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python 2.7
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Various optional modules have their own requirements, though care has been taken to use only Python when at all possible. These requirements are noted in the config file where appropriate and disabled by default.
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If you wish to use the SILC protocol, you need pysilc-0.5 and silc-toolkit-1.1.8. I have not tested any newer ones, and older ones stopped working. I highly discourage using SILC. SSL support in IRC is now common, and it works better (which is saying a LOT). I may drop support for SILC at some point in the future.
This type of install uses distutils like any other Python library to install the core bot, as well as installs a script in the prefix bin dir that will launch it. Data files are stored in ~/.madcow by default. You may change this with the -b option. Example usage:
# install
python setup.py build
sudo python setup.py install
# running with a non-standard datadir
madcow -b /var/lib/madcow
Alternatively, you may run madcow from the source directory and skip installation entirely. A script suited to this purpose is included in the project root:
./run-standalone-madcow -h # show help
By default it will look for the runtime files in the same directory, and store its data files in "./data". Both of these may be changed: run the script with -h for usage help.
The first time you run madcow, it will create a data directory if necessary, place a default config file there (settings.py, like Django), and exit, encouraging you to edit this file. In a UNIX environment, it will try to launch your editor on it if $EDTIOR or $VISUAL are set (run with -n to suppress this). You should take this opportunity to carefully go over all of the settings and set them to appropriate values. Most of the documentation is in comments in the settings file.
The second time you run the bot, it will launch as expected. I abstain from the venerable tradition of putting DIE statements at random places in a massive config file for you to hunt down. If you fail to edit the config, the bot will launch as a fairly barebones CLI-only response bot. Incidentally, this is a useful mode to test if its behavior is appropriate before configuring it to join an IRC channel. (For module development, madcow can be configured to use an IPython shell for interaction.)
In any case, you probably want to set the protocol to IRC and fill out the server/channel info at the bare minimum.
In IRC, message the bot with 'help' to see a list of commands. To trigger her publicly, most commands require that you address the bot by its given nick, for example:
<cj_> madcow: wiki dinosaurs
<madcow> Dinosaur - Dinosaurs were the dominant vertebrate
animals of terrestrial ecosystems for over 160 million
years, from the late Triassic period to the end of the
Cretaceous period, when most of them became extinct in
the CretaceousTertiary extinction event.
This doesn't apply to CLI mode, which behaves as if the entire session is a private query window. Madcow can also be configured to accept aliases (such as !) for triggers, or to only respond in private message, or to ignore certain patterns in chat regardless of how the rest of it is configured, along other things. Please see the settings.py file for these options.
WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!
You will notice that fully half of the optional modules are disabled by default, for no apparent reason. This is because many can and do produce wildly offensive content that would not be appropriate in many contexts, such as a work IRC server -- especially if you are in the U.S. This is often contingent on what the bot is queried with, of course, but some are more "dangerous" than others in this regard, such as urban dictionary.
Others are just plain spammy, which goes over great in IRC channels with a certain type of culture, while being despised with surprising ferocity in yet others. It's up to you to vet its behavior such that it fits in with existing chat culture.
Another reason these are disabled is that without further configuration of flood thresholds, they are liable to cause the bot to be booted automatically. I run it on a private server and exempt it from throttling, but you will have to be mindful of this on most public networks, especially large ones that have had to weather DDoS attacks over the years and often have very strict flood policy as a result. Some networks disallow bots entirely, and will ban you for violations. Do read the rules/motd if it's not your server!
To put it another way, I am not responsible for lost jobs, lost friends, bannination, k-lines, or civil lawsuits that result from madcow misbehaving. Especially if you didn't test it, but even if you do. Responsibility fully disclaimed.
In addition to permanent ignore patterns in config, you may force madcow to ignore a line of chat by placing NOBOT anywhere in the text. This is useful if you have URL logging enabled and wish to post a link that does not get saved there, like naked pics. There are other options in settings.py for more permanent solutions to privacy concerns, but if other chat participants routinely complain about some functionality you have enabled, my suggestion is to turn it off.
In settings.py, set owner name to your IRC nick. Message bot with 'admin register '. This will register you as an admin. Other users may now register, and you can give them auto-op flag with /msg madcow admin chflag +o. You can also set the default flags to give any user that registers auto-ops if so desired.
If you wish to batch-add users for auto-op access without them registering, edit db/passwd and add a line for each user:
nick:*:o
They will not be able to login in this case, as no password is set, but this feature of madcow is pretty rudimentary, and there isn't actually anything else you can do after logging in. In my opinion, you should use ChanServ/NickServ for these purposes, it is a vastly superior way of managing channel permissions than any IRC bot, which doesn't have the permissions to effectively manage a channel the way services do (even when opered, depending on the ircd).
Set up a twitter account and follow the people you want to see updates from. Then run:
./contrib/get_twiter_auth_keys.py
and follow the directions. At the end of the process you should have 4 settings you can copy-paste into your settings.py. Be sure to delete the settings already there, or paste at the bottom.
This module currently does not allow outgoing tweets, as the API is very strict. Just polling it often enough to produce updates keeps it just barely on the acceptable usage side of the line. Any further API requests would cause it to get a temporary ban, which last anywhere from 20 minutes to several days before expiring. Madcow's twitter module uses the API method provided that informs of how close to violating this the policy it is, and adapts as needed to avoid going over it.
You may reach me by e-mail at cjones at gmail.com, but a better way to report bugs is at the github project page which has a bug tracker I occasionally look at. It is here: http://github.com/cjones/madcow