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The Debian Project hosts all its official IRC channels on irc.oftc.net and also has a thriving community on irc.libera.chat. The Debian Project no longer has control of #debian on the freenode IRC network. If you're still using freenode, please move to irc.oftc.net (or its alias irc.debian.org)

Introduction

IRC (in OFTC's #debian*) is used to get on-line Real Time Help with Debian releases. If you're running other than stock Debian stable, testing, or sid, you should instead go to the forum which supports your non-Debian system. Debian-derived or Debian-downstream are not Debian. You'd get more relevant support for your release from its community, not via Debian.

Read first: https://www.debian.org/support#irc

If you are asked to show some output of an command please use https://paste.debian.net and post the Link instead of pasting it into the Channel.

To connect, you need an IRC client, or use a Matrix interface such as Element.

More information can be found on GettingHelpOnIrc. The #debian channel has its own FAQ.

Debian IRC channels

The hostname irc.debian.org is an alias for irc.oftc.net. Most Debian IRC channels are on the OFTC IRC network:

#debian channels have a Netiquette.

Localized

Social (mostly)

Ports and architectures

Graphical desktop environments

Other software developed mostly outside Debian

General groups

Specific

Debian Pure Blend IRC channels

Other DebianPureBlends project pages and IRC information.

How to create a new #debian-* channel

tl;dr: Steps: Join, REGISTER, Add ACCESS, SET Metadata, Direct people to a new channel. Enjoy!

IRC channels are initially created by the first user to /join. Please REGISTER your channel with ?ChanServ immediately after doing so or you will loose the ability to moderate it. Channels are open to the public by default, but can be restricted.

In order to ensure others in the project have appropriate moderation and channel management access you should grant CHANOP and MASTER access privileges to the @debian-chanop and @debian-master groups respectively.

For example to create #debian-foo: 

/join #debian-foo
/msg ChanServ REGISTER #debian-foo A really cool channel to discuss foo
/msg ChanServ ACCESS #debian-foo ADD @debian-master MASTER
/msg ChanServ ACCESS #debian-foo ADD @debian-chanop CHANOP

/msg ChanServ SET #debian-foo URL https://wiki.debian.org/Teams/Foo
/msg ChanServ SET #debian-foo EMAIL https://lists.debian.org/debian-foo/

For Debconf-related channels, please also give @debconf-masters MASTER access: 

/msg chanserv ACCESS #debconf-foo ADD @debconf-masters MASTER

Verify the ACCESS list: 

/msg ChanServ ACCESS #debian-foo LIST
-ChanServ- 1: @debian-master MASTER
-ChanServ- 2: @debian-chanop CHANOP
-ChanServ- 3: your-nick MASTER
-ChanServ- End of ACCESS LIST for channel #debian-foo.

To see who is currently in the aforementioned groups ask OFTC ?GroupServ: 

/msg GroupServ INFO @debian-master
-GroupServ- Information for group @debian-master
-GroupServ- Time registered: Wed 14 Jul 2010 11:23:51 +0000
-GroupServ-         PRIVATE: OFF
-GroupServ- Group Masters: weasel, themill, pabs, Myon, mapreri, jcristau, Ganneff, dondelelcaro

/msg GroupServ INFO @debian-chanop
-GroupServ- Information for group @debian-chanop
-GroupServ- Time registered: Wed 14 Jul 2010 11:23:39 +0000
-GroupServ-         PRIVATE: OFF
-GroupServ- Group Masters: weasel, themill, pkern, pabs, Myon, mapreri, jcristau, Ganneff, dondelelcaro

/msg GroupServ INFO @debconf-masters
-GroupServ- Information for group @debconf-masters
-GroupServ- Time registered: Wed 19 Feb 2020 19:31:35 +0000
-GroupServ-         PRIVATE: OFF
-GroupServ- Group Masters: tumbleweed, terceiro, gwolf, Ganneff, DLange

Last updated: 2025-12-22

Now you can get chatting!

Direct people to a new channel

See also

CategoryCommunity | CategoryPermalink