Frequently Asked Questions about Running CircleMUD, with Answers
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Q.  I typed 'autorun' but then my terminal just froze.
A.  autorun is a script which automatically runs, logs, and reboots the
    game for long-term runs.  You should run 'autorun' in the background
    by typing 'autorun &'.  The game will then run unattended until you
    explicitly shut it down.


Q.  I typed 'bin/circle' and got lots of boot messages, but then it said
    'Entering game loop' and froze.
A.  It is not frozen, it is just waiting for people to connect.  You have
    to run the MUD in the background by typing 'bin/circle &' and then use
    telnet to connect to the game.


Q.  Okay, I think the MUD is running but why don't I get a login prompt?
A.  In order to play the MUD, you must connect to it using the telnet
    command, i.e. 'telnet localhost 4000'.


Q.  When I run Circle under Linux, it tells me 'connection refused' when
    the MUD boots, and then dies.  Why?
A.  Because you must install the Linux networking package before running
    Circle, even if you plan to only play on the local machine.  If you're
    using Slackware, the networking package is on the 'N' series of disks.


Q.  Why do I get many syntax errors when I compile with Sun's 'cc' compiler?
A.  Because Circle is written in ANSI C, and Sun's standard 'cc' compiler
    isn't capable of compiling ANSI C code.  You can try 'acc', Sun's ANSI
    C compiler, but it costs extra money to get it from Sun so your sysadmin
    may not have installed it.  The best solution is to get GCC from
    ftp.gnu.ai.mit.edu and install it, if you have enough time and space.


Q.  How do I access Online Creation?
A.  Online Creation is not yet part of the Circle beta release.  When it
    does become part of the release, it'll be accessed through a command
    called 'olc'.


Q.  When will the production release of Circle 3.0 be????
A.  I don't know.


Q.  If someone logs in and just sits at the password prompt, the MUD hangs
    (i.e., no one else can connect or do anything) until the person enters
    their password.
A.  Your system's POSIX non-blocking I/O is broken.  To compensate, add the
    following line at the very beginning of comm.c:
#define POSIX_NONBLOCK_BROKEN
    Then recompile the MUD and try again.  Also, write mail to jelson@jhu.edu
    telling me _exactly_ what type of machine and operating system you
    experienced this problem on.