NAME

NAME
Bot::BasicBot::Pluggable::Module::CPANLinks - provide links to CPAN
module docs

DESCRIPTION
A module for Bot::BasicBot::Pluggable-powered IRC bots, to automatically
provide links to documentation when people mention certain CPAN modules
or keywords. Can be configured to only respond to modules in certain
namespaces on a per-channel basis.

HOW IT WORKS
If someone's message looks like it contains a CPAN module name (e.g.
`Foo::Bar'), this plugin will look for the bot setting `filter_$channel'
where `$channel' is the channel that the user spoke in - so, e.g.
`filter_#dancer'. If this setting exists, its value should be a regular
expression; if the module name matches this expression, the plugin will
look up that module, and, if it exists, provide a link to it (unless it
has done so more recently than the configurable threshold).

Similarly, if someone says something like "the session keyword" or
similar, the plugin will check if `keywords_$channel' exists and is set
to a package name; if it does, it will make sure that package is loaded,
check if that package `can($keyword)', and if so, will provide a link to
the documentation for that keyword.

So, for example, in the `#dancer' channel, `keywords_#dancer' would be
set to `Dancer' - so if I say "the session keyword", the plugin will
check if `Dancer-'can('session')> to check it's a valid keyword, and if
so, will provide a link to the docs.

WARNING: this setting causes the named package to be loaded; that means
that anyone who can configure your bot from IRC can cause a package of
their choosing to be loaded into your bot. It must be a package which is
already installed on your system, of course, but it deserves that
warning.

CONFIGURATION
See Bot::BasicBot::Pluggable::Module::Vars for details on how to set the
appropriate config options in your bot's store (or do it directly in the
DB, if you prefer).

The settings to set up are:

`filter_channelname'
Set the pattern which module names must match for a given channel.
If this setting doesn't exist for the channel, nothing will be
linked.

For example, for `#dancer', `filter_#dancer' is set to `^Dancer'.

`keywords_channelname'
Set the package from which keywords are linked for a given channel.
If this setting doesn't exist for the channel, no keywords will be
linked.

If you want to use this, set this setting to the name of the package
keywords should be looked for in - for instance, for `#dancer',
`keywords_#dancer' is set to `Dancer'. So, if I mention e.g. "see
the session keyword", the bot will check if
`Dancer-'can('session')>, see that that's a valid keyword, and will
provide a link to the docs.

Be aware that using this setting means the named package will be
loaded; this means anyone who can configure your bot can cause a
package of their choosing to be loaded. However, it's loaded by
Module::Load at runtime, so no importing will be done, and it can
only be a package installed on your system. It's still something to
be aware of, though, if you think there's a possibility of code in
your `@INC' that you wouldn't want your bot to load.

`dupe_gap'
How many seconds between successive mentions of the same module name
/ keyword to wait before providing a link again. Nobody wants the
bot to respond with a link every time a given module name is
mentioned. If not set, defaults to a sensible value.

HOSTED OPTION
If you like the idea of this but don't want to go to the effort of
setting it up, I have a bot on `irc.perl.org' already running it, which
I'd be happy to add to your channel and configure appropriately for you
- just drop me a mail.

AUTHOR
David Precious (bigpresh) `<[email protected]>'