Xobot

IRC	Nick: xobot #olpc, #olpc-bot, #olpc-es, #olpc-qa, #olpc-help, #olpc-meeting, #sugar, #sugar-meeting, #ubuntu-sugarteam, #ubuntu-za Server: freenode

How to Survive a Xobot Uprising

xobot is an IRC bot who lives on the freenode network, and generally hangs out in #sugar, #olpc and #olpc-help.

xobot is an instance of Knab (Knab is not a bot) and is a cousin of Spinach, who has good documentation.

Knab is written in Perl. You can get source at:

bzr branch http://dev.laptop.org/~morgan/knab

xobot is maintained by morgs.

Using xobot to communicate with others

You can ask xobot when someone was last seen in one of the channels where xobot was:

<morgs> xobot: seen marcopg
<xobot> morgs: marcopg was last seen on #sugar 35 minutes and 11 seconds ago, saying: morgs: guess rob since he requested perms

You can ask xobot to give someone a message:

<morgs> xobot: tell jg please approve #1234 kthxbye
<xobot> morgs: sure

When xobot sees that person say something, then:

<xobot> jg: by the way, morgs told me to tell you 'please approve #1234 kthxbye' 21 minutes and 2 seconds ago

Factoids

You can teach xobot to respond to things. Here's an example:

<morgs> xobot: OLPC
<xobot> morgs: huh?
<morgs> xobot: OLPC is One Laptop Per Child
<xobot> morgs: righto!
<morgs> xobot: OLPC
<xobot> morgs: OLPC is One Laptop Per Child

You can give multiple meanings:

<morgs> xobot: Chat
<xobot> morgs: Chat is http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Chat
<morgs> xobot: Chat is also maintained by morgs
<xobot> morgs: okay

For more, see Spinach's documentation.

Using xobot for support purposes

Xobot is useful in supporting users. When you can identify a common user problem, have xobot give them the scoop.

<green-peacock-13> I am becoming very distressed by the line my activites make at the bottom of the screen.
<colinz> Sounds like you should upgrade to the latest version!
<colinz> xobot upgrade
<xobot> The most reliable upgrade path the OLPC Support gang has found is described here:  http://wiki.laptop.org/go/No-Fail_Upgrade
<green-peakcock-13> Thanks I'll try that.

Support Gang updates Xobot with the latest instructions, so be sure to use him. To find out what Xobot knows, use his search function.

First get a private dialog with Xobot so you don't drive everyone else crazy:

/msg xobot lets chat

Then pick his brain

<colinz> xobot search battery
<xobot> colinz: Found: ('is') battery recovery [1]; battery [1]; battery recover [1]; battery =+ and [1]; battery repair [1];  (showing 5 of 5 results)
<colinz> xobot battery recovery
<xobot>  http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XO_LiFePO4_Recovery_Procedure
<colinx> xobot battery
<xobot>  lithium ferrous phosphate oxide and lasts about 4 hours
...