1.5 Why SILC? Why not IRC3?</a><br />
<a href="#f1_55" class="normal">
1.6 What platforms SILC supports?</a><br />
+ <a href="#f1_59" class="normal">
+1.7 How do you pronounce SILC?</a><br />
<a href="#f1_60" class="normal">
-1.7 Where can I find more information?</a><br />
+1.8 Where can I find more information?</a><br />
<a href="#f1_70" class="normal">
-1.8 I would like to help out, what can I do?</a>
+1.9 I would like to help out, what can I do?</a>
<br /> <br />
<a href="#f2_0" class="normal">2. Protocol Questions</a><br />
<a href="#f2_50" class="normal">
2.8 How secure SILC really is?</a><br />
<a href="#f2_60" class="normal">
-2.9 Does SILC support instant messaging?</a><br />
+2.9 Does SILC support instant messaging?</a><br />
<a href="#f2_70" class="normal">
2.10 Why SILC does not have LINKS command like in IRC?</a><br />
<a href="#f2_80" class="normal">
-2.11 Why SILC does not have STATS command like in IRC?</a><br />
+2.11 What does the session detaching/resuming mean?</a><br />
<a href="#f2_90" class="normal">
2.12 Is anyone outside a channel able to see the channel messages?</a><br />
+ <a href="#f2_95" class="normal">
+2.13 How can I register my channel in SILC?</a><br />
<a href="#f2_100" class="normal">
-2.13 I have suggestions to SILC Protocol, what can I do?</a>
+2.14 Is it true that all messages are encrypted in SILC?</a><br />
+ <a href="#f2_110" class="normal">
+2.15 Can server or SILC operator gain operator mode on a channel?</a><br />
+ <a href="#f2_120" class="normal">
+2.16 Channel name doesn't have #-character or does it?</a><br />
+ <a href="#f2_130" class="normal">
+2.17 Does SILC support moderated channels?</a><br />
+ <a href="#f2_140" class="normal">
+2.18 What does the "watching" mean?</a><br />
+ <a href="#f2_150" class="normal">
+2.19 Is it possible to reject watching?</a><br />
+ <a href="#f2_160" class="normal">
+2.20 Is it possible to block private messages?</a><br />
+ <a href="#f2_170" class="normal">
+2.21 Is it possible to block channel messages?</a><br />
+ <a href="#f2_180" class="normal">
+2.22 Is it possible to block invites?</a><br />
+ <a href="#f2_190" class="normal">
+2.23 Does SILC support multimedia messages, like video/audio streaming?</a><br />
+ <a href="#f2_200" class="normal">
+2.24 Is it possible to send picture/image messages?</a><br />
+ <a href="#f2_205" class="normal">
+2.25 What kind of presence modes SILC support?</a><br />
+ <a href="#f2_210" class="normal">
+2.26 Does SILC support anonymity?</a><br />
+ <a href="#f2_220" class="normal">
+2.27 Does SILC support services?</a><br />
+ <a href="#f2_230" class="normal">
+2.28 I have suggestions to SILC Protocol, what can I do?</a>
<br /> <br />
<a href="#f3_0" class="normal">3. Client Questions</a><br />
<a href="#f3_10" class="normal">
3.1 Where can I find SILC clients?</a><br />
<a href="#f3_20" class="normal">
-3.2 Can I use SILC with IRC client and vice versa?</a>
+3.2 Can I use SILC with IRC client and vice versa?</a><br />
+ <a href="#f3_25" class="normal">
+3.3 The default theme sucks, where can I find a better one?</a><br />
+ <a href="#f3_30" class="normal">
+3.4 How do I send a private message?</a><br />
+ <a href="#f3_40" class="normal">
+3.5 How do I negotiate secret key with another user?</a><br />
+ <a href="#f3_50" class="normal">
+3.6 How do I negotiate secret keys behind a NAT?</a><br />
+ <a href="#f3_60" class="normal">
+3.7 How do I change channel modes?</a><br />
+ <a href="#f3_70" class="normal">
+3.8 What does the founder mode on channel mean, and how do I set it?</a><br />
+ <a href="#f3_80" class="normal">
+3.9 I am founder of invite only channel, how can I join the channel after I have left it?</a><br />
+ <a href="#f3_90" class="normal">
+3.10 How can I op or deop somebody on channel?</a><br />
+ <a href="#f3_100" class="normal">
+3.11 How do I set private key for channel, and what does that mean exactly?</a><br />
+ <a href="#f3_110" class="normal">
+3.12 How do I transfer a file?</a><br />
+ <a href="#f3_120" class="normal">
+3.13 How can I get other users public keys?</a><br />
+ <a href="#f3_130" class="normal">
+3.14 How can I see the fingerprint of my public key?</a><br />
+ <a href="#f3_140" class="normal">
+3.15 I gave WHOIS to a nick, and it returned multiple replies, why?</a><br />
+ <a href="#f3_150" class="normal">
+3.16 Is there a command to see all linked servers?</a><br />
+ <a href="#f3_160" class="normal">
+3.17 How do I list the users of a channel?</a><br />
+ <a href="#f3_170" class="normal">
+3.18 What is the difference between OPER and SILCOPER commands?</a><br />
+ <a href="#f3_180" class="normal">
+3.19 My Cygwin client crashes with message "Couldn't create //.silc directory"</a><br />
+ <a href="#f3_190" class="normal">
