source: skype/README @ c5dd164

Last change on this file since c5dd164 was c5dd164, checked in by VMiklos <vmiklos@…>, at 2007-10-03T19:05:43Z

update group chat status
to be honest, today i had to use skype group chat and it was very annoying to
use the original skype client for that. so yes, now i plan to add more or less
support for it. we'll see. i hope i'll have time for it :)

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[0c60f96]1= Skype plugin for BitlBee
2Miklos Vajna <vmiklos@frugalware.org>
[afe221f]3
[56e4ac4]4== Status
5
6One day I browsed the BitlBee bugtracker and found
7http://bugs.bitlbee.org/bitlbee/ticket/82[this] ticket. Then after a while I
[56b56478]8returned and saw that it was still open. So I wrote it. Not a big deal, I wrote
[56e4ac4]9it in two days or so (and not because I'm a genius or anything ;-) ). I think
10it's pretty stable, but it needs wider testing. Also see the 'Known bugs'
11section, I really hope those random hangups will be fixed soon by Skype.
12
[75742cc]13Oh, before I forget. I'm not a wizard, the Skype API documentation is
14https://developer.skype.com/Docs/ApiDoc[here] if you're interested.
15
[4c3a4c8]16NOTE: You will see that this implementation of the Skype plug-in still requires
[54c269d]17a Skype instance to be running. This is because I'm not motivated to reverse
18engineer Skype's
19http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skype_Protocol#Obfuscation_Layer[obfuscation
20layer]. (Not mentioning that you should ask your lawyer about if it is legal or
21not..)
22
[22d97b4]23== Requirements
24
25* Skype 1.4.0.99. 1.4.0.74 did *not* work for me.
26* bitlbee-dev >= rev245. Previous versions need patching.
[4c3a4c8]27* Skype4Py >= 0.9.28.1. Previous versions uses `DBus` by default.
[22d97b4]28* Python 2.5. Skype4Py does not work with 2.4.
29* pygobject
30
[9e03e55]31== How to set it up
[afe221f]32
[751b149]33Before you start. The setup is the following: BitlBee can't connect directly to
34Skype servers (the company's ones). It needs a running Skype client to do so.
35In fact BitlBee will connect to `skyped` (a tcp server, provided in this
[4c3a4c8]36package) and `skyped` will connect to to your Skype client.
[751b149]37
[7e4f0ca1]38NOTE: The order is important. First you have to start Skype. Then `skyped` can
[64f8b8ea]39connect to it, finally BitlBee can connect to `skyped`. (In fact `skyped`
40automatically reconnect if you restart Skype.)
[7e4f0ca1]41
[11eed8f]42- If you happen to be a happy Frugalware user, you can install the `bitlbee`
43  and `bitlbee-skype` packages from
44  http://ftp.frugalware.org/pub/other/people/vmiklos/bmf/[my repo].
45
[afe221f]46- You need the BitlBee bzr branch:
47
[0c60f96]48----
[afe221f]49bzr branch http://code.bitlbee.org/bitlbee/
[0c60f96]50----
[afe221f]51
[9c90281]52NOTE: You no longer need additional patches, as of revision 245.
[b8b0bfd]53
[afe221f]54- Now compile and install it:
55
[0c60f96]56----
[8e3058b]57./configure
[afe221f]58make
59make install install-dev
[0c60f96]60----
[afe221f]61
62- Get the plugin code:
63
[0c60f96]64----
[99426f0]65git clone http://ftp.frugalware.org/pub/other/people/vmiklos/bitlbee-skype/.git
[0c60f96]66----
[afe221f]67
[b8351a2]68(Or you can use the tarballs below, see the Changelog about what
69features/bugfixes will you miss in this case).
70
[afe221f]71- Compile and install it:
72
[0c60f96]73----
[8e3058b]74make prepare
75./configure
[afe221f]76make
[8e3058b]77make install
[0c60f96]78----
[afe221f]79
[c15f71a]80- Install http://skype4py.sourceforge.net/[Skype4Py].
81
82(You may remember that previous versions of `skyped` did not require this
83package. This because it now uses the X11 interface of Skype (because the
[4c3a4c8]84previously used `DBus` interface had
[c15f71a]85http://forum.skype.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=94545&view=findpost&p=431710[known
86problems]), but I wanted to prevent a large code duplication from that project.
87In addition it then no longer requires the `dbus-python` package, just
88`pygobject`.)
89
[2fcad6e]90- Start Skype and `skyped` (the tcp server):
[afe221f]91
[0c60f96]92----
[2fcad6e]93skype
94skyped
[0c60f96]95----
[ba20c39]96
[4c3a4c8]97NOTE: It's important to start `skyped` on the same machine and using the same
