Read the latest news about the network:
Crashes & homepage modificationsNov 22th, 2008 by Elmaron
Instead of netsplits, we got a lot of crashes and errors and downtimes. It was still good to run the new unfinished WeIRCd 0.6 alpha on the main server as it allowed me to find a lot of errors that didn't occur to me when testing it locally. I hope you didn't get too annoyed by it - the extensive testing is done for now, and that also brought us some other small features like /motd or /links which finally work.
The homepage has been modified a bit and has now a picture at the index page to make it a bit more colourful and appealing and it generally has a darkened background around the main page block which I think looks better. I also just added a favicon so the homepage is better noticed and remembered in the users' browser's tabs.
Working on netsplits!Nov 9th, 2008 by Elmaron
To give our IRC server the cool feature of netsplits, I'm working on a server-to-server feature. It is based on more or less external code files, one file per server-to-server protocol. It should be easy (or at least not too hard) to implement your own or you favourite existing protocol (if you know C and the protocol well enough).
The new WeIRCd version is also going to bring in support for Windows, select() instead of plain non-blocking sockets which results in a speedup and other nifty features, e.g. multibind which stands for binding the server to multiple ports for clients to connect and not only 6667. Eloxoph is also going to enable you to connect on port 2255 7000 when the server software is updated (expect this to happen the next few days).
You might also have noticed that I renamed from Yarcanox to Elmaron - at least you know by now, so don't come into the chat and talk with me 5 minutes until you finally ask where Yarcanox has gone!
I'm also announcing that LeetaCris seems out of the business, as he didn't show up for months and I heard rumors that Eloxoph gets boring :-) so if that stays this way the next weeks, I am going to remove his o:line as an oper not being around at all sadly doesn't help too much.
WeIRCd 0.4.5Oct 12th, 2008 by Yarcanox
Today, a new WeIRCd version has been released. It finally includes glines, introduces the start of the ChanServ flags system and contains a lot of bugfixes. But apart from that, also usability improved by a better Makefile and slight changes in the directory structure for a more clear overview and to make installation even easier. The next plans are to continue the ChanServ flags system and add some other functions to the services which are still needed to give IRC server administrators the possibilities they need when running an IRC network.
Feel free to use the bug tracker on SourceForge which has now been introduced. It offers an easy way of sharing the smaller and bigger issues that still need to be fixed and browsing through the stuff others have already discovered to be problematic. It might be handier than always dropping into the IRC and discussing the problem and then find out that it is already known.
Google BrowserSept 3rd, 2008 by Yarcanox
Google launched their own browser called “Chrome”. It uses Apple's webkit (web rendering engine based on KHTML) and has so far been released for windows (beta), versions for other operating systems to come. One of the announced features is that each tab runs in a seperate process and therefore doesn't take the whole browser but only the single web page down in case of a crash.
* Inspircd has left the IRC (Quit: B00ring :p)July 28th, 2008 by shahri
We are very happy to announce that Eloxoph finally, after quite a long period in which it ran bug-free InspIRCd, is using the by all users much-loved WeIRCd again as its IRC server software (Yay!).
At the moment there are still some more or less essential features waiting to be implemented and some bugs waiting to be found and fixed, so we hope all this won't be too annoying to our users and apologize for any inconveniences caused by it.
However, since we are receiving assistance in improving WeIRCd from the whole lot of the community, we will probably get beyond this phase of bug fixing quite soon.
June 23th, 2008 by Yarcanox
We finally have someone that can keep looking around while we are sleeping :) Please welcome our new staff member LeetaCris from the USA. If you want to have a talk, join #eloxoph and hope he's there!
New WeIRCd 0.4.* dev branchJune 15th, 2008 by Yarcanox
A first version of the WeIRCd 0.4.* dev branch has been published. The completely recoded ircd is not able to do its work yet, but the curious can already take a look at the new code.
Network no longer unreachableMarch 11th, 2008 by Yarcanox
Recently, Dyndns.com dropped the whole account with all eloxoph forwarding addresses without any warnings. This led to the network being completely unreachable through it's normal domain (including the site). I am very sorry about this incident and hope this won't happen again.
Eloxoph moved to Inspircd & AnopeFebruary 9th, 2008 by Yarcanox
I just changed the server software to Inspircd & Anope to offer the users a working services implementation. Time revealed some design problems with WeIRCd which need to be fixed before services implementation can be started. This is why I decided to use Inspircd until WeIRCd is ready to do this job. I must admit that WeIRCd development isn't very fast at the moment, and I want to have all the time I need.
