========================================
SILC (Secure Internet Live Conferencing) is a protocol which provides
-secure conferencing services in the Internet over insecure channel.
-SILC is IRC like softwarre although internally they are very different.
-Biggest similarity between SILC and IRC is that they both provide
-conferencing services and that SILC has almost same commands as IRC. Other
-than that they are nothing alike. Biggest differences are that SILC is
-secure what IRC is not in any way. The network model is also entirely
+secure conferencing services on the Internet over insecure channel.
+SILC is IRC-like software although internally they are very different.
+The biggest similarity between SILC and IRC is that they both provide
+conferencing services and that SILC has almost the same commands as IRC.
+Other than that they are nothing alike. Major differences are that SILC
+is secure what IRC is not in any way. The network model is also entirely
different compared to IRC.
History
=======
-Even though SILC were released in summer 2000 to the public the idea and
-the protocol itself is quite old. I got the idea about SILC in its
-current form in the year 1996 and first lines of codes were written in
-early 1997. This release is now third rewrite of the SILC. The very first
-version were written in 1997 and it included SILC client and very very
-preliminary SILC server. The server actually weren't usable but the
-client looked pretty much the same as it does now. At that time the SILC
-also included RSA implementation and 3DES implementation. The random
-number generator that exists in this current release is actually based on
-the RNG written in 1997. The RNG written in 1997, on the other hand, were
-based on the SSH's random number generator. The RNG has been rewritten
-twice since the first version.
-
-I stopped writing the SILC later in 1997 when I got busy at school and in
-work. The pause lasted several months. The development resumed in 1998
-when my friend (Juha Räsänen) and I implemented ElGamal algorithm. I
-rewrote some other parts as well. However, for the same reasons as
-previously the development stopped again. I resumed the development later
-in 1998 by doing rewrite of the SILC in C++. This was obviously a mistake
-but at that time it seemed like a good idea. Again, in the winter 1999 I
-got very busy writing my thesis and was forced to stop the development
-again. I also, started a new job in the spring.
-
-Later, in 1999, I decided that this time I'm going to make it the right
-way. C++ was obviously a bad choice so I decided to fall back to plain C
-language. I also decided to do complete rewrite and started doing more
-thorough planning of what the SILC actually should include. I also
-decided that this time it is going to kill me before I stop the
-development. I started writing SILC in the weekends and actually
-everytime I had some spare time. I also started a new job but I didn't
-let that get to my way. The result of this development effort is the
-release now in public.
-
-I've learned a lot by doing the SILC. I guess, when I started it I wasn't
-that good of a C programmer. That alone was a reason why SILC hasn't seen
-the day of light before now. My programming style has also changed
-dramatically during these years. Actually, it has changed couple times
-since this last rewrite as well. However, the code style of current SILC
-release is quite consistent (actually the coding style SILC has been
-written now I've learned in my current job).
-
-There is probably over 85% of new code in this third rewrite. Rest has
-just been copied from the old versions and only minor changes has been
-made (like changed function names and overall coding style). I've
-preserved the dates of the old files (dating back to 1997) that has
-existed in some forms in the old versions. There is a lot of new code but
-already I see a lot that needs rewriting. The development continues.
+SILC was released in the summer 2000 to the public, but the idea and the
+protocol itself is quite old. The SILC was designed by Pekka Riikonen in
+the year 1996 and first lines of codes were written in the early 1997. The
+SILC has been rewritten three times since its very first version in 1997.
+The first version included SILC client, very preliminary SILC server, RSA
+implementation and 3DES implementation. The server actually was not usable
+but the client looked pretty much the same as the first client released in
+the summer 2000. The first version had also random number generator which
+were based on the SSH's random number generator. The current RNG is based
+on the first RNG but has been rewritten twice since the first version.
+
+The development of SILC was suspended in 1997 when Pekka got busy at
+school and in work. The pause laster several months. The development
+resumed in 1998 when Juha Räsänen and Pekka implemented the ElGamal
+algorithm. However, for the same reasons as previously the development
+stopped again, and was resumed again later in 1998 by doing rewrite of
+ther SILC in C++. This was obviously a mistake but at that time it seemed
+like a good idea. Again, in the winter 1999 the development suspended when
+Pekka got busy writing his thesis and was forced to stop the development.
+
+Later, in 1999, it was decided that this time SILC will be rewritten from
+scratch in the right way. C++ was obviously a bad choice so plain C
+language was selected again. The protocol itself faced some rework by
+redesigning some core parts of the protocol. The protocol was also fully
+documented and the protocol specifications were submitted to the IETF. The
+result of this development effort is the release now in public. Since the
+release in the summer 2000 several other people have contributed to the
+project as well. And, the development continues.
Contact
development mailing list.
Official SILC project web site : http://silcnet.org/
-FTP archive for SILC project : ftp://silc.pspt.fi/pub/silc/
-Development mailing list address : silc-devel@lists.sourceforge.net
+FTP archive for SILC project : ftp://ftp.silcnet.org/
+Development mailing list address : silc-devel@lists.silcnet.org
+SILC Server : /server silc.silcnet.org
- Pekka Riikonen <priikone@poseidon.pspt.fi>
projects / silc.git / blobdiff