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@@ -1,2 +1,254 @@ -For usage instructions, see: +This is TMWA, an MMORPG server used by The Mana World that uses a protocol +based on one of many projects that foolishly chose the name "Athena". +Specifically, it was forked from eAthena, a Ragnarok Online clone, in 2004. + +TMWA is maintained in conjunction with The Mana World, but is not tied to +it. However, please read the note about server-data below. + + +For user instructions, see: http://wiki.themanaworld.org/index.php/How_to_Develop + + +The rest of this file contains information relevant only to +1. Distributors. +2. Contributors. + + +TMWA has been maintained by o11c (Ben Longbons) since early 2011 or so. +Before that, it never really had a proper maintainer, since everyone +thought that ManaServ was going to be the thing. But it won't ever be. + +TMWA has a bugtracker: https://github.com/themanaworld/tmwa/issues +But it's probably worth getting on IRC first: +irc://chat.freenode.net/tmwa +https://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=#tmwa + +Note that this channel is *only* for technical discussion of TMWA (and +attoconf), not general chat or TMW content development. + +I'm active in the Pacific timezone, but I might not have internet access +all the time. I'm usually never AFK longer than 48 hours; when there is an +exception, I always tell the content devs who also idle there. + +(TODO put this file in some sort of markup - github likes .md) + + +1. Distributors. +# random not-quite-YAML +platform dependencies: + architecture: + tested: x86 and (finally!) amd64; possibly x32 + required: little-endian (for now) + operating system: + known bad: Linux 2.6.26 and earlier + maintained: Linux 3.2 and later + likely to break: Cygwin, BSD + filesystem: + must support symlinks +build dependencies: + C library: + recommended: glibc 2.17 or higher + supported: glibc 2.13 + known bad: glibc 2.8 or below + unsupported: anything that's not glibc + C++ compiler: + required: g++ 4.6.1 or higher + recommended: g++ 4.7.2 or higher + likely to work: clang++ 3.2 or higher + C++ library: + recommended: libstdc++ to match g++; may need patch for clang++ + untested: libc++ + flex: + tested: 2.5 + bison: + tested: 2.7 + bad: 2.3 + attoconf: + special: see below +runtime dependencies: + glibc: + depends on what it was built against + libstdc++: + depends on what it was built against +instructions: + configuration: + ./configure --disable-compat-symlinks + (Takes most of the options GNU Autoconf's configure does - I won't + repeat the output of ./configure --help here.) + (--prefix=/usr, not --prefix usr, in order to prevent an ambiguity. + "In the face of ambiguity, refuse the temptation to guess.") + (Out-of-tree builds work.) + (Note that there is no option to disable dependency tracking, as it + is also used to generate link information. There is also no option + to ignore unknown options - I refuse to lie.) + build: + make -jN + build test: + make test + (Not really useful yet. Requires source of Google Test.) + install: + make install DESTDIR=/whatever + (See "what is installed" below) + install test: + not implemented + +Note about attoconf: + TMWA's ./configure script is implemented using a python package + 'attoconf', which I wrote over a weekend after reading GNU autoconf's + documentation and realizing that it was 1. insane, and 2. still trying + to solve the wrong sort of problem. + + Currently, attoconf's API is still in the "experimental" stage, so the + real rule is "does ./configure work?". + When it gets to 1.0, it will start guaranteeing compatibility. + + Attoconf is available at https://github.com/o11c/attoconf/ and is a + well-behaving python package. + + Attoconf requires Python 2.7; a port to Python 2.6 is doable with a bit + of work, but it is not known if this would benefit anybody. + + If you're Arch - you broke Python for us all, you clean up your own mess. + Patches to call a nonexistent /usr/bin/python2 will NOT be accepted. + +What is installed: + Overview: + Currently, 'make install' installs 5 binaries. Depending on how it is + configured, it may also install 5 symlinks for the old names. As a + distributor, though, you don't want that, and they will go away soon. + + In future there may be data and configuration files, and 'make install' + will offer subtargets (make install-exec) as appropriate. + + The 4 main programs below are typically running on the same machine, + though in theory they may be configured to run on different machines + in a fast LAN. Also, the internal protocol between the programs is + subject to change without notice, so they *must* be upgraded + simultaneously. + + All of these programs currently read their config files relative to the + current working directory; this is the only thing that makes sense + since the files are dependent on the server-data. + + + tmwa-monitor: + Formerly known as eathena-monitor. + + An unmaintained tool whose job was to keep restarting the servers + every