Mystic Relay Chat (MRC) by Darryl Perry (2015-2016)

Mystic Relay Chat is a means to create a networked chat environment
that is very much like IRC, but for the Mystic BBS platform.
With MRC, Mystic Sysops can link their BBS Teleconference to other
Mystic BBSes and expand their TC experience.

Requirements:
Python 2.7.9 or higher
Mystic BBS v1.12 or higher

Server Installation:
1) Open a port in your firewall so it can accept client connections.  
   Historically, I have been hosting MRC at port 5000.  But that is now
   configurable to any desired port.
2) copy mrc_server.py into any desired directory
3) mrc_server.py requires no configuration.  Just pass the binding IP and port
   number in <ip>:<port> format.
   example:
   ./mrc_server 0.0.0.0:5000

Client Installation:
1) Copy mrc_client.py to the main Mystic directory
   Windows users:
	 You may need to remove the first line that points to the python executable.
2) Copy mrc_config.py to the main Mystic directory
3) Make a 'mrc' directory off of your Mystic DATA path
	example: 
	/home/bbs/data/mrc
	or
	C:\MYSTIC\DATA\MRC
4) Edit the following lines in mrc_config.py:
	bbsname - The name of your BBS
		This should be self-explanitory.
4a) WINDOWS USERS
	Edit the mrc_client.py file and remove the top line.
	#!/usr/bin/env python <--- remove that line

5) Copy the mrc_*.ans files to the Mystic TEXT directory.
  The ansi files have been converted into DOS format.  I have been informed
  that ansi files created in a Linux environment do not translate properly
  into a windows environment.  If you are using Linux, I recommend using
  dos2unix or fromdos to convert the files back.  Its up to you. YMMV.

6) Lauch mrc_client.py

	The mrc_client.py needs to be called with the server-host and server-port
	python ./mrc_client.py <server> <port>
	See the included file 'servers.lst' for servers to connect with.

7) Copy mrc_client.mps to your mystic scripts directory
	a) Compile mrc_client.mps:
		./mplc mrc_client

8) Run mrc_client from Mystic
	Menu Type: GX
	Menu Data: mrc_client

Commands:
/WHOON to see all the people who are in MRC Chat.
/B <text> to broadcast <text> to all connected users.
/BBSES to see all the BBSes that are connected to MRC Chat
/CHANNEL to see all the users in your current channel
/CHATTERS to see all the users in MRC Chat
/CLS to clear out the text screen
/DLCHATLOG to download your chat log
/JOIN <roomname> to change to an IRC-like chat room
/LIST to see a list of IRC-Style chat rooms
/MSG <user> <msg> to send a message to <user>
/ROOMS the same as /LIST
/SCROLL to scroll back to see the lines of text that you may have missed.
/SET <help>.  Use SET to change some user prompts.
/USERS to see who is using the chat
/TOPIC <topic text> to change the current room topic.
/VERSION shows the versions of the MRC clients and server

Disclaimers and notices: 
------------------------
The current arrangement does not allow a BBS to be joined with more than one 
MRC network at the same time.

This is very very alpha code.  Not all functionality is working as desired.
Please send bug reports and requests to:

Technical stuff:
----------------
MRC 1.0 is a departure from MRC 0.11.  Some of the differences are:
- Elimination of the Mystic-Centric chatroom architecture, and replace with the
  IRC-style channels.  Since the Mystic chatrooms are specific to each 
  individual BBS, there was no centralized chatrooms.  Rather than make it so
  that each individual BBS had to update the chatroom names remotely, it 
  seemed better to leave them alone in favor of having a centralized chatroom
  database on the server.
- Commands now return a more IRC-style reply.  Instead of each client sending
  a request up to the server, and have the other clients reply back with
  user and BBS information, it seemed best to maintain those lists on the
  server and send the response to the requesting node.

Bug fixes and changes:
----------------------
See the whatsnew.txt to see the changes and bugfixes.

Thanks to Pequito of Twinkle BBS for providing the new ANSI menus, as well as
being the driving force for continuing MRC development.

Gryphon, aka Darryl Perry
Cyberia BBS
telnet://cyberia.darktech.org
dperry.geo@yahoo.com
or find me on:
Fidonet MYSTIC echo
Agoranet BBS Discussion echo