infobot/REVISIONS

0.45.3 

Really fix the stuff in DBM.pl for the %param hash.

0.45.1,2

Fixed some path names, made a new tarball.

0.45.0

Renamed the miscdir parameter to confdir (in 'infobot')
Renames 'files' directory to 'conf'
Seperated src/ into src/ and extras/
Changed default name to 'i-bot' in the infobot.config file
Rationalized the names of the dbs to use dbname as a prefix

0.44.5

Push ./src onto the path so Util.pm gets in.
New Airport.pl replaces METAR2 with a lot nicer stuff.
  mendel++.  Very nice example of a module with forking, 
  etc.
Fixed excuse.pl's return codes.
Roderick++'s extensive factoid locking patches for 
  sharing DBs between infobots.
Added scripts/make_snap and scripts/restore_snap , which
  make and restore ASCII snapshots of the databases, 
  respectively.  This is good to do periodically as a
  backup.
Added stockquote.pl to get stock quotes (LotR++) and added
  a boolean parameter ('stockquotes') to turn it on or off.
Fixed a bug in the http proxy in the RDF fetching code (LotR++)
Messages no longer record the apparent last channel 
  when given in private.
Changed src/excuse.pl to guard against the server being 
  down, though i'm afraid the server is never going
  to come back up.
Cleaned extra white space off the end of parameter values
  during the read of the config file.
Currency exchance is now case-insensetive.
There were several other small bugfixes that didn't make it
  into this file during a move.  

0.44.4

Removed 'factpacks' subdirectory.  These packs are all on 
    the web site (http://www.infobot.org), and more.
Tidying of purldoc code.
Tidying of W3Search triggers
Tidying of IMDB, Websters, etc.
Splitting lines in say()/msg()
HTTP proxy support
Little tidying of the Math code.
More informative return values from Process
Better support for `no, $nick, ...' 
Much increased `tell' support
perlfaq' support: uses RSS to get faqtoids from perlfaqprime
Much needed fixes to Zippy factoids
Babelfish rewritten
Net::Telnet timeout fix to insult
Fixed `exchange' typo in infobot.config.
\| for quoting pipes in factoids, Avi++
Added the channels patch. infobot.channels now sets channel-specific 
    options. The format is pretty much the same as the users file.
Documented all the extensions.
Fixed the `eval' command, which you shouldn't be using anyway.
Removed spurious line breaks in Zippy's data.
The `msgonly' parameter, if set, will see a question on channel and
    respond to it via /msg
The `continuity' parameter controls how many seconds must elapse before
    the infobot assumes you have stopped addressing it. Set this to 0,
    and the infobot will never assume that it is being addressed.
Added a warning to Babel.pl if target language is `en'
Close `karma' and `seen' databases in &killed, now karma doesn't
    get reset.

