minetest/doc/protocol.txt

Minetest-c55 protocol (incomplete, early draft):
Updated 2011-06-18

A custom protocol over UDP.
Integers are big endian.
Refer to connection.{h,cpp} for further reference.

Initialization:
- A dummy reliable packet with peer_id=PEER_ID_INEXISTENT=0 is sent to the server:
	- Actually this can be sent without the reliable packet header, too, i guess,
	  but the sequence number in the header allows the sender to re-send the
	  packet without accidentally getting a double initialization.
	- Packet content:
		# Basic header
		u32 protocol_id = PROTOCOL_ID = 0x4f457403
		u16 sender_peer_id = PEER_ID_INEXISTENT = 0
		u8 channel = 0
		# Reliable packet header
		u8 type = TYPE_RELIABLE = 3
		u16 seqnum = SEQNUM_INITIAL = 65500
		# Original packet header
		u8 type = TYPE_ORIGINAL = 1
		# And no actual payload.
- Server responds with something like this:
	- Packet content:
		# Basic header
		u32 protocol_id = PROTOCOL_ID = 0x4f457403
		u16 sender_peer_id = PEER_ID_INEXISTENT = 0
		u8 channel = 0
		# Reliable packet header
		u8 type = TYPE_RELIABLE = 3
		u16 seqnum = SEQNUM_INITIAL = 65500
		# Control packet header
		u8 type = TYPE_CONTROL = 0
		u8 controltype = CONTROLTYPE_SET_PEER_ID = 1
		u16 peer_id_new = assigned peer id to client (other than 0 or 1)
- Then the connection can be disconnected by sending:
	- Packet content:
		# Basic header
		u32 protocol_id = PROTOCOL_ID = 0x4f457403
		u16 sender_peer_id = whatever was gotten in CONTROLTYPE_SET_PEER_ID
		u8 channel = 0
		# Control packet header
		u8 type = TYPE_CONTROL = 0
		u8 controltype = CONTROLTYPE_DISCO = 2

- Here's a quick untested connect-disconnect done in PHP:
# host: ip of server (use gethostbyname(hostname) to get from a dns name)
# port: port of server
function check_if_minetestserver_up($host, $port)
{
	$socket = socket_create(AF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM, SOL_UDP);
	$timeout = array("sec" => 1, "usec" => 0);
	socket_set_option($socket, SOL_SOCKET, SO_RCVTIMEO, $timeout);
	$buf = "\x4f\x45\x74\x03\x00\x00\x00\x03\xff\xdc\x01";
	socket_sendto($socket, $buf, strlen($buf), 0, $host, $port);
	$buf = socket_read($socket, 1000);
	if($buf != "")
	{
		# We got a reply! read the peer id from it.
		$peer_id = substr($buf, 9, 2);
		
		# Disconnect
		$buf = "\x4f\x45\x74\x03".$peer_id."\x00\x00\x02";
		socket_sendto($socket, $buf, strlen($buf), 0, $host, $port);
		socket_close($socket);
		
		return true;
	}
	return false;
}