
 ============================================================== 
                                                                
  H A N D Y    I N F O R M A T I O N    S H E E T    T H I N G  
                                                                
 ============================================================== 
 Clatter/1.0.3 ------------------------------------------------ 
 ============================================================== 

 Contents:
  1. Purpose
  2. Installation
  3. Running
  4. Removal
  5. Versions
  6. Author
  7. Reason
  8. Legal
  9. Other

 ============================================================== 
 1. Purpose --------------------------------------------------- 

   Do you want to talk to people, but your firewall doesn't
   let you use port 6667?

   Do you dislike Java or lack the capacity to run it?

   Have you disabled cookies?

   And you still want to talk?


 ============================================================== 
 2. Installation ---------------------------------------------- 

   The prerequisite to running Clatter is PHP/3 or PHP/4 .

     http://www.php.net/
     http://au.php.net:81/

 2a. Installation --------------------------------------------- 

   Explode the archive you downloaded and place the five files
   it contains into a directory somewhere.

   Create an empty file called 'talk.csv' and set its
   permissions so that PHP can write to it (eg 0660).

   Create another empty file called 'user.csv' and also set
   its permissions so that PHP can write to it.

   You should now have these files in a directory somewhere:

     user.csv
     talk.csv
     index.php3
     r.php3
     w.php3
     functions.php3
     clatter.txt

   Make sure they are in a place where PHP can parse it and
   send it straight to a browser.  For me, this is in my Apache
   httpd directory.

   You will also want the talk log to be rotated out at regular
   intervals as talk.csv will grow until it runs out of room.

   Run crontab -e and add a line like so.

     # high volume, hourly
     0 * * * * lynx -dump http://server/talk/w.php3?magic=rotate

     # low volume, daily
     0 0 * * * lynx -dump http://server/talk/w.php3?magic=rotate

   Only add one of the two sections from above. Rotating
   conversations at every comment is too disk intensive.


 ============================================================== 
 3. Running --------------------------------------------------- 

   Assuming PHP can find it, and Apache can serve it, it
   will show up in your web browser. Leave it open somewhere
   and it will refresh occassionally.


 ============================================================== 
 4. Removal --------------------------------------------------- 

   Delete the files mentioned in the section on installation.

   At the same time delete some other unimportant system files
   such as lilo.conf or win.ini, depending on your OS.

   Run crontab -e and remove the lines you added from
   section 2a.


 ============================================================== 
 5. Versions -------------------------------------------------- 

   There are several different editions.

   The first edition was 0.0.0. It was proof of concept.

   The second edition was 1.0.0. It was the first one released
   to the greater public. It uses XHTML 1.

   The second flavour was 1.0.1. It fixed refreshing.

   The third flavour was 1.0.2. It added a nick name list,
   and colour changing if the room was empty.

   1.0.3 fixed some silly userlist bugs and corrected colour
   and JavaScript problems.

   Features for the next release include:

     Return of the monitor window

     File locking while rotating

     Javascript that works on Navigator 4

     Javascript, refreshing that works on Navigator 6

     ID control: no multiple users with same login

     Easier moderation and MOTD. (For a MOTD, put the date of
     the message forward to when you want it to expire.)


 ============================================================== 
 6. Author ---------------------------------------------------- 

   Name: Stephen Cope.

     http://sdc.org.nz/

   Handle: Kimihia.

     http://kimihia.org.nz/
     project-clatter@kimihia.org.nz

   A quick profile would include references to learning 
   programming in PHP since late 1999.

   Also included should be mention of the fact I am a Christian,
   live in New Zealand, and did the 100% Unofficial Bootleg for
   the fun of it.

     http://lifefm.org.nz/

   Probably also mentioned should be work I've done with my old
   school Carey College and on their web site.

     http://www.carey.school.nz/


 ============================================================== 
 7. Reason ---------------------------------------------------- 

   A need.

   A tool.

   A minute.

   A result.


 ============================================================== 
 8. Legal ----------------------------------------------------- 

   Copyright (c) 2000 Stephen Cope 

   This program is free software; you can redistribute it
   and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU GPL.

   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 not have received a copy of the license referred
   to here as you probably already have one. If you have not
   got a copy, or have questions about Clatter licensing,
   please contact project-clatter@kimihia.org.nz .

   p.s. keep all the files together or they'll get lonely.


 ============================================================== 
 9. Other ----------------------------------------------------- 

   Apache HTTP Server is available from The Apache Group.

     http://www.apache.org/

   PHP development on Win32 is possible: that is how this was
   created.

     http://www.php.net/

   All that glitters is not gold.

     http://cryo.gen.nz/wcsotw/

   Have a nice day.

     2000-08-23 16:53

 ============================================================== 
