source: skype/README @ d0a6a8c

Last change on this file since d0a6a8c was d0a6a8c, checked in by Miklos Vajna <vmiklos@…>, at 2008-05-19T15:24:18Z

update readme to be easier to follow for frugalware/debian users

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1= Skype plugin for BitlBee
2Miklos Vajna <vmiklos-at-vmiklos-dot-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* pyopenssl or python-gnutls.
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
49The benefit of this architecture is that you can run Skype and `skyped`
50on a machine different to the one where you run BitlBee (it can be even
51a public server) and/or your IRC client.
52
53NOTE: The order is important. First `skyped` starts Skype. Then `skyped`
54connects to Skype, finally BitlBee can connect to `skyped`.
55
56=== Installing under Frugalware
57
58- Install the necessary packages:
59
60----
61# pacman-g2 -S bitlbee-skype skype4py
62----
63
64and you don't have to compile anything manually.
65
66=== Installing under Debian
67
68- Install the necessary development package:
69
70----
71# apt-get install bitlbee-dev
72----
73
74and you have to install `bitlbee-skype` and `skype4py` from source.
75
76=== Installing from source
77
78- You need the latest stable BitlBee release:
79
80----
81$ wget http://get.bitlbee.org/src/bitlbee-1.2.tar.gz
82$ tar xf bitlbee-1.2.tar.gz
83$ cd bitlbee-1.2
84----
85
86NOTE: You no longer need additional patches, as of version 1.1.1dev.
87
88- Now compile and install it:
89
90----
91$ ./configure
92$ make
93# make install install-dev
94----
95
96- Get the plugin code:
97
98----
99$ wget http://vmiklos.hu/project/bitlbee-skype/bitlbee-skype-@VERSION@.tar.gz
100$ tar xf bitlbee-skype-@VERSION@.tar.gz
101$ cd bitlbee-skype-@VERSION@
102----
103
104It doesn't matter where do you get it, it'll install the plugin to `/usr/local`
105by default (that's the location where BitlBee searches for plugins by default).
106
107- Compile and install it:
108
109----
110$ ./configure
111$ make
112# make install
113----
114
115- To install http://skype4py.sourceforge.net/[Skype4Py] from source:
116
117----
118$ tar -zxvf Skype4Py-x.x.x.x.tar.gz
119$ cd Skype4Py-x.x.x.x
120# python setup.py install
121----
122
123=== Configuring
124
125- Edit `/usr/local/etc/skyped/skyped.conf`: adjust `username` and `password`. The
126  `username` should be your Skype login and the `password` can be whatever you
127  want, but you will have to specify that one when adding the Skype account to
128  BitlBee (see later).
129
130NOTE: Here, and later - `/usr/local/etc` can be different on your installation
131if you used the `--sysconfdir` switch when running bitlbee-skype's `configure`.
132
133- Generate the SSL pem files:
134
135----
136# cd /usr/local/etc/skyped
137# openssl req -new -x509 -days 365 -nodes -config skyped.cnf -out skyped.cert.pem \
138        -keyout skyped.key.pem
139----
140
141NOTE: Maybe you want to adjust the permissions in the `/usr/local/etc/skyped`
142dir. For example make it readable by just your user.
143
144- If both pyopenssl and python-gnutls are available, then python-gnutls
145  will be used. This behaviour can be overwritten by:
146
147----
148$ export SKYPED_NO_GNUTLS=1
149----
150
151- Start `skyped` (the tcp server):
152
153----
154$ skyped
155----
156
157- Start your `IRC` client, connect to BitlBee and add your account:
158
159----
160account add skype <user> <pass>
161account set skype/server localhost
162----
163
164<user> should be your Skype account name, <pass> should be the one you declared
165in `skyped.conf`. If you want to run skyped on a remote machine, replace
166`localhost` with the name of the machine.
167
168If you are running skyped on a custom port:
169
170----
171account set skype/port <port>
172----
173
174If you want to set your full name (optional):
175
176----
177account set skype/display_name "John Smith"
178----
179
180If you want to see your skypeout contacts online as well (they are
181offline by default):
182
183----
184account set skype/skypeout_offline false
185----
186
187== Setting up Skype in a VNC server (optional)
188
189Optionally, if you want to run Skype on a server, you might want to setup up
190a `VNC` server as well. I used `tightvnc` but probably other `VNC` servers will
191work, too.
192
193First run
194
195----
196$ vncpasswd ~/.vnc/passwd
197----
198
199and create a password. You will need it at least once.
200
201Now create `~/.vnc/xstartup` with the following contents:
202
203----
204#!/bin/sh
205
206twm
207----
208
209Adjust the permissions:
210
211----
212$ chmod +x ~/.vnc/xstartup
213----
214
215Then start the server:
216
217----
218$ vncserver
219----
220
221Then connect to it, and set up Skype (username, password, enable
222auto-login, start skyped and allow the `SkypeApiPythonShell` client when
223Skype asks about it).
224
