source: skype/README @ 587a921

Last change on this file since 587a921 was 587a921, checked in by Miklos Vajna <vmiklos@…>, at 2008-04-05T12:14:52Z

new testemonial

  • Property mode set to 100644
File size: 8.8 KB
RevLine 
[0c60f96]1= Skype plugin for BitlBee
[668a122]2Miklos Vajna <vmiklos@vmiklos.hu>
[afe221f]3
[56e4ac4]4== Status
5
[4eaadf6]6[Wilmer van der Gaast (author of BitlBee)]
7____
8Okay, this exists now, with lots of thanks to vmiklos for his *excellent*
9work!!
10
11It's not in the main BitlBee and it'll never be for various reasons, but
12because it's a plugin that shouldn't be a problem.
13____
14
[56e4ac4]15One day I browsed the BitlBee bugtracker and found
16http://bugs.bitlbee.org/bitlbee/ticket/82[this] ticket. Then after a while I
[1138b25]17returned and saw that it was still open. So I wrote it.
[56e4ac4]18
[2042b56]19It's pretty stable, I use it for my daily work. Being a plug-in, no patching
[20994cb]20is required, you can just install it after installing BitlBee itself.
[75742cc]21
[4c3a4c8]22NOTE: You will see that this implementation of the Skype plug-in still requires
[54c269d]23a Skype instance to be running. This is because I'm not motivated to reverse
24engineer Skype's
25http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skype_Protocol#Obfuscation_Layer[obfuscation
26layer]. (Not mentioning that you should ask your lawyer about if it is legal or
27not..)
28
[22d97b4]29== Requirements
30
[31fe322]31* Skype >= 1.4.0.99. The latest version I've tested is 2.0.0.63.
[36fbaa0]32* BitlBee >= 1.1.1dev. The latest version I've tested is 1.2.
[eb39102]33* Skype4Py >= 0.9.28.7. Previous versions won't work due to API changes.
[c60b864]34* Python >= 2.5. Skype4Py does not work with 2.4.
[e49da25]35* PyGObject >= 2.8.0. Older versions are part of PyGTK. (And you don't want to
36  install GTK for nothing, right?)
[22d97b4]37
[df1a59d4]38`bitlbee-skype` has been tested under Linux and Mac OS X. Skype and Skype4py is
39available under Windows, too, so it probably works, but this has not been tested.
[760ed1f]40
[9e03e55]41== How to set it up
[afe221f]42
[751b149]43Before you start. The setup is the following: BitlBee can't connect directly to
44Skype servers (the company's ones). It needs a running Skype client to do so.
45In fact BitlBee will connect to `skyped` (a tcp server, provided in this
[4c3a4c8]46package) and `skyped` will connect to to your Skype client.
[751b149]47
[833eaee]48NOTE: The order is important. First `skyped` starts Skype. Then `skyped` can
49connect to Skype, finally BitlBee can connect to `skyped`.
[7e4f0ca1]50
[36fbaa0]51- If you happen to be a happy Frugalware user:
[11eed8f]52
[36fbaa0]53----
54# pacman-g2 -S bitlbee-skype
55----
56
57- You need the latest stable BitlBee release:
[afe221f]58
[0c60f96]59----
[36fbaa0]60$ wget http://get.bitlbee.org/src/bitlbee-1.2.tar.gz
61$ tar xf bitlbee-1.2.tar.gz
62$ cd bitlbee-1.2
[0c60f96]63----
[afe221f]64
[d044a5a]65NOTE: You no longer need additional patches, as of version 1.1.1dev.
[b8b0bfd]66
[afe221f]67- Now compile and install it:
68
[0c60f96]69----
[ccb50f5]70$ ./configure
71$ make
72# make install install-dev
[0c60f96]73----
[afe221f]74
75- Get the plugin code:
76
[0c60f96]77----
[3b495c0]78$ wget http://vmiklos.hu/project/bitlbee-skype/bitlbee-skype-@VERSION@.tar.gz
79$ tar xf bitlbee-skype-@VERSION@.tar.gz
80$ cd bitlbee-skype-@VERSION@
[0c60f96]81----
[afe221f]82
[3b495c0]83It doesn't matter where do you get it, it'll install the plugin to `/usr/local`
84by default (that's the location where BitlBee searches for plugins by default).
