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Opering with PyLink Relay
This guide was written for the OVERdrive-IRC network, but may be applicable elsewhere.
PyLink Relay behaves much like Janus, an extended service used to relay channels together. This guide goes over some of the basic oper commands in Relay, along with the best ways to handle channel emergencies.
How nick suffixing work
When joining a relay channel, every user from another network will have a network tag attached to their name. The purpose of this is to prevent nick collisions from the same nick being used on multiple nets, and ensure that different networks’ registered nicks remain separate.
How is this relevant? Firstly, it means that you cannot ban
users using banmasks such as */net1!*@*! The nick
suffix is something PyLink adds artificially; on net1’s
IRCd, which is checking the bans locally, the nick suffix simply doesn’t
exist.
However, this does mean that you can effectively give access
to remote users via services, by specifying masks such as
*/net1@someident@someperson.opers.somenet.org. Just don’t
make masks too wide, or you risk getting channel takeovers.
Relay commands
The concept of relay channels in PyLink is greatly inspired by the original Janus implementation, though with a few differences in command syntax.
To create a channel: -
/msg PyLink create #channelname
To link to a channel already created on a different network: -
/msg PyLink link othernet #channelname
You can also link remote channels to take a different name on your
network. (This is the third argument to the LINK command) -
/msg PyLink link othernet #lobby #othernet-lobby
Also, to list the available channels: -
/msg PyLink linked
To remove a relay channel that you’ve created: -
/msg PyLink destroy #channelname
To delink a channel linked to another network: -
/msg PyLink delink #channelname
Claiming channels
PyLink offers channel claiming similarly to Janus, except that it is on by default when you create a channel on any network. Unless the claimed network list of a channel is EMPTY, oper override (MODE, KICK, TOPIC) will only be allowed from networks on that list.
To set a claim (note: for these commands, you must be on the network
which created the channel in question!): -
/msg PyLink claim #channel yournet,net2,net3 (the last
parameter is a comma-separated list of networks, case-sensitive)
To list claims on a channel: -
/msg PyLink claim #channel
To remove claims from a channel -
/msg PyLink claim #channel -
Access control for links (LINKACL)
LINKACL allows you to block certain networks from linking to your relay channels, based on a blacklist. By default, this blacklist is empty.
To list blocked networks for a channel: -
/msg PyLink linkacl #channel list
To add a network to the blacklist: -
/msg PyLink linkacl #channel allow badnet
To remove a network from the blacklist: -
/msg PyLink linkacl #channel deny goodnet
Whitelists with LINKACL are not supported at this time.
Dealing with channel emergencies
PyLink is not designed with the ability to forward KILLs, G:Lines, or any network bans. The best thing to do in the case of emergencies is to delink the problem networks / channels! Kills are actively blocked by the PyLink daemon (user is just respawned), while X:Lines are simply ignored, as there isn’t any code to handle them yet.
To delink another network from a channel your network owns:
/msg PyLink delink #yourchannel badnetwork
To delink your network from a bad network’s channel:
/msg PyLink delink #badchannel
Basically, only one of the two above commands will work for one
specific channel. Almost always, the network that owns a channel should
be the one who has it registered via their services. You can see a list
of channels by typing /msg PyLink linked.
When a network starts causing disconnect spam
Juping an individual net.relay server will likely cause
PyLink Relay to break or disconnect completely. When a network starts
acting up and disconnecting frequently (and causing netsplit/quit
floods), you should disable autoconnect for this network:
/msg PyLink autoconnect badnetwork -1(setting autoconnect to 0 or below will cause it to be disabled)