                             Server Hide Reference

   $Id: serverhide.txt,v 5.0 2002/03/06 15:53:46 tr-ircd Exp $

   Copyright (c) 2001 by ircd-hybrid team

     ----------------------------------------------------------------------

   Due to pressures from abusers, the Hybrid developers have created a set of
   options to limit what users can and cannot do on the server. Each option
   can be enabled or disabled at runtime.

   This document describes the Hybrid 7 implementation of the server hiding
   ideas originated by (and credited to) numerous people.

     * 

       LINKS as a file: This option is always enabled. It will generate a
       file at a certain interval, defined by the links_delay in ircd.conf,
       that contains the current LINKS data. This data is sent to users
       whenever a LINKS is requested. Opers will always see the current
       server structure.

       The file that the LINKS data is stored in is by default etc/links.txt.

       The benefits of this are that transient splits will not be seen by
       users issuing LINKS commands, and if a server is split, users can
       still see what other servers are normally available.

     * 

       Flattened LINKS: This option forces every server to look as if it is
       connected to the local server. Users will see a flat LINKS tree.

       The benefit to using LINKS flattening is that users cannot get
       information on how servers are routed.

       The flatten_links in the serverhide {} block in the ircd.conf controls
       this feature.

       As a side effect, all netsplit quit messages will appear to originate
       from the local server.

       +--------------------------------------------------------------------+
       | Flattened LINKS is needed for any network that uses the hidden hub |
       | option. See below for more details.                                |
       +--------------------------------------------------------------------+

        

     * 

       Hidden server option: This option will hide the server from a
       flattened LINKS list on other servers. Opers will of course see the
       true routing of the network.

       This is controlled by the hidden option in ircd.conf.

       +--------------------------------------------------------------------+
       | Technically, this code is a hack. With this option enabled, the    |
       | server will prepend '(H) ' to the server info field when           |
       | connecting to other servers. Other servers must understand that    |
       | the (H) means hidden.                                              |
       +--------------------------------------------------------------------+

     * 

       The "enable" option forces the server to not be shown when a user
       issues WHOIS and other commands which may show what server a user is
       on.

       Local user counts, as normally displayed in LUSERS, USERS, and the 255
       numeric, will be shown with the same values as the global counts.
       Displaying it this way will help protect servers and avoid breaking
       scripts that depend on the 265 and 266 numerics on connect.

       To be effective, this option must be used network wide.

   Each item is briefly described in the serverhide {} block in ircd.conf.

