Technology/TechnicalSupport/EndUserSupport/IRC

To Technical Support for CAcert.org Community - To CAcert.org End User Support
To comma Arsenal CAcert.org - IRC

Systems - CAcert.org IRC Server

CAcert maintains its own IRC Server for private communications, allowing usage of CAcert-secured SSL-Encrypted IRC traffic for our everyday chat, meetings, and general support.
You can use our IRC service via the following means:
- Web-Based Access
  - - HTTPS Connection: https://irc.cacert.org
- IRC Client
  - - Server: irc.cacert.org
  - - SSL Port: 7000 (ircs://irc.cacert.org:7000/CAcert)
  - - Plaintext port: 6667 (irc://irc.cacert.org/CAcert)

Administrative info about irc.cacert.org
IRC Administrator Team
Administrator
<irc-admin@cacert.org>

On IRC, Nicknames are single words starting with a letter or a symbol like _^[ followed by letters, numbers or symbols. Some symbols are invalid for nick names, and generally the abuse of symbols is discouraged. This will be the canonical way to find you on IRC.
User names are generally provided by your Operating System or a specialized Ident daemon, but in absence of that, you can supply a short name, started by a letter.
Real Names are free-form strings you can put your name, a joke, or simply leave the default setting. Note that on most other IRC networks, privacy is a basic concern, so take that into account if you plan to use other network than CAcert IRC server.

CAcert.org IRC offers registration services, so that access control can be established.
Registering your nickname: type /msg nickserv help register and follow the instructions. If your client refuses this command, type /msg quote nickserv help register or /msg raw nickserv help register instead.

irc.cacert.org is enabled for SSL access and Client Certs connectivity
Register Client Certs fingerprint with NickServ
Client Cert login requires a registered Nickname
commands for NickServ -> /msg NickServ CERT*
- Usage:
  - /msg NickServ CERT ADD fingerprint
    - sample:
      - irc.cacert.org x¹): /msg NickServ CERT ADD 3EF2518017DCB9E164A808F9C2ABFC189C258416
      - irc.freenode.net x¹): /msg NickServ CERT ADD 3E:F2:51:80:17:DC:B9:E1:64:A8:08:F9:C2:AB:FC:18:9C:25:84:16
      - x¹) freenode accepts fingerprints with colon, irc.cacert.org rejects fingerprints with colon as invalid
  - /msg NickServ CERT DEL (fingerprint|number)
  - /msg NickServ CERT LIST
    - Maintains the nickname client certificate list.
If you connect to IRC with SSL, and provide the client certificate with a fingerprint on your certificate list you will be automatically identified to your nickname without having to use the IDENTIFY command.
(source: SSL-Logon on irc.cacert.org, 13/05/09 by Guillaume ROMAGNY)

Hundreds of IRC Clients exist. To make your experience a bit easier, we have a small list with a few popular clients.

Client	Operating System (Platform)	License	Interface	SSL	Client Certificate	PKCS#11	URL
X-Chat	Linux, BSD, Windows, Mac OS X, others	GPL	Graphical	Yes	Yes	??	http://www.xchat.org
Irssi	Linux, BSD, Windows, Mac OS X, others	GPL	Text	Yes	Yes	??	http://www.irssi.org
Colloquy	Mac OS X : Cocoa	BSD	Graphical	Yes	No	??	http://www.colloquy.info
Chatzilla	Seamonkey	Mozilla	built-in Graphical	Yes	Yes	Yes	http://www.seamonkey-project.org
Chatzilla	Firefox	Mozilla	installable Graphical add-on	Yes	Yes	Yes	http://chatzilla.hacksrus.com
KVirc (version 3 & 4)	Kde/Qt	GPL2 (+redistribution allowance)	Graphical	Yes	Yes	No	http://www.kvirc.net/?id=&lang=en
Pidgin	Linux, UNIX, Mac OS X, Windows	GPL	Graphical	Yes	Yes	?	http://www.pidgin.im

One of the most popular IRC Clients out there. Free Software, developed using GTK, X-Chat is an easy-to-use client for the masses.
On first run, X-Chat brings the Server List window. Configure your nickname, alternate nicknames, username and realname fields to your liking. To add CAcert as a network, click Add, name it CAcert, Edit it, name the server irc.cacert.org/6667 for cleartext connections, or irc.cacert.org/7000 for encrypted connections, and do not forget to hit enter/return so that it saves. If using encrypted connections, mark Use SSL for all servers on this network, and mark Accept Invalid SSL Certificates (or do proper installation of the CAcert Root Certificate, which varies according to your OpenSSL installation), and finally enter #CAcert on Channels to Join.
X-Chat main website http://xchat.org
X-Chat Quick Start Guide http://xchat.org/docs/start/

Has the advantage of running wherever Firefox runs. Instructions:
- On install, restart of Firefox is required.
- To launch IRC, click menus: Tools ==> Chatzilla
- in the bottom entry box, type: /attach ircs://irc.cacert.org:7000/CAcert/
- (optional) to save the session as startup, click menus: IRC ==> Open This Channel on Startup

Text / Your Statements, thoughts and e-mail snippets, Please

Text / Your Statements, thoughts and e-mail snippets, Please