Reminder: UnrealIRCd 3.2.x End Of Life

News about the UnrealIRCd project, including release announcements
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Syzop
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Reminder: UnrealIRCd 3.2.x End Of Life

Post by Syzop »

If you are still running UnrealIRCd 3.2.x then this is a friendly reminder to upgrade to UnrealIRCd 4 before the end of 2016.
As announced a year ago, all support for UnrealIRCd 3.2.x will stop after December 31, 2016. This also means no more security updates.
UnrealIRCd 4 is in use by many networks and has proven to be stable and reliable. Many third party modules have been converted as well.
Upgrading from 3.2.x to 4.x should be relatively easy. Your configuration file can be updated to the new format automatically. For more information see below.

Upgrading from 3.2.x to UnrealIRCd 4
If you are upgrading from 3.2.x to 4.x then there are three important things to know:
1) New file locations
In UnrealIRCd 4 the location of the configuration files and other files have been changed. On *NIX the directory where you compile the IRCd from (previously 'Unreal3.2.X', now 'unrealircd-4.0.0') is no longer the same as the directory where the IRCd will be running from.
By default the IRCd is installed to /home/yourusername/unrealircd on *NIX. On Windows UnrealIRCd will install to C:\Program Files (x86\UnrealIRCd 4.

The new directory structure is as follows (both on Windows and *NIX):
conf/ contains all configuration files
logs/ for log files
modules/ all modules (.so files on *NIX, .dll files on Windows)

2) Configuration file changes
There have also been changes in various configuration blocks and settings. Don't worry, UnrealIRCd can convert your existing 3.2.x configuration files to UnrealIRCd 4 format. There's no need to start from scratch.
Please read https://www.unrealircd.org/docs/Upgrading_from_3.2.x for more information on the config file conversion.

3) Third party modules
If you are using 3rd party modules (modules not developed by the UnrealIRCd team) then they will need an update to run on UnrealIRCd 4.
Contact your developer for a new version or ask on our Modules forum where someone may be kind enough to convert the module for you if you ask nicely.
Due to the many core changes in UnrealIRCd 4 it was simply impossible to make 3.2.x modules work out-of-the-box on 4.x as well.

Running a mixed 3.2.x / 4.x network
You can run a mixed 3.2.x <-> 4.x network if you a follow a few simple rules.


What's new in UnrealIRCd 4
A short overview of the most important changes:
  • You decide what to load. We have moved as much functionality as possible to 150+ individually loadable modules (commands, user modes, channel modes, extbans, snomasks, ..). You decide which features your UnrealIRCd should have.
  • Fine-grained IRCOp privileges. The way IRCOp privileges are granted has been redone entirely. This allows you to configure oper privileges on a very detailed level. You don't want OperOverride? You don't want opers to see secret channels? Or you want an oper with a very minimal set of privileges? This is all possible.
  • Wiki. All documentation has been moved to a wiki. It's even better than before and more accessible to people who are new to IRCd's. The wiki also allows easy translation by community members.
  • New directory structure. On *NIX the IRCd is now always installed to a different directory than where you compile from (~/unrealircd by default). No more mess. On both *NIX and Windows configuration files go in conf/, modules go in modules/, etc.. Configuration files can be identical on Windows and *NIX. This new directory structure also allows easier packaging.
  • New I/O system using kqueue & epoll. The IRCd can now handle thousands of users more easily.
  • Improved SSL/TLS support. SSL has always been a major feature in UnrealIRCd but has been enhanced. UnrealIRCd is now always built with SSL support (both on *NIX and Windows). SSL client certificate fingerprints are visible in /WHOIS, a new certfp extban (~S:certificatefingerprint), better defaults including 4096 bit keys and Perfect forward secrecy, etc.
  • DNS Blacklist support (DNSBL/RBL). Great for combating drones and other abusers.
  • Better and more helpful error messages. Especially regarding the configuration file.
  • More modern server-to-server protocol. Such as using UID/SID's. Resulting in less desynch. issues.
  • Lowering the bar for Spamfilter. You can now choose between 'regex' and 'simple' matching. Simple matching allows using the usual '?' and '*' wildcards that everyone knows about. The regex engine has been moved from TRE to PCRE (=about twice as fast).
  • Configuration is more logical. Around 30% of the configuration blocks have been restructured. Don't worry, we include an UnrealIRCd 3.2.x to 4.x configuration file converter.
  • Easier 3rd party module management. On *NIX you now just put your 3rd party modules in src/modules/third and then each time you run 'make' they will be compiled if needed.
  • Easier upgrading. On *NIX, when upgrading to a new version, ./Config will ask you to import settings from a previous installation, remembering your installation directory and other settings. It will also copy the 3rd party modules from the old to the new installation and re-compile them.
  • More secure. Even better secure defaults, more warnings about insecure behavior, ..
  • IPv6 now also on Windows.
For developers:
  • Easier source navigation. Because we moved almost everything to modules, it's now much easier to see all the code for a particular feature.
  • Cleaner code. There have been a lot of source code cleanups. Code has been restructured or rewritten. Old irrelevant code has been deleted.
  • Development documentation can be found on the wiki. We explain how to write a module in C and list all the details on the various Module API's such as how to write commands, channel modes, plug-in by using Hooks, etc...

Download
As always, you can download UnrealIRCd from https://www.unrealircd.org/
All releases are signed with our PGP key (short key id 0x108FF4A9 and long id 0xA7A21B0A108FF4A9)

Please report all bugs and feature suggestions at https://bugs.unrealircd.org/
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