Network Filter

User banning and IP filtering functionality

The networkfilter module provides functionality for banning users, ignoring users, and filtering by IP address or country.

NetworkFilter Class

Manages user and IP-based filtering.

Attributes

ip_ban_requested · dict

Pending IP ban requests

ip_ignore_requested · dict

Pending IP ignore requests

Methods

ban_user()

def ban_user(self, username)

Bans a user by username.

username · str

Username to ban

Example: Ban a User

from pynicotine.core import core

core.network_filter.ban_user("spammer123")

unban_user()

def unban_user(self, username)

Unbans a previously banned user.

username · str

Username to unban

is_user_banned()

def is_user_banned(self, username)

Checks if a user is banned.

username · str

Username to check

banned · bool

True if user is banned

ban_user_ip()

def ban_user_ip(self, username=None, ip_address=None)

Bans a user by IP address.

username · str

Username (IP will be looked up if not provided)

ip_address · str

IP address to ban directly

ip_address · str

The banned IP address

is_user_ip_banned()

def is_user_ip_banned(self, username=None, ip_address=None)

Checks if a user’s IP is banned, including wildcard matching.

username · str

Username to check

ip_address · str

IP address to check

banned · bool

True if IP is banned

ignore_user()

def ignore_user(self, username)

Ignores a user (hides their messages).

username · str

Username to ignore

unignore_user()

def unignore_user(self, username)

Unignores a previously ignored user.

username · str

Username to unignore

is_user_ignored()

def is_user_ignored(self, username)

Checks if a user is ignored.

username · str

Username to check

ignored · bool

True if user is ignored

IP Address Utilities

get_country_code()

def get_country_code(self, ip_address)

Determines the country code for an IP address.

ip_address · str

IP address to lookup

country_code · str

Two-letter country code (e.g., “US”, “GB”, “DE”)

Example: Get Country Code

from pynicotine.core import core

country = core.network_filter.get_country_code("8.8.8.8")
print(f"Country: {country}")  # Output: US

is_ip_address()

@staticmethod
def is_ip_address(ip_address, allow_zero=True, allow_wildcard=True)

Validates whether a string is a valid IPv4 address.

ip_address · str

String to validate

allow_zero · bool · default: true

Whether to accept “0.0.0.0”

allow_wildcard · bool · default: true

Whether to accept wildcards like “192.168..”

valid · bool

True if valid IP address

Country Codes

The COUNTRIES dictionary maps ISO country codes to country names.

Example: Access Country Names

from pynicotine.networkfilter import NetworkFilter

country_name = NetworkFilter.COUNTRIES.get("US")
print(country_name)  # Output: United States

# List all countries
for code, name in NetworkFilter.COUNTRIES.items():
    print(f"{code}: {name}")

IP Wildcards

IP banning and ignoring supports wildcard patterns:

• 192.168.1.* - Matches all IPs in 192.168.1.0/24 subnet
• 10.*.*.* - Matches all IPs in 10.0.0.0/8 subnet
• 172.16.*.5 - Matches specific IPs across subnets

Example: Wildcard IP Banning

from pynicotine.core import core

# Ban entire subnet
core.network_filter.ban_user_ip(ip_address="192.168.1.*")

# Check if specific IP is banned
is_banned = core.network_filter.is_user_ip_banned(
    ip_address="192.168.1.100"
)
print(is_banned)  # Output: True

Configuration Integration

Filtered users are persisted in the configuration:

from pynicotine.config import config

# Access ban lists
banlist = config.sections["server"]["banlist"]
ignorelist = config.sections["server"]["ignorelist"]
ipblocklist = config.sections["server"]["ipblocklist"]
ipignorelist = config.sections["server"]["ipignorelist"]

Changes to ban and ignore lists are automatically persisted to the configuration file.

Example: Complete Filtering Workflow

from pynicotine.core import core

# Ban a spammer
core.network_filter.ban_user("spammer")

# Ignore an annoying user
core.network_filter.ignore_user("annoying")

# Ban IP range
core.network_filter.ban_user_ip(ip_address="10.0.0.*")

# Check user status
if core.network_filter.is_user_banned("spammer"):
    print("User is banned")

if core.network_filter.is_user_ip_banned(ip_address="10.0.0.5"):
    print("IP is banned")

# Later, unban if needed
core.network_filter.unban_user("spammer")
core.network_filter.unban_user_ip(ip_address="10.0.0.*")