225Please be aware about that Skype has serious memory leak issues. After running
226with for a few weeks it may eat >300 MB of memory. Just don't forget to restart
227your VNC server regularly. (How ugly.)
228
229== Features
230
231- Download nicks and away statuses from Skype
232
233- Noticing joins / parts while we're connected
234
235- Sending messages
236
237- Receiving messages
238
239- Receiving away status changes
240
241- `skyped` (the tcp daemon that is a gateway between Skype and tcp)
242
243- Error handling when `skyped` is not running and when it exits
244
245- Marking received messages as seen so that Skype won't say there are unread messages
246
247- Adding / removing contacts
248
249- Set away state when you do a `/away`.
250
251- When you `account off`, Skype will set status to `Offline`
252
253- When you `account on`, Skype will set status to `Online`
254
255- Detect when somebody wants to add you and ask for confirmation
256
257- Detect when somebody wants to transfer a file
258
259- Group chat support:
260
261  * Detect if we're invited
262
263  * Send / receive group chat messages
264
265  * Invite others (using `/invite <nick>`)
266
267  * Part from group chats
268
269  * Starting a group chat (using `/j #nick`)
270
271- Topic changes in group chats:
272
273  * Show the current topic (if any) on join
274
275  * Notice when someone changes the topic
276
277  * Support changing the topic using `/topic`
278
279- Viewing the profile using the `info` command.
280
281- Handling skype actions (when the `CHATMESSAGE` has `EMOTED` type)
282
283- Setting your display name using the `nick` command.
284
285- Running Skype on a machine different to BitlBee is possible, the
286  communication is encrypted.
287
288- Managing outgoing calls (with call duration at the end, including
289  SkypeOut calls if you use a phone number instead of a nick):
290
291  * `account set skype/call nick`
292  * `account set -del skype/call`
293
294- Managing incoming calls via questions, just like when you add / remove
295  contacts.
296
297- Querying the current SkypeOut balance:
298
299  * `account set skype/balance query`
300
301== What needs to be done (aka. TODO)
302
303- Notice if foo invites bar. Currently you can see only that bar joined.
304
305- Public chats. See link:http://forum.skype.com/index.php?showtopic=98872[this
306  forum thread], it is still unclear how could it be done for you to be able to
307  `/join` to a public chat..
308
309- Add `--disable-skyped` and `--disable-plugin` switches in case one wants to
310  build `bitlbee-skype` only for a public server or only for use with a public
311  server.
312
313== I would like to have support for ...
314
315If something does not work and it's not in the TODO section, then please
316contact me! Please also try the link:HACKING[git version] before reporting a bug, your
317problem may be already fixed there.
318
319In fact, of course, I wrote this documentation after figured out how to do this
320setup, so maybe I left out some steps. If you needed 'any' additional tricks,
321then it would be nice to include them here.
322
323== Known bugs
324
325- None at this time.
326
327== Screenshots
328
329You can reach some screenshots link:shot[here].
330
331== Additional resources
332
333You can reach the Changelog link:Changelog[here], and a gitweb interface
334http://vmiklos.hu/gitweb/?p=bitlbee-skype.git[here].
335
336The Skype API documentation is
337https://developer.skype.com/Docs/ApiDoc[here] if you're interested.
338
339
340== Testimonials
341
342----
34300:56 < scathe> vmiklos: I like your skype plugin :)
344----
345
346----
347It's really working great so far.
348
349Good Job and thank you!
350Sebastian
351----
352
353----
354Big respect for your work, i really appreciate it.
355
356Martin
357----
358
359----
360Thanks for bitlbee-skype. As a blind Linux user, I cannot use the
361skype GUI client because qt apps ar not accessible yet with the
362available screen readers. bitlbee-skype allows me to make use of skype
363without having to interact much with the GUI client, which helps me a
364lot.
365
366Lukas
367----
368
369----
37002:12 < newton> i must say, i love this little bee ;)
37102:15 < newton> tried it out today with the skype plugin, good work!
372----
373
374== Thanks
375
376for the following people:
377
378* Wilmer van der Gaast, for answering questions about the BitlBee plugin interface
379
380* Arkadiusz Wahlig, author of skype4py, for making suggestions to skyped
381
382* Gabor Adam Toth (tg), for noticing extra code is needed to handle multiline
383  messages
384
385* Cristobal Palmer (tarheelcoxn), for helping to testing the plugin in a
386  timezone different to mine
387
388* Risko Gergely, for his SkypeOut ideas
389
390* people on `#bitlbee` for feedback
391
392Back to my link:/projects[projects page].
393
394// vim: ft=asciidoc
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