System Maintanence Manual
lsmud V0.95
C. Peter Hanely April 2000

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Contents:
System requirements
Instalation
standard library of commands
Data structures, external
Data structures, internal
Functions by source modual
  dirmud.pl
  dmlib.pl
  dmlogin.pl
  dmcmd.pl
  finder.pl
Adding user commands
External commands and methods

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System requirements:
This software was developed with PERL5, Linux / BSD

Minimum requirements to run this software are:
- PERL5 interpreter
- Premptive multitasking OS
- Heiarchical file system with symbolic links
- Named pipes(FIFO's)

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Instalation:
from desired install directory, run lsmud.dst.  This will create program and
data files.

To start mud, run 'server' as a background process.

Include is a NPC, in wldroot/longdock/guard.  To start, run .life as
background.
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standard library of commands:

get|take <what>
drop|throw <what>
give <what> <who>
look|read <what>
examine <what>		you must own <what>
inventory

say [who] <message>

attack <who>
wear <what>		wear a set of armor(or other item)
wield <what>		use a given weapon

go|goto|move <where>	can simply give place
exit			leave a room

help|? [command]

quit|logout
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Data structures, external:

 world root is an place.
 places are objects.
 players and other characters are objects.
 artifacts are objects.
 object is a directory.
 object contains spec files, methods, other objects, and immutable objects.
 places may contain links to other places.
 An oject may contain any object smaller than themselves.
 
spec files include:

.top	prevents 'exit'.  In wldroot, locked cells.

.stats	contains stats for object.
this file is formatted, 1 stat to a line, as:
	<statname>,<statvalue>\n
stats include:
	disc	a discription of the object
	moredisc, further discription when examing object
	con,<base>-<dammage>
		running total of characters health.
	ac,<base>[+armor,amount]
	attl,<base>[+weapon,amount]
	size	100 for most characters, larger for places
		smaller for most artifacts.

Other stats may be added for use by new functions.
Not all stats will be present for all objects.
&lock this file before adding any new objects inside the object.

.msg	a pipe of messages to char

.alive	primary method for NPC

.*	various methods associated with object

file 'help', quick help on commands
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Data structures, internal:

- stats
stats are represented internally by a hash indexed by the stat name.
%default_stat is a default for objects creation, defined in dmlib.pl

- %cmd_alias
a hash of commands and aliases to functions.

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Functions
  lsmud
	main program
	incoming_msg();
		Processes messages in .msg
	incoming_command();
		processes command line
		call command resolution
		executes command
	lock($obj) return *filehandle, unlock(*lock)
		locking interface
	read_stats(*filehandle) return %stats,
	write_stats(*filehandle, \%stats)
		interface between .stats file and hash representation.
	message($who, $message, [$recurse])
		sends massages to other objects
	global_message($where, $message)
		processes message to all receptients in a room 
	resolve_cmd($cmd, $param) return (\&command, [$parameter])
		checks if a command is:
		- a method for first (after processing) parameter
		- a method of the character or area
		- a standard command
		returns a specifier of how to run command.
	runit($cmd,$p1,$p2,$p3)
		runs an external method $cmd.
	chklink($file) returns $resolved_file
		resolves a potentual symbolic link
	move($what, $from, $to) return ($error_code)
		moves objects around.
	resolve_obj($what, $where [,$where *])
		finds an object, includes name completion.
	login()
		logs a player into the game.  effects globals.
	logout()
		logs a player out.
	new_player()
		creates a new character for a player.  Rather skeletal.
  	finder($filespec, $whr)

	Also: functions for each user command, indexed in cmd_alias
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External commands and methods
lsmud makes provision for commands unique to specific objects to be
implimented external to the main code.  To utilize this, it is necessary to
place an executable file for the special command inside the object defining
scope.  It is recomended that library functions be used for interface.
See (Data structures, external), (resolve_cmd)