ASECO/RASP v0.88 released!

[Xymph]

Well, here we go again. This is the promised 'operator' release or, more accurately, the Tiered Administration release. This is another big update with not only the multi-level admin stuff, but a sizable number of other new features and requests, and a big pile of minor tweaks and bug fixes, hence again a double version increment.

Instead of a separate plugin that would have to be updated every time a new command would be needed for operators, I decided to write the admin support such that it is completely transparant and integrated with the /admin command, and everywhere else where admins have special capabilities. Also, since regular admins that help with running a server typically don't need to change the server name or number of players, or turn on Aseco debugging mode (among similar tasks), I defined three administrator tiers such that masteradmins can do anything, admins can do most things, and operators are restricted to a small(er) set of tasks. Everything is configurable, and can be changed on the fly. On first sight it may look like overkill, but in practice after you've set it up once, you don't really notice it anymore.

So, here is the list from: http://www.gamers.org/tmn/Features_088.html

• New features and other changes in the v0.88 release of ASECO/RASP:
  
  * new, flexible and fully integrated tiered administration support with the following features:
  
  • # there are three tiers of administrators: MasterAdmins, Admins and Operators
    # all three tiers of administrators can see who is in each tier with the new /admin listmasters, /admin listadmins and /admin listops commands
    # if a player is in more than one tier, the highest one takes precedence
    # MasterAdmins have no restrictions to their abilities, while the abilities of Admins and Operators can be defined per individual command
    # the list of MasterAdmins is fixed in the <masteradmins> section in config.xml; the lists of Admins and Operators, and their respective abilities, are stored in the new adminops.xml file and read back upon ASECO/RASP restart (configurable via new config.xml setting <adminsops_file>)
    # MasterAdmins can add and remove Admins dynamically, using the new /admin addadmin and /admin removeadmin commands
    # both MasterAdmins and Admins can add and remove Operators dynamically, using the new /admin addop and /admin removeop commands
    # MasterAdmins can dynamically enable and disable all abilities for Admins and Operators – even their ability to change their own abilities, if you so desire – using the new /admin adminability and /admin opability commands
    # the ability lists can also define (non-/admin) chat commands where Admins and Operators have additional capabilities that users don't
    # the /admin help command dynamically lists only the available commands for each tier depending on their allowed abilities
    # the new /admin listabilities command displays which non-/admin abilities (if any) are available to Admins and Operators, with a description; for MasterAdmins, /admin listabilities {admin/op} displays the abilities of the pertaining administrator tier
    # there are no separate commands (e.g. /op), all tiers use the same /admin commands (so there's no code duplication)
    # all /admin chat and log messages show whether a MasterAdmin, Admin or Operator performed the pertaining action
    # the player join message from jfreu.plugin.php (or jfreu.player.php) shows the appropriate administrator title
    # the titles with which MasterAdmins, Admins and Operators are shown in chat and join messages, are configurable via the <titles> section in adminops.xml
    # if e.g. Operators do not have the ability to use /pma and /admin pm, they will also not receive such private messages when sent by (Master)Admins
    # any server owner's LAN logins (with IP and port) should be in the <masteradmins> section of config.xml and will be skipped by the /admin listmasters command
    # all Jfreu admin commands can be used by MasterAdmins and Admins, but not Operators; also, the /jfreu addadmin command was disabled, and the corresponding <admin_list> section from plugins/jfreu/jfreu.vips.xml (previously jfreu.lists.xml) was removed
    # servers that don't need Admins and Operators can simply leave those login lists in adminops.xml empty, and not have the tiered system interfere (phew )
    # see this table for the default list of abilities
  * new karma details: details about the vote counts and percentages can optionally be shown with karma messages (configured via $show_karma_details in rasp.settings.php)
  * new admin command: /admin listdupes to display a list of duplicate tracks on the server (ready for /admin remove/erase)
  * new admin command: /admin prunerecs to delete the records/rs_times database entries for a specific track (by track ID from /list, so you must prune recs for a track before removing/erasing it, otherwise you can't /list it anymore)
  * the number of rounds (in Rounds/Team modes) or seconds (in TimeAttack/Laps/Stunts modes) by which a vote expires can now be configured per individual type of chat-based and /add vote ($r_expire_limit and $ta_expire_limit in plugin.rasp_votes.php)
  * the output from /list and /list <xxx> now includes the corresponding ranked records, just like /list norecent
  * the /best and /worst commands are now also available via /list best and /list worst
  * the /server output now shows the total playing time of all players combined
  * the /best, /worst, /summary, /stats, /admin ban & /admin black commands can now also be used on offline logins (only by admins as defined by their abilities)
  * moved all jukebox and /add related message strings into rasp.xml for easy customization and localization
  * the all-caps UNRANKED text for unranked records in the /pb message is now in narrow font to make it less intrusive
  * in Jfreu's player join messages and the /stats output, the ladder ranks are now formatted with spaces between the thousands (like in the Tab scoreboard)
  * if Jfreu's info messages are disabled, the "Messages: OFF" reminder isn't shown anymore
  * the Jfreu plugin "Loaded" message is no longer shown to a connecting player (only on ASECO/RASP start-up)
  * the name of Jfreu's vip/team_vip file is now configurable via $vips_file in jfreu.config.php (default: plugins/jfreu/jfreu.vips.xml)
  * some code clean-up, like more efficient formatColors and resetRanks functions, a non-looping /nextmap (thanks Assembler Maniac), and other tid bits
  * all documentation files included in the .zip are now grouped together in their own DOCS subdirectory
  
