changes.md

@title What has changed?

@markup kramdown

What has changed in 2.0?

1. Added support for SASL
2. Added support for DCC SEND
3. Added a fair scheduler for outgoing messages
4. Added required plugin options
5. Added support for colors/formatting
6. Added network discovery
7. Added match groups
8. Added match options overwriting plugin options
9. Added support for actions (/me)
10. Added support for broken IRC networks
11. Dynamic timers
12. Reworked logging facilities
13. API improvements
    1. Helper changes
    2. Added a Cinch::Target Target class
    3. Cinch::Constants
    4. New methods
    5. Removed/Renamed methods
    6. Handlers
    7. The Plugin class
    8. Channel/Target/User implement Comparable
    9. Renamed *Manager to *List
14. New events

Added support for SASL

Cinch now supports authenticating to services via SASL. For more information check {Cinch::SASL}.

Added support for DCC SEND

Support for sending and receiving files via DCC has been added to Cinch. Check {Cinch::DCC} for more information.

Added a fair scheduler for outgoing messages

Cinch always provided sophisticated throttling to avoid getting kicked due to excess flood. One major flaw, however, was that it used a single FIFO for all messages, thus preferring early message targets and penalizing later ones.

Now Cinch uses a round-robin approach, having one queue per message target (channels and users) and one for generic commands.

Added required plugin options

Plugins can now require specific options to be set. If any of those options are not set, the plugin will automatically refuse being loaded.

This is useful for example for plugins that require API keys to interact with web services.

The new attribute is called {Cinch::Plugin::ClassMethods#required_options required_options}.

Example:

class MyPlugin
  include Cinch::Plugin

  set :required_options, [:foo, :bar]
  # ...
end

# ...

bot.configure do |c|
  c.plugins.plugins = [MyPlugin]
  c.plugins.options[MyPlugin] = {:foo => 1}
end

# The plugin won't load because the option :bar is not set.
# Instead it will print a warning.

Added support for colors/formatting

A new {Cinch::Formatting module} and {Cinch::Helpers#Format helper} for adding colors and formatting to messages has been added. See the {Cinch::Formatting module's documentation} for more information on usage.

Added support for network discovery

Cinch now tries to detect the network it connects to, including the running IRCd. For most parts this is only interesting internally, but if you're writing advanced plugins that hook directly into IRC and needs to be aware of available features/quirks, check out {Cinch::IRC#network} and {Cinch::Network}.

Reworked logging facilities

The logging API has been drastically improved. Check the {file:logging.md logging documentation} for more information.

Added match groups

A new option for matchers, :group, allows grouping multiple matchers to a group. What's special is that in any group, only the first matching handler will be executed.

Example:

class Foo
  include Cinch::Plugin

  match /foo (\d+)/, group: :blegh, method: :foo1
  match /foo (.+)/,  group: :blegh, method: :foo2
  match /foo .+/,                   method: :foo3
  def foo1(m, arg)
    m.reply "foo1"
  end

  def foo2(m, arg)
    m.reply "foo2"
  end

  def foo3(m)
    m.reply "foo3"
  end
end
# 02:05:39       dominikh │ !foo 123
# 02:05:40          cinch │ foo1
# 02:05:40          cinch │ foo3

# 02:05:43       dominikh │ !foo bar
# 02:05:44          cinch │ foo2
# 02:05:44          cinch │ foo3

Added match options overwriting plugin options

Matchers now have their own :prefix, :suffix and :react_on options which overwrite plugin options for single matchers.

Added support for actions (/me)

A new event, {:action} has been added and can be used for matching actions as follows:

match "kicks the bot", react_on: :action
def execute(m)
  m.reply "Ouch!"
end

API improvements

Helper changes

The helper methods {Cinch::Helpers#User User()} and {Cinch::Helpers#Channel Channel()} have been extracted from {Cinch::Bot} and moved to {Cinch::Helpers their own module} which can be reused in various places.

