5.3.2.1 Emergency Wizard Mode

This is a mode that allows you to enter commands on standard input to examine objects or evaluate arbitrary code with wizard permissions in order to, e.g., blank out a forgotten wizard password or repair a database having a broken $do_login_command verb that otherwise would not allow anyone to connect.

When you start the server and supply the -e command line option, the database will load and you will then see a prompt indicating the identity of the wizard whose permissions you are using and the current state of the debug flag, e.g., one of

MOO (#2): MOO (#2)[!d]:

the latter version of the prompt indicating that the debug flag is unset, and thus that errors will be returned rather than raised, as when you unset the d flag on a verb.

The following commands are available in Emergency Mode:

;expression

;;statements

Evaluate expression or statements, print the expression result or the statement return value.

Note that expression or statement can be omitted, in which case you will be prompted for multiple lines of input, as for the .program command. Type a period on a line by itself to finish.

Also note that no background code, whether resulting from fork statements or suspend() calls, will run until after the Emergency Mode is exited.

program object:verb

Set the code of an existing verb.

list object:verb

List the code of an existing verb.

disassemble object:verb

List the internal form of an existing verb.

debug

Toggle the debug flag.

wizard #objectid

Execute future commands as wizard #objectid, which must be an existing player object with `.wizard==1'.

continue

Exit the emergency mode, continuing with normal start-up. That is, the server will perform the initial listen and start accepting connections.

quit

Exit the emergency mode, save the database and shut down the server.

abort

Exit the emergency mode, and shut down the server without saving the database. This is useful for if you make a mistake

help

Print the list of commands.

Note that output from wizard mode commands appears on the server's standard output stream (stdout) and thus can be redirected independently of the log messages if those are being written to the standard error stream (stderr, i.e., if -l has not been specified on the command line).

Also note that unless the server has been compiled to use the NP_SINGLE networking variant, Emergency Wizard Mode is the only use of the server's standard input and output streams.