Expand documentation

This commit is contained in:
Tim Van Baak 2020-01-27 09:54:29 -08:00
parent aa1667d795
commit 8730e0974f
4 changed files with 86 additions and 67 deletions

79
README.AMANUENSIS.md Normal file
View File

@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
# Technical information
## The Amanuensis config directory
TODO
## Life cycle of a Lexicon game
Games can only be created by the administrator. When a game is created, its name, editor, and prompt are specified. The state of the game follows a simple state machine:
* When a game is initialized, the `turn.current` setting is null. As long as the current turn of a lexicon is null, it is considered to be in a **pre-game** state. In this state, all settings can be changed by the editor. Once the editor enables `join.open`, players can join. While the game is in the pre-game state, players can create characters.
* When the editor begins the game, `turn.current` is set to `turn.start`. Both of these settings are locked. Once `turn.current` is non-null, the game has entered the **ongoing** state. Character creation is no longer available. Players will be given access to the editor, and they can begin writing and submitting articles. While the game is in this state, it transitions from each turn to the next turn, incrementing `turn.current`. The turn-by-turn state machine is covered just below.
* When `turn.current` exceeds `turn.max`. the lexicon is **completed**. Players are unable to further affect the lexicon.
### Article workflow
The article writing workflow proceeds through the following states:
* Active: When player creates a draft, it is initialized with this state.
Players can view and edit their active drafts. Admins can view all active
drafts. Active drafts occupy an index slot in the lexicon, but the title is
elided.
Players can mark their active drafts as ready for publication, which
transitions the draft to the Ready state. If `publish.notify.editor_on_ready`
is true, the editor will be notified.
* Ready: Players can view but not edit their ready drafts. Editors and admins
can view all ready drafts. The editor's session page lists all ready drafts
for that lexicon. Ready drafts occupy an index slot with an elided title.
A player can unready a ready draft, which transitions it to the Active state.
The editor can approve a ready draft, which transitions it to the Locked
state, or reject it, which transitions it to the Active state and includes a
message from the editor to the player who owns it. If either
`publish.notify.player_on_reject` or `publish.notify.player_on_accept` is true,
the player will be notified in that case.
* Locked: Players can view but not edit their locked drafts. Editors and admins
admins can view all locked drafts. The editor's session page lists all
locked drafts for that lexicon. Locked drafts occupy an index slot with an
elided title.
Turn publishing can be attempted by executing the `lexicon-publish-turn` command.
Automatic publishing is controlled by two settings: `asap` and `deadlines`.
* `asap`: If `publish.asap` is true, when the editor approves a draft, Amanuensis
will check if each character has a locked draft. If so, publishing will be
attempted immediately.
* `deadlines`: `publish.deadlines` should be a crontab-format time specification.
This will be prepended to the publish command and inserted into the user
crontab. The command uses `--as-deadline` to differentiate scheduled publish
attempts from manual ones. If `publish.deadlines` is empty, no crontab entry
will be used.
Whenever publishing is attempted, either internally via asap or externally via
invocation by command line or cron job, Amanuensis checks if every character in
the lexicon has a locked draft. If so, the turn is published. If not, publish
behavior follows two settings: `quorum` and `block_on_ready`.
* `quorum`: If `publish.quorum` is defined, then Amanuensis will check if there are
at least that many locked articles. If there are, then turn
publishing will proceed with just those articles. If there are not, but there
are enough ready articles to make quorum and `--as-deadline` was specified, then
the editor will be notified that they are blocking the turn. If there are not
enough ready articles to make quorum and `--as-deadline` was specified, then
players with characters without ready articles will be notified that they are
blocking the turn.
* `block_on_ready`: If `publish.block_on_ready` is true, then turn publishing will
fail if any character missing a locked article has a ready article. The
editor will be notified that they are blocking the turn.
* `--force` can be specified to lexicon-publish-turn to skip both quorum and
ready checks.

1
README.LEXICON.md Normal file
View File

@ -0,0 +1 @@
For now, please see Lexipython's [README](https://github.com/Jaculabilis/Lexipython/blob/master/README.md) for the rules of Lexicon.

