This is my second post. I thought I'd add some info I have seen more than a mere handful
of helpers go blank on (because they never tested the service feature themselves). I am,
of course, referring to htt p://channels. dal. net/ space for channel founders.
This post is meant to be an unofficial RFC (request for comments) pertaining to the
information posted here, so post away. ;p
TOPIC: Bahamut, user limits/non-Oper IRCd commands & channels. dal. net info for helpers.
OBJECTIVE: To give helpers working knowledge of how to help users with questions
regarding channel webspace.
Note: If anyone on the docs team is reading this, please feel free to add any or all of
this information to htt p://docs. dal. net/
SECTION ONE: User limits (Bahamut IRCd limits)
SECTION TWO: Alt codes and URL encoding
SECTION THREE: Helper's guide to htt p://channels. dal. net/
SECTION FOUR: Bahamut IRCd commands (non-Oper commands)
SECTION ONE:
All Bahamut-related information is based off of the current version of Bahamut which
is subject to change (upon changes in new releases). Current version: bahamut-1.8(06).
1.1 User limits.
nick!ident@host <=> 30!10@63
Nicks can be anywhere from 1-30 characters in length.
Idents can be anywhere from 1-10 characters in length (9, max, if prefixed with a ~/tilde).
Hosts can have a maximum of 63 characters in length.
1.2 Channel limits.
Channel names can have a maximum of 31 characters. The server motd (message of the day)
will say 32, but the # sign counts as one of the characters.
Channel keywords (channel mode +k) can have 1-23 characters in length.
1.3 Usable characters for nicks, idents, channel names and channel keywords.
Nicks: 72 usable characters `,0-9,a-z,A-Z,^,-,_,\,|,{,},[ and ]
Note: Nicks cannot begin with a number (0-9) nor begin with a - (hyphen). This is not
unique to DALnet/Bahamut IRCd.
Idents: 65 usable characters 0-9, a-z, A-Z, . (period), _ (underscore) and - (hyphen)
Note: Bahamut allows you to use all other characters, but they will show as underscores.
The above note has its usefulness. We have all seen users come in and chat with funny
looking words with weird charcters (e.g. Ðýÿà). These are extended-ascii characters, and
with ident use they are all translated to underscores (_). So, for example, you see a
user join with an address looking like PapaSmurf!_____(a)10.10.12.123 you can assume the
user may not know English (or may know English as a second language) just by the
excessive underscores (_) in the ident area of the usermask. Also, if someone comes to a
help channel and wants to eliminate the number of users who come to their channel that
tend to text in funny words (like above), they can help reduce this by:
/mode #channel +b *!*__*@* <= 2 underscores because many people use just one (whom chat
in English).
Channel names: 188 usable characters
Note: All usable characters can be used excluding: SPACE, COMMA and NON-BREAKING SPACE.
What are usable characters? Section two (below) goes into this more.
Channel keywords: 188 usable characters
Note: All usable characters can be used excluding: SPACE, COMMA and ASTERISK.
SECTION TWO:
===============================================================
ALT & URL-ENCODING CODES:
Notes:
1. alt+0288 through alt+0382 are the same as alt+32 through alt+126.
2. Too see what the characters are called (in Windows)... Start, Run.
Type charmap, hit OK. Click once (on a character), and its name is in the
lower-left corner. You may have to change font (in the large pane to see them).
3. You need to use the number pad (right side of keyboard) to produce the characters
(not the numbers above the alpha characters/letters). So what of laptop users?
Get them to run charmap (a.k.a. character map) in Windows. Click once on desired
character, hit Select button. Repeat till a word/set is formed. Hit Copy button.
Paste to IRC. Non-Windows users? Dunno. I haven't used nix/MacOS/etc in years.
4. These codes are intended for IRC use. Yes, I know different codes do different
characters/keys (such as with Notepad). E.g. With Notepad, alt+0264=backspace,
but not for IRC.
5. I included URL-encoding codes (e.g. %AD) for the channels. dal. net section
(SECTION THREE).
