dfhack/README

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

DFHack is a Dwarf Fortress memory access library and a set of basic tools using 
this library. The library is a work in progress, so things might change as more
tools are written for it.

It is an attempt to unite the various ways tools access DF memory and allow for
easier development of new tools.

Getting DFHack
----------------
The project is currently hosted on github, for both source and binaries:
  http://github.com/peterix/dfhack

* Packages

The library and tools are packaged for Archlinux and are available both in AUR
and the arch-games repository.

The package name is dfhack-git :)

Compatibility
-------------

DFHack works on Windows XP, Vista, 7 or any modern Linux distribution.

Windows 2000 is currently *not supported* due to missing OS functionality.
If you know how to easily suspend processes, you can fix it :)

OSX is also not supported due to lack of developers with a Mac.

Currently supported Dwarf Fortress versions:
* Windows
  0.31.01 - 0.31.03 legacy
  0.31.04 - 0.31.08 SDL

* Linux
  0.31.04 - 0.31.08 native.
  There are missing offsets but Map tools should be OK. Linux support is a bit lacking, I'm working on it.
  All supported Windows versions running in wine can be used with DFHack.

Using the library as a developer
--------------------------------

The library is compilable under Linux with GCC and under Windows with MinGW32
and MSVC compilers. It is using the cmake build system. See COMPILE for details.

DFHack is using the zlib/libpng license. This makes it easy to link to it, use
it in-source or add your own extensions. Contributing back to the dfhack
repository is welcome and the right thing to do :)

At the time of writing there's no API reference or documentation. The code does
have a lot of comments though (and getting better all the time).

Contributing to DFHack
----------------------

Several things should be kept in mind when contributing to DFHack.

**** Coding style ****

DFhack uses ANSI formatting and four spaces as indentation. Line endings are
UNIX. The files use UTF-8 encoding. Code not following this won't make me happy,
because I'll have to fix it. There's a good chance I'll make *you* fix it ;)

**** How to get new code into DFHack ****

You can send patches or make a clone of the github repo and ask me on the
IRC channel to pull your code in. I'll review it and see if there are any
problems. I'll fix them if they are minor.

Fixes are higher in priority. If you want to work on something, but don't
know what, check out http://github.com/peterix/dfhack/issues -- this is also
a good place to dump new ideas and/or bugs that need fixing.

**** Layout for tools ****

Tools live in the tools/ folder. There, they are split into three categories:

distributed: these tools get distributed with binary releases and are installed
             by doing 'make install' on linux. They are supposed to be stable
             and supported. Experimental, useless, buggy or untested stuff
             doesn't belong here.
examples   : examples are tools that aren't very useful, but show how DF
             and DFHack work. They should use only DFHack API functions.
             No actual hacking or 'magic offsets' are allowed.
playground : This is a catch-all folder for tools that aren't ready to be
             examples or be distributed in binary releases. All new tools
             should start here. They can contain actual hacking, magic values
             and other nasty business.

**** Modules - what are they? ****

DFHack uses modules to partition sets of features into manageable chunks.
A module can have both client and server side.

Client side is the part that goes into the main library and is generally
written in C++. It is exposed to the users of DFHack.

Server side is used inside DF and serves to accelerate the client modules.
This is written mostly in C style.

There's a Core module that shouldn't be changed, because it defines
the basic commands like reading and writing raw data. The client parts
for the Core module are the various implementations of the Process
interface.

A good example of a module is Maps. Named the same in both client and
server, it allows accelerating the reading of map blocks.

Communication between modules happens by using shared memory. This is
pretty fast, but needs quite a bit of care to not break. 

**** Dependencies ****

Internal : either part of the codebase or statically linked.
External : linked as dynamic loaded libraries (.dll, .so, etc.)

If you want to add dependencies, think twice about it. All internal dependencies
for core dfhack should be either public domain or require attribution at most.
Internal dependencies for tools can be either that, or any Free Software
licenses.

** Current internal dependencies **

tinyxml  : used by core dfhack to read offset definitions from Memory.xml
md5      : an implementation of the MD5 hash algorithm. Used for identifying
           DF binaries on Linux.
argstream: Allows reading terminal application arguments. GPL!

** Current external dependencies **

wide-character ncurses : used for the veinlook tool on Linux.
python 2.6             : required for building and using the python bindings.

** Build-time dependencies **
cmake: you need cmake to generate the build system and some configuration
       headers


Tools
-----
All the DFHack tools are terminal programs. This might seem strange to Windows
users, but these are meant mostly as examples for developers. Still, they can
be useful and are cross-platform just like the library itself.

 - dfcleanmap  : Cleans all the splatter that get scattered all over the map.
                 Only exception is mud. It leaves mud alone.
 - dfexpbench  : Just a simple benchmark of the data export speed.
 - dfliquids   : A command prompt for liquid creation and manipulation
                 (the Moses effect included!)
                 Also allows painting obsidian walls directly.
                 Note:
                 Spawning and deleting liquids can F up pathing data and
                 temperatures (creating heat traps). You've been warned.
 - dfposition  : Prints the current DF window properties and cursor position.
 - dfprospector: Lists all available minerals on the map and how much
                 of them there is.
 - dfreveal    : Reveals the whole map, waits for input and hides it again.
                 If you close the tool while it waits, the map remains revealed.
 - dfsuspend   : Test of the process suspend/resume mechanism.
 - dfunstuck   : Use if you prematurely close any of the tools and DF
                 appears to be stuck.
 - dfvdig      : Designates a whole vein for digging. Point the cursor at a vein
                 and run this thing :)

 - dfflows     : A tool for checking how many liquid tiles are actively checked
                 for flows.
 - Your tool here:  Write one ;)


Memory offset definitions
-------------------------

The file with memory offset definitions used by dfhack can be found in the
output folder.

~ EOF ~