  Bug fixes in the v0.88 release of ASECO/RASP:
  
  * if the jukebox is empty and the current track is deleted (/admin removethis/erasethis), /nextmap hangs up the ASECO/RASP system – fixed by the non-looping rewrite above
  * the karma reminders at every finish ($remind_karma=2) could occasionally produce an RPC error in the log – fixed
  * there is a typo in plugin.rasp_irc.php causing the IRC connection to fail – fixed
  * a couple of /jfreu commands are not shown in the /jfreu help overview – fixed
  * /admin removethis/erasethis does not properly log the name of the deleted track – fixed
  * the second line of the default Welcome message text was shown without the shadow attribute – fixed

Please pay attention to these upgrade notes:

• Important:
  
  * In config.xml the <admins> section has been renamed to <masteradmins>, along with adding a new <adminops_file> definition.
  * The <masteradmins> section of config.xml should contain only those logins you want to have all admin rights, and it should also contain the server owner's LAN login (with IP and port), if applicable.
  * Any other admin logins should be moved from config.xml into the <admins> (or <operators>) section of adminsops.xml, or they can be re-added later via the /admin addadmin (or addop) command.
  * If you use Jfreu's vip/team_vip abilities, rename your existing plugins/jfreu/jfreu.lists.xml file to plugins/jfreu/jfreu.vips.xml.
  * The <admin_list> section in jfreu.vips.xml is obsolete, and its contents should also be moved into the <admins> section of adminops.xml before starting v0.88, because it will no longer be written back into the file after the next vip/team_vip change.

As always, the download and all further information can be found on my TMN page:

http://www.gamers.org/tmn/

Enjoy!
Xymph

[Qbert]

Yeehaa!

[blooper]

Wow. It took me almost 10 min to read through the changes. I can't wait to upgrade.

[Djoszee]

* new karma details: details about the vote counts and percentages can optionally be shown with karma messages (configured via $show_karma_details in rasp.settings.php)
Enjoy!
Xymph

I asked you if I could give you some suggestions in the previous topic. When you said you were almost done, I decided to wait and see if theres some of my input left for you.

Number 1 is about karma. I think it should show
- If you did not vote: Current track karma xx (you did not vote)
- If you voted ++ : Current track karma xx (you voted ++)
- If you voted -- : Current track karma xx (you voted --)
This way to will always know if you voted for a track. This is a good reminder to make people vote, which is especcialy usefull if you remove tracks by karma (or use the track-removal-plugin)

Number 2 is also about karma.
I was wondering if you could implement '1 karma vote per track per ip'
Why? People could create multiple accounts, vote on tracks and cheat the ratings.
In a worse case scenario, ATM could remove the tracks because of this

Number 3 is a new idea of mine, I call it 'tooltips'
Some tracks have a small trick you should know about. Tooltips can be used to give hints, when asking for them. This is how I think this should be implemented:
- A MasterAdmin should be able to insert a tooltip for tracks on the server. (use /list and then use /admin inserttip xx where xx is the number in the list)
- A player can request a tooltip by typing /tooltip
- A tooltip should be a popupwindow, which can be closed by clicking ok
- When there is no tooltip for a track, there should be a message in the chat 'no tooltip specified' or something alike
- Tooltips SHOULD NOT OPEN BY DEFAULT, because it's extremely annoying when you have to close a window on each track

Number 4
Is a feature of which I'm not sure if this is emplemented yet, because we use an older version. I would like to be able to ban people by -ip, can you make this possible (in case it isn't yet)

