Where and for how long is the data stored in an irc server?
reddit / irc

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nicrazac · 2020-08-06 02:53

Possibly a noob question, but let's say I wanted to set up an irc
server with a raspberry pi. Would all of the chat data be logged into
the pi in some directory, slowly building up to the point that the pi
is useless until I delete the file? Or does it auto delete? Would
there be a configurable option in the .conf file to set a limit before
deleting? Basically I'm just curious how the storage works. I tried
googling but I've gotten obscure and unrelated answers at best. Any
help is greatly appreciated.

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rro99 · 2020-08-06 03:07

There are dozens of IRC server implementations to choose from, each
will have their own configuration file and documentation. Pick a
server and read the manual.

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sim642 · 2020-08-06 07:13

IRC doesn't have and keep chat history, so that wouldn't build up
anything. Of course some IRC servers may offer the logging possibility
but then that's up to configuring things as you want.

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scriminal · 2020-08-06 13:27

most of them won't log by default, but there are ways to make it
happen like the others have said.

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Kamelnotllama · 2020-08-06 13:29

nearly every ircd i've ever used has the ability to configure logs in
the 3 most common configurations.

1. no logs
2. logging, with no auto deletion
3. rolling logs (i.e. only keep X days/size)

so, it is true that no one can be certain which ircd you will pick as
there are countless... let's take one of the most common ones as an
example - unreal ircd. look at the configuration docs here:

https://www.unrealircd.org/docs/Log_block

> maxsize (Optional)
>
> When the log file reaches a file size of maxsize the log file will
be renamed to name-of-log-file.old (overwriting any previous such .old
file). You can use K/M/G to specify kilobytes/megabytes/gigabytes.

this essentially equates to if you chose 10MB as your maxsize the logs
would always take between 10-20MB total space as it filled then
overwrote to the .old file every 10MB.

finally, it's worth mentioning that if what you're after is a veiled
privacy concern there's just no way of knowing who has logged what.
every connected server and client can (and often do) keep logs of
chats. even worse, if you aren't connecting via ssl, all irc
communications are sent plain text over the internet and often are
logged ISP side. even if you are connecting via ssl, if the network
you're on has any other server connected to it (this will be the case
with nearly all irc networks), your communications are all being sent
server to server for users not on your local server to see. any of
those server to server links could be compromised/plain text/have
their own logging policies/etc.

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nicrazac · 2020-08-06 13:34

Thanks everyone I really appreciate the input. I'm installing the
ircd-hybrid server package to my pi right now, so I'm entering the
rabbit hole. Wish me luck.

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Kuya-D · 2020-08-10 21:31

I set my logging for 12hrs for initial install & updates.
Otherwise logging is off.

Only logs i have is my own log when oper'd up.