source: skype/README @ 31fe322

Last change on this file since 31fe322 was 31fe322, checked in by Miklos Vajna <vmiklos@…>, at 2008-03-14T21:41:48Z

tested 2.0.0.63

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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. This is the latest version I've tested, probably
33  newer versions will work, too.
34* Skype4Py >= 0.9.28.7. Previous versions won't work due to API changes.
35* Python >= 2.5. Skype4Py does not work with 2.4.
36* PyGObject >= 2.8.0. Older versions are part of PyGTK. (And you don't want to
37  install GTK for nothing, right?)
38
39`bitlbee-skype` has been tested under Linux and Mac OS X. Skype and Skype4py is
40available under Windows, too, so it probably works, but this has not been tested.
41
42== How to set it up
43
44Before you start. The setup is the following: BitlBee can't connect directly to
45Skype servers (the company's ones). It needs a running Skype client to do so.
46In fact BitlBee will connect to `skyped` (a tcp server, provided in this
47package) and `skyped` will connect to to your Skype client.
48
49NOTE: The order is important. First `skyped` starts Skype. Then `skyped` can
50connect to Skype, finally BitlBee can connect to `skyped`.
51
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
56- You need the BitlBee testing/development version:
57
58----
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
62----
63
64NOTE: You no longer need additional patches, as of version 1.1.1dev.
65
66- Now compile and install it:
67
68----
69$ ./configure
70$ make
71# make install install-dev
72----
73
74- Get the plugin code:
75
76----
77$ wget http://vmiklos.hu/project/bitlbee-skype/bitlbee-skype-@VERSION@.tar.gz
78$ tar xf bitlbee-skype-@VERSION@.tar.gz
79$ cd bitlbee-skype-@VERSION@
80----
81
82It doesn't matter where do you get it, it'll install the plugin to `/usr/local`
83by default (that's the location where BitlBee searches for plugins by default).
84
85- Compile and install it:
86
87----
88$ ./configure
89$ make
90# make install
91----
92
93- Install http://skype4py.sourceforge.net/[Skype4Py].
94
95(You may remember that previous versions of `skyped` did not require this
96package. This because it now uses the X11 interface of Skype (because the
97previously used `DBus` interface had
98http://forum.skype.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=94545&view=findpost&p=431710[known
99problems]), but I wanted to prevent a large code duplication from that project.
100In addition it then no longer requires the `dbus-python` package, just
101`pygobject`.)
102
103- Edit `/usr/local/etc/skyped/skyped.conf`: adjust `username` and `password`. The
104  `username` should be your Skype login and the `password` can be whatever you
105  want, but you will have to specify that one when adding the Skype account to
106  BitlBee (see later).
107
108NOTE: Here, and later - `/usr/local/etc` can be different on your installation
109if you used the `--sysconfdir` switch when running bitlbee-skype's `configure`.
110
111- Generate the SSL pem files:
112
113----
114# cd /usr/local/etc/skyped
115# openssl req -new -x509 -days 365 -nodes -config skyped.cnf -out skyped.cert.pem \
116        -keyout skyped.key.pem
117----
118
119NOTE: Maybe you want to adjust the permissions in the `/usr/local/etc/skyped`
120dir. For example make it readable by just your user.
121
122- Start `skyped` (the tcp server):
123
124----
125$ skyped
126----
127
128- Start your `IRC` client, connect to BitlBee and add your account:
129
130----
131account add skype <user> <pass>
132account set skype/server localhost
133----
134
135<user> should be your Skype account name, <pass> should be the one you declared
136in `skyped.conf`. If you want to run skyped on a remote machine, replace
137`localhost` with the name of the machine.
138
139== Setting up Skype in a VNC server (optional)
140
141Optionally, if you want to run Skype on a server, you might want to setup up
142a `VNC` server as well. I used `tightvnc` but probably other `VNC` servers will
143work, too.
144
145First run
146
147----
148$ vncpasswd ~/.vnc/passwd
149----
150
151and create a password. You will need it at least once.
152
153Now create `~/.vnc/xstartup` with the following contents:
154
155----
156#!/bin/sh
157
158twm
159----
160
161Adjust the permissions:
162
163----
164$ chmod +x ~/.vnc/xstartup
165----
166
