About Evennia
-------------
Evennia is a proof-of-concept MU* server that aims to provide a functional
base for developers. While there are quite a few codebases that do the same
(and very well in many cases), we are taking a unique spin on the problem.
Some of our flagship features include (or will one day include):

* Extensive web integration.
* The ability to build/administer through a web browser.
* Shared accounts between the website and the game.
* Optional web-based character creation.
* Extremely easy-to-manipulate SQL database back-end via Django 
  (djangoproject.com)
* Simple and easily extensible design.
* Very granular permissions. Individual and group based.

The essential points here are the web integration and the SQL backing via
Django. The Django framework has database abstraction abilities that give us
many features free, such as:

* The codebase will run transparently on MySQL, SQLite, or Postgres
* At the time of this document's writing, our SQL-backed application here
  contains 0 lines of SQL. Django's database abstraction layer is absolutely
  simple yet very powerful.
* For any model we outline for the server's use, we have the ability to
  more or less automatically generate a web-based admin interface for it with
  two lines of code. This lets you Create, Update, or Delete entries.
* On the web-based side of things, features such as automatic form validation,
  abstraction of sessions and cookies, and access to whatever game data you
  desire are all attractive.
  
Installation
------------
At this point in time, the codebase is changing so rapidly that writing
installation instructions is pretty much pointless. When we get to that stage
in development, we'll make sure to update this. But for the really determined
(or stubborn), here's a rough outline:

* Install Django.
* Copy the Evennia source somewhere.
* Set up your apache2.conf to point mod-python to the settings.py file if you
  want the web features.
* Copy settings.py.dist to settings.py.
* Edit settings.py with your database info.
* Run 'python manage.py syncdb' 
* Run prepenv.sh. This will start the MU* server on port 4000 by default. You
  may change this via the web interface or by editing the config table in SQL.
  
Support and Development
-----------------------
Since we're so early in development, we really can't hope to offer much support.
However, if you'd like to report bugs, make suggestions, or help with the
code work, visit either or both of the following links:

* Evennia Code Page
  http://code.google.com/p/evennia/
  
* Evennia Google Group
  http://groups-beta.google.com/group/evennia?hl=en