+3.20 Why /join #silc and /join silc doesn't join the same channel?</a><br />
+ <a href="#f3_200" class="normal">
+3.21 How do I detach my session from the server?</a>
<br /> <br />
<a href="#f4_0" class="normal">4. Server Questions</a><br />
<a href="#f4_10" class="normal">
4.1 Where can I find SILC servers?</a><br />
<a href="#f4_20" class="normal">
-4.2 Can I run own SILC server?</a><br />
+4.2 Can I run my own SILC server?</a><br />
<a href="#f4_30" class="normal">
4.3 What is the difference between SILC server and SILC router?</a><br />
<a href="#f4_40" class="normal">
<a href="#f4_50" class="normal">
4.5 When I connect to to my server, it says "server does not support one of your proposed cipher", what is wrong?</a><br />
<a href="#f4_60" class="normal">
-4.6 Why SILC server runs on privileged port 706?</a>
+4.6 Why SILC server runs on privileged port 706?</a><br />
+ <a href="#f4_70" class="normal">
+4.7 I see [Unknown] in the log file, what does it mean?</a><br />
+ <a href="#f4_80" class="normal">
+4.8 How can I generate a new server key pair?</a>
<br /> <br />
<a href="#f5_0" class="normal">5. Toolkit Questions</a><br />
5.5 Does the Toolkit package include any sample code?</a><br />
<br /> <br />
+
<a name="f1_0"></a>
<b>1. General Questions</b><br /> <br />
and native Windows.
<br /> <br />
+<a name="f1_59"></a>
+<samp class="highlight">Q: How do you pronounce SILC?</samp><br />
+A: SILC is usually pronounced as `silk', but you are free to pronounce
+it the way you want.
+<br /> <br />
+
<a name="f1_60"></a>
<samp class="highlight">Q: Where can I find more information?</samp><br />
A: For more technical information we suggest reading the SILC Protocol
<samp class="highlight">Q: I would like to help out, what can I do?</samp><br />
A: You might want to take a look at the <a
href="?page=contribute" class="normal">Contributing</a> page and the <a
-href="?page=todo" class="normal">TODO</a> list. You might also want to join the
+href="?page=todo" class="normal">TODO</a> list. You might also want to join the
SILC development mailing list.
<br /> <br />
+
<a name="f2_0"></a><br />
<b>2. Protocol Questions</b><br /> <br />
A: The SILC protocol specifications has been submitted currently as
individual submissions. There does not currently exist a working group
for this sort of project. Our goal is to fully standardize the SILC and
-thus submit it as RFC to the <a href="http://www.ietf.org/" class="normal">IETF</a> at a
-later time.
+thus submit it as RFC to the <a href="http://www.ietf.org/" class="normal">
+IETF</a> at a later time. This can happen only after we have requested
+the IETF to accept SILC as RFC. As of today, we have not yet even requested
+this from the IETF. We want to let the protocol mature a bit more.
<br /> <br />
<a name="f2_20"></a>
transfer files securely and encrypted directly with another client. You
can also negotiate secret key material with another client directly to
use it in private message encryption. The private messages are not,
-however sent directly between clients. The protocol, on the hand
+however sent directly between clients. The protocol, on the other hand
does not prohibit sending messages directly between clients if the
implementation would support it. The current SILC Client implementation
does not support it. This means that private messages travel through the
<a name="f2_47"></a>
<samp class="highlight">Q: I am behind a firewall, can I use SILC?</samp><br />
-A: Yes. If your network administrator can open the port 706 (TCP) you can
-use SILC without problems. You may also compile your SILC client with
+A: Yes. If your network administrator can open the remote port 706 (TCP) you
+can use SILC without problems. You may also compile your SILC client with
SOCKS support which will proxy your SILC session through the firewall.
<br /> <br />
<a name="f2_50"></a>
<samp class="highlight">Q: How secure SILC really is?</samp><br />
-A: A good question which I don't have an answer for. We have tried to make
-SILC as secure as possible. However, there is no security protocol or
-security software that has not been vulnerable to some sort of attacks.
-SILC is in no means different from this. So, it is suspected that there
-are security holes in the SILC. These holes just need to be found so
-that they can be fixed.
+A: We have tried to make SILC as secure as possible. However, there is
+no security protocol or security software that has not been vulnerable to
+some sort of attacks. SILC is in no means different from this. So, it is
+suspected that there are security holes in the SILC. These holes just need
+to be found so that they can be fixed. SILC's security features has been
+developed from attacker's point of view, and we've tried to find all the
+possible attacks and guard the protocol against them.