0.44.3

NOTE: You must update WWW::Search to the latest version
    for the Google search to work.
NOTE: As usual, the new features (mostly) have new
    parameters that need to be defined in 
    files/infobot.config -- to update, you'll need
    to move your dbm files into the new source
    tree and edit infobot.config.  this is the best way.
Made return values from myRoutines.pl said or messaged
    rather than using &say and &msg inside myRoutines.
    Use 'NOREPLY' to override this if you want to
    use msg and/or say yourself (such as in a callback
    or when forking).
Moved the current myRoutines.pl file to a file called
    Extras.pl.  myRoutines.pl is reserved for local
    user extensions, and Extras.pl is now where the
    add-ons in the distribution are.  They both 
    behave the same as the old myRoutines.pl did.
    Extras is called after myRoutines.
Moved several redirects out of Reply.pl and into Extras.
Added 'literal' query -- 'literal foo' will show the
    factoid for the key foo, with tags and |s literally.
Added RDF/RSS support (LotR++) in RDF.pl.  Uses the tag 
    <rss="http://path/to/rdf/file"> and replaces it in-line.
    RSS is RDF Site Summary; many sites now use this
    standard format to encode their headlines/topics.
    Requires XML::RSS.
Added currency exchange module (exchange.pl) from 
    bobby@bofh.dk (thanks!)
Added excuse module (excuse.pl), also from bobby@bofh.dk!
Added 'purldoc' -- ^Masque++ -- which searches through
    perl FAQ question titles.
Removed usair module. They changed the interface and
    this should just be re-written more gerally.
Added support for Zippy.pl, which provides Zippy witticisms. 
    i made it require to be addressed. "infobot, yow" or 
    "infobot, be zippy" is the trigger.  (mendel++)
    the parameter is "zippy" in infobot.config. 
Added 'divine (.*)', a magic 8-ball (boojum++)
Made Search work again for users with the +s user flag set.
    I still don't recommend this for bots with very big
    dbs.
Another pass at getting the 'reload' code to work (Simon++).
Target adressing in 'tell' made more consistent (Simon++).
Now works with MD5 passwords also (thanks to Bobby Billingsley).
Added timeouts to LWP-using modules.
Fixed CTCP ping reply.
Started RIPE whois to complement Internic whois, moved the
    whois stuff into myRoutines.  This is getting to be 
    a mess and still needs work. (Thanks to Bo Krosgaard for 
    this suggestion).

0.44.2

Added USAir flight information: 'usair flight 781'. requires LWP.
    This should be replaced with a more general one.
Added keyed channel patch from Eden Li (tile).
Added new slashdot headline retrieval code care of Richard Hoelscher 
    (Rahga). It makes Chris Tessone's code go to the XML file on /.
    Also restricted its recongized form to "slashdot" or "slashdot 
    headlines". Now called "Slashdot3". 
Added a factpack on Security to factopacks/ submitted by Peter
    Johnson (rottz), and one that has all the ports listed for tcp 
    and udp from Samy Kamkar (CommPort5). Keep it up! :)
Applied a patch to the insult server code from michael@limit.org.
    should fix the function as well as "insult x in german".
    btw, i can't send email to limit.org, so i hope he sees this :)
Modified METAR code from Lazarus Long <lazarus@frontiernet.net>
    and added a status line so it tells the owner it requires
    LWP and Geo::METAR.
Added Simon Cozens' Google search. Requires WWW::Search::Google. 
    "google for foo", "search google for foo". 
Expanded the Google search to do everything WWW::Search knows about,
    and to fork so it wouldn't block the bot. Dejanews, Google,
    Gopher, Excite, Infoseek, HotBot, Lycos, AltaVista, Magellan, 
    PLweb, SFgate, and Verity. try 'search <engine> for <keywords>'.
    But you really need to install WWW::Search to use this.
Added "shut up" (which changes Addressing to "REQUIRE"), 
    "wake up" (changes it to "OPTIONAL"), and "showmode" that
    tells which mode it's in. Aldebaran++ for this. the param
    "shutup" controls whether this is on; turn it off if you always
    want it to be REQUIRE.
Made the output of "seen" nicer; reports how long it's been.
By the way, the Nickometer code is due to Adam Spiers, and it
    was one of the earlier, relatively undocumented add-ons that
    made an example for others to start off with. Added comment.


0.44.1

Fixed the CTCP bug which people were exploiting to crash. Thanks!
Wrapped the babelfish translation code 'use's in evals so
    lack of URI::Escape won't stop you from running the bot.
Added Chris Tessone's slashdot headlines module with a few minor
    changes (the same eval trick as above).
Added some documentation to infobot_guide.html (gasp!)
Added some factpacks in factpacks/ that were on the web site.

0.44.0

WARNING: many changes have been undocumented, but 
    i'm getting lots of requests to release the current
    state -- warts and all.  Here it is, 6:35 AM Jun 24 99,
    an hour before yapc 99 opens.
many small things, as usual.
babel code (jdf++) for using babelfish to translate
    things. 'translate to german: hello'. this
    can be shortened to 'x to de hello'.  *note: 
    LWP must be installed for this to work.
'insult server' code; probably not very useful.
    Also requires LWP.


