uoamhub
=======
$Id: README 141 2006-11-17 15:56:26Z make $
(c) 2004-2005 Max Kellermann <max@duempel.org>
What is uoamhub?
----------------
uoamhub is a dedicated server for UOAutoMap. UOAutoMap is written by
Steve Blanding, and is an explicitly non-free map tracking tool for
Ultima Online, which has networking features with a proprietary,
undocumented protocol.
"Distribution of UOAM.exe is strictly prohibited.", "Neither UOAM.exe
nor its associated binary files may be modified in any way without the
auto's permissions"
Unlike UOAutoMap itself, you are free to share uoamhub with your
friends, even the source code is available. This means, you can
improve uoamhub if you want to. All without asking for my
permission. If you do, please send me your changes. Please read the
file COPYING for details.
Compilation
-----------
You do not need this, if you downloaded a binary distribution of
uoamhub.
uoamhub runs on Linux (should run on all distributions), FreeBSD,
Solaris and similar operating systems; maybe MacOS X, OpenBSD, NetBSD,
AIX, HP/UX, Windows/Cygwin and many others - but I havn't tested
that. Please tell me whether it does.
You need gcc and GNU make. Go to the source directory and type:
make
(Or "gmake CC=gcc" if you are not on Linux). This will result in the
binary named "uoamhub".
Running
-------
Type
./uoamhub -D
The "-D" tells uoamhub not to daemonize, i.e. go into background. Now
try to connect.
By default, uoamhub listens on all interfaces on port 2000. If you
want it to use another port, use the "--port" parameter:
./uoamhub -D --port 2001
Another example, uoamhub as daemon (no "-D") on the default port
(2000), running as user "uoam", logging to /var/log/uoamhub.log and
chrooted to /var/lib/uoamhub:
./uoamhub --user uoam --chroot /var/lib/uoamhub \
--pidfile /var/run/uoamhub.pid \
--logger "exec /bin/cat >/var/log/uoamhub.log"
You should never run uoamhub as root, you should always use the
parameter "--user" to change it to an unprivileged user. The chroot is
another security feature for the paranoid: you may specify an empty,
read-only directory here, and uoamhub chroots into it (see the man
page of chroot for more information).
* Password protection
By default, uoamhub acts as an open system, i.e. it accepts all
passwords, and all users who chose the same password are in the same
"domain", they can see each others. This allows you to set up a secure
server which can be used by many user groups at the same time.
If you want to use the server only for yourself, you can set a
password, and only this password will be accepted. To enable this,
write the password to a file and tell uoamhub where the file is:
umask 077
echo topsecret >/tmp/uoampasswd
./uoamhub --password /tmp/uoampasswd
Links
-----
http://max.kellermann.name/projects/uoamhub/
http://uoam.net/
http://uo.com/
To Steve
--------
I know you refused to disclose the UOAutoMap protocol for "security
reasons". I really don't share your idea of "security" and I fail to
understand how you are improving it by not disclosing the protocol.
Anyway, I did find out without your help in less than 2 hours. That
for the "security".
I am quite sure you are currently thinking about changing the
protocol, so I can't break it again in 2 hours. Don't be silly.
If I really want to, I will reverse engineer it again and again. In
the end, you are bringing a lot of pain to your users with daily
incompatible upgrades, but uoamhub will remain. Don't. The UOAutoMap
protocol is good enough, despite being a bit inefficient (both in
bandwidth and in latency).
There is a huge demand for a headless dedicated UOAutoMap server on
Linux and many other operating systems, so everybody can run a server
on their cheap Linux root server or with a shell account. The uoamhub
project delivers exactly this. That's a GoodThing(TM).
Legal
-----
Copyright 2004-2005 Max Kellermann (max@duempel.org)
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; version 2 of the License.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.