AmigaMUD, Copyright 1997 by Chris Gray


		    The 'SMUD' Client Program

The SMUD program is a simple text-only client for use with an AmigaMUD
server running on the same machine. It can be run only from a shell
since it relies on standard input and output working. SMUD is good for
quick runs since it is much smaller than the full 'MUD' client
program. SMUD can also be valuable on a system with limited memory. I
typically use SMUD for compiling the standard scenario, with

    SMUD <AmigaMUD:Src/go

where 'AmigaMUD:' is an assign to the directory containing the
AmigaMUD stuff including the scenario sources, and 'go' is a small
source file there that mainly just sources all the rest of the files
in the correct order. I also use SMUD for quick SysAdmin runs.

SMUD accepts a few flags on the command line:

    -a - tells SMUD that the device it is talking to is not an Amiga
	console device or other device that accepts ANSI control
	sequences. SMUD will then not try to blank passwords.

    -r - tells SMUD that it is running remotely. This disables its
	ability to run an editor. If a BBS system uses SMUD to allow
	text-only connections through some kind of pipe device, it
	should specify this flag.

    -T - tells SMUD to use 'MUD test port' as the name of the port to
	connect to the AmigaMUD server on.

    -N <name> - use <name> as the name of the character for the first
	playing session, rather than prompting for a name.

    -W <word> - use <word> as the password for the first playing
	session. If it is incorrect, it counts as the first attempt,
	and only two attempts remain. This is normally used in
	conjunction with -N, but can be used without it.

    -t<value> - use value as an inactivity timeout. If no user input
	occurs after the given interval (which is given in minutes),
	then the client will be disconnected from the server.
	Unfortunately, since there is no way to abort a Dos read
	request, SMUD itself cannot exit until its pending read
	request returns. Using the -p flag allows the timeouts to work
	correctly, but at the expense of continual extra system load.

    -f<value> - the given decimal number is passed to "mud.library"
	to control some client caching. There must be no spaces
	between the 'f' and the value. The value is the sum of the
	following:

	    1 - cache procs. SMUD will cache the definitions (but not
		the bodies) of builtin and user procs in the AmigaMUD
		language. This saves refetching them when parsing
		procs (such as after editing one).

	    2 - cache symbols. SMUD will cache the values of symbols
		that it has fetched from the server. Again, this cuts
		down on communications when parsing AmigaMUD procs.

	Note that both of these flags increase the amount of memory
	consumed by SMUD. This memory is not freed until SMUD exits.
	The default value of 'FLAGS' is 3, i.e. both caches on. Note
	that this is the opposite of the default for the full MUD
	client program.

    -p - this flag puts SMUD into a polling mode. Normally SMUD uses
	the standard Amiga asychronous I/O using DOS packets. This
	is the proper way to do asynchronous I/O on the Amiga.
	Unfortunately, the console.device does not respond to a
	request to abort an outstanding read request. This means that
	when the server uses "NukeClient" to shut down a client that
	is connected via SMUD, SMUD itself cannot exit until that read
	request is satisfied (typically by the user hitting RETURN).
	In polling mode, there is no outstanding read request - SMUD
	continually (every 1/10 second) checks for available
	characters, and will only issue a read if characters are
	available. This way, "NukeClient" can cause SMUD to exit, and
	thus return back to a BBS which can drop the line. Note,
	however, that this mode continually uses extra CPU time on the
	host machine, whether the player is doing anything or not.

    -s<value> - this flag specifies the size of stack to use when SMUD
	calls out to an external editor. The default size is 9996
	bytes, and the minimum size is 4096 bytes.


SMUD is able to start up an external editor for editing strings and
AmigaMUD procedures, just like the full MUD program. It also does this
based on the "MUDEDITOR"/"EDITOR" environment variables and will
default the editor name to be "Ed". As with MUD, the editor must not
"auto detach". If a scenario uses the enquiry routines to ask about
the nature of the effects available on a SMUD client, it will reply
with all empty and zero values.

SMUD uses the Amiga OS packet interface to do asynchronous I/O with
its standard input and output connection. It does not use "RAW" mode
on a console screen. It is possible to call up SMUD from a BBS system
which is not capable of calling up the full MUDAgent program. This
will allow users of that BBS to access AmigaMUD, but they will not get
the graphics/audio/mouse capabilities. Some BBS operators will want to
use the -p option when doing this, so that they can boot players out
of the SMUD program. This also allows the inactivity timeout to
operate.

SMUD requires a stack of at least 10000 bytes. It will exit right away
if the stack is less than that size. Use the shell 'Stack' command to
setup a larger stack. When parsing extremely deeply nested AmigaMUD
code, an even larger stack might be needed, but I have not needed one
for parsing all of the standard scenario.