Confbot: Confbot is a script written in python language written by Perry Lorier. It is available for free under GPL license, so if you know programming, more specifically python you can get the source code and see how it works and modify to suit your needs. It basically relays back the chats sent to the gtalk account configured to all the accounts in the contacts list. So if you join the bots gtalk account you can send chats to it and it will be instantly sent to all the other members in the chat bots contacts list. You can visit the official site here. There are many chinese groups running these bots. There are very few english groups you can see. By the way, one thing to note before we start hosting this, the email which you use to create will be updated on the official website. So beware if you want to create some top secret groups. Anybody can sneek in. You need to first make it a private room.
Example chat bot created for this tutorial.
astachat@gmail.com
To add this chatbot to your Google Talk, just add the account name as a friend. It will automatically accept your invite and you can chat. If you want I can keep this bot online, but only if you people like, it can be a substitue for all who use shoutbox here.
Setting up the Bot:
1) First download the latest version of the script from the website here: http://coders.meta.net.nz/~perry/jabber/confbot.php#download. Make sure to download latest version 1.6 from the list.
2) You will need python to run this script, so download python: http://www.python.org/download/
and install it.
3) Now unpack the confbot script and run (double click) "confbot.py". As this is the first time you are running the script it will ask the details to configure the bot with email and password. I will write what I typed for setting up astachat:
=======
What is the account name of your bot: astachat (Only type the gmail account name, dont type "@gmail.com")
What is the password of your bot: password (your password, btw thats not what I typed
)Write a short description of your bot: Group of Astahost members. All are welcome. (Write a short description about your bot)
Enter super admin email account: astachat@gmail.com (You can either enter another email address or the same email address you entered for the bot.)
=======
Thats it. Hit enter, and it will connect. After succesfully logging in your bot is finally online. The output is something like this:
Leave this window open or else the bot will go offline. The windows will output all the log details like if somebody joins the group, the window will output a message saying: "Subscribe from email@gmail.com Accepted". Periodically the bots status will be updated in the official website. And you can see your email id listed in the website.
Confbot Commands: Here are a few commands which can be used by you as admin and members of the bot. Remove the quotes and enter.
"/names": Lists all the users who are subscribed to the bot.
"/help": Lists all the commands. So you can type this to see all the commands which you can enter.
You can see some other commands with thier explanation here: http://coders.meta.net.nz/~perry/jabber/confbot.php#commands.
Hosting the bot on server: You can of course host it on your own PC, but if you want to make it online 24/7 your PC also needs to stay awake. YOu can host it on the server with python supprt and SSH access. I will update this tutorial with the process to set up on server once I get the hosting.
I would like to thank my Leonard for telling about this script. If you have any doubts or have any difficulty setting up this script please reply and I would be happy to answer them if I can. Thank you.
