Reminder: UnrealIRCd 3.2.x End Of Life after 2016

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If you are still running UnrealIRCd 3.2.x then this is a friendly reminder to 
upgrade to UnrealIRCd 4 before the end of the year.
As announced a year ago, all support for UnrealIRCd 3.2.x will stop after 
December 31, 2016. This also means no more security updates.
UnrealIRCd 4 is in use by many networks and has proven to be stable and 
reliable. Many third party modules have been converted as well.
Upgrading from 3.2.x to 4.x should be relatively easy. Your configuration file 
can be updated to the new format automatically. For more information see the 
section /Upgrading from 3.2.x to UnrealIRCd 4/ below.

*What's new in UnrealIRCd 4
*A short overview of the most important changes:*
*

  * <https://www.unrealircd.org/docs/Modules>You decide what to load
    <https://www.unrealircd.org/docs/Modules>. We have moved as much
    functionality as possible to 150+ individually loadable modules (commands
    <https://www.unrealircd.org/docs/User_%26_Oper_commands>, user modes
    <https://www.unrealircd.org/docs/User_modes>, channel modes
    <https://www.unrealircd.org/docs/Channel_modes>, extbans
    <https://www.unrealircd.org/docs/Extended_bans>, snomasks, ..). You decide
    which features your UnrealIRCd should have.
  * Fine-grained IRCOp privileges
    <https://www.unrealircd.org/docs/Operclass_block>. The way IRCOp
    privileges are granted has been redone entirely. This allows you to
    configure oper privileges on a very detailed level. You don't want
    OperOverride? You don't want opers to see secret channels? Or you want an
    oper with a very minimal set of privileges? This is all possible.
  * Wiki <https://www.unrealircd.org/docs/UnrealIRCd_4_documentation>. All
    documentation has been moved to a wiki <https://www.unrealircd.org/docs/>.
    It's even better than before and more accessible to people who are new to
    IRCd's. The wiki also allows easy translation
    <https://www.unrealircd.org/docs/Translating_UnrealIRCd_wiki_pages> by
    community members.
  * New directory structure
    <https://www.unrealircd.org/docs/UnrealIRCd_files_and_directories>. On
    *NIX the IRCd is now always installed to a different directory than where
    you compile from (~/unrealircd by default). No more mess. On both *NIX and
    Windows configuration files go in conf/, modules go in modules/, etc..
    Configuration files can be identical on Windows and *NIX. This new
    directory structure also allows easier packaging.
  * New I/O system using kqueue & epoll. The IRCd can now handle thousands of
    users more easily.
  * Improved SSL/TLS support. SSL has always been a major feature in
    UnrealIRCd but has been enhanced. UnrealIRCd is now always built with SSL
    support (both on *NIX and Windows). SSL client certificate fingerprints
    are visible in /WHOIS, a new certfp extban
    <https://www.unrealircd.org/docs/Extended_bans>
    (~S:certificatefingerprint), better defaults including 4096 bit keys and
    Perfect forward secrecy <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forward_secrecy>, etc.
  * DNS Blacklist support <https://www.unrealircd.org/docs/Blacklist_block>
    (DNSBL/RBL). Great for combating drones and other abusers.
  * Better and more helpful error messages. Especially regarding the
    configuration file.
  * More modern server-to-server protocol.
    <https://www.unrealircd.org/docs/Server_protocol:Changes> Such as using
    UID/SID's. Resulting in less desynch. issues.
  * Lowering the bar for Spamfilter
    <https://www.unrealircd.org/docs/Spamfilter#Block_simple_spam>. You can
    now choose between 'regex' and 'simple' matching. Simple matching allows
    using the usual '?' and '*' wildcards that everyone knows about. The regex
    engine has been moved from TRE to PCRE (=about twice as fast).
  * Configuration is more logical
    <https://www.unrealircd.org/docs/Upgrading_from_3.2.x>. Around 30% of the
    configuration blocks have been restructured. Don't worry, we include an
    UnrealIRCd 3.2.x to 4.x configuration file converter.
  * Easier 3rd party module management. On *NIX you now just put your 3rd
    party modules in /src/modules/third/ and then each time you run 'make'
    they will be compiled if needed.
  * Easier upgrading. On *NIX, when upgrading to a new version, ./Config will
    ask you to import settings from a previous installation, remembering your
    installation directory and other settings. It will also copy the 3rd party
    modules from the old to the new installation and re-compile them.
  * More secure. Even better secure defaults, more warnings about insecure
    behavior, ..
  * *IPv6 now also on Windows* <https://www.unrealircd.org/docs/Ipv6>.

