NAME
POE::Component::IRC - A fully event-driven IRC client module
SYNOPSIS
# A simple Rot13 'encryption' bot
use strict;
use warnings;
use POE qw(Component::IRC);
my $nickname = 'Flibble' . $$;
my $ircname = 'Flibble the Sailor Bot';
my $server = 'irc.perl.org';
my @channels = ('#Blah', '#Foo', '#Bar');
# We create a new PoCo-IRC object
my $irc = POE::Component::IRC->spawn(
nick => $nickname,
ircname => $ircname,
server => $server,
) or die "Oh noooo! $!";
POE::Session->create(
package_states => [
main => [ qw(_default _start irc_001 irc_public) ],
],
heap => { irc => $irc },
);
$poe_kernel->run();
sub _start {
my $heap = $_[HEAP];
# retrieve our component's object from the heap where we stashed it
my $irc = $heap->{irc};
$irc->yield( register => 'all' );
$irc->yield( connect => { } );
return;
}
sub irc_001 {
my $sender = $_[SENDER];
# Since this is an irc_* event, we can get the component's object by
# accessing the heap of the sender. Then we register and connect to the
# specified server.
my $irc = $sender->get_heap();
print "Connected to ", $irc->server_name(), "\n";
# we join our channels
$irc->yield( join => $_ ) for @channels;
return;
}
sub irc_public {
my ($sender, $who, $where, $what) = @_[SENDER, ARG0 .. ARG2];
my $nick = ( split /!/, $who )[0];
my $channel = $where->[0];
if ( my ($rot13) = $what =~ /^rot13 (.+)/ ) {
$rot13 =~ tr[a-zA-Z][n-za-mN-ZA-M];
$irc->yield( privmsg => $channel => "$nick: $rot13" );
}
return;
}
# We registered for all events, this will produce some debug info.
sub _default {
my ($event, $args) = @_[ARG0 .. $#_];
my @output = ( "$event: " );
for my $arg (@$args) {
if ( ref $arg eq 'ARRAY' ) {
push( @output, '[' . join(', ', @$arg ) . ']' );
}
else {
push ( @output, "'$arg'" );
}
}
print join ' ', @output, "\n";
return;
}
DESCRIPTION
POE::Component::IRC is a POE component (who'd have guessed?) which acts
as an easily controllable IRC client for your other POE components and
sessions. You create an IRC component and tell it what events your
session cares about and where to connect to, and it sends back
interesting IRC events when they happen. You make the client do things
by sending it events. That's all there is to it. Cool, no?
[Note that using this module requires some familiarity with the details
of the IRC protocol. I'd advise you to read up on the gory details of
started. Keep the list of server numeric codes handy while you program.
Needless to say, you'll also need a good working knowledge of POE, or
this document will be of very little use to you.]
The POE::Component::IRC distribution has a docs/ folder with a
collection of salient documentation including the pertinent RFCs.
POE::Component::IRC consists of a POE::Session that manages the IRC
connection and dispatches "irc_" prefixed events to interested sessions
and an object that can be used to access additional information using
methods.
Sessions register their interest in receiving "irc_" events by sending
"register" to the component. One would usually do this in your "_start"
handler. Your session will continue to receive events until you
"unregister". The component will continue to stay around until you tell
it not to with "shutdown".
The SYNOPSIS demonstrates a fairly basic bot.
See POE::Component::IRC::Cookbook for more examples.
Useful subclasses
Included with POE::Component::IRC are a number of useful subclasses. As
they are subclasses they support all the methods, etc. documented here
and have additional methods and quirks which are documented separately:
POE::Component::IRC::State
POE::Component::IRC::State provides all the functionality of
POE::Component::IRC but also tracks IRC state entities such as nicks
and channels.
POE::Component::IRC::Qnet
POE::Component::IRC::Qnet is POE::Component::IRC tweaked for use on
Quakenet IRC network.
POE::Component::IRC::Qnet::State
POE::Component::IRC::Qnet::State is a tweaked version of
POE::Component::IRC::State for use on the Quakenet IRC network.
The Plugin system
As of 3.7, PoCo-IRC sports a plugin system. The documentation for it can
be read by looking at POE::Component::IRC::Plugin. That is not a
subclass, just a placeholder for documentation!
A number of useful plugins have made their way into the core
distribution:
POE::Component::IRC::Plugin::DCC
Provides DCC support. Loaded by default.
POE::Component::IRC::Plugin::AutoJoin
Keeps you on your favorite channels throughout reconnects and even
kicks.
POE::Component::IRC::Plugin::Connector
Glues an irc bot to an IRC network, i.e. deals with maintaining ircd
connections.
POE::Component::IRC::Plugin::BotTraffic
Under normal circumstances irc bots do not normal the msgs and
public msgs that they generate themselves. This plugin enables you
to handle those events.
POE::Component::IRC::Plugin::BotAddressed
Generates "irc_bot_addressed" / "irc_bot_mentioned" /
"irc_bot_mentioned_action" events whenever your bot's name comes up
in channel discussion.
POE::Component::IRC::Plugin::BotCommand
Provides an easy way to handle commands issued to your bot.
POE::Component::IRC::Plugin::Console
See inside the component. See what events are being sent. Generate
irc commands manually. A TCP based console.
POE::Component::IRC::Plugin::FollowTail
Follow the tail of an ever-growing file.
POE::Component::IRC::Plugin::Logger
Log public and private messages to disk.
POE::Component::IRC::Plugin::NickServID
Identify with FreeNode's NickServ when needed.