98user as you run Skype as it uses the session `DBus` for communication!
[afe221f]99
[4c3a4c8]100- Start your `IRC` client, connect to BitlBee and add your account:
[7338d59]101
102----
103account add skype <user> <pass>
104account set 0/server localhost
105----
106
[4c3a4c8]107IMPORTANT: <user> should be your Skype account name. This way you won't see
[7338d59]108yourself joining to `&bitlbee`.
109
110NOTE: the <pass> option is not used currently.
111
[23b84e1]112== Setting up Skype in a VNC server (optional)
113
114Optionally, if you want to run Skype on a server, you might want to setup up
[4c3a4c8]115a `VNC` server as well. I used `tightvnc` but probably other `VNC` servers will
[23b84e1]116work, too.
117
118First run
119
120----
121vncpasswd ~/.vnc/passwd
122----
123
124and create a password. You will need it at least once.
125
126Now create `~/.vnc/xstartup` with the following contents:
127
128----
129#!/bin/sh
130
[19b805c]131sleep 1
132skype &
133sleep 5
134skyped
[23b84e1]135----
136
[57087df]137Adjust the permissions:
138
139----
140chmod +x ~/.vnc/xstartup
141----
142
[23b84e1]143Then start the server:
144
145----
146vncserver
147----
148
[4c3a4c8]149Then connect to it, and set up Skype (username, password, enable auto-login, and
[23b84e1]150allow the `SkypeApiPythonShell` client when Skype asks about it).
151
[dffa24f]152Please be aware about that Skype has serious memory leak issues. After running
153with for a few weeks it may eat >300 MB of memory. Just don't forget to restart
154your VNC server regularly. (How ugly.)
155
[9e03e55]156== What works
[b6d26ac]157
[adce2de]158- Download nicks and away statuses from Skype
[b6d26ac]159
[39a0d64]160- Noticing joins / parts while we're connected
161
[93ece66]162- Sending messages
163
[8dd21bb]164- Receiving messages
165
[72f697b]166- Receiving away status changes
167
[62bb4e4]168- `skyped` (the tcp daemon that is a gateway between Skype and tcp)
[ed2e37f]169
[62bb4e4]170- Error handling when `skyped` is not running and when it exits
[afe221f]171
[62bb4e4]172- Marking received messages as seen so that Skype won't say there are unread messages
[440665b]173
[6627d92]174- Adding / removing contacts
175
[23411c6]176- Set away state when you do a `/away`.
177
[d3cbd17]178- When you `account off`, Skype will set status to `Offline`
[348a3a2]179
[d3cbd17]180- When you `account on`, Skype will set status to `Online`
[348a3a2]181
[d3cbd17]182- Detect when somebody wants to add you and ask for confirmation
[8dd21bb]183
[d3cbd17]184== What needs to be done (aka. TODO)
[93ece66]185
[c5dd164]186- Group chat support. For an initial support the followings would be needed:
187
188  * Detect if we're invited.
189
190  * Send / receive group chat messages.
191
192  * Handle topic changes.
[0ac1b3e0]193
[846ceffb]194- Add a question callback for calls.
195
[c5dd164]196- Somehow at least mention that somebody offers a file for transfer.
197
[0c60f96]198== I would like to have support for ...
199
[23b84e1]200If something does not work and it's not in the TODO section, then please
[80d9004]201contact me! Please also try the git version before reporting a bug, your
202problem may be already fixed there.
[23b84e1]203
204In fact, of course, I wrote this documentation after figured out how to do this
205setup, so maybe I left out some steps. If you needed 'any' additional tricks,
206then it would be nice to include them here.
[afe221f]207
[f78f949]208== Known bugs
209
[c15f71a]210- None at this time.
[f78f949]211
[0c60f96]212== Screenshots
213
214You can reach some screenshots http://frugalware.org/~vmiklos/pics/shots/bitlbee-skype/[here].
[ddd3502]215
[25d87e4]216== Additional resources
[a60c3c2]217
[25d87e4]218You can reach the Changelog link:Changelog[here], and a gitweb interface
219link:http://git.frugalware.org/gitweb/gitweb.cgi?p=bitlbee-skype.git;a=summary[here].
[a60c3c2]220
[65e4020]221== Thanks
222
223for the following people:
224
225* Wilmer van der Gaast, for answering questions about the bitlbee plugin interface
226
227* awahlig (from the skype forums), for making suggestions to skyped
228
229* Gabor Adam TOTH, for usable bugreports
230
[0c60f96]231// vim: ft=asciidoc
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