For developers:

  * Easier source navigation. Because we moved almost everything to modules,
    it's now much easier to see all the code for a particular feature.
  * Cleaner code. There have been a lot of source code cleanups. Code has been
    restructured or rewritten. Old irrelevant code has been deleted.
  * Development documentation can be found on the wiki
    <https://www.unrealircd.org/docs/Main_Page>. We explain how to write a
    module in C and list all the details on the various Module API's such as
    how to write commands, channel modes, plug-in by using Hooks, etc...

*Upgrading from 3.2.x**to UnrealIRCd 4*
If you are upgrading from 3.2.x to 4.x then there are three important things 
to know:
*1) New file locations*
In UnrealIRCd 4 the location of the configuration files and other files have 
been changed. On *NIX the directory where you compile the IRCd from 
(previously 'Unreal3.2.X', now 'unrealircd-4.0.0') is no longer the same as 
the directory where the IRCd will be running from.
By default the IRCd is installed to //home/yourusername/unrealircd/ on *NIX. 
On Windows UnrealIRCd will install to /C:\Program Files (x86\UnrealIRCd 4/.

The new directory structure is as follows (both on Windows and *NIX):
conf/           contains all configuration files
logs/           for log files
modules/   all modules (.so files on *NIX, .dll files on Windows)

*2) Configuration file changes
*There have also been changes in various configuration blocks and settings. 
Don't worry, UnrealIRCd can convert your existing 3.2.x configuration files to 
UnrealIRCd 4 format. There's no need to start from scratch.
Please read https://www.unrealircd.org/docs/Upgrading_from_3.2.x for more 
information on the config file conversion.

*3) Third party modules*
If you are using 3rd party modules (modules not developed by the UnrealIRCd 
team) then they will require an update before they can run on UnrealIRCd 4. 
Contact your developer for a new version or ask on our Modules forum 
<https://forums.unrealircd.org/viewforum.php?f=52> where someone may be kind 
enough to convert the module for you if you ask nicely. Due to the many core 
enhancements in UnrealIRCd 4 it was simply impossible to make 3.2.x modules 
work out-of-the-box on 4.x as well.

*Running a mixed 3.2.x / 4.x network*
You can run a mixed 3.2.x <-> 4.x network if you a follow a few simple rules 
<https://www.unrealircd.org/docs/Running_a_mixed_UnrealIRCd_3.2_and_UnrealIRCd_4_network>.

*End of the 3.2.x series*
When UnrealIRCd 4.0.0 was released a year ago, on December 24 2015, we also 
announced the end of the 3.2.x series.
All support - including security updates - for the 3.2.x series will stop 
after December 31, 2016. See 
https://www.unrealircd.org/docs/UnrealIRCd_3.2.x_deprecated

*Download*
As always, you can download UnrealIRCd from https://www.unrealircd.org/
All releases are signed with our PGP key (short key id 0x108FF4A9 and long id 
0xA7A21B0A108FF4A9)

Please report all bugs and feature suggestions at https://bugs.unrealircd.org/

-- 
Bram Matthys
Software developer/IT con...@vu...
Website:www.vulnscan.org
PGP key:www.vulnscan.org/pubkey.asc
PGP fp: EBCA 8977 FCA6 0AB0 6EDB  04A7 6E67 6D45 7FE1 99A6