View File

@ -8,16 +8,18 @@ _amanuensis, n. One who copies or writes from the dictation of another._ -OED
Lexicon is a role-playing game in which players take on the role of scholars. These scholars are collaborating on the construction of an encyclopedia describing some fantastic world or historical period. Each turn, players submit articles on some particular topic, citing other articles within the burgeoning encyclopedia. This process is complicated by three factors. First, some of the articles being cited will not exist at the time they are cited. Second, players may not cite themselves. Third, players may not contradict anything another player has said.
For more information on Lexicon, check back later when I write a readme about it.
For more information on the game of Lexicon, see the [Lexicon README](README.LEXICON.md).
### Amanuensis in short
Amanuensis is the successor to [Lexipython](https://github.com/Jaculabilis/Lexipython). Lexipython provides scripting to build lexicons from markdown files, but otherwise provides no solution for article intake or game hosting. The goal of Amanuensis is to provide centralized workflows for the entire game of Lexicon, from creating the game to writing articles for each turn to publishing the final product.
Amanuensis is the successor to [Lexipython](https://github.com/Jaculabilis/Lexipython). Lexipython provides scripting to build lexicons from markdown files, but otherwise provides no solution for article intake or game hosting. The goal of Amanuensis is to provide centralized workflows for the entire game of Lexicon, from creating the game to writing articles for each turn to compiling the final product. Eventually, Amanuensis will be able to dump static files from a Lexicon game, at which point Lexipython will be discontinued.
For technical information on Amanuensis, see the [technical README](README.AMANUENSIS.md).
## Running Amanuensis
Amanuensis is currently developed with Python 3.6 on Ubuntu. Some I/O code uses the `fcntl` library, which is not supported on Windows; there are no plans at present to make Amanuensis run on Windows. A future version may provide simple scripting capabilities that work on Windows, but don't count on it and try Lexipython instead.
Amanuensis is currently developed with Python 3.6 on Ubuntu. Some file locking code uses Linux-specific functionality. There are no plans at present to make the Amanuensis server run on Windows.
Most commands require that the `--config-dir` commandline argument point to a valid config directory. Use `amanuensis init` to create a config directory at the given location instead of loading one. The config directory contains private information, so it shouldn't be publicly visible. If an update to Amanuensis causes your config directory to be missing a required config value, run `amanuensis init --update`.
Currently, Amanuensis is only run using the default Flask development server, which is unsuited for visibility to the public Internet. If you run it, it should only be accessible on a secure local network. Before you can run the server, you will need to `amanuensis generate-secret`. Run the server with `amanuensis run`.
Amanuensis is installable as a package within a virtual environment using `pip install -e .` and runnable using `python -m amanuensis`. Currently, `amanuensis run` runs the default Flask development server, which is unsuited for visibility to the public Internet. If you run it, it should only be accessible on a secure local network. Before you can run the server, you will need to `amanuensis generate-secret`.

View File

@ -1,63 +0,0 @@
"""
The article writing workflow proceeds through the following states:
* Active: When player creates a draft, it is initialized with this state.
Players can view and edit their active drafts. Admins can view all active
drafts. Active drafts occupy an index slot in the lexicon, but the title is
elided.
Players can mark their active drafts as ready for publication, which
transitions the draft to the Ready state. If publish.notify.editor_on_ready
is true, the editor will be notified.
* Ready: Players can view but not edit their ready drafts. Editors and admins
can view all ready drafts. The editor's session page lists all ready drafts
for that lexicon. Ready drafts occupy an index slot with an elided title.
A player can unready a ready draft, which transitions it to the Active state.
The editor can approve a ready draft, which transitions it to the Locked
state, or reject it, which transitions it to the Active state and includes a
message from the editor to the player who owns it. If either
publish.notify.player_on_reject or publish.notify.player_on_accept is true,
the player will be notified in that case.
* Locked: Players can view but not edit their locked drafts. Editors and admins
admins can view all locked drafts. The editor's session page lists all
locked drafts for that lexicon. Locked drafts occupy an index slot with an
elided title.
Turn publishing can be attempted by executing the lexicon-publish-turn command.
Automatic publishing is controlled by two settings: asap and deadlines.
* asap: If publish.asap is true, when the editor approves a draft, Amanuensis
will check if each character has a locked draft. If so, publishing will be
attempted immediately.
* deadlines: publish.deadlines should be a crontab-format time specification.
This will be prepended to the publish command and inserted into the user
crontab. The command uses --as-deadline to differentiate scheduled publish
attempts from manual ones. If publish.deadlines is empty, no crontab entry
will be used.
Whenever publishing is attempted, either internally via asap or externally via
invocation by command line or cron job, Amanuensis checks if every character in
the lexicon has a locked draft. If so, the turn is published. If not, publish
behavior follows two settings: quorum and block_on_ready.
* quorum: If publish.quorum is defined, then Amanuensis will check if there are
at least $quorum number of locked articles. If there are, then turn
publishing will proceed with just those articles. If there are not, but there
are enough ready articles to make quorum and --as-deadline was specified, then
the editor will be notified that they are blocking the turn. If there are not
enough ready articles to make quorum and --as-deadline was specified, then
players with characters without ready articles will be notified that they are
blocking the turn.
* block_on_ready: If publish.block_on_ready is true, then turn publishing will
fail if any character missing a locked article has a ready article. The
editor will be notified that they are blocking the turn.
* --force can be specified to lexicon-publish-turn to skip both quorum and
block_on_ready checks.
"""