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0e1f616
(Get the code!)
It has been three months. Was this discussed on ubuntu-motu? I can't find anything in the list archives.
I think there are two distinct issues here:
(1) Should a game server start a boot by default?
(2) Should a game server add itself to a global Internet "game server locator" by default?
Regarding (1), Troy simply asserts that "a game server is _unlike_" other servers, doing so primarily on the grounds that such game servers are often temporary. However, some people run temporary FTP or HTTP servers, too, so I'm not sure this is truly a difference in their essential nature! There are certainly game servers out there that run 24x7 (WoW, Second Life, many MUDs and MOOs, etc.).
However, some assistance for newcomers who for some reason don't expect servers to actually serve may possibly be desirable for game servers. I'd therefore propose that a well-phrased debconf question (i.e. one asked at server installation time) is sufficient to make it clear to newcomers that once installed, in the Unix/Linux/Ubuntu world, servers really are expected to serve. If you don't want that to happen for this game server, then basically either speak now (answer the debconf question appropriately at server install time) or else learn how to manage services on your machine.
Regarding (2), if the most common way to use a particular game server is in fact LAN-based local usage, then logically the game server configuration should *not* default to announcing itself to a global locator service, much less waste bandwidth constantly talking to such a central locator.
Therefore, for wesnoth-server, I think this default should be changed, *if* in fact it currently announces itself to the Internet (David seems to be talking mainly about a completely different game server, which is a little confusing). A quick test running wesnoth-server while running wireshark to see what it was doing on the network suggests that by default it does *not* go out there and announce itself. In which case, of course, no change is needed in this regard.
Two questions:
A. Does anyone have evidence that wesnoth-server is in fact misbehaving and announcing itself to the global Internet upon startup, by default?
B. Would anyone object to a debdiff adding an install-time debconf question about whether to automatically start the server at boot time?
Jonathan