Editing IRCd (section)

{{short description|Server software that implements IRC}}
{{more citations needed section|date=September 2009}}
An '''IRCd''', short for '''Internet Relay Chat [[daemon (computing)|daemon]]''', is [[server (computing)|server software]] that implements the [[Internet Relay Chat|IRC]] [[protocol (computing)|protocol]], enabling people to talk to each other via the [[Internet]] (exchanging [[text-based (computing)|textual]] messages in real time).<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2810#section-4 |title=RFC 2810 - Internet Relay Chat: Architecture |year=2000 |publisher=Tools.ietf.org |doi=10.17487/RFC2810 |access-date=2010-03-03|last1=Kalt |first1=C. |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>[http://www.irchelp.org/irchelp/ircd/server-request.html IRC Server Request FAQ] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090422113612/http://www.irchelp.org/irchelp/ircd/server-request.html |date=2009-04-22 }}</ref> It is distinct from an [[Internet Relay Chat bot|IRC bot]] that connects outbound to an IRC channel.

The server listens to connections from [[IRC client]]s<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2810#section-2.1 |title=RFC 2810 – Internet Relay Chat: Architecture |year=2000 |publisher=Tools.ietf.org |doi=10.17487/RFC2810 |access-date=2010-03-03|last1=Kalt |first1=C. |url-access=subscription }}</ref> on a set of [[TCP and UDP port|TCP ports]].<ref name=RFC1459>{{cite journal|url=http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1459#section-1 |title=RFC 1459 – Internet Relay Chat Protocol |year=1993 |publisher=Tools.ietf.org |doi=10.17487/RFC1459 |access-date=2010-03-03|last1=Oikarinen |first1=J. |last2=Reed |first2=D. |url-access=subscription }}</ref> When the server is part of an IRC network, it also keeps one or more established connections to other servers/daemons.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1459#section-1.1 |title=RFC 1459 – Internet Relay Chat Protocol |year=1993 |publisher=Tools.ietf.org |doi=10.17487/RFC1459 |access-date=2010-03-03|last1=Oikarinen |first1=J. |last2=Reed |first2=D. |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The term ''ircd'' originally referred to only one single piece of software,<ref>[http://www.irc.org/tech_docs/ircnet/faq.html#ircd IRCD FAQ on irc.org]</ref> but it eventually became a generic reference to any implementation of an IRC daemon.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://searchirc.com/ircd-versions |title=Search IRC, IRCD version overview |publisher=Searchirc.com |access-date=2010-03-03}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dmoz.org/Computers/Software/Internet/Servers/Chat/IRC/ |title=Open Directory – Computers: Software: Internet: Servers: Chat: IRC |publisher=Dmoz.org |date=2010-02-26 |access-date=2010-03-03}}</ref> However, the original version is still distributed under the same name,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.funet.fi/~irc/server/ |title=IRCD – the server |publisher=Funet.fi |access-date=2010-03-03}}</ref> and this article discusses both uses.