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Handling UTF-8 character sets
UTF-8 is a variable length encoding of Unicode. UTF-8 is recommended as the default encoding in JSON, XML and HTML, also Telegram make use of it.
The first 128 characters are regular ASCII, so it's a superset of and compatible with ASCII environments. The next 1,920 characters need
two bytes for encoding and covers almost all Latin alphabets, also Greek, Cyrillic,
Hebrew, Arabic and more. See Wikipedia for more details.
Setting up your Environment
In general bash and GNU utitities are UTF-8 aware if you to setup your environment
and your scripts accordingly:
-
Your Terminal and Editor must support UTF-8: Set Terminal and Editor locale to UTF-8, eg. in
Settings/Configurationselect UTF-8 (Unicode) as Charset. -
Set
Shellenvironment to UTF-8 in your.profileand your scripts. The usual settings are:
export 'LC_ALL=C.UTF-8'
export 'LANG=C.UTF-8'
export 'LANGUAGE=C.UTF-8'
If you use other languages, eg. german or US english, change the shell settings to:
export 'LC_ALL=de_DE.UTF-8'
export 'LANG=de_DE.UTF-8'
export 'LANGUAGE=de_DE.UTF-8'
export 'LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8'
export 'LANG=de_en_US.UTF-8'
export 'LANGUAGE=den_US.UTF-8'
- make sure your bot scripts use the correct settings, eg. include the lines above at the beginning of your scripts
To display all available locales on your system run locale -a | more. Gentoo Wiki
Bashbot UTF-8 Support
Bashbot handles all messages transparently, regardless of the charset in use. The only exception is when converting from JSON data to strings.
Telegram use JSON to send / receive data. JSON encodes strings as follow: Characters not ASCII (>127) are escaped as sequences of \uxxxx to be regular ASCII. In addition multibyte characters, e.g. Emoticons or Arabic characters, are send in double byte UTF-16 notation.
The Emoticons 😁 😘 ❤️ 😊 👍 are encoded as: \uD83D\uDE01 \uD83D\uDE18 \u2764\uFE0F \uD83D\uDE0A \uD83D\uDC4D
This "mixed" JSON encoding needs special handling and can not decoded from echo -e or printf '%s\\n'
Most complete support for decoding of multibyte characters can only be provided if python is installed on your system. Without python bashbot falls back to an internal, pure bash implementation which may not work for some corner cases.
Run as other user or system service
Bashbot is desingned to run manually by the user who installed it. Nevertheless it's possible to run it by an other user-ID, as a system service or scheduled from cron. This is only recommended for experiend linux users.
Setup the environment for the user you want to run bashbot and enter desired username, e.g. nobody :
sudo ./bashbot.sh init
Edit the file bashbot.rc and edit the following lines to fit your configuration:
#######################
# Configuration Section
# edit the next line to fit the user you want to run bashbot, e.g. nobody:
runas="nobody"
# uncomment one of the following lines
# runcmd="su $runas -s /bin/bash -c " # runasuser with su
# runcmd="runuser $runas -s /bin/bash -c " # runasuser with runuser
# edit the values of the following lines to fit your config:
start="/usr/local/telegram-bot-bash/bashbot.sh" # location of your bashbot.sh script
name='' # your bot name as given to botfather, e.g. mysomething_bot
# END Configuration
#######################
From now on use 'bashbot.rc' to manage your bot:
sudo ./bashbot.rc start
Type ps -ef | grep bashbot to verify your Bot is running as the desired user.
If your Bot is started by 'bashbot.rc', you must use 'bashbot.rc' also to manage your Bot! The following commands are available:
sudo ./bashbot.rc start
sudo ./bashbot.rc stop
sudo ./bashbot.rc status
sudo ./bashbot.rc suspendback
sudo ./bashbot.rc resumeback
sudo ./bashbot.rc killback
To change back the environment to your user-ID run sudo ./bashbot.sh init again and enter your user name.
To use bashbot as a system service include a working bashbot.rc in your init system (systemd, /etc/init.d).
Schedule bashbot from Cron
An example crontab is provided in examples/bashbot.cron.
- If you are running bashbot with your user-ID, copy the examples lines to your crontab and remove username
nobody. - if you run bashbot as an other user or a system service edit
examples/bashbot.cronto fit your needs and replace usernamenobodywith the username you want to run bashbot. copy the modified file to/etc/cron.d/bashbot
Use bashbot from CLI and scripts
You can use bashbot to send messages, locations, venues, pictures etc. from command line and scripts by sourcing it:
usage: . bashbot.sh source
Before sourcing 'bahsbot.sh' for interactive and script use, you should export and set BASHBOT_HOME to bashbots installation dir, e.g. '/usr/local/telegram-bot-bash'. see Bashbot Environemt
Note: If you don't set BASHBOT_HOME bashbot will use the actual directory as NEW home directory which means it will create all needed files and ask for bot token and botadmin if you are not in the real bot home!