POE::Component::IRC::Plugin::Proxy
A lightweight IRC proxy/bouncer.
POE::Component::IRC::Plugin::CTCP
Automagically generates replies to ctcp version, time and userinfo
queries.
POE::Component::IRC::Plugin::PlugMan
An experimental Plugin Manager plugin.
POE::Component::IRC::Plugin::NickReclaim
Automagically deals with your nickname being in use and reclaiming
it.
POE::Component::IRC::Plugin::CycleEmpty
Cycles (parts and rejoins) channels if they become empty and opless,
in order to gain ops.
CONSTRUCTORS
Both constructors return an object. The object is also available within
'irc_' event handlers by using "$_[SENDER]->get_heap()". See also
"register" and "irc_registered".
"spawn"
Takes a number of arguments, all of which are optional. All the options
below may be supplied to the "connect" input event as well, except for
'alias', 'options', 'NoDNS', 'debug', and 'plugin_debug'.
'alias', a name (kernel alias) that this instance will be known by;
'options', a hashref containing POE::Session options;
'Server', the server name;
'Port', the remote port number;
'Password', an optional password for restricted servers;
'Nick', your client's IRC nickname;
'Username', your client's username;
'Ircname', some cute comment or something.
'UseSSL', set to some true value if you want to connect using SSL.
'Raw', set to some true value to enable the component to send "irc_raw"
and "irc_raw_out" events.
'LocalAddr', which local IP address on a multihomed box to connect as;
'LocalPort', the local TCP port to open your socket on;
'NoDNS', set this to 1 to disable DNS lookups using PoCo-Client-DNS.
(See note below).
'Flood', set this to 1 to get quickly disconnected and klined from an
ircd >;]
'Proxy', IP address or server name of a proxy server to use.
'ProxyPort', which tcp port on the proxy to connect to.
'NATAddr', what other clients see as your IP address.
'DCCPorts', an arrayref containing tcp ports that can be used for DCC
sends.
'Resolver', provide a POE::Component::Client::DNS object for the
component to use.
'msg_length', the maximum length of IRC messages, in bytes. Default is
450. The IRC component shortens all messages longer than this value
minus the length of your current nickname. IRC only allows raw protocol
lines messages that are 512 bytes or shorter, including the trailing
"\r\n". This is most relevant to long PRIVMSGs. The IRC component can't
be sure how long your user@host mask will be every time you send a
message, considering that most networks mangle the 'user' part and some
even replace the whole string (think FreeNode cloaks). If you have an
unusually long user@host mask you might want to decrease this value if
you're prone to sending long messages. Conversely, if you have an
unusually short one, you can increase this value if you want to be able
to send as long a message as possible. Be careful though, increase it
too much and the IRC server might disconnect you with a "Request too
long" message when you try to send a message that's too long.
'debug', if set to a true value causes the IRC component to print every
message sent to and from the server, as well as print some warnings when
it receives malformed messages. This option will be enabled if the
"POCOIRC_DEBUG" environment variable is set to a true value.
'plugin_debug', set to some true value to print plugin debug info,
default 0. Plugins are processed inside an eval. When you enable this
option, you will be notified when (and why) a plugin raises an
exception. This option will be enabled if the "POCOIRC_DEBUG"
environment variable is set to a true value.
'socks_proxy', specify a SOCKS4/SOCKS4a proxy to use.
'socks_port', the SOCKS port to use, defaults to 1080 if not specified.
'socks_id', specify a SOCKS user_id. Default is none.
'useipv6', enable the use of IPv6 for connections.
"spawn" will supply reasonable defaults for any of these attributes
which are missing, so don't feel obliged to write them all out.
If the component finds that POE::Component::Client::DNS is installed it
will use that to resolve the server name passed. Disable this behaviour
if you like, by passing: "NoDNS => 1".
Additionally there is a 'Flood' parameter. When true, it disables the
component's flood protection algorithms, allowing it to send messages to
an IRC server at full speed. Disconnects and k-lines are some common
side effects of flooding IRC servers, so care should be used when
enabling this option.
Two new attributes are 'Proxy' and 'ProxyPort' for sending your IRC
traffic through a proxy server. 'Proxy''s value should be the IP address
or server name of the proxy. 'ProxyPort''s value should be the port on
the proxy to connect to. "connect" will default to using the *actual*
IRC server's port if you provide a proxy but omit the proxy's port.
These are for HTTP Proxies. See 'socks_proxy' for SOCKS4 and SOCKS4a
support.
For those people who run bots behind firewalls and/or Network Address
Translation there are two additional attributes for DCC. 'DCCPorts', is
an arrayref of ports to use when initiating DCC connections. 'NATAddr',
is the NAT'ed IP address that your bot is hidden behind, this is sent
whenever you do DCC.
SSL support requires POE::Component::SSLify, as well as an IRC server
that supports SSL connections. If you're missing POE::Component::SSLify,
specifying 'UseSSL' will do nothing. The default is to not try to use
SSL.
'Resolver', requires a POE::Component::Client::DNS object. Useful when
spawning multiple poco-irc sessions, saves the overhead of multiple dns
sessions.
'NoDNS' has different results depending on whether it is set with
"spawn" or "connect". Setting it with "spawn", disables the creation of
the POE::Component::Client::DNS completely. Setting it with "connect" on
the other hand allows the PoCo-Client-DNS session to be spawned, but
will disable any dns lookups using it.
SOCKS4 proxy support is provided by 'socks_proxy', 'socks_port' and
'socks_id' parameters. If something goes wrong with the SOCKS connection
you should get a warning on STDERR. This is fairly experimental
currently.