0.43.6

freeside++ for code to clean up the imbd redirect.
fimmtiu++ for 'your' patches. blame him now.
fixed the text of the foldoc redirect (TorgoX++)
added passwords for servers with passwords (ksiero++)
    including server_pass in infobot.config
made s/// case-insensetive (mendel++)
added vhost support and vhost_name to infobot.config (elph++)
changed some trivial status messages to be prettier
made miscdir fully qualified, and changed it to ./files in
    the default infobot.config file.
moved stray help setup code into a subroutine and call it
    from Setup.pl
added "say" for +o (/msg <botname> say #channel foo)
made it so that +o can make the bot join any channel
added NOAA.pl, inspired by geniusj's sh script 
    to myRoutines.pl
added METAR support (mendel++ for metar.pl), and this
    plus the weather routine make nice examples

0.43.5

added <action> as a species of <reply>: X is <action> foo!
added murrayb++'s patches for an ignore list file
made help path relative (also murrayb++)
renamed "scripts/make_db" to "scripts/update_db"
added "scripts/unupdate_dbs" to back out all changes by nick
    from a log file or part of a log file. good for removing
    vandalism.
made 'forget' logging more friendly to reversing it
moved all the setup stuff more cleanly into Setup.pl
made the ignore list modifiab;e at run-time with the P flag
    and added 'ignore' and 'unignore' commands via msg
added substitutions: X =~ s/A/B/

0.43.4

made private messages not respoken under the persistant
    "seen" -- this was allowing people to get private 
    information on 0.43.3.  0.43.3 was only available for
    a few hours, so i hope this impact is minimal.

0.43.3

many undocumented little things.  fixes, of course!
fixed the reply after seen.
made seen persistant.  added the infobot.config line 'seen'
    for the seen-db location
added what the last thing seen was.
made the karma path fully specified.

0.43.2

fixed the learning from other bots based on URL policy

0.43.1

minor fixes here and there.
fixed the math bug (finally! i think!) 
several NL patches.  Small CTCP fix. 
some statement and question changes.  nothing major.
wanted to get this version out before i tried getting
    things working on a few more platforms.  seems
    pretty stable.

0.43.0

* UPDATE YOUR irc.params to infobot.config FILES *
* UPDATE YOUR userfile.txt files to infobot.users FILES *
* SOME DOCUMENTATION is now in doc/infobot_guide.html

changed DEBUG parameter name to VERBOSITY
removed the broken STANDALONE mode for now
    and eviscerated the code for it
removed some lint from the params file
files/irc.params IS NOW CALLED files/infobot.config
removed vestigial paramdbm code.
removed MacOS-specific code.  this needs-writing.
fixed the "out-loud" comment "you are not a bot owner"
    to be silent
removed the vesitigial and misleading infobot.doc
    and created some documentation ! in doc/infobot.html
    and children
renamed userfile.txt to files/infobot.users
added variable interpolation to infobot.config so
    you can use $ident and all previously-defined
    parameter values in the assignent of subsequent
    paramters.
moved userfile diagnostics into User.pl (!) from 
    top level infobot script
renamed crontab.infobot to infobot.crontab
converted all prints to status() for uniform logging
    and console output
removed other vesitigal logging code (Log.pl)
redid the ansi color by type and status
made internic reply via msg only
removed MLF's -- these need rewriting
moved the addressing code ALL out of Irc*.pl
cleared initial negative on statements when the entry
    doesn't yet exist (less weird factoids)
added 'also |' to add disjuncts easily 
allowed coherent protection of any word from
    processing using \. e.g. \is for
    x \is y is y
added %channels, %seen, %verified hashes
added password + hostmask protection and command-on-request
    with the syntax   /msg <bot> <password> <command>
    where <command> is {eval (mode e), op (mode p), die (mode o)}
previously public bot commands are now private message only or
    privmsg + password
added "sane" files (sane-is.txt amd sane-are.txt) that
    will be loaded into the -is and -are dbs at startup
    and will set some items to sane values.  put things
    that you want to be permanent in these.
isolated statement rejection code
moved math into Math.pl
moved search code into Search.pl
rolled the requires in the top level script into a 
    single loop that automatically loads all the perl
    files in the src directory
fixed the interaction between addressing and volunteering.
    minVolunteerLength applies only if addressing is not REQUIRED
fixed the grotty math bug in perlMath that prevented negative
    numbers from evalling properly