Added a {Cinch::Target Target} class

Since {Cinch::Channel} and {Cinch::User} share one common interface for sending messages, it only makes sense to have a common base class. {Cinch::Target This new class} takes care of sending messages and removes this responsibility from {Cinch::Channel}, {Cinch::User} and {Cinch::Bot}

{Cinch::Constants}

All constants for IRC numeric replies (RPL_* and ERR_*) have been moved from {Cinch} to {Cinch::Constants}

New methods

{Cinch::Bot}

• {Cinch::Bot#channel_list}
• {Cinch::Bot#handlers}
• {Cinch::Bot#loggers}
• {Cinch::Bot#loggers=}
• {Cinch::Bot#modes}
• {Cinch::Bot#modes=}
• {Cinch::Bot#set_mode}
• {Cinch::Bot#stop}
• {Cinch::Bot#unset_mode}
• {Cinch::Bot#user_list}

{Cinch::Channel}

• {Cinch::Channel#admins}
• {Cinch::Channel#half_ops}
• {Cinch::Channel#ops}
• {Cinch::Channel#owners}
• {Cinch::Channel#voiced}

{Cinch::Helpers}

• {Cinch::Helpers#Target} -- For creating a {Cinch::Target Target} which can receive messages
• {Cinch::Helpers#Timer} -- For creating new timers anywhere
• {Cinch::Helpers#rescue_exception} -- For rescueing and automatically logging an exception
• {Cinch::Helpers#Format} -- For adding colors and formatting to messages

Logging shortcuts

• {Cinch::Helpers#debug}
• {Cinch::Helpers#error}
• {Cinch::Helpers#exception}
• {Cinch::Helpers#fatal}
• {Cinch::Helpers#incoming}
• {Cinch::Helpers#info}
• {Cinch::Helpers#log}
• {Cinch::Helpers#outgoing}
• {Cinch::Helpers#warn}

{Cinch::IRC}

• {Cinch::IRC#network}

{Cinch::Message}

• {Cinch::Message#action?}
• {Cinch::Message#action_message}
• {Cinch::Message#target}
• {Cinch::Message#time}

{Cinch::Plugin}

• {Cinch::Plugin#handlers}
• {Cinch::Plugin#storage}
• {Cinch::Plugin#timers}
• {Cinch::Plugin#unregister}

{Cinch::User}

• {Cinch::User#away}
• {Cinch::User#dcc_send} - See {Cinch::DCC::Outgoing::Send}
• {Cinch::User#match}
• {Cinch::User#monitor} - See {file:common_tasks.md#checking-if-a-user-is-online Checking if a user is online}
• {Cinch::User#monitored}
• {Cinch::User#online?}
• {Cinch::User#unmonitor}

Handlers

Internally, Cinch uses {Cinch::Handler Handlers} for listening to and matching events. In previous versions, this was hidden from the user, but now they're part of the public API, providing valuable information and the chance to {Cinch::Handler#unregister unregister handlers} alltogether.

{Cinch::Bot#on} now returns the created handler and {Cinch::Plugin#handlers} allows getting a plugin's registered handlers.

Removed/Renamed methods

The following methods have been removed:

| Removed method | Replacement | |----------------------------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Cinch::Bot#halt | next or break (Ruby keywords) | | Cinch::Bot#raw | {Cinch::IRC#send} | | Cinch::Bot#msg | {Cinch::Target#msg} | | Cinch::Bot#notice | {Cinch::Target#notice} | | Cinch::Bot#safe_msg | {Cinch::Target#safe_msg} | | Cinch::Bot#safe_notice | {Cinch::Target#safe_notice} | | Cinch::Bot#action | {Cinch::Target#action} | | Cinch::Bot#safe_action | {Cinch::Target#safe_action} | | Cinch::Bot#dispatch | {Cinch::HandlerList#dispatch} | | Cinch::Bot#register_plugins | {Cinch::PluginList#register_plugins} | | Cinch::Bot#register_plugin | {Cinch::PluginList#register_plugin} | | Cinch::Bot#logger | {Cinch::Bot#loggers} | | Cinch::Bot#logger= | | | Cinch::Bot#debug | {Cinch::LoggerList#debug} | | Cinch::IRC#message | {Cinch::IRC#send} | | Cinch::Logger::Logger#log_exception | {Cinch::Logger#exception} | | Class methods in Plugin to set options | A new {Cinch::Plugin::ClassMethods#set set} method as well as attribute setters |

The Plugin class

The {Cinch::Plugin Plugin} class has been drastically improved to look and behave more like a proper Ruby class instead of being some abstract black box.

All attributes of a plugin (name, help message, matchers, …) are being made available via attribute getters and setters. Furthermore, it is possible to access a Plugin instance's registered handlers and timers, as well as unregister plugins.

For a complete overview of available attributes and methods, see {Cinch::Plugin} and {Cinch::Plugin::ClassMethods}.

Plugin options

The aforementioned changes also affect the way plugin options are being set: Plugin options aren't set with DSL-like methods anymore but instead are made available via {Cinch::Plugin::ClassMethods#set a set method} or alternatively plain attribute setters.