IPv6 support is available for connecting to IPv6 enabled ircds (it won't
work for DCC though). To enable it, specify 'useipv6'. Socket6 is
required to be installed. If you have Socket6 and
POE::Component::Client::DNS installed and specify a hostname that
resolves to an IPv6 address then IPv6 will be used. If you specify an
ipv6 'localaddr' then IPv6 will be used.
"new"
This method is deprecated. See the "spawn" method instead. The first
argument should be a name (kernel alias) which this new connection will
be known by. Optionally takes more arguments (see "spawn" as name/value
pairs. Returns a POE::Component::IRC object. :)
Note: Use of this method will generate a warning. There are currently no
plans to make it die() >;]
METHODS
These are methods supported by the POE::Component::IRC object. It also
inherits a few from Object::Pluggable. See its documentation for
details.
"server_name"
Takes no arguments. Returns the name of the IRC server that the
component is currently connected to.
"server_version"
Takes no arguments. Returns the IRC server version.
"nick_name"
Takes no arguments. Returns a scalar containing the current nickname
that the bot is using.
"localaddr"
Takes no arguments. Returns the IP address being used.
"session_id"
Takes no arguments. Returns the ID of the component's session. Ideal for
posting events to the component.
$kernel->post($irc->session_id() => 'mode' => $channel => '+o' => $dude);
"session_alias"
Takes no arguments. Returns the session alias that has been set through
"spawn"'s alias argument.
"send_queue"
The component provides anti-flood throttling. This method takes no
arguments and returns a scalar representing the number of messages that
are queued up waiting for dispatch to the irc server.
"logged_in"
Takes no arguments. Returns true or false depending on whether the IRC
component is logged into an IRC network.
"connected"
Takes no arguments. Returns true or false depending on whether the
component's socket is currently connected.
"disconnect"
Takes no arguments. Terminates the socket connection disgracefully >;o]
"raw_events"
With no arguments, returns true or false depending on whether "irc_raw"
and "irc_raw_out" events are being generated or not. Provide a true or
false argument to enable or disable this feature accordingly.
"isupport"
Takes one argument, a server capability to query. Returns "undef" on
failure or a value representing the applicable capability. A full list
"isupport_dump_keys"
Takes no arguments, returns a list of the available server capabilities
keys, which can be used with "isupport".
"yield"
This method provides an alternative object based means of posting events
to the component. First argument is the event to post, following
arguments are sent as arguments to the resultant post.
$irc->yield(mode => $channel => '+o' => $dude);
"call"
This method provides an alternative object based means of calling events
to the component. First argument is the event to call, following
arguments are sent as arguments to the resultant call.
$irc->call(mode => $channel => '+o' => $dude);
"delay"
This method provides a way of posting delayed events to the component.
The first argument is an arrayref consisting of the delayed command to
post and any command arguments. The second argument is the time in
seconds that one wishes to delay the command being posted.
my $alarm_id = $irc->delay( [ mode => $channel => '+o' => $dude ], 60 );
Returns an alarm ID that can be used with "delay_remove" to cancel the
delayed event. This will be undefined if something went wrong.
"delay_remove"
This method removes a previously scheduled delayed event from the
component. Takes one argument, the "alarm_id" that was returned by a
"delay" method call.
my $arrayref = $irc->delay_remove( $alarm_id );
Returns an arrayref that was originally requested to be delayed.
"resolver"
Returns a reference to the POE::Component::Client::DNS object that is
internally created by the component.
"send_event"
Sends an event through the components event handling system. These will
get processed by plugins then by registered sessions. First argument is
the event name, followed by any parameters for that event.
INPUT
How to talk to your new IRC component... here's the events we'll accept.
These are events that are posted to the component, either via
"$poe_kernel->post()" or via the object method "yield".
So the following would be functionally equivalent:
sub irc_001 {
my ($kernel,$sender) = @_[KERNEL,SENDER];
my $irc = $sender->get_heap(); # obtain the poco's object
$irc->yield( privmsg => 'foo' => 'Howdy!' );
$kernel->post( $sender => privmsg => 'foo' => 'Howdy!' );
$kernel->post( $irc->session_id() => privmsg => 'foo' => 'Howdy!' );
$kernel->post( $irc->session_alias() => privmsg => 'foo' => 'Howdy!' );
return;
}
Important Commands
"register"
Takes N arguments: a list of event names that your session wants to
listen for, minus the "irc_" prefix. So, for instance, if you just want
a bot that keeps track of which people are on a channel, you'll need to
listen for JOINs, PARTs, QUITs, and KICKs to people on the channel
you're in. You'd tell POE::Component::IRC that you want those events by
saying this:
$kernel->post('my client', 'register', qw(join part quit kick));
Then, whenever people enter or leave a channel your bot is on (forcibly
or not), your session will receive events with names like "irc_join",
"irc_kick", etc., which you can use to update a list of people on the
channel.
Registering for 'all' will cause it to send all IRC-related events to
you; this is the easiest way to handle it. See the test script for an
example.
Registering will generate an "irc_registered" event that your session
can trap. "ARG0" is the components object. Useful if you want to bolt
PoCo-IRC's new features such as Plugins into a bot coded to the older
deprecated API. If you are using the new API, ignore this :)
Registering with multiple component sessions can be tricky, especially
if one wants to marry up sessions/objects, etc. Check the SIGNALS
section for an alternative method of registering with multiple
poco-ircs.
