Network Working Group C. Kalt
Request for Comments: 2811 April 2000
Updates: 1459
Category: Informational
Internet Relay Chat: Channel Management
Status of this Memo
This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does
not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of this
memo is unlimited.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2000). All Rights Reserved.
Abstract
One of the most notable characteristics of the IRC (Internet Relay
Chat) protocol is to allow for users to be grouped in forums, called
channels, providing a mean for multiple users to communicate
together.
There was originally a unique type of channels, but with the years,
new types appeared either as a response to a need, or for
experimental purposes.
This document specifies how channels, their characteristics and
properties are managed by IRC servers.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction ............................................... 22. Channel Characteristics .................................... 32.1 Namespace .............................................. 32.2 Channel Scope .......................................... 32.3 Channel Properties ..................................... 42.4 Privileged Channel Members ............................. 42.4.1 Channel Operators ................................. 52.4.2 Channel Creator ................................... 53. Channel lifetime ........................................... 53.1 Standard channels ...................................... 53.2 Safe Channels .......................................... 64. Channel Modes .............................................. 74.1 Member Status .......................................... 74.1.1 "Channel Creator" Status .......................... 7
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4.1.2 Channel Operator Status ........................... 84.1.3 Voice Privilege ................................... 84.2 Channel Flags .......................................... 84.2.1 Anonymous Flag .................................... 84.2.2 Invite Only Flag .................................. 84.2.3 Moderated Channel Flag ............................ 94.2.4 No Messages To Channel From Clients On The Outside 9
4.2.5 Quiet Channel ..................................... 94.2.6 Private and Secret Channels ....................... 94.2.7 Server Reop Flag .................................. 104.2.8 Topic ............................................. 104.2.9 User Limit ........................................ 104.2.10 Channel Key ...................................... 104.3 Channel Access Control ................................. 104.3.1 Channel Ban and Exception ......................... 114.3.2 Channel Invitation ................................ 115. Current Implementations .................................... 115.1 Tracking Recently Used Channels ........................ 115.2 Safe Channels .......................................... 125.2.1 Channel Identifier ................................ 125.2.2 Channel Delay ..................................... 125.2.3 Abuse Window ...................................... 135.2.4 Preserving Sanity In The Name Space ............... 135.2.5 Server Reop Mechanism ............................. 136. Current problems ........................................... 146.1 Labels ................................................. 146.1.1 Channel Delay ..................................... 146.1.2 Safe Channels ..................................... 156.2 Mode Propagation Delays ................................ 156.3 Collisions And Channel Modes ........................... 156.4 Resource Exhaustion .................................... 167. Security Considerations .................................... 167.1 Access Control ......................................... 167.2 Channel Privacy ........................................ 167.3 Anonymity ............................................... 178. Current support and availability ........................... 179. Acknowledgements ........................................... 1710. References ................................................ 1811. Author's Address .......................................... 1812. Full Copyright Statement ................................... 19
This document defines in detail on how channels are managed by the
IRC servers and will be mostly useful to people working on
implementing an IRC server.
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While the concepts defined here are an important part of IRC, they
remain non essential for implementing clients. While the trend seems
to be towards more and more complex and "intelligent" clients which
are able to take advantage of knowing the internal workings of
channels to provide the users with a more friendly interface, simple
clients can be implemented without reading this document.
Many of the concepts defined here were designed with the IRC
architecture [IRC-ARCH] in mind and mostly make sense in this
context. However, many others could be applied to other
architectures in order to provide forums for a conferencing system.
Finally, it is to be noted that IRC users may find some of the
following sections of interest, in particular sections 2 (Channel
Characteristics) and 4 (Channel Modes).
A channel is a named group of one or more users which will all
receive messages addressed to that channel. A channel is
characterized by its name, properties and current members.
Channels names are strings (beginning with a '&', '#', '+' or '!'
character) of length up to fifty (50) characters. Channel names are
case insensitive.
Apart from the the requirement that the first character being either
'&', '#', '+' or '!' (hereafter called "channel prefix"). The only
restriction on a channel name is that it SHALL NOT contain any spaces
(' '), a control G (^G or ASCII 7), a comma (',' which is used as a
list item separator by the protocol). Also, a colon (':') is used as
a delimiter for the channel mask. The exact syntax of a channel name
is defined in "IRC Server Protocol" [IRC-SERVER].
