source: skype/README @ d96380b

Last change on this file since d96380b was fdde7d8, checked in by Miklos Vajna <vmiklos@…>, at 2008-01-12T20:22:42Z

one idea for the todo

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[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
[3d9fd79]31* Skype >= 1.4.0.99. The latest version I've tested is 2.0.0.27.
[c60b864]32* bitlbee >= 1.1.1dev. (This is the latest version I've tested, probably
[9fcaedc0]33  newer versions probably will work, too.)
[eb39102]34* Skype4Py >= 0.9.28.7. Previous versions won't work due to API changes.
[c60b864]35* Python >= 2.5. Skype4Py does not work with 2.4.
[22d97b4]36* pygobject
37
[760ed1f]38`bitlbee-skype` has been tested under Linux and Windows. Skype is available
39under OSX, too, so it probably works, but this has not been tested.
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
[7e4f0ca1]48NOTE: The order is important. First you have to start Skype. Then `skyped` can
[64f8b8ea]49connect to it, finally BitlBee can connect to `skyped`. (In fact `skyped`
50automatically reconnect if you restart Skype.)
[7e4f0ca1]51
[11eed8f]52- If you happen to be a happy Frugalware user, you can install the `bitlbee`
53  and `bitlbee-skype` packages from
54  http://ftp.frugalware.org/pub/other/people/vmiklos/bmf/[my repo].
55
[d044a5a]56- You need the BitlBee testing/development version:
[afe221f]57
[0c60f96]58----
[ccb50f5]59$ wget http://get.bitlbee.org/src/bitlbee-1.1.1dev.tar.gz
60$ tar xf bitlbee-1.1.1dev.tar.gz
61$ cd bitlbee-1.1.1dev
[0c60f96]62----
[afe221f]63
[d044a5a]64NOTE: You no longer need additional patches, as of version 1.1.1dev.
[b8b0bfd]65
[afe221f]66- Now compile and install it:
67
[0c60f96]68----
[ccb50f5]69$ ./configure
70$ make
71# make install install-dev
[0c60f96]72----
[afe221f]73
74- Get the plugin code:
75
[0c60f96]76----
[ccb50f5]77$ git clone git://vmiklos.hu/bitlbee-skype
[0c60f96]78----
[afe221f]79
[b8351a2]80(Or you can use the tarballs below, see the Changelog about what
81features/bugfixes will you miss in this case).
82
[6e97a7a]83NOTE: It doesn't matter where do you get it, it'll install the plugin to
84`/usr/local` by default (that's the location where BitlBee searches for plugins
85by default).
86
[afe221f]87- Compile and install it:
88
[0c60f96]89----
[ccb50f5]90$ cd bitlbee-skype
91$ make prepare
92$ ./configure
93$ make
94# make install
[0c60f96]95----
[afe221f]96
[c15f71a]97- Install http://skype4py.sourceforge.net/[Skype4Py].
98
99(You may remember that previous versions of `skyped` did not require this
100package. This because it now uses the X11 interface of Skype (because the
[4c3a4c8]101previously used `DBus` interface had
[c15f71a]102http://forum.skype.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=94545&view=findpost&p=431710[known
103problems]), but I wanted to prevent a large code duplication from that project.
104In addition it then no longer requires the `dbus-python` package, just
105`pygobject`.)
106
[52d377d]107- Edit `/usr/local/etc/skyped/skyped.conf`: adjust `username` and `password`. The
[e65ceaa]108  `username` should be your Skype login and the `password` can be whatever you
109  want, but you will have to specify that one when adding the Skype account to
110  BitlBee (see later).
111
[52d377d]112NOTE: Here, and later - `/usr/local/etc` can be different on your installation
113if you used the `--sysconfdir` switch when running bitlbee-skype's `configure`.
114
115- Generate the SSL pem files:
116
117----
[ccb50f5]118# cd /usr/local/etc/skyped
119# openssl req -new -x509 -days 365 -nodes -config skyped.cnf -out skyped.cert.pem \
[52d377d]120        -keyout skyped.key.pem
121----
122
[ccb50f5]123NOTE: Maybe you want to adjust the permissions in the `/usr/local/etc/skyped`
124dir. For example make it readable by just your user.
125
[2fcad6e]126- Start Skype and `skyped` (the tcp server):
[afe221f]127
[0c60f96]128----
[ccb50f5]129$ skype
130$ skyped
[0c60f96]131----
[ba20c39]132
[c60b864]133NOTE: You should run `skyped` on the same `X11` display, otherwise it won't be
134able to connect to Skype!
[afe221f]135
[4c3a4c8]136- Start your `IRC` client, connect to BitlBee and add your account:
[7338d59]137
138----
139account add skype <user> <pass>
140----
141
[e65ceaa]142<user> should be your Skype account name, <pass> should be the one you declared
143in `skyped.conf`.
[7338d59]144
[23b84e1]145== Setting up Skype in a VNC server (optional)
146
147Optionally, if you want to run Skype on a server, you might want to setup up
[4c3a4c8]148a `VNC` server as well. I used `tightvnc` but probably other `VNC` servers will
[23b84e1]149work, too.
150
151First run
152
153----
[ccb50f5]154$ vncpasswd ~/.vnc/passwd
[23b84e1]155----
156
157and create a password. You will need it at least once.
158
