_____       ___
  .----------------.     ____     |   |__| |__    ____
  |    _________    |             |   |  | |___
  |   |         `---'
  |   |  .--. .--..-------..--------..--------..--..--.  .--..-------.
  |   |  |  | |  ||   _   ||__.  .__||__.  .__||  ||   \ |  ||   ____|
  |   |  |  `-'  ||  |_|  |   |  |      |  |   |  ||    `|  ||  |  __
  |   |  |  .-.  ||   _   |   |  |      |  |   |  ||  |.    ||  |_|  |
  |   |  |  | |  ||  | |  |   |  |      |  |   |  ||  | \   ||       |
  |   |  `--' `--'`--' `--'   `--'      `--'   `--'`--'  `--'`-------'
  |   `---------------------------------------------------------------------.
  |_____________________________________________________________________    |
               .-------------------..-------..--.  .--..-------.        |   |
                \_______________   ||   _   ||   \ |  ||   ____|        |   |
                               /   ||  | |  ||    `|  ||  `---.         |   |
                   .----------'   / |  | |  ||  |.    ||   ___|         |   |
                    \    _______/   |  `-'  ||  | \   ||  `----.        |   |
                     \   \          |_______||__|  \__||_______|        |   |
                      \   `---------------------------------------------'   |
                       \____________________________________________________|


-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------.
|       The Chatting Zone (TCZ)  -  (C)Copyright J.P.Boggis 1993 - 2004       |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|    TCZ is free software, which is distributed under version 2 of the GNU    |
|     General Public License (See 'help gpl' in TCZ, the file LICENSE, or     |
|      visit http://www.gnu.org)  For more information about TCZ, please      |
|               visit:  http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/tcz               |
`-----------------------------------------------------------------------------'


  The Chatting Zone is a user-friendly multi-user environment, which is fully
       user extendable and features integration with the World Wide Web.

                     The only limit is your imagination!


-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-


Introduction:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Chatting Zone (TCZ) is an advanced multi-user environment for social
(Chat) or gaming (Adventure) purposes either privately over any network
supporting TCP/IP, or publicly over the Internet.

It supports both Telnet and World Wide Web connections and features
comprehensive communication facilities, ANSI colour, a topic based BBS
(Bulletin Board) system, a restrictable database extension/building system,
a sophisticated command language and automatic database self-maintenance
and integrity checking.

To see TCZ in action, please pay a visit to the original TCZ at
http://www.tcz.org, or see the file SITES for a full list of known
sites running TCZ-based servers.

For full details of The Chatting Zone (TCZ), and other TCZ resources
(Latest documentation, source code, binary executables, etc.), please
visit:  http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/tcz


*IMPORTANT*:  Copyright information and disclaimer:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please see the files LICENSE, COPYRIGHT and MODULES.

.-----------------------------------------------------------------------.
| TCZ is free software, which is distributed under version 2 of the GNU |
|  General Public License (See 'help gpl' in TCZ, the file LICENSE, or  |
|   visit http://www.gnu.org)  For more information about TCZ, please   |
|            visit:  http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/tcz            |
`-----------------------------------------------------------------------'


System requirements:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*  Computer with processor equivalent to Intel 80386/80486 or better.
   Pentium or equivalent processor highly recommended.

*  One of the following Operating Systems, under which TCZ is known to
   compile successfully:

   *  Linux-based UNIX system.

   *  POSIX/BSD complient UNIX system with some possible modifications to the
      code.

   *  Windows '95/'98/NT or equivalent system running under CygWin32.
      (See http://www.cygnus.com/misc/gnu-win32)  Only recommended for
      development, debugging and experimentation.  Not recommeded for full
      public system.

*  TCZ is fully memory based for maximum efficiency, so you will need
   sufficient RAM to hold most of the database in memory.  This should
   not be a problem on most modern PC's and servers.

   If you're short on RAM or system resources, give out BUILDER flags
   and set Building Quota limits sparingly.  TCZ features an efficient
   compression routine to reduce database overheads (Especially on large
   databases), but this requires a greater CPU overhead.

*  Sufficient disk space to hold the run-time, database and source files (The
   object files may be deleted after the source is compiled to save on disk
   space.

*  (If using the World Wide Web Interface)  Access to a standard World Wide
   Web server, for serving of images used by the interface.  Alternatively,
   TCZ itself can serve the images, but this is nowhere near as efficient.


Features:
~~~~~~~~~
*  Extensive on-line help and tutorials.

*  Telnet interface with the following features:

   *  Terminal high-light codes (With suitable termcap file.)
   *  Full ANSI colour support (8/16 colours, background colours, flashing,
      and underline.)
   *  Telnet negotiation to ensure correctly configured connection.
   *  Optional local echo.
   *  Last command recall ('!!'.)

*  World Wide Web Interface with the following features:

   *  Clickable links and buttons.
   *  Separate input/output with the need to reload browser.
   *  ANSI colour simulation.
   *  JAVA script enhancements (Automatic scrolling and command box refocus.)
   *  Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) enhancements (Background colours.)
   *  Easy creation/connection of character using fill-in forms.
   *  On-line help and tutorials with topic hyperlinks and search facility.
   *  Scan, profile, etc. accessible as web page without logging in.
   *  Lists of users with scans, profiles, pictures and web sites.
   *  SSL (Secure Socket Layer) support for user privacy.
   *  Graphical map of TCZ.
   *  Graphical smileys :)

*  Automatic database maintenance, keeping the database free from unused
   characters and their objects, helping to reduce the rate of database
   expansion (Which results in increased memory and disk space usage.)

*  Categorised log file system, which can be accessed by administrators from
   within TCZ, as well as viewed using your favourite viewer from the host
   server (I.e:  'less log/filename.log', 'tail -f log/filename.log', etc.)

*  Command-line options and configuration file (Allows many system parameters
   of TCZ to be set without recompiling the source code.)

*  Time/date changes detected and handled by TCZ (Such as daylight saving time
   (DST) and change of system time from the host server.)

*  Power failure/resumption detected and handled by TCZ (Providing a UPS is
   used and connected/configured correctly.)  This is implemented using the
   standard SIGPWR signal.

*  TCZ server goes to sleep when not in use, saving CPU time and resources
   on the host server.


Configuring:
~~~~~~~~~~~~
(1)  Edit include/config.h to suit your Operating System and preferences.
(2)  You may like to change the maximum log file sizes in src/db.c, if you are
     short on disk space.
(3)  Copy the example configuration file lib/example.tcz to lib/default.tcz
     and edit to suit your requirements.