0.42.1

made it go for the _first_ verb rather than 
    the first verb in the list.  cleaned up the
    debug info. 
fixed the underscore-erasing bug.
there was a problem is \b$verb\b missing
    things like .is; fixed.
karma fix... allow "me", tolerate whitespace
    (thanks fimmtiu and SirGawain)

0.42

fixed an interaction between marked questions,
    minimum volunteering length, and addressing.
allowed talk between friendly bots 
rationalized some of the logging, so you can see
    who did everything ('is also' updates, in
    particular).
fixed the traceroute calling syntax
for some, karma didn't work with 0.41.5; it may now :)

0.41.5

closed the traceroute hole
fixed the reverse DNS
fixed some 'huh?' replies -- made sure to return
    the NOREPLY token in Update.pl
* desire: cut confirmation replies (mode)
* desire: silent mode (learn only)

rev 0.41.0 - 0.41.4

many minor things, mostly natural language,
    some infrastructure. allowed "forget" to
    end with final punctuation.
added factpack subdirectory.  use these to
    load up the bot with things.  more to come.
fixed "addressing" -> REQUIRE.

revision 0.41

added "karma".  now "x++" or "x--" will change x's karma.
    "karma for x" will show it's current standing.  This 
    idea came from dkindred@cs.cmu.edu and his plusplus
    Zephyr bot.  Darrel Kindred is the mastermind here;
    I just liked the idea and added it.
added e mode in userfile to expose eval.  this is not 
    recommended.  requires a crypted pass, then
    /msg bot <pass> eval <perl code>

revision 0.40.1

replaced default userfile and fixed a tiny bit of NL where
    it would say "OK" even when X already was Y.
the next rev will be the one for MacPerl etc., i hope. this
    was just a quick fix because 0.40 wasn't letting people
    teach by default.

revision 0.40

several small fixes -- fixed a big with article deletion,
    made it so it doesn't echo when told to die by a non-master,
    fixed a few NL things, removed the CTCP die command.
Mailing list opens.
I plan one more rev to make sure this pre-version works
    with MacPerl, then we'll switch to the new model.

revision 0.39

integrated wf's changes with my own NL stuff from
    purl exploits.  this is a quick-turnaround rev to
    get things in place for an upcoming major rev.
since nslookup, etc are now keyworded, removed 
    ipmatch and dmatch regexen from their preconditions.
added param for default signoff message

revision 0.38

user system reworked flags are settable to limit
    access to the bot's features.  Examples can
    be found in files/userfile.txt.
non-blocking sockets added to allow use of DCC
    and other various functions to come soon.

revision 0.37

Standalone mode works again after an oops in the
hooks by wildy... :)

revision 0.36

NL stuff, some fixes from purl.

revision 0.35

new option;  multiline factoids. you can use the
    following syntax to teach infobot facts on 
    multiple lines:
        <mynick> infobot: something is <multi>
    anything said from there on will be recorded
    as part of the fact.  make sure you designate
    the end of the fact or it will continue adding
    everything you say into the fact.
        <mynick> <end>
    this will end the fact and store it in the db.
    made MLFs work with repeatIgnoreInterval to prevent
        some nasty abuse potential; added status
        line for repeat ignore

revision 0.34

fixed the addressing bug found in Irc.pl
removed the "okay" message when it doesn't replace
    a key with the same message; this makes it nicer
    when more than one is on the same channel, though
    they still all reply
changed the default params to make urls optional
fixed the "the" bug, and expanded the "can" grammar
    to handle cases more flexibly.  
undid some bug that were introduced in handing the
    code back and forth
folded in code that got out of sync in parallel revs.