Examples:
# if you are in the bashbot directory
. bashbot.sh source
# same, but more readable in scripts
source ./bashbot.sh source
# use bashbot config in BASHBOT_HOME from any directory
export BASHBOT_HOME=/usr/local/telegram-bot-bash
source ${BASHBOT_HOME}/bashbot.sh source
# use / create new config in current directory
unset BASHBOT_HOME
source /path/to/bashbot.sh source
Environment variable exported from bashbot
If you have sourced 'bashbot.sh' you have the following bashot internal variables available:
COMMANDS # default: ./commands.sh"
MODULEDIR # default: ./modules"
TOKENFILE # default: ./token"
BOTADMIN # default: ./botadmin"
BOTACL # default: ./botacl"
TMPDIR # default: ./data-bot-bash"
COUNTFILE # default: ./count"
BOTTOKEN # default: content of ${TOKENFILE}
URL # telegram api URL - default: https://api.telegram.org/bot${BOTTOKEN}"
Interactive use
For testing your setup or sending messages yoursel you can use bashbot functions from bash command line:
# are we running bash?
echo $SHELL
/bin/bash
# source bashbot.sh WITHOUT BASHBOT_HOME set
./bashbot.sh source
# output bashbot internal variables
echo $COMMANDS $MODULEDIR $TOKENFILE $BOTADMIN $BOTACL $TMPDIR $COUNTFILE
./commands.sh ./modules ./token ./botadmin ./botacl ./data-bot-bash ./count
# source bashbot.sh WITH BASHBOT_HOME set
export BASHBOT_HOME=/usr/local/telegram-bot-bash
source ./bashbot.sh source
# output bashbot internal variables
echo $COMMANDS $MODULEDIR $TOKENFILE $BOTADMIN $BOTACL $TMPDIR $COUNTFILE
/usr/local/telegram-bot-bash/commands.sh /usr/local/telegram-bot-bash/modules /usr/local/telegram-bot-bash/token
/usr/local/telegram-bot-bash/botadmin /usr/local/telegram-bot-bash/botacl /usr/local/telegram-bot-bash/data-bot-bash
/usr/local/telegram-bot-bash/count
After sourcing you can use bashbot functions to send Messages, Locations, Pictures etc. to any Telegram User or Chat you are in. See Send Messages.
Examples: You can test this by sending messages to yourself:
# fist Hello World
send_normal_message "$(< $BOTADMIN)" "Hello World! This is my first message"
# now with some markdown and HTML
send_markdown_message "$(< $BOTADMIN)" '*Hello World!* _This is my first markdown message_'
send_html_message "$(< $BOTADMIN)" '<b>Hello World!</b> <em>This is my first HTML message</em>'
send_keyboard "$(< $BOTADMIN)" 'Do you like it?' '[ "Yep" , "No" ]'
Now something more useful ...
# sending output from system commands:
send_normal_message "$(< $BOTADMIN)" "$(date)"
send_normal_message "$(< $BOTADMIN)" "$(uptime)"
send_normal_message "$(< $BOTADMIN)" '`'$(free)'`'
# same but markdown style 'code' (monospaced)
send_markdown_message "$(< $BOTADMIN)" "\`$(free)\`"
Bashbot environment
This section describe how you can customize bashbot to your needs by setting environment variables.
Change file locations
In standard setup bashbot is self containing, this means you can place 'telegram-bot-bash' any location and run it from there. All files - program, config, data etc - will reside in 'telegram-bot-bash'.
If you want to have other locations for config, data etc, define and export the following environment variables. Note: all specified directories and files must exist or running 'bashbot.sh' will fail.
BASHBOT_ETC
Location of the files commands.sh, mycommands.sh, token, botadmin, botacl ...
unset BASHBOT_ETC # keep in telegram-bot-bash (default)
export BASHBOT_ETC "" # keep in telegram-bot-bash
export BASHBOT_ETC "/etc/bashbot" # unix like config location
export BASHBOT_ETC "/etc/bashbot/bot1" # multibot configuration bot 1
export BASHBOT_ETC "/etc/bashbot/bot2" # multibot configuration bot 2
e.g. /etc/bashbot
BASHBOT_VAR
Location of runtime data data-bot-bash, count
unset BASHBOT_VAR # keep in telegram-bot-bash (default)
export BASHBOT_VAR "" # keep in telegram-bot-bash
export BASHBOT_VAR "/var/spool/bashbot" # unix like config location
export BASHBOT_VAR "/var/spool/bashbot/bot1" # multibot configuration bot 1
export BASHBOT_VAR "/var/spool/bashbot/bot2" # multibot configuration bot 2
BASHBOT_JSONSH
Full path to JSON.sh script, default: './JSON.sh/JSON.sh', must end with '/JSON.sh'.
unset BASHBOT_JSONSH # telegram-bot-bash/JSON.sh/JSON.sh (default)
export BASHBOT_JSONSH "" # telegram-bot-bash/JSON.sh/JSON.sh
export BASHBOT_JSONSH "/usr/local/bin/JSON.sh" # installed in /usr/local/bin
BASHBOT_HOME
Set bashbot home directory, where bashot will look for additional files. If BASHBOT_ETC, BASHBOT_VAR or BASHBOT_JSONSH are set the have precedence over BASHBOT_HOME.
