party - real-time multi-user communication program

SYNOPSIS:

party [#<channel>] [<option-list>]

Party lets you chat in real time with any other users who are currently running party. There are several channels on which separate conversations can take place. When you run it, it puts you at first into "read mode" in the default channel. In this mode lines typed by other users are displayed as they are entered, each with the speaker's login name as a prefix. Keep in mind that a person does not see comments entered while he is typing until he is done typing, so his message may be slightly out of date. Whenever a person enters or leaves the program, a banner is printed.

Note that normally party keeps all messages in a file that is readable to any user that can run party. It is therefore not a good place to hold private conversations. People who do not seem to be present could be reading what you are writing.

In read mode you can also enter any of several one-character commands which temporarily stop the display of messages while you do something else. party returns to "read" mode after any command (except, of course, the quit command).

space

Brings up a ">" prompt so you can type a message. Messages should not be longer than about 250 characters, or they may get clipped off. You can return to "read" mode without entering a message by entering an EOF (control-D) at the ">" prompt.

#

Brings up the "#" prompt so you can enter a new channel name. You normally start in the channel named "party." Some channels may be permitted to only certain groups of users. You can return to "read" mode without changing channels by entering an EOF (control-D) at the "#" prompt. If no name is entered, a list of channels is printed with your current channel marked with an arrow. The ":join" command is equivalent to this.

!

Brings up the "!" prompt so you can enter a shell command to be run. You can return to "read" mode without running a command by entering an EOF (control-D) at the ":" prompt. The ":!" and ":shell" commands are equivalent to this.

-

Brings up the "-" prompt so you can type the number of old message lines you would like to see redisplayed. The redisplay can be interrupted to return you quickly to "read" mode, unless you have an output filter defined, in which case interrupting a tailback exits you from party.

:

Brings up the ":" prompt so you can type in a special command. Special commands are listed below. You can return to "read" mode without entering any command by entering an EOF (control-D) at the ":" prompt.

/

Brings up the "/" prompt for making vaguely MUD-like sound effects. For a list of possible noises (if any), do a "/" with no argument. For more information about noises, see the "makenoise" option below.

=

Prints all current settings of user options. This is equivalent to ":print".

? or h

Prints the help message. The help message can be interrupted to return you quickly to "read" mode. The "h" command goes away if you use the firstchar option.

q or EOF

Exits party. An interrupt will also work. The "q" command goes away if you use the firstchar option. This is equivalent to ":quit".

The following special commands are supported at the colon prompt. All commands can be abbreviated.

:join <channel>

This exits from the current channel and joins the named channel. The '#' command is a shorthand for this.

:who [-cnt]

This lists all users currently in party, together with the time they entered and their current channel numbers. A flag may be given to indicate whether to sort the names by channel (-c, the default), by name (-n), or by start time (-t).

:list <channel>

This lists all current channels telling how many users are in each. The channel you are in is marked with a carat.

:name <newname>

This changes your name in the current channel to the newname specified. It only works in channels where the "rename" option is enabled.

:read <filename>

This reads the lines of the named file into the party file. The maximum number of lines that can be read into the file is set by "readlim" option.

:save [-<count>] <filename>

This saves a copy of the log for the current party channel in the named file. If a count is given, only the last <count> lines of the log file are saved.

:set <option-list>

This sets the options listed.

:print <option-list>

This displays the current values of the options listed. If no options are given, a selection of the more interesting options are displayed (this is equivalent to the "=" command). If the argument "all" is given, then all options, including system options are displayed.

:shell <command>

This executes the a shell escape. You can also just use the "!" command or the ":!" command. The shell used to execute the command is determined by the "shell" and "fastshell" options described below.

:close

Closes the current channel. This means not permitting any users not already in the channel to join, and depermitting the log file so no outsider users can read it. This only works if the "mayclose" option is enabled. In some installations, this command may not be enabled at all, or it may not depermit the log file. Note that things typed in a closed channel become readable to everyone again if the channel is opened. The only way to get anything like real secrecy is to close a nokeeplog channel and never reopen it. Just let it be destroyed when all users leave.

:open

Opens the current channel, if it has been closed. Opening a channel allows anybody to join it, and makes the whole history of the conversation there readable to all.

:invite <login>

Add the given login id to the list of users who may join the current channel, if it is closed. This does not send any kind of message to that user. They will not know they have an invitation to join unless you tell them by some other means.

:ignore <user>...

The named users will be added to the list of ignored users. No messages from ignored users will be displayed. If no user names are given on the command line, the names of all currently ignored users will be listed. Note that if you are in a channel where name changing is allowed and uniquename is set, then if a person you are ignoring changes his name, your ignore list will automatically be updated to the new name.

:notice <user>...

The named users will be deleted from the list of ignored users, so that their messages will once again be displayed. If no user names are given on the command line, all currently ignored users will be removed from the list.

