[Freeciv-Dev] patch to improve server command line

[Reinier Post <rp@xxxxxxxxxx>]

A patch to improve the server command line is available at

  http://cursus02.win.tue.nl:4321/tmp/freeciv/feb14+cmdline.diff-Naur.gz

based on the Feb 14, 12:30 MET CVS tree.

Features:

  + server commands, options, and player names can be abbreviated
  + many commands can be issued from the client chatline (prefix with '/')
  + 'read' command added to read commands from file
  + 'write' command to write set commands (i.e. options) to file
  + 'datadir' option to change the data directory for rulesets
  + civserver always tries to read commands from $HOME/.civserverrc

Extras:

  + civclient and civserver refuse to run as root
  + 'metaserver' command added to en/disable metaserver and set its address
  + player name can now be omitted from private chatline messages

Some loose ends will be wrapped up later this week:

  + 'master' command to limit the use of server commands to certain players
  + 'allow'  command to limit access to players by IP address
  + player names are more restricted now, but this is not yet enforced
  + 'rename' (or 'nick') command to change a player's name
  + round-robin DNS support for the metaserver
  + replacing -n option with -m (which has the opposite effect)
  + client side documentation (for the Xaw client)

Some loose ends will remain for a while:

  + setting 'datadir' has no effect after rulesets have been read
  + some features are poorly tested (e.g. there is no second metaserver yet)
  + I'll add a 'restart' command if it turns out to be trivial

Questions to the list:

  + are these features generally acceptable? (e.g. metaserver, -m option)
  + can the syntax/semantics for the new commands and options be improved?

-- 
Reinier Post                                             reinpost@xxxxxxxxxx