source: skype/README @ a317ba6

Last change on this file since a317ba6 was c78476c, checked in by Miklos Vajna <vmiklos@…>, at 2008-03-18T01:40:23Z

remove note about dbus-python, it's old

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1= Skype plugin for BitlBee
2Miklos Vajna <vmiklos@vmiklos.hu>
3
4== Status
5
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
15One day I browsed the BitlBee bugtracker and found
16http://bugs.bitlbee.org/bitlbee/ticket/82[this] ticket. Then after a while I
17returned and saw that it was still open. So I wrote it.
18
19It's pretty stable, I use it for my daily work. Being a plug-in, no patching
20is required, you can just install it after installing BitlBee itself.
21
22NOTE: You will see that this implementation of the Skype plug-in still requires
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
29== Requirements
30
31* Skype >= 1.4.0.99. The latest version I've tested is 2.0.0.63.
32* BitlBee >= 1.1.1dev. The latest version I've tested is 1.2.
33* Skype4Py >= 0.9.28.7. Previous versions won't work due to API changes.
34* Python >= 2.5. Skype4Py does not work with 2.4.
35* PyGObject >= 2.8.0. Older versions are part of PyGTK. (And you don't want to
36  install GTK for nothing, right?)
37
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.
40
41== How to set it up
42
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
46package) and `skyped` will connect to to your Skype client.
47
48NOTE: The order is important. First `skyped` starts Skype. Then `skyped` can
49connect to Skype, finally BitlBee can connect to `skyped`.
50
51- If you happen to be a happy Frugalware user:
52
53----
54# pacman-g2 -S bitlbee-skype
55----
56
57- You need the latest stable BitlBee release:
58
59----
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
63----
64
65NOTE: You no longer need additional patches, as of version 1.1.1dev.
66
67- Now compile and install it:
68
69----
70$ ./configure
71$ make
72# make install install-dev
73----
74
75- Get the plugin code:
76
77----
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@
81----
82
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).
85
86- Compile and install it:
87
88----
89$ ./configure
90$ make
91# make install
92----
93
94- Install http://skype4py.sourceforge.net/[Skype4Py].
95
96- Edit `/usr/local/etc/skyped/skyped.conf`: adjust `username` and `password`. The
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
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----
107# cd /usr/local/etc/skyped
108# openssl req -new -x509 -days 365 -nodes -config skyped.cnf -out skyped.cert.pem \
109        -keyout skyped.key.pem
110----
111
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
115- Start `skyped` (the tcp server):
116
117----
118$ skyped
119----
120
121- Start your `IRC` client, connect to BitlBee and add your account:
122
123----
124account add skype <user> <pass>
125account set skype/server localhost
126----
127
128<user> should be your Skype account name, <pass> should be the one you declared
129in `skyped.conf`. If you want to run skyped on a remote machine, replace
130`localhost` with the name of the machine.
131
132== Setting up Skype in a VNC server (optional)
133
134Optionally, if you want to run Skype on a server, you might want to setup up
135a `VNC` server as well. I used `tightvnc` but probably other `VNC` servers will
136work, too.
137
138First run
139
140----
141$ vncpasswd ~/.vnc/passwd
142----
143
144and create a password. You will need it at least once.
145
146Now create `~/.vnc/xstartup` with the following contents:
147
148----
149#!/bin/sh
150
151twm
152----
153
154Adjust the permissions:
155
156----
157$ chmod +x ~/.vnc/xstartup
158----
159
160Then start the server:
161
162----
163$ vncserver
164----
165
166Then connect to it, and set up Skype (username, password, enable
167auto-login, start skyped and allow the `SkypeApiPythonShell` client when
168Skype asks about it).
169
170Please be aware about that Skype has serious memory leak issues. After running
171with for a few weeks it may eat >300 MB of memory. Just don't forget to restart
172your VNC server regularly. (How ugly.)
173
174== Features
175
176- Download nicks and away statuses from Skype
177
178- Noticing joins / parts while we're connected
179
180- Sending messages
181
182- Receiving messages
183
184- Receiving away status changes
185
186- `skyped` (the tcp daemon that is a gateway between Skype and tcp)
187
188- Error handling when `skyped` is not running and when it exits
189
190- Marking received messages as seen so that Skype won't say there are unread messages
191
192- Adding / removing contacts
193
194- Set away state when you do a `/away`.
195
196- When you `account off`, Skype will set status to `Offline`
197
198- When you `account on`, Skype will set status to `Online`
199
200- Detect when somebody wants to add you and ask for confirmation
201
202- Detect when somebody wants to transfer a file
203
204- Group chat support:
205
206  * Detect if we're invited
207
208  * Send / receive group chat messages
209
210  * Invite others (using `/invite <nick>`)
211
212  * Part from group chats
213
214  * Starting a group chat (using `/j #nick`)
215
216- Topic changes in group chats:
217
218  * Show the current topic (if any) on join
219
220  * Notice when someone changes the topic
221
222  * Support changing the topic using `/topic`
223
224- Viewing the profile using the `info` command.
225
226- Handling skype actions (when the `CHATMESSAGE` has `EMOTED` type)
227
228- Setting your display name using the `nick` command.
229
230- Running Skype on a machine different to BitlBee is possible, the
231  communication is encrypted.
232
233- Managing outgoing calls (with call duration at the end):
234
235  * `account set skype/call nick`
236  * `account set -del skype/call`
237
238- Managing incoming calls via questions, just like when you add / remove
239  contacts.
240
241== What needs to be done (aka. TODO)
242
243- Notice if foo invites bar. Currently you can see only that bar joined.
244
245- Public chats. See link:http://forum.skype.com/index.php?showtopic=98872[this
246  forum thread], it is still unclear how could it be done for you to be able to
247  `/join` to a public chat..
248
249- Add `--disable-skyped` and `--disable-plugin` switches in case one wants to
250  build `bitlbee-skype` only for a public server or only for use with a public
251  server.
252
253== I would like to have support for ...
254
255If something does not work and it's not in the TODO section, then please
256contact me! Please also try the link:HACKING[git version] before reporting a bug, your
257problem may be already fixed there.
258
259In fact, of course, I wrote this documentation after figured out how to do this
260setup, so maybe I left out some steps. If you needed 'any' additional tricks,
261then it would be nice to include them here.
262
263== Known bugs
264
265- None at this time.
266
267== Screenshots
268
269You can reach some screenshots link:shot[here].
270
271== Additional resources
272
273You can reach the Changelog link:Changelog[here], and a gitweb interface
274http://vmiklos.hu/gitweb/?p=bitlbee-skype.git[here].
275
276The Skype API documentation is
277https://developer.skype.com/Docs/ApiDoc[here] if you're interested.
278
279
280== Testimonials
281
282----
28300:56 < scathe> vmiklos: I like your skype plugin :)
284----
285
286----
287It's really working great so far.
288
289Good Job and thank you!
290Sebastian
291----
292
293== Thanks
294
295for the following people:
296
297* Wilmer van der Gaast, for answering questions about the BitlBee plugin interface
298
299* Arkadiusz Wahlig, author of skype4py, for making suggestions to skyped
300
301* Gabor Adam Toth (tg), for noticing extra code is needed to handle multiline
302  messages
303
304* Cristobal Palmer (tarheelcoxn), for helping to testing the plugin in a
305  timezone different to mine
306
307* people on `#bitlbee` for feedback
308
309Back to my link:/projects[projects page].
310
311// vim: ft=asciidoc
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