Starting a MUCK: a short primer

by

Foxen/Revar 7/19/2000

Requirements

You will need a few things before you even start:

A Linux or Unix machine with a good permanent internet connection.
Permission to run the muck on that machine. (Important!)
A reasonable knowledge of the standard unix commands.
A volunteer wizard who knows MUF well.
A volunteer wizard who knows MUCK building and MPI well.
A clear concept of the theme of the MUCK, that the wizards agree to.

Compiling the Software

Once you have the requirements above met, you need to:

Fetch the most recent stable version of the MUCK software. (fb5.xx.tar.gz)
gunzip fb5.xx.tar.gz
tar xvf fb5.xx.tar
cd fb5.xx
Edit include/config.h to configure the compile-time options for the MUCK.
Edit include/defaults.h to configure the default run-time @tune options for the MUCK.
rm game/data/parmfile.cfg to make sure it uses the default run-time options you set above.
cd src
./configure
make
make install

That should compile the server for your Unix/Linux platform and move the binaries into the 'fb5.xx/game' directory.

Set Up the Startup Database

You will need an initial database to start your muck with. There's a couple options here.

The MUCK software itself comes with minimal.db, which contains Room #0, and a Wizard player (#1). Nothing else. With this database, you'll have to install all muf libraries and programs that you may want.

It is highly recommended that you instead use the optional starting database named base.db. This database contains the standard MUF libraries, and several very common programs, such as mufpage, and mufwhisper. To install base.db, you need to:

Fetch the base startup database (basedb.tar.gz)
gunzip basedb.tar.gz
tar xf basedb.tar
Move the files in 'basedb/muf' to 'fb5.xx/game/muf'
Move the db file 'basedb/data/base.db' to 'fb5.xx/game/data'
Rename the 'base.db' file to something relevant to your muck name. ie: 'foomuck.db'.
Move the 'fb5.xx/game' directory to someplace convenient, like your home directory, and rename it to the name of your muck. ie: 'mv fb5.xx/game $HOME/foomuck' or somesuch.
Edit the 'restart' script in what was the 'game' directory, and change the paths it uses to match the new location. Make sure to change the database paths from referring to minimal.db, to refer to the new database file you just installed. (The one you renamed from base.db.) Also set the default muck TCP port.

Running a Muck

You start the muck up by running the 'restart' script.

Once it is running, you can connect to it by using either telnet or your favorite muck client, by connecting to the muck TCP port you specified in the 'restart' script.

To log in for the first time, on the new database, you send the command 'connect #1 potrzebie' to the muck. This will log you into Wizard(#1PW). You should immediately change the password. ie: '@password potrzebie=foobar'

At this point, you can start building the core of the MUCK.

You can add new players with '@pcreate playername=password

The #1 player can make another player into a wizard with '@set *playername=W'

Become familiar with the 'help' command.