Starting with version 4.96, if you spawn the component from inside
another POE session, the component will automatically register that
session as wanting 'all' irc events. That session will receive an
"irc_registered" event indicating that the component is up and ready to
go.
"connect"
Takes one argument: a hash reference of attributes for the new
connection, see "spawn" for details. This event tells the IRC client to
connect to a new/different server. If it has a connection already open,
it'll close it gracefully before reconnecting.
"ctcp" and "ctcpreply"
Sends a CTCP query or response to the nick(s) or channel(s) which you
specify. Takes 2 arguments: the nick or channel to send a message to
(use an array reference here to specify multiple recipients), and the
plain text of the message to send (the CTCP quoting will be handled for
you). The "/me" command in popular IRC clients is actually a CTCP
action.
# Doing a /me
$irc->yield(ctcp => $channel => 'ACTION dances.');
"join"
Tells your IRC client to join a single channel of your choice. Takes at
least one arg: the channel name (required) and the channel key
(optional, for password-protected channels).
"kick"
Tell the IRC server to forcibly evict a user from a particular channel.
Takes at least 2 arguments: a channel name, the nick of the user to
boot, and an optional witty message to show them as they sail out the
door.
"remove" (FreeNode only)
Tell the IRC server to forcibly evict a user from a particular channel.
Takes at least 2 arguments: a channel name, the nick of the user to
boot, and an optional witty message to show them as they sail out the
door. Similar to KICK but does an enforced PART instead.
"mode"
Request a mode change on a particular channel or user. Takes at least
one argument: the mode changes to effect, as a single string (e.g.
"#mychan +sm-p+o"), and any number of optional operands to the mode
changes (nicks, hostmasks, channel keys, whatever.) Or just pass them
all as one big string and it'll still work, whatever. I regret that I
haven't the patience now to write a detailed explanation, but serious
IRC users know the details anyhow.
"nick"
Allows you to change your nickname. Takes exactly one argument: the new
username that you'd like to be known as.
"nickserv" (FreeNode, ratbox, et al)
Talks to NickServ. Takes any number of arguments.
"notice"
Sends a NOTICE message to the nick(s) or channel(s) which you specify.
Takes 2 arguments: the nick or channel to send a notice to (use an array
reference here to specify multiple recipients), and the text of the
notice to send.
"part"
Tell your IRC client to leave the channels which you pass to it. Takes
any number of arguments: channel names to depart from. If the last
argument doesn't begin with a channel name identifier or contains a
space character, it will be treated as a PART message and dealt with
accordingly.
"privmsg"
Sends a public or private message to the nick(s) or channel(s) which you
specify. Takes 2 arguments: the nick or channel to send a message to
(use an array reference here to specify multiple recipients), and the
text of the message to send.
Have a look at the constants in POE::Component::IRC::Common if you would
like to use formatting and color codes in your messages.
"quit"
Tells the IRC server to disconnect you. Takes one optional argument:
some clever, witty string that other users in your channels will see as
you leave. You can expect to get an "irc_disconnected" event shortly
after sending this.
"shutdown"
By default, POE::Component::IRC sessions never go away. Even after
they're disconnected, they're still sitting around in the background,
waiting for you to call "connect" on them again to reconnect. (Whether
this behavior is the Right Thing is doubtful, but I don't want to break
backwards compatibility at this point.) You can send the IRC session a
"shutdown" event manually to make it delete itself.
If you are logged into an IRC server, "shutdown" first will send a quit
message and wait to be disconnected. It will wait for up to 5 seconds
before forcibly disconnecting from the IRC server. If you provide an
argument, that will be used as the QUIT message. If you provide two
arguments, the second one will be used as the timeout (in seconds).
Terminating multiple components can be tricky. Check the SIGNALS section
for a method of shutting down multiple poco-ircs.
"topic"
Retrieves or sets the topic for particular channel. If called with just
the channel name as an argument, it will ask the server to return the
current topic. If called with the channel name and a string, it will set
the channel topic to that string. Supply an empty string to unset a
channel topic.
"unregister"
Takes N arguments: a list of event names which you *don't* want to
receive. If you've previously done a "register" for a particular event
which you no longer care about, this event will tell the IRC connection
to stop sending them to you. (If you haven't, it just ignores you. No
big deal.)
If you have registered with 'all', attempting to unregister individual
events such as 'mode', etc. will not work. This is a 'feature'.
"debug"
Takes one argument: 0 to turn debugging off or 1 to turn debugging on.
This flips the debugging flag in POE::Filter::IRCD,
POE::Filter::IRC::Compat, and POE::Component::IRC. This has the same
effect as setting Debug in "spawn" or "connect".
Not-So-Important Commands
"admin"
Asks your server who your friendly neighborhood server administrators
are. If you prefer, you can pass it a server name to query, instead of
asking the server you're currently on.
"away"
When sent with an argument (a message describig where you went), the
server will note that you're now away from your machine or otherwise
preoccupied, and pass your message along to anyone who tries to
communicate with you. When sent without arguments, it tells the server
that you're back and paying attention.
"cap"
Used to query/enable/disable IRC protocol capabilities. Takes any number
of arguments.
"dcc*"
See the DCC plugin (loaded by default) documentation for DCC-related
commands.
"info"
Basically the same as the "version" command, except that the server is
permitted to return any information about itself that it thinks is
relevant. There's some nice, specific standards-writing for ya, eh?
"invite"
Invites another user onto an invite-only channel. Takes 2 arguments: the
nick of the user you wish to admit, and the name of the channel to
invite them to.