<br /> <br />
But to give you some parameters of security SILC uses the most secure
-crytographic algorithms such as AES(Rijndael), Twofish, Blowfish, RC5,
+crytographic algorithms such as AES (Rijndael), Twofish, Blowfish, RC5,
etc. SILC does not have DES or 3DES as DES is insecure and 3DES is just
too slow. SILC also uses cryptographically strong random number generator
when it needs random numbers. Public key cryptography uses RSA (PKCS #1)
To give a list of attacks that are ineffective against SILC:
<br /> <br />
- Man-in-the-middle attacks are ineffective if proper public key
-infrastructure is used. SILC is vulnerable to this attack if the public
-keys used in the SILC are not verified to be trusted (as any other
-protocol for that matter).<br />
- - IP spoofing is ineffective (because of encryption and trusted keys).<br />
- - Attacks that change the contents of the data or add extra data to the
+infrastructure is used, and if all public keys are always verified.<br />
+- IP spoofing is ineffective (because of encryption and trusted keys).<br />
+- Attacks that change the contents of the data or add extra data to the
packets are ineffective (because of encryption and integrity checks).<br />
- - Passive attacks (listenning network traffic) are ineffective (because
+- Passive attacks (listenning network traffic) are ineffective (because
of encryption). Everything is encrypted including authentication data
such as passwords when they are needed.<br />
- - Any sort of cryptanalytic attacks are tried to make ineffective by
-using the best cryptographic algorithms out there.
+- Any sort of cryptanalytic attacks are tried to make ineffective by
+using the best cryptographic algorithms out there, and by designing the
+protocol to guard against them.
<br /> <br />
<a name="f2_60"></a>
-<samp class="highlight">Q: Does SILC support instant messaing?</samp><br />
-A: SILC is not an instant message (IM) system, like ICQ and the others.
-SILC is more IRC like system, "real-time", connection-oriented chat and
-that kind of stuff. But I guess IRC is too called an Instant Messaging
-system.
+<samp class="highlight">Q: Does SILC support instant messaging?</samp><br />
+A: Officially SILC is not an instant message (IM) system as people usually
+understands it. However, SILC supports many of the features that are
+found in traditional IM systems. SILC can be implemented in either
+IRC-style or IM-style system. Features that are usually found only in IM
+systems, such as multiple presence settings, persistent sessions etc. are
+also found in SILC.
<br /> <br />
<a name="f2_70"></a>
<br /> <br />
<a name="f2_80"></a>
-<samp class="highlight">Q: Why SILC does not have STATS command like in
-IRC?</samp><br />
-A: This too was considered as information that the protocol should not
-address. We feel that server implementations will need to implement some
-sort of adminstrative plugin, or module which provides various means of
-accessing statistical and other information in the server. And, we do
-consider this implementation issue, not protocol design issue.
+<samp class="highlight">Q: What does the session detaching/resuming
+mean?</samp><br />
+A: The new SILC protocol supports a feature called session detachment.
+This means that client can detach from the server by giving a DETACH
+command, but still remain as valid user in the network. The connection is
+lost to the server but the user remains in the network. User can then
+resume the session back next time it connects a server in the network, and
+be like he was never gone.
+<br /> <br />
+This feature clearly could be used in many cases. For example, if you
+want to upgrade your current SILC client, you do not have to quit the
+network anymore. You just give DETACH command and still remain in the
+network. Then you upgrade your client and reconnect to the server and
+continue business as is. If somebody gives WHOIS command to your nickname
+he will see that you are detached. Messages that are sent to you when you
+are detached are dropped by the server. Nice thing about this feature is
+also that you can resume the session from any server in the network; you
+do not have to reconnect to the same server you originally were connected
+to.
<br /> <br />
<a name="f2_90"></a>
results into same as the short one; No.
<br /> <br />
+<a name="f2_95"></a>
+<samp class="highlight">Q: How can I register my channel in SILC?</samp><br />
+A: There is not a channel registering service in SILC. However, SILC does
+support permanent channels. When you join a non-existing channel for the
+first time you will become the founder of the channel. You can then set a
+special founder mode on the channel which makes the channel permanent.
+When the last user leaves the channel when this mode is set, the channel
+will not be destroyed. If the founder mode is not set, then empty
+channels will be destroyed automatically. When the founder mode is set
+and you leave the channel you can also reclaim the founder rights back on
+the channel next time you join it. (see also
+<a href="#f3_70" class="normal">
+Q: What does the founder mode on channel mean, and how do I set it?</a> and
+<a href="#f3_80" class="normal">
+Q: I am founder of invite only channel, how can I join the channel after
+I have left it?</a>). You can call this channel registering if you want.
+<br /> <br />
+
<a name="f2_100"></a>
-<samp class="highlight">Q: I have suggestions to SILC Protocol,
-what can I do?</samp><br />
+<samp class="highlight">Q: Is it true that all messages are encrypted in SILC?</samp><br />
+A: Most definitely yes. The SILC protocol makes it impossible to send
+unencrypted messages or packets to the SILC network. All messages are
+always encrypted, either using session keys, or other secret keys such as
+channel keys or private message keys.
