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Feb 19, 2002, 2:43pm

Could it be possible to run an AW server solely on an FTP server running
PHP? When something is done, the PHP script could modify the files to work
with what has been changed. It might be slower, but all you would need would
be a stupid little free server like geocities for awhile. It'd sort of be
like an object path but with the files on an FTP server. It certainly
wouldn't be as secure or fast iether, but for those who cannot host their
worlds 24/7 and want them up all the time, it could be a solution. Of
course, the current AW Client would need a little bit of tweaking and adding
to allow that sort of work since the current version lets the world server
do most of the work whereas this idea would flip the sides so the world
server would simply be a few files constantly being modified by a PHP
script. Or, with even worse performance, AW could allow a plan that would
simply make the person who changed it upload the file to the page. It
wouldn't work well at all when there were multiple builders at the same time
but for small things like a 3d homepage where it's just one guy, it could
mean a big difference. Then the people that logged in would only have to
download the propdump file from the server (which wouldn't be very big if it
were a 5x5 world) and ActiveWorlds would instantly render it all.

It wouldn't be a solution for big worlds at all, but for small private ones,
it might mean a lot.

Feb 19, 2002, 3:42pm

Most free services don't allow PHP to run. And anyway, putting your world
up on a free website provider is just silly. Also, PHP cannot handle the
encryption that AW uses. Why not just get a free hosting provider to host
your worlds? Or pay the $100 or whatever a year to get them hosted?

-Joe

[View Quote] Not secure at all!

> worlds 24/7 and want them up all the time, it could be a solution. Of
> course, the current AW Client would need a little bit of tweaking and
adding

Lots of tweaking and adding! Tons of tweaking and adding!

> to allow that sort of work since the current version lets the world server
> do most of the work whereas this idea would flip the sides so the world
> server would simply be a few files constantly being modified by a PHP
> script. Or, with even worse performance, AW could allow a plan that would
> simply make the person who changed it upload the file to the page. It
> wouldn't work well at all when there were multiple builders at the same
time
> but for small things like a 3d homepage where it's just one guy, it could
> mean a big difference. Then the people that logged in would only have to
> download the propdump file from the server (which wouldn't be very big if
it
> were a 5x5 world) and ActiveWorlds would instantly render it all.
>
> It wouldn't be a solution for big worlds at all, but for small private
ones,
> it might mean a lot.
>
>

Feb 19, 2002, 4:19pm

Ok, it was just a thought for those people who don't have the money to host
them or a computer online 24/7 to host it themselves. $100 a year can be
mighty expensive, especially if you just want a small 3D homepage (5x5) or
something.
[View Quote]

Feb 19, 2002, 4:29pm

Then buy a smmmaaaalll world and find a free world hosting provider :)

-Joe

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Feb 19, 2002, 6:39pm

i think it could, but only to download, building, chattin and showing other
avs would be a prob, or so i think

SWE
Greatness at its best
[View Quote]

Feb 19, 2002, 6:53pm

The only problems
1. Client to PHP communication, really hard to get even bad client to PHP
communication. You also run into the script timeout problems. The script
would only be allowed to run for 5 minutes, I think, on most servers.
2. Encryption, cannot be done in PHP, trust me :)
3. Speed, slllooooowwwwwww...

I would think a better alternative is like atmosphere, downloading world
packages off of the web, updating, saving, and uploading them back to the
web. But, AWs system works just fine.

-Joe

[View Quote]

Feb 19, 2002, 7:17pm

Why should PHP not be able to handle the encryption? Encryption is
pure maths, even a C64 could do that if you are patient enough.

Multiple clients : PHP supports shared memory.

The timeout will be one problem, the other one is that most providers
don't allow a lot of PHP add-ons, like FTP, Graphics, spawning shell
commands, access to foreign HTTP servers and so on.

I think the whole thing could be solved on a very good PHP provider,
where the whole world server could run as a PHP extension, that is
loaded on runtime - but then it would not be a too big difference
to having the current world server, one monolitic "plugin".

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Feb 19, 2002, 10:02pm

No, trust me, the encryption cannot be put into PHP. Do you know the basics
behind it? Do you know how it works?

-Joe

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Feb 20, 2002, 3:37am

no, but I know what can be done in C and I know PHP,
and they are close enough so that you could basically
translate everything, except it would access hardware
informations (eprom, ports, bios data segment ...)

Even if it is an incremental crypt algorithm, that
includes the checksum of the outer IP packages, it
could be simulated.


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Feb 20, 2002, 2:41pm

default timeout is 30 secs actually... now, PHP is REALLY fast (if it's run
on a good, fast server, off course) and REALLY powerfull, you can do all
sorts of encryption on it. Heck, you can even create complete stand-alone
app (not web-apps, but apps for your frontend, even with a GUI if you use
some of the technology available). On UNIX there's even a library for PHP
called mcrypt, which offers a whole bunch of encryption algorythms (AW might
be using it's own, but you could write an encryption/decryption algorythm
for it in PHP, and you can load compiled extensions anyway)... But running a
world server through PHP (on a webserver, obviously this is what's wanted)
doesn't seem very wise, since a PHP *script* isn't meant for running in long
periods really...

KAH

[View Quote]

Feb 20, 2002, 5:17pm

Your just going to have to trust me on this. It has been tried, and failed.
:) The way its set up, it just cannot be put into PHP. I know its in C,
but theres lots of things in C that cannot be put into PHP. You just going
to have to trust me on this one.

-Joe
[View Quote]

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