409px, An IRC bot performing a simple task.An IRC bot is a set of
scripts or an independent
program that connects to
Internet Relay Chat
IRC (Internet Relay Chat) is a text-based chat system for instant messaging. IRC is designed for Many-to-many, group communication in discussion forums, called ''#Channels, channels'', but also allows one-on-one communication via instant mess ...
as a
client, and so appears to other IRC users as another user. An IRC bot differs from a regular client in that instead of providing interactive access to IRC for a human user, it performs automated functions.
Function
Often, an IRC bot is deployed as a detached program running from a stable host. It sits on an
IRC channel to keep it open and prevents malicious users from
taking over the channel. It can be configured to give
channel operator status to privileged users when they join the channel, and can provide a unified channel operator list. Many of these features require that the bot be a channel operator. Thus, most IRC bots are run from computers which have long
uptimes (generally running a
BSD
The Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD), also known as Berkeley Unix or BSD Unix, is a discontinued Unix operating system developed and distributed by the Computer Systems Research Group (CSRG) at the University of California, Berkeley, beginni ...
derivative or
Linux
Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...
) and a fast, stable
Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...
connection. As IRC has become popular with many
dial-up
Dial-up Internet access is a form of Internet access that uses the facilities of the public switched telephone network (PSTN) to establish a connection to an Internet service provider (ISP) by dialing a telephone number on a conventional telepho ...
users as well,
shell account
A shell account is a user account on a remote server, typically running under Unix or Linux operating systems. The account gives access to a text-based command-line interface in a shell, via a terminal emulator. The user typically communicates w ...
s at
shell providers have become popular as a stable Linux server with a decent connection to run a bot from.
Aside from managing channel permissions, a bot can also perform functions such as logging what is posted to an IRC channel, giving out information on demand (very popular in IRC channels dealing with user support), creating
statistics
Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a s ...
tracking the channel's top posters and longest-lived
lurkers, or hosting
trivia,
Uno and other games. These functions are usually provided by scripts, often written in a
scripting programming language such as
Tcl or
Perl
Perl is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming language. Though Perl is not officially an acronym, there are various backronyms in use, including "Practical Extraction and Reporting Language".
Perl was developed ...
by the bot's users. Channels dedicated to
file sharing
File sharing is the practice of distributing or providing access to digital media, such as computer programs, multimedia (audio, images and video), documents or electronic books. Common methods of storage, transmission and dispersion include ...
often use
XDCC bots to distribute their files.
IRC bots are particularly useful on
IRC network
IRC (Internet Relay Chat) is a text-based chat system for instant messaging. IRC is designed for Many-to-many, group communication in discussion forums, called ''#Channels, channels'', but also allows one-on-one communication via instant mess ...
s such as
EFnet and
IRCnet without
channel registration services, and on networks like
Undernet or
QuakeNet that require conditions to be met (minimum user count, etc.) before a channel may be registered. Where bots are used for administrative functions such as this, they may need more access than a normal client connection allows. Some versions of IRC have a "Service" protocol that allows clients with these extra powers. Such server-sanctioned bots are called
IRC services.
Bots are not always welcome. Some IRC networks forbid the usage of bots. One of the reasons for doing so is that each
nickname
A nickname, in some circumstances also known as a sobriquet, or informally a "moniker", is an informal substitute for the proper name of a person, place, or thing, used to express affection, playfulness, contempt, or a particular character trait ...
connected to the network increases the size of the network
database
In computing, a database is an organized collection of data or a type of data store based on the use of a database management system (DBMS), the software that interacts with end users, applications, and the database itself to capture and a ...
which is being kept in
sync across all servers. Allowing for bots in large networks can cause a relevant amount of
network traffic Network traffic or data traffic is the amount of data moving across a network at a given point of time. Network data in computer networks is mostly encapsulated in network packets, which provide the load in the network. Network traffic is the main ...
overhead which needs to be financed and may even lead to
netsplits.
Comparison
In popular culture
*
Basshunter's 2006 song,
Boten Anna, is about a female IRC user mistaken for an IRC bot
See also
*
Chatterbot
*
Comparison of Internet Relay Chat bots
References
External links
{{IRC topics
Bot, Internet Relay Chat