Date: Thu, 16 Aug 2001 20:05:21 -0700
From: Chris Behrens <cbehrens@codestud.com>
Reply-To: services@katnap.org
To: services@katnap.org
Subject: what chanfix really does


This is what I wrote in response to a lot of confusion in what Chanfix
does..

- Chris


First, here's the basics on what Chanfix does:

Chanfix scans the network every 5 minutes and keeps track of the
channels and their operators.  If the channel has less than 4 users in
it...or it doesn't have ops, the channel is ignored.  If less than 75%
of all servers exist on the network, Chanfix doesn't do a scan, nor
will it automatically reop a channel.  Chanfix keeps only the last 2
weeks of data.  When Chanfix reops a channel, it will reop at most 5
clients, and the channel must have been seen on a certain number of
scans (currently 6, which is basically 30 minutes). Ie, the channel
must exist for at least 30 minutes for Chanfix to reop.  Chanfix
automatically reops a channel immediately if it becomes opless and it
has 4 or more users in it, with at least 1 user that has a score in the
Chanfix database.  Chanfix also automatically reops a channel if it is
found to be opless on a scan and it has more than 4 users in it with at
least 1 user that has a score in the Chanfix database.  This might
happen when a channel becomes opless, but there's no one found to op
(no one is left in the channel with a score).  It could also happen if
the channel is left with 3 users.  If someone then joins that should be
opped, Chanfix will catch this on its next 5-minute pass.  Note, the
top 5 scores that are in the database might not actually be the ones
that get opped.  Those people may not be in the channel.  Chanfix
actually looks at the current clients in the channel, finds their
scores, and ops the top 5.  It is entirely possible that Chanfix will
re-op the people with the lowest 5 scores in the database if they are
in the channel and the people with higher scores aren't.  This means
that takeover clients would be the ones to get reopped if they were the
only ones in the channel, and they had some sort of score in the
database.  It's also possible that Chanfix will reop a mix of the
'real' ops and takeover clients, depending on who is in the channel at
the time.

Is this clear to everyone now?  It doesn't just look at the top 5
scores in the database and see if they are in the channel and try
to op them...and if they aren't, do nothing.  Perhaps it should
work like this, but I didn't interpret the original chanfix proposal
in this way.  It actually ops the top 5 people in the channel at
the time, even if their score might be the lowest scores in the
database.

Now...the so-called 'reverse' command.  This is not really a reverse
command.  The original name of the command was going to be called
'reverse', but it doesn't necessarily reverse anything, so that is
misleading.  The real name of the command is 'chanfix'.  'chanfix'
works exactly like the automatic version, except that it ends up
deopping all of the ops on the channel first, if there are any.
Also, the 'chanfix' command doesn't require that a certain number
of users be in the channel nor a the channel have existed for a 
certain period of time.  It does however still require that 75%
of the servers exist.

Here's how the ops get deopped:

If TS on a channel is greater than 1:
  an SJOIN of TS minus 1 is sent.  This causes every server to deop
  all of the clients automagically, because this is how TS works.

If a TS on a channel is 0 or 1:
  The same TS is sent with an SJOIN, and then MODE -o's are sent
  to deop the original ops.  The reason for this is because we
  don't want a channel to send up with a TS of 0 if it had a TS
  before, or -1 if its TS was 0 before.

Now, the people that get opped are the same people that would get
opped in the automagic version above.  It looks at everyone in
the channel, computes their scores, and ops the top 5.  Again,
this might op people with the lowest scores for the channel or it
may op a mix of people with really high scores and really low
scores if they are the only ones in the channel with scores.