CircleMUD README File
                           ---------------------

Welcome to CircleMUD 3.1!  I hope you enjoy your stay.

More information about CircleMUD can be found at the CircleMUD Home Page:
http://www.circlemud.org.  That site has the latest source distributions,
code contributions, areas, and documentation (online in HTML form, and
downloadable in ASCII or Postscript).  CircleMUD's official FTP site is
ftp://ftp.circlemud.org.

There is a mailing list for CircleMUD administrators and coders available.
To subscribe, write mail to listserv@post.queensu.ca with a message body
of "subscribe circle".  Write to listserv@post.queensu.ca to send mail to
the list.  We also now have email addresses for getting help
(help@circlemud.org), and reporting bugs (bugs@circlemud.org).

Use of this software in any capacity implies that you have read, understood,
and agreed to abide by the terms and conditions set down by the CircleMUD
license contained in the file license.doc.

Also, out of courtesy if nothing else, please keep the 'credits' file
intact.  You can add your own credits on top of the existing file, but I'd
appreciate it if you would not simply remove it and all references to the
word "Circle" everywhere in the MUD.

Jeremy Elson
jelson@circlemud.org

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Downloading CircleMUD
---------------------

You can find version 3.1 of CircleMUD at the following anonymous FTP sites:

        ftp.circlemud.org:/pub/CircleMUD/3.x
        ftp2.circlemud.org:/pub/CircleMUD/3.x
	ftp.stormhaven.org:/pub/CircleMUD/3.x

You can also find information at the WWW site:

        http://www.circlemud.org/

The archive is offered in several formats -- for example, one that ends in
.tar.gz, one that ends in .bz2, and one that ends in .zip.  All of these
archives have the exact same contents, but have been compressed using
different compression programs.  UNIX users usually use the .tar.gz or .bz2
versions; Windows and OS/2 users typically use the .zip version.

The archive will be called something like "circleXXXX.tar.gz" (where
"XXXX" is the version number).

Once you download the archive, you must decompress it.  If you have the
.tar.gz version, uncompress it using gzip (GNU unzip) and the tar
archiver.  (Both of these utilities can be downloaded from
ftp.gnu.ai.mit.edu:/pub/gnu if you don't have them.)  To unpack the
archive on a UNIX system, type:

        gzip -dc circle30xxxx.tar.gz | tar xvf -

If you have the .zip version, make sure to use an UNZIP program capable
of handling long filenames and which preserves the original directory
structure of the archive (PKUNZIP 2.04 does NOT do either of these things
by default).  The best unzip program is the one made by the Info-Zip
team; it is compatible with all UNIX variants, Windows, OS/2, the Amiga,
and every other computer on the planet.  For more information, see the
URL http://www.cdrom.com/pub/infozip/UnZip.html.  If you have Windows
95, another good choice is WinZip (http://www.winzip.com/).


Compiling CircleMUD
-------------------

CircleMUD compiles under a large number of operating systems; instructions
for compiling on each platform is in a different file.

From here, read:

doc/README.UNIX  - If you have any type UNIX system, including Linux,
                   MkLinux, Ultrix, HP/UX, Solaris, SunOS, IRIX, FreeBSD,
                   OpenBSD, NetBSD, BSDi, Macintosh OS X, etc.

doc/README.WIN   - If you have Windows 95 or NT.

doc/README.OS2   - If you are using OS/2 Warp Connect v3.0 or OS/2 v2.x.

doc/README.AMIGA - If you are using an Amiga running AmigaDOS.  (If you're
		   running NetBSD or Linux on an Amiga, use README.UNIX
		   instead.)

doc/README.ARC   - If you are using an Acorn running RiscOS.

doc/README.VMS   - If you happen to be on OpenVMS.


If you are interested in porting CircleMUD to a new platform, see the
file doc/porting.txt for some tips.

Version 3.1 source currently does NOT compile under DOS, Windows 3.x, or
Windows for Workgroups.  Also, we currently do not distribute binaries,
although the FTP site does have a very old Amiga binary of CircleMUD 2.20.

