rdmchat demo readme.txt first revision by gfoot 01/04/99
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libnet is (c) Copyright Chad Catlett and George Foot 1997-1999
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This file documents the RDM client-server chat program example.

0. Contents
~~~~~~~~~~~
0 - Contents
1 - In brief
2 - More information
3 - Platforms and portability

1. In brief
~~~~~~~~~~~
The `rdmchat' example program consists of two executables -- the
client and the server.

To start the server, simply run the `server' program. It will
list the available drivers; select one by number and the server
will start.

Clients can connect using the `client' program; it, too, asks
the user to choose a driver, and it asks for the server's
address and the user's nickname. After this it tries to
communicate with the server; if this succeeds the client is
connected. If it's not getting anywhere, pressing a key will
abort.

Connected clients get an IRC-like display, showing other
clients joining and leaving and what each client says (prefixed
by the speaker's nickname). Clients speak by typing; when
they hit Enter the text is sent to the server, which relays
it on to all the clients.

If the line begins with a `/', the server interprets it as a
command. The only command supported at present is "/quit",
which asks the server to disconnect the client.

All messages are echoed to the server's console. Pressing a
key on the console causes the server to quit.

2. More information
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(not written yet)

3. Platforms and portability
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'll just briefly mention which platforms this supports. It was
originally written in DOS. Libnet's API changed slightly since
that release, and I started developing in Linux instead of DOS.
In doing this, I have now wrapped the DOS conio functions I used
with ncurses equivalents. The Linux version works fine. The DOS
version *should* still work but I haven't tested it. The program
is disabled in other configurations, but ought to work on any Unix
with ncurses (or curses I think -- not sure). It won't work with
RSXNTDJ or MSVC until someone who knows about Windows writes a
front end.

Lastly, some testing suggestions, based around the Internet drivers.
If your OS can multitask to some degree, you should be able to test
this locally by running a server as one task, and clients as other
tasks. Tell the clients to connect to 127.0.0.1. This worked for
me in Windows once upon a time, and works better in Linux. In
Windows, make sure the "Always suspend" box in your DOS prompt's
properties is clear, otherwise the server will be suspended when
it's not in the foreground.

This local testing is particularly useful if you want to
test things without having immediate access to the Internet
-- for instance, for half the year I pay by the minute to use
the telephone line -- not exactly great conditions in which
to write network applications! By using 127.0.0.1 (the loopback
IP address) I can test things to some extent. Of course nothing
beats a LAN.