SASL clarification and use

[impredicative]

I can use a clarification about the use of SASL. The docs say:

ircv3_caps | A set() of IRCv3 capabilities to request. SASL is auto-added if ns_identity is specified.

Does this mean that SASL is used only if both ircv3_caps and ns_identity are specified? If so, how would I specify ircv3_caps for Freenode? The goal is to use SASL. Thanks.

[luk3yx]

If ns_identity is specified, SASL is automatically negotiated and used if the server supports it (otherwise miniirc will fall back to NickServ-based authentication). If you want to confirm that it is using SASL, you can enable debug mode and make sure the line Logging in (no SASL, aww)... isn't displayed (alternatively, you can check irc._sasl, however this is undocumented and may change without warning in the future).

ircv3_caps is a set of additional IRCv3 capabilities to request.

The following capabilities are (currently) requested by default:

• account-tag
• cap-notify
• chghost
• draft/message-tags-0.2
• invite-notify
• message-tags
• oragono.io/maxline-2
• sasl (only if ns_identity is specified)
• server-time
• sts

[impredicative]

OK. I enabled debug and I note the following messages:

<<< :orwell.freenode.net CAP * LS :account-notify extended-join identify-msg multi-prefix sasl
>>> CAP REQ :sasl
<<< :orwell.freenode.net CAP ServiceBot2 ACK :sasl 
>>> AUTHENTICATE PLAIN
<<< AUTHENTICATE +
>>> AUTHENTICATE (removed)
<<< :orwell.freenode.net 900 ServiceBot2 ServiceBot2!ServiceBot@removed ServiceBot2 :You are now logged in as ServiceBot2.
<<< :orwell.freenode.net 903 ServiceBot2 :SASL authentication successful
Capability sasl handled.

@jonny3010 The above is seemingly indicative of SASL being used.