The goals of freenode differ from those of most general chat IRC networks. For that reason, the design of our servers differs, and will differ more as time goes on.

We will attempt to maintain general compatibility with clients conforming to RFC1459 and others, but any given feature may or may not work precisely as described in the RFC. For documentation on the differences, see Using the Network.

The network runs ircd-seven, which is based on Charybdis 3.0 with some of hyperion's extra functionality. freenode also uses Atheme IRC services with freenode specific modules.

Throughout the course of the development of both ircd-seven and earlier ircds, some capabilities have been added and others removed, causing stark differences from other ircds you may see. These changes are necessitated by the unique nature of freenode and the challenges the network brings with it. Since we are committed to providing robust service to the free software community, but not to maintaining an unmodified IRC environment, the changes make sense from our perspective.

Generally, we will continue to make necessary changes to improve the robustness and reliability of the service. IRC is extremely vulnerable to attack, but we'll do our best to maintain a reliable environment with your support and understanding.

Copyright © 2002-2012 by Peer-Directed Projects Center.
Network date and time: Saturday, 04-Feb-2012 02:30:27 GMT.
Comments to email address: support at freenode dot net.