I’m using an Ubuntu 7.10 desktop, but most of the instructions here may work on any distro.

We’ll be using UnrealIRCD.

You can download the stable version Here
or get the svn version with the following command.

svn co svn://svn.unrealircd.com/trunk/unreal3 UnrealIRCd

if you downloaded the stable version, Extract the tar file to a directory and cd to it. Then run

./Config

Leave the default values as they are.
Enable SSL support if you want. You’ll need OpenSSL for this
Enter SSL details when asked for.

make
…
make install /* Only If you’re not installing in same directory */

Look for Extra modules here:
http://www.angrywolf.org/modules.php?lang=en
http://www.vulnscan.org/modules
http://www.unrealircd.com/modules.php

Download place .c files in src/modules directory.
edit the module files if necessary. Most shouldn’t need any editing.

To compile Modules

make custommodule MODULEFILE=<modulename>

for each module.

Now lets make a config file.

cp doc/example.conf unrealircd.conf
mv spamfilter.conf.example spamfilter.conf

then edit unrealircd.conf with your favourite text editor
Eg: gedit unrealircd.conf

Carefully edit all values. Remember to comment the lines beginning with ‘die’.

(Click Here for Help with Editing the Config)

Create the motd and rules files and rename them as specified in the config.

If all went well, the IRCd daemon will start with the command

/PATH/TO/./unreal start

or
If you’re already in the Unreal directory

./unreal start

If you want other people to be able to join, tell them to type /server [your.IP] from their IRC clients
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_IRC_clients)
If you have a router you may want to open a port or two so that people can connect to your server.
port 6667 for a normal connection and
port 6697 for ssl [only if you compiled with ssl support]

See PortForward.com for help with opening ports on hardware routers.