Last revised: Jul 2, 2016
README
======
Please at least SKIM this document before asking questions. In fact,
READ IT if you've never successfully set up an Eggdrop bot before.
PLEASE! READ IT!
NOTICE
------
Please read this file carefully before trying to set up Eggdrop. Also,
make SURE that you select your +n (owner) users wisely! They have 100%
access to your bot and account! ONLY GIVE THIS POWER TO SOMEONE YOU
TRUST COMPLETELY!!
What is Eggdrop?
----------------
Eggdrop is the World's most popular Internet Relay Chat (IRC) bot; it
is freely distributable under the GNU General Public License (GPL).
Eggdrop is a feature rich program designed to be easily used and
expanded upon by both novice and advanced IRC users on a variety of
hardware and software platforms.
An IRC bot is a program that sits on an IRC channel and performs
automated tasks while looking just like a normal user on the channel.
Some of these functions include protecting the channel from abuse,
allowing privileged users to gain op or voice status, logging channel
events, providing information, hosting games, etc.
One of the features that makes Eggdrop stand out from other bots is
module and Tcl scripting support. With scripts and modules, you can
make the bot perform almost any task you want. They can do anything
from preventing floods to greeting users and banning advertisers from
channels.
You can also link multiple Eggdrop bots together to form a botnet.
This can allow bots to op each other securely, control floods
efficiently, and even link channels across multiple IRC networks. It
also allows the Eggdrops share user lists, ban lists, exempt/invite
lists, and ignore lists with other bots if userfile sharing is
enabled. This allows users to have the same access on every bot on
your botnet. It also allows the bots to distribute tasks such as
opping and banning users. See doc/BOTNET for information on setting up
a botnet.
Eggdrop is always being improved and adjusted because there are bugs
to be fixed and features to be added (if the users demand them, and
they make actually sense). In fact, it existed for several years as
v0.7 - v0.9 before finally going 1.0. This version of Eggdrop is part
of the 1.8 tree. A valiant effort has been made to chase down and
destroy bugs.
This README file contains information about how to get Eggdrop,
command line options for Eggdrop, what you may need to do when
upgrading from older versions, a list of frequently asked questions,
how to set up a crontab, some boring legal stuff, info about the
mailing list (a great place to ask questions, and a good place to
report bugs, too), some basics about CVS usage, and some channels
where you might get help with Eggdrop.
HOW TO GET EGGDROP
------------------
Before you can compile Eggdrop, you need to have Tcl installed on your
system. Most systems should have Tcl on them by now -- you can check
by trying the command "tclsh". If it works, you will be given a "%"
prompt, and you can type "exit" to exit the program. This means Tcl is
installed on your system. If tclsh doesn't load, then Tcl probably
isn't on your system, and you will need to install it. The best ftp
site for Tcl is ftp://tcl.activestate.com/pub/tcl/.
Currently, the 1.8 tree of Eggdrop is developed at eggheads.org. You
can get the latest STABLE version of Eggdrop from the following url:
http://geteggdrop.com/
You might try www.eggheads.org for help and information.
Git Usage
---------
Eggdrop development has moved from a CVS-based version control system
to git. If you are interested in trying out the VERY LATEST updates to
eggdrop, you may want be interested in pulling the most recent code
from there. BE WARNED, the development branch of Eggdrop is not to be
considered stable, and may (haha) have some significant bugs in it.
The Eggheads Development Team will in NO WAY take any responsibility
for whatever might happen to you or your shell if you use the
development branch of Eggdrop!
To obtain Eggdrop via the git repository (hosted by GitHub), you can
either clone the repository via git, or download a development
snapshot.
To clone the repository, simply type:
git clone https://github.com/eggheads/eggdrop.git
Otherwise, you can download the development snapshot as a tar archive
from:
https://github.com/eggheads/eggdrop/archive/develop.tar.gz
Quick Startup
-------------
Please see the 'INSTALL' file AFTER you finish reading this file.
Upgrading
---------
UPGRADING FROM A PRE-1.3 VERSION TO 1.8
First of all- why are you still running pre-1.3?!?!
#### BACK UP YOUR USERFILE ####
We can't stress this enough. If you are upgrading and you have even a
slight possibility of downgrading again later, you will HAVE to back
up your userfile, or you will lose it. v1.3 of Eggdrop radically
changed a lot of things.
There are many major changes between v0.9, v1.0, v1.1 and v1.8, so PAY
ATTENTION to this part if you have a v0.9, 1.0 or 1.1 bot currently.
