Community challenge: Automated PBEM e-mailing

[WraithLord]

Well I've made a similar tool for domII (and later adopted it for domIII), but it has fallen into disrepair, mainly because of how neatly llamaserver handles PBEM.

Just to get an idea what the tool is about, Its a python CLI that works for Linux and Windows and requires that the host have a gmail account. I've already used it in the past to host dom-II PBEMs.
The game management options look like:
1. Retreive game turns. [into dominions game folder]
2. Send new turns to players. [Distribute new turns]
3. Broadcast a message. [Send a message to all players in active game]
4. Send status notification. [send a notification of which turns are missing to players]
5. Verify that all turns are valid. [print a list of all missing or invalid turns]
6. Backup current turns. [create a backup of the turn files]
7. Reload turns from archive. [reload specific turn from backup]
8. Host game. [verify that all turns are valid, backup and then host the game]
.

Here is the orginal post (at the bottom of the thread)
I could repair this tool and also add missing features to it and a GUI, actually it would have been nice to do but currently I'm on a tight schedule at work meaning long overtime hours so no time for this. However maybe I could be of some help to this project.

[llamabeast]

I love this community.

Just to check I understand you Wraithlord: The way you've described your script, it sounds like it essentially performs the same tasks as the LlamaServer, i.e. kind of the opposite of what we want to make. So is the idea that your tool contains all the essential elements (especially e-mail checking and sending) that could be cannibalised into a new tool?

Also, one difficulty I was anticipating with Windows is that it doesn't have a perl interpreter by default (and all my LlamaServer code is in perl). Would the same issue apply to Python?

Oh, another thing - am I right in understanding that CLI means it's a command line program? Is there any way to make it easy for Windows users to use without opening a DOS window? i.e. could they just double click on it?

[WraithLord]

The tool contains all the elements that make up the work flow of hosting a PBEM game, that's right.

The tool can be and was indeed compiled into a windows exe file.

Yes, windows users can just click on it.

The most important issue the tool suffers from is the dependency on gmail. Which I wanted at the time to get rid off but didn't get to. Also since gmail has changed their protocol a few months ago the tool can't perform the actual mail d/l and u/l operations. The bright side of this is that gmail protocol was changed to standard IMAP which python supports easy enough so it shouldn't be difficult to fix.