+<br /> <br />
+
+<a name="f2_110"></a>
+<samp class="highlight">Q: Can server or SILC operator gain operator mode on a channel?</samp><br />
+A: They cannot get operator status, founder status, join invite only channels,
+escape active bans, escape user limits or anything alike, without explicitly
+being allowed. Only way to get channel operator status is that someone
+ops him. Server and SILC operators in the network are normal users with
+the extra privileges of being able to adminstrate their server. They cannot
+do anything more than a normal user.
+<br /> <br />
+
+<a name="f2_120"></a>
+<samp class="highlight">Q: Channel name doesn't have #-character or does it?</samp><br />
+A: The #-character is not mandatory part of channel name, like it is in
+IRC. This means that giving the command /JOIN #silc and /JOIN silc
+will join to different channels. This is intentional since the
+#-character clearly is IRC feature and has nothing to do with SILC. If
+you want it to have the character then just join to the channel with
+#-character in the name.
+<br /> <br />
+
+<a name="f2_130"></a>
+<samp class="highlight">Q: Does SILC support moderated channels?</samp><br />
+A: Yes. Channel founder can moderate both normal users and channel
+operators so that they cannot talk on the channel. It is also possible to
+queit one specific user on the channel if needed.
+<br /> <br />
+
+<a name="f2_140"></a>
+<samp class="highlight">Q: What does the "watching" mean?</samp><br />
+A: You can set a "watch" list for yourself in the server. This means that
+you can watch for certain nicknames in the network. For example, if you
+add a nickname "foo" to the watch list you will be notified when the foo
+logins to the network, leaves the network, changes its user mode or
+changes its nickname. This way you can watch for example when does you
+friend login to the network.
+<br /> <br />
+
+<a name="f2_150"></a>
+<samp class="highlight">Q: Is it possible to reject watching?</samp><br />
+A: Yes. Since it is clear that not everyone wants to be spied on you can
+set a mode for yourself which rejects watching you. Even if someone is
+watching the nickname you have, your logins, logoffs, mode changes or
+nickname changes will not be notified to the watcher.
+<br /> <br />
+
+<a name="f2_160"></a>
+<samp class="highlight">Q: Is it possible to block private
+messages?</samp><br />
+A: Yes. You can block incoming private messages by setting a mode that
+prevents unwanted private messages. Only the private messages that are
+secured with a private message key are delivered to you. This implies
+that you have negotiated the private key with the sender of the message,
+and therefore want to receive messages from that user. Other private
+messages that are secured with normal session keys are dropped when the
+mode is set.
+<br /> <br />
+
+<a name="f2_170"></a>
+<samp class="highlight">Q: Is it possible to block channel
+messages?</samp><br />
+A: Yes it is. By setting a mode that accomplishes this you can prevent
+the server of sending any channel messages to you. There is also a mode
+that allows blocking channel messages from normal users. This means that
+you will receive channel messages only when it is sent by channel operator
+or channel founder. It is also possible to block channel messages sent by
+robots. A user on the channel can have a robot mode set (which means that
+the user is actually a robot program), and messages sent from that user
+can be blocked with the mode.
+<br /> <br />
+
+<a name="f2_180"></a>
+<samp class="highlight">Q: Is it possible to block invites?</samp><br />
+A: It sure is. You can set a mode that prevents the server of sending
+invite notifications to you. This can for example prevent invite
+flooding. The downside is that it may make joining to a invite only
+channels a bit harder.
+<br /> <br />
+
+<a name="f2_190"></a>
+<samp class="highlight">Q: Does SILC support multimedia messages, like
+video/audio streaming?</samp><br />
+A: Yes it does. The new version of the protocol supports sending of MIME
+objects as messages. Since MIME objects can easily represent any kind of
+data, such as video stream, audio stream, images, etc. it is easy to send
+these multimedia messages in SILC. It also makes video conferencing
+possible with SILC. It can work by sending the stream(s) to a channel and
+everybody who joins the channel can receive the stream. This feature in
+the protocol surely makes possible many kind of multimedia applications in
+the future.
+<br /> <br />
+
+<a name="f2_200"></a>
+<samp class="highlight">Q: Is it possible to send picture/image messages?
+</samp><br />
+A: Yes. Since it is possible to send any kind of MIME object as a message
+it is also possible to send pictures and images as messages. It would be
+possible to for example send a hand/mouse written messages.
+<br /> <br />
+
+<a name="f2_205"></a>
+<samp class="highlight">Q: What kind of presence modes SILC
+support?</samp><br />
+A: By presence we mean indication of presence in the network, and SILC
+supports several different kinds of presence modes. They can be changed
+with the UMODE command which changes your user mode in the network.
+Currently there is the following modes for presence: GONE (I'm away),
+INDISPOSED (I cannot be here), BUSY (I'm busy, don't bother me), PAGE
+(page me if you want to talk), and HYPER (I'm hyper active, talk to me).
+When mode is not set it means you are present in the network. There are
+many other user modes as well, but they are not directly related to
+presence indication.
