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Update the man pages and generated text copies for nethack and recover.
I haven't looked at the other four (dlb, makedefs, dgn_comp, lev_comp).

recover's page referred to INSURANCE as being conditional, which is no
longer the case.  nethack's page was missing a bunch of files to be
found in the playground and also a couple of environment variables.
I haven't read through the text of the page to try to see whether other
updates are warranted.

The generated text is wider than the previous copy (one or two space
right margin instead of 5 or so).  I just used 'make nethack.txt' and
'make recover.txt' so don't know why that changed.  (The older, wider
margin looks better, so if anyone knows how to fix this, please do.
And there's got to be a better way to force a blank line inside a
table than my <space><tab> hack.)
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PatR
2015-12-08 15:15:00 -08:00
parent 48f1c6711e
commit 7ac64532a9
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doc/recover.txt
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@@ -1,132 +1,81 @@
RECOVER(6) 1993 RECOVER(6)
RECOVER(6) RECOVER(6)
NAME
recover - recover a NetHack game interrupted by disaster
recover - recover a NetHack game interrupted by disaster
SYNOPSIS
recover [ -d directory ] base1 base2 ...
recover [ -d directory ] base1 base2 ...
DESCRIPTION
Occasionally, a NetHack game will be interrupted by disaster
when the game or the system crashes. Prior to NetHack v3.1,
these games were lost because various information like the
player's inventory was kept only in memory. Now, all per-
tinent information can be written out to disk, so such games
can be recovered at the point of the last level change.
Occasionally, a NetHack game will be interrupted by disaster when the
game or the system crashes. Prior to NetHack v3.1, these games were
lost because various information like the player's inventory was kept
only in memory. Now, all pertinent information can be written out to
disk, so such games can be recovered at the point of the last level
change.
The base options tell recover which files to process. Each
base option specifies recovery of a separate game.
The base options tell recover which files to process. Each base option
specifies recovery of a separate game.
The -d option, which must be the first argument if it
appears, supplies a directory which is the NetHack play-
ground. It overrides the value from NETHACKDIR, HACKDIR, or
the directory specified by the game administrator during
compilation (usually /usr/games/lib/nethackdir).
The -d option, which must be the first argument if it appears, supplies
a directory which is the NetHack playground. It overrides the value
from NETHACKDIR, HACKDIR, or the directory specified by the game admin-
istrator during compilation (usually /usr/games/lib/nethackdir).
For recovery to be possible, nethack must have been compiled
with the INSURANCE option, and the run-time option check-
point must also have been on. NetHack normally writes out
files for levels as the player leaves them, so they will be
ready for return visits. When checkpointing, NetHack also
writes out the level entered and the current game state on
every level change. This naturally slows level changes down
somewhat.
For recovery to be possible, the run-time option checkpoint must have
been on.
The level file names are of the form base.nn, where nn is an
internal bookkeeping number for the level. The file base.0
is used for game identity, locking, and, when checkpointing,
for the game state. Various OSes use different strategies
for constructing the base name. Microcomputers use the
character name, possibly truncated and modified to be a
legal filename on that system. Multi-user systems use the
(modified) character name prefixed by a user number to avoid
conflicts, or "xlock" if the number of concurrent players is
being limited. It may be necessary to look in the play-
ground to find the correct base name of the interrupted
game. recover will transform these level files into a save
file of the same name as nethack would have used.
NetHack normally writes out files for levels as the player leaves them,
so they will be ready for return visits. When checkpointing, NetHack
also writes out the level entered and the current game state on every
level change. This naturally slows level changes down somewhat.
Since recover must be able to read and delete files from the
playground and create files in the save directory, it has
interesting interactions with game security. Giving ordi-
nary players access to recover through setuid or setgid is
tantamount to leaving the playground world-writable, with
respect to both cheating and messing up other players. For
The level file names are of the form base.nn, where nn is an internal
bookkeeping number for the level. The file base.0 is used for game
identity, locking, and, when checkpointing, for the game state. Vari-
ous OSes use different strategies for constructing the base name.
Microcomputers use the character name, possibly truncated and modified
to be a legal filename on that system. Multi-user systems use the
(modified) character name prefixed by a user number to avoid conflicts,
or "xlock" if the number of concurrent players is being limited. It
may be necessary to look in the playground to find the correct base
name of the interrupted game. recover will transform these level files
into a save file of the same name as nethack would have used.
Since recover must be able to read and delete files from the playground
and create files in the save directory, it has interesting interactions
with game security. Giving ordinary players access to recover through
setuid or setgid is tantamount to leaving the playground world-
writable, with respect to both cheating and messing up other players.
For a single-user system, this of course does not change anything, so
some of the microcomputer ports install recover by default.
January Last change: 9 1
RECOVER(6) 1993 RECOVER(6)
a single-user system, this of course does not change any-
thing, so some of the microcomputer ports install recover by
default.
For a multi-user system, the game administrator may want to
arrange for all .0 files in the playground to be fed to
recover when the host machine boots, and handle game crashes
individually. If the user population is sufficiently
trustworthy, recover can be installed with the same permis-
sions the nethack executable has. In either case, recover
is easily compiled from the distribution utility directory.
For a multi-user system, the game administrator may want to arrange for
all .0 files in the playground to be fed to recover when the host
machine boots, and handle game crashes individually. If the user popu-
lation is sufficiently trustworthy, recover can be installed with the
same permissions the nethack executable has. In either case, recover
is easily compiled from the distribution utility directory.
NOTES
Like nethack itself, recover will overwrite existing save-
files of the same name. Savefiles created by recover are
uncompressed; they may be compressed afterwards if desired,
but even a compression-using nethack will find them in the
uncompressed form.
Like nethack itself, recover will overwrite existing savefiles of the
same name. Savefiles created by recover are uncompressed; they may be
compressed afterwards if desired, but even a compression-using nethack
will find them in the uncompressed form.
SEE ALSO
nethack(6)
nethack(6)
BUGS
recover makes no attempt to find out if a base name speci-
fies a game in progress. If multiple machines share a play-
ground, this would be impossible to determine.
recover makes no attempt to find out if a base name specifies a game in
progress. If multiple machines share a playground, this would be
impossible to determine.
recover should be taught to use the nethack playground lock-
ing mechanism to avoid conflicts.
January Last change: 9 2
recover should be taught to use the nethack playground locking mecha-
nism to avoid conflicts.
4th Berkeley Distribution 7 December 2015 RECOVER(6)