The use of different prefixes effectively creates four (4) distinct
namespaces for channel names. This is important because of the
protocol limitations regarding namespaces (in general). See section
6.1 (Labels) for more details on these limitations.
A channel entity is known by one or more servers on the IRC network.
A user can only become member of a channel known by the server to
which the user is directly connected. The list of servers which know
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of the existence of a particular channel MUST be a contiguous part of
the IRC network, in order for the messages addressed to the channel
to be sent to all the channel members.
Channels with '&' as prefix are local to the server where they are
created.
Other channels are known to one (1) or more servers that are
connected to the network, depending on the channel mask:
If there is no channel mask, then the channel is known to all
the servers.
If there is a channel mask, then the channel MUST only be known
to servers which has a local user on the channel, and to its
neighbours if the mask matches both the local and neighbouring
server names. Since other servers have absolutely no knowledge of
the existence of such a channel, the area formed by the servers
having a name matching the mask has to be contiguous for the
channel to be known by all these servers. Channel masks are best
used in conjunction with server hostmasking [IRC-SERVER].
Each channel has its own properties, which are defined by channel
modes. Channel modes can be manipulated by the channel members. The
modes affect the way servers manage the channels.
Channels with '+' as prefix do not support channel modes. This means
that all the modes are unset, with the exception of the 't' channel
flag which is set.
In order for the channel members to keep some control over a channel,
and some kind of sanity, some channel members are privileged. Only
these members are allowed to perform the following actions on the
channel:
INVITE - Invite a client to an invite-only channel (mode +i)
KICK - Eject a client from the channel
MODE - Change the channel's mode, as well as
members' privileges
PRIVMSG - Sending messages to the channel (mode +n, +m, +v)
TOPIC - Change the channel topic in a mode +t channel
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The channel operators (also referred to as a "chop" or "chanop") on a
given channel are considered to 'own' that channel. Ownership of a
channel is shared among channel operators.
Channel operators are identified by the '@' symbol next to their
nickname whenever it is associated with a channel (i.e., replies to
the NAMES, WHO and WHOIS commands).
Since channels starting with the character '+' as prefix do not
support channel modes, no member can therefore have the status of
channel operator.
A user who creates a channel with the character '!' as prefix is
identified as the "channel creator". Upon creation of the channel,
this user is also given channel operator status.
In recognition of this status, the channel creators are endowed with
the ability to toggle certain modes of the channel which channel
operators may not manipulate.
A "channel creator" can be distinguished from a channel operator by
issuing the proper MODE command. See the "IRC Client Protocol"
[IRC-CLIENT] for more information on this topic.
In regard to the lifetime of a channel, there are typically two
groups of channels: standard channels which prefix is either '&', '#'
or '+', and "safe channels" which prefix is '!'.
These channels are created implicitly when the first user joins it,
and cease to exist when the last user leaves it. While the channel
exists, any client can reference the channel using the name of the
channel.
The user creating a channel automatically becomes channel operator
with the notable exception of channels which name is prefixed by the
character '+', see section 4 (Channel modes). See section 2.4.1
(Channel Operators) for more details on this title.
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In order to avoid the creation of duplicate channels (typically when
the IRC network becomes disjoint because of a split between two
servers), channel names SHOULD NOT be allowed to be reused by a user
if a channel operator (See Section 2.4.1 (Channel Operators)) has
recently left the channel because of a network split. If this
happens, the channel name is temporarily unavailable. The duration
while a channel remains unavailable should be tuned on a per IRC
network basis. It is important to note that this prevents local
users from creating a channel using the same name, but does not
prevent the channel to be recreated by a remote user. The latter
typically happens when the IRC network rejoins. Obviously, this
mechanism only makes sense for channels which name begins with the
character '#', but MAY be used for channels which name begins with
the character '+'. This mechanism is commonly known as "Channel
Delay".
Unlike other channels, "safe channels" are not implicitly created. A
user wishing to create such a channel MUST request the creation by
sending a special JOIN command to the server in which the channel
identifier (then unknown) is replaced by the character '!'. The
creation process for this type of channel is strictly controlled.