+<br /> <br />
+
+<a name="f2_210"></a>
+<samp class="highlight">Q: Does SILC support anonymity?</samp><br />
+A: The protocol has a user mode which indicates that user is anonymous
+user. The user cannot set or unset the mode itself, but a server which
+provides these anonymous chatting services can set the mode for the user
+that connects to the server. User that has the mode set has their
+username and hostname information scrambled. There are other ways of
+making anonymity in SILC but they all are implementational methods, and
+protocol does not handle those methods.
+<br /> <br />
+
+<a name="f2_220"></a>
+<samp class="highlight">Q: Does SILC support services?</samp><br />
+A: Yes it does. There is command called SERVICE which can be used by
+clients and servers to negotiate a service agreement with a remote server.
+The protocol does not however define any services currently.
+<br /> <br />
+
+<a name="f2_230"></a>
+<samp class="highlight">Q: I have suggestions to SILC Protocol, what can I do?</samp><br />
A: All suggestions and improvements are of course welcome. You should read
the protocol specifications first to check out whether your idea is
covered by them already. The best place to make your idea public is the
-SILC development mailing list.
+SILC development mailing list. You might want to checkout the TODO list
+from the CVS as well.
<br /> <br />
-
<a name="f3_0"></a><br />
<b>3. Client Questions</b><br /> <br />
<a name="f3_10"></a>
<samp class="highlight">Q: Where can I find SILC clients?</samp><br />
-A: The SILC client is available for free download from the silcnet.org web
-page. Some people have also mentioned words Java and Perl when talking
-about SILC clients. Nothing has appeared yet, though.
+A: The official SILC client is available for free download from the
+silcnet.org web page. There is also several independent projects working
+with the SILC Toolkit to come up with various other clients.
+<a href="http://bombyx.sourceforge.net" class="normal">Bombyx</a> is a
+cross-platform GUI client written with FLTK. <a
+href="http://milc.sourceforge.net" class="normal">Milc</a>
+is also a cross-platform GUI client written with WxWindows. See also
+our <a href="?page=links" class="normal">links page</a> for links to other
+clients.
<br /> <br />
<a name="f3_20"></a>
<samp class="highlight">Q: Can I use SILC with IRC client and vice versa?</samp><br />
A: Generally the answer would be no for both. However, there exist already
-at least one IRC client that supports SILC, the <a
-href="http://irssi.org/" class="normal">Irssi client</a>. The current SILC client is
-actually based on the user interface of the Irssi client. So, yes it is
-possible to use SILC with some IRC clients and vice versa. But, this
-does not mean that you can talk from SILC network to IRC network, that is
-not possible.
+at least one IRC client that supports SILC, the <a href="http://irssi.org/"
+class="normal">Irssi client</a>. The current SILC client is actually based
+on the user interface of the Irssi client. So, yes it is possible to use
+SILC with some IRC clients and vice versa. You can use SILC plug-in in Irssi
+and have support for both protocols in one client. But, this does not mean
+that you can talk from SILC network to IRC network, that is not possible.
+<br /> <br />
+
+<a name="f3_25"></a>
+<samp class="highlight">Q: The default theme sucks, where can I find a better one?</samp><br />
+A: The Irssi SILC client's theme files are almost 100% compatible with
+the original Irssi IRC client's themes. You can get those theme files
+from the <a href="http://irssi.org/" class="normal">Irssi project website</a>.
+You can also try to make a better theme by yourself.
+<br /> <br />
+
+<a name="f3_30"></a>
+<samp class="highlight">Q: How do I send a private message?</samp><br />
+A: Sending private message is done by using the MSG command. For example,
+command: <samp class="highlight">/MSG john hello</samp>, will send a
+`hello' message to a nickname `john'. By default private messages are
+secured with session keys, and the message is re-encrypted by the servers
+when the message travels to the receiver. If you would like to secure the
+private messages with a private key, you can negotiate a secret key with the
+receiver. Always remember to give WHOIS command before sending a private
+message to assure that you are sending the message to correct person.
+<br /> <br />
+
+<a name="f3_40"></a>
+<samp class="highlight">Q: How do I negotiate secret key with another user?</samp><br />
+A: It is important to negotiate secret keys if you cannot trust the servers
+and the network you are using. By negotiating a key with the user you
+want to talk to assures that no one except you and your friend is able
+to encrypt and decrypt the messages. The secret key negotiation is done with
+the KEY command. Here is an example of how to negotiate keys for securing
+private messages.
+<br /> <br />
+By giving command: <samp class="highlight">/KEY MSG john agreement
+192.168.2.100</samp>, you will send a key negotiation request to a nickname
+`john'. The 192.168.2.100 IP address would be your machine's IP address.
+You can also define an port to the KEY command after the IP address. If
+you do not do that the operating system will bind to a port of its choosing.
