Unreal4 Development

UnrealIRCd version 4 has been restarted like 2 times… First it was something coded by Stskeeps from scratch, then it was a fork based on inspircd, and now it's something from scratch again…

This is what UnrealIRCd 4.0 was originally intended to be, and that was a re-write in C++ with a more modular backend that would improve as well the API that modules go by.

NOTE: Sometimes this version is refered to as 3.3, this is INCORRECT, it is 4.0.

In the base of things, this is still intended to bring to the community an IRCd server that is cross-platform, as it will still have Windows support, as well as aimed at hopefully better Mac support as well.

This has been asked many times and is usually quite often a rather hot topic on IRC and the forums. This is where we'll attempt to explain why Unreal is being re-coded, and why we're doing it in C++.

• The 3.2 codebase is almost 10 years old. In that 10 years, it has just been built upon and new features hacked in. The core of 3.2 was never really cleaned up, and the desire to modularize everything didn't help the code get any cleaner - in fact, it had quite the opposite effect.
• Compared to C, C++ is much cleaner when it comes to modules. Module support in C is rather hackish in itself because C is not object-oriented. C++ is designed to handle modules by the very nature of it being object-oriented.
• C++ is easier to make cross-platform. Even though Unreal 3.2 currently works on all the popular platforms (*nix, Mac, Windows), it still has some major platform-specific bugs and some rather interesting hackish workarounds. Sure we will have some of the same workarounds in C++, but they won't be as major.
• Cleaner code means less code and less bugs. It's a proven fact that it takes less lines of C++ than does the same written in C.

Unreal4 is being worked on slowly. If you know C++ and can help out, please stop by #Unreal-Devel on irc.unrealircd.com. Please see below for instructions on cloning the Mercurial repository. There is a TODO in the source-code repository that contains a list of items needed to be complete for the first milestone. Almost any patches which get us closer to that milestone will be accepted without delay and a display of competence (by submission of a few good patches) will gain you commit access.

There is a more officialish bug tracker for unrealircd4 at http://u4.unrealircd.org/bugzilla/. Bugs from the below mentioned buggenie will be ported over as soon as possible. –binki

There was a temporary bug tracker for Unreal4 located at http://www.x-tab.org/thebuggenie/.
This is for Unreal4 bugs only! Bug reports for 3.2 and (non-core) feature requests will be removed.

See compiling for instructions and requirements for compilation.

Configuration

Coding Guidelines

With commx's help, there is a small amount of code completed. However, it is not nearly enough to begin calling it a core. Mr. Binki has generously offered a Mecurial server for our use. You can access the web interface here: http://u4.unrealircd.org/hg/unrealircd4/

Please clone this repository with the following command:

$ hg clone http://u4.unrealircd.org/hg/unrealircd4/

When Milestone 1 is reached, Unreal4 will be released in the Alpha stage. After Unreal4 goes alpha we intend to have a complete and functioning module system that will make it easier for the community to give us a hand in creating feature modules.

• Milestone 1 [In Progress]:
  • Creation of the RFC Standards
    • Basic configuration
    • RFC commands
    • Socket provider
    • Basic oper system to be built on later
  • A more user friendly and debuggable Module API and Modular System
  • Eliminate boost usage
  • Configuration system which validates configuration settings
• Milestone 2:
  • Core features
    • Cloaks
  • Implement a working S2S protocol
• Milestone 3:
  • Add configurable oper classes to the core.
  • Remote includes
  • Possibly re-explore the possibilities of mesh linking
  • More Later (this is still probably a long way off)