If you're just starting out, you can skip this section.
If you run share bots, you will need to upgrade them all at the same
time because of the new userfile format. Older bots will be able to
link in, but will not get or send a userfile. MAKE A NEW CONFIG FILE
from the example; there are some radical changes.
If you are upgrading from 0.9/1.0 to 1.8, just redo the whole thing.
Absolutely everything has changed, including the userfile and config
file formats.
If you are upgrading from 1.1/1.2 to 1.8, you will likely want to redo
the config file, as much as changed. BACK UP! You will need to run
'tclsh scripts/weed/<userfile> c' to convert your userfile from v3
(1.1/1.2) to v4 (1.3/1.4/1.5/1.6/1.8).
UPGRADING FROM AN OLDER 1.3/1.4/1.5/1.6 VERSION TO A NEWER 1.8 VERSION
If you followed the 'INSTALL' file and did a 'make install' (or 'make
install DEST="path"') after 'make', this will be pretty easy. Just
upload the new eggdrop1.8.x.tar.gz file to your home dir on your
shell, gunzip and untar it, and type 'cd ~/eggdrop1.8.x'. Next, type
'./configure', 'make config' or 'make iconfig', then 'make'. Then,
kill the bot ('.die' on the party line), and 'make install' to the
same directory your bot is currently in. After that, you can just
restart your bot. You may wish to delete the old Eggdrop executable
and modules as well, especially if you have limited disk space.
You should read through the new eggdrop.conf file for all of the new
options in Eggdrop 1.8.x. You can copy and paste any of these settings
into you current conf file if you do not want to use the default
settings. For an overview of the major changes and details about
upgrading from 1.6 to 1.8, please read the NEWS-1.8.0 file.
Command Line
------------
Eggdrop has some command-line options -- not many, because most things
should be defined through the config file. However, sometimes you may
want to start up the bot in a different mode, and the command-line
options let you do that. Basically, the command line for Eggdrop is:
% eggdrop [options] [config-file]
The options available are:
-n: Don't background. Normally, Eggdrop will move itself into the
background when you start it up, meaning you'll get another
shell prompt, and you can do other things while the bot is
running. With -n, you won't return to the shell prompt until the
bot exits (which won't normally happen until it's killed). By
default, -n will send all log entries to the console.
-nt: Don't background, use terminal. This is just like -n, except that
instead of seeing log entries, your console will simulate a DCC
chat with the bot.
-nc: Don't background, show channel info. This is just like -n, except
that instead of seeing log entries, every 10 seconds your screen
will clear and you will see the current channel status, sort of
like "top".
-m: Create userfile. If you don't have a userfile, this will make Eggdrop
create one and give owner status to the first person that
introduces himself or herself to it. You'll need to do this when
you first set up your bot.
-h: Show help.
-v: Show version info, then quit.
Most people never use any of the options except -m, and you usually
only need to use that once.
Setting up a Crontab
--------------------
Eggdrop has become more stable with time, thanks mostly to people
reporting bug details and helping find places where it crashes.
However, there are still a -few- places where things aren't perfect.
Few, if any, things in life are.
Also, most systems go down from time to time. These things cause your
bot to disappear from IRC, and you have to restart it.
Eggdrop comes with a shell script called 'botchk' that will help keep
the bot online. It will make the machine check every ten minutes to
make sure your bot is still running. To use it, you have to add a line
to your crontab. First, edit 'botchk' and change the directory and
command line parameters so that it will be able to start up your bot.
Then, add this line to your crontab:
0,10,20,30,40,50 * * * * /home/mydir/botchk
If you don't want to get e-mails from cron, use this:
0,10,20,30,40,50 * * * * /home/mydir/botchk >/dev/null 2>&1
Naturally, you need to change the path to the correct path for botchk.
If you've never used crontab before, here is a simple way to add that
line:
1. Create a new file called 'mycron' and put the above line into
it.
2. From your shell prompt, type '% crontab mycron'.
That will create a new crontab entry for you with a line that runs
botchk every ten minutes. Botchk will then restart the bot when
necessary (and send you email informing you).
Setting up a Crontab using autobotchk
-------------------------------------
Included with your Eggdrop is an Eggdrop utility called 'autobotchk'.
Using autobotchk is probably the fastest way of creating your botchk
and crontabbing it with just a few required steps:
1. Type:
cp scripts/autobotchk ..
