Table of contents
ZMUD/MudMaster compatible chat system
=====================================
Since 0.52.02, mcl offers a peer-to-peer chat system, which is
compatible with the original MudMaster chat protocol as well as zChat's
extended protocol.
The peer-to-peer nature of the chat system means that there is no
central server through which your message pass: you call up directly
the MudMaster, ZChat/ZMUD or mcl client residing on another person's
machine and communicate directly with them.
Stuff currently unimplemented:
* Configuration file setting (i.e. Chat { ... }
* File transfer
* PGP
* Snooping
* connection list requests
* Setting flags
* Some of the commands (e.g. chat.deny)
* Chat list via alt-H
* Chat actions/substitutes
mcl chat has only been tested together with mcl itself, so it
probably does not work yet with ZMUD/MudMaster yet.
THIS IS ALPHA QUALITY CODE. There may be holes, buffer overflows,
whatnot.
When mcl starts up, it begins to listen on a port (4050). You tell
your conversation partner your IP address and this port number,
and he can now call you (using e.g. #chat.call IP 4050).
After he connects, his client requests a connection from yours.
Unless you are automatically accepting all connections, or have
set up a passphrase which automatically accepts connections from
that one particular person, you will be asked to accept this incoming
connection (using #chat.accept).
Then you are connected; you can see active connections by pressing alt-H.
You can chat to that person by using "#chatto " (e.g.
"#chatto Drylock Hi!").
To disconnect someone, use the Alt-H listbox: by selecting a connection
and pressing Delete you will disconnect the person. You can also set various
flags on that connection.
There are many additional commands and configurations options. They are covered
in the following chapters.
All configuration options as well as all client commands pertaining
to the chat subsystem start with "chat." (e.g. "#chat.call").
chat.name Your nickname. Should be 16 characters. mcl will NOT
active the chat system unless you set this configuration
option!
chat.baseport Default: 4050. When mcl starts up, it will try to bind
to the baseport and up to 9 of the following ports if
the 4050 port is already in use.
chat.autoaccept Normally you are asked to confirm that you want to accept
an incoming connection. With this option enabled, you will
allow anyone to connect to your client
chat.download The chat protocol allows for file transfer. This option
control where the files downloaded this way go to. Default
is ~/.mcl/downloads/
chat.email Set this to your email address if you want it to be visible
to people you chat with.
chat.icon Path to a Windows BMP containing the icon for your persona.
This icon is currently only displayed by zChat.
chat.debug Set to 1 to get maximal information about incoming requests.
chat.interfaces A machine can have several IP addresses. For example,
all UNIX machine have 127.0.0.1 on the "loopback" interface.
They may have another, changing address when they connect
to the net via PPP. They may also be in a local network
which means they have a third address on the Ethernet interface.
Using the chat.interfaces option you can tell mcl what interfaces
should be looked for to determine your IP address. The default
is ppp0 eth0 lo, which means mcl will look at your PPP connection
first, then see if you have Ethernet and then finally fall back
to loopback in case you are experimenting with the chat protocol
on a standalone machine.
If you start mcl with PPP down then bring up ppp and use #chat.call,
mcl will perform the scan again and pick hopefully the PPP address.
chat.protocol The default protocol, zchat or chat (MudMaster chat). Defaults to
zchat. Use 0 for Chat, 1 for zChat.
chat.paranoia Prefix all messages with their source (e.g. [Drylock@127.0.0.1] Drylock
chats "hi"). It is the *sender* that formats the message entirely,
including their name (or lack of it).
Note that mcl automatically prefixes the name/IP if it cannot find
the name inside the message.
chat.syscolor Color of system messages
chat.chatcolor Color of chat messages
In the configuration file, you can specify special parameters for people you
chat with, like default flags and default IP address. The syntax is following:
Chat {
Host [port]
Password
Flags [flag list]
Protocol
Group
}
As you can see, the syntax is similar to the MUD definition syntax. All the
lines within are optional, you can specify as man as you want. Following
configuration options are available:
Host - this sets the hostname and port (defaults to 4050 if left out) of
your conversation partner. If this is set, you can use #chat.call
rather than specifying the IP address. For this to work correctl, your partner
must have a static IP address or must use some sort of DynIP-like service
like the now-dead ml.org
Password - If this is set, and the protocol used is zchat, a user with
this nickname must present this password when connecting to you.
Flags - list of flags set on this connection. Space-delimitered list of
flags described in the "Flags" chapter.
Protocol - default protocol used when calling that person.
Group - default chat group
#chat.call [protocol] [port]
#chat.call [protocol] [IP address] [port]
This initiates a chat session. If you leave out the port, it defaults to 4050.
You can specify an IP address or a hostname, mcl will look up the hostname then.
You can also specify a nickname. This will retrieve the settings from
your configuration file. You can still specify an IP address and port to
complement or override the configuration file settings.
You can specifiy a protocol, either zchat (ZMUD zChat enhanced protocol)
or chat (the standard MudMaster protocol). For example:
#chat.call zchat foobar.org
Call host "foobar.org" port 4050, using zchat protocol.
#chat.call bob
Call the IP address specified in your "bob" nickname entry
#chat.call bob foobar.org
Call foobar.org port 4050 and use other settings from your "bob" nickname
entry
#chat.ip
Repeat the scan for IP addresses. This is useful when you e.g. have mcl
running, disconnect from the net via PPP then reconnect but get a different
IP address. Note that mcl also executes this commane every time you try
to connect to someone else.
