Eggdrop
Chat program
title: "Eggdrop" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["irc", "irc-bots", "free-software-programmed-in-c", "free-software-programmed-in-tcl", "cross-platform-free-software", "internet-software-for-linux", "unix-internet-software", "windows-internet-software", "1993-software", "software-using-the-gnu-general-public-license"] description: "Chat program" topic_path: "technology/operating-systems" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eggdrop" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Chat program ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox software"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Eggdrop |
| logo | EggheadsEdwardEDropLogo.png |
| developer | Eggheads |
| released | |
| latest release version | |
| latest release date | |
| latest preview version | |
| latest preview date | |
| programming language | C, Tcl |
| operating system | Unix-like |
| size | 1 MB |
| genre | IRC bot |
| license | GPL-2.0-or-later |
| website | |
| :: |
|name = Eggdrop |logo = EggheadsEdwardEDropLogo.png |screenshot = |caption = |collapsible = |author = |developer = Eggheads |released = |latest release version = |latest release date = |latest preview version = |latest preview date = |programming language = C, Tcl |operating system = Unix-like |size = 1 MB |genre = IRC bot |license = GPL-2.0-or-later |website =
Eggdrop is a popular IRC bot and the oldest that is still being maintained.{{cite web | url=http://www.eggheads.org/ | title=Homepage | publisher=eggheads.org | access-date=2008-12-24 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081230054258/http://www.eggheads.org/ | archive-date=2008-12-30 | url-status=dead | last = Mutton | first = Paul | title = IRC Hacks | publisher = O'Reilly Media |date=July 2004 | isbn = 978-0-596-00687-7 | page = 294 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=xEgsPNw4-qQC&pg=PA294 | last = Bejtlich | first = Richard | title = Extrusion Detection: Security Monitoring for Internal Intrusions | series = Professional Series | publisher = Addison-Wesley |date=November 2005 | isbn = 978-0-321-34996-5 | page = 308
It was originally written by Robey Pointer in December 1993 to help manage and protect the EFnet channel #gayteen; one Eggdrop bot version was named Valis.{{cite book |last = Leonard |first = Andrew |title = Bots: The Origin of New Species |edition = 1st |date = July 1997 |publisher = Hardwired |location = San Francisco, CA |isbn = 1-888869-05-4 |quote = Meanwhile, back in #gayteen, Pointer's other IRC haunt, a raging power struggle had alienated most of the regular members of the channel |url-access = registration |url = https://archive.org/details/botsoriginofnews00leon | url = https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/4.04/netbots.html?pg=5 | title = Wired 4.04: Bots Are Hot! | access-date = 2008-12-26 | last = Leonard | first = Andrew |date=April 1996 | work = Wired Magazine | publisher = Condé Nast Publications | page = 5 | quote = There are bots that greet newcomers to channels with information about the channel. Valis, the gaybot at #gayteen, is such a bot. | url=http://cvs.eggheads.org/viewvc/eggdrop1.6/doc/ABOUT?view=markup | title=ABOUT | publisher=eggheads.org | access-date=2008-12-24 | archive-date=2011-07-26 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726020248/http://cvs.eggheads.org/viewvc/eggdrop1.6/doc/ABOUT?view=markup | url-status=dead
Eggdrop was originally intended to help manage and protect channels from takeover attempts.{{cite book | last = Lewis | first = Chris |author2=Steve Pickavance | title = Selecting MPLS VPN Services | series = Networking Technology | publisher = Cisco Press |date=February 2006 | isbn = 978-1-58705-191-3 | page = 266 | last = Piccard | first = Paul |author2=Brian Baskin |author3=George Spillman |author4=Marcus Sachs | title = Securing IM and P2P Applications for the Enterprise | edition = 1st | publisher = Syngress Publishing |date=May 2005 | isbn = 978-1-59749-017-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZZU95ZdQ908C&pg=401 | page = 401 | last = Damer | first = Bruce | title = Avatars! Exploring and Building Virtual Worlds on the Internet | edition = 1st | publisher = Peachpit | date = October 1997 | isbn = 978-0-201-68840-5 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/avatarsexploring00dame | last = Clemm | first = Alexander |author2=Lisandro Zambenedetti Granville |author3=Rolf Stadler | title = Managing Virtualization of Networks and Services | series = Lecture Notes in Computer Science | publisher = Springer Science+Business Media |date=December 2007 | isbn = 978-3-540-75693-4 | page = 1
Features
The bot is written in the C programming language and features interfaces for C modules and Tcl scripts that allow users to further enhance the functionality of the bot.{{cite web | url=http://cvs.eggheads.org/viewvc/eggdrop1.6/README?view=markup | title=README | publisher=eggheads.org | access-date=2008-12-24 | archive-date=2011-07-26 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726020401/http://cvs.eggheads.org/viewvc/eggdrop1.6/README?view=markup | url-status=dead
A large number of Tcl scripts are available to expand the bot's functionality, most of them written by Eggdrop users.{{cite web | url=http://www.egghelp.org/tcl.htm | title=egghelp.org: Tcl Archive | publisher=eggheads.org | access-date=2008-12-24 | archive-date=2008-12-19 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081219092357/http://www.egghelp.org/tcl.htm | url-status=dead | url=http://ftp.eggheads.org/pub/eggdrop/scripts/ | title=eggheads.org FTP: Scripts | publisher=eggheads.org | access-date=2008-12-24 Scripts are available to add and extend support for: online games, stats, user and channel management, information storage and lookup, greeting channel members, tracking last seen times, botnet management, anti-spam, file serving and distribution (usually via the DCC protocol), IRC services (similar to ChanServ and NickServ), and much more.
Eggdrop includes built-in support for sharing user information and channel bans. However, a script is required to simultaneously control multiple bots and for bots to coordinate channel management and modes.
The bot also features a "botnet", which allows multiple bots to be linked together to share data and act in a coordinated fashion.{{cite web | url=http://cvs.eggheads.org/viewvc/eggdrop1.6/doc/BOTNET?view=markup | title=BOTNET | publisher=eggheads.org | access-date=2008-12-24 | archive-date=2011-07-26 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726020412/http://cvs.eggheads.org/viewvc/eggdrop1.6/doc/BOTNET?view=markup | url-status=dead | url=http://cvs.eggheads.org/viewvc/eggdrop1.6/doc/PARTYLINE?view=markup | title=PARTYLINE | publisher=eggheads.org | access-date=2008-12-24 | archive-date=2011-07-26 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726020417/http://cvs.eggheads.org/viewvc/eggdrop1.6/doc/PARTYLINE?view=markup | url-status=dead
Popularity
Over the years Eggdrop has become one of the most popular bots run by IRC users.{{cite book | last = Orwant | first = Jon | title = Games, Diversions & Perl Culture | url = https://archive.org/details/gamesdiversionsp00orwa | url-access = limited | edition = 1st | series = Best of the Perl Journal | publisher = O'Reilly Media |date=August 2004 | isbn = 978-0-596-00312-8 | page = 116 | last = Casey | first = Eoghan | title = Digital Evidence and Computer Crime | url = https://archive.org/details/digitalevidencec00maeo_283 | url-access = limited | edition = 2nd | publisher = Academic Press |date=March 2004 | isbn = 978-0-12-163104-8 | page = 497
References
References
- link. (2013-04-14 - List of Eggdrop developers and development history)
- link. (2013-04-14 - List of Eggdrop contributors)
- Piccard, et al., p. 390
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::