The basics:

You'll need Python 2.2.2 to use this server. It's only been tested
on UNIX but may work on other platforms.

Before you begin, copy config.py.example to config.py and edit to
suit. Use "python mkpasswd.py <password>" to make a hash of a
password for the password field of the config file.

Start the server with "python xmain.py".

Enter server level commands in the "% server" window. It understands:

/start <module> <command>		start a module
/startas <name> <module> <command>	start a module overriding name
/stop <module>				stop a module

/<module> <command>	issue a command to module <module>
			(starts that module if not running)

Modules are files named in the form xmod_<module>.py. Several are
included. These include:

/irc			launch the irc module
/telnet <host> <port> 	launch the telnet module and connect
/rpn			launch an RPN calculator
/timestamp <on | off | format>   configure timestamp display;
	       	                 see strftime(3) for format
/urlgrab		Enable URL grabbing (populates client Link menu)


The irc module understands most basic commands (/join, /nick, /me,
and such).  Anything prefixed with // (i.e., //mode) will get the
first / lopped off and the rest sent to the server.

An important special case is that anything that's not otherwise
interpreted as a command gets sent to the "send" module, which
uses the python eval() command to evaluate what is sent. This
can be used to execute arbitrary commands on the remote server.
Anyone running a multi-user installation of the cognet server
MUST delete xmod_send.py before allowing users to connect. 

/startas allows a single module to be loaded multiple times.
This is particularly useful for the irc module; for instance,
	/irc irc.catch22.org 
	/startas EF irc irc.efnet.net
will start an IRC module as "IRC" connecting to byxnet, and
another instance IRC module as "EF" connected to EFnet.  The
module name is used to identify modules in the window names;
all windows created by that application will be prefaced by
the corresponding module name. 

Note that once a module is loaded with an alternate name, 
/start <that name> will not attempt to load the module off
disk (it will report an error), and /<module> <command>
will dispatch commands to the module by its alternate name
and not its native name. 

Additional IRC controls (same as in config.py):

/set autorejoin on | off    [on]
/set usermsgs on | off      [on]

- autorejoin will autoconnect to irc servers and rejoin channels
  should connection drop
- grabber controls the collection of any url/email in any window,
  listing to 'Grabber' window
- usermsgs controls display of JOIN, PART, QUIT, and MODE messages


The telnet module seems to have problems with line endings but should
work for most MUCKs and other such beasts.


=======================================================================
The following information is obselete. Eventually I'll write real
documentation but you'll have to puzzle most stuff out on your own
for now. The protocol information is still valid, which is why it
was included.

.... 
Eventually there will be documentation here.


This is intended to be a server that will maintain some number of irc
sessions and allow a lightweight client to connect to access an irc
session as needed.

The first field (serial number) may be omitted or ignored.  It allows
for resynchronization, so the client should keep track of the last 
serial number it has seen for when it reconnects


client protocol,  server->client:
  <serial>:<tag>:<source>:<target>:<text>

  #:dmsg:nick:#channel:text          # display message in target window
  #:smsg:nick:yournick:text          # display message in source window
  #:dmsg:yournick:nick:text          # display message in target window
  #:dmsg/act:nick:#channel:text      # display emote'd message in target window
  #:clear:window:                    # erase all lines from window 
  #:info:window:text                 # display server message
  #:fail:window:text                 # display error message
  #:repl:window:text                 # display command reply
  #:sync:token:                      # client should keep token for next serial

special windows:
  %server -- messages from the server
  %unknown -- irc messages that were not parsed

client protocol,  client->server:
  <serial>:<tag>:<target>:<text>

  :serial:serialnumber:token         # indicates last serial number and token seen
                                     # (send before logging in)
  :auth:username:password            # log in

  In all of these, 'ctxt' is the current window the command
  was typed in.  Lines without a leading '/' get transformed into
  a send command, all others lose the '/' and are split so that the
  text between the '/' and the first whitespace become the 'tag',
  the current window is the 'ctxt', and the rest of the line is the
  'text' 

  :send:ctxt:text                    # send text to target (nick or channel)
  :nick:ctxt:newnick                 # change to a new nick
  :msg:ctxt:target message...        # send message to target
  :me:ctxt:emote                     # emote in a context
  :join:ctxt:channel                 # join a channel
  :part:ctxt:channel                 # leave a channel (or ctxt if channel is '')
  :leave:ctxt:channel                # leave a channel (or ctxt if channel is '')
  :topic:ctxt:new topic              # set the topic (in channel ctxt)
  :clear:ctxt:                       # erase any stored messages for ctxt
  :bye:ctxt:                         # logoff
  :connect:ctxt:                     # connect to irc server if offline
  :set:ctxt:name value               # set server config variable