#chat.accept [number|name]
#chat.reject [number|name]
#chat.deny [number|name]
#chat.dc [number|name]
After someone connects to you, you must accept their connection using
#chat.accept. If used without arguments, the command accept the last
connection to connect. If you DON'T want the connection to be
accepted, you can use #chat.reject to drop it.
If you use #chat.deny, the connection will be dropped. In addition,
the IP address will be automatically rejected from connecting to you
until you exit mcl.
#chat.dc is used to disconnect an already running session.
All 4 commands can either take no arguments (then they affect the
first appropriate session), a number or the name of the user to
disconnect.
#chat.list
Show a list of current connections as well as list of your nicknames.
This commands prints out the list to the output screen; using Alt-H will
show you a nice list box.
If your screen is more than 90 characters wide, you will get the
verbose list, otherwise you get the shortened list. See explanation of
the lines under the "Chat list" chapter.
#chat.to [emote]
#chat [emote]
Send a private message to this person. "#chat" by itself is an
alias for this command.
If you specify EMOTE as the first word, your message will be different.
The default message is e.g. "Drylock chats to you 'Hi!'". With emote,
sending something like "#chat emote smiles" will send "Drylock smiles.".
#chat.reply [emote]
Executes a #chat.to on the last person to send you a personal chat.
#chat.all [emote]
#chatall [emote]
Send a message to everyone you are connected to. "#chatall" is an alias for
this command. The message looks like this: "Drylock chats to all 'Welcome'".
If emote is active, it is simplye "Drylock smiles.".
#chat.group [emote]
#chat.setgroup
Send a message or a emote to a given group. To add members to the
group, use the #chat.setgroup command (e.g. #chat.setgroup cool Bob Joe
will add Bob and Joe to the group cool; if either was already there
they are removed from the group instead).
#chat.icon
Change your chat icon. If the file exists, it is sent out to all your
connections as your new icon. It's not much use for mcl, but I suppose
someone might make a small animated movie with this command.
#chat.flags
Adjust the settings for this connection. E.g. #chat.flags Drylock +private.
You can specify any number of flag names prefixed with + (to set flag),
- (to unset flags) or just the flag name (toggling the flag). See the "Flags"
section for descriptions of what flags do.
#chat.request |ALL
#chat.peek |ALL
Requests the public connections of all the connections you are
connected to. Upon receiving those connections, mcl will connect to any
new connections it finds this way.
#chat.peek is similar, but only shows the connections rather than
connecting to them.
#chat.ping |ALL
Sends a Ping packet to that connection. The client in the other end
send pack a response and upon its receival, mcl display the roundtrip
time.
These flags can be set with the #chat.flags command.
Private: this connection will not be given out when other people do a
#chat.peek or #chat.request.
Serving: You will relay #chat.all and #chat.group that have come from
OTHERS to this connection
Commands: You will accept commands from this connection (i.e. the other
person can make your mud client execute any command)
Snoop: You will allow this connection to snoop you
Ignored: You will see no #chat/#chat.all/#chat.group from this connection
Files: You will accept files sent from this connection
Snooping: You are currently snooping that connection
Snooped: You are snooped by that connection
Pressing Alt-H shows up the current chat list. You can use arrow keys
to move around as usual. Pressing the flag letter (I for Ignore, P for
Private, C for Commands, n for Snoop, F for Files, S for Serving, O for
Snooped, d for Snooping) toggles that flag on/off.
Pressing Delete disconnects that connection.
Pressing Enter allows you to enter a private message to send to that
connection. Rather than popping up a new window, it simply puts
"#chat.to " on your input line.
First the long description then in parens the short one. *** is a number.
INVALID STATE (????)
Something has gone really wrong! This is the state that all connections start
with but change from very soon.
Connecting (timeout ***) (C***)
mcl is trying to get a connection to the other client, but no TCP/IP connection
has been established yet. Perhaps the network connection is overloaded.
Connected, requesting permission (timeout ****) (P***)
We have achieved a connection and sent our credentials. The remote client must
now decided whether to let us in or not.
Connected ( )
Successfull connection has been established. Either side can now send commands
Waiting for * more command header bytes (Cmd*)
A zChat command contains 4 bytes in the header (command number, data bytes). We
have not yet received all 4.
Waiting for *** more bytes of command * (D***)
The command also contains a body which contains a certain number of bytes. Here
we are waiting for all of them to arrive
Waiting for old style data (D)
The MudMaster protocol terminates it data with the character 255. Thus it's not
possible to tell how many more bytes of data may arrive.
Accepted, awaiting protocol/chatname (Acc1)
Someone has connected to our port but has not said anything yet
Accepted, awaiting address/port (Acc2)
Someone has connected, but has only told us their protocol and name
Waiting for your accept (Cnfr)
Someone has connected and now it's up to you to type #chat.accept to let them in
Unknown state: * (I*)
An invalid state that not even the state-parser knows about.
Output from chat goes through the usual "output" type triggers.
After sucessfull startup, the variables chatIP and chatPort point
at the local IP address and port the chat system is listening on.
If you want all chat-related output to be filtered to actions and
substitutes, create a MUD called "Chat" in your configuration file,
and add any actions/substitutes you want to be active to there.
Chat output is filtered through the standard embedded scripting
channels (i.e. the output hook) so things like highlights and
gags will work.