[Freeciv-Dev] Suggestion: libcivserver

[Daniel Burrows <Daniel_Burrows@xxxxxxxxx>]

  Has any thought been given to the possibility of converting civserver to be
built as a shared object?  This thought just popped into my head; I'm sure there
must be a justification for it that I haven't come up with :-)  [ for example,
it might be nice to create a Gnome panel applet that monitors/controls a Freeciv
game (this could be done with the current code but would be much harder and
 would have to be developed as part of Freeciv; splitting civserver out would
 make it possible for 3rd parties to do this) ]

  Another option, possibly (probably? :) ) a better one, is to write some code
which creates a server, connects to it, and gives the connection full
privileges, then make that (combined with common/?) into a library.  (for one
thing, this makes the server a separate process, so it doesn't go up in flames
if the monitoring program does)

  One other thought (I have too many thoughts :) ) -- is it possible that
civserver could use a more secure method to handle certain connections, in
particular privileged connections from the person who started the server (so
that random people off the 'net can't connect to the server as you if your
frontend dies)  I'm wondering in particular if creating a socket in the UNIX
filesystem domain, in a 0700 directory (~/.freeciv/sockets?), and requiring
that particular player to reconnect on the secure socket would be sufficient;
as I understand things, this should be kept secure by filesystem permissions
(as secure as the filesystem is anyway, and if you lose that you're in
deeper trouble than civserver can get you into :) )

  Basically, it seems like it should be made easier to create and control a
civserver in a highly automated fashion; I think it's almost there and just
needs a small push.

  Daniel

-- 
  Going on about Dungeons and Dragons being tools of the devil is like guarding
the door while *it* is coming up through the floorboards...
  The Demon Lord of Hla'Siloth may want to cut your soul up into a thousand
pieces, but at least he won't try to convince you that you haven't got one.

  -- [ approximately ] Terry Pratchett, _Johnny and the Dead_