IRC Services 5.0.61 / 5.1pre4

IRC Services are Services for IRC Networks (or just Services for short) provides for definitive nickname and channel ownership, automatic channel mode setting, memo (short message) storage and retrieval, and greater IRC operator control over the network.
Main features:
- Nickname management. Services allows users to "register" nicknames, and will prevent users other than the registrant from using them. Services also maintains information about each registered nickname, including the last time the nicks owner was online as well as a URL and E-mail address that can be set by the user.
- Channel management. Like nicknames, Services allows users to register channels as well. A channels owner can give privileges to other users of the channel, such as auto-opping or the ability to set various channel options, or conversely deny other users the ability to obtain channel operator privileges or even enter the channel altogether. Services will remember the topic on the channel even after the last user leaves, and can automatically set modes on the channel whenever a user joins it.
- Messages to offline users. Probably every IRC user has gone through the experience of waiting and waiting for someone to come online in order to pass a message along or ask a question. Services alleviates this with a "memo" system, allowing users to leave messages for other users even if the recipient is not online at the time; the recipient will be notified of the memo the next time they log on.
- Centralized network control. Services includes features which allow IRC operators greater control over the IRC network through a single point, and also defines multiple privilege levels for IRC operators with respect to Services itself. For example, IRC operators with sufficient privileges can use Services to set modes on any channel; it is also possible to ban users or groups of users from connecting to the network entirely, and such bans ("autokills" in Services terminology) will remain active even if a server, or Services itself, splits from the network.
Furthermore, each of these sets of features can be configured or disabled to match individual networks policies.
Whats New in 5.1pre4 Development Release:
- This release corrects various minor issues in the previous beta release and updates the ratbox protocol module to better support current versions of the ircd-ratbox server (note that versions earlier than 2.1 are no longer supported).
Whats New in 5.0.61 Stable Release:
- This release fixes a bug which allows users to crash Services on x86-64 (and potentially other non-x86) platforms.