:back <count>

Backs up in the file by the given number of lines and redisplays everything after that point. The '-' command character is a shorthand for this.

:version

Prints the current party version number.

:quit

Yet another way to exit party.

The behavior of party can be altered with a number of options. There are six ways to set party options. Options in option lists are always separated by spaces.

1. Compiled in defaults. These should be set to sane values by whoever installed party on your system.
2. Partytab file. The system partytab file contains several lines of the form:

      <program-name> <option-list>
   

   When invoked, party searches the partytab file for a line with the program-name that it was invoked under. (For example, if there was a link to the party program named cb and you ran the cb program, it would look for a line starting with cb in the partytab). It then applies the option settings listed after that program-name. This is an easy way to change the default options without recompiling, and allows several "different" versions of the party program to be supported on the system without having to make separate physical copies.
3. PARTYOPTS environment variable. This may be set to a list of options which will always be set when you enter any party program.
4. Command line. A list of options may be given as arguments on the command line of any party program.
5. Chantab file. The system chantab file contains several lines of the form:

      <channel-name-pattern> <option-list>
   

   When you enter a party channel, party searches for a chantab line starting with a pattern that matches the channel name. The syntax of the pattern is similar to the shell's filename substitution. For example, a ? matches any one character, and a * matches any sequence of characters. Party sets the options listed after the first pattern that matches the channel name. This allows different channels to have different rules. Normally only system options should be set in the chantab. Most of these are automatically reset to the state they were in after reading the partytab every time you can change channels. Channel names that don't match any pattern in the chantab file may not be used.
6. The :set command. Options may be reset while the program is running by using the set special command at the colon prompt.

The options are read in the order listed above, so options set from the last places listed override ones set from the earlier places.

There are four types of values an option named <option> can take. Boolean values are set with "<option>" and reset with "no<option>". A few options can also take take prefixes other than "no". Numeric options are set with "<option>=<value>". String options are set with "<option>=<string>". If the string includes spaces or tabs, it must be quoted with either single or double quotes.

Most options are user-settable, but others are reserved for the administrator to use in configuring the party program and individual channels. Those can be set only in the partytab or chantab files. The user-settable options are:

alias=<name>

This is the default name to use when joining a channel where the rename option is enabled. It defaults to the user's real login name.

[no]arg

If noarg is set, party does not read options from the command argument list. Obviously this is only meaningful in the partytab or in PARTYOPTS, since otherwise they has already been read. The default is arg.

back=<count>

This defines the number of old lines to display when you enter party or change channels. The default is back=10.

[no][see]bs

This determines how to handle backspaces in messages. The default, bs, is just to print them. This allows tricky users to "cursor-dance", possibly backing over their names and changing them. Setting nobs causes all backspace characters to be stripped out. Setting seebs causes backspace characters to be displayed as "^H". noseebs is the same as bs.

[no]colon

If nocolon is set, party does not recognize the ":" command to set options. This may be used, together with noenv and noarg, to create a party program that cannot be customized by the user. The default is colon.

[no][see]control

This determines how to handle other control characters in messages. The default, control, is just to print them. Setting nocontrol causes all control characters to be stripped out. Setting seecontrol causes control characters to be displayed as "^E" or whatever.

[no]env

If noenv is set, party does not read options from the PARTYOPTS variable. Obviously this is only meaningful in the partytab, since otherwise they has already been read. The default is env.

knockwait=<seconds>

This tells how long to wait for an invitation when attempting to join a closed channel. The default is 30 seconds. The user can always interrupt the wait if he gets impatient.

[no]fastshell

If fastshell is set, party will execute most shell escape commands directly instead of starting a shell to execute them. It will start a shell for commands that look like they contain wildcards, IO-redirection, or other things that normally require a shell to execute. This will generally speed up the execution of shell escapes. If nofastshell is set, all commands will actually be processed by the shell in the shell variable. Mainly nofastshell is useful if you have weird shells or if you have shell=/bin/csh and want aliases defined in your .cshrc file to work. The default is fastshell.

filter=<cmd>

This starts the named command as an output filter. Only messages and entry/exit banners are printed through the filter. Prompts, help messages, and shell escape output are not. Output filters can be used in many clever ways. For example, to stop displaying messages from the user 'janc', you could set filter="grep -v '^janc:'" (though the :ignore command has obsoleted this particular example). Filter commands are processed by the shell specified by the shell option, so pipes and aliases and such like can be used. If there is already a filter defined, setting a new one will turn off the old one. The default filter is filter="" (ie, there is no default).

[no]filter

If you have a filter defined, this turns it on and off. Note that setting a new filter automatically turns it on.

