Paraphrased from the MisterHouse homepage on sourceforge.net.

MisterHouse is an open source home automation program written in PERL.

MisterHouse uses commodity sensors and control devices and initiates events based on time, web, socket, voice, and serial data.

Perl subroutines and objects are used to give a powerful programming interface

This is what the setup file looks like:

#
# Type    Address   	VariableName                Groups                                      Other Info
# The PLM is a main communications interface from the computer's USB port to the PowerLine
INSTEON_PLM,    PLM,    MyPLM

# Generics are just simple variable, no address info
GENERIC,       running_fake_household, Security_Settings

GENERIC,       jimmies_nightstand_status
GENERIC,       ds_i_motion_1_status
GENERIC,       us_i_leaksensor_1_status

INSTEON_MOTIONSENSOR,  28.5B.70,  ds_i_motion_1,	Sensors  	#Downstairs Insteon motion sensor Model 2420M V2.0 1910
INSTEON_MOTIONSENSOR,  28.50.AA,  us_i_leaksensor_1,	Sensors		#Upstairs Insteon Leak Sensor

INSTEON_APPLIANCELINC, 2E.6D.52,  jimmies_nightstand,   All_Lights|Insteon_Lights      #2457D2 R3.6 3514
INSTEON_APPLIANCELINC, 2E.60.D5,  christmas_lights,     All_Lights|Insteon_Lights      #2457D2 R3.6 3514

#########
# X10 Security items reecived over W32 RF=>Serial Interface
RF,     81,    door81,          Security,   FrontDoor
RF,     CE,    doorCE,          Security,   GarageDoor
RF,     22,    kr10a_22,        Security,   securityremoteKR10A_1

#########
# X10_Sensors for detecting motion and brightness
X10MS,     M1,     ms14a_m1,        Sensors, 					MS13	# This detects both motion and brightness
X10I,      L1,     security_light,  All_Lights|Security_Lights|Study(10;10),	PLM	# This is a plug in appliance/light module
X10I,      L2,     upstairs_light,  All_Lights|Security_Lights|Study(10;10),	PLM
X10I,      D2,     misc_light,      All_Lights|Security_Lights,     		CM17

This is what typical code looks like:

$fountain = new X10_Item 'B1';
set $fountain ON if time_now '6:00 PM';

$movement_sensor = new Serial_Item 'XA2', 'stair';
play(file => 'stairs_creek*.wav') if state_now $movement_sensor eq 'stair';

$v_bedroom_curtain = new Voice_Cmd '[open,close] the bedroom curtains';
curtain('bedroom', $state) if $state = said $v_bedroom_curtain;

#######################################################################################
# X10 multi-button remote control handler
# Note, the codes in the $remark string are for my easy visual logfile scanning and can be simplified.
if (state_now $kr10a_22) {  # If the state of variable $kr10a_22 has changed, do this
	$ls=state $kr10a_22;	# Store the current state of $kr10a_22 in $ls (in case the value changes during the decision tree)
	if ($ls eq 'lightson') {
		my $remark = "[C] Event: ++++L Turning all lights ON by Security Remote KR10A(22) command"; 
		set $all_lights ON;     
		print_log "$remark";
	} elsif ($ls eq 'lightsoff') {
		my $remark = "[C] Event: ----L Turning all lights OFF by Security Remote KR10A(22) command";
		set $all_lights OFF; 
		print_log "$remark";
	} elsif ($ls eq 'armawaymin') {
		my $remark = "[C] Event: ++++S Arming Security System by Security Remote KR10A(22) command";
		set $mode_security 'armed';
		print_log "$remark";
	} elsif ($ls eq 'disarm') {
		my $remark = "[C] Event: ----S Disarming Security System by Security Remote KR10A(22) command";
		set $mode_security 'unarmed';
		print_log "$remark";
	} elsif ($ls eq 'panic') {
		my $remark = "[C] Event: ++++P PANIC generated by Security Remote KR10A(22) --------------";
		set $mode_security 'panic';
		print_log "$remark";
	} else { 
		my $remark = "[C] Event: UNHANDLED SIGNAL - Security Remote KR10A (22) says $ls, not sure how to handle it";
		print_log "$remark";
	}
}
#################################### SIMPLE (logic-free) TIMED EVENTS ####################
if (time_now "4:30 PM") {
	set $christmas_lights 'on';
	print_log "[C] ProgrammedEvent-DailyEvening: turning Christmas_lights on";
}
#################################### Logic-defined WorkDay EVENTS ####################
if (($Date_Now =~ /Mon/) || ($Date_Now =~ /Tue/) || ($Date_Now =~ /Wed/) || ($Date_Now =~ /Thu/) || ($Date_Now =~ /Fri/)) {
	if (time_now "5:30 AM") {
		set $jimmies_nightstand 'on';
		print_log "[C] ProgrammedEvent-WeekDayMorning: turning jimmies_nightstand on";
	}
	if (time_now "6:20 AM") {
		set $jimmies_nightstand 'off';
		print_log "[C] ProgrammedEvent-WeekDayMorning: turning jimmies_nightstand off";
	}
}

Here is a list of the standard code files, simple example code files, and some examples of user code files

Here are some examples of speech output:
Turning furnace heat off after 20 minutes at 69.1 degrees
Good Morning. The sun is bright today at 32 percent. It is cold outside, 24 degrees. I will open the curtains at 8:07 AM
The van is traveling north at 58 mph 0.8 miles west of Walmart.
The car is parked at Friedell School.
Email account nick has 1 new email message from accountmanager.
Notice, Nick has been on the computer for 2.1 hours today.
The front door has been left open.
Phone call from Charlie Brown in California.
Notice, there were 668 web hits from 74 clients in the last day, including 24 recognized attack vectors.

