>>43
I'm pretty sure it also requires some sort of command to precede the message, but that's all handled during setup. The fd I'm writing to actually does all that nonsense translation (including \n -> \r\n) before sending it to the socket.
I doubt /prog/ can answer this, but it's worth a try;
When did "NOTICE AUTH :*** Bleh" become standardized? It's not in any of the IRC RFCs and I can't find any direct documentation on it due to search result pollution from IRC client code.
I think it's a terrible protocol feature (it implies your name is AUTH and that the message is from the current server). Right now, I discern it from regular NOTICEs by checking if there's an origin (e.g. ":server1.bleh.com").
I imagine one of the earlier ircds implemented it all willy-nilly, just like other stupid things added on (WALLOPS/WALLVOICES is terrible -- prefixing a @/+ on a channel name is a great way to break clients that don't implement it).