viewvc/eggdrop1.4/README

README
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     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! If you haven't read this file, and ask for help
     expect to be told to READ the README file first! or rtfm :)

     Contents

     Important notice

     1    What is Eggdrop?
     2    How do I get Eggdrop
          2a    CVS usage
     3    Quick startup
     4    Upgrading
          4a    From a pre-1.3/1.4 version to 1.4
          4b    From an older 1.3/1.4 version to a newer one
     5    Frequently Asked Questions
            1. What do I do if I get the Error "User file not found"?
            2. My Eggdrop won't run; It just says "Can't find your
               hostname!"
            3. What the Heck is TCL?
            4. My bot dies and the last entry in the logfile is "Received
               terminate signal". What does that mean and can I prevent it?
            5. My compile dies at the last minute with "LD fatal signal
               11"!
            6. Someone else set up a bot I don't like. Are there any
               backdoors I can use to take their bot down?
            7. What are modules?
            8. Can I compile eggdrop without dynamic modules?
               8.1    Do I still need to "loadmodule modules"???
            9. Where can I get a precompiled Eggdrop for my computer?
           10. I get "Makefile:3 : invalid operator" of some such thing
               When I try to "make"
           11. When I "tclsh scripts/weed <userfile> c" It barfs chunks at
               me and dies.
           12. I get "ld-elf.so.1: Shared object "libtcl80.so.1" not found"
               or "eggdrop: error in loading shared libraries /
               libtcl8.1.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file
               or directory" when I try to start my bot.
           13. I get a whole pile of "unresolved symbol 'Tcl_AppendResult'"
               (or some other symbol) when I try to load a module.
     6    Setting up a crontab
          6a    Setting up a crontab using autobotchk
     7    Boring legal stuff
     8    Mailing list
     9    Documentation
     10  Obtaining help

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     (0) NOTICE

          Please read this file carefully before trying to set up this
          bot. 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!!

     (1) WHAT IS EGGDROP?

          Eggdrop is an IRC bot, written in C. If you don't know what
          IRC is, this is probably not whatever you're looking for!
          Eggdrop, being a bot, sits on a channel and takes protective
          measures: to keep the channel from being taken over (in the
          few ways that anything CAN), to recognize banished users or
          sites and reject them, to recognize privileged users and let
          them gain ops, etc.

          One of the more unique features of eggdrop is its
          "partyline", accessible via DCC chat, which allows you to
          talk to other people lag-free. Consider it a multi-way DCC
          chat, or a miniature IRC (complete with channels). You can
          link up with other bots and expand the partyline until it
          actually becomes something very much like IRC, in fact.

          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 1.4 tree.
          A valiant effort has been made to chase down and destroy
          bugs.

          This README file contains information about how to get
          eggdrop, how to quickly compile the bot, what you may need
          to do when upgrading from older versions, a list of
          frequently asked questions about compiling, 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 also), some basics about CVS usage and some
          channels where you might get help with eggdrop.

          The preliminary documentation is in "eggdrop.doc" and is
          intended to be read after you have eggdrop compiled and set
          up.


     (2) 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. That means Tcl is on your
          system. If tclsh doesn't load, then Tcl probably isn't on
          your system, and you will need to ftp it. The best ftp site
          is:

                         ftp://ftp.scriptics.com/pub/tcl

          Tcl comes with the Slackware distribution of Linux. HOWEVER,
          the one that comes on Slackware 3.0 is goofed up and you'll
          have to re-install it for yourself to get it working.

          Currently, the 1.4 tree of eggdrop is developed at
          eggheads.org. You can get the latest version of eggdrop from
          ftp.eggheads.org.

          You might try www.eggheads.org for help and information.


     (2a) CVS USAGE

          You might obtain the *very latest* version of eggdrop that
          is still under development by using CVS. CVS means
          'Concurrent Versions System' and is a tool for developers to
          always keep source code up to date. Try 'man cvs' on your
          shell for more information about CVS ;-)

          This intended only for users that know a fairly bit about
          eggdrop. Be aware that the versions of eggdrop that you get
          by CVS are still being developed, and may be buggy. The
          Eggheads devteam will in *NO WAY* take any responsibility
          for whatever might happen to you or your shell if you use a
          CVS version of eggdrop.

