source: skype/README @ 69939608

Last change on this file since 69939608 was 15e2200, checked in by Miklos Vajna <vmiklos@…>, at 2008-09-03T10:50:54Z

add a little story about my uptime ;)

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1= Skype plugin for BitlBee
2Miklos Vajna <vmiklos-at-vmiklos-dot-hu>
3
4== Status
5
6[quote, 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 (one day I wanted to restart it because of an upgrade
20and just noticed it was running for 2+ months without crashing), I use
21it for my daily work. Being a plug-in, no patching is required, you can
22just install it after installing BitlBee itself.
23
24NOTE: You will see that this implementation of the Skype plug-in still requires
25a Skype instance to be running. This is because I'm not motivated to reverse
26engineer Skype's
27http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skype_Protocol#Obfuscation_Layer[obfuscation
28layer]. (Not mentioning that you should ask your lawyer about if it is legal or
29not..)
30
31== Requirements
32
33* Skype >= 1.4.0.99. The latest version I've tested is 2.0.0.72.
34* BitlBee >= @BITLBEE_VERSION@. Use old versions (0.5.1 or earlier) if
35  you have older BitlBee installed.
36* Skype4Py >= 0.9.28.7. Previous versions won't work due to API changes.
37
38NOTE: 1.x just does not work for me. I mailed the author but did not
39receive any answer so far.
40
41* Python >= 2.5. Skype4Py does not work with 2.4.
42* PyGObject >= 2.8.0. Older versions are part of PyGTK. (And you don't want to
43  install GTK for nothing, right?)
44* pyopenssl or python-gnutls.
45
46`bitlbee-skype` has been tested under Linux and Mac OS X. Skype and Skype4py is
47available under Windows, too, so it probably works, but this has not been tested.
48
49== How to set it up
50
51Before you start. The setup is the following: BitlBee can't connect directly to
52Skype servers (the company's ones). It needs a running Skype client to do so.
53In fact BitlBee will connect to `skyped` (a tcp server, provided in this
54package) and `skyped` will connect to to your Skype client.
55
56The benefit of this architecture is that you can run Skype and `skyped`
57on a machine different to the one where you run BitlBee (it can be even
58a public server) and/or your IRC client.
59
60NOTE: The order is important. First `skyped` starts Skype. Then `skyped`
61connects to Skype, finally BitlBee can connect to `skyped`.
62
63=== Installing under Frugalware
64
65- Install the necessary packages:
66
67----
68# pacman-g2 -S bitlbee-skype
69----
70
71and you don't have to compile anything manually.
72
73=== Installing under Debian
74
75- Install the necessary development package:
76
77----
78# apt-get install bitlbee-dev
79----
80
81and you have to install `bitlbee-skype` and `skype4py` from source.
82
83=== Installing from source
84
85- You need the latest stable BitlBee release:
86
87----
88$ wget http://get.bitlbee.org/src/bitlbee-@BITLBEE_VERSION@.tar.gz
89$ tar xf bitlbee-@BITLBEE_VERSION@.tar.gz
90$ cd bitlbee-@BITLBEE_VERSION@
91----
92
93- Now compile and install it:
94
95----
96$ ./configure
97$ make
98# make install install-dev
99----
100
101- Get the plugin code (in an empty dir, or whereever you want, it does
102  not matter):
103
104----
105$ wget http://vmiklos.hu/project/bitlbee-skype/bitlbee-skype-@VERSION@.tar.gz
106$ tar xf bitlbee-skype-@VERSION@.tar.gz
107$ cd bitlbee-skype-@VERSION@
108----
109
110- Compile and install it:
111
112----
113$ ./configure
114$ make
115# make install
116----
117
118This will install the plugin to where BitlBee expects them, which is
119`/usr/local/lib/bitlbee` if you installed BitlBee from source.
120
121- To install http://skype4py.sourceforge.net/[Skype4Py] from source:
122
123----
124$ tar -zxvf Skype4Py-x.x.x.x.tar.gz
125$ cd Skype4Py-x.x.x.x
126# python setup.py install
127----
128
129=== Configuring
130
131- Edit `/usr/local/etc/skyped/skyped.conf`: adjust `username` and `password`. The
132  `username` should be your Skype login and the `password` can be whatever you
133  want, but you will have to specify that one when adding the Skype account to
134  BitlBee (see later).
135
136NOTE: Here, and later - `/usr/local/etc` can be different on your installation
137if you used the `--sysconfdir` switch when running bitlbee-skype's `configure`.
138
139- Generate the SSL pem files:
140
141----
142# cd /usr/local/etc/skyped
143# openssl req -new -x509 -days 365 -nodes -config skyped.cnf -out skyped.cert.pem \
144        -keyout skyped.key.pem
145----
146
147NOTE: Maybe you want to adjust the permissions in the `/usr/local/etc/skyped`
148dir. For example make it readable by just your user.
149
150- If both pyopenssl and python-gnutls are available, then python-gnutls
151  will be used. This behaviour can be overwritten by:
152
153----
154$ export SKYPED_NO_GNUTLS=1
155----
156
157- Start `skyped` (the tcp server):
158
159----
160$ skyped
161----
162
163- Start your `IRC` client, connect to BitlBee and add your account:
164
165----
166account add skype <user> <pass>
167account set skype/server localhost
168----
169
170<user> should be your Skype account name, <pass> should be the one you declared
171in `skyped.conf`. If you want to run skyped on a remote machine, replace
172`localhost` with the name of the machine.
173
174If you are running skyped on a custom port:
175
176----
177account set skype/port <port>
178----
179
180If you want to set your full name (optional):
181
182----
183account set skype/display_name "John Smith"
184----
185
186If you want to see your skypeout contacts online as well (they are
187offline by default):
188
189----
190account set skype/skypeout_offline false