[no]firstchar

If firstchar is enabled, then whatever key you hit to bring up the ">" input prompt, will also become the first character of your input text. This is mainly meant to be less confusing for regular IRC users. In this mode, party does all the input processing instead of letting the Unix tty driver do it. This means there are some inevitable differences in the way input is processed, but most are minor. As a side effect, the "q" command to quit and the "h" command to get help go away, since otherwise you wouldn't easily be able to enter lines starting with these letters. You can still quit with an EOF character or a ":q" command. You can still get help with a "?" character or a ":h" command. The default is nofirstchar.

fullmesg=<string>

This is a text string to be printed out when a user attempts to join party when the capacity option is set and party is full. If the string starts with a '!', the rest of the string is taken as a command to execute instead. If the string starts with a '/', it is assumed to be the full path of a file name to print.

[no]help

This can be used to turn the help commands ('?' and 'h') on and off. The ":help" command still works even if nohelp is set. The default is help.

help=<filename>

This sets the name of the file containing the message printed by the help commands. As a side effect, it turns on the help commands. The default is help=/usr/local/party/partyhlp.

intro=<text>

This defines the banner message to be printed when you first enter party. It is, of course, not particularly useful to set from the ":" command, since by that time it has already been printed. If the first character of the text is a exclamation point ('!'), then the rest of the string is taken as a command to run instead. If the string starts with a '/', it is assumed to be the full path of a file name to print. The default is intro="Welcome to PARTY! Type '?' for help:".

maildir=<dirname>

This sets the name of the directory where mail files are kept. The default is maildir=/usr/mail. If it is set to something where there is no readable mailfile for the user, you will not get "you have mail" messages. If you have a MAIL environment variable set, the maildir variable will be ignored and your "MAIL" variable will be used instead.

prompt=<text>

This sets the prompt to be printed when you enter input mode. The default is prompt=">".

[no]raw

This turns off or on the raw mode flag. Raw mode displays certain parts of the party log file that are meant more for system use than for user use. Right now it doesn't make much difference, except that there are name tags in the front of noises. The default is noraw.

[no]repeat

This turns off or on the display of any line that is identical to the previous line in the party log. It intended as a countermeasure against the less imaginative pests of the world. The default is repeat.

[no]shell

If noshell is defined, shell escapes from party are not allowed. This may be useful to make a secure party that does not allow further access to Unix, if it is combined with nocolon, and possibly noenv and noarg. The default is shell.

shell=<file>

This defines the shell to be used in shell escapes. The full path name should be given. The default is shell=/bin/sh.

[no]showevent

This turns off or on the display of all events, such as people entering or leaving, people changing their names, or people knocking at closed channels. It effects only what you see. The default is showevent.

[no]shownoise

This turns off or on the display of all noises. It effects only what you see. The default is shownoise.

[no]showread

This turns off or on the display of files read into the party log with the ":read" command. It effects only what you see, not what others see. The default is showread.

[no]spaceonly

If spaceonly is set, only a space will get you from "read" mode to input mode. Otherwise, any other none command character will do the same. The spaceonly option is sometimes preferred on noisy connections, so you don't constantly get blown into input mode. The default is nospaceonly.

spaceonly=<text>

When the spaceonly option is set, this defines the error message that is printed when someone hits an illegal command in read mode. Note that redefining the spaceonly message turns on the spaceonly option as a side effect. The default is spaceonly="Type '?' for help.".

start=<channel>

This tells which channel to start in when you enter the party program. The default is start=party, which causes people to start in a channel named 'party'. On the command line, it is possible simply to write #<channel> instead.

tpmorp=<text>

This sets a message to be printed when exiting input mode. It is meant for tricks like highlighting your input text by putting the control code to start highlighting in the prompt string and resetting it in the tpmorp string. The default is tpmorp="".

[no]wrap

This turns on and off word wrapping for party output. The default is "nowrap".

cols=<number>

This sets the number of columns to be used for word wrapping. The default is set from the user's stty modes or termcap if possible. If not, it defaults to 80 columns.

wrap=<number>

This sets the number of columns to indent any lines after the first when line wrapping. The default is 10 columns.

Other options are intended to be used to configure individual channels. They may not be set by users, but only in the chantab or the partytab. They are always automatically reset to their default values whenever you change from one channel to another (though, of course, those defaults my be overridden by the chantab entry of the new channel). The chantab options are:

[no]askname

If askname is set, the user is prompted for the name to be used on a prefix on his messages in party. If he gives no name, the algorithm defined by the other naming options is used. This is often used along with the rename option. Askname originated to support M-Net Halloween parties. The default is noaskname.

[no]chanintro=<string>

This is the string to print when you join a channel. If nochanintro is set, it just prints the name of the channel. Otherwise it prints the given string. If the string starts with a !, the rest of the string is a unix command to run instead. If the string starts with a /, the string is the full path name of a file to print.

