So what do you do?  That depends on which operating system you're
running.  We've split this document up to address the different
methods, so find the section for your operating system and continue
from there.  First let's start with the parts that are common to all
OSes.


###
# COMMON:
###

First things first: Supybot *requires* at least Python 2.3.  There ain't
no getting around it.  We do not require any version greater than 2.3,
but we will be compatible with any version of Python >= 2.3.  If you're
a Python developer, you probably know how superior 2.3 is to previous
incarnations.  If you're not, just think about the difference between a
bowl of plain vanilla ice cream and a banana split.  Or something like
that.  Either way, *We're* Python developers and we like banana splits.
So, be sure to install python2.3 or greater before continuing.  You can
get it from http://www.python.org/

For more information and help on how to use Supybot, checkout
the documents under docs/ (especially GETTING_STARTED and CONFIGURATION).
Our forums (http://forums.supybot.org/) may also be of use, especially
the "Tips and Tricks" topic under "Supybot User Discussion".


###
# UNIX/Linux/*BSD:
###

If you're installing Python using your distributor's packages, you may
need a python-dev package installed, too.  If you don't have a
/usr/lib/python2.3/distutils directory (assuming /usr/lib/python2.3 is
where your Python libs are installed), then you will need a python-dev
package.

After you extract Supybot and cd into the supybot directory just
created, you'll want to run (as root) "python setup.py install".  This
will install Supybot globally.  If you need to install locally for
whatever reason, see the addendum near the end of this document.
You'll then have several new programs installed where Python scripts
are normally installed on your system (/usr/bin or /usr/local/bin are
common on UNIX systems).  The two that might be of particular interest
to you, the new user, are "supybot" and "supybot-wizard".  The former
("supybot") is the script to run an actual bot; the latter
("supybot-wizard") is an in-depth wizard that provides a nice user
interface for creating a registry file for your bot.

So after running supybot-wizard, you've got a nice registry file
handy.  If you're not satisfied with your answers to any of the
questions you were asked, feel free to run the program again until
you're satisfied with all your answers.  Once you're satisfied,
though, run the "supybot" program with the registry file you created
as an argument.  This will start the bot; unless you turned off
logging to stdout, you'll see some nice log messages describing what
the bot is doing at any particular moment; it may pause for a
significant amount of time after saying "Connecting to ..." while the
server tries to check its ident.


###
# Windows:
###

*** If you are using an IPV6 connection, you will not be able to run
Supybot under Windows (unless Python has fixed things).  Current
versions of Python for Windows are *not* built with IPV6 support. This
isn't expected to be fixed until Python 2.4, at the earliest.

Now that you have Python installed, open up a command prompt.  The
easiest way to do this is to open the run dialog (Programs -> run) and
type "cmd" (for Windows 2000/XP/2003) or "command" (for Windows 9x).
In order to reduce the amount of typing you need to do, I suggest
adding Python's directory to your path.  If you installed Python using
the default settings, you would then do the following in the command
prompt (otherwise change the path to match your settings):

set PATH=%PATH%;C:\Python23\

You should now be able to type "python" to start the Python
interpreter (CTRL-Z and Return to exit).  Now that that's setup,
you'll want to cd into the directory that was created when you
unzipped Supybot; I'll assume you unzipped it to C:\Supybot for these
instructions.  From C:\Supybot, run "python setup.py install".  This
will install Supybot under C:\Python23\.  If you want to install
Supybot to a non-default location, see the addendum near the end of
this document.  You will now have several new programs installed in
C:\Python23\Scripts\.  The two that might be of particular interest to
you, the new user, are "supybot" and "supybot-wizard".  The former
("supybot") is the script to run an actual bot; the latter
("supybot-wizard") is an in-depth wizard that provides a nice user
interface for creating a registry file for your bot.

Now you will want to run "python C:\Python23\Scripts\supybot-wizard"
to generate a registry file for your bot.  So after running
supybot-wizard, you've got a nice registry file handy.  If you're not
satisfied with your answers to any of the questions you were asked,
feel free to run the program again until you're satisfied with all
your answers.  Once you're satisfied, though, run "python
C:\Python23\Scripts\supybot botname.conf".  This will start the bot;
unless you turned off logging to stdout, you'll see some nice log
messages describing what the bot is doing at any particular moment; it
may pause for a significant amount of time after saying "Connecting
to ..." while the server tries to check its ident.

###
# Addenda
###
Local installs: See this forum post: http://tinyurl.com/2tb37