Using IRC Services

We have IRC services running, which includes two services of particular interest: Nickserv and Chanserv. Nickserv is a nickname server, that lets you register a nickname and login. You need to register and be logged with Nickserv in order to use Chanserv.

Each of the provided services has extensive online help. To get the help you do:

/msg servicename help

Other available services of general use include MemoServ and SeenServ.

Using Nickserv

To register, do:

/msg NickServ REGISTER yourpassword

This registers your current Nick with that password.

To login to Nickserv, do:

/msg NickServ IDENTIFY yourpassword

Some clients (e.g. XChat) have facilities for automatically logging in to NickServ, in which case you can set and forget this.

Resolving Nick Conflicts

Occasionally you may get disconnected, but end up with a "ghost" connection. In this case, NickServ won't let you use your nick, because your ghost is already using it. You can take over by doing:

 /msg NickServ GHOST your_username your_password

This happens rarely. The usual cause is a network outage that disconnects your client, but keeps it from sending a quit to the server.

Client Instructions

Setting up Chatzilla

You'll need to import the key once on each box you run this from. Do this by pointing your web browser to:

https://irc.pgexperts.com:6667

Next, do:

/sslserver irc.pgexperts.com:6667 [password]

That should get you onto the server. To join a channel, do:

/j #yourchannel [password]

If you like, you can mark that channel as auto-join. You can also store your passwords in chatzilla. To do so, go to chatzilla's preferences

Global Settings -> Startup

There you'll see Auto-connect URLs, where you should see the URLs for irc.pgexperts.com. For example, to join yourchannel, you use a URL like this:

irc://irc.pgexperts.com:6667/yourchannel,needpass,needkey?pass=serverpassword&key=yourchannelpassword

For more on IRC URLs, see here

Setting up Colloquy

If you use Colloquy and want to set it up to connect and automatically join one or more channels, here's how:

• In the Connections window (Window => Connections), click "New"
• "Nickname": Whatever you like to be called
• "Chat Server": irc.pgexperts.com
• "Remember this connection": Checked
• Click the "Details" button.
• "Chat Server Port": 6667
• "SSL Connection": checked
• "Username": Any value
• "Server Password": [ask us for this]
• Click "Connect"

Once you've successfully connected to the server, try connecting to the #yourchannel channel:

/join #yourchannel yourpassword

Assuming that works, disconnect and go back to the Connections window to add channels that you'd automatically like to join:

• Select "irc.pgexperts.com"
• Click the "Info" button
• Click the "Automatic" tab
• Under "Join Rooms", click the plus button to add rooms that you always want to join (if the room requires a password, just put the room first, then a space and the password)
• Under "Commands", type in commands you always want to run
• Close the Info window
• Select "irc.pgexperts.com"
• Click the "Connect" button.
• You should now be signed in and on all your automatic channels.

Setting up XChat

You can add the PGExperts IRC server to your xchat quite simply, by adding a stanza to the ~/.xchat/servlist_.conf file.

Here is a sample:

N=PGExperts
I=PrimaryNickname
i=SecondaryNickname
U=Username
R=Real Name
P=serverpassword
J=#yourchannel1,#yourchannel2 password1,password2
B=yournickservpassword
F=45
D=0
S=irc.pgexperts.com/6667

Don't change the N, P, F, D or S values shown here (unless they have changed since this was written).

The meaning of all the values in this file is documented at http://xchatdata.net/Using/Servlist-conf