6. Because DALnet doesn't allow "space bar," comma nor non-breaking spaces in channel
names, I will not include the URL-encoding codes for these characters.
7. Unicode characters can be pasted to IRC (from apps like Microsoft Word), but this
post doesn't cover such nonsense. :P
[alt+32= "space bar"] [%21/alt+33=!] [%22/alt+34="] [%23/alt+35=#] [%24/alt+36=$]
[%25/alt+37=%] [%26/alt+38=&] [%27/alt+39='] [%28/alt+40=(] [%29/alt+41=)]
[%2A/alt+42=*] [%2B/alt+43=+] [alt+44=,] [%2D/alt+45=-] [%2E/alt+46=.] [%2F/alt+47=/][alt+48=0] [alt+49=1] [alt+50=2] [alt+51=3] [alt+52=4] [alt+53=5] [alt+54=6]
[alt+55=7] [alt+56=8] [alt+57=9] [%3A/alt+58=:] [%3B/alt+59=;] [%3C/alt+60=<]
[%3D/alt+61="equal sign"] [%3E/alt+62=>] [%3F/alt+63=?] [%40/alt+64=@]
[alt+65=A] [alt+66=B] [alt+67=C] [alt+68=D] [alt+69=E] [alt+70=F] [alt+71=G]
[alt+72=H] [alt+73=I] [alt+74=J] [alt+75=K] [alt+76=L] [alt+77=M] [alt+78=N]
[alt+79=O] [alt+80=P] [alt+81=Q] [alt+82=R] [alt+83=S] [alt+84=T] [alt+85=U]
[alt+86=V] [alt+87=W] [alt+88=X] [alt+89=Y] [alt+90=Z] [%5B/alt+91=[] [%5C/alt+92=\]
[%5D/alt+93=]] [%5E/alt+94=^] [%5F/alt+95=_] [%60/alt+96=`] [alt+97=a] [alt+98=b]
[alt+99=c] [alt+100=d] [alt+101=e] [alt+102=f] [alt+103=g] [alt+104=h] [alt+105=i]
[alt+106=j] [alt+107=k] [alt+108=l] [alt+109=m] [alt+110=n] [alt+111=o] [alt+112=p]
[alt+113=q] [alt+114=r] [alt+115=s] [alt+116=t] [alt+117=u] [alt+118=v] [alt+119=w]
[alt+120=x] [alt+121=y] [alt+122=z] [%7B/alt+123={] [%7C/alt+124=|]
[%7D/alt+125=}] [%7E/alt+126=~] [alt+0266 or alt+0269= "enter key"]
Extended ASCII Characters...
[alt+0160="non-breaking space"] [%A1/alt+0161=¡] [%A2/alt+0162=¢] [%A3/alt+0163=£]
[%A4/alt+0164=¤] [%A5/alt+0165=¥] [%A6/alt+0166=¦] [%A7/alt+0167=§] [%A8/alt+0168=¨]
[%A9/alt+0169=©] [%AA/alt+0170=ª] [%AB/alt+0171=«] [%AC/alt+0172=¬]
[%AD/alt+0173=(soft hyphen)] [%AE/alt+0174=®] [%AF/alt+0175=¯] [%B0/alt+0176=°]
[%B1/alt+0177=±] [%B2/alt+0178=²] [%B3/alt+0179=³] [%B4/alt+0180=´] [%B5/alt+0181=µ]
[%B6/alt+0182=¶] [%B7/alt+0183=·] [%B8/alt+0184=¸] [%B9/alt+0185=¹] [%BA/alt+0186=º]
[%BB/alt+0187=»] [%BC/alt+0188=¼] [%BD/alt+0189=½] [%BE/alt+0190=¾] [%BF/alt+0191=¿]
[%C0/alt+0192=À] [%C1/alt+0193=Á] [%C2/alt+0194=Â] [%C3/alt+0195=Ã] [%C4/alt+0196=Ä]
[%C5/alt+0197=Å] [%C6/alt+0198=Æ] [%C7/alt+0199=Ç] [%C8/alt+0200=È] [%C9/alt+0201=É]
[%CA/alt+0202=Ê] [%CB/alt+0203=Ë] [%CC/alt+0204=Ì] [%CD/alt+0205=Í] [%CE/alt+0206=Î]
[%CF/alt+0207=Ï] [%D0/alt+0208=Ð] [%D1/alt+0209=Ñ] [%D2/alt+0210=Ò] [%D3/alt+0211=Ó]
[%D4/alt+0212=Ô] [%D5/alt+0213=Õ] [%D6/alt+0214=Ö] [%D7/alt+0215=×] [%D8/alt+0216=Ø]
[%D9/alt+0217=Ù] [%DA/alt+0218=Ú] [%DB/alt+0219=Û] [%DC/alt+0220=Ü] [%DD/alt+0221=Ý]
[%DE/alt+0222=Þ] [%DF/alt+0223=ß] [%E0/alt+0224=à] [%E1/alt+0225=á] [%E2/alt+0226=â]
