showeq-contrib "interface" script to Sony Patcher released

[tanner]

Just put up showeq-contrib, which is my first attempt at writing a post installation script for the debian packages to retrieve the eqstr and spells files from Sony's patcher website.

I've created deb packages, but they aren't available yet, I want other non-debian distros to test this script before I roll out the debian packages.

So, non-debian package maintainers, take a look at:

ftp://ftp.real-time.com/linux/real-time/pool/s/showeq/showeq-contrib_0.0.1.tar.gz

There is no makefile, or installation, since I this is alpha like code, but:

- /usr/bin/showeq-contrib, things expect it here.
- Put the man page where your distro wants it.
- /usr/share/showeq/showeq-contrib.rc

pac1085 can you check on slack?

Z can you check on gentoo?

Looking for Fedorka Core package maintainer to set forward! :-)


Here is my irc log on the topic for more details and the design behind the back-end script so it should be able to be used on non-debian distros.

<me> finished the showeq-contrib tool that will download the eqstr and spells file based on the user-selected locale, uncompress it, and install it into the /usr/share/showeq/ (debian) directory
<me> the actual script is generic, communicating to "front ends" via exit codes and cerr
<me> I've tested this back-end on redhat 7.3, looking for testers for other platfomrs
<me> (tested on debian too)
<me> I expect the other package tools should be able to easily tie into this back-end script and it's also setup so the user can update his devil files with showeq-contrib -l <locale> any time he wishes

[purple]

That's a neat idea. Hmm. Is it gonna look odd for some IPs to just request those two files in SoE's patcher logs (if they exist)? I guess it will look the same as a normal EQ client just getting those two files, but still it's something that could raise flags on their end, where packet sniffing on your end can't.

Would it be better to just sniff the download any time the normal patcher on your EQ box asks for it? That's probably a lot more work though I guess. I don't think showeq sniffs the patcher at all right now. Or maybe have a central server using this and the individual clients use that server? I guess that won't work because we'd be redistributing eqstr and spells though.

Anyways the way I solved this problem was using samba to mount my EQ directory and when I start showeq, it md5's the two files in both the showeq and everquest directories and moves them if they are different. But that would be a step more complex in terms of environment for people uncomfortable with Linux.

[tanner]

That's a neat idea. Hmm. Is it gonna look odd for some IPs to just request those two files in SoE's patcher logs (if they exist)? I guess it will look the same as a normal EQ client just getting those two files, but still it's something that could raise flags on their end, where packet sniffing on your end can't.

Good point. We didn't really discuss the usage issues on irc, just implementation details. If the do track what files get downloaded from their patcher site -and- tie it to just certain IPs that get just those 2 files, I have several other alternatives planned to work around it.


Would it be better to just sniff the download any time the normal patcher on your EQ box asks for it?

Are you volunteering? :-)


Anyways the way I solved this problem was using samba to mount my EQ directory and when I start showeq, it md5's the two files in both the showeq and everquest directories and moves them if they are different. But that would be a step more complex in terms of environment for people uncomfortable with Linux.

I thought of this approach, but I really do not feel like supporting newbie samba users. :-)

[purple]

Not volunteering right now :) Just tossing out conversation at this point. I'm still getting my arms into showeq as a whole and with OoW recently my guild has been very active, so I haven't had as much time to play with showeq. When things slow down, I hope to contribute more though.

I do think an easily maintained showeq insulated from SoE changes as much as possible is a great goal, and you are very correct in that eqstr and spells files are pieces of that. But my first reaction was that it would be the first thing we use that actually actively would talk to SoE servers instead of passively sniffing.

I can understand not wanting to answer a load of samba question!

[Freakyuno]

There's a few other creative ways to do it. You mentioned that you had an alternative plan selected but didnt give details.

It wouldnt be that hard to write a small applet into SEQ that allowed you from your EQ machine to "log on" to your seq machine and upload just thoes two files to it, much like you'd upgrade the firmware on a router.

You could also write a specific routine in SEQ that searched for a certain packet header identifier at the click of a button. You'd then use a small application on the EQ machine to stream the file to the network. UDP would work well because of it's ability to shout without listening, SEQ could pick this up much the same way it sniffs and "capture" it.

My time is extreemly short right now, but if you'd like another set of hands to keep this moving along, I'll offer what I can. I'd love to see lower maintenance versions of SEQ at this point. The need for ambigious is long gone.

[Cryonic]

or you could just use smbclient to mount a share from your Windows system and copy the needed files, or ftp them, or sftp.......

[LordCrush]

or you could just use smbclient to mount a share from your Windows system and copy the needed files, or ftp them, or sftp.......

Yep works fine this way, i do it since SEQ needs this files ...

[uRit1u2CBBA=]

I could never get smbclient working properly, so I have scripts set up on my linux box to download and install the spells and strings files directly from the EQLive patch server.

[Freakyuno]

I use Samba too, but I didnt mention it...kinda figured the 3 posts previous to mine mentioning samba, and discounting it as a complicated external solution warrented some continued thought on it. Guess previous posts dont mean anything though, saying the same thing over and over is ok...

[elf]

okay, copyed into place on a gentoo system (x86 stable) and ran as root with no problems. chmod +s and attempted to run as a non-priv user, and cp throws an error because the normal user doesn't have write access to /usr/share/showeq, but after a quick chmod that is fixed too.

Worries me leaving the directory as world writeable, so for the time being I'll stick with sudoing over to update.

Question though, the previous script I was using put eqstr and spells in /usr/local/share instead of /usr/share. Not sure if that makes a difference, or which directory is check first. Any suggestions?

[Freakyuno]

Should probably bounce over to the Help Desk section for this thread Elf. But in short, I think what your looking for is the users ~home directory for the writeable files.

[tanner]

Question though, the previous script I was using put eqstr and spells in /usr/local/share instead of /usr/share. Not sure if that makes a difference, or which directory is check first. Any suggestions?

Under debian, showeq has been compiled with --prefix=/usr, if you (your distro) has showeq living in prefix=/usr/local, changed the shell variable called DEST on line 29 to DEST = /usr/local

[seqmage]

ok, i have tired all this to keep these files updated.. smbmount and copy(keep loosing settings on every reboot), running an ftp server on my windows box to grab the files(way too much running for this one thing)..
in the end, i use an ftp client in windows to ftp into my linux box and put the files in a user dir.. then i su and copy them on the linux box to where they need to go.

can SEQ hold a setting? like if i tell it that these 2 files are in /home/seqmage/ that it would just look there automaticly?
Since SEQ is run at root level.. it wouldnt have a problem reading the files.

[uRit1u2CBBA=]

In this (http://www.showeq.net/forums/showthread.php?t=5104) thread, I posted a shell script that I use to download the files directly from that patcher and install them in /usr/local/share/....

Maybe it will help you.

[elf]

actually, uRit, that's the script I had been using. I just couldn't find the old post to remember who to credit. The rest of my post was just to confirm that, yes Tanner's script worked under gentoo, but that using default settings it needed a little tweaking. And to figure out what other options everyone else used

[uRit1u2CBBA=]

I think this (http://www.showeq.net/forums/showthread.php?t=4130) thread is the first time that wget has been suggested to be used to get them directly from the patch server.

I did change my script to do a loop of the two files instead of having the same logic twice like shown in the last reply. Looks more clean to me.