+John will receive a notification on the screen that you would like to
+negotiate secret keys with him, and he will receive the IP address and port
+where you are listenning for the negotiation. When he gives command:
+<samp class="highlight">/KEY MSG You negotiate 192.168.2.100 31382</samp>,
+the key negotiation is started. During the key negotiation you will be
+prompted on the screen to verify and accept John's public key if you do not
+have his public key already. The John will be prompted to accept your
+public key as well. After the key negotiation is over all private messages
+sent between you and John are secured with the negotiated secret key.
+Note that you must verify the public key you are prompted for, and this is
+very important since someone could be doing man-in-the-middle attack.
+<br /> <br />
+
+<a name="f3_50"></a>
+<samp class="highlight">Q: How do I negotiate secret keys behind a NAT?</samp><br />
+A: If only you are behind a NAT, or firewall then key negotiation works,
+but if both you and your friend are behind a NAT then key negotiation will
+not work, since it is done peer to peer. If you are behind a NAT then you
+obviously cannot receive key negotiations, and cannot bind to any IP address
+and port. However, you can still use KEY command to negotiate the keys.
+<br /> <br />
+By giving command: <samp class="highlight">/KEY MSG john agreement</samp>,
+without any other arguments (such as IP address and port) you will send
+a negotiation request to John, but do not provide an address and port for
+the John to connect to. When John receives the notification on the screen
+that you would like to perform key negotiation, he can give command:
+<samp class="highlight">/KEY MSG You agreement 172.16.100.78</samp>, which
+will send key negotiation request back to you. You will receive the IP
+address and port where you need to connect in order to perform the negotiation.
+After receiving the notification you can give command: <samp class="highlight">
+/KEY MSG john negotiate 172.16.100.78 31181</samp>, which will start the
+key negotiation with John. This way you can negotiate the keys if you are
+behind a NAT.
+<br /> <br />
+
+<a name="f3_60"></a>
+<samp class="highlight">Q: How do I change channel modes?</samp><br />
+A: The command to manage channel modes is CMODE. With this command you
+can change the channel status (to change it to secret channel for example),
+set user limit on the channel, passphrase for the channel, set the channel
+to use private keys on channel, and set the founder mode.
+<br /> <br />
+
+<a name="f3_70"></a>
+<samp class="highlight">Q: What does the founder mode on channel mean, and how do I set it?</samp><br />
+A: Who ever creates the channel by being the first user to join the channel
+becomes automatically the founder of the channel. Founder has some extra
+privileges on the channel. For example, it is not possible to kick the
+founder off the channel, and there are some channel modes that only the
+founder of the channel can change. If the creator of the channel wishes
+to preserve the channel founder mode even if he leave the channel he
+can set the founder mode for the channel.
+<br /> <br />
+The mode is set by giving command: <samp class="highlight">/CMODE #channel
++f</samp>. This will set the founder mode and will use the public
+key of the founder as authenticator when the user is reclaiming the mode
+back. If the founder leaves the channel he will be able to get the founder
+mode back by using JOIN or CUMODE commmands. Giving command
+<samp class="highlight">/JOIN #channel -founder</samp>,
+will get the founder mode back at the same time he joins the channel, or
+giving commmand <samp class="highlight">/CUMODE #channel +f yournick</samp>,
+will also give the founder mode back on the channel after he has joined
+the channel.
+<br /> <br />
+The founder mode also means that the channel becomes permanent when it is
+set. This means that when the last client leaves the channel the channel
+is not destroyed when the founder mode is set. Next time someone joins
+the channel he will not become the founder of the channel if the channel
+already existed (but were empty). If the founder mode is not set when
+last user leaves the channel, the channel will be destroyed. When you set
+the mode for the channel and leave the channel you can reclaim the founder
+rights to yourself back at any time when you rejoin the channel.
+<br /> <br />
+
+<a name="f3_80"></a>
+<samp class="highlight">Q: I am founder of invite only channel, how can I join the channel after I have left it?</samp><br />
+A: Founder can override the invite only status by reclaiming the founder
+status on the channel using the JOIN command. The channel must have the
+founder mode set in order for it to work. Reclaiming founder status using
+JOIN command is important also if the channel has user limit set, and has
+active bans. Founder can override these conditions as well. However,
+founder cannot override the passphrase of the channel if it is set. To
+get the founder mode during JOIN and to override the invite only condition,
+give command: <samp class="highlight">/JOIN #channel -founder</samp>.
+This will join the channel and attempt to reclaim the founder status back
+to you.
+<br /> <br />
+
+<a name="f3_90"></a>
+<samp class="highlight">Q: How can I op or deop somebody on channel?</samp><br />
+A: Giving operator status, or removing the operator status on a channel
+requires you to have at least operator status, or founder status on the
+channel. You can give operator status to another user by using CUMODE
+command. To give ops give the command: <samp class="highlight">/CUMODE
+#channel +o john</samp>, and to remove ops give command:
+<samp class="highlight">/CUMODE #channel -o john</samp>. To indicate
+current channel you can also use `*' character in #channel's stead.
