Open Infrastructure PTG Bot

ptgbot is the bot that PTG track moderators use to surface what's currently happening at the event. Track moderators send messages to the bot, and from that information the bot builds a static webpage with several sections of information:

• The discussion topics currently discussed ("now")
• An indicative set of discussion topics coming up next ("next")
• The tracks pre-scheduled for the day
• The tracks which booked available slots in the additional rooms

The bot also allows people to voluntarily check into (and out of) tracks or other arbitrary locations, if they want to be found more easily by other people.

User commands

Anyone can privately message the bot with the following commands (chevrons like <> denote required parameters):

• in <#TRACKNAME> - tells the bot you are currently in the track named TRACKNAME. This must be one of the tracks it knows about, for example: in #nova
• in <LOCATION> - tells the bot you are currently in a location which doesn't correspond to any track. This can be any freeform text, for example: in the pub
• out - tells the bot you've checked out of your current location. However others will still be able to see when and where you checked out.
• seen <NICK> - asks the bot where the user with the given IRC nick was last seen (if anywhere). The nick is case-insensitive.
• subscribe <REGEXP> - subscribes for a direct message notification from the bot whenever a topic with a substring matching REGEXP is set via the now or next commands (see below). The exact string the (case-insensitive) regular expression will be matched against is of the form #track now topic (i.e. the same as the full commands issued by track moderators). So for example subscribe #nova.*test|python *3 would match any testing topics in the nova track, and any Python 3 topics in any track.
• subscribe - shows your current subscription regular expression (if any)
• unsubscribe - cancels your current subscription (if any)

The above commands also work in the channel when prefixed with +, for example +in the pub. You can use the + prefix with private messages to the bot too, in case you don't want to memorise different syntax for these commands depending on whether you are messaging the bot privately or in a channel.

Track moderators commands

By default the bot allows anyone in the channel to issue track moderation commands. However note that it is possible for admins to restrict access to people who have voice in the channel (+v).

Commands follow the following format:

#TRACKNAME <COMMAND> [PARAMETERS]

Here is the list of available commands.

now

The now command indicates the current topic of discussion in a given track. Example usage:

#swift now discussing ring placement

• Your track needs to exist in the system, and be scheduled in the day. Information about the room will be added automatically from the schedule.
• You can mention other tracks by using the corresponding hashtags, like: #nova now discussing multi-attach with #cinder.
• There can only be one now discussion topic at a time. If multiple topics are discussed at the same time in various corners of the room, they should all be specified in a single now command.
• In order to ensure that information is current, entering a now command wipes out any next entry for the same track.

next

The next command lets you communicate the upcoming topics of discussion in your track. You can use it as a teaser for things to come. Example usage:

#swift next at 2pm we plan to discuss #glance support
#swift next around 3pm we plan to cover cold storage features

• Your track needs to exist in the system, and be scheduled in the day.
• You can specify multiple next discussion topics. To clear the list, you can enter a new now discussion topic, or use the clean command.
• Since passing a new now command wipes out the next entries, you might want to refresh those after entering a now topic.

book

The book command is used to book available slots in the additional rooms. Available time slots (at the bottom of the PTGbot page) display a slot code you can use book the room. Example usage:

#vitrage book Missouri-MonAM

• Your track needs to exist in the system.
• Once you booked the slot, you are part of the schedule for the day, and you can use the now and next commands to communicate what topic is being discussed.

unbook

The unbook command is used to free up booked slots in the additional rooms. You should generally not unbook a track without the consent of its track lead. Example usage:

#vitrage unbook Missouri-MonAM

clean

You can remove all now and next entries related to your track by issuing the clean command (with no argument). Example usage:

#ironic clean

etherpad

By default the bot generates etherpad links for all tracks. If you already have an etherpad, you can set its URL using the etherpad command:

#keystone etherpad https://etherpad.openstack.org/p/awesome-keystone-pad

If you set a URL and would like to revert to the autogenerated name, you can pass auto as the etherpad URL:

#keystone etherpad auto

url

A URL can be associated to a track, for example pointing to where the video meeting happens. By default the bot points to the URL associated to the room, if any. You can override it using the url command:

#keystone url https://meet.jit.si/awesome-keystone-meeting

If you set a track-specific URL and would like to remove it, you can pass none as the URL:

#keystone url none

color

By default all tracks appear as blue badges on the page. You can set your own color using the color command. Colors can be specified in any form supported by the CSS attribute background-color:

#infra color red
#oslo color #42f4c5

• The color command only sets the background color for the track name. The foreground is always white.

location

The room your track discussions happen in should be filled automatically by the PTGbot by looking up the schedule information. In case it's not right, you can overwrite it using the location command. This command is useless in a virtual PTG, where you should use the "url" command to update the virtual meeting location. Example usage:

#oslo location Level B, Ballroom A

Admin commands

You have to be a channel operator (+o) to use admin commands (chevrons like <> denote required parameters).

~list

List available track names

~add <TRACK> [TRACK..]

Add new track(s)

~del <TRACK> [TRACK..]

Deletes track(s)

~clean <TRACK> [TRACK..]

Removes active entries for specified track(s)

~newday

Removes existing now/next/location/presence entries. This command is meant to be run at the start of a new day

~motd add <LEVEL> <MESSAGE>

Adds a message of the day on top of the rendered page. Level must be one of info, success, warning or danger. Multiple messages can be provided.

~motd del <N>

Removes Nth message from the top of the page (first message is number 1).

~motd reorder <X> <Y> [Z...]

Reorder messages. For example, ~motd reorder 2 1 would swap the top two messages, and remove any other message present.

~motd clean

Removes all messages of the day on top of the rendered page.

~emptydb

Resets the database entirely to minimal contents

~fetchdb <URL>

Fetches JSON DB from specified URL. Any JSON key specified will replace existing data in database.

~requirevoice

Requires that users are voiced (+v) to issue track moderation commands

~alloweveryone

Allows everyone in the channel to issue track moderation commands

Local testing

Copy config.json.sample to config.json:

cp config.json.sample config.json

Edit config.json contents, for example:

{
"irc_nick": "ptgbot",
"irc_server": "irc.oftc.net",
"irc_port": 6697,
"irc_channel": "#testptg",
"db_filename": "html/ptg.json",
}

In one terminal, run the bot:

tox -evenv -- ptgbot -d config.json

Join that channel and load base JSON data from a public URL (see base.json for an example). You can use the pastebin service as a quick way to publish that data:

~fetchdb http://paste.openstack.org/raw/793040/

Then you can give other commands to the bot, like:

#swift now discussing ring placement

(note, the bot currently only takes commands from Freenode identified users)

In another terminal, start the webserver:

cd html && python -m SimpleHTTPServer

Open the web page in a web browser: http://127.0.0.1:8000/ptg.html