why doesn't syntax for /swhois from helpop work?

[ZvOO]

I'm familiar with oper swhois and vhost swhois as well as swhois assignment via the RAW command. But can someone please explain why the /SWHOIS <nick> :desired line to display won't add anything to the target nick's whois information on my network? I'm using Unreal3.2.7 and I could have sworn it used to work in previous releases (perhaps not, but it sure seems I've successfully used it before). When I try to use this command there's no command error returned. It appears to accept the command but the specified line is not added to the target. My next question is conditional: if this command isn't supported by UnrealIRCd, why is it in the helpop reference?

TIA
ZvOO

[Stealth]

The SWHOIS command can only be used by services, as helpop mentions. It has been like that as far as I can remember (been using Unreal since 3.2 beta 16)

There is also a SWHOIS option in the oper block to add a SWHOIS line to an oper, but that is the only place you would be able to set anyones SWHOIS without services.

[ZvOO]

The SWHOIS command can only be used by services, as helpop mentions. It has been like that as far as I can remember (been using Unreal since 3.2 beta 16)

OK, I see the "Must be sent through an U:Lined server" in the description. But why does it show the command syntax without designation as a RAW command? There's no "RAW" in the displayed syntax:

Code: Select all

Changes the WHOIS message of the Nickname.
 Must be sent through an U:Lined server.
 -
 Syntax:  SWHOIS <nick> :<message> (Sets the SWHOIS)
          SWHOIS <nick> :  (Resets the SWHOIS)
 Example: SWHOIS SomeNick :is a lamer

There is also a SWHOIS option in the oper block to add a SWHOIS line to an oper, but that is the only place you would be able to set anyones SWHOIS without services.

Yes, I know about the oper block swhois and the vhost block swhois options. I wanted to be able to set the swhois lines on a few regular users at will, though.

[Stealth]

OK, I see the "Must be sent through an U:Lined server" in the description. But why does it show the command syntax without designation as a RAW command? There's no "RAW" in the displayed syntax:

A couple reasons:
-> Services RAW should not be used
-> There are no commands that say to use RAW in their syntax.

[ZvOO]

OK, I see the "Must be sent through an U:Lined server" in the description. But why does it show the command syntax without designation as a RAW command? There's no "RAW" in the displayed syntax:

A couple reasons:
-> Services RAW should not be used
-> There are no commands that say to use RAW in their syntax.

Hmm... so the command is useless without RAW in it. Then I suppose that tends to beg the following questions:
1) why does the helpop reference system display command line syntax that's effectively useless (in this case, at least)?
2) why doesn't the IRCd return an error when this command is executed per that useless syntax?
Ah well, it seems some things are destined to remain a mystery

[Stealth]

1) why does the helpop reference system display command line syntax that's effectively useless (in this case, at least)?

Because these are commands meant to be sent from a services server, which means you are seeing the server-to-server syntax as it should be sent. The RAW command you refer to is not part of Unreal at all. Your client has a RAW command to send text straight to the server, and your services have a RAW command which sends text straight to the server as well.

A note about using a services RAW command: DON'T USE IT! It should only be used for debugging purposes only, as sending things directly to the server as a server can easily crash Unreal. Unreal does not have server-to-server syntax checking because it is not needed, and syntax checking would slow communication between servers.

2) why doesn't the IRCd return an error when this command is executed per that useless syntax?

Again, these commands were meant to be sent from a U:Lined server, so there is no syntax checking. All Unreal does is check if it is a user or a server sending the command. If a user sends the command, Unreal just ignores the line. This is why it says "Must be sent from an U:Lined server"

[ZvOO]

Got it. Thanks.

Thinking back a bit harder, I'm sure I've added swhois info from the command line for a few regular users... obviously I had to have used RAW or it wouldn't have worked. The last time was quite a while ago and I don't use RAW any longer because of the dangers you've described. In fact, I've even set the DisableRaw directive in my services conf.