README
Last revised: March 08, 2002
  ________________________________________________________________________

     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!

     Contents

     0    Important notice
     1    What is Eggdrop?
     2    How do I get Eggdrop?
            2a    How to get the latest version of Eggdrop via CVS
     3    Quick startup
     4    Upgrading
            4a    Upgrading from a pre-1.3 version to 1.6
            4b    Upgrading from an older 1.3/1.4/1.5/1.6 version to a newer one
     5    Command line
     6    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 pre-compiled Eggdrop for my computer?
           10. I get "Makefile:3 : invalid operator" or 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.
     7    Setting up a crontab
            6a    Setting up a crontab using autobotchk
     8    Boring legal stuff
     9    Mailing list
     10   Documentation
     11   Obtaining help

    ________________________________________________________________________

     (0) NOTICE

          Please read this file carefully before trying to set up Eggdrop.
          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 the world's most popular Internet Relay Chat (IRC)
          bot; it is freely distributable under the GNU General Public
          License (GPL). Eggdrop is a feature rich program designed to be
          easily used and expanded upon by both novice and advanced IRC
          users on a variety of hardware and software platforms.

          An IRC bot is a program that sits on an IRC channel and preforms
          automated tasks while looking just like a normal user on the
          channel. Some of these functions include protecting the channel
          from abuse, allowing privileged users to gain op or voice status,
          logging channel events, providing information, hosting games, etc.

          One of the features that makes eggdrop stand out from other bots
          is module and Tcl scripting support. With scripts and modules,
          you can make the bot preform almost any task you want. They can
          do anything from preventing floods to greeting users and banning
          advertisers from channels.

          You can also link multiple Eggdrop bots together to form a botnet.
          This can allow bots to op each other securely, control floods
          efficiently, and even link channels across multiple IRC networks.
          It also allows the Eggdrops share user lists, ban lists,
          exempt/invite lists, and ignore lists with other bots if userfile
          sharing is enabled. This allows users to have the same access on
          every bot on your botnet. It also allows the bots to distribute
          tasks such as opping and banning users. See doc/BOTNET for
          information on setting up a botnet.

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

          This README file contains information about how to get Eggdrop,
          command line options for Eggdrop, what you may need to do when
          upgrading from older versions, a list of frequently asked
          questions, 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, too), some basics about CVS usage, and some
          channels where you might get help with Eggdrop.


     (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. This means Tcl is installed on your system. If tclsh
          doesn't load, then Tcl probably isn't on your system, and you
          will need to install it.

          The best ftp site for Tcl 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 1.6 tree of Eggdrop is developed at
          eggheads.org. You can get the latest version of Eggdrop from
          ftp://ftp.eggheads.org/pub/eggdrop/source/eggdrop-latest.tar.gz.

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


     (2a) CVS USAGE

          You can 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 is intended only for users that know a good bit about Eggdrop.
          Be aware that the versions of Eggdrop that you get via 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 prompted for a password.

               (5) In your home dir, type 'cvs checkout eggdrop1.6'

               (6) In ~/eggdrop1.6, 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 ~/eggdrop1.6' 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

          Please see the 'INSTALL' file AFTER you finish reading this file.

     (4) UPGRADING

          (4a) UPGRADING FROM A PRE-1.3 VERSION TO 1.6

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

               We can't stress 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 a lot of things.

               There are many major changes between v0.9, v1.0, v1.1 and
               v1.6, so PAY ATTENTION to this part if you have a v0.9, 1.0
               or 1.1 bot currently. If you're just starting out, you can
               skip this section.

               If you run share bots, 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.
               MAKE A NEW CONFIG FILE from the example; there are some radical
               changes.

               If you are upgrading from 0.9/1.0 to 1.6, just redo the whole
               thing. Absolutely everything has changed, including the
               userfile and config file formats.

               If you are upgrading from 1.1/1.2 to 1.6, 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 (1.3/1.4/1.5/1.6).

          (4b) UPGRADING FROM AN OLDER 1.3/1.4/1.5/1.6 VERSION TO A NEWER 1.6
               VERSION

               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 eggdrop1.6.x.tar.gz file to
               your home dir on your shell, gunzip and untar it, and type
               'cd ~/eggdrop1.6.x'. Next, type './configure', 'make config'
               or 'make iconfig', then 'make'. Then, kill the bot ('.die' on
               the party line), and 'make install' to the same directory your
               bot is currently in. After that, you can just restart your
               bot. You may wish to delete the old Eggdrop executable and
               modules as well, especially if you have limited disk space.

               You should read through the new eggdrop.complete.conf file
               for all the new options in Eggdrop 1.6.x if you are upgrading
               from 1.3.x or 1.4.x. You can copy and paste any of these
               settings into you current conf file if you do not want to use
               the default settings.

     (5) COMMAND LINE

         Eggdrop has some command-line options -- not many, because most
         things should be defined through the config file. However, sometimes
         you may want to start up the bot in a different mode, and the
         command-line options let you do that. Basically, the command line
         for Eggdrop is:

           % eggdrop [options] [config-file]

         The options available are:

           -n: Don't background. Normally, Eggdrop will move itself into the
             background when you start it up, meaning you'll get another
             shell prompt, and you can do other things while the bot is
             running. With -n, you won't return to the shell prompt until
             the bot exits (which won't normally happen until it's killed).
             By default, -n will send all log entries to the console.