          To obtain eggdrop over CVS, do as follows:

               (1) log into your shell
               (2) type 'export
               CVSROOT=:pserver:anonymous@cvs.eggheads.org:/usr/local/cvsroot'

               (3) type 'cvs login'
               (4) press <enter> when it asks for a password.
               (5) in your home dir, type 'cvs checkout
               eggdrop1.4'
               (6) in ~/eggdrop1.4, you should have a copy of the
               latest CVS version of eggdrop.

          Notes:

               (1) you can 'cvs logout', but you don't need to.
               (2) you don't need to go through this whole
               process every time; if you want to get a CVS
               version of eggdrop at a later time, you can just
               'cd ~/eggdrop1.4' and type 'cvs update -dAP'.
               (3) if you experience errors when using 'export',
               you might be using tclsh as a shell. If so, try
               using the command 'setenv' instead of 'export':
               'setenv CVSROOT
               :pserver:anonymous@cvs.eggheads.org:/usr/local/cvsroot'

     (3) QUICK STARTUP

           #### NOW INCLUDED IN 'INSTALL' - READ IT *AFTER* FINISHING
                                    THIS ####

     (4) UPGRADING

          (4a) FROM A PRE-1.3/1.4 VERSION TO 1.4

               #### BACK UP YOUR USERFILE ####

               We can't re-iterate 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 alot of things.

               There are many major changes between v0.9, v1.0,
               v1.1 and v1.3/1.4 so PAY ATTENTION to this part if
               you have a v0.9, 1.0 or 1.1 bot already. If you're
               just starting out, you can skip this section.

               to 1.3/1.4: * If you run sharebots, 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.
               1.2's will also tend to refuse to share with
               another pre1.2. MAKE A NEW CONFIG FILE from the
               example, there are some radical extras.

               from 0.9/1.0 to 1.3/1.4: * Just redo the whole
               thing, absolutely everything has changed including
               the userfile and config file formats.

               from 1.1/1.2 to 1.3/1.4: * 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)

          (4b) FROM AN OLDER 1.3/1.4 VERSION TO A NEWER ONE

               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 eggdrop1.4.xx.tar.gz file to the home dir of
               your shell, gunzip and untar it, and type 'cd
               ~/eggdrop1.4.xx'. Then, type './configure',
               'make', then kill the bot ('.die' on the
               partyline, or use 'kill' on the shell) and 'make
               install' to the same directory your bot is
               currently in. Then, you can just restart your bot.

     (5) FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (or "Why doesn't this thing work?")

          1. WHAT DO I DO IF I GET THE ERROR "USER FILE NOT FOUND"?

               (1) Run eggdrop with the "-m" option (i.e.,
               "eggdrop -m mybot").
               (2) Go to IRC and send "hello" to your bot (i.e.,
               "/msg mybot hello").
               (3) You will become an owner on your bot. You can
               leave the bot running (nobody else will become a
               master if they say "hello"), but in the future,
               don't use the "-m" option when running the bot.

          2. MY EGGDROP WON'T RUN; IT JUST SAYS "CAN'T FIND YOUR
          HOSTNAME!"

               Your machine is set up strangely, and eggdrop
               can't figure out its network hostname. You can get
               around this by setting an environment variable
               called HOSTNAME.

               In sh or ksh:

                    $ HOSTNAME=myhost.domain.edu
                    $ export HOSTNAME

               In csh or tcsh:

                    % setenv HOSTNAME myhost.domain.edu

               It should work after that. You may want to bug
               your system administrator to set up her /etc/hosts
               file correctly, or add those above commands to
               your '.login' file (sh or ksh: '.profile').

          3. WHAT THE HECK IS TCL?

               Tcl is a scripting language written by John
               Ousterhout. It's much better than most "in-built"
               script languages (like the one in ircII) and is
               meant to be linked with anything needing a script
               language. So I linked it with eggdrop. The file
               "tcl-commands.doc" in the eggdrop directory
               contains a list of the commands added to Tcl by
               eggdrop. There are also several example scripts in
               the scripts/ directory, and there are gobs of
               scripts floating around on the ftp sites if you
               like working by example (which is typically the
               best way).

          4. MY BOT DIES AND THE LAST ENTRY IN THE LOGFILE IS
          "RECEIVED TERMINATE SIGNAL". WHAT DOES THAT MEAN AND CAN I
          PREVENT IT?

