Free shell account

Reasonable free shell package

• One personal Unix account on vps.ircplus.nl (SSH key preferred)
• Interactive shell only (no always-on services under your account)
• Terminal IRC: irssi (and similar TUI clients if installed by staff)
• Small disk quota (planned: ~200–500 MB home)
• Strict CPU / memory / process limits
• Manual approval (same idea as Free Bouncer / Free Eggdrop)

Not allowed on free shell accounts

• No Eggdrop, ZNC, any IRC bouncer, or “keep-alive” IRC proxies
• No screen, tmux, nohup, disown, or other session detachers
• No background daemons, cron jobs, systemd user services, or persistent processes after logout
• No Python / Node / Perl IRC bots, scrapers, miners, port scanners, or proxies
• No compilers for building servers/bots (unless staff install a tool for you)
• No open ports, tunnels (ssh -R/-L/-D abuse), Tor exits, or commercial hosting
• No sharing the account; one human → one account

Accounts that break these rules can be suspended or removed without notice. Activity may be monitored for abuse prevention.

Request process (coming online)

Provisioning is not fully automated yet. Until the request form is live:

1. Join #IRCPlus
2. Message staff (Cjefke) with: desired username, SSH public key (ed25519 preferred), and why you need a shell
3. After approval you receive host, username, and login instructions privately

Preferred login: SSH public key only (password login disabled when possible).

How we keep free shells safer

• Separate UID per user; no sudo; no shared writable system paths
• Process and resource limits (nproc, memory, CPU) via PAM / cgroup
• Restricted PATH and blocked wrappers for screen/tmux/nohup where possible
• Idle / inactive accounts may be removed after a period of non-use
• Outbound abuse (spam, scans) leads to immediate removal

Need a bot or bouncer instead?

Use the dedicated services — they are safer for everyone than a full shell:

Free ZNC bouncer Free Eggdrop