MiserHouse can control almost anything capable of being remotely controlled or monitored by a computer. It may already exist or you may have to write it yourslef, but it can probably be handled by MisterHouse.

Here are some of the existing interface possibilities, with installation details included for green items:

• MH executes actions based on voice input, time of day, file data, serial or network data, and socket data. Serial and speech data can also be read or written to proxies on remote boxes.
• Displays a web interface to allow control and feedback from any browser, either on a local intranet or on the internet.
• Also has an expandable Perl::Tk-based console interface to allow control and feedback from your desktop.
• Has an MQTT interface for endless network device monitoring and control
• Reads/writes any data from any serial attached device.
• Speaks the speed, course, and position of vehicles, by interfacing to a ham radio modem (TNC).
• Sends/receives X10 data from the X10 CM11 (ActiveHome) interface.
• Sends wireless X10 data using the X10 CM17 (Firecracker) interface.
• Reads wireless X10 data using the W32 wireless interface.
• Supports all Insteon products without relying on Insteon's defunct cloud, including i1 and i2cs devices
• Build and personalize your own "user code" to do whatever you like
• Reads data from Insteon USB interface and writes to Insteon and X10 devices.
• Send/receive data to the Ibutton family of devices, including the weather station.
• Reads/writes data from the JDS interfaces (Stargate, Time Commandar, HomeBase) interface
• Reads/writes data from the HomeVision interfaces
• Reads/writes serial port data from the Weeder Technologies PIC kits that can process X10, digital, analog, callerID, and outgoing phone data.
• Reads/writes to Applied Digital's CPU-XA and Ocelot interfaces via the cpuxad socket deamon.
• Reads data from IRman infrared receiver serial interface and writes to X10 IR Commander wireless interface.
• Code has been written for DSC Alarm pannels, Stargate LCD displays, Alpha BetaBrite LED displays, Slinke IR send/receive, Marrick X10, RCI X10 sprinklers, Xantech preamps, ISDN modems, voice modems, ComPool and Aqualink pool equipment.
• Reads and writes from the lcdproc server which interfaces to inexpensive LCD modules and keypads.
• Reads/writes internet mail, http, and ftp files unattended.
• Sends/receive instant messages using AIM, MSN, or Jabber
• Has an entertaining 'chatbox' web page that will listen to all your problems.
• Can monitor NetGear RT311 / RT314 or LinkSys syslog router traffic, so you can track stuff like incoming web hits and online game time.
• Logs weather data to the wunderground personal weather project.
• Here are some user written code files along with standard code files that demonstrate some other MisterHouse features.
• You can use RSS readers to track various data.
• Uses the rrd program to generate various graphs.
• Support for xAP and xPL home automation protocols.

MH is written primarily in PERL and provides a lot of different tools and functions. You'll need all the PERL functions below to make it run at its best. To install (meaning download and compile) those PERL modules you're going to need to add a few libraries and tools to the default CentOS/RHEL installation.

CentOS already provides PERL by default, but let's go ahead and make sure everything is in place and up to date.

[user@localhost ~]$ sudo yum update
[user@localhost ~]$ sudo yum install perl perl-devel gcc curl perl-YAML perl-CGI
[user@localhost ~]$ sudo yum install gd gd-devel php-gd
[user@localhost ~]$ sudo yum install perl-BerkeleyDB perl-DBD-MySQL perl-DB_File

echo -n "Starting MisterHouse... " # go to default RPM misterhouse directory cd /var/mh/bin # setting to stop memory leak problem in RH 8 and 9 export mh_parms=/var/mh/mh.carnation.ini export LANG=C

Now use the PERL cpan eshell to build the PERL modules needed by MH

[user@localhost ~]# sudo perl -MCPAN -eshell
cpan> install CPAN
cpan> reload CPAN
cpan> install LWP
cpan> install URI
cpan> install HTML
cpan> install Switch
cpan> install Tk
cpan> install Tk::JPEG
cpan> install Tk::CursorControl
cpan> install DB_File  		# will likely fail due to the lack of a db.h include file. Working on it
cpan> install Term::ReadKey
cpan> install Time::HiRes
cpan> install Audio::Mixer  #if on Linux)
cpan> install GD
cpan> install Text::LevenshteinXS
cpan> install DBI         	#if you want to interface to a database server
cpan> install DBD::mysql  	#if you want to interface with a mysql server
cpan> exit
[root@localhost ~]#

The first time you run the CPAN code, it creates a configuration file. The defaults (press enter a bunch of times) usually is good for all questions except the one that ones you to pick which site to download from.

You may need to type "export FTP_PASSIVE=1" before "perl -MCPAN -eshell". This is because by default the CPAN installer will generally try to use active ftp sessions which may fail if you are behind some firewalls and/or if your ISP caches ftp sessions. By exporting the FTP_PASSIVE variable prior to running the CPAN installer session, passive connections will be used instead.

If you see errors during the builds, the perl install files contain README files which explain their dependencies. It's perfectly safe to re-run the commands. If it worked, CPAN will tell you it is up to date and do no more.

httpd, php, php-fpm