NAME

       eggdrop - an IRC bot

SYNOPSIS

       eggdrop [options] [config-file]

DESCRIPTION

       Eggdrop  is  the World's most popular Internet Relay Chat (IRC) bot; it is freely distributable under the
       GNU General Public License (GPL). Eggdrop is a feature rich  program  designed  to  be  easily  used  and
       expanded upon by both novice and advanced IRC users on a variety of hardware and software platforms.

       An  IRC bot is a program that sits on an IRC channel and preforms automated tasks while looking just like
       a normal user on the channel. Some of these functions include protecting the channel from abuse, allowing
       privileged users to gain op or voice status,  logging  channel  events,  providing  information,  hosting
       games, etc.

       One  of  the  features  that makes Eggdrop stand out from other bots is module and Tcl scripting support.
       With scripts and modules, you can make the bot preform almost any task you want.  They  can  do  anything
       from preventing floods to greeting users and banning advertisers from channels.

       You  can  also link multiple Eggdrop bots together to form a botnet. This can allow bots to op each other
       securely, control floods efficiently, and even link channels across multiple IRC networks. It also allows
       the Eggdrops share user lists, ban lists, exempt/invite lists,  and  ignore  lists  with  other  bots  if
       userfile  sharing  is  enabled. This allows users to have the same access on every bot on your botnet. It
       also allows the bots to distribute tasks such as opping and banning users. See doc/BOTNET for information
       on setting up a botnet.

       Eggdrop needs a config file to run. For an example, have a look at eggdrop.conf which is distributed with
       Eggdrop.

OPTIONS

       -h     Display a list of command-line options.

       -n     Don't background. Normally, Eggdrop will move itself into the background when  you  start  it  up,
              meaning  you'll  get  another  shell prompt, and you can do other things while the bot is running.
              With -n, you won't return to the shell prompt until the bot exits  (which  won't  normally  happen
              until it's killed). By default, -n will send all log entries to the console.

       -nt    Don't  background,  use terminal. This is just like -n, except that instead of seeing log entries,
              your console will simulate a DCC chat with the bot.

       -nc    Don't background, show channel info. This is just like -n,  except  that  instead  of  seeing  log
              entries, every 10 seconds your screen will clear and you will see the current channel status, sort
              of like "top".

       -m     Create  userfile.  If  you don't have a userfile, this will make Eggdrop create one and give owner
              status to the first person that introduces himself or herself to it. You'll need to do  this  when
              you first set up your bot.

       -v     Show version info, then quit.

SIGNALS

       SIGCHLD
              This signal is ignored by Eggdrop and can be used to determine whether it's running or not.

       SIGTERM
              Depending on die-on-sigterm being set to 0 or 1 in the config file, Eggdrop will save its user and
              channel file and/or die.

       SIGHUP Depending on die-on-sighup being set to 0 or 1 in the config file, Eggdrop will rehash (reload its
              config file) or die.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

       EGG_LANG
              This variable can be set to the language in which you want Eggdrop to speak
               to you. It defaults to English, but German, French, Finnish, and Danish are supported, too.

       EGG_LANGDIR
              Specifies the directory where all your language files are stored.  The default is ./language.

SEE ALSO

       irc(1), ircII(1), tclsh(1), ircd(8)

       There  is  extensive  online  documentation.   Once you get the bot running, open a DCC chat with it, and
       type: .help

       In addition, the files in the doc/ directory provide detailed information about how Eggdrop works and how
       to use it.

AUTHORS

       Written by Robey Pointer, the Eggheads Development Team and various others. See the doc/AUTHORS file  for
       all who contributed and the doc/UPDATES1.6 file for further details.

REPORTING BUGS

       See doc/BUG-REPORT.

       Bugs  can  either  be  reported  directly  to BugZilla, at http://bugzilla.eggheads.org, or via e-mail to
       <bugs@eggheads.org>.

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (C) 1997 Robey Pointer
       Copyright (C) 1999 - 2008 Eggheads Development Team

       This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify  it  under  the  terms  of  the  GNU
       General  Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
       (at your option) any later version.

       This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY  WARRANTY;  without  even
       the  implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public
       License for more details.

       You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not,  write
       to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307, USA.

Eggheads Development Team                          August 2004                                        eggdrop(1)