This is also useful if you want to force bashbot to always use full pathnames instead of relative ones.
unset BASHBOT_HOME # autodetection (default)
export BASHBOT_HOME "" # autodetection
export BASHBOT_HOME "/usr/local/telegram-bot-bash" # unix like location
export BASHBOT_HOME "/usr/local/bin" # Note: you MUST set ETC, VAR and JSONSH to other locations to make this work!
Change config values
BASHBOT_URL
Uses given URL instead of official telegram API URL, useful if you have your own telegram server or for testing.
unset BASHBOT_URL # use Telegram URL https://api.telegram.org/bot<token> (default)
export BASHBOT_URL "" # use use Telegram https://api.telegram.org/bot<token>
export BASHBOT_URL "https://my.url.com/bot" # use your URL https://my.url.com/bot<token>
BASHBOT_TOKEN
If BASHBOT_TOKEN is set, bashbot assumes you know what you are doing and skips environment validation and uses the value of BASHBOT_TOKEN as bot token.
I recommend to run 'bashbot.sh init' at least one time without BASHBOT_TOKEN set to validate and setup the environment. Afterwards you can delete the token file and provide the bot token in BASHBOT_TOKEN.
BASHBOT_CURL_ARGS
The value of BASHBOT_CURL_ARGS is passed to every curl execution.
# use socks gateway on localhost
export BASHBOT_CURL_ARGS="--socks5-hostname localhost"
BASHBOT_CURL
If BASHBOT_CURL is not set your systems default curl is used. If you want to use an alternative curl executable set BASHBOT_CURL to point to it.
# use curl from /usr/local/bin
export BASHBOT_CURL="/usr/local/bin/mycurl"
BASHBOT_WGET
Bashbot uses curl to communicate with telegram server. if curl is not available wget is used.
If 'BASHBOT_WGET' is set to any value (not undefined or not empty) wget is used even is curl is available.
unset BASHBOT_WGET # use curl (default)
export BASHBOT_WGET "" # use curl
export BASHBOT_WGET "yes" # use wget
export BASHBOT_WGET "no" # use wget!
BASHBOT_TIMEOUT
Bashbot uses a default timeout of 20 seconds for curl and wget. If you want a different timeout, set BASHBOT_TIMEOUT to a numeric value between 1 and 999. Any non numeric or negative value is ignored.
# set timeout to 100 seconds
export BASHBOT_TIMEOUT="100"
# 100s is not a numbers
export BASHBOT_TIMEOUT="100s" # wrong, default timeout is used
# -100 is not between 1 and 999s
export BASHBOT_TIMEOUT="-100" # wrong, default timeout is used
BASHBOT_SLEEP
Instead of polling permanently or with a fixed delay, bashbot offers a simple adaptive polling. If messages are received bashbot polls with no dealy. If no messages are available bashbot add 100ms delay for every poll until the maximum of BASHBOT_SLEEP ms.
unset BASHBOT_SLEEP # 5000ms (default)
export BASHBOT_SLEEP "" # 5000ms
export BASHBOT_SLEEP "1000" # 1s maximum sleep
export BASHBOT_SLEEP "10000" # 10s maximum sleep
export BASHBOT_SLEEP "1" # values < 1000 disables sleep (not recommended)
Tested configs as of v0.90 release
Note: Environment variables are not stored, you must setup them before every call to bashbot.sh, e.g. from a script.
simple Unix like config, for one bot. bashbot is installed in '/usr/local/telegram-bot-bash'
# Note: all dirs and files must exist!
export BASHBOT_ETC "/etc/bashbot"
export BASHBOT_VAR "/var/spool/bashbot"
/usr/local/telegram-bot-bash/bashbot.sh start
Unix like config for one bot. bashbot.sh is installed in '/usr/bin'
# Note: all dirs and files must exist!
export BASHBOT_ETC "/etc/bashbot"
export BASHBOT_VAR "/var/spool/bashbot"
export BASHBOT_JSONSH "/var/spool/bashbot"
/usr/local/bin/bashbot.sh start
simple multibot config, everything is kept inside 'telegram-bot-bash' dir
# config for running Bot 1
# Note: all dirs and files must exist!
export BASHBOT_ETC "./mybot1"
export BASHBOT_VAR "./mybot1"
/usr/local/telegram-bot-bash/bashbot.sh start
# config for running Bot 2
# Note: all dirs and files must exist!
export BASHBOT_ETC "./mybot2"
export BASHBOT_VAR "./mybot2"
/usr/local/telegram-bot-bash/bashbot.sh start