Mine with Fedora - Minetest server for the Fedora Community - Sep 2023 Update

Project Discussion
1

I’ve got a ping from the infra team on whether we want to keep the Fedora Minetest server, so I’d like to bring it here again and discuss the possibilities.

Current state

The server is deployed via Ansible playbook (Overview - fedora-mine - Pagure.io) on a CentOS Stream 9 machine in AWS.

It currently runs the Mesecraft version of Minetest (MeseCraft - ContentDB)

It runs with monsters, they are scary so I did set it up so that you are not losing your stuff if you die. But still.

Important: there is currently no backup of the world.

Good news: it runs for 9 months with zero oversight and just works.

How to join

  • Install minetest client: dnf install minetest
  • Set server: mine.fedorainfracloud.org, port 30000
  • Join the Matrix room: https://chat.fedoraproject.org/#/room/#mine-with-fedora:fedora.im
  • Ping @bookwar:fedora.im for the temporary password
  • Login to the server using the temporary password and change password immediately.
  • Use “V” to enable minimap and go to (152, 13, 160) to get you started.
  • Post in this thread about your success :slight_smile:

Screenshot from 2023-08-04 22-53-24
Screenshot from 2023-08-04 22-53-241460×804 582 KB

Options to continue

1. Switch it off

Pros: nothing to worry about

2. Keep it running as an ephemeral instance mostly for social events

No strings attached. You can play with it as much as you like, but consider it more like a demo of the Minetest capabilities suitable for some short mining and building sessions for fun.

We won’t reset it intentionally, but in case of problems we redeploy the server and start again.

3. Set it up as a more long-term creative project

This option needs some work:

  1. [Critical] Setup backups (requires knowledge of some ansible)

Optionally, make world backups publicly available, so that anyone can download the copy and setup their own instance with the same world data. (User data is not part of the world data)

  1. [Crticial] Find some mods with admin privileges.

For now mods should not really worry about the hostile activity on the server, but rather should be there to provide the guidance and help with the first login.

Currently the server is invite-only. For the first login you need to get the temporary password, which you then reset to something else. And for now I am the only person with admin rights who can provide temporary passwords. So we need some more people to help with the onboarding.

  1. [Nice to have] Setup some landing page with introduction and docs.

Some static page at https://mine.fedorainfracloud.org would be good enough I think.

  1. [Possible?] Run some more creativity-friendly mod so that the server is less about fighting and more about building. Which one?

  2. [Nice to have] Promote the server where it makes sense.
    I think we should do publicly available backups of the world before we promote anything :slight_smile:

To conclude

Option 1 is easy. I may be able to convince Fedora Infra to go with option 2 even on my own. But for option 3 we definitely need more people. So please join.

The tasks do not require that much of a prior knowledge. If you have an interest to contribute but don’t know where to start - ping me in #mine-with-fedora:fedora.im Matrix room and I’ll help.

1 Like
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This is my preferred option, in the sense of what I have capacity to support. A Minetest server is a great, casual activity for a Fedora release party. I can dedicate time in the schedule for it, so people have time to explore and check it out. I can promote it during opening and closing remarks of release parties.

We also have other virtual events on the horizon, so offering the Minetest server as a social activity would also be nice for those.

I am happy to advise and brainstorm for this option, but I do not have much time myself to dedicate here.

I have lots of opinions and ideas though… in a past life, I ran my own Minecraft semi-vanilla multiplayer server for 5-6 years and I was also a staff member of the most widely-used Minecraft open source server software for a few years. If it were 2015 again, this would have been a perfect contribution area for me in Fedora. :smiley: I would love to see this option be successful.