Hi.

I know you have that application form if one wants to become one of the devs. Well, I might want that at some point, but as of currently I don't feel like applying, 'cos a) I'm not that experienced with C++ and games (I've mostly done my codings with Java)) b) I'm unsure if I actually have the time to do much anything.

Anyway, here's the deal. I have compiled the game and briefly glanced at the doc directory and also found this site: http://www.vaikene.net/planeshift/api/
Is there any other resources that could help quickly grasp on the architecture of the system? Perhaps some UML-graphs or architecture documents?

Hmm.. I'm having some problems at replying.. I've tried to reply all day and I finally figured out what was the problem:
It was this line:
Protocols: t_ftp ftp telnet dict ldap http file https ftps
For some reason removing that _ will result in this:
Forbidden
You don't have permission to access /smf/index.php on this server.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.
Apache/1.3.37 Server at www.hydlaa.com Port 80


timo@timo-desktop:/opt/planeshift_svn/planeshift$ curl --version
curl 7.16.4 (i486-pc-linux-gnu) libcurl/7.16.4 OpenSSL/0.9.8e zlib/1.2.3.3 libidn/1.0
Protocols: t_ftp ftp telnet dict ldap http file https ftps
Features: GSS-Negotiate IDN IPv6 Largefile NTLM SSL libz

timo@timo-desktop:/opt/planeshift_svn/planeshift$ whereis curl
curl: /usr/bin/curl /usr/share/man/man1/curl.1.gz

timo@timo-desktop:/opt/planeshift_svn/planeshift$ ./configure --with-libcal3d=$CAL3D >> config.log
timo@timo-desktop:/opt/planeshift_svn/planeshift$ cat config.log | grep curl
configure:18820: checking for curl
checking for curl... configure:18836: result: no
my_cv_curl_vers=NONE

Ok you're right. The configure can't find curl.

The configure file lines 18809-18840:

#----------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Check for Curl
#----------------------------------------------------------------------------


 if test "${my_cv_curl_vers+set}" = set; then
  echo $ECHO_N "(cached) $ECHO_C" >&6
else

 my_cv_curl_vers=NONE
  check="7.7.2"
 { echo "$as_me:$LINENO: checking for curl" >&5
echo $ECHO_N "checking for curl... $ECHO_C" >&6; }
 if eval curl-config --version 2>/dev/null >/dev/null; then
   ver=`curl-config --version | sed -e "s/libcurl //g"`
   CURL_CFLAG=`curl-config --cflags `
   CURL_LIBS=`curl-config --libs `
   CURL_VERSION=`curl-config --version | sed -e "s/libcurl //g"`
   cs_jamconfig_text="${cs_jamconfig_text}CURL.AVAILABLE ?= \"yes\" ;
"
   cs_jamconfig_text="${cs_jamconfig_text}CURL.CFLAGS ?= \"$CURL_CFLAG\" ;
"
   cs_jamconfig_text="${cs_jamconfig_text}CURL.LFLAGS ?= \"$CURL_LIBS\" ;
"
   { echo "$as_me:$LINENO: result: $CURL_VERSION" >&5
echo "${ECHO_T}$CURL_VERSION" >&6; }
 else
   { echo "$as_me:$LINENO: result: no" >&5
echo "${ECHO_T}no" >&6; }
 fi

fi

This goes beyond my understanding of bash. Though, I was able to understand that it would like to run a command called curl-config. Such command was not present on my computer but I soon enough learnt that libculr4-openssl-dev and libcurl4-guntls-dev provide such a command.
So I tried:
timo@timo-desktop:/opt/planeshift_svn/planeshift$ sudo apt-get install libssl-dev libidn11-dev libkadm55 libkrb5-dev libcurl4-openssl-dev
timo@timo-desktop:/opt/planeshift_svn/planeshift$ ./configure --with-libcal3d=$CAL3D >> config.log
timo@timo-desktop:/opt/planeshift_svn/planeshift$ cat config.log | grep curl
configure:18820: checking for curl
checking for curl... configure:18833: result: 7.16.4
my_cv_curl_vers=NONE

Now it seems to find the curl but the same errors persist. Then I also tried:
sudo apt-get remove libssl-dev libidn11-dev libkadm55 libkrb5-dev libcurl4-openssl-dev
sudo apt-get install libcurl4-gnutls-dev libgcrypt11-dev libgnutls-dev libgnutlsxx13 libgpg-error-dev libidn11-dev libkadm55 libkrb5-dev liblzo2-dev libopencdk8-dev libpopt-dev libtasn1-3-dev
But the result was the same..

