RFC 2810: Internet Relay Chat: Architecture
Network Working Group C. Kalt
Request for Comments: 2810 April 2000
Updates: 1459
Category: Informational
Internet Relay Chat: Architecture
Status of this Memo
This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does
not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of this
memo is unlimited.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2000). All Rights Reserved.
Abstract
The IRC (Internet Relay Chat) protocol is for use with text based
conferencing. It has been developed since 1989 when it was originally
implemented as a mean for users on a BBS to chat amongst themselves.
First formally documented in May 1993 by RFC 1459 [IRC], the protocol
has kept evolving. This document is an update describing the
architecture of the current IRC protocol and the role of its
different components. Other documents describe in detail the
protocol used between the various components defined here.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Components
2.1 Servers
2.2 Clients
2.2.1 User Clients
2.2.2 Service Clients
3. Architecture
4. IRC Protocol Services
4.1 Client Locator
4.2 Message Relaying
4.3 Channel Hosting And Management
5. IRC Concepts
5.1 One-To-One Communication
5.2 One-To-Many
5.2.1 To A Channel
5.2.2 To A Host/Server Mask
5.2.3 To A List
5.3 One-To-All
5.3.1 Client-to-Client
5.3.2 Client-to-Server
5.3.3 Server-to-Server
6. Current Problems
6.1 Scalability
6.2 Reliability
6.3 Network Congestion
6.4 Privacy
7. Security Considerations
8. Current Support And Availability
9. Acknowledgements
10. References
11. Author's Address
12. Full Copyright Statement
Other Links
- IRC Documents
- Glossry of IRC terms and abbreviations
- How to connect to SorceryNet
- List of IRC Client software
- Valinor SorceryNet Server Page
- SorceryNet Main Site