See {file:migrating.md#plugin-options the migration guide} for more information.

Channel/Target/User implement Comparable

{Cinch::Target} and thus {Cinch::Channel} and {Cinch::User} now implement the Comparable interface, which makes them sortable by all usual Ruby means.

Renamed *Manager to *List

Cinch::ChannelManager and Cinch::UserManager have been renamed to {Cinch::ChannelList} and {Cinch::UserList} respectively.

Added support for broken IRC networks

Special support for the following flawed IRC networks has been added:

• JustinTV
• NGameTV
• IRCnet

Dynamic timers

It is now possible to create new timers from any method/handler. It is also possible to {Cinch::Timer#stop stop existing timers} or {Cinch::Timer#start restart them}.

The easiest way of creating new timers is by using the {Cinch::Helpers#Timer Timer helper method}, even though it is also possible, albeit more complex, to create instances of {Cinch::Timer} directly.

Example:

match /remind me in (\d+) seconds/
def execute(m, seconds)
  Timer(seconds.to_i, shots: 1) do
    m.reply "This is your reminder.", true
  end
end

For more information on timers, see the {Cinch::Timer Timer documentation}.

New options

• :{file:bot_options.md#dccownip dcc.own_ip}
• :{file:bot_options.md#modes modes}
• :{file:bot_options.md#maxreconnectdelay max_reconnect_delay}
• :{file:bot_options.md#localhost local_host}
• :{file:bot_options.md#delayjoins delay_joins}
• :{file:bot_options.md#saslusername sasl.username}
• :{file:bot_options.md#saslpassword sasl.password}

New events

• :{file:events.md#action action}
• :{file:events.md#away away}
• :{file:events.md#unaway unaway}
• :{file:events.md#dccsend dcc_send}
• :{file:events.md#owner owner}
• :{file:events.md#dehalfop-deop-deowner-devoice deowner}
• :{file:events.md#leaving leaving}
• :{file:events.md#online online}
• :{file:events.md#offline offline}

What has changed in 1.1?

1. New events
2. New methods
3. New options
4. Improved logger x. Deprecated methods

New events

• :{file:events.md#op op}
• :{file:events.md#dehalfop-deop-deowner-devoice deop}
• :{file:events.md#voice voice}
• :{file:events.md#dehalfop-deop-deowner-devoice devoice}
• :{file:events.md#halfop halfop}
• :{file:events.md#dehalfop-deop-deowner-devoice dehalfop}
• :{file:events.md#ban ban}
• :{file:events.md#unban unban}
• :{file:events.md#modechange mode_change}
• :{file:events.md#catchall catchall}

Additionally, plugins are now able to send their own events by using Cinch::Bot#dispatch.

New methods

{Cinch::User#last_nick}

Stores the last nick of a user. This can for example be used in on :nick to compare a user's old nick against the new one.

Cinch::User#notice, Cinch::Channel#notice and Cinch::Bot#notice

For sending notices.

{Cinch::Message#to_s}

Provides a nicer representation of {Cinch::Message} objects.

{Cinch::Channel#has_user?}

Provides an easier way of checking if a given user is in a channel

New options

• {file:bot_options.md#pluginssuffix plugins.suffix}
• {file:bot_options.md#ssluse ssl.use}
• {file:bot_options.md#sslverify ssl.verify}
• {file:bot_options.md#sslcapath ssl.ca_path}
• {file:bot_options.md#sslclientcert ssl.client_cert}
• {file:bot_options.md#nicks nicks}
• {file:bot_options.md#timeoutsread timeouts.read}
• {file:bot_options.md#timeoutsconnect timeouts.connect}
• {file:bot_options.md#pinginterval ping_interval}
• {file:bot_options.md#reconnect reconnect}

Improved logger

The {Cinch::Logger::FormattedLogger formatted logger} (which is the default one) now contains timestamps. Furthermore, it won't emit color codes if not writing to a TTY.

Additionally, it can now log any kind of object, not only strings.

Deprecated methods

| Deprecated method | Replacement | |-----------------------------+------------------------------------| | Cinch::User.find_ensured | Cinch::UserManager#find_ensured | | Cinch::User.find | Cinch::UserManager#find | | Cinch::User.all | Cinch::UserManager#each | | Cinch::Channel.find_ensured | Cinch::ChannelManager#find_ensured | | Cinch::Channel.find | Cinch::ChannelManager#find | | Cinch::Channel.all | Cinch::ChannelManager#each |