time they crashed. It still builds in case anyone was using it, + but it proved inflexible and has't really been kept up-to-date with our + (TMW's) server-data, and besides, the server doesn't crash much now. + + At some point I plan to rewrite it and ship a new conf file, unless + everyone agrees to use systemd, in which case I maybe can use that. + + In the mean time, there is a run-all script in the server-data repo + that starts the appropriate server for that config. On the main server, + we instead start the servers (and bots) individually in a tmux. + + tmwa-admin: + Formerly known as ladmin ("local"). + + This is an essential tool to maintain the server's flatfile "databases". + It doesn't actually touch the files directly, just connects to + tmwa-login. + + Even when everything is rewritten to use SQL, it will be kept, if just + to keep a consistent interface. In fact, if we use SQLite we *can't* + edit the databases independently. This wouldn't be a problem with + Postgres, but people seem to think it's hard to install (that's not my + experience on Debian though. Did they ever try themselves, or are they + just repeating what they've heard?) + + tmwa-login: + Formerly known as login-server. + + User-facing server to deal with account checks. + + Also accepts internal connections from tmwa-admin and tmwa-char, + subject to a plaintext password (and for tmwa-admin, also an IP check). + + tmwa-char: + Formerly known as char-server. + + User-facing server to deal with character persistence. + + Connects to tmwa-login; also takes internal connections from tmwa-map. + + Note that it is fully supported for more than one tmwa-char to connect + to the same tmwa-login; the client will be presented with a list of + "worlds" before leaving the login-server. + + tmwa-map: + Formerly known as map-server. + + Connects to tmwa-char. + + It is technically possible for more than one tmwa-map to connect to + a single tmwa-char, but this is poorly supported by our current config + and moderation tools. + + about server data: + Just having the binaries is not enough: you also need a complete set of + content: config files, game scripts, savefiles, and client updates. + + A web server to serve the updates is also strongly recommended, as even + developers get annoyed when wushin makes us work straight from his + client-data repo. + + Currently, there is only *one* set of server data that is known to be + compatible with TMWA: https://github.com/themanaworld/tmwa-server-data + + The only recommended way of using this is by following the instructions + in the "How to Develop" article. These instructions are only designed + for people contributing to TMW itself, not to people trying to start + a fork - we know all forks are doomed to be unsuccessful anyway, so + please don't split the development effort, and you can't split the + player community. + + In particular, the instructions do NOT provide information on how to + secure a server by changing all the default passwords. + + There are 3 other known sets of complete server data: regional ones + for Germany and Brasil, and Evol. Evol requires their own fork of + the tmwa server (for some reason they don't like me to call it evola), + and nobody seems to know of the foreign servers are keeping active. + + Note also that The Mana World has not investigated the copyright status + of other sets of server data. + + +2. Contributors. +The most important thing if you want to help improve TMWA is *talk* to me. +No, wait, that's the second most important thing. + +The real most important thing if you want to help improve TMWA is that it's +*work*. You can't just stop by and chat for a few hours and help at all. +If you're going to work on TMWA, you have to be work months in the future. + +TMWA was terrible when I got it, and I've only fixed enough to make it +sane, not pretty. Even a minimal change is likely to touch the whole tree, +so merge conflicts are a constant problem. + +That said, there *are* several tasks that I could use help with. Several +essential tasks have been left undone just because they don't conflict with +the main body of my work. + +But I do not want someone who will just work for a few hours, go to bed, +then never return. I have wasted far too many hours answering their +questions. If you're going to help, you have to actually *help*. + +The following skills are good to know required for various tasks: + - ability to read + - ability to write + - ability to notice error messages + - ability to solve your own problems + - willingness to accept review of your changes. It's not personal if I + say your work is wrong, I'm just seeing more than you do, and tiny + details are often incredibly important. + - familiarity with gdb + - Python (A low entry barrier, but Python alone is not enough for the + tasks. Particularly, reread the bit about review.) + - C++11 (Not a low entry barrier. I'm not really expecting help with this, + and since this is conflict heavy, please do the other tasks first). |