               There's nothing you can do to prevent it. It means
               the system administrator is killing the eggdrop
               process. Most of the time, it's an automatic thing
               that happens when the system is being rebooted, so
               it's harmless. If you have a crontab running, the
               bot will get restarted when the system is back
               online. Occasionally the system administrator will
               kill the bot manually -- for example, if he/she
               doesn't want bots running on the system.

          5. MY COMPILE DIES AT THE LAST MINUTE WITH "LD FATAL SIGNAL
          11"!

               This happens on Linux machines that have recently
               been converted to ELF by upgrading to Slackware
               3.0. Apparently Slackware 3.0 comes with a non-ELF
               (a.out) Tcl library, and the compiler doesn't
               handle that well. (It should give you an error;
               instead it barfs.) Fixing it is tricky because
               even if you recompile libtcl.a, the linker will
               most likely find the "bad" one first, and your
               work will be in vain.

               Here's a fix that's been floating around on the
               eggdrop list:

                    1. Recompile 'libtcl.a' for yourself, to
                    make sure an ELF librar is created.
                    2. Copy it into your eggdrop/src
                    directory, naming it 'libtcl2.a'.
                    3. Edit the Makefile and change the line
                    that says '-L/usr/lib -ltcl' to '-L.
                    -ltcl2'.
                    4. Recompile eggdrop.

               Also send hate-mail to the Slackware guy telling
               him to stop messing up the libraries. He seemed to
               assume that everyone would still want to compile
               old-style (a.out) binaries.

          6. SOMEONE ELSE SET UP A BOT I DON'T LIKE. ARE THERE ANY
          BACKDOORS I CAN USE TO TAKE THEIR BOT DOWN?

               No, there have never been any backdoors and there
               never will be, so please stop asking. Every once
               in a while, someone finds a way to exploit a bug
               in eggdrop, but we fix these bugs as soon as we
               find out about them. If you want to bring down
               someone else's bot, you will not have my/our help.

          7. WHAT ARE MODULES?

               Modules are a way of adding extra C code from the
               bot, much like Tcl scripts, without requiring the
               bot recompiling, see doc/MODULES for more info.

          8. CAN I COMPILE EGGDROP WITHOUT DYNAMIC MODULES?

               Yes, you can, if ./configure detects that your
               system CAN'T run modules it will setup 'make' to
               link the modules in statically for you, you can
               also choose this option if you can do dynamic
               modules by typing 'make static'. You can also try
               to compile dynamic modules on a static-only system
               by typing 'make eggdrop'.

               8.1 DO I STILL NEED TO 'loadmodule modules' ???

                    YES, when you compile statically, all
                    the modules are linked into the main
                    executable *but* they are not enabled
                    until you use loadmodule to enable then,
                    hence you get nearly the same
                    functionality with static modules as
                    dynamic modules.

          9. WHERE CAN I GET A PRECOMPILED EGGDROP FOR MY COMPUTER?

               It is HIGHLY recommended AGAINST using precompiled
               Eggdrops from untrusted sources. Eggdrop has been
               a regular target for hacking and crashing.
               Distribution of precompiled (binary) versions of
               Eggdrop are the easiest way of hackers to provide
               you with the easiest (and most dangerous) way of
               gaining access to not only your bot, but to your
               computer account directly. Don't advertise your
               precompiled eggdrop binary sites on the eggdrop
               list either =P

          10. I GET 'Makefile:3 :invalid operator' OR SOME-SUCH-THING
          WHEN I TRY TO 'make'

               Try 'gmake'

          11. WHEN I 'tclsh scripts/weed <userfile> c' IT BARFS CHUNKS
          AT ME AND DIES :(

               UPGRADE YOUR TCL, you are probably using tcl 7.5
               or earlier, some of the commands in weed require
               tcl7.6 to run, so either upgrade it, or removing
               the offending lines from you userfile (those
               starting with '.' generally) and accept the loss
               of that data.

          12. I get "ld-elf.so.1: Shared object "libtcl80.so.1" not
          found" or "eggdrop: error in loading shared libraries /
          libtcl8.1.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file
          or directory" when I try to start my bot.

               './configure' is looking in the wrong place for
               tcl; it looks like it compiled with one version of
               tcl and tries to load another. Maybe your sysadmin
               upgraded tcl and didn't tell you. In that case,
               you should just need to recompile your bot.