"ison"
Asks the IRC server which users out of a list of nicknames are currently
online. Takes any number of arguments: a list of nicknames to query the
IRC server about.
"links"
Asks the server for a list of servers connected to the IRC network.
Takes two optional arguments, which I'm too lazy to document here, so
all you would-be linklooker writers should probably go dig up the RFC.
"list"
Asks the server for a list of visible channels and their topics. Takes
any number of optional arguments: names of channels to get topic
information for. If called without any channel names, it'll list every
visible channel on the IRC network. This is usually a really big list,
so don't do this often.
"motd"
Request the server's "Message of the Day", a document which typically
contains stuff like the server's acceptable use policy and admin contact
email addresses, et cetera. Normally you'll automatically receive this
when you log into a server, but if you want it again, here's how to do
it. If you'd like to get the MOTD for a server other than the one you're
logged into, pass it the server's hostname as an argument; otherwise, no
arguments.
"names"
Asks the server for a list of nicknames on particular channels. Takes
any number of arguments: names of channels to get lists of users for. If
called without any channel names, it'll tell you the nicks of everyone
on the IRC network. This is a really big list, so don't do this much.
"quote"
Sends a raw line of text to the server. Takes one argument: a string of
a raw IRC command to send to the server. It is more optimal to use the
events this module supplies instead of writing raw IRC commands
yourself.
"stats"
Returns some information about a server. Kinda complicated and not
terribly commonly used, so look it up in the RFC if you're curious.
Takes as many arguments as you please.
"time"
Asks the server what time it thinks it is, which it will return in a
human-readable form. Takes one optional argument: a server name to
query. If not supplied, defaults to current server.
"trace"
If you pass a server name or nick along with this request, it asks the
server for the list of servers in between you and the thing you
mentioned. If sent with no arguments, it will show you all the servers
which are connected to your current server.
"users"
Asks the server how many users are logged into it. Defaults to the
server you're currently logged into; however, you can pass a server name
as the first argument to query some other machine instead.
"version"
Asks the server about the version of ircd that it's running. Takes one
optional argument: a server name to query. If not supplied, defaults to
current server.
"who"
Lists the logged-on users matching a particular channel name, hostname,
nickname, or what-have-you. Takes one optional argument: a string for it
to search for. Wildcards are allowed; in the absence of this argument,
it will return everyone who's currently logged in (bad move). Tack an
"o" on the end if you want to list only IRCops, as per the RFC.
"whois"
Queries the IRC server for detailed information about a particular user.
Takes any number of arguments: nicknames or hostmasks to ask for
information about. As of version 3.2, you will receive an "irc_whois"
event in addition to the usual numeric responses. See below for details.
"whowas"
Asks the server for information about nickname which is no longer
connected. Takes at least one argument: a nickname to look up (no
wildcards allowed), the optional maximum number of history entries to
return, and the optional server hostname to query. As of version 3.2,
you will receive an "irc_whowas" event in addition to the usual numeric
responses. See below for details.
"ping" and "pong"
Included for completeness sake. The component will deal with ponging to
pings automatically. Don't worry about it.
Purely Esoteric Commands
"die"
Tells the IRC server you're connect to, to terminate. Only useful for
IRCops, thank goodness. Takes no arguments.
"locops"
Opers-only command. This one sends a message to all currently logged-on
local-opers (+l). This option is specific to EFNet.
"oper"
In the exceedingly unlikely event that you happen to be an IRC operator,
you can use this command to authenticate with your IRC server. Takes 2
arguments: your username and your password.
"operwall"
Opers-only command. This one sends a message to all currently logged-on
global opers. This option is specific to EFNet.
"rehash"
Tells the IRC server you're connected to, to rehash its configuration
files. Only useful for IRCops. Takes no arguments.
"restart"
Tells the IRC server you're connected to, to shut down and restart
itself. Only useful for IRCops, thank goodness. Takes no arguments.
"sconnect"
Tells one IRC server (which you have operator status on) to connect to
another. This is actually the CONNECT command, but I already had an
event called "connect", so too bad. Takes the args you'd expect: a
server to connect to, an optional port to connect on, and an optional
remote server to connect with, instead of the one you're currently on.
"squit"
Operator-only command used to disconnect server links. Takes two
arguments, the server to disconnect and a message explaining your
action.
"summon"
Don't even ask.
"servlist"
Lists the currently connected services on the network that are visible
to you. Takes two optional arguments, a mask for matching service names
against, and a service type.
"squery"
Sends a message to a service. Takes the same arguments as "privmsg".
"userhost"
Asks the IRC server for information about particular nicknames. (The RFC
doesn't define exactly what this is supposed to return.) Takes any
number of arguments: the nicknames to look up.
"wallops"
Another opers-only command. This one sends a message to all currently
logged-on opers (and +w users); sort of a mass PA system for the IRC
server administrators. Takes one argument: some clever, witty message to
send.
OUTPUT
The events you will receive (or can ask to receive) from your running
IRC component. Note that all incoming event names your session will
receive are prefixed by "irc_", to inhibit event namespace pollution.
If you wish, you can ask the client to send you every event it
generates. Simply register for the event name "all". This is a lot
easier than writing a huge list of things you specifically want to
listen for.
FIXME: I'd really like to classify these somewhat ("basic", "oper",
"ctcp", "dcc", "raw" or some such), and I'd welcome suggestions for ways
to make this easier on the user, if you can think of some.
In your event handlers, $_[SENDER] is the particular component session
that sent you the event. "$_[SENDER]->get_heap()" will retrieve the
component's object. Useful if you want on-the-fly access to the object
and its methods.
