Setting up a server/Debian

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These instructions have been tested in Debian Jessie (“Testing” as of May 2014) which includes a minetest-server package.

A simple Minetest server can be started in any Debian (or derivative distribution, like Ubuntu or Linux Mint) that has the minetest package by going to its “Server” tab, however such a game only remains available for the duration of the host's playing session.

This guide is aimed at providing a more permanent, minimal server environment setup without a graphical desktop environment.

Installation and initial preparation

Preparing a Debian 7 virtual machine (optional)

If you wish to install Minetest in its own dedicated environment, it's an interesting option to do so on a KVM host, as a dedicated virtual machine.

This requires previous installation and configuration of KVM and the virtinst package on your host system. You can also configure a network bridge so your LAN will have direct access to the server on the same subnet.

The following command will prepare a virtual machine named "dungeon" in an existing KVM host: 

sudo virt-install -n dungeon -r 1024 --disk path=/var/lib/libvirt/images/dungeon.img,bus=virtio,size=10 -l http://ftp.ca.debian.org/debian/dists/wheezy/main/installer-i386/ --accelerate -b br0,model=virtio --connect=qemu:///system --vnc --noautoconsole -v

Once installed, you can access the console via VNC.

= Installing the minetest server application

Install the minetest-server package: 

# apt-get install minetest-server

The current Debian package does not automatically setup the Minetest server to start as a service. It can run under the root user but it may be preferrable to create a user to run it: 

# adduser minetest

Before setting up automatic startup at boot, consider manually running the server to determine the best command line arguments.

Manually starting the server

The server can be started manually by invoking its command: 

$ /usr/games/minetestserver --info

The last few lines of terminal output should be similar to this: 

03:33:25: INFO[main]: Server: Loading environment metadata
03:33:25: INFO[main]: Server: Loading players
03:33:25: INFO[main]: Starting server on port 30000...
03:33:25: ACTION[main]:         .__               __                   __   
03:33:25: ACTION[main]:   _____ |__| ____   _____/  |_  ____   _______/  |_ 
03:33:25: ACTION[main]:  /     \|  |/    \_/ __ \   __\/ __ \ /  ___/\   __\
03:33:25: ACTION[main]: |  Y Y  \  |   |  \  ___/|  | \  ___/ \___ \  |  |  
03:33:25: ACTION[main]: |__|_|  /__|___|  /\___  >__|  \___  >____  > |__|  
03:33:25: ACTION[main]:       \/        \/     \/          \/     \/        
03:33:25: ACTION[main]: World at [/home/minetest/.minetest/worlds/world]
03:33:25: ACTION[main]: Server for gameid="minetest" listening on port 30000.
03:33:25: INFO[ServerThread]: Server creating detached inventory "creative"
03:33:28: INFO[ServerThread]: ServerMap: SQLite3 database opened

Manually stopping the server

To stop the server, press Ctrl + C. Avoid killing it unless necessary, since that may cause world corruption.

The last few lines of terminal output should be similar to this: 

^C03:34:52: INFO: sigint_handler(): Ctrl-C pressed, shutting down.
03:34:52: INFO[main]: Dedicated server quitting
03:34:52: INFO[main]: Server destructing
03:34:52: INFO[main]: Server: Saving players
03:34:52: INFO[main]: Server: Saving environment metadata
03:34:52: INFO[main]: Server: Stopping and waiting threads
03:34:52: INFO[main]: Server: Threads stopped
03:34:52: INFO[main]: ServerMap: Saved map to /home/minetest/.minetest/worlds/world
03:34:52: INFO[main]: RollbackManager::~RollbackManager()
03:34:52: INFO[main]: RollbackManager::flush()
03:34:52: INFO[main]: BanManager: saving to /home/minetest/.minetest/worlds/world/ipban.txt
03:34:52: INFO[main]: Server: Deinitializing scripting

Setup automatic startup at boot

With a boot-time scheduled command

Once you're satisfied with command line arguments and having tested the server works, you can setup automatic startup at boot:

  1. Login as the user previously created. This can be a non-privileged user.
  2. Add the minetestserver command as determined after testing with manual server startup to crontab
    1. Invoke the crontab editor: 
      $ crontab -e
    2. Add your command to be executed at reboot to the very end of the file, for example: 
      @reboot /usr/games/minetestserver --info --worldname MyWorld
  3. Save the file (Ctrl-X if using the nano editor)

With an init script

A better practice when running a service in Debian is to create a proper init script and configuration for it.

Check this forum discussion for details, a cleaned-up version is being worked on.

Further information

  • For a detailed explanation of the server configuration file, see the minetest.conf page.
  • You may also want to consider to use a different database backend for your world.
  • Also see Item strings for the itemstrings for use with the /give and /giveme commands.
  • See the Privileges page for detailed information on the privilege system.

A few tips

  • The .minetest directory contains game data (worlds, config, debug.txt)
  • File structure with the folders Minetest adds after some usage as client and server, as well as the positions (...) that costum made content goes could look like this.
minetest/
├── bin/
├── builtin/
├── cache/
│   ├── media/
│   └── tmp/
├── client/
│   ├── serverlist/
│   └── shaders/
│       ├── alpha_shader/
│       ├── leaves_shader/
│       ├── liquids_shader/
│       ├── plants_shader/
│       └── solids_shader/
├── doc/
├── fonts/
├── games/
│   ├── minetest_game/
│   ├── minimal/
│   └── ... (installed extra games)
├── locale/ (lots of language folders)
├── mods/
│   └── ... (installed extra mods and modpacks)
├── textures/
│   ├── base/
│   │   └── pack/
│   └── ... (installed extra texturepacks)
└── worlds/
    └── ... (saved worlds. Some with exclusive world mods)
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