[6e97a7a]85
[afe221f]86- Compile and install it:
87
[0c60f96]88----
[ccb50f5]89$ ./configure
90$ make
91# make install
[0c60f96]92----
[afe221f]93
[c15f71a]94- Install http://skype4py.sourceforge.net/[Skype4Py].
95
[52d377d]96- Edit `/usr/local/etc/skyped/skyped.conf`: adjust `username` and `password`. The
[e65ceaa]97  `username` should be your Skype login and the `password` can be whatever you
98  want, but you will have to specify that one when adding the Skype account to
99  BitlBee (see later).
100
[52d377d]101NOTE: Here, and later - `/usr/local/etc` can be different on your installation
102if you used the `--sysconfdir` switch when running bitlbee-skype's `configure`.
103
104- Generate the SSL pem files:
105
106----
[ccb50f5]107# cd /usr/local/etc/skyped
108# openssl req -new -x509 -days 365 -nodes -config skyped.cnf -out skyped.cert.pem \
[52d377d]109        -keyout skyped.key.pem
110----
111
[ccb50f5]112NOTE: Maybe you want to adjust the permissions in the `/usr/local/etc/skyped`
113dir. For example make it readable by just your user.
114
[833eaee]115- Start `skyped` (the tcp server):
[afe221f]116
[0c60f96]117----
[ccb50f5]118$ skyped
[0c60f96]119----
[ba20c39]120
[4c3a4c8]121- Start your `IRC` client, connect to BitlBee and add your account:
[7338d59]122
123----
[789d055]124account add skype <user> <pass>
125account set skype/server localhost
[7338d59]126----
127
[e65ceaa]128<user> should be your Skype account name, <pass> should be the one you declared
[10a42d9]129in `skyped.conf`. If you want to run skyped on a remote machine, replace
130`localhost` with the name of the machine.
[7338d59]131
[9ace502]132If you are running skyped on a custom port:
133
134----
135account set skype/port <port>
136----
137
[7996794]138If you want to set your full name (optional):
139
140----
141account set skype/display_name "John Smith"
142----
143
144If you want to see your skypeout contacts online as well (they are
145offline by default):
146
147----
148account set skype/skypeout_offline false
149----
150
[23b84e1]151== Setting up Skype in a VNC server (optional)
152
153Optionally, if you want to run Skype on a server, you might want to setup up
[4c3a4c8]154a `VNC` server as well. I used `tightvnc` but probably other `VNC` servers will
[23b84e1]155work, too.
156
157First run
158
159----
[ccb50f5]160$ vncpasswd ~/.vnc/passwd
[23b84e1]161----
162
163and create a password. You will need it at least once.
164
165Now create `~/.vnc/xstartup` with the following contents:
166
167----
168#!/bin/sh
169
[2dbb768]170twm
[23b84e1]171----
172
[57087df]173Adjust the permissions:
174
175----
[ccb50f5]176$ chmod +x ~/.vnc/xstartup
[57087df]177----
178
[23b84e1]179Then start the server:
180
181----
[ccb50f5]182$ vncserver
[23b84e1]183----
184
[2dbb768]185Then connect to it, and set up Skype (username, password, enable
186auto-login, start skyped and allow the `SkypeApiPythonShell` client when
187Skype asks about it).
[23b84e1]188
[dffa24f]189Please be aware about that Skype has serious memory leak issues. After running
190with for a few weeks it may eat >300 MB of memory. Just don't forget to restart
191your VNC server regularly. (How ugly.)
192
[123e45a]193== Features
[b6d26ac]194
[adce2de]195- Download nicks and away statuses from Skype
[b6d26ac]196
[39a0d64]197- Noticing joins / parts while we're connected
198
[93ece66]199- Sending messages
200
[8dd21bb]201- Receiving messages
202
[72f697b]203- Receiving away status changes
204
[62bb4e4]205- `skyped` (the tcp daemon that is a gateway between Skype and tcp)
[ed2e37f]206
[62bb4e4]207- Error handling when `skyped` is not running and when it exits
[afe221f]208
[62bb4e4]209- Marking received messages as seen so that Skype won't say there are unread messages
[440665b]210
[6627d92]211- Adding / removing contacts
212
[23411c6]213- Set away state when you do a `/away`.
