DCCore

v1.12.2 · Python 3.10+ · Linux, Windows and macOS

An IRC DCC file-sharing daemon — a modern reimplementation of OmenServe, the mIRC script that has run these channels for twenty years.

It sits in a channel, advertises a catalogue, and serves files over DCC to whoever asks. It can also fetch files from other bots, which OmenServe never could. No third-party packages: everything it needs to talk to IRC, move files, pack albums and run its admin console is in the standard library.

Getting started: install Python 3.10+, extract, and run the launcher for your system - scripts\windows\start-dccore.bat (double-click), scripts/linux/start-dccore.sh, or scripts/macos/start-dccore.command. The first run asks the setup questions itself. Details in docs/INSTALL.md and docs/WINDOWS.md.

What it does

• Serves files over DCC — per-user and global queues, configurable slots, !rar album packing on demand, and DCC RESUME so an interrupted download continues instead of starting over
• Keeps a searchable master list in .txt, .zip and .rar, rebuilt atomically so a failed scan never overwrites a good one
• Fetches from other bots — request a file or a whole list, or broadcast one @find and collect every reply
• Remembers people — a user who disconnects keeps their queue for five minutes and resumes on rejoin
• Defends itself — rolling flood windows, escalating mutes, hostmask bans, and every other bot treated as untrusted
• Is operable — an authenticated DCC CHAT console, an optional web dashboard, live !rehash, and statistics that survive a restart
• Runs where you run it — long paths, non-ASCII filenames, and Linux, Windows and macOS all in CI on every commit

See docs/FUTURE.md for the full picture, including what is not built yet.

Quick start

python3 configure.py                    # a few questions
./scripts/linux/start-dccore.sh check   # verify, without touching the network
./scripts/linux/start-dccore.sh         # go
python3 update_list.py                  # build the first list

On Windows, py rather than python3 — a python.org install gives you py and python, not python3, and Windows ships an alias that makes python3 open the Microsoft Store instead:

py configure.py
scripts\windows\start-dccore.bat check
scripts\windows\start-dccore.bat
py update_list.py

Full guide, including configuring it by hand and upgrading from an older install: docs/INSTALL.md.

Documentation

INSTALL.md	requirements, setup, configuration, upgrading
FUTURE.md	what is implemented, what is planned
ADMIN-CONSOLE.md	the authenticated DCC CHAT console, and the mIRC window script that sits on it
WINDOWS.md	the Windows guide
CONVENTIONS.md	how this codebase is written, if you want to contribute
UPDATES-PUBLIC.md	the changelog
SECURITY.md	how to report a vulnerability

How it is put together

oserve.py wires everything and owns the threads. irc.py is the network loop and command parser; dcc.py sends files and dcc_fetch.py receives them. list.py and update_list.py build and search the catalogue, announce.py owns everything the channel sees, and commands.py handles what users type. db.py persists state, security.py decides who is allowed, and platform_compat.py holds the handful of genuine Linux/Windows differences so nothing else has to care. defaults.py declares every setting; settings_file.py lets an operator override them without editing Python.

The optional dashboard is webserver.py and web/, and disables itself cleanly if Flask is absent.

Tests

python3 -m unittest discover -s tests -t .

Thousands of them - the count is kept in docs/FUTURE.md - stdlib-only, on Linux, Windows and macOS, Python 3.10, 3.12 and 3.14 in CI.

License

DCCore - an IRC DCC file-sharing daemon Copyright (C) 2026 The DCCore contributors

This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program. If not, see https://www.gnu.org/licenses/.

In short: distributed forks and modified versions must stay open source under the same terms. Running a modified copy privately, which is what most operators do, carries no obligation at all - GPLv3's requirements attach to distribution, not to use.