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#173692 27/03/07 08:41 PM
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Jigsy Offline OP
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If you type /channel, then set the key as *.

Once you open /channel again, the key won't appear.

Meaning you can only remove the key via /mode #channel -k * ...


Tested with mIRC 6.21 on Windows 98 SE.

Last edited by Jigsy; 27/03/07 09:09 PM.

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confirmed. (mIRC v6.21)


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Also confirmed on 6.17 and 6.2

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I seem to recall this bug being reported previously. I can't seem to find the thread though.

-genius_at_work

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I also know the reason:

a large number of networks have the ability to hide the key from non-@ users, the character they use for this is *
so if mIRC sees a key '*' it will treat it as being a 'hidden key'

so it's simply not wise using * as a channel key :-P
would be a bit hard to chance without breaking the 'hidden key' feature of many network.


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Hoopy frood
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That shouldn't be an issue here. This is happening when the user is an op. It might be that mIRC is assuming that an even higher mode is needed to see the key on that server, but I don't know of any that require higher than an op to see channel keys.


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mIRC simply translates what it gets from the server, so I don't think if it's going to check if you are a channel operator when recieving a * for a key.


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Why not?


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I'm just wondering why people *want* it to be a * for the key. What's so special about that? If it's a *, then it will appear as though you don't have priveledges to see the key, even if you're an op. Why not just use some other key? If you want it to be a single character, use . or something. Also, keep in mind that * would probably be at the top of the list of keys people would use to try and access a protected channel, so it's very poor security if you really want to keep people out. And if you don't want to keep them out, why have a key at all?


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Well right now it can be used explicitly to prevent mIRC from showing the key to people who would otherwise be able to see it*. Also it breaks any auto-rejoin actions made by mIRC (rejoin on kick, /hop, etc.), so there's a couple of potential uses for it right there. Regardless of that, the point is there's something happening here that is not desired behaviour, not expected behaviour, and can be fixed with a very simple check. It's a bug that can be fixed - so it should be.

*: Yes I know they'd still be able to see the mode line when the change happens but that relies on them to actually see that line and know what it means. Many people new to IRC no doubt wouldn't know and instead rely on the channel central to provide all the info.


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And there aren't other IRC programs out there? I know mIRC is the best (personal opinion) and is the most widely used, but anyone using other programs are probably still going to see the mode and the autojoin on those may work fine as well.

Just one thing, though... if the key is a * and someone is an op (ie. would be able to see the key if there was one), then seeing a * there would indicate that the * is the actual key.

Anyhow, I don't know. It just seems strange to me. Btw, there is a VERY large number of users who would know what +k means. It just doesn't seem like you do anything except to make things a challenge for n00bs. wink


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Jigsy Offline OP
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I was actually checking what characters are allowed in a key for my mIRC scripted IRC services.

At first I classified it as an IRCd bug, then dismissed it when it wasn't.


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Quote:
At first I classified it as an IRCd bug, then dismissed it when it wasn't.


mIRC could certainly do more to ensure the '*' key isn't used maliciously (ie by still trying to rejoin with it), however the only true fix to this bug is to have ircds that do not implement the 'hidden key' feature restrict the use of '*' as a key.

I recall this reported a long time ago, but it looks like these boards are no longer retaining posts that far back.

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Hoopy frood
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That's correct, some networks use * to indicate a hidden key. mIRC checks if it has received a * as the key and if so, it hides it.

mIRC isn't assuming anything about who can and can't see the key. If mIRC receives *, then it doesn't know what the key is, so it can't show it, it therefore blanks out the * as a blank hidden key. If mIRC does not receive *, it simply displays the key as whatever it has received.

If anyone can think of a solution to this without breaking this feature on IRC networks that support hidden keys, please let me know.

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just show the key, let the user handle that, i dont see anywhere in the rfc that says u should be hiding it if the ircd gives *


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I agree, mIRC shouldnt assume that all keys returned by the server as * are a hidden key. The hidden key feature is an ircd extention, not a standard and not uniform. There is no need for mirc to interpret it at all, if the server hides it this way, then the user can not do anything more or less irregardless of mirc reaction to it.


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That is what mIRC used to do when it had no support for the * hidden key... the reason the behaviour was changed (in mIRC 5.91 in 2001) is that users on networks that support * as a hidden key reported that mIRC treating * as an actual key resulted in various side-effects. I can't quite remember what those were but there's a wonderfully ambiguous comment next to the line of spaghetti code that handles hidden keys that warns me not to fiddle with it... :-P

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If you can find any IRC network that supports this "hidden key" feature, please let me know, because I'm writing an IRC bot and I want to know what I need to support. I checked out every major one... ircd-seven, ircd-ratbox, ircu2, bahamut, charybdis, inspircd-2.0 and unrealircd-4.0 don't support it. In the mean time, bahamut is the only software your client isn't broken in some way with respect to this, and that's because bahamut doesn't allow you to set +k *.

Last edited by Seb; 04/07/18 07:36 PM.

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