XTSERV(6)

💅 XTSERV(6) — the games manual glow-up 🎮

ok so real talk, this is xtserv, aka the server page from the Games Manual — the little engine behind your synchronous multiplayer tetris era. buckle up bestie 🫶

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✨ NAME ✨

xtserv — the server for a synchronous multiplayer tetris 🌈

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

xtserv [ -help ] [ -once ] [ -daemon ] [ -v ] [ -norestart ] [
-nospeedup ] [ -p port ]

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

• -daemon — makes xtserv ghost its controlling terminal entirely: it detaches, forks twice, closes all its file descriptors, and chdirs to /. lowkey iconic for running xtserv over rsh or launching it from scripts 👑
• -help — prints a lil summary of every command-line option xtserv actually recognizes. your cheat sheet fr 💖
• -once — with this one, xtserv dips out (exits) as soon as every client has disconnected. bye bestie ✌️
• -v — verbose mode, aka main character energy for the logs 💅 xtserv will print info about clients connecting, disconnecting, starting games, sending each other lines, losing, etc. it's giving narrator.
• -norestart — with this, xtserv will not auto-start a new game when all players but one have lost. the players gotta press the 'play' button themselves to get things going again 🙈
• -nospeedup — with this, xtserv will not automatically crank up the game speed every time some user's number of lines goes over 10 x the current level. no surprise speed jumps, no cap 🍓
• -p — specifies a port for xtserv to use. the default is 19503. remember the number, iykyk 🔥

💜 DESCRIPTION 💜

xtserv is the server for the synchronous multi-user version of Tetris, xtris. periodt 🎯

So what does it actually do? xtserv listens for connections on a TCP port, keeps an internal list of connected clients, and broadcasts information among those clients — all to manage starting the game, setting the level and mode, and letting everyone see each other's screens 👀✨

xtserv gets started automatically by xtris, with the option -once, if xtris doesn't find an xtserv running on localhost and no server host has been specified. it just appears, like magic 🧚

xtserv will automatically restart a game when the one-but-last player has lost — unless it was started with the option -norestart. That said, it will not automatically restart a game if the user is playing alone. solo vibes = manual vibes 🫶

Also, xtserv will drop all bots when there are only bots left in the game. sorry bots, scene's over 💀

The server can handle clients exiting, being killed, or losing the connection — even right in the middle of a game. resilient queen 🌸

⚠️ killing an xtserv will cause all connected clients to exit. like, everyone. the whole party. 😭

🔍 SEE ALSO 🔍

xtris(6), xtbot(6) — go read those next, bestie 📚

🐛 BUGS 🐛

None known! ngl that's a flex. please report any bugs to the author 💌

👑 AUTHOR 👑

xtserv was written by Roger Espel Llima <roger.espel.llima@pobox.com>. absolute legend ⭐

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and that's the whole page, mwah 💋 — written by Roger Espel Llima, dated Oct 13, 1996, for XTSERV(6). stan a 90s Unix icon 🎀💖