159Now create `~/.vnc/xstartup` with the following contents:
160
161----
162#!/bin/sh
163
[19b805c]164sleep 1
165skype &
166sleep 5
167skyped
[23b84e1]168----
169
[57087df]170Adjust the permissions:
171
172----
[ccb50f5]173$ chmod +x ~/.vnc/xstartup
[57087df]174----
175
[23b84e1]176Then start the server:
177
178----
[ccb50f5]179$ vncserver
[23b84e1]180----
181
[4c3a4c8]182Then connect to it, and set up Skype (username, password, enable auto-login, and
[23b84e1]183allow the `SkypeApiPythonShell` client when Skype asks about it).
184
[dffa24f]185Please be aware about that Skype has serious memory leak issues. After running
186with for a few weeks it may eat >300 MB of memory. Just don't forget to restart
187your VNC server regularly. (How ugly.)
188
[9e03e55]189== What works
[b6d26ac]190
[adce2de]191- Download nicks and away statuses from Skype
[b6d26ac]192
[39a0d64]193- Noticing joins / parts while we're connected
194
[93ece66]195- Sending messages
196
[8dd21bb]197- Receiving messages
198
[72f697b]199- Receiving away status changes
200
[62bb4e4]201- `skyped` (the tcp daemon that is a gateway between Skype and tcp)
[ed2e37f]202
[62bb4e4]203- Error handling when `skyped` is not running and when it exits
[afe221f]204
[62bb4e4]205- Marking received messages as seen so that Skype won't say there are unread messages
[440665b]206
[6627d92]207- Adding / removing contacts
208
[23411c6]209- Set away state when you do a `/away`.
210
[d3cbd17]211- When you `account off`, Skype will set status to `Offline`
[348a3a2]212
[d3cbd17]213- When you `account on`, Skype will set status to `Online`
[348a3a2]214
[d3cbd17]215- Detect when somebody wants to add you and ask for confirmation
[8dd21bb]216
[df9255d]217- Detect when somebody wants to transfer a file
218
[d6a371e]219- Group chat support:
220
221  * Detect if we're invited
222
223  * Send / receive group chat messages
[93ece66]224
[ff58445]225  * Invite others (using `/invite <nick>`)
[c5dd164]226
[d6a371e]227  * Part from group chats
[c5dd164]228
[ff58445]229  * Starting a group chat (using `/j #nick`)
230
[e103e73]231- Topic changes in group chats:
232
233  * Show the current topic (if any) on join
234
235  * Notice when someone changes the topic
236
237  * Support changing the topic using `/topic`
238
[fb36492]239- Viewing the profile using the `info` command.
240
[a06a0a5]241- Handling skype actions (when the `CHATMESSAGE` has `EMOTED` type)
242
243- Setting your mood text using the `nick` command.
244
[ccb50f5]245- Running Skype on a machine different to BitlBee is possible, the
246  communication is encrypted.
247
[d6a371e]248== What needs to be done (aka. TODO)
[c5dd164]249
[846ceffb]250- Add a question callback for calls.
251
[d6a371e]252- Notice if foo invites bar. Currently you can see only that bar joined.
253
[4285920]254- Public chats. See link:http://forum.skype.com/index.php?showtopic=98872[this
255  forum thread], it is still unclear how could it be done for you to be able to
256  `/join` to a public chat..
[d6a371e]257
[fdde7d8]258- Split skyped from the plugin, so that one could install just the relevant
259  code if they are not running on the same machine.
260
[0c60f96]261== I would like to have support for ...
262
[23b84e1]263If something does not work and it's not in the TODO section, then please
[80d9004]264contact me! Please also try the git version before reporting a bug, your
265problem may be already fixed there.
[23b84e1]266
267In fact, of course, I wrote this documentation after figured out how to do this
268setup, so maybe I left out some steps. If you needed 'any' additional tricks,
269then it would be nice to include them here.
[afe221f]270
[f78f949]271== Known bugs
272
[5652d43]273- None at this time.
[f78f949]274
[0c60f96]275== Screenshots
276
[668a122]277You can reach some screenshots link:shot[here].
[ddd3502]278
[25d87e4]279== Additional resources
[a60c3c2]280
[25d87e4]281You can reach the Changelog link:Changelog[here], and a gitweb interface
[3d73b02]282http://repo.or.cz/w/bitlbee-skype.git[here].
[a60c3c2]283
[c09f90f]284The Skype API documentation is
285https://developer.skype.com/Docs/ApiDoc[here] if you're interested.
286
[65e4020]287== Thanks
288
289for the following people:
290
291* Wilmer van der Gaast, for answering questions about the bitlbee plugin interface
292
[56a3616]293* Arkadiusz Wahlig, author of skype4py, for making suggestions to skyped
[65e4020]294
[9834597]295* Gabor Adam Toth (tg), for noticing extra code is needed to handle multiline
296  messages
297
298* Cristobal Palmer (tarheelcoxn), for helping to testing the plugin in a
299  timezone different to mine
[65e4020]300
[437ddf5]301* people on `#bitlbee` for feedback
302
[eb9cbb8]303Back to my link:/projects[projects page].
304
[0c60f96]305// vim: ft=asciidoc
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