revision 0.33.3

added the formatting of public channel messages and
    changed the hook code to be a bit more sane

revision 0.33.2

re changed infobot to OPTIONAL listening/learning
    instead of just url's as default

revision 0.33.1

added a few irc operator things in param file
fixed the math routines
commented out the dotwise domain thing in Question.pl
    because its regex didn't function correctly, etc
    maybe just use the one nslookup so it doesnt get
    confused with messages.

cleaned up for a hopefully stable-ish 0.33

revision 0.32b

infobot doesn't require perl 5.004 anymore, you
    can run safely with perl 5.001 i'm pretty sure.
added support for ANSI Color -- enjoy, you
    can turn this on/off in the params file. also
    might ansi-fy a few more parts. not much though.
fixed bugs with irc code where infobot
    couldn't join &channels (local) or channels
    with weird things like '!'.
-patrick

fixed the :) bug
fixed non-default param file to files/irc.params
-kevin

revision 0.31b

ok, reintegrating the irc modules.
re-added $nuh support so that users can use their 
    passwords, etc.
made numbers with more than 16 digits "a very big
    number" in the math handling.
it's indentation wars!  now that the tabs are gone,
    most things indent nicely.
cut out a few vestigial lines from the inlet code,
    such as the hard-coded dbs (not used now anyway).
i'm still torn about the copyright/license thing. have 
    to figure out how to handle that.
changed the default nick back the Newbie.
removed the #$%#$% param db that was bugging me so
    much.  just read in the param file and be 
    happy.
renamed "run_infobots.pl" to "run_if_needed.pl" and
    made a couple of minor changes in it.


revision 0.30b

thanks, patrick!  Patrick Cole (wildfire) did 
    everything for rev 029b... many many thanks.
made the irc version the default
changed the default server to cmu
changed the default channel to #infobot
will do more in the near future...
NOTE infobot now requires perl 5.004


revision 0.29b

the first and greatest appearance of the inlet code rolled
    into infobot.   new look makes it easier to see what's
    going on and gives it a greater feel to it.  All irc
    code rewritten by Patrick Cole graciously
added a traceroute command for lazy people, etc
nslookup for domain lookups
reindented all the code by hand (ugh) because it was in an
    "Eight Megs and Constantly Swapping" kind of way :)
infobot can now reconnect split servers ...
    "/ctcp infobot autorecon on"
internic whois querys should work now hopefully


revision 0.28b

the first appearance of "curl", the command-line url.
    useful for one-line queries and updates of the db.
    not as full-featured as the standalone url -- 
    these will probably merge.
fixed a minor bug in writeParamFile
woops.  it was set to userLevel > 100 for the eval 
    instead of >= 100. 


revision 0.27b

aha! there was a bug in the argument parser; used pop 
    instead of shift.  this ought to work better now.
added absolute path to url in in4m.  use this if you're
    going to invoke url from anywhere other than the
    home directory.
cleaned up in4m (top level) somewhat
added mkpasswd and ckpasswd in anticipation of userlevels
added writeParamFile in urlParams.pl.  I still would like
    to get away from the param db and just read and write
    a flat file.
allowed $date, $time variables in values, e.g. "date is $date"
allowed \i \me \my in values that prevents "person-switching",
    e.g. "x is go ahead and tell \me" so it doesn't turn me 
    into "in4m" or whatever on output
moved $safeWho generation into &purifyNick, which makes a
    nick safe to use in a regex (among other things).  it 
    really just removes 'bad' characters.
lifted the 'forget' code above most of the text processing
    so it's more wysiwyf ('what you see is what you forget').
stamped out what i hope is the last nick bracket bug 
lifted the normalize query and switch person calls into urlQuestion
    so that they don't cause weird interaction problems
fixed a bug in 'you' (in switchPerson) referring to the bot
added a 'chomp' on reading init files to keep out extra \n's
added more stuff in urlUser.pl
removed the secretWord potential nightmare and replaced it 
    with the userlist potential nightmare
addusers, readUserFile, writeUserFile, ckuser, users, etc 
    etc. in urlUser.pl
userList parameter in irc.params, standalone.params
userlevel 100 exposes eval (!), userlevel 10 lets you
    override the 'REQUIRE' option for urls.  come to
    think of it, REQUIRE could be a number... 
allowed 'allowUrls' to be a number, in which case it is 
    interpreted as the min userlevel to enter a non-url