2. Type:
./autobotchk <Eggdrop config file>
This will hopefully crontab your bot using the default setup. If you
want a list of autobotchk options, type './autobotchk'. An example
with options would be:
./autobotchk <Eggdrop config file> -noemail -5
This would setup crontab to run the botchk every 5 minutes and also to
not send you e-mail saying that it restarted your bot.
Boring Legal Stuff
------------------
The Eggdrop bot is Copyright (C) by Robey Pointer. As of January,
1997, Eggdrop is distributed according to the GNU General Public
License. There should be a copy of this license in the file 'COPYING'.
If not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave,
Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
As of Eggdrop 1.3.28, all changes made by the Eggheads Development
Team to the Eggdrop source code and any related files are Copyright
(C) by Eggheads Development Team. The source code will still be
distributed according to the GNU General Public License as Robey
Pointer did in the past.
Releases previous to 1.0m were made using a different licensing
scheme. You may, at your option, use the GNU General Public License on
those versions (instead of the license packaged with them) with my
blessing. For any versions bearing a copyright date of 1997 or later,
you have no choice -- you must use the GNU General Public License.
The files "match.c", "net.c", and "blowfish.c" are exempt from the
above restrictions. "match.c" is original code by Chris Fuller (email:
crf@cfox.bchs.uh.edu) and has been placed by him into the public
domain. "net.c" is by me, and I [Robey Pointer] also choose to place
it in the public domain. "blowfish.c" is by various sources and is in
the public domain as well. All 3 files contain useful functions that
could easily be ported to other applications.
Tcl is by John Ousterhout and is in no way affiliated with Eggdrop. It
likely has its own set of copyrights and whatnots.
There is no warranty, implied or whatever. You use this software at
your own risk, no matter what purpose you put it to.
Mailing List
------------
There are currently a couple of mailing lists about Eggdrop.
eggheads@eggheads.org is the one relevant for posts about Eggdrop 1.8
and up (suggestions, help, etc).
To subscribe to the eggheads mailing list, send e-mail to
eggheads-request@eggheads.org. In the body of the message, put
"subscribe eggheads". You can also go to the following url:
http://lists.eggheads.org/mailman/listinfo/eggheads
### DO NOT SEND ROBEY EMAIL ABOUT EGGDROP! ###
Robey is no longer developing the Eggdrop code, so don't bother
e-mailing him. If you have a serious problem, email the eggheads
mailing list and it will get to the coders.
Please, before posting to this list, see what things are like. When
you do post, read over your post for readability, spelling, and
grammar mistakes. Obviously, we're all human (or are we?) and we all
make mistakes (heck, look at this document! ;).
Open discussion and debate is integral to change and progress. Don't
flame others over mere form (grammar and spelling), or even
substantive issues for that matter. Please read and follow the mailing
list rules.
The eggheads@eggheads.org mailing list is not dedicated to those all
too common questions we have all seen on other lists... For example:
o "Why does my bot say this: Please edit your config file." o "How
do I telnet my bot?" o "Where do I get Eggdrop for windows??????"
Technical questions, your thoughts or suggestions on new features
being added to Eggdrop, things that should be removed or fixed,
amazing problems that even stump the guru's, etc. are what we want to
see here.
Bug reports should be sent to bugs@eggheads.org. Please read and fill
out the BUG-REPORT file in the doc directory.
DO NOT SEND HTML E-MAILS TO ANY OF THE EGGHEADS.ORG MAILING LISTS.
ANYONE CAUGHT SENDING HTML E-MAILS TO ONE OF THESE LISTS WILL BE
REMOVED IMMEDIATELY!
Documentation
-------------
We're trying to keep the documentation up to date. If you feel that
anything is missing here or that anything should be added, etc, please
e-mail bugs@eggheads.org about it. Thank you.
Obtaining Help
--------------
You can obtain help with Eggdrop in the following IRC channels:
- Undernet - #eggdrop (official channel)
- FreeNode - #eggdrop (official channel), #egghelp
- EFnet - #egghelp
- IRCnet - #eggdrop
- DALnet - #eggdrop
- QuakeNet - #eggdrop.support
If you plan to ask questions in any of the above channels, you should
be familiar with and follow IRC etiquette.
o Don't type using CAPITAL letters, colors, or bold.
o Don't use "!" and "?" excessively.
o Don't /msg people without their permission.
o Don't repeat or paste large amounts of text to the channel.
If there are any other serious Eggdrop related channels that should be
added to the above list, please let us know.
Copyright (C) 1997 Robey Pointer Copyright (C) 1999 - 2016 Eggheads
Development Team