simpleirc

An IRC connection layer written in Python.

Why

Decoupling the IRC connection layer from whatever application might be using it frees up that application to behave however it might like. For instance, an application that consumes simpleirc as a layer might be stopped, reloaded, and then started again without disrupting the underlying connection. This also means that multiple applications can consume the same connection simultaneously without any extra work. Finally, simpleirc presents a simple socket protocol so that applications which use it can be written in any language that can manipulate a TCP socket.

Installation

$ pip install simpleirc

Usage

Simpleirc may be invoked from the command line like this:

$ simpleirc "irc.strangeloop.io" 6697 "foo" "foo" "Foo the Bar" 1

The syntax here is <server> <port> <nick> <user> <realname> <ssl>. This will initialize a connecton to the IRC server. The package will do simple connection maintenance, such as PONGing on PING.

To interact with the connection layer, send JSON blobs suffixed with over the wire to the simpleirc UNIX socket like so:

>>> import socket
>>> sender = socket.socket(socket.AF_UNIX, socket.SOCK_DGRAM)
>>> listener = socket.socket(socket.AF_UNIX, socket.SOCK_DGRAM)
>>> listener.bind('/tmp/foo.sock')

The sender socket will provide a line to the simpleirc layer. Messages may be sent to either register a socket connection you would like simpleirc to broadcast all messages it receives to (multiple sockets may be registered) or send a payload back to the connected service. Respectively, these are invoked as follows:

>>> import json
>>> payload = json.dumps({'register': '/tmp/foo.sock'}) + '\r\n'
>>> sender.sendto(payload, '/tmp/simpleirc.sock')

>>> payload = json.dumps({'join': ['#voxinfinitus']}) + '\r\n'
>>> sender.sendto(payload, '/tmp/simpleirc.sock')

Finally once an application's listening socket has been registered with the simpleirc connection you can recieve message from the connection layer like this:

>>> while True: listener.recv(4096)
...