Important Events
"irc_connected"
The IRC component will send an "irc_connected" event as soon as it
establishes a connection to an IRC server, before attempting to log in.
"ARG0" is the server name.
NOTE: When you get an "irc_connected" event, this doesn't mean you can
start sending commands to the server yet. Wait until you receive an
"irc_001" event (the server welcome message) before actually sending
anything back to the server.
"irc_ctcp"
"irc_ctcp" events are generated upon receipt of CTCP messages, in
addition to the "irc_ctcp_*" events mentioned below. They are identical
in every way to these, with one difference: instead of the * being in
the method name, it is prepended to the argument list. For example, if
someone types "/ctcp Flibble foo bar", an "irc_ctcp" event will be sent
with 'foo' as "ARG0", and the rest as given below.
It is not recommended that you register for both "irc_ctcp" and
"irc_ctcp_*" events, since they will both be fired and presumably cause
duplication.
"irc_ctcp_*"
"irc_ctcp_whatever" events are generated upon receipt of CTCP messages.
For instance, receiving a CTCP PING request generates an "irc_ctcp_ping"
event, CTCP ACTION (produced by typing "/me" in most IRC clients)
generates an "irc_ctcp_action" event, blah blah, so on and so forth.
"ARG0" is the nick!hostmask of the sender. "ARG1" is the
channel/recipient name(s). "ARG2" is the text of the CTCP message. On
servers supporting the IDENTIFY-MSG feature (e.g. FreeNode), CTCP
ACTIONs will have "ARG3", which will be 1 if the sender has identified
with NickServ, 0 otherwise.
Note that DCCs are handled separately -- see the DCC plugin.
"irc_ctcpreply_*"
"irc_ctcpreply_whatever" messages are just like "irc_ctcp_whatever"
messages, described above, except that they're generated when a response
to one of your CTCP queries comes back. They have the same arguments and
such as "irc_ctcp_*" events.
"irc_disconnected"
The counterpart to "irc_connected", sent whenever a socket connection to
an IRC server closes down (whether intentionally or unintentionally).
"ARG0" is the server name.
"irc_error"
You get this whenever the server sends you an ERROR message. Expect this
to usually be accompanied by the sudden dropping of your connection.
"ARG0" is the server's explanation of the error.
"irc_join"
Sent whenever someone joins a channel that you're on. "ARG0" is the
person's nick!hostmask. "ARG1" is the channel name.
"irc_invite"
Sent whenever someone offers you an invitation to another channel.
"ARG0" is the person's nick!hostmask. "ARG1" is the name of the channel
they want you to join.
"irc_kick"
Sent whenever someone gets booted off a channel that you're on. "ARG0"
is the kicker's nick!hostmask. "ARG1" is the channel name. "ARG2" is the
nick of the unfortunate kickee. "ARG3" is the explanation string for the
kick.
"irc_mode"
Sent whenever someone changes a channel mode in your presence, or when
you change your own user mode. "ARG0" is the nick!hostmask of that
someone. "ARG1" is the channel it affects (or your nick, if it's a user
mode change). "ARG2" is the mode string (i.e., "+o-b"). The rest of the
args ("ARG3 .. $#_") are the operands to the mode string (nicks,
hostmasks, channel keys, whatever).
"irc_msg"
Sent whenever you receive a PRIVMSG command that was addressed to you
privately. "ARG0" is the nick!hostmask of the sender. "ARG1" is an array
reference containing the nick(s) of the recipients. "ARG2" is the text
of the message. On servers supporting the IDENTIFY-MSG feature (e.g.
FreeNode), there will be an additional argument, "ARG3", will be 1 if
the sender has identified with NickServ, 0 otherwise.
"irc_nick"
Sent whenever you, or someone around you, changes nicks. "ARG0" is the
nick!hostmask of the changer. "ARG1" is the new nick that they changed
to.
"irc_notice"
Sent whenever you receive a NOTICE command. "ARG0" is the nick!hostmask
of the sender. "ARG1" is an array reference containing the nick(s) or
channel name(s) of the recipients. "ARG2" is the text of the NOTICE
message.
"irc_part"
Sent whenever someone leaves a channel that you're on. "ARG0" is the
person's nick!hostmask. "ARG1" is the channel name. "ARG2" is the part
message.
"irc_public"
Sent whenever you receive a PRIVMSG command that was sent to a channel.
"ARG0" is the nick!hostmask of the sender. "ARG1" is an array reference
containing the channel name(s) of the recipients. "ARG2" is the text of
the message. On servers supporting the IDENTIFY-MSG feature (e.g.
FreeNode), there will be an additional argument, "ARG3", will be 1 if
the sender has identified with NickServ, 0 otherwise.
"irc_quit"
Sent whenever someone on a channel with you quits IRC (or gets KILLed).
"ARG0" is the nick!hostmask of the person in question. "ARG1" is the
clever, witty message they left behind on the way out.
"irc_socketerr"
Sent when a connection couldn't be established to the IRC server. "ARG0"
is probably some vague and/or misleading reason for what failed.
"irc_topic"
Sent when a channel topic is set or unset. "ARG0" is the nick!hostmask
of the sender. "ARG1" is the channel affected. "ARG2" will be either: a
string if the topic is being set; or a zero-length string (i.e. '') if
the topic is being unset. Note: replies to queries about what a channel
topic *is* (i.e. TOPIC #channel), are returned as numerics, not with
this event.