191----
192
193== Setting up Skype in a VNC server (optional)
194
195Optionally, if you want to run Skype on a server, you might want to setup up
196a `VNC` server as well. I used `tightvnc` but probably other `VNC` servers will
197work, too.
198
199First run
200
201----
202$ vncpasswd ~/.vnc/passwd
203----
204
205and create a password. You will need it at least once.
206
207Now create `~/.vnc/xstartup` with the following contents:
208
209----
210#!/bin/sh
211
212twm
213----
214
215Adjust the permissions:
216
217----
218$ chmod +x ~/.vnc/xstartup
219----
220
221Then start the server:
222
223----
224$ vncserver
225----
226
227Then connect to it, start an `xterm`, set up Skype (username, password,
228enable X11 API and allow the `Skype4Py` client), quit from Skype, and
229start `skyped`. If you want to watch its traffic, enable debug messages
230and foreground mode:
231
232----
233$ skyped -n -d
234----
235
236== Features
237
238- Download nicks and away statuses from Skype
239
240- Noticing joins / parts while we're connected
241
242- Sending messages
243
244- Receiving messages
245
246- Receiving away status changes
247
248- `skyped` (the tcp daemon that is a gateway between Skype and tcp)
249
250- Error handling when `skyped` is not running and when it exits
251
252- Marking received messages as seen so that Skype won't say there are unread messages
253
254- Adding / removing contacts
255
256- Set away state when you do a `/away`.
257
258- When you `account off`, Skype will set status to `Offline`
259
260- When you `account on`, Skype will set status to `Online`
261
262- Detect when somebody wants to add you and ask for confirmation
263
264- Detect when somebody wants to transfer a file
265
266- Group chat support:
267
268  * Detect if we're invited
269
270  * Send / receive group chat messages
271
272  * Invite others (using `/invite <nick>`)
273
274  * Part from group chats
275
276  * Starting a group chat (using `/j #nick`)
277
278- Topic changes in group chats:
279
280  * Show the current topic (if any) on join
281
282  * Notice when someone changes the topic
283
284  * Support changing the topic using `/topic`
285
286- Viewing the profile using the `info` command.
287
288- Handling skype actions (when the `CHATMESSAGE` has `EMOTED` type)
289
290- Setting your display name using the `nick` command.
291
292- Running Skype on a machine different to BitlBee is possible, the
293  communication is encrypted.
294
295- Managing outgoing calls (with call duration at the end, including
296  SkypeOut calls if you use a phone number instead of a nick):
297
298  * `account set skype/call nick`
299  * `account set -del skype/call`
300
301- Managing incoming calls via questions, just like when you add / remove
302  contacts.
303
304- Querying the current SkypeOut balance:
305
306  * `account set skype/balance query`
307
308== What needs to be done (aka. TODO)
309
310- Notice if foo invites bar. Currently you can see only that bar joined.
311
312- Public chats. See
313  link:https://developer.skype.com/jira/browse/SCL-381[this feature
314  request], this is because it is still not possible (under Linux) to
315  `join_chat` to a public chat..
316
317- Add `--disable-skyped` and `--disable-plugin` switches in case one wants to
318  build `bitlbee-skype` only for a public server or only for use with a public
319  server.
320
321== I would like to have support for ...
322
323If something does not work and it's not in the TODO section, then please
324contact me! Please also try the link:HACKING[git version] before reporting a bug, your
325problem may be already fixed there.
326
327In fact, of course, I wrote this documentation after figured out how to do this
328setup, so maybe I left out some steps. If you needed 'any' additional tricks,
329then it would be nice to include them here.
330
331== Known bugs
332
333- None at this time.
334
335== Screenshots
336
337You can reach some screenshots link:shot[here].
338
339== Additional resources
340
341You can reach the Changelog link:Changelog[here], and a gitweb interface
342http://vmiklos.hu/gitweb/?p=bitlbee-skype.git[here].
343
344The Skype API documentation is
345https://developer.skype.com/Docs/ApiDoc[here] if you're interested.
346
347
348== Testimonials
349
350----
35100:56 < scathe> vmiklos: I like your skype plugin :)
352----
353
354----
355It's really working great so far.
356
357Good Job and thank you!
358Sebastian
359----
360
361----
362Big respect for your work, i really appreciate it.
363
364Martin
365----
366
367----
368Thanks for bitlbee-skype. As a blind Linux user, I cannot use the
369skype GUI client because qt apps ar not accessible yet with the
370available screen readers. bitlbee-skype allows me to make use of skype
371without having to interact much with the GUI client, which helps me a
372lot.
373
374Lukas
375----
376
377----
37802:12 < newton> i must say, i love this little bee ;)
37902:15 < newton> tried it out today with the skype plugin, good work!
380----
381
382----
38318:10 < miCSu> it works fine
384----
385
386== Thanks
387
388for the following people:
389
390* Wilmer van der Gaast, for answering questions about the BitlBee plugin interface
391
392* Arkadiusz Wahlig, author of skype4py, for making suggestions to skyped
393
394* Gabor Adam Toth (tg), for noticing extra code is needed to handle multiline
395  messages
396
397* Cristobal Palmer (tarheelcoxn), for helping to testing the plugin in a
398  timezone different to mine
399
400* Risko Gergely, for his SkypeOut ideas
401
402* people on `#bitlbee` for feedback
403
404Back to my link:/projects[projects page].
405
406// vim: ft=asciidoc
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