Extended Ban Mod for Minetest

This mod attempts to be an improvement to Minetest's ban system.

• It supports normal bans and temporary bans (from 60 seconds up to the end of time, with 1 second granularity).
• Records and joins all accounts using the same IP address and several IP addresses using the same name into a single record, and can ban/unban them as a single user.
• Can ban offline players if you know their IP or username.
• Holds a record of bans for each user, so moderators and administrators can consult it to know if a player is a repeat offender.
• Does not modify the default ban database in any way (`ipban.txt').
• Has an API to ban and check the ban database to allows other mods to manage users (for example, anticheat mods).

Wildcard/Subnet Ban Feature

The mod now supports wildcard (subnet) bans for IP addresses using trailing * notation. This allows you to ban entire IP ranges or subnets with a single command.

How It Works

• IPv4 Wildcard Bans: Use a trailing * to match any IP address that starts with the specified prefix.

  • Example: 192.168.1.* will match all IPs from 192.168.1.0 to 192.168.1.255
  • Example: 10.0.* will match all IPs from 10.0.0.0 to 10.0.255.255
  • Example: 172.* will match all IPs from 172.0.0.0 to 172.255.255.255

• IPv6 Wildcard Bans: Use a trailing * to match any IPv6 address that starts with the specified prefix.

  • Example: 2001:db8:* will match all IPv6 addresses starting with 2001:db8:
  • Example: fe80:* will match all link-local IPv6 addresses

Usage Examples

Ban an entire IPv4 subnet:

/xban 192.168.1.* Banning entire subnet due to spam

Temporarily ban an IPv4 range:

/xtempban 10.0.* 24h Temporary subnet ban for suspected bot activity

Ban an IPv6 prefix:

/xban 2001:db8:* Banning IPv6 prefix

Unban a wildcard entry:

/xunban 192.168.1.*

Notes

• Wildcard bans are checked when a player attempts to connect.
• Individual IP addresses can still be whitelisted even if they match a wildcard ban.
• The wildcard character * must be at the end of the IP address.
• For IPv4, you can use wildcards at any octet boundary (e.g., 192.*, 192.168.*, 192.168.1.*).
• For IPv6, the wildcard matches the remaining part of the address after the specified prefix.

Chat commands

The mod provides the following chat commands. All commands require the ban privilege.

xban

Bans a player permanently.

Usage: /xban <player_or_ip> <reason>

Example: /xban 127.0.0.1 Some reason.

Wildcard Example: /xban 192.168.1.* Subnet ban

xtempban

Bans a player temporarily.

Usage: /xtempban <player_or_ip> <time> <reason>

The time parameter is a string in the format <number><unit> where <unit> is one of s for seconds, m for minutes, h for hours, D for days, W for weeks, M for months, or Y for years. If the unit is omitted, it is assumed to mean seconds. For example, 42s means 42 seconds, 1337m 1337 minutes, and so on. You can chain more than one such group and they will add up. For example, 1Y3M3D7h will ban for 1 year, 3 months, 3 days and 7 hours.

Example: /xtempban Joe 3600 Some reason.

Wildcard Example: /xtempban 10.0.* 7D Temporary subnet ban

xunban

Unbans a player.

Usage: /xunban <player_or_ip>

Example: /xunban Joe

Wildcard Example: /xunban 192.168.1.*

xban_record

Shows the ban record on chat.

Usage: /xban_record <player_or_ip>

xban_wl

Manages the whitelist.

Usage: /xban_wl (add|del|get) <player_or_ip>

Whitelisted players are allowed on the server even if it's otherwise marked as banned. This is useful to only allow certain users from shared computers, for example.

The add subcommand adds the player to the whitelist. The del subcommand removes the player from the whitelist. The get subcommand checks if the player is in the whitelist, and prints the status to chat.

Example: /xban_record add Jane

xban_gui

Shows a form to consult the database interactively.

Usage: /xban_gui

Administrator commands

The following commands require the server privilege, so they are only available to server administrators.

xban_dbi

Imports ban entries from other database formats.

Usage: /xban_dbi <importer>

The importer argument specifies from which database to import. These are the supported import plugins at the time of writing:

• minetest: Import entries from Minetest's ban list (ipban.txt).
• v1: Old format used by xban (players.iplist).
• v2: Old format used by xban (players.iplist.v2).

Example: /xban_dbi minetest

xban_cleanup

Removes all non-banned entries from the xban db.

Usage: /xban_cleanup