Number 5, /setmaxrestarts
I know it's possible to influence the jukebox (this track has been played recently, you cannot add it now)
I had the idea to influence the allowed number of track-restarts per session.
This should be a MasterAdmin command, and should work for every track on the server.
Imagine this:
/setmaxrestarts 1 (after 1 restart, the track cannot be played again)
* track plays once, someone asks a restart
* restart passes, track plays again.
* someone requests a restart again
* the vote is cancelled and a message is shown 'This track was restarted too many times'


Tell me what you think

[cow]

I was going to request the "track tool tips" but didnt think there were enough tracks.. to warrent it.
I dont mind cuts, especially skill cuts... only if everyone knows about them.. I want to win a race fairly not because i know somethign someone else doesnt.

here is my only problem.. with close to 300 tracks.. unless a majority of them have tool tips, people will get so frequently disappointed by the command, that they will stop using it... my solution is when a track starts.. in the start spam have a little notice type /tips for Tips*

[Djoszee]

ed, nm...i missread your post

[Qbert]

[Aseco] Connection established successfully!
[Local DB] Load settings file ...
[Local DB] Try to connect to MySQL server
[Local DB] MySQL Server Version is 5.0.37-community-nt
[RASP] Cleaning up unused data
*-*-*-*-*-* RASP is running! *-*-*-*-*-*
|...Loading Settings
|...Loaded!
|...Checking database structure
|...Structure OK!
|...Calculating ranks
|...Done!
[11/10,23:14:53] [Client] init: OK
[RASP] Error - TMX Directory (ArrayChallenges/TMX) does not exist
[RASP] Error - TMX Directory (ArrayChallenges/TMX) can not be written to


Just got home and tried installing new verison, this came up. And I must have missed some new config...
Gonna read the installation notes once more I'm soo looking forward to get the new funtions. Great work once again mr X!


Edit: All is fine now. Feel abit ashamed though:s
Was a typo I written in the <tmserver> section. Contacted X on his Smoothserver and he helped me with various things to find the error.

Note to self: Always post the full log of errors.

[greedy]

Might install this now it has multi tiered admin. Been holding back for a while, as my .61b has Sloths multi tier hack in it.

Good work

[jouko100]

/jfreu help seems not working.I am master admin.
And /op kick login dont work

[f*ckfish]

/jfreu help seems not working.I am master admin.
And /op kick login dont work

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think, the "op" command is no longer available since it's the "admin" command for all types of administrators (including operators). As for the jfreu stuff I don't know but a teammate just pm'ed me that it's not working on his pc?! Did not try it out myself though.

Nevertheless good work Xymph, as always
I was thinking a lot about a possibility to do that miniadmin stuff without actually copying the functions but using the original admin commands and !BAM! you implement it

[Xymph]

/jfreu help seems not working.I am master admin.

Oops, looks like I forgot to test a tweak to the /jfreu ability check. In jfreu.chat.php, change line 48 from:

Code: Select all

  if (!$aseco->allowAbility($login, 'chat_jfreu'))

into:

Code: Select all

  if (!$aseco->allowAbility($admin->login, 'chat_jfreu'))

I fixed this in the zip download now.

And /op kick login dont work

Like Fufi said, and as described in the features list above, there is no separate /op command, operators can use the same /admin command as (master)admins, just with fewer abilities.

[f*ckfish]

Like Fufi said, and as described in the features list above, there is no separate /op command, operators can use the same /admin command as (master)admins, just with fewer abilities.

Although a shorter chat command would be nice maybe /ad or /op which would just redirect the command to the standard admin function =)

[Xymph]

Tell me what you think

My first thought was: oh dear, and here I thought I'd be done soon.

Just kidding of course, I haven't forgotten about Dedimania support...

* new karma details: details about the vote counts and percentages can optionally be shown with karma messages (configured via $show_karma_details in rasp.settings.php)

I asked you if I could give you some suggestions in the previous topic. When you said you were almost done, I decided to wait and see if theres some of my input left for you.

Okay, looks like there's plenty left.

Number 1 is about karma. I think it should show
- If you did not vote: Current track karma xx (you did not vote)
- If you voted ++ : Current track karma xx (you voted ++)
- If you voted -- : Current track karma xx (you voted --)
This way to will always know if you voted for a track. This is a good reminder to make people vote, which is especcialy usefull if you remove tracks by karma (or use the track-removal-plugin)

I agree this is a nice idea, I'm just wondering how to display it clearly enough because the karma message is already longer than you show above when the details feature is enabled. Maybe this way, with narrow font for the details and italics for the reminder?