The user only chooses part of the channel name (known as the channel
"short name"), the server automatically prepends the user provided
name with a channel identifier consisting of five (5) characters.
The channel name resulting from the combination of these two elements
is unique, making the channel safe from abuses based on network
splits.
The user who creates such a channel automatically becomes "channel
creator". See section 2.4.2 (Channel Creator) for more details on
this title.
A server MUST NOT allow the creation of a new channel if another
channel with the same short name exists; or if another channel with
the same short name existed recently AND any of its member(s) left
because of a network split. Such channel ceases to exist after last
user leaves AND no other member recently left the channel because of
a network split.
Unlike the mechanism described in section 5.2.2 (Channel Delay), in
this case, channel names do not become unavailable: these channels
may continue to exist after the last user left. Only the user
creating the channel becomes "channel creator", users joining an
existing empty channel do not automatically become "channel creator"
nor "channel operator".
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To ensure the uniqueness of the channel names, the channel identifier
created by the server MUST follow specific rules. For more details
on this, see section 5.2.1 (Channel Identifier).
The various modes available for channels are as follows:
O - give "channel creator" status;
o - give/take channel operator privilege;
v - give/take the voice privilege;
a - toggle the anonymous channel flag;
i - toggle the invite-only channel flag;
m - toggle the moderated channel;
n - toggle the no messages to channel from clients on the
outside;
q - toggle the quiet channel flag;
p - toggle the private channel flag;
s - toggle the secret channel flag;
r - toggle the server reop channel flag;
t - toggle the topic settable by channel operator only flag;
k - set/remove the channel key (password);
l - set/remove the user limit to channel;
b - set/remove ban mask to keep users out;
e - set/remove an exception mask to override a ban mask;
I - set/remove an invitation mask to automatically override
the invite-only flag;
Unless mentioned otherwise below, all these modes can be manipulated
by "channel operators" by using the MODE command defined in "IRC
Client Protocol" [IRC-CLIENT].
The mode 'O' is only used in conjunction with "safe channels" and
SHALL NOT be manipulated by users. Servers use it to give the user
creating the channel the status of "channel creator".
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The mode 'v' is used to give and take voice privilege to/from a
channel member. Users with this privilege can talk on moderated
channels. (See section 4.2.3 (Moderated Channel Flag).
The channel flag 'a' defines an anonymous channel. This means that
when a message sent to the channel is sent by the server to users,
and the origin is a user, then it MUST be masked. To mask the
message, the origin is changed to "anonymous!anonymous@anonymous."
(e.g., a user with the nickname "anonymous", the username "anonymous"
and from a host called "anonymous."). Because of this, servers MUST
forbid users from using the nickname "anonymous". Servers MUST also
NOT send QUIT messages for users leaving such channels to the other
channel members but generate a PART message instead.
On channels with the character '&' as prefix, this flag MAY be
toggled by channel operators, but on channels with the character '!'
as prefix, this flag can be set (but SHALL NOT be unset) by the
"channel creator" only. This flag MUST NOT be made available on
other types of channels.
Replies to the WHOIS, WHO and NAMES commands MUST NOT reveal the
presence of other users on channels for which the anonymous flag is
set.
When the channel flag 'i' is set, new members are only accepted if
their mask matches Invite-list (See section 4.3.2) or they have been
invited by a channel operator. This flag also restricts the usage of
the INVITE command (See "IRC Client Protocol" [IRC-CLIENT]) to
channel operators.
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The channel flag 'm' is used to control who may speak on a channel.
When it is set, only channel operators, and members who have been
given the voice privilege may send messages to the channel.
This flag only affects users.
The channel flag 'q' is for use by servers only. When set, it
restricts the type of data sent to users about the channel
operations: other user joins, parts and nick changes are not sent.
From a user's point of view, the channel contains only one user.
This is typically used to create special local channels on which the
server sends notices related to its operations. This was used as a
more efficient and flexible way to replace the user mode 's' defined
in RFC 1459 [IRC].
The channel flag 'p' is used to mark a channel "private" and the
channel flag 's' to mark a channel "secret". Both properties are
similar and conceal the existence of the channel from other users.
