GthxNetBot

This is the gthx IRC bot reimplemented in C# instead of the original python. The main reasons for this are :

• Gthx was originally created to properly handle unicode, but python is a real pain to work with unicode. (Or at least Python2 certainly is!)
• C# is my main language for daily coding, so I'm much more familiar with it and can code things significantly faster
• I have free credit on Azure that I'd like to use and it seems easier to publish .NET apps to Azure than Python
• Gthx replaced the bot it used to track, so all the bot tracking code no longer needs to exist

TODO

• Figure out how to get scoped lifetime to work for GthxDbContext to fix issue #29
• Finish the build, configure, and run instructions in this doc (which are currently mainly written as reminders for myself)
• Handle received actions and update the last seen
• Handle more CTCP messages
• Switch to use CtcpClient instead of IrcClient so CTCP is handled automatically
• Implement lurkers module

Setup

Database

GthxNetBot supports both MariaDB and SQL Server. One of these must be installed with a database created for the bot and a user granted all permissions on the database.

SQL Server via .NET Aspire (recommended for development)

For local development you don't need to install SQL Server manually. The GthxNetBot.AppHost project uses .NET Aspire to automatically start a SQL Server container, create the GthxDb database, apply EF Core migrations, and launch the bot wired to that database.

This project uses Podman (not Docker Desktop) as the container runtime:

• Install Podman and ensure the Podman machine is running: podman machine start
• Aspire is configured to target Podman via the DOTNET_ASPIRE_CONTAINER_RUNTIME=podman environment variable set in GthxNetBot.AppHost/Properties/launchSettings.json.
• The SQL Server data is kept in a persistent named volume (WithDataVolume()), so the database survives container restarts.

See the Running section for how to start it.

Visual Studio

To use with Visual Studio, install Visual Studio with the following features enabled:

• ASP.NET and web development
• .NET desktop development
• .NET cross-platform development

Then install the .NET 10 SDK

Command Line

• Install dotnet tools
• Install entity framework tools
• Install .NET 10 SDK

Via Docker

• Install Docker

Cloning the source

GthxNetBot uses a source subrepo, so when cloning to build, be sure use the --recurse-submodules when cloning: git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/gunnbr/GthxNetBot.git Or if you have cloned without doing this, the subrepo can be initialized by running:

git submodule update --init

Adding features

Modifying or adding features is done mainly in the Modules folder in the Gthx.Bot project. To add a new module, add a new .cs file here that implements IGthxModule, then implement the interface, following the pattern from the existing modules.

Building

Visual Studio

Use Ctrl-Shift-B or the Build->Build Solution menu item to build from Visual Studio

Command Line

dotnet build

Docker

To build and tag with docker, use

docker build -t gthxnetbot:latest .

Configuring

Edit appsettings.json before running or set environment variables before running

Running

Visual Studio with .NET Aspire (recommended)

Make sure Podman is running (podman machine start), set GthxNetBot.AppHost as the startup project, then use F5. Aspire will start a SQL Server container, create and migrate the GthxDb database, launch the bot, and open the Aspire dashboard listing both resources. No manual SQL Server startup is required.

Visual Studio

Use F5 to run through the debugger, Ctrl-F5 to run without the debugger or the Debug->Start Debugging menu item to run through Visual Studio

Command line

dotnet run

Or find the compiled executables in the bin/Debug/net6.0

To run the full Aspire orchestration (SQL Server container + bot) from the command line:

dotnet run --project GthxNetBot.AppHost

Docker

To run with environment overrides and network access to localhost and automatic restart, use:

docker run -d --env-file ./gthx.env --network="host" --restart unless-stopped gthxnetbot:latest

If you have modified the appsettings.json or added environment variables to configure, then you can leave out the "--env-file ./gthx.env" part. Otherwise, copy "gthx.env.example" to "gthx.env" and edit it to suit your installation.

Then status can be monitored by way of the configured logging.