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/*  praxis: services for TSora IRC networks.
 *  README: General documentation
 *
 *  Copyright (c) 2004 Eric Will <[email protected]>
 *  Copyright (c) 2003-2004 praxis development team.
 *
 *  $Id$
 */

praxis -- a set of services for TSora networks
==============================================

This program is free but copyrighted software; see doc/license for details.

Information about praxis may be found at http://praxis.malkier.net/.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
-----------------
  1. Credits
  2. Presentation
  3. Installation
  4. Command line options
  5. Contact and mailing list

1. CREDITS
----------

While praxis isn't directly based on any other program it borrows a decent
amount of code from ircd-ratbox and Sentinel2.

Information about ircd-ratbox can be found at http://www.ircd-ratbox.org/.
Information about Sentinel2 can be found at http://ircd.botbay.net/sentinel/.

Currently praxis is largely written by me:
  rakaur, Eric Will <[email protected]>

Thanks to testers, contributors, etc:
  Hwy, W. Campbell <[email protected]>
  madragoran, Mike Campbell <[email protected]>
  nenolod, William Pitcock <[email protected]>
  rintaun, Matt Lanigan <[email protected]>
  sycobuny, Stephen Belcher <[email protected]>

Special thanks to:
  Hwy, for your continued patience while I badger you endlessly.
  rintaun, for the SQLite database work.
  sycobuny, for your continued not-killing-me while I badger your code.
  tanka, for the book I will someday repay you for.

Files that I didn't write most of:
  src/balloc.c, this was stolen from ircd-ratbox and modified.
  src/configparse.c, this was stolen from from csircd and modified.
  src/dlink.c, this was stolen from ircd-ratbox and modified.
  src/event.c, idea from Hwy, mostly written by me.
  src/hash.c, this was stolen from ircd-ratbox and modified.
  src/io.c, this was originally based on Hwy's code.
  src/match.c, this was stolen from Sentinel2 (from IRCnet ircd).
  src/net.c, this was originally based on Hwy's code.
  src/send.c, this was originally based on Hwy's code.
  src/timer.c, this was stolen from ircd-ratbox.

2. PRESENTATION
---------------

praxis is a set of services for TSora-based IRC networks that allows users to
manage their channels in a secure and efficient way and allows operators to
manage various things about their networks.

praxis currently works with:
  ircd-ratbox 1.x and 2.x in TS5/TS6
  ircd-hybrid 7.0 or later in TS5/TS6
  ircd-hybrid 6.0 or later in TS3/TS5
  csircd 1.4 or later in TS3/TS5

praxis may *possibly* work with other TSora IRCd's running at least TS3.

praxis is closer to being based on ircd than it is on Andrew Church's
IRCServices.  Anope/Epona, Cygnus, OperStats, Auspice, etc are all based on
IRCServices and as such have very old legacy code that none of them, except
Church, understands.  praxis was written completely from scratch with the more
complex pieces people usually take from IRCServices being taken from the most
modern and actively developed ircd today: ircd-ratbox.

3. INSTALLATION
---------------

See the INSTALL file.

4. COMMAND LINE OPTIONS
-----------------------

Normally, praxis can be run simply by invoking the "praxis" executable.  praxis
will then use the defaults specified in the configuraiton file and connect
to the specified uplink server. Alternatively, any of the following
command-line options can be specified to change the default behavior:
  -c </path/to/file> - specify the configuration file
  -d <1|2|3>         - start in debugging mode
  -h                 - print the help message and exit
  -n                 - do not fork into the background
  -v                 - print the version information and exit

praxis also handles the following signals:
  HUP  - force a REHASH
  TERM - force a SHUTDOWN
  USR2 - force a RESTART

Upon starting, praxis will parse its command-line arguments, open its log file,
parse its configuration file, load its database, connect to the uplink,
and (assuming -n is not specified) detach into the background.  If praxis
encounters an error while parsing the configuration or database files it will
terminate immediately. Otherwise, it will run until killed or otherwise stopped.

5. CONTACT AND MAILING LIST
---------------------------

Okay, here's the deal. We enjoy coding this program, and we do it for free. You
didn't pay anything for this, did you? No. Our time and our effort went into
making this program, and now you want us to help you with it, too. Well, that's
fine, but do us a favor: READ THE DOCS. Unlike many other programs we've
included some fairly extensive documentation. The configuration file itself has
a description of every option as well as examples of: how it's used, what it
does, and what happens if you turn it on or off. *Please* don't waste our time
by asking asinine questions which are clearly answered in the documentation.
You'll just make us regret making this program so easy to use that it requires
zero intelligence.

That said, if you've skimmed the docs and can't find your answer feel free to
ask. I've been unable to find the answer I was looking for in many programs
myself so I don't mind. Just don't ask us to set it up for you. It's too easy.

For announcements and discussions about praxis, subscribe to the mailing list
by sending a blank email to [email protected].

For bug reports, please use these forums:
http://praxis.malkier.net/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewforum&f=3.

If you're reporting a bug, here's some advice. Be sure to include information
on how to reproduce the problem. If you can't reproduce it, you're likely out
of luck. You can go ahead and report the problem but chances are if we can't
find the cause then we can't fix it. If praxis crashed (with a core file) be
sure to include a backtrace for us. You can do this by running something along
the lines of "gdb bin/praxis praxis.core" and typing "bt" at the "(gdb)"
prompt. If you do all of these things and still manage to keep your report
short and concise you will be loved.

For patches/modifications to the source code that you would like to share or
otherwise comment on, please use these forums:
http://praxis.malkier.net/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewforum&f=2.

For general discussion and/or support, please use these forums:
http://praxis.malkier.net/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewforum&f=1.

If your problem requires extensive debugging in a real-time situation we may
ask that you find us on IRC:
  rakaur @ #praxis on irc.malkier.net
  sycobuny @ #praxis on irc.malkier.net
  rintaun @ #praxis on irc.malkier.net

If you've read this far, congratulations. You are among the few elite people
that actually read documentation. Thank you.