This means that there is no way of getting this channel's name from
the server without being a member. In other words, these channels
MUST be omitted from replies to queries like the WHOIS command.
When a channel is "secret", in addition to the restriction above, the
server will act as if the channel does not exist for queries like the
TOPIC, LIST, NAMES commands. Note that there is one exception to
this rule: servers will correctly reply to the MODE command.
Finally, secret channels are not accounted for in the reply to the
LUSERS command (See "Internet Relay Chat: Client Protocol" [IRC-
CLIENT]) when the <mask> parameter is specified.
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The channel flags 'p' and 's' MUST NOT both be set at the same time.
If a MODE message originating from a server sets the flag 'p' and the
flag 's' is already set for the channel, the change is silently
ignored. This should only happen during a split healing phase
(mentioned in the "IRC Server Protocol" document [IRC-SERVER]).
The channel flag 'r' is only available on channels which name begins
with the character '!' and MAY only be toggled by the "channel
creator".
This flag is used to prevent a channel from having no channel
operator for an extended period of time. When this flag is set, any
channel that has lost all its channel operators for longer than the
"reop delay" period triggers a mechanism in servers to reop some or
all of the channel inhabitants. This mechanism is described more in
detail in section 5.2.4 (Channel Reop Mechanism).
A user limit may be set on channels by using the channel flag 'l'.
When the limit is reached, servers MUST forbid their local users to
join the channel.
The value of the limit MUST only be made available to the channel
members in the reply sent by the server to a MODE query.
When a channel key is set (by using the mode 'k'), servers MUST
reject their local users request to join the channel unless this key
is given.
The channel key MUST only be made visible to the channel members in
the reply sent by the server to a MODE query.
The last category of modes is used to control access to the channel,
they take a mask as argument.
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In order to reduce the size of the global database for control access
modes set for channels, servers MAY put a maximum limit on the number
of such modes set for a particular channel. If such restriction is
imposed, it MUST only affect user requests. The limit SHOULD be
homogeneous on a per IRC network basis.
When a user requests to join a channel, his local server checks if
the user's address matches any of the ban masks set for the channel.
If a match is found, the user request is denied unless the address
also matches an exception mask set for the channel.
Servers MUST NOT allow a channel member who is banned from the
channel to speak on the channel, unless this member is a channel
operator or has voice privilege. (See Section 4.1.3 (Voice
Privilege)).
A user who is banned from a channel and who carries an invitation
sent by a channel operator is allowed to join the channel.
For channels which have the invite-only flag set (See Section 4.2.2
(Invite Only Flag)), users whose address matches an invitation mask
set for the channel are allowed to join the channel without any
invitation.
The only current implementation of these rules as part of the IRC
protocol is the IRC server, version 2.10.
The rest of this section deals with issues that are mostly of
importance to those who wish to implement a server but some parts may
also be of interest for client writers.
This mechanism is commonly known as "Channel Delay" and generally
only applies to channels which names is prefixed with the character
'#' (See Section 3.1 "Standard channels").
When a network split occurs, servers SHOULD keep track of which
channels lost a "channel operator" as the result of the break. These
channels are then in a special state which lasts for a certain period
of time. In this particular state, the channels cannot cease to
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exist. If all the channel members leave the channel, the channel
becomes unavailable: the server local clients cannot join the channel
as long as it is empty.
Once a channel is unavailable, it will become available again either
because a remote user has joined the channel (most likely because the
network is healing), or because the delay period has expired (in
which case the channel ceases to exist and may be re-created).
The duration for which a channel death is delayed SHOULD be set
considering many factors among which are the size (user wise) of the
IRC network, and the usual duration of network splits. It SHOULD be
uniform on all servers for a given IRC network.
This document introduces the notion of "safe channels". These
channels have a name prefixed with the character '!' and great effort
is made to avoid collisions in this name space. Collisions are not
impossible, however they are very unlikely.
The channel identifier is a function of the time. The current time
(as defined under UNIX by the number of seconds elapsed since
00:00:00 GMT, January 1, 1970) is converted in a string of five (5)
characters using the following base:
"ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ1234567890" (each character has a decimal
value starting from 0 for 'A' to 35 for '0').