               Or maybe when upgrading he didn't clean the old
               version of tcl, and './configure' is looking for
               the files in the wrong places, or trying to use
               different versions of tcl.h and libtcl*. Smack
               your admin and have him install tcl properly ;) Or
               try to:

               ./configure --with-tcllib=<path-to-tcl-lib>
               --with-tclinc=<path-to-tcl-inc>

               tell configure where to look for the tcl files.
               try to look for them like:
               for libtcl:

                    ls /usr/lib/libtcl*
                    ls /usr/local/lib/libtcl*

               for tcl.h:

                    ls /usr/include/tcl.h
                    ls /usr/local/include/tcl.h

               If everything else fails, try to install tcl to
               your home dir ;) (Suggested by dw@Undernet,
               dw@lixom.nu)

          13. I get a whole pile of "Unresolved symbol
          'Tcl_AppendResult'" (or some other symbol) when I try to
          load a modules.

               POSSIBILITY A: see 12.

               POSSIBILITY B:

               Some of the standard libraries have been compiled
               for static linking only on your machine, you have
               3 options:

               (1) if it's your own machine, recompile TCL using
               dynamic linking by using './configure
               --enable-shared' when you configure TCL (not the
               bot) and then remake, & reinstall
               (2) if it's not you machine, you make have to
               resort to 'make static' and 'make sinstall
               DESTDIR=<dir>' to make and install your bot.
               (3) if you are of a more aggressive sense of mind,
               go beat the stuffing out of your admin for have
               lame static libraries :)

     (6) 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.

          The eggdrop source file includes a csh 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 emails from cron, put 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: Create a new file called
          'mycron' and put the above line into it. Then, 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).

     (6a) 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.

          To crontab your bot follow the following 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.conf.dist -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.

     (7) BORING LEGAL STUFF

          The eggdrop bot is copyright © 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 eggdrop1.3.28 all changes made by the Eggheads
          development team to the eggdrop source code and any related
          files are copyright © by Eggheads. 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
          [who?] also choose to place it in the public domain.
          "blowfish.c" is by various sources and is in the public
          domain. All 3 files contain useful functions that could
          easily be ported to other applications -- the other parts of
          the bot generally don't.

          Tcl is by John Ousterhout and is in no way affiliated with
          eggdrop, and 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.

          You didn't pay for it, so don't expect magic.

     (8) MAILING LIST

          There are currently a couple of mailing lists about eggdrop.
          eggheads@eggdheads.org is the one relevant for posts about
          eggdrop 1.4 & 1.5 (and bug fixes, and suggestions, etc).

          To subscribe to the eggheads mailing list, send email to:
          eggheads-request@eggheads.org In the body of the message,
          put "subscribe eggheads"; or go to
          http://www.eggheads.org/mailman/listinfo/eggheads

                  ### DO NOT SEND ROBEY EMAIL ABOUT EGGDROP ###

          Robey is no longer developing the eggdrop code (although he
          does put a word in every now and then) so don't bother
          emailing him. If you have a serious problem, email the
          eggdrop mailing list and it will get to the coders.

          Please, before posting to this list, see what things are
          like, and 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 either for that
          matter. Please read and follow the mailing list rules.

          The eggheads@eggheads.org maillist is not dedicated to those
          all too common questions we have all seen on other lists...
          for example:

          "Why does my bot say this: Please edit your config file."
          "How do I telnet my bot?"
          "Where do I get eggdrop for windows??????"
          etc..

          Bug reports, 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.

     (9) 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 email eggheads@eggheads.org about it,
          thank you.

     (10) OBTAINING HELP

          There is currently no uniform channel in existence to
          support eggdrop. At one time, such channels did exist, but
          they most often deteriorate into a vanity channel, where no
          one is willing to help.

          However, we'll list a few places here where you *might* get
          help. Note though that we are not responsible for those
          channels, or necessarily run those channels ourselves.

          Undernet - #eggdrop EFNet - #eggtcl, #eggheads IRCNet -
          #eggdrop, #egghelp, #bothelp

          If there are any serious places that should be added, let us
          know.

  ------------------------------------------------------------------------
(c) 1997 Robey Pointer
(c) 2000 Eggheads Development Team
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