Then I realized there's one thing I could do get more information (how come I didn't think of it sooner.. )
timo@timo-desktop:/opt/planeshift_svn/planeshift$ cat config.log | grep error
and
timo@timo-desktop:/opt/planeshift_svn/planeshift$ cat config.log | grep no
The printings are rather long so I'm not going to bloat the post with it. Here's the entire config.log if somebody has the time to check it out.
http://www.cs.helsinki.fi/u/tglehto/tmp/config.log

Hey thanks!
I tried your guide and got a bit further this time. It compiles, but wont start..
timo@timo-desktop:/opt/planeshift_svn/planeshift$ ./runpsclient
WARNING: could not load plugin 'crystalspace.graphics3d.opengl'
DEBUG: Sound System Software Renderer Initializing...
WARNING: could not load plugin 'crystalspace.sndsys.software.driver.alsa'
WARNING: could not load plugin 'crystalspace.sndsys.software.driver.crystalspace.sndsys.software.driver.alsa'
ERROR: Failed to load driver as [crystalspace.sndsys.software.driver.alsa] or [crystalspace.sndsys.software.driver.crystalspace.sndsys.software.driver.alsa].
WARNING: failed to initialize plugin 'crystalspace.sndsys.renderer.software'
WARNING: could not load plugin 'crystalspace.sndsys.element.ogg'
No 3D driver!
WARNING: could not load plugin 'crystalspace.font.server.freetype2'
WARNING: could not load plugin 'crystalspace.font.server.freetype2'
ERROR: Couldn't load plugin with class 'crystalspace.font.server.freetype2'!
psclient:  No 3d driver (iGraphics3D) plugin!

Also I'm a bit curious 'cos there's no updater. There is no file called updater. And in fact as far as I have understood correctly the linux updater is actually named just up, but it's missing too. But I suppose this all doesn't really matter since the updater doesn't work as far as I know. I copied the data and art from a previous package install.

I also didn't quite understand your instructions about editing the updaterconfig.xml file. If my eyes are not deceiving me there's nothing highlighted in blue?

Anyways heres the contents of the planeshift folder:
timo@timo-desktop:/opt/planeshift_svn/planeshift$ ls | cat
art
autogen.sh
autom4te.cache
backup
cal3d
cel
config.log
config.status
configure
configure.ac
cs
data
docs
eedit.cfg
include
Jamconfig
Jamfile
Jamfile.in
Jamrules
lang
mk
npcclient.cfg
out
planeshift.cfg
profile
psclient
psclient.cfg
psclient.cfg~
psclient.cfg.bak
psclient.cfg.bak~
psclient.dbg
psserver.cfg
pssetup
pssetup.cfg
pssetup.dbg
psupdater.cfg
runpsclient
src
tools
updaterconfig.xml
updaterconfig.xml~
updaterconfig.xml.bak
vfs.cfg

Hello!
Surprise, surprise, I'm trying to compile everything and encountered some problems. I've managed to get to the point where I'm suppose to compile the actual PS-client. The configure goes well, but jamming produces this weird problem:
jam -aq client

...a ton of printing...

LinkApplication psclient
./out/linuxx86/optimize/libs/libpsnet-0.3.a(messages.o): In function `psMsgStringsMessage':
/home/timo/developement/planeshift/src/common/net/messages.cpp:3146: undefined reference to `inflateInit_'
/home/timo/developement/planeshift/src/common/net/messages.cpp:3153: undefined reference to `inflate'
/home/timo/developement/planeshift/src/common/net/messages.cpp:3154: undefined reference to `inflateEnd'
/home/timo/developement/planeshift/src/common/net/messages.cpp:3146: undefined reference to `inflateInit_'
/home/timo/developement/planeshift/src/common/net/messages.cpp:3153: undefined reference to `inflate'
/home/timo/developement/planeshift/src/common/net/messages.cpp:3154: undefined reference to `inflateEnd'
/home/timo/developement/planeshift/src/common/net/messages.cpp:3079: undefined reference to `deflateInit_'
/home/timo/developement/planeshift/src/common/net/messages.cpp:3083: undefined reference to `deflate'
/home/timo/developement/planeshift/src/common/net/messages.cpp:3085: undefined reference to `deflateEnd'
/home/timo/developement/planeshift/src/common/net/messages.cpp:3079: undefined reference to `deflateInit_'
/home/timo/developement/planeshift/src/common/net/messages.cpp:3083: undefined reference to `deflate'
/home/timo/developement/planeshift/src/common/net/messages.cpp:3085: undefined reference to `deflateEnd'
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status

...some printing...

...failed LinkApplication psclient ...
...failed updating 1 target(s)...
...updated 222 target(s)...

It seems to me that in function psMsgStringsMessage it tries to call methods or macros that are not declared anywhere. These seem to be among the ones provided by the zlib. Though zlib is not included in this file and even if I would include it, it still complains about the same thing. It is included in the file cs/include/csutil/zip.h so I suppose it's suppose to get them from there. My C++ knowledge is rather limited so that's probably the reason I'm not getting this.. I've also checked the zlib.h and it contains the macros/functions:

for exmaple:
ZEXTERN int ZEXPORT deflateInit_ OF((z_streamp strm, int level,
                                     const char *version, int stream_size));

Anybody has any ideas?