Editing IRCd (section)

=== O-line {{anchor|O-line}} ===
An '''O-line''' (frequently also spelled as '''O:line'''{{citation needed|date=March 2013}}; on IRCds that support local operators, the O-lines of those are called '''o:lines''' with a lower-case O{{citation needed|date=March 2013}}), shortened from ''Operator Line'' and derived from the line-based configuration file of the original IRCd, is a line of code in an IRC daemon configuration file that determines which users can become an [[IRC operator]] and which permissions they get upon doing so. The name comes from the prefix used for the line in the original IRCd, a capital O. The O-line specifies the username, password, operator flags, and hostmask restrictions for a particular operator. A server may have many O-lines depending on the administrative needs of the server and network.<ref>[http://docs.dal.net/docs/operinfo.html IRC Operator Version 1.1.2]</ref>

Operator flags are used to describe the permissions an operator is granted. While some IRC operators may be in charge of network routing, others may be in charge of network abuse, making their need for certain permissions different.<ref name=RFC1459 /> Operator flags available vary widely depending on which IRC daemon is in use. Generally, more feature rich IRC daemons tend to have more operator flags, and more traditional IRC daemons have fewer.

An O-line may also be set so that only users of a certain [[hostmask]] or [[IP address]] can gain IRC operator status using that O-line. Using hostmasks and IP addresses in the O-line requires the IP address to remain the same but provides additional security.