Compiling:
~~~~~~~~~~
(1)  Type:  cd src
(2)  Type:  make
(3)  The server and related utility programs will now be compiled.


Running:
~~~~~~~~
To start TCZ and generate an empty database, simply type:

   bin/tcz --generate <DATABASE NAME> &

To start TCZ with a previously dumped database (Stored in the 'lib'
directory), type:

   bin/tcz -d<DATABASE NAME> [&]

E.g:  bin/tcz -dmain &     ('&' under UNIX forces running in the background.)


File list:
~~~~~~~~~~
[Binary files and scripts (Directory 'bin')...]
bin/tcz                 Executable of TCZ server (Produced when TCZ is
                        compiled.)
bin/backup              Script to backup database (Can be automated by placing
                        in the system crontab.)
bin/arctcz              Script to produce tar.gz archive of TCZ source code
			and library files.


[Documentation (Directory 'doc')...]
doc/manual.txt		TCZ Official Manual  -  Contains most of the help
			and information available on-line within TCZ
                        ('lib/help.tcz') within a single file.
doc/tczfeatures.txt	List of some of the major features/unique features in
			the TCZ server.
doc/tczhistory.txt	The history of TCZ.
doc/tczintro.txt	Basic introduction to TCZ, suitable for E-mailing to
			prospective new users.
doc/tczrules.txt	Current rules for users of TCZ at tcz.net
                        (Ammend as you see fit, ensuring you also ammend
                        the copy within 'lib/help.tcz' ('%TOPIC tczrules')
                        also.)
doc/tcztutorial.txt	More in-depth tutorial for users who are completely
			new to TCZ (Available on-line as 'tutorial newbie'.)


[HTML Interface files (Directory 'tczhtml')...]
tczhtml/*.gif		Images used by the World Wide Web Interface (Buttons,
tczhtml/*.jpg           graphics, etc.)  These should be placed on a suitable
                        public web server.


[Run-time files (Directory 'lib')...]
lib/disclaimer.tcz      Disclaimer (Shown to users when they create a new
                        character.)
lib/help.tcz            On-line Help System library file.
lib/email.tcz           List of E-mail addresses of all users who have set
                        their E-mail address (Produced/updated using the
                        '@dump email' command on TCZ.)
lib/forward.tcz         List of forwarding E-mail addresses of users who have
                        set their E-mail address (Produced on a daily basis by
                        TCZ, if EMAIL_FORWARDING is #define'd in config.h)
                        This data can be placed in /etc/aliases to produce
                        E-mail forwarding aliases for users of TCZ.
lib/title?.tcz          Title screens (Displayed in random order to Telnet
                        users when they first connect (Before entering their
                        name, etc.))  1st title screen is 'lib/title1.tcz',
                        2nd is 'lib/title2.tcz', etc.
lib/tutorial.tcz        On-line Tutorial System library file.
lib/sites.tcz           Registered Internet sites database (Maintained using
                        the '@site' command in TCZ.)
lib/tcz.?.?.pid         Lock file of running TCZ process.
lib/dump.?.?.pid        Lock file of running database dumping process.
lib/?.?.?.DUMP		Temporary database dump file.


The Chatting Zone Server...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
USAGE:  tcz [<OPTIONS>]

Type 'tcz --help' for a full listing of start-up options.


TCZ World Wide Web Interface...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

http://machine.domain:8080

	Presents user with page containing links to most World Wide Web
        Interface resources.

http://machine.domain:8080/connectform

	Presents user with a form for connecting their existing character to
        The Chatting Zone.

http://machine.domain:8080/createform

	Presents user with a form for creating a new character.

http://machine.domain:8080/userlist

	Gives user a list of currently connected users on TCZ, without needing
        to first connect to TCZ itself.

http://machine.domain:8080/help?TOPIC=INDEX&

	Presents user with TCZ's On-line Help System index.  INDEX can be
        replaced with the name of a help topic for instant access to a
        particular topic, e.g:  TOPIC="version info"


http://machine.domain:8080/tutorial&TOPIC=INDEX&

	Presents user with TCZ's On-line Tutorial System index.  As above,
        INDEX can be replaced with the name of a tutorial for instant access
        to a particular tutorial, e.g:  TOPIC="newbie"


Credits and acknowledgements...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please see the Official TCZ Manual (doc/manual.txt) for a full list of credits
and acknowledements (These can be found at the bottom of the manual), or start
TCZ, connect and type 'help acknowledgements'.