infobot/doc/intro.bit

<hr>
The canonical source for the infobot source and documentation is
<a href="http://www.infobot.org/">http://www.infobot.org/</a>.
<hr>
<p>
The infobot connects to an Internet Relay Chat (IRC) server, 
joins some channels (maybe), and begins accumulating factoids.
To run one, download the source, uncompress it, untar it,
edit the config files, and it up.
<p>
Interacting with the bot is pretty straightforward.  Most of
the commands and variables available to users are listed below.
The bot will interact via message or on-channel.
<p>

<hr>
    <h2> Interacting with an infobot</h2>

    <UL>
      <LI> <b>setting</b> factoids: X is Y
	<p>
	  Saying something like "X is Y" somewhere that the infobot 
	  can see it will cause the bot to store a factoid, unless
	  X is already defined.  It sets the value of X to Y.
	<p>
      <LI> <b>accessing</b> factoids: What is X?
	<p>
	  You can ask an infobot about something in a number of
	  different ways, including "what is X?", "where is X?",
	  or just plain "X?".
	</p>
	<LI> <b>altering</b> factoids: s/A/B/
	<p>
	if you just want to change a <i>part</i> of a factoid, use
	the <code>s///</code>operator.  you have to address the bot
	or use a private medium to do this.
	<p>
	MyBot, X =~ s/A/B/	
	<p>
	will change the first occurence of A to B in the factoid 
	called X.
	<p>

      <LI>appending to existing entries: <b><code>also</code></b>
	<p>
	  One can extend an existing factoid using the
	  keyword <code>also</code>
	<p>
	<UL>
	    <code>
	      poink is also a silly word
	    </code>
	</UL>
	<p>

      <LI>erasing a factoid: <b><code>forget</code></b>
	<p>
	  A factoid can easily be deleted by using
	<p>
	<DIR>
	    <code>
	      infobot, forget poink
	    </code>
	</DIR>
	<p>

      <LI>changing a factoid: <code><b>no,</b> ...</code>
	<p>
	  You can change the entry for a factoid completely using
	<p>
	<UL>
	    <code>
	      no, infobot, x is wugga wugga.
	    </code>
	</UL>
	    <p>
	  which deletes the prior entry (if possible)
	  and replaces it with the new one.
	<p>

      <LI> having the bot tell someone else something: <b><code>tell</code></b>
	<p>
	  A user can ask an infobot to tell someone else something.
	  <p>
	  <UL>
	    <code>
	      infobot, tell fimmtiu about no web
	    </code>
	    <p>
	</UL>

      <LI><b>karma</b> / plusplus
	<p>
	  karma for a concept may be incremented or decremeted using
	  <code>++</code> and <code>--</code>.  You can get the 
	  current karma 'score' for something by asking for it.
	  <p>
	  <UL>
	    <code>
	      oznoid++
	    <p>
	      oznoid--
	    <p>
	      karma for oznoid
	    </code>
	    <p>
	  </UL>

      <LI> <code><b>status</b></code>
	<p>
	  infobots reply to status requests.
	  <p>
	  <dir>
	  -> [url] status<p>
	    [url!infobot@ALF5.SPEECH.CS.CMU.EDU] Since Fri Mar 26 06:42:27 1999, there have been 409
	    modifications and 2604 questions.  I have been awake for 5 days, 4 hours, 24 minutes,
	    18 seconds this session, and currently reference 47529 factoids.
	  </dir>

	</p>

      <LI>joining an allowed channel: <code><b>join</b> #infobot</code>
	<p>
	  On IRC, you can tell the infobot to join a channel
	  that it's allowed to join with
	<p>
	<UL>
	    <code>
	      infobot, join #infobot
	    </code>
	</UL>
	    <p>
	  If it is allowed to (in its paramter settings), it
	  will try to join the channel.
	<p>
	  

      <LI>leaving a channel: <code><b>part</b> #infobot</code>
	<p>
	  This causes the bot to leave the given channel
	<p>
	<UL>
	    <code>
	      infobot, part #infobot
	    </code>
	</UL>
	    <p>
	  <code>leave</code> is a synonym for <code>part</code>.
	<p>