"irc_whois"
Sent in response to a WHOIS query. "ARG0" is a hashref, with the
following keys:
'nick', the users nickname;
'user', the users username;
'host', their hostname;
'real', their real name;
'idle', their idle time in seconds;
'signon', the epoch time they signed on (will be undef if ircd does not
support this);
'channels', an arrayref listing visible channels they are on, the
channel is prefixed with '@','+','%' depending on whether they have +o
+v or +h;
'server', their server ( might not be useful on some networks );
'oper', whether they are an IRCop, contains the IRC operator string if
they are, undef if they aren't.
'actually', some ircds report the users actual ip address, that'll be
here;
On ircu/seven IRCDs (e.g. FreeNode), if the user has registered with
services, there will be another key:
'account'.
On Hyperion IRCDs, if the user has identified with NICKSERV there will
be an additional key:
'identified'.
"irc_whowas"
Similar to the above, except some keys will be missing.
"irc_raw"
Enabled by passing "Raw => 1" to "spawn" or "connect", or by calling
"raw_events" with a true argument. "ARG0" is the raw IRC string received
by the component from the IRC server, before it has been mangled by
filters and such like.
"irc_raw_out"
Enabled by passing "Raw => 1" to "spawn" or "connect", or by calling
"raw_events" with a true argument. "ARG0" is the raw IRC string sent by
the component to the the IRC server.
"irc_registered"
Sent once to the requesting session on registration (see "register").
"ARG0" is a reference tothe component's object.
"irc_shutdown"
Sent to all registered sessions when the component has been asked to
"shutdown". "ARG0" will be the session ID of the requesting session.
"irc_isupport"
Emitted by the first event after an "irc_005", to indicate that isupport
information has been gathered. "ARG0" is the
POE::Component::IRC::Plugin::ISupport object.
"irc_delay_set"
Emitted on a successful addition of a delayed event using the "delay"
method. "ARG0" will be the alarm_id which can be used later with
"delay_remove". Subsequent parameters are the arguments that were passed
to "delay".
"irc_delay_removed"
Emitted when a delayed command is successfully removed. "ARG0" will be
the alarm_id that was removed. Subsequent parameters are the arguments
that were passed to "delay".
"irc_socks_failed"
Emitted whenever we fail to connect successfully to a SOCKS server or
the SOCKS server is not actually a SOCKS server. "ARG0" will be some
vague reason as to what went wrong. Hopefully.
"irc_socks_rejected"
Emitted whenever a SOCKS connection is rejected by a SOCKS server.
"ARG0" is the SOCKS code, "ARG1" the SOCKS server address, "ARG2" the
SOCKS port and "ARG3" the SOCKS user id (if defined).
Somewhat Less Important Events
"irc_cap"
A reply from the server regarding protocol capabilities. "ARG0" is the
CAP subcommand (e.g. 'LS'). "ARG1" is the result of the subcommand,
unless this is a multi-part reply, in which case "ARG1" is '*' and
"ARG2" contains the result.
"irc_dcc_*"
See the DCC plugin (loaded by default) documentation for DCC-related
events.
"irc_ping"
An event sent whenever the server sends a PING query to the client.
(Don't confuse this with a CTCP PING, which is another beast entirely.
If unclear, read the RFC.) Note that POE::Component::IRC will
automatically take care of sending the PONG response back to the server
for you, although you can still register to catch the event for
informational purposes.
"irc_snotice"
A weird, non-RFC-compliant message from an IRC server. Don't worry about
it. "ARG0" is the text of the server's message. Servers vary as to
whether these notices include a server name as the sender, or no sender
at all. "ARG1" is the sender, if any.
All numeric events
Most messages from IRC servers are identified only by three-digit
numeric codes with undescriptive constant names like RPL_UMODEIS and
ERR_NOTOPLEVEL. (Actually, the list of codes in the RFC is kind of
out-of-date... the list in the back of Net::IRC::Event.pm is more
complete, and different IRC networks have different and incompatible
lists. Ack!) As an example, say you wanted to handle event 376
(RPL_ENDOFMOTD, which signals the end of the MOTD message). You'd
register for '376', and listen for "irc_376" events. Simple, no? "ARG0"
is the name of the server which sent the message. "ARG1" is the text of
the message. "ARG2" is an array reference of the parsed message, so
there is no need to parse "ARG1" yourself.
SIGNALS
The component will handle a number of custom signals that you may send
using POE::Kernel's "signal" method.
"POCOIRC_REGISTER"
Registering with multiple PoCo-IRC components has been a pita. Well, no
more, using the power of POE::Kernel signals.
If the component receives a "POCOIRC_REGISTER" signal it'll register the
requesting session and trigger an "irc_registered" event. From that
event one can get all the information necessary such as the poco-irc
object and the SENDER session to do whatever one needs to build a
poco-irc dispatch table.
The way the signal handler in PoCo-IRC is written also supports sending
the "POCOIRC_REGISTER" to multiple sessions simultaneously, by sending
the signal to the POE Kernel itself.
Pass the signal your session, session ID or alias, and the IRC events
(as specified to "register").
To register with multiple PoCo-IRCs one can do the following in your
session's _start handler:
sub _start {
my ($kernel, $session) = @_[KERNEL, SESSION];
# Registering with multiple pocoircs for 'all' IRC events
$kernel->signal($kernel, 'POCOIRC_REGISTER', $session->ID(), 'all');
return:
}
Each poco-irc will send your session an "irc_registered" event:
sub irc_registered {
my ($kernel, $sender, $heap, $irc_object) = @_[KERNEL, SENDER, HEAP, ARG0];
# Get the poco-irc session ID
my $sender_id = $sender->ID();
# Or it's alias
my $poco_alias = $irc_object->session_alias();
# Store it in our heap maybe
$heap->{irc_objects}->{ $sender_id } = $irc_object;
# Make the poco connect
$irc_object->yield(connect => { });
return;
}
"POCOIRC_SHUTDOWN"
Telling multiple poco-ircs to shutdown was a pita as well. The same
principle as with registering applies to shutdown too.
