Install an IRC server

Install an IRC server Organic Design procedure

Server

An IRC server can be set up on the local LAN so that chat is available independently of the Internet connection. Traditionally the problem with setting up an IRC client has been configurational complexity, but the "Next Generation IRC client" (ngIRCd) can literally be set up in minutes. On Ubuntu or Debian systems it can be installed with apt-get install ngircd.

Only a few adjustments need to be made to the configuration in /etc/ngircd/ngircd.conf to get a functional server up and running; set the Name value of the server to an IP or domain name it can be reachable by within the LAN or Internet. You can set a global password which simplifies the set up of users (any username will work with the global password) by setting the Password value. We also add the PredefChannelsOnly = yes. You may wish to refine the configuration further by setting up specific users and channels.

To get debugging output, stop the server from init.d and then run from shell with the -n switch to have output logged to STDOUT as follows:

/etc/init.d/ngircd stop ngircd -n

Clients

We use the default instant messaging client that comes with Ubuntu which is Pidgin. First set up an account on your server from the "Buddies" menu. This is where you enter your name and the global password along with the address/Name of the server.

When the chat opens in the channel, select "Save" from the "Conversation" menu to save the channel in the "Buddies" list and allow it to connect on start up etc.

Networking Servers

Ideally we'd like to change #organicdesign over from freenode.org to the OD server. This is easily done with ngIRCd but we'd like to configure our local LAN server to merge the #odlan channel with the #organicdesign one.

Channels

#mediawiki
The MediaWiki IRC channel is on freenode, see freenode FAQ for details about registering a nickname etc

#organicdesign
Currently we're running this on freenode, but will soon change over to our own server after checking it out locally for a while.

#odlan
This is the channel on our local LAN server which allows us to communicate amongst ourselves without generating Internet traffic.

See also

• ngIRCd - Next Generation IRC client
• sample-ngircd.conf
• IRC.org tutorial
• Another tutorial
• And another