Component
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Details
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Hardware
and Operating System
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Boardspace runs on a low end
Unix VPS (virtual private server). That means that from the
inside, it looks like it runs all alone on a Linux machine.
Maintenance for the operating system, the real hardware, power, and
network access are all handled by the service provider, Steadfast.net.
The service has been excellent. The total cost of this
package, including domain registration and other incidentals, is about
$400/year.
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Stock
Software
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In addition to the basic Linux
tools, Boardspace uses the Apache web server, Mysql database, and Perl.
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Game
Server
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The game server is a custom
application written in C, approximately 5000 lines of code. It's
really a pretty simple application whose primary job is to multiplex
the I/O among game clients. It knows very little about games, and
nothing about any particular game.
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Game
Clients
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All the game specific software,
including the Robots, is written in Java and actually runs on the
clients machines, not on the server. The "core" Java code in the
framework that serves all the games is about 20,000 lines. Each
game has it's own support structure which amounts to another 3000-5000
lines.
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Development
and Testing
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Most of the development and
testing occurs on a Windows platform. Windows versions of Apache,
Perl, and Mysql are basically identical to unix versions. A
little care is needed to keep the C server compatible with both MSVC
and GCC. Eclipse is used as a development platform for Java.
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Personnel
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volunteers 1: paid 0.
Maintenance time (in the absence of emergencies) is less than an hour a
week.
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