The channel identifier therefore has a periodicity of 36^5 seconds
(about 700 days).
These channels MUST be subject to the "channel delay" mechanism
described in section 5.1 (Channel Delay). However, the mechanism is
slightly adapted to fit better.
Servers MUST keep track of all such channels which lose members as
the result of a network split, no matter whether the user is a
"channel operator" or not.
However, these channels do NOT ever become unavailable, it is always
possible to join them even when they are empty.
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Because the periodicity is so long, attacks on a particular channel
(name) may only occur once in a very long while. However, with luck
and patience, it is still possible for a user to cause a channel
collision. In order to avoid this, servers MUST "look in the future"
and keep a list of channel names which identifier is about to be used
(in the coming few days for example). Such list should remain small,
not be a burden for servers to maintain and be used to avoid channel
collisions by preventing the re-creation of such channel for a longer
period of time than channel delay does.
Eventually a server MAY choose to extend this procedure to forbid
creation of channels with the same shortname only (then ignoring the
channel identifier).
The combination of the mechanisms described in sections 5.2.2 and
5.2.3 makes it quite difficult for a user to create a channel
collision. However, another type of abuse consists of creating many
channels having the same shortname, but different identifiers. To
prevent this from happening, servers MUST forbid the creation of a
new channel which has the same shortname of a channel currently
existing.
When a channel has been opless for longer than the "reop delay"
period and has the channel flag 'r' set (See Section 4.2.7 (Server
Reop Flag)), IRC servers are responsible for giving the channel
operator status randomly to some of the members.
The exact logic used for this mechanism by the current implementation
is described below. Servers MAY use a different logic, but that it
is strongly RECOMMENDED that all servers use the same logic on a
particular IRC network to maintain coherence as well as fairness.
For the same reason, the "reop delay" SHOULD be uniform on all
servers for a given IRC network. As for the "channel delay", the
value of the "reop delay" SHOULD be set considering many factors
among which are the size (user wise) of the IRC network, and the
usual duration of network splits.
a) the reop mechanism is triggered after a random time following the
expiration of the "reop delay". This should limit the eventuality
of the mechanism being triggered at the same time (for the same
channel) on two separate servers.
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b) If the channel is small (five (5) users or less), and the "channel
delay" for this channel has expired,
Then reop all channel members if at least one member is local to
the server.
c) If the channel is small (five (5) users or less), and the "channel
delay" for this channel has expired, and the "reop delay" has
expired for longer than its value,
Then reop all channel members.
d) For other cases, reop at most one member on the channel, based on
some method build into the server. If you don't reop a member, the
method should be such that another server will probably op
someone. The method SHOULD be the same over the whole network. A
good heuristic could be just random reop.
(The current implementation actually tries to choose a member
local to the server who has not been idle for too long, eventually
postponing action, therefore letting other servers have a chance
to find a "not too idle" member. This is over complicated due to
the fact that servers only know the "idle" time of their local
users)
There are a number of recognized problems with the way IRC channels
are managed. Some of these can be directly attributed to the rules
defined in this document, while others are the result of the
underlying "IRC Server Protocol" [IRC-SERVER]. Although derived from
RFC 1459 [IRC], this document introduces several novelties in an
attempt to solve some of the known problems.
This document defines one of the many labels used by the IRC
protocol. Although there are several distinct namespaces (based on
the channel name prefix), duplicates inside each of these are not
allowed. Currently, it is possible for users on different servers to
pick the label which may result in collisions (with the exception of
channels known to only one server where they can be averted).
The channel delay mechanism described in section 5.1 (Tracking
Recently Used Channels) and used for channels prefixed with the
character '#' is a simple attempt at preventing collisions from
happening. Experience has shown that, under normal circumstances, it
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is very efficient; however, it obviously has severe limitations
keeping it from being an adequate solution to the problem discussed
here.
"Safe channels" described in section 3.2 (Safe Channels) are a better
way to prevent collisions from happening as it prevents users from
having total control over the label they choose. The obvious
drawback for such labels is that they are not user friendly.
However, it is fairly trivial for a client program to improve on
this.