[no]keeplog

Normally channel log files are automatically deleted when the last person leaves the channel. If the keeplog option is set, the channel's log file is never deleted by the party program. Channels with keeplog set have a .log suffix on their log files. Channels with nokeeplog set have a .tmp suffix on their log files. If keeplog is set on any channels, the installer should arrange to have files with .log suffixes deleted regularly by cron(8) least they eat up all your disk space.

[no]idleout

Turns on and off the idleout feature. If idleout is turned on, idle users will be booted out after the number of minutes given by the option below. With noidleout, you can hang around forever.

idleout=<minutes>

This sets the number of minutes for which a user can sit there, sending no messages, making no noises, issuing no commands, before he gets booted out of the program. It may sometimes take a couple minutes longer before he is booted out. The default is 10 minutes.

[no]makenoise=<file>

This option determines if noises are allowed and define which file containing the list of legal noises. Each noise is defined by one line in the file, which contains three fields. The first field is the command name, the second is the minimum number of arguments, and the third is the noise text. The text must be enclosed in angle brackets and may contain $0 to indicate the place where the user's name is to be substituted and $1, $2, etc to indicate places where the arguments are substituted. If there are multiple lines for the same command with different argument counts, the largest must be first.

[no]mapname=<file>

If mapname is set and a file is defined, then party will pick read through the file looking for a line on which the the first word matches the user's real login name. If found, it will change his name to second word on that line. If both mapname and randname are set, then users whose names don't appear in the mapname file will be assigned a random name out of the randname file.

[no]mayclose

If mayclose is set, the :close command is enabled for the channel. Normally this makes most sense when used with nokeeplog, though it works with permanent channels too. The default is "nomayclose". In some installations, this option may not be compiled in.

[no]randname=<file>

If randname is set and a file is defined, then party will pick an alias for the user at random from the file. The file should contain one name per line. The name my be terminated by a newline or by a colon (the latter allows the /etc/passwd file to be used).

readlim=<number>

This sets the maximum number of lines that can be read into a a party channel with the :read comand. It should always have some reasonable finite limit, to prevent users from, for example, reading the party log file into the party log file.

[no]rename

If rename is set, the user may use the :name command to change his name while he is in the channel. The default is norename.

[no]uidname

If uidname is set, user's login id's are determined by getting their uid and looking it up in the password file. If nouidname is set, user's login id's are determined by getting their tty number and looking it up in the wtmp file. This option exists to support former M-Net administrators prankish tendancy to edit people's names in the wtmp file. Current M-Net administrators seem to have outgrown such games. The default is uidname.

[no]uniquename

If uniquename is set, users may not set their names to a name already being used by another person in the channel. This is relevant only in channels where rename or askname are set. You may always set your alias to your real login name, even if someone else is using it too. If nouniquename is set, then users may duplicate names all they like. The default is uniquename.

The remaining options are meant to be set in the partytab file. They may not be reset by users. The partytab options are:

chantab=<filename>

This identifies the channel table. The default is chantab=/usr/local/party/chantab.

[no]capacity

If enabled, this turns on the enforcement of capacity limits. This sets an upperbound on the number of users who may be running party at the same time. If nocapacity is set, then there is no limit to the number of users who may be in party.

capacity=<number>

This is the maximum number of users that may be in party at a time if capacity checking is enabled. If a user tries to join party when it is full, extry will be refused and the text specified by the fullmesg option will be printed.

dir=<dirname>

This option defines the pathname of the directory in which the transcript files for the channels are kept. The default is dir=/usr/local/party/log unless something else has been compiled in. This option cannot be reset by the user. The installer must create the party log directory. It should be readable and writable to the party program.

[no]userlist

This is a strange option. If it is set, running party will not get you into party. Instead it will just print a list of who is in party. This is normally set in the partytab on a link to party called pwho thus creating a unix command that lets you list who is in party.

whofile=<filename>

This identifies the file used to keep track of what users are in which channels. The :who command reports the contents of this file.

The original version of this program was written by Marcus Watts sometime around 1983 or 1984 for use on M-Net, a public unix-based conferencing system. It used two synchronized processes, one writing to the file, and the other reading from the file. Jan Wolter (unixpapa.com) started modifying that version around 1985, mostly changing look-and-feel to meet Meg Geddes' specifications.

Eventually, Jan did a complete rewrite of Marcus's party, finally turning up a program that behaved exactly like Marcus's party, but avoided a variety of process synchronization bugs, because there was just one process. The current program is a direct descendant of that version.

An early version of Jan's party migrated to Chinet, another early Unix-based conferencing system, where it sprouted many new features, including channels. Many of those ideas were borrowed back into the M-Net version, though none of the actual code was. Noises were inspired by a user who wanted party to be more MUD-like. After the appearance of IRC, several irc-like features migrated into party. The IRC concept of "channel operators" is, however, deliberately absent. Nobody owns a channel in party.

write(1), irc(1)