 Introduction
 ------------

 Welcome to the WorldForge Next Generation MetaServer!

 The new MetaServer aims to have the following goals:

 1) Maintain backwards compatibility with the existing WorldForge MetaServer protocol/libraries
 2) Provide additional features beyond the current MetaServer capabilities
 3) Provide a robust framework that would facilitate future development
 4) Serve as a evaluation of multiple boost libraries for inclusion into the WorldForge codebase ( most specifically targetted was boost::asio ).

 Code: https://github.com/worldforge/worldforge
 Bugs / Features : https://launchpad.net/metaserver-ng

 This is as always, a work-in-progress.  If you have questions / comments / suggestions, please feel free to contact any of the WorldForge folks as detailed on http://worldforge.org


 Installation
 ------------

 The usual:
	- checkout from github, or download a dist package
	- autogen.sh && configure && make && make install

 MetaServer Overview
 -------------------

 The MetaServer Next Generation is a generic lobby type server.  
 The main services that it provides are:

 1. Maintain a list of currently available servers, and their 
    corresponding attributes

 2. Maintain a list of currently connected clients, and their 
    corresponding attributes

 3. Provide mechanism for servers to update, and clients to query this
    information.

 4. Provide delegated authentication, if requested by the connecting server.

 Feature Roadmap
 ---------------

 Features / Fixes can be brought up as either blueprints ( new features ), 
 or bugs ( abhorrent behaviour ) at https://launchpad.net/metaserver-ng

 The current list of planned features ( in no specific order ):
	- binary packet logging ( partially implemented )
	- replay binary packet log
	- delegate authentication
	- encryption of comms
	- context sensitive listreq ( in laymen terms, the client can set a filter once
      on any server attribute, and all list requests are constrained by those filters )
	- client to client game selection
	- automatic client:server matching
	- webui/utility to modify runtime configuration
	- scoreboard session list
	- admin interface to query/effect data:
		- kill a session
		- create a session
		- query session list
	- serve up internal data structure as a dns request
 
 MetaServer Configuration
 ------------------------
 [sections] - high level organisation of configuration options
 key=value  - specific option

 Unknown options in the configuration file are ignored, and 
 incorrectly formatted values raise a fatal exception on startup.

 In the case of a mismatch, the metaserver-ng.conf file contains
 the authoratative list of default values, and running the metaserver
 with the "--help" option will display the authoratative list of 
 accepted options.

 The majority of options are self explanitory.  Some options will be
 given a description as the purpose may be unclear.

 Example:

 [server]
 port=8453
 ip=0.0.0.0
 daemon=true
 logfile=~/.metaserver-ng/metaserver-ng.log
 client_stats=true
 server_stats=true
 
 	
 MetaServer Protocol
 -------------------
 Refer to PROTOCOL document.

 Contributors
 ------------

 All contributors will be listed in the AUTHORS file.



-- Sean Ryan <sryan@evercrack.com>
