Why bots are big and how to setup a simple IRC-based supybot (part 2)

In part 1 we showed you how to set-up  a simple IRC-based supybot. Don't forget supybot lives in an IRC channel, so you'll need to boot up an IRC client to talk to him. You will also notice that Supybot is not all that bright off the bat. Depending on which plugins you activated upon installation, you'll probably have a few basic commands and some routines, like being able to google for information in your channel. Sounds a bit like any modified shell doesn't it?

Supybot doesn't have much of a personality, so we'll need to download some extra plugins to make him a bit more intelligent than a vacuum cleaner.

A personality plugin is available from Animus. (It is very basic, but a step in the right direction) [be warned, Personality is still a bit buggy, see my comment below]

Download the personality folder to your /botdir/plugins/ folder.

You will need to load the plugin manually.

First make sure you are the owner by identifying to the bot in a private channel;

1. Open a private conversation

/query <bot-name>

or

/msg <bot-name>

2. Identify with the bot

identify <owner-name> <password>

Supybot will either respond or decline your command.

3. Now enter the following command to show the plugins path

supybot.directories.plugins

In my case: /home/freebot/botdir/plugins

4. Load your plugin

@load <name of plugin>

In my case @load Personality

If you're wondering where the plugin file is, its a folder, usually containing plugin.py and some other files. Leave the files alone, or configure them to your satisfaction.