark Summers <mark@goopler.net>
        * Matthew Beeching <jobe@mdbnet.co.uk>
        * Naram Qashat <cyberbotx@anope.org>
        * Phil Lavin <phil@anope.org>
        * Pieter Bootsma <geniusdex@anope.org>
        * Robin Burchell <w00t@inspircd.org>
        * Sean Roe <therock247uk@anope.org>
        * Sebastian V <hal9000@anope.org>
        * Thomas Juberg Stensås <ShadowMaster@Shadow-Realm.org>
        * Trystan .S Lee <trystan@nomadirc.net>
        * openglx <openglx@brasnerd.com.br>

    Anope Translations:

        * Robby <robby@chatbelgie.be> (nl_NL)
        * Kein <kein-of@yandex.ru> (ru_RU)
        * Maik Funke <Han@mefalcon.org> (de_DE)
        * Isaac Fontal <i_fontal@hotmail.com> (es_ES)
        * Janos Kapitany <sarkanyka@cjbchat.hu> (hu_HU)
        * Szymon S'wierkosz <szymek@adres.pl> (pl_PL)
        * Christopher N. <saka@epiknet.org> (fr_FR)
        * Yusuf Kurekci <ysfm.20@gmail.com> (tr_TR)

    Anope Web panel:

       * Denis M. (Phr33d0m) <god@politeia.in>

2) Presentation

    Anope is a set of Services for IRC networks that allows users to manage
    their nicks and channels in a secure and efficient way, and administrators
    to manage their network with powerful tools.

    Currently available services are:

        * NickServ, a powerful nickname manager that users can use to protect
          themselves against nick stealing. Each user has its own nickname
          group, that allows the user to register as many nicks as needed
          while still being able to take profit of his privileges and to
          modify the nick configuration. NickServ also has an optional
          password retrieval feature.

        * ChanServ, a powerful channel manager that helps users to administer
          their channels in a totally customizable way. ChanServ has an
          internal list of privileged users and banned users that controls
          accesses on a per-channel basis. It eliminates all takeover
          problems, because of its powerful op/unban/invite and even mass
          deop and mass kick functions.

        * MemoServ, an helpful companion that allows sending short messages
          to offline users, that they can then read when they come online
          later.

        * BotServ, an original service that allows users to get a permanent,
          friendly bot on their channels in an easy way. Each bot can be
          configured to monitor the channels against floods, repetitions,
          caps writing, and swearing, and to take appropriate actions. It
          also can handle user-friendly commands (like !op, !deop, !voice,
          !devoice, !kick, and many others), say a short greet message when
          an user joins a channel, and even "take over" ChanServ actions such
          as auto-opping users, saying the entry notice, and so on. This
          service can be disabled if you want to save some bandwidth.

        * OperServ, the IRCops' and IRC admins' black box, that allows them
          to manage the list of network bans (also known as AKILL (DALnet) or
          GLINE (Undernet)), to configure messages displayed to users when
          they log on, to set modes and to kick users from any channel, to
          send notices quickly to the entire network, and much more!

        * HostServ, a neat service that allows users to show custom vHosts
          (virtual hosts) instead of their real IP address; this only works
          on daemons supporting ip cloaking, such as UnrealIRCd.

    Anope currently works with:

        * Bahamut 1.4.27 or later (including 1.8)
        * Charybdis 3.4 or later
        * ircd-hybrid 8.2.23 or later
        * InspIRCd 1.2 or later
        * ngIRCd 19.2 or later
        * Plexus 3 or later
        * Ratbox 2.0.6 or later
        * UnrealIRCd 3.2 or later

    Anope could also work with some of the daemons derived by the ones listed
    above, but there's no support for them if they work or don't work.


3) Installation

    See the INSTALL file for instruction on installing Anope.


4) Command Line Options

    Normally, Anope can be run simply by invoking the "services" executable.
    Any of the following command-line options can be specified to change
    the behavior of Anope:

        --debug         Enable debugging mode; more info sent to log (give
                            option more times for more info)
        --readonly      Enable read-only mode; no changes to databases
                            allowed
        --nofork        Do not fork after startup; log messages will be
                            written to terminal
        --noexpire      Expiration routines won't be run at all
        --version       Display the version of Anope
        --nothird       Do not load the non-core modules specified
        --protocoldebug Debug each incoming message after protocol parsing
        --support       Used for support, same as --debug --nofork --nothird

    Upon starting, Anope will parse its command-line parameters then
    (assuming the --nofork option is not given) detach itself and run in the
    background. If Anope encounters a problem reading the database files or
    cannot connect to its uplink server, it will terminate immediately;
    otherwise, it will run until the connection is terminated (or a QUIT,
    SHUTDOWN, or RESTART command is sent; see OperServ's help).

    In the case of an error, an appropriate error message will be written to
    the log file.

    If Anope is run with the "--readonly" command-line option, it can serve as
    a "backup" to the full version of services.  A "full" version of services
    (run without --readonly) will automatically reintroduce its pseudo-clients
    (NickServ, ChanServ, etc.), while a "backup" services will not, thus
    allowing full services to be brought up at any time without disrupting
    the network (and without having to take backup services down beforehand).

    The "--debug" option is useful if you find or suspect a problem in Anope.
    Giving it once on the command line will cause all traffic to and from
    services as well as some other debugging information to be recorded in
    the log file; if you send a bug report, PLEASE include an excerpt from
    the log file WITH DEBUGGING ACTIVE; we cannot emphasize enough how
    important this is to tracking down problems. (You can also enable
    debugging while Services is running using OperServ's SET DEBUG command.)
    If you repeat use --debug=<level>, the debugging level will be increased,
    which provides more detailed information but may also slow Anope down
    considerably and make the log file grow dramatically faster. In general,
    a debug level of 1 is sufficient for the coding team to be able to trace
    a problem, because all network traffic is included and we can usually
    reproduce the problem.

5) Messages Translations

   Please see LANGUAGE for this information

6) Contact

    For announcements and discussions about Anope, please visit our
    Portal and Forums at https://www.anope.org/ -- make sure you register
    yourself to get full benefits.

    If you read the documentation carefully, and didn't find the answer to
    your question, feel free to post on the website forums or join our irc
    channel (irc.anope.org #anope). Once you join our Support channel be as
    precise as possible when asking a question, because we have no extraordinary
    powers and can't guess things if they aren't provided.

    The more precise you are the sooner you'll be likely to get an answer.

    If you think you found a bug, add it to the bug tracking system
    (https://bugs.anope.org/) and - again - be as precise as possible. Also say
    whether the bug happens always or under what circumstances, and anything
    that could be useful to track your bug down. If you wrote a patch, send
    it over. :)