revision 0.26b

added a '<reply>' prepended tag to allow simple responses
    (thanks, scuzzi_)
made the default behaviour not to whine about things that
    are already defined (...but x is y...) unless addressed
    which makes it nicer when more than one are on the same
    channel


revision 0.25b

mucked around with run_infobots.pl to get it working with
    cron more obviously
urlProcess had an old-style %params ; changed to %param
moved a check for null paramfile names into loadParams loop
fixed a bracketing error that led to irc mode overriding
made it optional to use the parameter dbm; it's actually
    reasonable to just read the irc.params file only
    and not go for the "persistant parameters"


revision 0.24b

added a "commitDBM every Nth transaction" form of the parameter
made dbm retry 10 times to open if it fails
changed the default standalone params to point to the right files dir
added a 'usage' output to dump_db to match make_db
added param allowLeave, which lets people make the bot leave a chan
changed the top-level name to just in4m.
added args to the command line: -p, -i, -s, -h
added a src/myRoutines.pl file so people can customize easily


revision 0.23b

fixed dump_db :/ silly me
fixed another little problem in urlDBM.pl


revision 0.22b

set up params as a db.  it's still a hack and needs work,
    but it allows for persistant params that you can set
    within a session.
fixed various problems in referring to the right dbs
removed gratuitous accesses to the dbs
exposed more stuff in the standalone version.  see standalone.txt.
set up initialization of dbs within in4m.pl
removed RUN_ME_FIRST
changed %params to %param to make set look nicer
moved make_db and dump_db into scripts/ subdir 
    and cleaned them up slightly
renamed params/ to files/
made a doc dir and put the README for standalone in there
added 'where is x at' form (thanks, scuzzi)


revision 0.21b

got rid of the question count access to the db.
made -w happier.  someday i'll make -s happy too.
added parameter files to make life better.
the first appearance of the standalone desktop interactive 
    version that doesn't depend on irc.
added params and hooks for the standalone version.
params{nick} behaviour made consistant (urlSetup was overriding).
@allowed_channels fixed to $params{'allowed_channels'}.
fixed the if (($params{'addressing'} eq 'REQUIRE') && $addressed)
    to !addressed in urlStatement (thanks again, cburnett).
made it open and close dbm files on each update unless 
    told otherwise. some implementations did not guarantee
    commit.  you can check your implementation and set
    this to null or something else if you have a smart dbm.
added params for maxKeyLength and maxDataLength.
added params and fixed the help files. help files are
    still ugly in the standalone mode.
added allowUpdate parameter so you can have strictly answerbots;
    this will tie in to having restricted lists of users + levels.
made it so by default the irc version has no output.  turn
    up the debug level if you need more insight into what's
    going in.


revision 0.20b

this was a quick rev.
fixed some of the gratuitous named stuff in urlProcess.pl
made it so dns wouldn't try to fork under macperl
got the tracking back up


revision 0.19b:

changed the default db's to be infobot-is and infobot-are
changed RUN_ME_FIRST to deal with that and renamed the .txt files
made a wantNick param
make it so dbs are created if don't exist (as option)
fixed $addressed so it didn't just look for prefixes
fixed a couple of the parameters that weren't referring to the hash
changed $urlCount to $factoidCount


revision 0.18b:

moved a bunch of params into the global hash %params
added &params so people can see the settings 
   e.g. /msg in4m mysecretword &params();
added some parameters up-front for server, port, etc.
changed the bad nickname code 
the burnett fix (:$realname)
added infobot.help as a default help file