July Update

Hello! We have some exciting news that there will a new bouncer update rolled out later this month. This update will fix a few internal bugs, add a few new features and fix/add a few translations for modules and messages that were lacking translation before. We’re still updating a few things but the changes currently implemented for the next upgrade are as follows:

Bouncer Software Changes & Updates

  • New Authentication Module (SASL/CertFP/NickServ and server passwords). This will enable fallback options, for example is SASL fails, it will try CertFP and if CertFP fails it will try NickServ as a last resort. This also allows for those who need a bouncer to a network that requires a password to set a password for connecting.
  • New Web Interface for the Log Module. This will allow you view logs (up to 100MB in size) from within the web admin and download log files that are stored by the log module.
  • Update & Fix Translations for Away Module
  • Add Translations for the main page (displayed after login) and translate error messages on other pages (Disclaimer: These may not be 100% accurate)
  • API: Change the Channel/Network structure in user/info
  • API: Add the ability to set passwords in user/update
  • Various internal improvements to abuse measures
  • Various improvements to internal logging
  • Fix DenySetIdent feature added in previous update

IRC Services Bot Changes & Updates

  • Fix the request command so that various valid email addresses now work correctly (Already fixed in current bot temporarily)
  • Ability to reset password and to clear allowed hosts if you’ve locked yourself out or your IP has changed
  • Various improvements to abuse measures
  • Updates to Staff Commands
  • Internal updates to string formatting and more

Unfortunately this will mean a brief downtime of our bouncer of around 20 minutes while the server is upgraded. We don’t have a date set for updating yet as were trying to throw as many improvements and fixes in as we can so that we can prevent having to restart the server again for a while (Don’t worry, were also testing them so there shouldn’t be any crashes once we upgrade!). The upgrade is likely to take place towards the end of July and an exact date will be announced within the next week or so.

This update will also be the first step to what we call the “BNC4FREE One” Account system. We’ll be able to link up website logins and wiki logins with BNC4FREE accounts (new and existing) in the near future which means you’ll get emails of our updates from here (you will be able to opt out if you wish) and have an account on a wiki should you wish to assist us with documentation. It should be noted that we do not know users passwords and a bit of information on how we’re making that work can be found here

In the next few weeks we will also be taking on new staff to handle requests, manage the support email inbox and assist us with translations. More information on how to apply these positions will be available in the coming weeks.

Thanks again for choosing BNC4FREE and we’ll update you again soon!