pbot/doc/FAQ.md

Frequently Asked Questions

This is a work in progress. More questions coming soon!

• When I type !version it says new version available?
• How do I change the bot trigger?
• How do I whitelist a user?
• How do I change how the bot outputs multi-line messages?
• I made a command. It’s supposed to output formatting with spaces and tabs?
• How do I change my password?
• How do I make PBot remember my date timezone?
• How do I make PBot remember my weather location?

When I type !version it says new version available?

Whenever I push out an update to PBot, I increment the version. The PBot version command checks PBot’s VERSION.pm file on GitHub to see if it is newer.

You can live-update PBot without shutting it down. None of your files in your custom ata-directories will be touched unless that update includes a migration script in the updates/ directory.

If you used git to install PBot, type git pull in the pbot directory. This will update the PBot files to the latest version from GitHub. If you used ZIP archives, download the latest files and extract them again.

Then, in your PBot instance on IRC, use the refresh command to refresh the PBot core and plugins. No restart required!

If there is a migration script for this update then refresh will say “Migration available; cannot refresh.” and you will need to restart PBot at some point for the update to take effect.

How do I change the bot trigger?

To change the default ! trigger to a different character use the regset command to change the general.trigger value.

For example, to change it to the ~ character:

regset general.trigger ~

To change it to both ! and ~ (and others):

regset general.trigger [!~]

To use only the bot’s nick:

regset general.trigger ""

You can also override the trigger on a per-channel basis by use the channel name in place of general.

For example, to override the trigger specifically for #channel:

regset #channel.trigger ~

How do I whitelist a user?

Whitelisting a user exempts them from anti-flood enforcement, ban-evasion checking, being automatically muted or kicked for various offenses, and more.

To whitelist a user, use the useradd command with the is-whitelisted capability argument. To whitelist them in all channels, add the user to the global channel.

Usage: useradd <username> <hostmasks> <channels> is-whitelisted

If the user already exists, use the userset command to grant them the is-whitelisted capability.

Usage: userset <username> is-whitelisted 1

How do I change how the bot outputs multi-line messages?

When output from a command contains newlines, PBot will convert the newlines to spaces and output it as one message.

If you prefer to output each line instead, you can control this behavior with the general.preserve_newlines and general.max_newlines registry entries. To set this behavior for specific channels, replace general with the #channel.

For example:

<pragma-> !sh printf "a\nb\nc\nd\ne\n"
   <PBot> a b c d e

<pragma-> !regset general.preserve_newlines 1
   <PBot> general.preserve_newlines set to 1

<pragma-> !regset general.max_newlines 4
   <PBot> general.max_newlines set to 4

<pragma-> !sh printf "a\nb\nc\nd\ne\n"
   <PBot> a
   <PBot> b
   <PBot> c
   <PBot> And that's all I have to say about that. See https://0x0.st/-Okb.txt for full text.

I made a command. It’s supposed to output formatting with spaces and tabs?

By default, PBot collapses adjacent whitespace in command output. This is intended to reduce visual noise in IRC channels.

If your command is registered by a plugin, use the cmdset command to set the preserve_whitespace command metadata to control this behavior.

If your command is a command-line module, use the factset command to set the preserve_whitespace factoid metadata instead.

How do I change my password?

If you have a NickServ account or a unique hostmask, you don’t need a PBot password. The stayloggedin metadata on your user account can be set instead.

But if you prefer to be safe instead of sorry, use the my command to set the password user metadata for your user account. Your hostmask must match the user account.

my password <your password>

How do I make PBot remember my date timezone?

Use the my command to set the timezone user metadata for your user account. Your hostmask must match the user account.

my timezone <your timezone>

How do I make PBot remember my weather location?

Use the my command to set the location user metadata for your user account. Your hostmask must match the user account.

my location <your location>