+<br /> <br />
+
+<a name="f3_100"></a>
+<samp class="highlight">Q: How do I set private key for channel, and what does that mean exactly?</samp><br />
+A: Setting private key for channel requires first to set the private key mode
+for the channel. You need to be the founder of the channel to be able to
+do this. Give the command: <samp class="highlight">/CMODE #channel +k</samp>.
+After this mode is set the old channel key will not be used to encrypt and
+decrypt channel messages. To set the key for the channel use the KEY command.
+Every user on the channel must do the same thing and set the same key.
+If some user on the channel does not set the key (or does not know the key)
+he won't be able to see any messages on the channel. Give the command:
+<samp class="highlight">/KEY CHANNEL #channel set verysecretkey</samp>.
+This command will set the `verysecretkey' passphrase as key to #channel.
+How exactly other users will know this key is out of scope of the SILC
+protocol. SILC does not provide yet a possibility of negotiating secret key
+with many users at the same time. For this reason the secret key on the
+channel is usually a passphrase or a password that all users on the channel
+have to know. Setting a private key for channel means that only the users
+on the channel who know the key is able to encrypt and decrypt messages.
+Servers do not know the key at all. If you remove the private key mode
+from the channel, all users will start automatically using a new channel
+key to secure channel messages.
+<br /> <br />
+
+<a name="f3_110"></a>
+<samp class="highlight">Q: How do I transfer a file?</samp><br />
+A: You can transfer files securely using the FILE command. This command
+will automatically negotiate secret key with the remote user and the
+file transfer stream is secured using that key. The file transfer
+stream is always sent peer to peer. If you would like to send a file
+to another user you can give command: <samp class="highlight">/FILE
+SEND path/to/the/file john</samp>. This command sends, or actually
+makes the `path/to/the/file' available for download for the user `john'.
+The John will decide whether he wants to actually download the file.
+When John gives the command: <samp class="highlight">/FILE RECEIVE</samp>,
+the key negotiation is started. You and John will be prompted to verify
+and accept each other's public key if you do not have it cached already.
+After key negotiation is over the file transfer process starts.
+If you want to cancel the file transfer session, or if John wants to
+reject the file transfer request, giving the command: <samp class="highlight">
+/FILE CLOSE</samp> will close the session.
+<br /> <br />
+
+<a name="f3_120"></a>
+<samp class="highlight">Q: How can I get other users public keys?</samp><br />
+A: You can get a user's public key using the GETKEY command. This command
+will fetch the user's public key from the server where the user has connected
+to. The server has verified that the user posesses the corresponding private
+key, however, you will be prompted to verify and accept the public key.
+All client public keys are saved in your local key directory in
+~/.silc/clientkeys/. You can also receive clients public keys during
+key negotiation and file transfers. The GETKEY command can be used to fetch
+a server's public key as well. Those keys are saved in ~/.silc/serverkeys/
+directory.
+<br /> <br />
+
+<a name="f3_130"></a>
+<samp class="highlight">Q: How can I see the fingerprint of my public key?</samp><br />
+A: You can check out your own fingerprint by giving just WHOIS command without
+any arguments. Additionally you can also dump the contents of the key file
+using the silc program and giving -S option to it. Your own public key is
+always saved in ~/.silc/public_key.pub file. To dump your key run silc as:
+<samp class="highlight">silc -S .silc/public_key.pub</samp>. The same way
+you can dump the contents of any public key inside ~/.silc/clientkeys/ and
+~/.silc/serverkeys/ directories. The WHOIS command will also show other
+users public key fingerprints.
<br /> <br />
+<a name="f3_140"></a>
+<samp class="highlight">Q: I gave WHOIS to a nick, and it returned multiple replies, why?</samp><br />
+A: This will happen if there are several same nicknames in the network at
+the same time. As you may already know nicknames are not unique in SILC
+network. This means there can be multiple same nicknames. This also means
+that you can always have the nickname you want. If WHOIS returns multiple
+replies, you can distinguish the users by their realname, username,
+hostname and ultimately by the fingerprint of their public key, which the
+WHOIS will also show. You will also notice an additional nickname inside a
+parenthesis. It may show for example: <samp class="highlight">nickname: John
+ (John@otaku)</samp>. The real nickname is `John', but since there are
+many John's in the network you can access this one using `John@otaku'.
+So, if you were to send private message to this particular John you can do
+it by giving command: <samp class="highlight">/MSG John@otaku hello</samp>.
+This will send `hello' message to the John@otaku.
+<br /> <br />
+
+<a name="f3_150"></a>
+<samp class="highlight">Q: Is there a command to see all linked servers?</samp><br />
+A: No there is not. For longer answer see also <a href="#f2_70"
+class="normal">this FAQ</a>.
+<br /> <br />
+
+<a name="f3_160"></a>
+<samp class="highlight">Q: How do I list the users of a channel?</samp><br />
+A: The command to list all users on a particular channel is USERS. It is
+also aliased to WHO command in Irssi SILC Client. To see the users of the
+current channel give the command: <samp class="highlight">/USERS *</samp>.
+You can replace the `*' with the channel name of your choosing. If the
+channel is private or secret channel, and you have not joined the channel,
+you cannot list the users of that channel.
