SASL is an authentication mechanism that allows you to identify with services (NickServ) during the connection process and eliminating the need to /msg nickserv identify.
BlinkenIRC SASL with irssi
To configure irssi to connect to BlinkenIRC with SASL.
Step 1 (optional). Update irssi server config if you're running on triton:
/server add -network BlinkenIRC -tls -auto irc0.blinkenshell.org 6697 /server remove sao /server list
Server list should return a line for BlinkenIRC looking something like this:
19:57 irc0.blinkenshell.org 6697 BlinkenIRC autoconnect, tls
Step 2. Modify network to use SASL (you must be registered with NickServ)
/network modify -sasl_username <nickserv_username> -sasl_password <nickserv_password> -sasl_mechanism plain BlinkenIRC /disconnect BlinkenIRC /connect BlinkenIRC
When reconnecting to BlinkenIRC you should see a line like this in the output:
19:55 [BlinkenIRC] SASL authentication succeeded