Release 2.0 and some admin migration issues

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Tim Riker
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Release 2.0 and some admin migration issues

Post by Tim Riker »

The 2.0 release is at our doorstep. Many things have been added. There are test binaries up on http://my.BZFlag.org/builds/1.11/ for people to try out. Please do! :wink:

With the new version some things have changed that are relevant to server operators of public servers. User callsigns and passwords from the forums are valid on any server by default. Players that login this way get a "+" on the scoreboard. Players that have "ban" permissions will get a "@". Unverified players will have a "-".

the group DEFAULT is now called EVERYONE

the group REGISTERED is now called VERIFIED

the group ADMIN is now called LOCAL.ADMIN

Any groups that do not start with "LOCAL." can be defined here on the forums and the members will get merged in with your local names. If you want groups to remain local only, prepend a LOCAL. to them in the groupdb and the userdb as well.

Notice that forum groups have no local permissions unless you use a -groupdb <file> option and grant them permissions.

If -passdb <file> is not used, then the commands that deal with passwords are disabled: /register /identify /deregister /setpass /ghost

If -userdb <file> is not used, then group membership commands are disabled and group membership is only defined here on the forums.

As mentioned on the boards before, we have restricted the characters that are valid in usernames and passwords in order to work with the new 2.0 central registration system. These sets may be expanded in the future, but right now: valid characters are: '<space>-_.0-9a-zA-Z' If a forum callsign or password contains other characters, that account cannot be used for central login on BZFlag servers.

If you run a 2.0 server with your existing userdb and passdb, then central logins for the accounts in the local passdb will not work. This is to prevent misuse. If you would like both central login and local /identify logins to work, there is a new special group to handle that.

The group LOCAL.GLOBAL contains the users whose local /identify based accounts are the same as the central login accounts. The passwords need not be the same, this means that the person using them is the same. If the account is in this group in your userdb, then the user will be able to use either central or /identify to get verified.

A minimum setup would not use a passdb or a userdb but use central login for both. If you would like a group created here on the forums, contact a forum admin. Add any central groups you want to grant permissions to into your groupdb with the appropriate permissions.

A full migration would mean editing the groupdb and changing the names of any local groups to start with "LOCAL." as well as changing the names of the built in DEFAULT to EVERYONE and REGISTERED to VERIFIED. That same change needs to be made in the userdb for any members of those groups. Then add central groups you want to grant permissions to into your groupdb as above.

There is a new command line option -requireidentify that, when used, only allows verified users (either local or central) to play on the server. Others can join, but not enter the game. Some test servers are using this already.

The man pages for the CVS version are online. They lag by up to 5 hours as they are pulled on the fly from the SourceForge viewcvs interface.

http://my.bzflag.org/bzfman.cgi

Notice that the /showgroup will display any groups that you are a member of. Only groups that are in the local server's groupdb will be included in this list.

This is likely as clear as mud. :cry: But hang in there. It should make things easier for admins, and players as we move onward.
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Post by DTRemenak »

A windows build has been posted at the same place. http://my.BZFlag.org/builds/1.11/bzflag1.11.41.exe
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Smal problem with nonpublic server

Post by Taminator »

Its usual for matchservers that there not listed in public server list. But if i start my matchserver nonpublic (no -public option) its not possible to authenticate users with global logins. Is there a way around this issue ?

I need a option like -nolistpublic or -usegloballogins
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Bug on Mac OS X

Post by Lunarian Moogle »

I'm not sure if this is the place to report bugs, but I wasn't sure where else to do it.

I'm running Mac OS 10.2.8 on a G3 iBook, resolution 1024x768. Right when I started up the new beta, it at least got to the main screen (an improvement from 1.10.8 for me). However, the main screen looked very garbled in some places, there is a picture here:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v448/ ... fi0000.png

EDIT: After fumbling through unreadable menus, I found the resolution switcher screen in the options. If I change to 800x600, the menus are now readable but the background looks worse.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v448/ ... 5c94ee.png
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re: non-public servers

Post by Tim Riker »

This is no different than it was. You need to use local files for passdb, userdb, and groupdb.

The thought is to add a SPAWN permission and then you can grant that permission to a group or groups instead of leaving it on the EVERYONE group.

This has not been done yet so continue running non-public servers with local files for matches until it is.

Note that this would be a server only change. The clients would not have to upgrade, just you as the operator.
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Re: Bug on Mac OS X

Post by toaster »

Lunarian Moogle wrote:I'm not sure if this is the place to report bugs, but I wasn't sure where else to do it.

I'm running Mac OS 10.2.8 on a G3 iBook, resolution 1024x768. Right when I started up the new beta, it at least got to the main screen (an improvement from 1.10.8 for me). However, the main screen looked very garbled in some places, there is a picture here:

EDIT: After fumbling through unreadable menus, I found the resolution switcher screen in the options. If I change to 800x600, the menus are now readable but the background looks worse.
I had the same problem with my older onboard graphics in my desktop (a WinXP box). Turned out, thanks to some help from Trepan, that it was really a problem with the graphics driver and the old hardware. No new driver would make it work. Ended up with a newer graphics card. Don't know how that applies in the Apple universe, but your Mac is an older one, could be similar problem.
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Re: Bug on Mac OS X

Post by roboguy »

Lunarian Moogle wrote:I'm not sure if this is the place to report bugs, but I wasn't sure where else to do it.

I'm running Mac OS 10.2.8 on a G3 iBook, resolution 1024x768. Right when I started up the new beta, it at least got to the main screen (an improvement from 1.10.8 for me). However, the main screen looked very garbled in some places, there is a picture here:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v448/ ... fi0000.png

EDIT: After fumbling through unreadable menus, I found the resolution switcher screen in the options. If I change to 800x600, the menus are now readable but the background looks worse.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v448/ ... 5c94ee.png
Try setting Quality to High or Experimental, it looks like it is set to low, setting it higher will probably make it slower, but you can try.
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Re: re: non-public servers

Post by Taminator »

Tim Riker wrote:This is no different than it was. You need to use local files for passdb, userdb, and groupdb.
Yes, this i know, but i like the global login option very mutch. You simply can join a server and did not need to identify each time. IMHO there many players around often change from public- to match server and every time has to identify. May you can take my suggestion as a improvment for next versions .... but it's not a must, only a nice to have :)
Tim Riker wrote: The thought is to add a SPAWN permission and then you can grant that permission to a group or groups instead of leaving it on the EVERYONE group.

This has not been done yet so continue running non-public servers with local files for matches until it is.

Note that this would be a server only change. The clients would not have to upgrade, just you as the operator.
This sounds nice :)
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Re: Bug on Mac OS X

Post by Lunarian Moogle »

roboguy wrote:Try setting Quality to High or Experimental, it looks like it is set to low, setting it higher will probably make it slower, but you can try.
Thanks, setting it to High ended up fixing the problem in the second picture, though it does nothing for the first one.
toaster wrote:I had the same problem with my older onboard graphics in my desktop (a WinXP box). Turned out, thanks to some help from Trepan, that it was really a problem with the graphics driver and the old hardware. No new driver would make it work. Ended up with a newer graphics card. Don't know how that applies in the Apple universe, but your Mac is an older one, could be similar problem.
That could indeed be the problem. Oh well, playing in 800x600 isn't that bad.
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Post by learner »

Lunarian Moogle, sounds and looks like you ran out of memory. It usually would have just left you with a black screen, but I suppose we're slowly improving. So, dropping the resolution is probably what you'll need to do for at least now.

Cheers!
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