+<br /> <br />
+
+<a name="f3_170"></a>
+<samp class="highlight">Q: What is the difference between OPER and SILCOPER commands?</samp><br />
+A: The OPER command is used to gain server operator privileges on normal
+SILC server, while SILCOPER is used to gain router operator (also known as
+SILC operator) privileges on router server. You cannot use SILCOPER command
+on normal SILC server, it works only on router server.
+<br /> <br />
+
+<a name="f3_180"></a>
+<samp class="highlight">Q: My Cygwin client crashes with message "Couldn't create //.silc directory"</samp><br />
+A: A solutions should be setting HOME enviroment variable to the directory where you
+have unpacked your SILC Client. Type to your command prompt something like: <br />
+<tt class="normal">c:\>set HOME=c:\silc</tt>
+<br /> <br />
+
+<a name="f3_190"></a>
+<samp class="highlight">Q: Why /join #silc and /join silc doesn't join the same channel?</samp><br />
+A: The #-character is not mandatory part of channel name in SILC. So
+#silc and silc are two different channels. The #-character in channel
+name is IRC feature and has nothing to do with SILC. If you have
+#-character in the channel name, then it is part of the channel name, just
+like %-character, or &-character could be part of channel name.
+<br /> <br />
+
+<a name="f3_200"></a>
+<samp class="highlight">Q: How do I detach my session from the
+server?</samp><br />
+A: You can detach your session by simply giving DETACH command. Your
+connection to the server will be closed automatically. Next time you
+connect any server in the network your session will be automatically
+resumed. If there is an error during session resuming your connection
+will be closed and you need to reconnect to the server. In this case the
+old sessionn cannot be resumed anymore.
+<br /> <br />
+
+
<a name="f4_0"></a><br />
<b>4. Server Questions</b><br /> <br />
<br /> <br />
<a name="f4_20"></a>
-<samp class="highlight">Q: Can I run own SILC server?</samp><br />
+<samp class="highlight">Q: Can I run my own SILC server?</samp><br />
A: Yes of course. Download the SILC server package, compile and install
it. Be sure to check out the installation instructions and the README
file. You also should decide whether you want to run SILC server or SILC
<br /> <br />
<a name="f4_60"></a>
-<samp class="highlight">Q: Why SILC server runs on privileged port 706?</samp>
-<br />
+<samp class="highlight">Q: Why SILC server runs on privileged port 706?</samp><br />
A: Ports 706/tcp and 706/udp have been assigned for the SILC protocol by
-IANA. Server on the network listening above privileged ports (>1023)
-SHOULD NOT be trusted as it could have been set up by untrusted party.
-The server normally drops root privileges after startup and then run as
-user previously defined in silcd.conf.
+<a href="http://www.iana.org" class="normal">IANA</a>. Server on the network
+listening above privileged ports (>1023) SHOULD NOT be trusted as it could
+have been set up by untrusted party. The server normally drops root privileges
+after startup and then run as user previously defined in silcd.conf.
+<br /> <br />
+
+<a name="f4_70"></a>
+<samp class="highlight">Q: I see [Unknown] in the log file, what does it mean?</samp><br />
+A: You can see in the log file for example: <samp class="highlight">
+[Info] Closing connection 192.168.78.139:3214 [Unknown]</samp>. The [Unknown]
+means that the connection was not authenticated yet, and it is not known
+whether the connection was a client, server or router. There will appear
+[Client], [Server] or [Router] if the connection is authenticated at that
+point.
<br /> <br />
+<a name="f4_80"></a>
+<samp class="highlight">Q: How can I generate a new server key pair?</samp><br />
+A: You can generate a new key pair using the silcd command with the -C
+option. When SILC Server is installed a key pair is generated
+automatically for you. However, it is suggested that you check the
+information found in that key and generate a new key pair if the
+information is incorrect. You can check the information of your public
+key by giving command: <samp class="highlight">silc -S file.pub</samp>.
+<br /> <br />
+If you want to generate a new key pair then you can give for example
+command: <samp class="highlight">
+silcd -C . --identifier="UN=silc-oper, HN=silc.silcnet.org, RN=SILC Router
+Admin, E=silc-oper@silcnet.org, O=SILC Project, C=SK"</samp>. This will
+create the key pair to current directory, with the specified identifier.
+Please, give the --help option to the silcd to see usage help for the -C
+and --identifier options.
+<br /> <br />
+
+
<a name="f5_0"></a><br />
<b>5. Toolkit Questions</b><br /> <br />
<a name="f5_50"></a>
<samp class="highlight">Q: Does the Toolkit package include any sample code?</samp><br />
A: Yes, naturally. It includes sample codes for two different SILC Client
-implementations, and SILC Server. Win32 samples are included in the
-win32/ directory, for simple client.
+implementations, and SILC Server. The silcer/ directory includes a simple
+GUI client based on GTK--, and Win32 samples are included in the win32/
+directory, for simple client.
<br /> <br />
-
projects / silc.git / blobdiff