BZFlag 2.4.23
		 http://BZFlag.org/
	Copyright (c) 1993-2021 Tim Riker

BZFlag is an Open Source OpenGL multiplayer multiplatform Battle Zone capture the Flag game. At its heart, the game is a 3D first person tank simulation where opposing teams battle for dominance. The game was originally written for SGI computers running Irix, but now runs and is actively maintained on Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, and other platforms.

BZFlag may be redistributed under either the LGPL or MPL licenses.

This is the BZFlag README file. This file includes introductory build instructions, user community interaction references, information for getting involved in BZFlag development, a manifest of the source code layout, basic usage expectations, contact information, and more.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Table of Contents
Obtaining BZFlag
Compiling and Installation
Short Version
Long Version
Communication
Internet Relay Chat
Forums
Bug Reports and Support
Providing Contributions
Source Tree Organization
Public Internet Servers and the "list server"
Notes on "CHEAT" servers and network abuse
Project History and Contributions
Contact

Obtaining BZFlag

Main BZFlag Website: http://BZFlag.org BZFlag Github Site: https://github.com/BZFlag-Dev/bzflag

The main BZFlag website provides access to most all of the resources available for the game. The binary and source distributions of BZFlag are, however, provided on the GitHub project site. Compiled versions are distributed as installable packages, disk images, and more, with details varying depending on the platform. Source code distributions are provided and archived in various formats as well. See the project site for the download links.

BZFlag is also available directly from GitHub. To obtain BZFlag from git, a bit more familiarity with software development is expected. If you're familiar enough, anonymous GIT access is provided from the repository:

https://github.com/BZFlag-Dev/bzflag.git

Compiling and Installation

To compile a playable BZFlag, the following steps should get you up and running quickly if everything external to BZFlag is properly installed:

./autogen.sh ./configure make ./src/bzflag/bzflag

If configure detected everything it needed to build the BZFlag client, after make the client will be sitting in src/bzflag as 'bzflag'. The game can be run from there, though you will probably want to "sudo make install" or otherwise become a privileged user and install the game properly for your system.

If you're building on a platform that has a README.* file, you should consult that file as they usually contain additional instructions or details specific for building on that platform. There are often hints for common problems specific to those platforms as well.

The Longer Version:

To build sources directly from a git clone you need to create a configure script. You can skip this step if you grab a distribution of BZFlag that already has a ./configure script in it, such as from a source distribution tarball. To generate the configure script, you need to run the provided autogen.sh script:

./autogen.sh

The script will report whether sufficient versions of the GNU Build System tools (i.e. autoconf, automake, and libtool) that were detected and if successful, a configure script will be generated. If the script fails, submit a report to the developers containing the output of "sh autogen.sh -v". This will run autogen.sh in verbose mode. One of the most common failures is having insufficient versions or mismatched combinations of the GNU Build System tools, so make sure your tools are recent.

If the previous step was successful you now have a script for configuring BZFlag. This command:

./configure --help

will list the variety of configuration options. The script adapts well to various system configurations, so it may be enough to simply run it as:

./configure

You may want to create a 'work' directory and configure from there to have all the build products and binary executables get placed in a directory separate from the sources. To do this, simply create a directory then run configure and make from there instead.

After configure completes, it will report whether all the requisite packages were found that it needs in order to build the client and the server. The client is reliant upon the following external dependencies that should be installed before running configure:

OpenGL 1.0+ libSDL 1.2+

If you're on an operating system that uses a packaging system (e.g. apt, portage, ports, etc), be sure to install the development kit versions of each of those (e.g. xlibmesa-gl-dev package) so that headers are made available. You may also want to manually install other dependencies that BZFlag automatically provides if you do not have them pre-installed:

c-ares libCURL libregex (usually provided as part of libc) zlib

The README.Linux file includes a detailed list of of the packages needed to compile and run BZFlag on some popular Linux distributions.

