About UnrealIRCd

UnrealIRCd is an Open Source IRC Server, serving thousands of networks since 1999. It runs on Linux, OS X and Windows and is currently the most widely deployed IRCd with a market share of 42%. UnrealIRCd is a highly advanced IRCd with a strong focus on modularity, an advanced and highly configurable configuration file. Key features include SSL/TLS, cloaking, its advanced anti-flood and anti-spam systems, swear filtering and module support. We are also particularly proud on our extensive online documentation.

Versions

• UnrealIRCd 6 is the stable series since December 2021. All new features go in there.
• UnrealIRCd 5 is the oldstable series. It will receive bug fixes until July 1, 2022 plus another 12 months of security fixes.
• For full details of release scheduling and EOL dates, see UnrealIRCd releases on the wiki

How to get started

Use the wiki!

IMPORTANT: We recommend you follow our installation guide on the wiki instead of the steps in this README. The wiki has more detailed information and is more easy to navigate.

• Installing from source for *NIX
• Installating instructions for Windows

Please consult the online documentation at https://www.unrealircd.org/docs/ when setting up the IRCd!

Step 1: Installation

Windows

Simply download the UnrealIRCd Windows version from www.unrealircd.org

Alternatively you can compile UnrealIRCd for Windows yourself. However this is not straightforward and thus not recommended.

*BSD/Linux/macOS

Do the following steps under a separate account for running UnrealIRCd, do NOT compile or run as root.

Step 1: Compile the IRCd

• Run ./Config
• Run make
• Run make install
• Now change to the directory where you installed UnrealIRCd, e.g. cd /home/xxxx/unrealircd

Step 2: Configuration

Configuration files are stored in the conf/ folder by default (eg: /home/xxxx/unrealircd/conf)

Create a configuration file

If you are new, then you need to create your own configuration file: Copy conf/examples/example.conf to conf/ and call it unrealircd.conf. Then open it in an editor and carefully modify it using the documentation and FAQ as a guide (see below).

Step 3: Booting

Linux/*BSD/macOS

Run ./unrealircd start in the directory where you installed UnrealIRCd.

Windows

Start -> All Programs -> UnrealIRCd -> UnrealIRCd

Documentation & FAQ

You can find the documentation online at: https://www.unrealircd.org/docs/

We also have a good FAQ: https://www.unrealircd.org/docs/FAQ

Website, support, and other links

• https://www.unrealircd.org - Our main website
• https://forums.unrealircd.org - Support
• https://bugs.unrealircd.org - Bug tracker
• ircs://irc.unrealircd.org:6697/unreal-support - IRC support