| MG Mud User | 88f1247 | 2016-06-24 23:31:02 +0200 | [diff] [blame^] | 1 | CONCEPT: |
| 2 | news |
| 3 | |
| 4 | |
| 5 | DESCRIPTION: |
| 6 | This document describes the news system used in Nightfall. |
| 7 | News is intended to provide a general system for bulletin |
| 8 | boards and similar objects. It is similar to the Usenet |
| 9 | news system. Articles are stored in a central area, /news. |
| 10 | Articles (Messages) are stored as files within this |
| 11 | directory. Only the news demon object is allowed to write |
| 12 | and read in the /news directory. Interfaceing to the |
| 13 | news demon is done via interface functions in the news |
| 14 | demon. |
| 15 | |
| 16 | Typically news are read and written by a bulletin |
| 17 | board object or by a newsreader. Player buletin boards |
| 18 | should of course be limited to specific news groups. |
| 19 | A newsreader might be intelligent in that it autmatically |
| 20 | shows new messages. Groups may be moderated, then only the |
| 21 | moderator can write there. There are also flags whether a |
| 22 | board is a wiz_only board and who may remove messages. |
| 23 | |
| 24 | Security is in several levels. It may be 0, then every |
| 25 | effective userid might read and write and delete articles, |
| 26 | although the news demon will still look for the match of |
| 27 | the sender field with certain group requirements. This level |
| 28 | of security is to make it possible to create groups |
| 29 | accessible by bulletin boards which have no euid. |
| 30 | |
| 31 | Security level 1 means that euid check is done, for reading |
| 32 | and writing. This still allows for bulltin boards, but those |
| 33 | must have root euid and thus the ability to seteuid to the |
| 34 | euid of the object using the bulletin board (normally the |
| 35 | player). This feature requires native gamedriver mode. |
| 36 | |
| 37 | Saved news file format (formal notation): |
| 38 | |
| 39 | int security; /* wheter euid check is done, 0 or 1 */ |
| 40 | mixed *accesslist = ({ |
| 41 | mixed *readaccess; /* who can read messages */ |
| 42 | mixed *writeaccess; /* who can write messages */ |
| 43 | mixed *deleteaccess; /* who can delete messages */ |
| 44 | mixed *controlaccess; /* who can control the accesslist */ |
| 45 | }) |
| 46 | mixed *messages = ({ |
| 47 | mixed *msg1; mixed *msg2; ... mixed *msgN; |
| 48 | }) |
| 49 | |
| 50 | An access entry can be be one of the following: |
| 51 | - an effective userid (string) |
| 52 | - one of the keywords "wizard", "all", "author" |
| 53 | - a wizard level (integer) which is required minimal |
| 54 | - an array of one of the plain types above (Alternative). |
| 55 | |
| 56 | A message looks as follows: |
| 57 | |
| 58 | mixed *message = ({ |
| 59 | string author; /* who wrote the message */ |
| 60 | string subject; /* the subject */ |
| 61 | string *groups; /* news groups where this was posted */ |
| 62 | int date; /* date of message written */ |
| 63 | string messageid; /* a unique string */ |
| 64 | string *referenceid; /* list of references */ |
| 65 | int expire; /* when message expires */ |
| 66 | string body; /* the contents of the message */ |
| 67 | }) |
| 68 | |
| 69 | The news demon (/secure/news, or /obj/news) provides the |
| 70 | following functions: |
| 71 | |
| 72 | int success = PostMessage(mixed *message) |
| 73 | Tells the demon to insert the message in the news database. |
| 74 | Depending on security level, euid or message.author is |
| 75 | checked if this is allowed. |
| 76 | |
| 77 | int success = DeleteMessage(string *groups, string messageid) |
| 78 | Remove a message from the database. |
| 79 | |
| 80 | mixed *messagelist = ReadMessageHeaders(string group) |
| 81 | Get all message headers (complete info, but without |
| 82 | body) of newsgroup <group>. |
| 83 | |
| 84 | mixed *message = ReadMessage(string *groups, string messageid) |
| 85 | Retrieve a message from the database. |
| 86 | |
| 87 | |
| 88 | SEE ALSO: |