MazBotV4 :)

[Maz]

Allright... This is not actually a game (but you can probably later add a game on top of this ), but I had no other friendly community in mind for the help request

Well, this is my fourth IRC bot. Or actually this should evolve into a IRC bot engine. Currently it is quite limited, but the basic stuff is there, and not so much is missing before I can start enriching the features.

However I would need help. Help in following things:

1. GNU make / gcc/linker options. (no autotools!!!)
My makefiles are a mess. And I do not really have the needed competence to enchance them.
2. Tester(s) using linux on x86 architecture. (This can also include user guide improvements, no coding skills are compulsory.)
3. C-capable coder to speed the development, share thoughts && note the bugs I'm blind to see.
4. Help with testing and fixing issues on x86_64. (Low prio since I cannot find the time to do all needed things there so easily).
5. A GUI program for config file genetation (propably not with C java, or even php script running on web server could be good'n easy)

Also if anyone wants to tackle following things...
1. Architecture limitation. Currently only x86 family of processors is supported. I would need some asm for other processors to make my atomic compare and swap to work.
2. (item 4 abowe. If someone want's to fix the x86_64 compatibility all by him/herself, that is more than fine )
3. Windows port.

If anyone is interested in testing/developing, following places are a good start:
http://blackdiam.net/wiki/index.php/MazBotV4 (Wiki containing for example the user guide. The development specific section is badly unfinished && quite dated...)
http://blackdiam.net/svn/MazBot/trunc Development repository. You can browse with web browser, or anonymously checkout.
For testing I however suggest using one of the releases in http://blackdiam.net/svn/MazBot/releases/, For example http://blackdiam.net/svn/MazBot/releases/0.2.1/
On linux, command
svn checkout http://blackdiam.net/svn/MazBot/releases/0.2.1/
should do it. The trunk can often be in unusable state
http://blackdiam.net/forum/index.php/topic,60063.0.html Roadmap (well... some kind of. Actually, this is more like status/info thread. Last posts are most interesting.
http://blackdiam.net/tracker/ Bug tracker

Oh, and if this is strictly games only forum, then I will add the anagram game (or somesuch) in the bot


EDIT:
Oh, and if anyone checks this out, please leave me at least a comment about your first impressions, any thoughts that come in to mind
For example "Why another bot engine?"

[Zyx]

OK, why on Earth yet another IRC bot in a low-level language?

[Maz]

thanks for the feedback zyx. And answer is simple. Because I felt like making a bot. C? Because thats what i can do. I once wrote mirc scripts, but longer they got, more lockups i got. Besides, i felt it was a bit limited.. I also once tried tcl and eggdrop, but that was not my cup of tea. Using c makes it a bit harder, and i can spend eternity writing bot, but theres also absolutely no limits for what can be done. Actually i played with thought of implementing kernel module which handles part of the tasks, but figured that it might be even harder to find testers then

[Zyx]

very good reasons =)

I do have a linux-like x86_64 system (aka mac os x 10.6.4), so if I have spare time, I might take a look =)

[Maz]

yay zyx! Since I have absolutely no idea about macs, i never even thought of having mac port mmm. I feel quite stupid now... I thougth macs have different processor than pcs... But if it is x86, then i assume cmpxchg asm instruction is there.. Then it also propably is a little endian system - although i *tried* making most of the bit twiddlling to work on big endians too.

If you are really going to try it out... Well, then i assume i should try cleaning the code... Theres loads of dead code left from original config / startup scemarios, old callback handler, old event storage, partially dead user storage... And all that will propably harm compilation

I guess the gnu toolchain is what rules the mac world too? I believe I've used gnu extensions when I've felt like it...

[Zyx]

yay zyx! Since I have absolutely no idea about macs, i never even thought of having mac port mmm. I feel quite stupid now... I thougth macs have different processor than pcs... But if it is x86, then i assume cmpxchg asm instruction is there.. Then it also propably is a little endian system - although i *tried* making most of the bit twiddlling to work on big endians too.

The hell froze over and these things have been running on normal off-the-shelf Intel chips for years now. I dual-boot to Win7 to play games, you know.

If you are really going to try it out... Well, then i assume i should try cleaning the code... Theres loads of dead code left from original config / startup scemarios, old callback handler, old event storage, partially dead user storage... And all that will propably harm compilation

Well, I guess being able to compile the code is a good thing... =)

I guess the gnu toolchain is what rules the mac world too? I believe I've used gnu extensions when I've felt like it...

Sure, this whole thing is a POSIX-compliant BSD thing these days.

[Maz]

allright. Now i know a bit more about macs and about the compiling, the code is compiling on linux, but if there is differences between linux and mac, then those nowadays unnecessary code lines may contain something nonstandard breaking mac compilation.

[Zyx]

I checked out the 0.2.1, but it doesn't compile.

Code: Select all

Undefined symbols:
  "_getline", referenced from:
      _BasicParserFeed in libMazBot_parsers.a(basic_file_parser.o)
ld: symbol(s) not found
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
make[1]: *** [/Users/kari/Code/mazbot/0.2.1/make/..//test//exe/TestExe] Error 1
make: *** [all] Error 2

[Maz]

allright. Linking fails because getline() function is not found from compiler's libs on mac. However, i assume the old basic cfg files are no longer used. (they may still be scanned though - i assume the linker wouldn't have complained if it was unused. If you want, you can simply try comment out the getline call from parsers/src/basic_file_parser.c I will see if basic file parser is still needed when i get back home from the cottage

[Maz]

Hi! Back from summer cottage. I checked out the getline, and it seems that is a non standard gnu extension. I guess you do not have that supported on mac's gnu toolchain, or then i missed some define required to enable it. Unfortunately i do not have mac to test this, or any way to find out if this func can be enabled on your configuration. I will how ever try replacing it with something more suitable. But my personal life got just turned upside down, so it may (or may not) take a while from me to get this done. How ever you can still try commenting it out.