[csw-maintainers] IRC-Bot for #opencsw ... prototype version online

[Sebastian Kayser]

Hi,

to bring some more life to our IRC channel, i have extended an IRC bot
framework with a couple of CSW-specific plugins today and hooked a bot
named "ceeswie" up to #opencsw for testing purposes.

You can either query her with commands or trigger her in the channel by
prefixing @ to your commands. Give the following commands a try:

  @pkginfo trac
  @buglist trac
  @fsearch ssl.h

There are also some straight-forward URL builders available (no validity
checking)

  @url pkginfo trac
  @url gar trac
  @url bugs trac
  @url bug 3659

The help system (@help) is off-the-shelf and not yet adjusted. The bot
is just a glimpse of what can be done. I had the idea recently, when
someone came on the channel to request help with his trac installation
that went bad on pkg upgrades. Instead of going off to the bug tracker
to check for possible bugs (or referring the user there), the bot
enables us to query for bugs right away in the channel. It's convenient
and fun after all ;)

Give it a try, let me know what you think. Expect the one or the other
hickup, it's rather basic and doesn't yet handle all exceptions. If
someone has prior experience in coding such bots and wants to roll an
alternative one, feel free. Feature requests very welcome!

Sebastian