Because of network delays induced by the network, and because each
server on the path is REQUIRED to check the validity of mode changes
(e.g., user exists and has the right privileges), it is not unusual
for a MODE message to only affect part of the network, often creating
a discrepancy between servers on the current state of a channel.
While this may seem easy to fix (by having only the original server
check the validity of mode changes), it was decided not to do so for
various reasons. One concern is that servers cannot trust each
other, and that a misbehaving servers can easily be detected. This
way of doing so also stops wave effects on channels which are out of
synch when mode changes are issued from different directions.
The "Internet Relay Chat: Server Protocol" document [IRC-SERVER]
describes how channel data is exchanged when two servers connect to
each other. Channel collisions (either legitimate or not) are
treated as inclusive events, meaning that the resulting channel has
for members all the users who are members of the channel on either
server prior to the connection.
Similarly, each server sends the channel modes to the other one.
Therefore, each server also receives these channel modes. There are
three types of modes for a given channel: flags, masks, and data.
The first two types are easy to deal with as they are either set or
unset. If such a mode is set on one server, it MUST be set on the
other server as a result of the connection.
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As topics are not sent as part of this exchange, they are not a
problem. However, channel modes 'l' and 'k' are exchanged, and if
they are set on both servers prior to the connection, there is no
mechanism to decide which of the two values takes precedence. It is
left up to the users to fix the resulting discrepancy.
The mode based on masks defined in section 4.3 make the IRC servers
(and network) vulnerable to a simple abuse of the system: a single
channel operator can set as many different masks as possible on a
particular channel. This can easily cause the server to waste
memory, as well as network bandwidth (since the info is propagated to
other servers). For this reason it is RECOMMENDED that a limit be
put on the number of such masks per channels as mentioned in section
4.3.
Moreover, more complex mechanisms MAY be used to avoid having
redundant masks set for the same channel.
One of the main ways to control access to a channel is to use masks
which are based on the username and hostname of the user connections.
This mechanism can only be efficient and safe if the IRC servers have
an accurate way of authenticating user connections, and if users
cannot easily get around it. While it is in theory possible to
implement such a strict authentication mechanism, most IRC networks
(especially public networks) do not have anything like this in place
and provide little guaranty about the accuracy of the username and
hostname for a particular client connection.
Another way to control access is to use a channel key, but since this
key is sent in plaintext, it is vulnerable to traditional man in the
middle attacks.
Because channel collisions are treated as inclusive events (See
Section 6.3), it is possible for users to join a channel overriding
its access control settings. This method has long been used by
individuals to "take over" channels by "illegitimately" gaining
channel operator status on the channel. The same method can be used
to find out the exact list of members of a channel, as well as to
eventually receive some of the messages sent to the channel.
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The anonymous channel flag (See Section 4.2.1) can be used to render
all users on such channel "anonymous" by presenting all messages to
the channel as originating from a pseudo user which nickname is
"anonymous". This is done at the client-server level, and no
anonymity is provided at the server-server level.
It should be obvious to readers, that the level of anonymity offered
is quite poor and insecure, and that clients SHOULD display strong
warnings for users joining such channels.
Parts of this document were copied from the RFC 1459 [IRC] which
first formally documented the IRC Protocol. It has also benefited
from many rounds of review and comments. In particular, the
following people have made significant contributions to this
document:
Matthew Green, Michael Neumayer, Volker Paulsen, Kurt Roeckx, Vesa
Ruokonen, Magnus Tjernstrom, Stefan Zehl.
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[KEYWORDS] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.
[IRC] Oikarinen, J. and D. Reed, "Internet Relay Chat
Protocol", RFC 1459, May 1993.
[IRC-ARCH] Kalt, C., "Internet Relay Chat: Architecture", RFC 2810,
April 2000.
[IRC-CLIENT] Kalt, C., "Internet Relay Chat: Client Protocol", RFC
2812, April 2000.
[IRC-SERVER] Kalt, C., "Internet Relay Chat: Server Protocol", RFC
2813, April 2000.
Christophe Kalt
99 Teaneck Rd, Apt #117
Ridgefield Park, NJ 07660
USA
EMail: kalt@stealth.net
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Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2000). All Rights Reserved.
This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it
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