Writing IRC bots with Perl's BasicBot
Bot Netiquette
Bots can be helpful, but they can also be very intrusive, especially if a bug is triggered. As a matter of consideration towards other IRC users and towards the IRC administrators, keep the following common sense rules in mind.
First, your bot should not flood channels. You must limit the rate at which your bot posts messages and prevent it from posting too many in a row. Bot::BasicBot has flood protection built in, so this should not be a big problem. The hellobot.pl
example presented in this article has flood protection disabled for testing, as you can see in line 30 (Listing 1).
Second, ask permission from the channel operator before letting your bot join their channel.
Third, some IRC servers don't allow bots, or do so only under certain conditions. Most IRC administrators will be fine with bots as long as they are not wreaking havoc, but you should read the rules of the server you are accessing. Don't connect a bot if it is unwanted.
Bots that log the activity on a channel or relay messages towards other networks are particularly troublesome. Some people might consider them a threat against their privacy. Be sure people know you are running the bot for the sake of transparency.
Conclusions
The BasicBot
Perl module allows you to create quick and dirty IRC bots in a matter of minutes. Anybody interested in developing bots using this module should have a look at the documentation [2]. It is quite easy to mix BasicBot
with other Perl modules in order to achieve more complex goals, such as fetching and posting news from websites. I have a small set of bots in my gopher site [3], which you can look at if you want more examples. See Table 1 for notes on the IRC channels referenced in this article.
Table 1
IRC Systems Used in the Examples
Server | Network | Comments |
---|---|---|
|
EFnet [4] |
For general chat |
|
Canternet [5] |
Built by and for My Little Pony fans |
|
freenode |
For computer chat and free software projects |
Infos
- Manage CPAN modules with cpanminus: https://www.linode.com/docs/development/perl/manage-cpan-modules-with-cpan-minus/
- Bot::BasicBot at Metacpan: https://metacpan.org/pod/Bot::BasicBot
- Rubén Llorente's gopher site: http://gopher://gopher.operationalsecurity.es
- EFnet IRC network: http://www.efnet.org/
- Canternet IRC network: https://www.canternet.org
« Previous 1 2
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you've found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
2024 Open Source Professionals Job Survey Now Open
Share your expectations regarding open source jobs.
-
Arch Linux 2023.12.01 Released with a Much-Improved Installer
If you've ever wanted to install Arch Linux, now is your time. With the latest release, the archinstall script vastly simplifies the process.
-
Zorin OS 17 Beta Available for Testing
The upcoming version of Zorin OS includes plenty of improvements to take your PC to a whole new level of user-friendliness.
-
Red Hat Migrates RHEL from Xorg to Wayland
If you've been wondering when Xorg will finally be a thing of the past, wonder no more, as Red Hat has made it clear.
-
PipeWire 1.0 Officially Released
PipeWire was created to take the place of the oft-troubled PulseAudio and has finally reached the 1.0 status as a major update with plenty of improvements and the usual bug fixes.
-
Rocky Linux 9.3 Available for Download
The latest version of the RHEL alternative is now available and brings back cloud and container images for ppc64le along with plenty of new features and fixes.
-
Ubuntu Budgie Shifts How to Tackle Wayland
Ubuntu Budgie has yet to make the switch to Wayland but with a change in approaches, they're finally on track to making it happen.
-
TUXEDO's New Ultraportable Linux Workstation Released
The TUXEDO Pulse 14 blends portability with power, thanks to the AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS CPU.
-
AlmaLinux Will No Longer Be "Just Another RHEL Clone"
With the release of AlmaLinux 9.3, the distribution will be built entirely from upstream sources.
-
elementary OS 8 Has a Big Surprise in Store
When elementary OS 8 finally arrives, it will not only be based on Ubuntu 24.04 but it will also default to Wayland for better performance and security.