[%E3/alt+0227=ã] [%E4/alt+0228=ä] [%E5/alt+0229=å] [%E6/alt+0230=æ] [%E7/alt+0231=ç]
[%E8/alt+0232=è] [%E9/alt+0233=é] [%EA/alt+0234=ê] [%EB/alt+0235=ë] [%EC/alt+0236=ì]
[%ED/alt+0237=í] [%EE/alt+0238=î] [%EF/alt+0239=ï] [%F0/alt+0240=ð] [%F1/alt+0241=ñ]
[%F2/alt+0242=ò] [%F3/alt+0243=ó] [%F4/alt+0244=ô] [%F5/alt+0245=õ] [%F6/alt+0246=ö]
[%F7/alt+0247=÷] [%F8/alt+0248=ø] [%F9/alt+0249=ù] [%FA/alt+0250=ú] [%FB/alt+0251=û]
[%FC/alt+0252=ü] [%FD/alt+0253=ý] [%FE/alt+0254=þ] [%FF/alt+0255=ÿ]
===============================================================
SECTION THREE:
Basics...
A user registers a channel. As of 14 days after registration, the founder may use 5mb
(megabytes) of DALnet web space for their channel webpage.
For rules and regulations, read the guidelines here: htt p://channels. dal. net/
The remainder of this section assumes 14 days have passed (since registration).
Let's revisit section 1.3 (above) and the part about channel names.
Review:
1) Channel names can be anywhere from 1-31 characters long.
2) Channel names can use one of 188 different characters (per character).
3) 188^31 = 3.15 x 10^70 = Well, you can see why channel names don't need to be longer.
Note: Thanks dracul for the math lesson!
Usable (non-unicode) characters weighs in at a total of 191. Channel names cannot use 3
characters (space, comma and non-breaking space), so 188 characters can be used. You can
see what those characters are in SECTION TWO (above).
Okay, let's boogie (get started)...
By default, the password for the channel webspace is the same as the channel's password.
This is fine, as long as the founder is the only one accessing the web space. For content
managers, for the manager, the founder should set a WEBPASSWD (that is different from the
channel password).
Command: /chanserv set #channel WEBPASSWD webPASS
Logging in (to upload/manage files)...
There are 2 methods of doing this. DALnet, however, says to use an FTP client (because
it is the least problematic).
If you don't know how to use an FTP client, learn before helping users with questions
regarding channel webspace (on DALnet). This post does not cover FTP clients; it is
assumed that helpers know how to use them.
The second means of accessing a channel's webspace is through a browser (Mozilla Firefox,
Internet Explorer, Opera, etc). I will only discuss Firefox and Internet Explorer
(referred to simply as IE for this post), because they are the only browsers I have
installed.
Note: You do not use the # character when logging in (FTP client or browser).
htt p://channels. dal. net/channel
ft p://channel@channels. dal. net/
The FTP address (above) is ONLY used by content managers/uploaders.
