Installing from source

To install UnrealIRCd on Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, OS X and other *NIX systems you generally compile and install from source. In addition to that you will also need to configure UnrealIRCd. This page explains how to do all that. Even if you are completely new to UnrealIRCd then all these steps to get the IRCd up and running shouldn't take more than 30 minutes in total.

= Grab the source (.tar.gz) =

Surf to https://www.unrealircd.org/ -> Downloads and select a release. In the final screen it will say something like: "The download should begin in 5 seconds, if it doesn't click here." In that screen right-click on the "click here" and copy the URL (Copy link location). In the example below we will assume this is: https://www.unrealircd.org/downloads/Unreal3.4-alpha999.tar.gz

Connect to the *NIX server via SSH. All the following commands execute on the *NIX server.

Download the .tar.gz to the shell: wget --no-check-certificate https://www.unrealircd.org/downloads/Unreal3.4-alpha999.tar.gz on FreeBSD you may have to use: fetch https://www.unrealircd.org/downloads/Unreal3.4-alpha999.tar.gz

If neither works, for example you get an 'unknown command' then you should install the 'wget' package on your system.

Alternatively, you could upload the .tar.gz from your own machine to your *NIX shell.

= Extract the source = Extract the .tar.gz and enter the Unreal3.4.x directory: tar xzvf Unreal3.4-alpha999.tar.gz cd Unreal3.4-alpha999 NOTE: There's some logic here. If the file is called, say, Unreal3.4.0-lala1.tar.gz then it will extract to the Unreal3.4.0-lala1/ directory. As you can see, the directory name is different for each release to make sure you don't accidentally overwrite your existing installation.

= Compiling = First, run the ./Config script which will ask a number of questions. You can just press Enter to accept the default answers. ./Config

Now, compile UnrealIRCd by running make, this may take a minute (or two): make

Finally, run make install (important!): make install

= Creating a configuration file =
 * 1) Change to the installed UnrealIRCd directory, this is /home/yourusername/unrealircd by default (For more information on the directory structure see UnrealIRCd files and directories). cd ~/unrealircd
 * 2) Copy conf/example/example.conf to your conf/ directory and rename it to unrealircd.conf syzop@vulnscan:~/unrealircd$ cp conf/examples/example.conf conf/unrealircd.conf
 * 3) Open the file with an editor (eg: nano conf/unrealircd.conf)
 * 4) Read the Configuration file syntax article. It will only take a few minutes and will save you a lot of trouble in next step(s)!
 * 5) Walk through the unrealircd.conf block by block / line by line and edit the settings to suit your needs. This takes 10 - 20 minutes.
 * 6) Boot UnrealIRCd by running ./unrealircd start from your ~/unrealircd directory.
 * 7) Errors? Edit your unrealircd.conf, fix them (see the FAQ for common problems), and try starting UnrealIRCd again.
 * 8) Up and running? Connect with an IRC client to your server and have fun. See next section too.

= Further reading =
 * See Features for various available features on UnrealIRCd and Configuration for all possible things you can configure on UnrealIRCd.
 * Again, see the FAQ if you have any problems. A lot of common problems are answered there.