           -nt: Don't background, use terminal. This is just like -n, except
             that instead of seeing log entries, your console will simulate
             a DCC chat with the bot.

           -nc: Don't background, show channel info. This is just like -n,
              except that instead of seeing log entries, every 10 seconds
              your screen will clear and you will see the current channel
              status, sort of like "top".

           -m: Create userfile. If you don't have a userfile, this will make
              Eggdrop create one and give owner status to the first person
              that introduces himself or herself to it. You'll need to do
              this when you first set up your bot.

           -v: Show version info, then quit.

         Most people never use any of the options except -m, and you usually
         only need to use that once.

     (6) 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 eggdrop.conf").

               (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 an owner 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 the my-ip setting in the config file correctly.

          3. WHAT THE HECK IS Tcl?

               Tcl is a scripting language written by John Ousterhout. It's
               much better than most "built-in" script languages (like the
               one in ircII) and is meant to be linked with anything needing
               a  scripting language, so I linked it with Eggdrop. The file
               "tcl-commands.doc" in the doc directory contains a list of
               additional Tcl commands provided by Eggdrop. There are also
               several example scripts in the scripts/ directory, and one
               in the doc directory called first_script.txt. There are also
               hundreds of scripts floating around on the ftp/web 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"!

               See doc/compiling.FAQ.

          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 features to the bot, much
               like Tcl scripts, without requiring the bot to be recompiled.
               See doc/MODULES for more information.

          8. CAN I COMPILE EGGDROP WITHOUT DYNAMIC MODULES?

               Yes, you can. If the configure script detects that your system
               CAN'T run modules, it will setup 'make' to link the modules in
               statically for you. You can choose this option yourself by
               using 'make static'. You can also try to compile dynamic
               modules on a static-only system by using '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. HOWEVER, they are not enabled
                 until you use loadmodule to enable them, hence you get nearly
                 the same functionality with static modules as with dynamic
                 modules.

          9. WHERE CAN I GET A PRE-COMPILED EGGDROP FOR MY COMPUTER?

               It is HIGHLY recommended AGAINST using pre-compiled Eggdrops
               from un-trusted sources. Eggdrop has been a regular target
               for hacking and crashing. Distribution of pre-compiled
               (binary) versions of Eggdrop are the easiest way for 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 pre-compiled 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 remove the offending lines from you userfile
                manually (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.

                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. ;)

                You can also try:

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

                 Tell configure where to look for the Tcl files.

                 Try looking for libtcl by:

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

                 Try looking for tcl.h by:

                   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 section 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, and reinstall.

                (2) If it's not your machine, you make have to resort to 'make
                    static' and 'make install DEST="path"' 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 having lame static
                    libraries. :)

     (7) 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.

           Eggdrop comes with a shell 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 e-mails from cron, use 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:

             (1) Create a new file called 'mycron' and put the above
                 line into it.

             (2) 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).

     (7a) 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 these 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 config file> -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.

     (8) BORING LEGAL STUFF

           The Eggdrop bot is copyright (C) 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
           (C) 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 as well. All 3 files contain useful functions
           that could easily be ported to other applications.

           Tcl is by John Ousterhout and is in no way affiliated with Eggdrop.
           It 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.

     (9) MAILING LIST

           There are currently a couple of mailing lists about Eggdrop.
           eggheads@eggheads.org is the one relevant for posts about
           Eggdrop 1.4 and up (suggestions, help, etc).

           To subscribe to the eggheads mailing list, send e-mail to
           eggheads-request@eggheads.org. In the body of the message, put
           "subscribe eggheads". You can also go to the following url:

             http://scrambled.eggheads.org/mailman/listinfo/eggheads

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

           Robey is no longer developing the Eggdrop code, so don't bother
           e-mailing him. If you have a serious problem, email the eggheads
           mailing list and it will get to the coders.

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

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

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

           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.

           Bug reports should be sent to bugs@eggheads.org. Please read
           and fill out the BUG-REPORT file in the doc directory.

           DO NOT SEND HTML E-MAILS TO ANY OF THE EGGHEADS.ORG MAILING LISTS.
           ANYONE CAUGHT SENDING HTML E-MAILS TO ONE OF THESE LISTS WILL BE
           REMOVED IMMEDIATELY!

     (10) 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.

     (11) OBTAINING HELP

            You can obtain help with Eggdrop in the following IRC channels:

              Undernet - #eggdrop, #eggies
              EFnet - #egghelp, #eggfaq
              IRCnet - #eggdrop
              DALnet - #eggdrop, #botcentral
              OPN - #eggdrop, #egghelp
              QuakeNet - #eggdrop

            If you plan to ask questions in any of the above channels,
            you should be familiar with and follow IRC etiquette.

              o Don't type using CAPITAL letters, colors, or bold, and don't use
                "!" and "?" excessively.

              o Don't /msg people without their permission.

              o Don't repeat or paste large amounts of text to the channel.

            If there are any other serious Eggdrop related channels that should
            be added to the above list, please let us know.

  ________________________________________________________________________

Copyright (C) 1997 Robey Pointer
Copyright (C) 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 Eggheads Development Team
