The TMI-2 FAQ List
Mobydick, 5-19-93
Revised by Yavie, 22 MAR 94
Tiny updates by Leto, 12 Dec 94
Added some DOS questions, 24 Dec 94
Updated for new release, 25 June 95

Some frequently asked questions around TMI-2, and their answers.
If your question is not TMI-2 specific, try the command "lpfaq"

Tmi-2 can currently be found at enterprise.shv.hb.se 5555
 
Questions
---------
1. What is the purpose of TMI-2?
2. How do I become a wizard here?
3. Where can I get a copy of the TMI-2 mudlib?
4. Where can I get a driver, or other MUD source code?
5. How can I get my MUD connected to other Intermud MUDs?
6. What should I do if I find a bug?
7. Frequent problems with Tmi-2 on DOS machines.

Answers
-------
1. What is the purpose of TMI-2?
 
   TMI-2 is the development site for the TMI-2 mudlib. We're writing a mudlib
which takes advantage of the many wonderful features of the MudOS driver, and
is capable of serving as the foundation for new MUDs.
 
  The secondary purpose of TMI-2 is to teach. If you care to learn formally
at TMI-2, please go to the teach board room (one east of the Quad) and post
a note there stating the type of teaching you need.  Teachers read that
board every day, and one will contact you.  If you care to teach here,
please see the help on 'teaching'.
 
  You do not need to be a student here to ask questions!  Please always feel
free to use the 'question' channel, and you will more than likely get all the
answers you need, and maybe more than you wanted.  You can also ask any
person you see sitting around, usually, if someone doesn't know the answer,
they'll refer you to someone who does, however, using the question channel
is the way to go first, because you won't have to ask a bunch of people the
same thing in succession.
 
2. How do I become a wizard here?
 
   You already are one! Using the wiz commands, you can
read files and documentation, and see what we're doing. You can also
create objects in the directory /open: this directory is world-writable
and you can clone objects from there. This is done so that people can
practice coding or test out new efuns/lfuns or whatever they need to
do. /open is erased every 24 hours, so don't plan on using it for any
kind of permanent storage.
 
   Getting a directory is much more difficult, since we don't have that much
disk space and have plans for the space we do have. You can pretty much only
get a directory by volunteering to help out with the mudlib. (We are ALWAYS
looking for more volunteers, so don't be shy about asking.) The projects board
is south and west of the start room, and you can grab any project you like
off of it. Find an admin, tell them what you want to do, and they'll make a
directory for you, if the project requires it.

   The projects are divided into domains (see help on tmi-domains).
Determine what you are interested in and would like to help with and send
mail to the manager of that domain.

3. Where can I get a copy of the latest mudlib release?
 
   The latest mudlib release is 1.3   Use anonymous FTP to the machine
aragorn.uio.no, ftp.imaginary.com or other sites which you expect to
carry mud related software.
 
4. Where can I get a driver, or other MUD source code?
 
  There is a lot of other material available from the FTP site also. You
can get the latest MudOS driver, you can get the Discworld lib and an old
2.4.5 lib, and many other goodies are there.  Also, you might wish to
check around on ftp.actlab.utexas.edu for the latest MudOS and CD sources.
MudOS can be found at ftp.actlab.utexas.edu /MUD/LPmud/MudOS/driver/ 
Alternate sites for Mudos are ftp.imaginary.com and aragorn.uio.no.
DGD is at ftp.lysator.liu.se /pub/lpmud/drivers/dgd/
Amylaar is at ftp.tu-bs.de in /pub/games/lpmud/
CD is at ftp.cd.chalmers.se in pub/lpmud/cdlib

5. How can I get my MUD connected to other Intermud MUDs?

   First off, the current Intermud system is consists of a UDP packet-based
dynamic mudlist system.  A mud stores the names and ip's of 2 or
more muds in a config file, and these stored muds become the 'hub mudlist
server' for your particular mud.  Every 15 or so minutes, we ask our hub(s)
for a current list of muds, along with ip addresses, and intermud port.
Then, every few minutes, we send out little packets to each mud in the list,
to verify that they are 'active' and ready for communication.  This
assures us that our mudlists will remain robust without requiring a hard-coded,
and often outdated list of muds.
    Most intermud communication consists of intermud tells, intermud
channels (gwiz), and most recently, intermud mail.  The advantage of the
current system is its simple interface and flexibility for the emergence
of new services.
    To get a copy of the latest DNS (Domain Name Server) package from
TMI-2, check out the TMI-2 1.3 mudlib. Note that you should already be on the
intermud. Check this with the 'mudlist' command.

NOTE: Tmi-2 1.3 still uses the old Intermud protocols. A new system is being 
developed to make things more efficient. This Intermud3 protocol will probably 
soon be ready to use. At the moment of release though, it was too incomplete
to be added to the mudlib. As soon as it is ready, a seperate package will
be made available with which you can patch your 1.3 library.

6. What should I do if I find a bug?
 
   It depends on whether you found it here at TMI-2 or in one of the releases,
and on whether it's a driver bug or a mudlib bug.
   If you find a bug here at TMI-2, the best thing to do is to report it using
the bug command. Just type "bug" and you'll be prompted for a message
which can be as long as you need it to be. We also have an "idea" command
and a "typo" command for reports of that nature. We try to read these logs
daily and fix things as quickly as we can figure them out...
   If you find a bug in one of the MudOS releases, we'd appreciate it if
you'd let us know what it is and, if you can figure it out, the solution.
There is one bulletin board for driver bugs (2 north of the start room) and a
separate board for mudlib bugs (south and east of the start room.) If you post 
a bug report, please be as detailed as you possibly can about how you got the
bug, what system you are on, what driver/mudlib combination you are using,
and anything else that will help us duplicate the problem. If we can't
replicate it, we can't fix it... so give us as much of a clue as you can.

7. Frequent problems with Tmi-2 on DOS machines.

Q> What is the latest version of the mudos driver for msdos ?
A> The latest version I (Leto) found is 20.23 at aragorn.uio.no,
   compile made by Aragorn@Tmi-2/Nanvaent
Q> Can I use Tmi-2 1.2 or 1.3 mudlib with that ?
A> Nope, I'm sorry. It uses v20.* functions. although if
   you know what you're doing, you might try with 0.9.20.
Q> It unzipped into one big directory, is this ok?
A> Nope , use winzip or another tool and make sure it creates the
   right subdirectories.
Q> I get an error about 'master failed to load'
A> Be sure to set the mudlib directory right in the config
   file. An example config file is in /adm/etc/config.copy
Q> It says 'undefined function copy'
A> Probably all simul_efuns aren't loading. Change the
   path in /adm/obj/simul_efun.c to use
   the shortened DOS version of the path (prob simul_ef or
   something like that. Also change the name in the config file.
Q> I got a copy of our lib and I can't login. Password
    incorrect
A> The Mudos for DOS doesn't have the encrypt() call all
      unix machines have. Create a new character for yourself

If someone has a dos driver 0.9.20 or v20.* please contact
me (Leto@Tmi-2) so I can see if I can get tmi-2 1.3 mudlib
to work with it.