NuNews - an enhanced replacement news system (v.5)
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But why would you want to install a new news system?...
Well... here are the added features of NuNews
* multiple groups
you can add new news groups with one entry into an array.
these news groups are fully functional and behave as if
they were there own entity, you can set minimum privs
to access them (such as having a news board for ministers
only), set the maximum amount of postings per player, and
add customization to them.
* unread news informing
players can (if they so desire) be shown on login whut
groups have new news and how many postings have been added
since they have last read.
* extra administration options
as an admin you can remove all a players postings with
one command, get stats on memory usage of the system,
toggle any articles to never timeout and more.
* ease of installation
full installation procedures, the code is very modular
with as few entry points into your existant src as possible.
* included help files
updated help files are included with the distribution
so you dont have to arse about with writing them yourself
* and the most important ... ease of use
for anyone that doesnt wish to learn any new commands,
none be learned, they can continue operating with news
exactly as they always have. if they wish to use groups
and expanded features, very little extra need be learned.
--- notes ---
news will have two files for each article...
one will contain the guts of it...which is loaded
and shown when the news is read...
the other will be a fsave()'d thinger
of its news_header info, all of which are loaded on boot
a linked list of news headers for all notes will be in the running program,
the tops of the linked lists are kept in a static array of newsgroups
to add a new group...just add an entry for it in the NewsGroups array
the program will handle the rest in init_news
an entry would look like
{"sus", PSU, 10, "Staff news group", "files/news/sus", 0},
^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
the name | | description shown path to the leave zero
of the group| | on 'news groups' directory in (top of news_header
| | command which to store linked list)
minimum privs | postings of group
to see the group |
|
max postings a
non admin may make
to the group
the zeroth entry of the NewsGroup array will be the main news ...
it wont output the group name as it does for other groups, instead
showing it as it always has been
the super users news group (sus) can be accessed as a regular news group,
or the shortcuts can be used for the more common commands (see listing
in the clist.h portion of INSTALLING)
the informing of unread news isnt perfect but it is the most ideal way...
instead of trying to keep up with each and every article that has been
read by a player, it tracks the date posted of the most recently read
article in a group... if (on login) its found there is news with more
recent posting times than the player has read, then it considers there
to be unread news.
sizes... the current size of news_header is 148 bytes
translated to disk usage... if there are a total of 500 news articles,
the header size disk useage will be about 74k... this is quiet acceptable
to me, especially considering the number of news postings wouldnt
(in most situations) reach 500 articles, and even if it did, the
overhead cost would be relativly very small
and for the one thing that dint make the cut in this release...
news reply ... its not there... so ppl wont be able to reply
via mail to the poster of news... (well, they still can if its not
posted anonymously, by just sending a normal mail)
look for this to return when i get around to rewriting the mail system
-- to do --
web based version, at least where news articles are viewable from the web
nothing else off the top of my head
--- license ---
If you chose to use this code, you may do so without restriction,
as long as due credit be given in your talker's help credits
or equvelant file, "NuNews news system written by phypor" is sufficent.
If you wish to put an entry in your version output,
that's good as well, tho its not required.
If you chose to redistribute this code, you may do so as long as
all the files that are in the offical distribution are included.
One exception, the INSTALLING file, need not be included if you
redistribute the code preinstalled in a talker. Any modifications
must be plainly documented. Credit must be given as stated above.
--- author ---
phypor is the author of this code and release package.
--- maintainer ---
Any bug reports should be mailed to phypor@benland.muc.edu
--- disclaimer ---
There is no warrenty nor statement of fitness or usablity made
about this code... If you chose to install it you are responsible
fully for its implementation, and effects, be they good or ill.
--- history ---
v.5 - fixed a missing fclose() in load_news_header ()
(thanks to lioncub for noticing it)
v.4 - fixed typo/dangling bit in installaion procs for the
news_header struct
v.3 - fixed missing function load_file_to_string in distrubition
(thanks for point this out shaggy)