Send a "POCOIRC_SHUTDOWN" to the POE Kernel to terminate all the active
poco-ircs simultaneously.
$poe_kernel->signal($poe_kernel, 'POCOIRC_SHUTDOWN');
Any additional parameters passed to the signal will become your quit
messages on each IRC network.
ENCODING AND CHARACTER SETS
Messages
The only requirement the IRC protocol places on its messages is that
they be 8-bits, and in ASCII. This has resulted in most of the Western
world settling on ASCII-compatible Latin-1 (usually Microsoft's CP1252,
a Latin-1 variant) as a convention. Recently, popular IRC clients (mIRC,
xchat, certain irssi configurations) have begun sending a mixture of
CP1252 and UTF-8 over the wire to allow more characters without breaking
backward compatibility (too much). They send CP1252 encoded messages if
the characters fit within that encoding, otherwise falling back to
UTF-8. Writing text with mixed encoding to a file, terminal, or database
is rarely a good idea. To decode such messages reliably, see
"irc_to_utf8" from POE::Component::IRC::Common.
Channel names
This matter is complicated further by the fact that some servers allow
non-ASCII characters in channel names. The IRC component doesn't
explicitly convert between encodings before sending your message along,
but it has to concatenate the channel name and the message before
sending them over the wire. So when you do "$irc->yield(privmsg =>
$chan, 'æði')", where $chan is the unmodified channel name you got from
the IRC component (i.e. it's a byte string), the channel name will end
up getting double-encoded when concatenated with the message (which is a
text string). If the channel name is all-ASCII, then nothing bad will
happen, but if there are non-ASCII chars in it, you're in trouble.
To prevent this, you can't simply call "irc_to_utf8" on the channel name
and then use it, because IRC servers don't care about encodings. '#æði'
in CP1252 is not the same channel as '#æði' in UTF-8. The channel name
and your message must therefore both be byte stirngs, or both be text
strings. If they're text strings, the UTF-8 flag must be off for both,
or on for both.
A simple rule to follow is to call "encode_utf8" on the channel name
and/or message if they are text strings. Here are some examples:
use Encode qw(encode_utf8);
sub irc_public {
my ($who, $where, $what) = @_[ARG0..ARG2];
my $irc = $_[SENDER]->get_heap();
# bad: if $where has any non-ASCII chars, they will get double-encoded
$irc->yield(privmsg => $where, 'æði');
# bad: if $what has any non-ASCII chars, they will get double-encoded
$irc->yield(privmsg => '#æði', $what);
# good: both are byte strings already, so this does what we expect
$irc->yield(privmsg => $where, $what);
# good: both are text strings (Latin1 as per Perl's default), so
# they'll be concatenated correctly
$irc->yield(privmsg => '#æði', 'æði');
# good: same as the last one, except now they're both in UTF-8,
# which means we'll be sending the message to a different channel
use utf8;
$irc->yield(privmsg => '#æði', 'æði');
# good: $where and $msg_bytes are both byte strings
my $msg_bytes = encode_utf8('æði');
$irc->yield(privmsg => $where, $msg_bytes);
# good: $chan_bytes and $what are both byte strings
my $chan_bytes = encode_utf8('#æði');
$irc->yield(privmsg => $chan_bytes, $what);
}
See also Encode, perluniintro, perlunitut, perlunicode, and perlunifaq.
BUGS
A few have turned up in the past and they are sure to again. Please use
maintainer.
DEVELOPMENT
You can find the latest source on github:
The project's developers usually hang out in the "#poe" IRC channel on
irc.freenode.org. Do drop us a line.
MAINTAINERS
Chris "BinGOs" Williams <chris@bingosnet.co.uk>
Hinrik Örn Sigurðsson <hinrik.sig@gmail.com>
AUTHOR
Dennis Taylor.
LICENCE
Copyright (c) Dennis Taylor, Chris Williams and Hinrik Örn Sigurðsson
This module may be used, modified, and distributed under the same terms
as Perl itself. Please see the license that came with your Perl
distribution for details.
MAD PROPS
The maddest of mad props go out to Rocco "dngor" Caputo
<troc@netrus.net>, for inventing something as mind-bogglingly cool as
POE, and to Kevin "oznoid" Lenzo <lenzo@cs.cmu.edu>, for being the
attentive parent of our precocious little infobot on #perl.
Further props to a few of the studly bughunters who made this module not
suck: Abys <abys@web1-2-3.com>, Addi <addi@umich.edu>, ResDev
<ben@reser.org>, and Roderick <roderick@argon.org>. Woohoo!
Kudos to Apocalypse, <apocal@cpan.org>, for the plugin system and to
Jeff 'japhy' Pinyan, <japhy@perlmonk.org>, for Pipeline.
Thanks to the merry band of POE pixies from #PoE @ irc.perl.org,
including ( but not limited to ), ketas, ct, dec, integral, webfox,
immute, perigrin, paulv, alias.
Check out the Changes file for further contributors.
SEE ALSO
Some good examples reside in the POE cookbook which has a whole section
The examples/ folder of this distribution.