The HTTP address (above) is used to view the webpage (for users).
If the user only has Firefox installed, tell them to download the FileZilla (free) FTP
client (found at: htt p://filezilla-project. org/download. php).
IE is the best web browser for uploading/managing content.
From SECTION TWO (above), you see characters normally not seen in browser URLs. This is
where URL encoding comes into play. To demonstrate this, I registered a channel with an
extended-ASCII character. The channel is #alt+0173 (soft hyphen). From the chart in
SECTION TWO, the URL-encoding code for a soft hyphen is %AD. Browsers recognize URL
encoding just fine, but not the actual characters. To log into the FTP (to manage files)
or view web content, through a web browser, you MUST use the URL-encoding characters. The
characters requiring URL encoding are listed in the chart (in SECTION TWO). You can see
why DALnet recommends using an FTP client!
My test channel is # (soft hyphen). To log into it, using a web browser, I have to
encode the soft hyphen (i.e. use %AD). I would use...
htt p://channels. dal. net/%AD/ <= To view content.
ft p://%AD:password@channels. dal. net/ <= To upload/manage files.
Here's where things get tricky!
You can log into the channel's FTP space using IE, but you cannot upload/delete files,
directories, etc. Uh oh! No worries; there is a workaround.
Microsoft Windows using something called a trident shell.
My Computer/Windows Explorer/Mocrosft Outlook/IE can all be used to view web pages. They
are all tied together (through the trident shell). IE can only log into FTPs; it cannot
manage content within the FTP connection. This is why we must use My Computer, Windows
Explorer, etc to manage/upload content (instead of IE).
How is this done?
1. Open Windows Explorer (Start, Programs, Accessories, Windows Explorer).
2. Address bar (at the top), type in ft p://channel:password@channels. dal. net/
3. The right area (pane) is your FTP connection. You can right click, New, Folder to
create a new directory. Else, on the left side, go to where you put the content to upload
(on your computer). Click to open the directory with the files. Copy each then hit the
back arrow to go back to FTP connection. Right click then hit paste. Uploaded content
sent. Yay!
Now that you have the basics, you can explore further. I recommend practicing before
helping anyone through this. If you don't use Windows, I cannot help. Use an FTP client!
SECTION FOUR:
===============================================================
Usable, 'Non-Oper' Bahamut/IRCd Commands on DALnet (am I missing any? :p)...
/action <text> (same as the /me command)
/admin <OperNick or server.*>
/away <message here> (or /away, alone, will set it off)
/dccallow <±nick>
/disconnect (doesn't allow a message like /quit)
/exit
/identify <nick or #channel> <nick or channel password>
/info
/invite <nick> <#channel>
/ison <nick>
/join #channel
/kick #channel <nick> <optional message>
/links (does not display Super Servers)
/list (or /list topic or /list #channel)
/lusers
/me <text> (same as the /action command)
/mode #channel <value> <nick>
/motd <or /motd servername.*>
/motd services.* (retrieves CSOp list, etc)
/msg (same as /privmsg and /query)
/names <#channel>
/nick <new nick>
/notice <nick or #channel> <message here>
/part #channel <optional message>
/privmsg (same as /msg and /query)
/query <nick> <message here> (same as /msg and /privmsg)
/quit <optional message>
/quote
/raw
/server <server>
/services (IRCd mapping to services that can be used for multi-services commands)
/silence <±host>
/stats <value>
/time
/topic #channel <topic here>
/trace <nick or server.*>
/userhost <nick>
/users <server.*>
/version <value>
/watch <±host>
/who ±flag <argument> (or /who 0 o to find network-wide active opers)
/whois <nick>
/whowas <nick>
Note: Other commands are probably IRC-client commands like /onotice for mIRC, etc.
===============================================================
Well, I hope this post was useful (to at least someone). Happy 2010!
PapaSmurf
P.S. This is anything but a complete guide to using htt p://channels. dal. net/ but it is information that helpers should be aware of and experiment with (because DALnet does offer webspace and we should know how to help others).
