melange chat server for linux --> installing melange
Author: Christian Walter
Description: melange chat server for linux, online documentation --> install
Keywords: install, installing, compile, language, melange, chat, server, linux, java, client, free, download, vienna, christian, walter

MELANGE USER GUIDE 1.10 - INDEX |

EXTRACTING MELANGE If you didn't download melange already, please do so now from melange.terminal.at/download. Copy the package to a place where you want to extract it, and extract the package by typing "tar xfz melange-xxxx.tar.gz" or something similar. (see the manual of tar for details. COMPILING MELANGE If you downloaded a binary package, you may want to go on at Installing Melange The melange package consists of the Melange-server (written in C) and the Melange-client (written in JAVA). Therefore there are two compiling steps are necessary: #### Compiling the server All configuration and compiling for the server is performed in the server-directory of the melange distribution, so please change to this directory. 1. Change default settings of the melange server. New with version 0.99 there is no need to change any parameter before compiling, all parameters can be specified at runtime. Nevertheless, if you want to make some permanently changes of the default settings of the server, please edit the melange.h file now. You can change the default port melange should listen on, the logfile name/path, the default configfile name/path, and the default time a user is banned after he has been kicked out by the chat-admin. You can also change the maximum number of clients, channels or security profiles there. NOTE: All parameters except the maximum amount of channels, clients and security-profiles can be changed at startup via commandline or in the configfile. You do NOT need to change anything in melange.h, except you want to change these settings ! 2. Solaris 2.x If you are running Solaris 2.x., please replace the default MAKEFILE with MAKEFILE.SOL before compiling. (Thanks to Frank Stolze). Note: I have no possibility to test it, but I think it should work. 3. Compiling Now it's time to select the language you want to use for your server. Type make at the prompt to get a list of the languages, which are supported. Currently following languages are available:
Language | Language filename | Author | Released
English | language.eng | Christian Walter | October-15-1998
German

language.ger Christian Walter October-10-1998
Italian language.ita Pietro Femmino' November-11-1998
French language.fra Oliver Mueller January-17-1999
Catalan language.fra David Diaz i Torrico January-25-1999
NOTE: All languages except german and english, have been translated by third party authors. (Thank you). I don't speak those languages and can therefore not proof them for errors or spelling mistakes.
P.S: If you translated a file to a language which was not available, please send it to me, perhaps some other users can need it, too. Thanks.
Select one of them and follow the instructions on your screen. For example, if you want to use English, type make eng to get an English server. Good luck !

#### Compiling the client

The following instructions are for the standard client which is included in the server package. If you get another client, there are the same steps but other filenames. All configuration and compiling for the client is performed in the client-directory of the melange distribution, so please change to this directory.
1. Compiling the client
Simply compile MClientStandard.java with the Java Development Kit JDK (see the JDK manual for details, if you don't know how). It somehow looks like:
javac -O MClientStandard.java
Note: You will receive a warning saying: MClientStandard.java uses deprecated API. Recompile with "-deprecation" for details. This is not an error, but the chatclient uses methods of java-classes which have been replaced by newer methods in java 1.1. I use the old methods, anyway, cause older java-enabled browser are not java 1.1 capable. Using this old methods makes it possible to run the client on older browsers like NN3 or MSIE 3, so JUST IGNORE THIS WARNING.

INSTALLING MELANGE Like the compilation, the installation process is also splitted into two steps. #### Installing the server 1. Change to the server directory 2. Edit the MAKEFILE if necessary If you want to change the place where melange will be installed to, feel free to edit the MAKEFILE (IMPORTANT: If you change the directory of melange.conf don't forget to use the right commandline parameter. The default places for melange are: Melange server: /usr/bin/ Melange documentation: /usr/doc/melange-xx/ Melange configuration file: /etc/ 3. Type make install to install Melange 4. Type make install-doc to install the Melange documentation #### Installing the client 1. Change to the client directory 2. Edit the example.html file In the example.html edit the parameter host and set it to the name or to the IP of the host, melange is running at. (Due to the security-restrictions for JAVA-APPLETS the host melange is running on, must be the same host your webserver is installed on. Please see the FAQ for a more detailed description of this problem.= You can also change the port and the name of the user here 3. Installing the client You install the client by moving ALL files to the place, you want it to be. This should be a directory on your webserver. Edit the example.html like it is described here. Done.

CONFIGURING & RUNNING MELANGE Before you start melange the first time, you should edit the melange configuration file. By default this file is /etc/melange.conf. To see the syntax of the file and what this file is for, please go here. AFTER editing the config file start melange by typing on the prompt: melange [optional] <-p portnumber> [optional] <-c adminfile> & If you don't put a port number the server will run by default at port 6666. If you'd rather it started on port 4616, just type: melange -p 4616. You can run multiple servers on different ports. If you want to use a configurationfile other than the default (default /etc/melange.conf) just type: melange -c /myplace/myconf.conf for example. TESTING MELANGE When you have started melange, you can connect to the server by opening a telnet connection, or with every java-enabled browser, opening the example.html file, which you installed before.

SHUTTING DOWN THE SERVER Introduced with version 0.99 you should shut down the server by using the /SHUTDOWN command. If you disabled the administrator features at startup, you are not able to use this command, and you have to kill the server. New in version 0.99 is also the usage of SIGNALS in the server. It's now possible to use the kill -HUP signal from the shell. If you send this command, the server will reopen the logfile. This is very usefull, if you use the crond and want to use new logfiles for every month. When you've moved or renamed the logfile while the server is running, use the HANGUP signal, which makes the server to open/create the the logfile specified at startup again.

Copyright © 1998,1999 by Christian Walter. All rights reserved. Design, Images, Contents, etc. Copyright © 1998,1999 by Christian Walter. All rights reserved.