167Then start the server:
168
169----
170$ vncserver
171----
172
173Then connect to it, and set up Skype (username, password, enable
174auto-login, start skyped and allow the `SkypeApiPythonShell` client when
175Skype asks about it).
176
177Please be aware about that Skype has serious memory leak issues. After running
178with for a few weeks it may eat >300 MB of memory. Just don't forget to restart
179your VNC server regularly. (How ugly.)
180
181== Features
182
183- Download nicks and away statuses from Skype
184
185- Noticing joins / parts while we're connected
186
187- Sending messages
188
189- Receiving messages
190
191- Receiving away status changes
192
193- `skyped` (the tcp daemon that is a gateway between Skype and tcp)
194
195- Error handling when `skyped` is not running and when it exits
196
197- Marking received messages as seen so that Skype won't say there are unread messages
198
199- Adding / removing contacts
200
201- Set away state when you do a `/away`.
202
203- When you `account off`, Skype will set status to `Offline`
204
205- When you `account on`, Skype will set status to `Online`
206
207- Detect when somebody wants to add you and ask for confirmation
208
209- Detect when somebody wants to transfer a file
210
211- Group chat support:
212
213  * Detect if we're invited
214
215  * Send / receive group chat messages
216
217  * Invite others (using `/invite <nick>`)
218
219  * Part from group chats
220
221  * Starting a group chat (using `/j #nick`)
222
223- Topic changes in group chats:
224
225  * Show the current topic (if any) on join
226
227  * Notice when someone changes the topic
228
229  * Support changing the topic using `/topic`
230
231- Viewing the profile using the `info` command.
232
233- Handling skype actions (when the `CHATMESSAGE` has `EMOTED` type)
234
235- Setting your display name using the `nick` command.
236
237- Running Skype on a machine different to BitlBee is possible, the
238  communication is encrypted.
239
240- Managing outgoing calls (with call duration at the end):
241
242  * `account set skype/call nick`
243  * `account set -del skype/call`
244
245- Managing incoming calls via questions, just like when you add / remove
246  contacts.
247
248== What needs to be done (aka. TODO)
249
250- Notice if foo invites bar. Currently you can see only that bar joined.
251
252- Public chats. See link:http://forum.skype.com/index.php?showtopic=98872[this
253  forum thread], it is still unclear how could it be done for you to be able to
254  `/join` to a public chat..
255
256- Add `--disable-skyped` and `--disable-plugin` switches in case one wants to
257  build `bitlbee-skype` only for a public server or only for use with a public
258  server.
259
260== I would like to have support for ...
261
262If something does not work and it's not in the TODO section, then please
263contact me! Please also try the link:HACKING[git version] before reporting a bug, your
264problem may be already fixed there.
265
266In fact, of course, I wrote this documentation after figured out how to do this
267setup, so maybe I left out some steps. If you needed 'any' additional tricks,
268then it would be nice to include them here.
269
270== Known bugs
271
272- None at this time.
273
274== Screenshots
275
276You can reach some screenshots link:shot[here].
277
278== Additional resources
279
280You can reach the Changelog link:Changelog[here], and a gitweb interface
281http://vmiklos.hu/gitweb/?p=bitlbee-skype.git[here].
282
283The Skype API documentation is
284https://developer.skype.com/Docs/ApiDoc[here] if you're interested.
285
286
287== Testimonials
288
289----
29000:56 < scathe> vmiklos: I like your skype plugin :)
291----
292
293----
294It's really working great so far.
295
296Good Job and thank you!
297Sebastian
298----
299
300== Thanks
301
302for the following people:
303
304* Wilmer van der Gaast, for answering questions about the BitlBee plugin interface
305
306* Arkadiusz Wahlig, author of skype4py, for making suggestions to skyped
307
308* Gabor Adam Toth (tg), for noticing extra code is needed to handle multiline
309  messages
310
311* Cristobal Palmer (tarheelcoxn), for helping to testing the plugin in a
312  timezone different to mine
313
314* people on `#bitlbee` for feedback
315
316Back to my link:/projects[projects page].
317
318// vim: ft=asciidoc
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