For a small, private MUD, or a MUD used only for testing and development,
about 10 megs of disk space and 16 megs of memory should be sufficient.
For large, public MUDs with a large player base, 30 megs to 50 megs of
disk space and at least 32 megs of memory are recommended.  Free memory
is much more important than CPU speed; CircleMUD uses virtually no CPU
time.


Other Documentation
-------------------

If this information isn't enough to get you running, there's a lot more
information available.  All documentation (other than this file) is in
the "doc" directory and available on-line at http://www.circlemud.org/.

The README file in the doc directory describes each documentation file
in detail, but there are several main files which should be of interest:

"The CircleMUD Administrator's Guide" (admin.pdf)
    A good place to start after reading this README file, admin.txt gives
an overall description of how Circle works, how to get it to compile and
run for the first time, information about customizing and configuration
options and command-line arguments, and tips on maintenance and day-to-day
MUD administration. 

"The CircleMUD Builder's Manual" (building.pdf)
    For the builders in your group, this documents the world-file format 
and describes how to create new rooms, objects, and monsters.  Also, it 
describes how to add new areas to the MUD and gives some tips about game 
balance and world-file debugging.

"The CircleMUD Coder's Manual" (coding.pdf)
    For the coders in your group, a technical reference describing some of
the more basic coding tasks such as how to add new commands, spells,
skills, socials, and classes.  Note that it assumes the reader already has
an excellent knowledge of C; the manual is not a C tutorial.

"The CircleMUD SYSERR List" (syserr.txt, syserr.ps)
    A comprehensive list of all the possible SYSERR messages CircleMUD 
can generate, and a description of what can cause each problem and how to 
solve it.  An excellent guide for troubleshooting and area debugging.
[NOTE: This document is not complete at this time]


Getting Help
------------

If you have strange problems -- and you can't figure out the answer by
reading the documentation -- fear not, there are many other resources
available.  The best is probably our email alias specifically for newbie
questions: help@circlemud.org.  Write to that address for basic questions
about getting Circle up and running.

For more advanced discussion, you can use the CircleMUD Mailing List.
You can subscribe by writing mail to "listserv@post.queensu.ca" with a
message body of "subscribe circle".  If you want to write mail to the
list, address it to "circle@post.queensu.ca".  Over 400 CircleMUD imps
read that list regularly.

If that doesn't work, you can always contact me directly by writing to
jelson@circlemud.org.  Or, take a look at the CircleMUD Home Page which is
at http://www.circlemud.org which has extensive, up-to-date documentation
and patches on-line.

Finally, if you have USENET access and are very brave, you can try posting
to the newsgroups rec.games.mud.diku or rec.games.mud.admin.

No matter how you choose to get help, make sure to always include the
following information in your mail:

  -- The exact version of CircleMUD you're using (e.g., "CircleMUD 2.20",
     "CircleMUD 3.0 beta patchlevel 12", etc.).
  -- The EXACT text of any error messages, compiler errors, link errors,
     or any other errors you're getting.
  -- The exact type of hardware, operating system name and version, and
     compiler you're using.
  -- A description of ANY changes you've made, no matter how small, that
     might have contributed to the error.
  -- If you are having trouble getting Circle running for the very first
     time, also be sure to include the output of 'configure' and the file
     'config.log'.

Remember, I get dozens of pieces of email every day.  If you don't bother to
give me an excellent description of your problem, I will be somewhat annoyed
and will not be able to help you.  For example, this email that I received:

     hi I need some help with CircleMUD....i tried compiling it on my system
     but I got all sorts of errors, and when i type bin/circle like it says
     in the manual it doesn't work.  Can you help????  you can log into my
     system if you want, the password is mud5.

Letters like that are always ignored.  I get a lot of them.


Good luck, and have fun!

Jeremy Elson
aka Ras/Rasmussen
jelson@circlemud.org


USE OF THIS SOFTWARE IN ANY CAPACITY IMPLIES THAT YOU HAVE READ, UNDERSTOOD,
AND AGREED TO ABIDE BY THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS SET DOWN BY THE CIRCLEMUD
LICENSE.