WeIRCd leaves alpha phaseJanuary 14th, 2008 by Yarcanox
WeIRCd 0.3.6 is out, offering a (hopefully) complete implementation of the IRC basics and it can be treated as the first beta version (which includes everything necessary and just lacks some unimportant features and one single important one, a finished services interface). You can of course test it, just connect to irc.eloxoph.net (or click on "Chat" on the navigation bar above). The channel bans and other small stuff is now done, and I will continue with the Services. But don't expect them to be finished this month! Another small step on my development plans is having an easier installation including a sample config file.
Troublesome update procedureJanuary 4th, 2008 by Yarcanox
We had a troublesome way with some start problems and fallbacks to older versions, but now WeIRCd 0.3.5.0.1 is running (which is the originally planned 0.3.5 with the fixed channel talking) and provides us with the full /invite functionality (including invite-only channels) and many other small enhancements. See the changelog for details.
Have all a good new year! It will hopefully bring us fully working ChanServ and NickServ.
December 25th, 2007 by Yarcanox
As everything seems to work smooth at the moment, I will continue the work on the channel bans and hope to finish them soon (as there is not so much work left to set them in force). After that, the next big thing are the services. I know you are all waiting for them, and it will probably take several weeks to finish them. But I am working on it :-)
I wish you all Merry Christmas and happy chatting!
December 24th, 2007 by Yarcanox
The crash issue of our server software has been fixed :-) the real reason is still a bit unclear, but some securing additions keep it running now and prevent the crash case from happening. The fixed version 0.3.3.2 is being released in this moment.
Christmas Crash issueDecember 24th, 2007 by Yarcanox
The server currently runs in maintenance mode because it hang up again and again because of some unknown bug, but the trigger seems to be some buffer overrun issue. As I found one and fixed it (but there seems to be another one left, unfortunately) I hope that the new version which will be brought to you soon won't hang up anymore.
This version is WeIRCd 0.3.3 which will be put on the site with its sourcecode and which is going to be downloadable for free. See the source code files for licence details.
December 23th, 2007 by Yarcanox
Some users demanded a changelog for the server software, and now this has been added to the WeIRCd section of the homepage. All the fixed and newly-implemented things will be documented there from now on.
The lowercase bug has just been fixed :-)
December 22th, 2007 by Yarcanox
We are currently experiencing a malfunction of the server which turns all the nicknames into the lowercase version when connecting. This means if you connect as Peter you will finally connect as peter. You can rename your nickname to the correct version though. The problem will be fixed with the next server software update.
The /away command is finally availableDecember 7th, 2007 by Yarcanox
The server has been updated to the new version 3.2.0 - and /away is now available. Channel bans are not working yet, I am very sorry for that and still working on that feature (same goes for services).
The chat section is finishedDecember 5th, 2007 by Yarcanox
As you might have noticed, the java applet is finally uploaded and working :-) this means the easy entrance for the new users is ready. I hope this will help us gaining new users, especially those who don't know the IRC yet.
IRSeek.com - Official statementDecember 3rd, 2007 by Yarcanox
IRSeek.com published an official statement answering to the complains of the IRC users and operators. They want to make the bots detectable, provide an opt-out mechanism and to anonymise all the nicknames of the users who are part of the logged conversations. Furthermore they want to improve their policies and explain them better. I hope I summarised it correctly, view here the original blog post of B&C Advanced Solutions LTD, which run IRSeek.com to read it yourself.
I think their plans are very commendable. An opt-in would be better, but this is still a step in the right direction.
December 2nd, 2007 by Yarcanox
IRSeek.com wants to save the knowledge of the IRC, gathered in support chans and at other places. It records the whole public conversations in popular channels on big networks and makes them fully searchable. If you want to know how to install Windows, just search for Windows installation and there might be a long list with conversations where someone asked the same and got a smart answer. Ok, I am sure everyone knows how to install Windows, but this was just an example.
However, it seems like IRSeek.com sent bots to all big channels to listen to everything, but the bots had cryptic names and have been sent through the TOR network for anonymisation. Huh, what's that, why do they send the bots with names like Wankatan783 instead of a honest IRSeekBot and with hidden ips? If this doesn't already make you suspicious: Noone has been asked if he wants to be recorded, not even the channel owners or, in case of Freenode, the network staff.
I would appreciate this IRC search if the bots were easy to identify so the channel owners could decide themselves if they wanted them inside their channels, but hidden spying should be banned. If anyone discovers such a bot on Eloxoph, please notify the staff so the bot gets removed.
Currently IRSeek.com has shut down their service. Serveral sources report that they want to respect the privacy of the users from now on and need to change the service to do so. I hope this is true, because the overall idea isn't that bad, if they only respected the privacy and would create anonymous logs or ask the channel owners if they are allowed to record in their channels.