The final summary at the end of running configure will report whether the client will be built or not. Once configure has been run, you may compile by simply running 'make'. If you have GNU Make and are on a multiprocessor system, you can build in parallel with the -j option:

make -j4

If compilation was successful, the client will be in src/bzflag and the server will be in src/bzfs as 'bzflag' and 'bzfs' respectively. You can run the client or the server directly from those locations with or without installing:

src/bzflag/bzflag

BZFlag looks for data files in a path defined during compile, in ./data/ , or in the previously specified data path only. As part of the tarball/git clone, the base data library is located in /bzflag/data. This means that to test in a working directory you need to tell bzflag where to find these files if there is not a 'data' directory in your current directory. This can be done with a symbolic link:

ln -s ./path/to/bzflag/data

After testing you can install BZFlag by running 'make install' with sufficient system installation privileges. Use 'sudo', 'su', or similar methods to elevate your privileges when installing BZFlag system-wide:

sudo make install

You should now have BZFlag in the system directory ready to run.

If you do not have admin privileges on your platform, you can install files in a directory that you own; for this to work, you have to append to the configure command the prefix option:

./configure --prefix=YourHomeDirectoryHere

You will then be able to perform a "make install" without needing to elevate your privileges, and all bzflag executable files will be installed in the subdir bin of the specified path.

For additional information on installing, see INSTALL file.

Again, some platforms may be different. See the README file appropriate to your system for more information.

You can also build an installable package using:

make package

The package will be placed in ./dist; the exact form of the package depends on the platform.

There are three cleanup targets: clean, distclean, and maintainer-clean.

`make clean' removes intermediate files but leaves bzflag and other programs and any man pages.

`make distclean' removes everything clean does and also programs and man pages. This should get things back to a tarball state.

`make maintainer-clean' removes everything distclean does and also packages, directories created during the build, and the platform configuration; this should get the source tree back to its state in the Git repository.

To build BZFlag for an unsupported platform, see PORTING.

The ./configure script has a number of build options that you may find interesting.

Communication

The BZFlag project has several resources set up for communicating both with other developers and with the community. There is an IRC channel and forums.

Internet Relay Chat

Most of the BZFlag development activity and discussions occur over IRC. Join the #bzflag IRC channel on the Freenode network (irc.freenode.net, port 6667) to get involved.

See https://webchat.freenode.net for a web based interface for first-time users. Individuals that intend to stay in the channel are expected to get a non-web-based IRC client. See http://irchelp.org or search the web for IRC clients for your operating system.

Forums

There are extensive and active forums used by players, server operators, administrators, and others available here:

https://forums.bzflag.org

Registering an account on the forums presently also registers your callsign for use inside of BZFlag. Some servers require registration in order to play. See the Getting Started page on our site for more about registration.

Bug Reports and Support

For reporting bugs and unexpected behavior, please go to BZFlag bug tracking system at:

https://github.com/BZFlag-Dev/bzflag/issues

If you require assistance with some issue, please visit the BZFlag IRC channel at #bzflag at irc.freenode.net

Alternatively, discussion forums are also available for resolving issues.

Providing Contributions

Pull Requests should be entered submitted via the GitHub pull system:

https://github.com/BZFlag-Dev/bzflag/pulls

Contributions are gladly accepted for modifications that do not affect the core gameplay. Interacting with the other developers in the IRC channel is recommended for any changes which will affect gameplay.

Source Tree Organization

After unpacking a source distribution, you should have at least the following files in the new 'bzflag' directory:

README - this file README.* - platform specific details AUTHORS - project contributors COPYING - the license for BZFlag ChangeLog - source code changes since previous release DEVINFO - information for developers NEWS - history of visible changes for each release PORTING - a guide for porting BZFlag autogen.sh - build system preparation script configure.ac - build system configuration script template data/ - data files (sounds, images, etc.) include/ - include headers for libraries man/ - man pages misc/ - miscellaneous goo MSVC/ - stuff for building on the Windows platform package/ - stuff to build installable packages plugins/ - bzfs plugins src/ - bzflag, bzfs, etc. source code 3D/ - 3D code including texture manager bzadmin/ - bzadmin app source code (text admin/chat client) bzflag/ - bzflag app source code (game client) bzfs/ - bzfs app source code (game server) common/ - general purpose classes date/ - unified version and build date stamping for apps game/ - game library used by both the server and client(s) geometry/ - geometry rendering classes mediafile/ - classes for reading resources net/ - networking classes and functions obstacle/ - collision detection stuff ogl/ - OpenGL utility classes platform/ - platform dependent code scene/ - high level rendering algorithms tools/ - various helper utilities Xcode - Mac OS X Xcode project and associated files

Note that include/ does not have all the include files. If a header is used entirely within a library (i.e. it doesn't directly provide functionality outside the library) then the header is found in the library's directory under src/. An include file goes in include/ only if it's required by another library or libraries or executables. While this complicates locating a header file (it can be in one of two places instead of just one place), you can instantly tell if a header file is (can be) used by clients of the library.

Public Internet Servers and the "list server"

The bzflag project offers a public server listing service that allows players to find servers to play on. This service is run for the benefit of the project. As of Version 2.4, BZFlag servers that wish to be listed on the public list server must provide an authentication key that ties the server to a specific global user. This is done to provide contact information for players and project staff. Authentication keys are automatically generated at https://my.bzflag.org/listkeys/

Notes on "CHEAT" servers and network abuse

While the license for BZFlag certainly allows users to run any server modification that they wish or to modify the code in any way, we ask that people do not publish or host "cheat" clients or servers to the general public for use. We also expect that users will abide by basic usage guidelines of reasonable and tolerable behavior that are not detrimental to the game's heritage of a fun gaming environment for all.

We understand the desire to expand, modify, and improve the game and its sources including the ability to test out new features publicly. These modified clients and servers generally provide some advantage over unmodified clients and are generally discouraged for widespread use. As such, we ask that anyone wishing to host or otherwise participate in a game that involves a modified client or server to register under a different network protocol than the current public release by modifying BZ_PROTO_VERSION in the src/date/buildDate.cxx file. This will let modified games be played and prevent modified clients from being used on public unmodified servers.

Any individuals that are found to be contributing to abuse of the public services being provided may be subject to bans or other access restrictions. Abuse generally consists of any disruption to one of BZFlag's network services including denial of service attacks, spamming of BZFlag web sites or servers, disruptive gameplay on multiple public servers, intrusion attempts, password sniffing, or any other behavior that is deemed inappropriate.

The BZFlag project administrators reserve the right to remove public listings of any game servers for any reason whatsoever, including removal of servers or banning of individuals that do not follow this request. Similarly, the BZFlag project administrators also reserve the right to limit access or otherwise block any players from public service access at any time. These actions may include the suspension or removal of global accounts and limiting access to the web site services including web site services, list server access, forum access, and any league resources.

In general, the entire network is provided by the community for the community as an entirely volunteer and contributed effort. We ask that all players recognize and respect the time, effort, and resources involved and that we're all generally here to have a good time.

Project History and Contributions

BZFlag was primarily originally authored by Chris Schoeneman [email protected] in the early 1990's. After several years of development, Chris turned over copyright and maintainership of the game to Tim Riker.

BZFlag continues today to be maintained and developed by the Open Source community by a project administration team with contributions coming in from all over the world. See the AUTHORS file for more details on contributions to the project.

Contact

Any of the core developers listed in the AUTHORS file are generally receptive to being contacted for most matters relating to the game. Internet Relay Chat (IRC) or e-mail is generally the expected method of interaction with IRC being generally preferred. The project maintainer Tim Riker [email protected] is available for most legal matters, but day to day development is handled by the Project Administrators:

Scott Wichser (blast007) [email protected] Jeff Makey (BulletCatcher) [email protected]

Happy Shooting! The BZFlag Development Team