NAME¶

DESCRIPTION¶

CONFIGURATION¶

manderlbot

the opening XML element of the configuration, it contains the properties name and controler. The name will be shown as the bot fullname, the controller property may contain one or more nicknames separated by spaces, only those people will then be allowed to operate on the running bot from irc channel.

All the following sections, otherwise stated, are to be found under this one.

dict

is the section where to define the dictionnary server you may want to use. See dict.org for details about the protocol and servers. Be aware that you can run a dict server locally, and download some useful dictionnaries.

The properties to define here are the dict server host, the port, and the default dictionnary to use.

server

allows you to define which servers manderlbot should connect to. The properties are host and port. You have to define a server section for each and every irc server you want manderlbot to connect to.

channel

section is where to configure the manderlbot behaviour and name. This section has to be embedded in the server one. You have to define a channel section per channel you want manderlbot to join on a server.

The properties of channel section are name, the channel name, botname, the manderlbot nickname on that channel, and behaviours, a list of behaviours name you want to activate for that channel.

behaviours

will just contain your behaviour list

behaviour

have to be found under the behaviours section. You define here your behaviour, which properties are name, the name to use in the channel definition, the action, defining what will be done, and one or more of the followings pattern elements: pattern, op, to, option and from. You can even prefix those properties with exl_ to get an exclude pattern match (see [XRef to MATCH]>).

This element contains data wich will be used as the action parameter, as explain in section [sub:Implemented-actions].

BEHAVIOUR MATCHING¶

So manderlbot configuration allows you to define some Regular Expressions <URL:http://www.regular-expressions.info> to match the lines received. If the line is matched, the associated action is done. Please note the regexp are all considered case insensitive ones.

You can define some regexp on the following parts of the received line (containing some server informations relative to IRC protocol <URL:http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1459.html>):

pattern

will try to match the user input, that is what your ordinary irc client will show you

op

will try to match the irc operation, see the RFC for complete list (op can be kick or join for example)

to

irc protocol field, will probably contain the channel name, so you won't need that...

option

irc protocol option field

from

the nickname of the one who typed the current line, on the form nick!~user@host.domain.tld

And in order to make it even more powerful and readable, you can define the same patterns with an 'exl_' prefix, this will prevent the action to being taken if it matches. So you can define the parameters exl_pattern, exl_op, exl_to, exl_option and exl_from.

Of course, you can use any combination of the listed parameters, thus being quite precise on what you want to react to.

IMPLEMENTED ACTIONS¶

The argument of the action is the xml data given enclosed in the behaviour element.

action

send the given argument as if manderlbot had typed it after the /me irc command.

answer

send the line prefixed with the sender name and a colon.

bloto

this will count the matched lines per user, and first obtaining 5 points has won the business loto game. Just define your buzzwords set and make it a regexp!

debian_file

will search the irc given file using the debian web site cgi. The argument is not used.

debian_pkg

will search the irc given package using the debian web site cgi. The argument is not used.

dict

will ask your defined dict server for the given word. The argument may be the dictionnary name to use in the query, but defaults to the 'default' entry of the dict config element.

google

will ask google for the rest of the irc line. The argument is not used.

mute

mute will mute the bot, you have to be a controler to use that. The argument is not used.

pyramid

pyramid is a game named after a french TV game. You have to make guess a world to an irc fellow on that channel, in a given number or tries. The argument is not used.

random

will say one of the sentences listed in the arguments randomly. The sentences have to be separated by '%' signs.

fortune

same behaviour as random, but this time the argument is the name of a traditionnal separate fortune file.

reconf

will ask the bot to re-read its configuration. It allows you to handle dynamically your configuration, no need to restart the bot, and irc control! You have to be in the controler list to use this action.

rejoin

allows you te rejoin a channel (useful on kick, just add a op="kick" parameter to the behaviour element definition).

say

say will say the arguments.

timer

will say the first argument, then wait for a random time, and say the other arguments. The args have to be separated bu a '%' char.

INTERACTING WITH THE RUNNING BOT, FROM IRC¶

EXAMPLE¶

HISTORY¶

Well, I wanted an irc bot to play with, in order to have it say some silly things automatically on answer to our own idioties. I did not want an eggdrop or whatever controlling channel bot. I saw that manderlbot project existing, was already familiar with erlang developpment, so I began using it.

The existing project was on early stage of development, and I wanted the bot to do more and more things. So I wrote some code to make it fit my needs. As the original authors would not consider my patches, I forked the project, keeping the name (they seemed not to work on their version at all), and hosting it on the TuxFamily services.

AUTHORS¶