Current track karma: X [++: X (XX %), --: X (XX %)] {you voted ++}

Number 2 is also about karma.
I was wondering if you could implement '1 karma vote per track per ip'
Why? People could create multiple accounts, vote on tracks and cheat the ratings.
In a worse case scenario, ATM could remove the tracks because of this

Hmm, this is not trivial as IPs are currently not stored in the database. And I do wonder whether this is really a problem... just because some people could do it, doesn't mean it happens often enough to put a lot of effort into preventing it, does it?

Number 3 is a new idea of mine, I call it 'tooltips'
Some tracks have a small trick you should know about. Tooltips can be used to give hints, when asking for them. This is how I think this should be implemented:
- A MasterAdmin should be able to insert a tooltip for tracks on the server. (use /list and then use /admin inserttip xx where xx is the number in the list)
- A player can request a tooltip by typing /tooltip
- A tooltip should be a popupwindow, which can be closed by clicking ok
- When there is no tooltip for a track, there should be a message in the chat 'no tooltip specified' or something alike
- Tooltips SHOULD NOT OPEN BY DEFAULT, because it's extremely annoying when you have to close a window on each track

Actually I thought of that last summer too but, like cow, didn't think it was worthwhile building something like that considering how relatively few tracks need a tip (but that depends on the kind of server you're running too, of course), and e.g. how many PF-start tracks already explain that in their own MT intro. But if there's more demand for this feature, I'll consider it.

Number 4
Is a feature of which I'm not sure if this is emplemented yet, because we use an older version. I would like to be able to ban people by -ip, can you make this possible (in case it isn't yet)

The ban feature in the TMN server (either via CallVote or /admin ban) already blocks players by IP, as opposed to login via /admin black(list). It's just inserted via a login parameter to /admin ban, but otherwise all handled by the TMN server. The downside is that for some strange reason there's no method in the server to write/read the ban list to/from disk, like there is for blacklist and guestlist, so you'd lose the ban list after a TMN server restart.

Unfortunately, while it's possible to retrieve the ban list and write it to an XML file, there's no way to read it back into the server as the Ban method (on a login) only works if that player is currently online. So after a server restart you might as well ban a player again manually once [s]he returns.

The only alternative I can think of, is to do what the Jfreu plugin does for bad word bans, rank limit kicks and such, by keeping track of players within Aseco and kicking them if needed. But I'm not really eager to go in that direction within the main Aseco system given what the built-in ban/blacklist features can do already more elegantly.

Number 5, /setmaxrestarts
I know it's possible to influence the jukebox (this track has been played recently, you cannot add it now)
I had the idea to influence the allowed number of track-restarts per session.
This should be a MasterAdmin command, and should work for every track on the server.
Imagine this:
/setmaxrestarts 1 (after 1 restart, the track cannot be played again)
* track plays once, someone asks a restart
* restart passes, track plays again.
* someone requests a restart again
* the vote is cancelled and a message is shown 'This track was restarted too many times'

That would be /admin setmaxreplays (not restarts), or it would simply be built into the chat-based voting plugin (as /admin replay shouldn't be limited by that setting). But yeah, I've sometimes seen these multi-replays happening on my server as well, and agree it would be useful, although in reality a /replay vote is also less likely to pass a second time around, since more players will be fed up with a track after two rounds.

Does anyone else have feedback on the above topics?

[utal]

ouch! so many goodies tks!!

although i'm having problems with this new version and autotrackmanager
when i load aseco with the autotrackmanager plugin, the aseco simply hangs and i see no output message

anyone with the same problem?

tks!
utal

[blooper]

Number 1 is about karma. I think it should show
- If you did not vote: Current track karma xx (you did not vote)
- If you voted ++ : Current track karma xx (you voted ++)
- If you voted -- : Current track karma xx (you voted --)
This way to will always know if you voted for a track. This is a good reminder to make people vote, which is especcialy usefull if you remove tracks by karma (or use the track-removal-plugin)

I agree this is a nice idea, I'm just wondering how to display it clearly enough because the karma message is already longer than you show above when the details feature is enabled. Maybe this way, with narrow font for the details and italics for the reminder?

Current track karma: X [++: X (XX %), --: X (XX %)] {you voted ++}

Adding on to this, can you make it possible to change your vote by voting again? I know that I have voted down tracks in the past and would like to change my vote. Instead of "vote successful", it could say "vote changed".

Excellent work on the tiered admins, Xymph.