214
[d3cbd17]215- When you `account off`, Skype will set status to `Offline`
[348a3a2]216
[d3cbd17]217- When you `account on`, Skype will set status to `Online`
[348a3a2]218
[d3cbd17]219- Detect when somebody wants to add you and ask for confirmation
[8dd21bb]220
[df9255d]221- Detect when somebody wants to transfer a file
222
[d6a371e]223- Group chat support:
224
225  * Detect if we're invited
226
227  * Send / receive group chat messages
[93ece66]228
[ff58445]229  * Invite others (using `/invite <nick>`)
[c5dd164]230
[d6a371e]231  * Part from group chats
[c5dd164]232
[ff58445]233  * Starting a group chat (using `/j #nick`)
234
[e103e73]235- Topic changes in group chats:
236
237  * Show the current topic (if any) on join
238
239  * Notice when someone changes the topic
240
241  * Support changing the topic using `/topic`
242
[fb36492]243- Viewing the profile using the `info` command.
244
[a06a0a5]245- Handling skype actions (when the `CHATMESSAGE` has `EMOTED` type)
246
[6b266f6]247- Setting your display name using the `nick` command.
[a06a0a5]248
[ccb50f5]249- Running Skype on a machine different to BitlBee is possible, the
250  communication is encrypted.
251
[9aed2f1]252- Managing outgoing calls (with call duration at the end, including
253  SkypeOut calls if you use a phone number instead of a nick):
[2eb4b1f]254
255  * `account set skype/call nick`
256  * `account set -del skype/call`
[123e45a]257
[e0074cb]258- Managing incoming calls via questions, just like when you add / remove
259  contacts.
[c5dd164]260
[9aed2f1]261- Querying the current SkypeOut balance:
262
263  * `account set skype/balance query`
264
[e0074cb]265== What needs to be done (aka. TODO)
[846ceffb]266
[d6a371e]267- Notice if foo invites bar. Currently you can see only that bar joined.
268
[4285920]269- Public chats. See link:http://forum.skype.com/index.php?showtopic=98872[this
270  forum thread], it is still unclear how could it be done for you to be able to
271  `/join` to a public chat..
[d6a371e]272
[3511d80]273- Add `--disable-skyped` and `--disable-plugin` switches in case one wants to
274  build `bitlbee-skype` only for a public server or only for use with a public
275  server.
[fdde7d8]276
[0c60f96]277== I would like to have support for ...
278
[23b84e1]279If something does not work and it's not in the TODO section, then please
[e72d869]280contact me! Please also try the link:HACKING[git version] before reporting a bug, your
[80d9004]281problem may be already fixed there.
[23b84e1]282
283In fact, of course, I wrote this documentation after figured out how to do this
284setup, so maybe I left out some steps. If you needed 'any' additional tricks,
285then it would be nice to include them here.
[afe221f]286
[f78f949]287== Known bugs
288
[5652d43]289- None at this time.
[f78f949]290
[0c60f96]291== Screenshots
292
[668a122]293You can reach some screenshots link:shot[here].
[ddd3502]294
[25d87e4]295== Additional resources
[a60c3c2]296
[25d87e4]297You can reach the Changelog link:Changelog[here], and a gitweb interface
[6f01885]298http://vmiklos.hu/gitweb/?p=bitlbee-skype.git[here].
[a60c3c2]299
[c09f90f]300The Skype API documentation is
301https://developer.skype.com/Docs/ApiDoc[here] if you're interested.
302
[ceee9c7]303
304== Testimonials
305
306----
30700:56 < scathe> vmiklos: I like your skype plugin :)
308----
309
[6774d83]310----
311It's really working great so far.
312
313Good Job and thank you!
314Sebastian
315----
316
[587a921]317----
318Big respect for your work, i really appreciate it.
319
320Martin
321----
322
[65e4020]323== Thanks
324
325for the following people:
326
[e49da25]327* Wilmer van der Gaast, for answering questions about the BitlBee plugin interface
[65e4020]328
[56a3616]329* Arkadiusz Wahlig, author of skype4py, for making suggestions to skyped
[65e4020]330
[9834597]331* Gabor Adam Toth (tg), for noticing extra code is needed to handle multiline
332  messages
333
334* Cristobal Palmer (tarheelcoxn), for helping to testing the plugin in a
335  timezone different to mine
[65e4020]336
[4834307]337* Risko Gergely, for his SkypeOut ideas
338
[437ddf5]339* people on `#bitlbee` for feedback
340
[eb9cbb8]341Back to my link:/projects[projects page].
342
[0c60f96]343// vim: ft=asciidoc
Note: See TracBrowser for help on using the repository browser.