Perlbot Frequently Asked Questions // http://perlbot.sourceforge.net Authors: Andrew Burke, Jeremy Muhlich ---------------------------------------------------------------------- What is Perlbot? ================ Perlbot is an IRC bot written in Perl. It depends on Net::IRC and its goals are simplicity and modularity. The base bot allows auto-opping, notes, multiple channels, channel redirection, etc., but much, much more is possible through the use of plugins. Many plugins are included, and it should be easy for anyone with some knowledge of Perl to write her own. How do I make this damn thing run? ================================== Please, please, please read and understand the manual. If you still don't have your bot working after looking over the manual and following the suggestions therein, email the authors or post to the sourceforge.net project page. I don't want to edit this configuration by hand! ================================================ Until there are good XML editors supporting XML Schemas, you're kind of out of luck, sorry. Can I configure Perlbot right from IRC? ======================================= Not yet, but users can maintain their own hostmasks, greatly reducing the workload of the bot admin. Further configuration from IRC may be possible in the future. Why won't my perlbot connect? ============================= Make sure you've specified valid servers in your config. Check them with another irc client to make sure they're up. If your bot is still not connecting, set PERLBOT_DEBUG to 1 in your shell before running the bot and look for errors. If you're still not connecting and don't know what to do, email the authors or post to the sourceforge.net project page. Why does it keep saying "You are not an owner" to me? ===================================================== Make sure you've given your user object the owner flag in the config file. Also check to make sure your hostmask is set correctly. Why does my hostmask not work? ============================== Perlbot requires well-formed hostmasks in the format: nick!user@host It also requires relatively "secure" hostmasks. Your user and host fields MUST contain some fixed text: *!*@* <---- NOT allowed *!*@*.someplace.com <---- NOT allowed *!me@* <---- NOT allowed *!*me@*.someplace.com <---- allowed Do I need to restart when I change the configuration or add/upgrade a plugin? ============================================================================= No! You can cause the bot to reload its configuration from IRC by sending the reload command as an owner. From your shell you can send it a HUP signal by doing: killall -HUP perlbot.pl This will also cause the bot to reread its configuration. Plugins can be loaded, unloaded and reloaded dynamically. Ask the bot for help on the plugins command. Where can I get more plugins? ============================= There currently is no repository for plugins. However, the best place to check would be http://perlbot.sourceforge.net followed by a Google search. Howcome plugin X isn't working for me? ====================================== It's possible that plugins will not load without warning if they have a problem. If a plugin appears not to be working set PERLBOT_DEBUG equal to 1 in your shell before running the bot. You'll see each plugin load when the bot starts up and any error messages from plugins which could not be loaded. I'm not on IRC from my usual place, will the bot still know me? =============================================================== You should use the auth command to identify yourself with the bot. Ask the bot for help on auth for more information.