      <LI><b>random</b> responses with <code>|</code>
	<p>
	  You can set a list from which to pick a random response by
	  using <code>|</code>
	  <p>
	<UL>
	    <code>
	      x is a|b|c|d
	    </code>
	</UL>
	<p>
	  When x is asked about, the infobot will randomly choose from
	  the <code>|</code>-spearated list.
	<p>

      <LI> The <b><code>&lt;reply&gt;</code></b> factoid tag.
	<p>
	  Normally, when the infobot replies to "What is X", it says
	  "X is Y".  This form makes it just reply "Y".
	  <p>
	  <UL>
	    <code>
	      X is &lt;reply&gt; Y
	    </code>
	  </UL>
	<p>

      <LI> The <b><code>&lt;action&gt;</code></b> factoid tag (as of 0.43.5)
	<p>
	This causes the bot to respond as with <reply> except 
	as an ACTION.
	  <p>
	  <UL>
	    <code>
	      X is &lt;action&gt; Y
	    </code>
	  </UL>
	<p>

      <LI><b>backwacking</b>
	<p>
	  Use <code>\</code> to protect items from evaluation.
	<p>
	<UL>
	    <CODE>
	      x is y is y
	    </CODE>
	</UL>
	<p>
	will normally set <code>x =is=> y is y</code>, but
	<p>
	<UL>
	    <CODE>
	      x \is y is y
	    </CODE>
	</UL>
	<p>
	  will set
		<p>
	      <UL>
		  <code>x is y =is=> y</code>
	      </UL> 
	      <p>
	      The <code>forget</code>
	      and <code>no</code> (update) operators apply before checking
	      for this. This is also useful for getting around the 
	      dereferencing of "i" and "me" and so on.
	<p>

      <LI>the <b><code>$who</code></b> variable
	<p>
	  Contains the nickname person currently addressing the bot.
	  It can be used effectively in replies.
	  <p>
	  <UL>
	    <code>
	      nice day is &lt;reply&gt; you betcha, $who.
	    </code>
	  </UL>
	<p>

      <LI>the <b><code>$date</code></b> variable
	<p>
	  Contains the current date and time, at the bot's host.
	<p>

	<LI> <code><b>literal</b> foo</code>
	<p> 
	   returns the value without the usual post-processing. 
        </p>	
	<p>

      <LI>Ignoring users: <b>ignore</b> nickname, <b>ignore *.a.com</b>
	<p>
		Users with the P (oP) flag can tell the bot
		to ignore people or hostmasks. And 'unignore'.
		use 'ignorelist' to get the current list of ignored masks,
		if you have the P flag.
	</p>
      <LI><code><b>op</b></code> on channel
	<p>
	  The 'p' (oP) flag in the userfile allows this
	  to work. You'll need to set a hostmask. See
	  <code>files/infobot.users</code> Also uses a 
	  crypted password.
	  <p>
	  <dir>
	  <code>
	  /msg &lt;bot&gt; &lt;password&gt; op
	  </code>
	  </dir>
	<p>
      <LI><b><code>die</code></b>
	<p>
	  If the bot owner (+O, Owner) says this or messages it to the bot, 
	  it will kill itself.
	<p>
    </UL>

<hr>
    <h2> scripts/utilities </h2>
    
    The infobot comes with some scripts for working with
    the DBM files.
    <p>

    <UL>
      <LI><code>update_db</code>
	<p>
	  This takes a flat ascii file and inserts it into a DBM file.
	  It creates a new DBM if it didn't exist.
	<p>
	<UL>
	    <CODE>
	      scripts/update_db factpacks/code_to_country.txt infobot-is
	    </CODE>
	</UL>
	<p>
	  will add the factoids in <code>code_to_country.txt</code>
	  to the <code>infobot-is</code> DBM.
	<p>
      <LI><code>dump_db</code>
	<p>
	  The converse.  It dumps out the DBM file to a flat
	  ascii file. Note there is no extension on the DBM name,
	  even though the system may use one.
	<p>
	<UL>
	    <CODE>
	      scripts/dump_db infobot-is
	    </CODE>
	</UL>
	<p>
	  Note there is no extension on the DBM name, even though the 
	  system may use one (like <code>.pag</code> and 
	  <code>.dir</code> or <code>.db</code>).
	<p>

    </UL>

<hr>