Install

Installing ZenIRCBot will one day be much simpler, but for now there are a number of steps to it.

To start with, the bot is written in both JavaScript using the Node platform, and there is a version that is written in Python. Two of the services are written in or rely on Python the rest are written in JavaScript.

If you are on Ubuntu, you should probably build and install Node and npm yourself. The packages that provide binaries of each of these names are not the things that you want. apt-get install node gives you an amateur packet radio program and npm is provided by a magnetic resonence imaging program. Neither of which are what ZenIRCBot needs.

Configuring the bot

The config for the bot can be found in bot.json which is a JSON file that both the Node.js and Python bots use.

If you don’t have a bot.json, copy bot.json.dist into its place like so:

$ cp bot.json{.dist,}

Then modify it and fill in the values with your own.

Note

Despite the option being servers ZenIRCBot currently only supports 1 server. It is named as such for future compatibility

Getting the node.js bot running

To start with you’ll need to install Node, npm and Redis. Once you have those you’ll need to use npm to install the dependencies:

$ npm install

Then all you need to do is start the bot:

$ node bot.js

Voilà, your bot should connect, join the channels in the config and go forth on its merry way. It wont do anything interesting until you start up services. You can find information on starting up Services.

Getting the python bot running

Warning

This version of the bot is less battle tested than the node version. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use it, just know that these instructions may change in the near future. Also it doesn’t use all of the options in the bot.json

To start with you’ll need to install Python, virtualenv, libevent (libevent-dev if you are on ubuntu) and Redis (all three provided by your OS package manager). Once you have those you’ll want to make and activate the virtualenv to keep your libraries you installed for ZenIRCBot (if you have virtualenvwrapper installed already feel free to use it of course):

$ virtualenv zib
$ source zib/bin/activate

Then use pip to install the dependencies:

$ pip install -r requirements.txt

Then all you need to do is run:

$ python bot.py

Voilà, your bot should connect, and go forth on its merry way. It wont do anything interesting until you start up services. You can find information on starting up Services.

Getting the clojure bot running

Warning

This version of the bot is less battle tested than the node version. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use it, just know that these instructions may change in the near future. Also it doesn’t use all of the options in the bot.json

To start with you’ll need to install Clojure, Leiningen and Redis. Once you have those installed you’ll check out the clojure bot with:

$ git submodule init
$ git submodule update

Then you’ll start the bot with:

$ cd clojurebot
$ lein trampoline run -m zenircbot-clojure.core

Voilà, your bot should connect, join the channels in the config and go forth on its merry way. It wont do anything interesting until you start up services. You can find information on starting up Services.