The #openvpn IRC channel on the Freenode IRC network is the official IRC support channel for the OpenVPN open source project. The open source software is supported fully by the community, and in some cases by staff members of OpenVPN Technologies, Inc. The official development channel is #openvpn-devel, where meetings are held every week on Thursdays at 1800 UTC.

In an effort to keep the channel on-topic, and to avoid bickering, fighting, and otherwise unpleasantness, the following policy applies to the IRC channel, and will be enforced by the channel bot (vpnHelper) and the channel admins.

• English is the official language for all channels in the #openvpn realm, including #openvpn, #openvpn-devel, and any side channels. You are welcome to ask for support in your native tongue, but we ask that you take the non-english conversation to a private channel.
• Conversations of a sexual nature will not be tolerated. A channel administrator may ban a user, permanently or temporarily, for even a single infraction.

• This channel was created for support of OpenVPN. During idle times, it is acceptable to have off-topic conversations. At such time as there is a conversation on-topic, other conversations should cede channel space.
• Any topic that relates directly to OpenVPN, even if not directly about OpenVPN is acceptable. Such topics can include:
  • Network Layers (difference between Layer 2 and Layer 3)
  • TCP vs UDP
  • General Network Routing
  • OpenSSL, Certificate Generation/Revokation
  • Scripting/Coding in support of, or to extend OpenVPN
• Any topic can be deemed appropriate or inappropriate at the discretion of a channel admin.

We ask that you do not paste log entries, configs, or other raw data directly to the channel. Please use a hosting service for this data. Some examples are:

• Pastebin.ca
• Pastebin.com

Flooding the channel will result in a 5 minute ban, administered by vpnHelper, or a channel admin. Channel admin may not be around to remove bans after five minutes, so it's generally best to adhere to channel guidelines. Channel bans will generally remain in effect for a period of 24 hours, or 86,400 seconds. You may check the status of a ban by setting mode +b on the channel. If you are a regular problem, chanserv may be utilized to set a permanent ban. Please avoid this as it's unpleasant for all involved. If you need help about something related to the channel, but not OpenVPN, send an email to [email protected] and one of the channel admins will respond. Uses for this can include abuse by an admin, abuse by other users, problems getting into or speaking in the channel. Be specific in your email. Include logs demonstrating your channel issue.