Disconnect player if inactive (and free a slot)

[cacatoès]

Hiya,

I haven't found any thread about this issue,

Each server has a defined number of slots for players. It happens they are all used up, sometimes by players who leave their computers running but who are not in front.

It would make sense to be able to set an inactivity period (like 1 hour), after which if no activity from the player it would gently disconnect (and free the slot). This period could be set by server admins and eventually disabled.

I'm unsure what would be the best way to track (in)activity since I don't know well the game mechanisms, but I guess you have ideas on this ;)

Regards,

[kaeza]

Hello and welcome.

Something like this should work:

Code: Select all

-- Interval between movement checks (in seconds).
local INTERVAL = 5

-- Minimum distance to move to register as not AFK (in blocks).
local MINDIST = 0.2

-- If player does not move within this time, kick player (in seconds).
local TIMEOUT = 300 -- 5 minutes

local time_afk = { }
local last_pos = { }

local function check_moved()
	for _, p in ipairs(minetest.get_connected_players()) do
		local plname = p:get_player_name()
		local pos = p:getpos()
		local kicked
		if last_pos[plname] then
			local d = vector.distance(last_pos[plname], pos)
			print("Player: "..plname..", Dist: "..d)
			if d < MINDIST then
				time_afk[plname] = (time_afk[plname] or 0) + INTERVAL
				if time_afk[plname] >= TIMEOUT then
					minetest.kick_player(plname,
							"Inactive for "..TIMEOUT.." seconds.")
					kicked = true
				end
			else
				time_afk[plname] = 0
			end
		end
		if not kicked then
			last_pos[plname] = pos
		end
	end
	minetest.after(INTERVAL, check_moved)
end
minetest.after(INTERVAL, check_moved)

minetest.register_on_leaveplayer(function(player)
	local plname = player:get_player_name()
	time_afk[plname] = nil
	last_pos[plname] = nil
end)

[Gael de Sailly]

I support.
+1

[CWz]

i don't think the timeout time resets if the player starts moving

[kaeza]

i don't think the timeout time resets if the player starts moving

Thanks for spotting that. I corrected the snippet.

[cacatoès]

Thanks for the code.

Are there chances for this to be merged into minetest ?

[Sol]

keza, is there any particular advantage of using .after instead of globalstep?

[kaeza]

keza, is there any particular advantage of using .after instead of globalstep?

By using `after`, I avoid having to implement a timer to do it at some intervals. The `on_globalstep` callbacks run on every server step, which would be potentially slower and not really needed in this case.

EDIT: clarification.

[kaeza]

Thanks for the code.

Are there chances for this to be merged into minetest ?

I wouldn't bet on that, but feel free to submit a pull/feature request on Github.

EDIT: In case anyone has any problems, I release the code I posted as CC-0 (effectively "public domain").

[Sol]

By using `after`, I avoid having to implement a timer to do it at some intervals. The `on_globalstep` callbacks run on every server step, which would be potentially slower and not really needed in this case.

Thanks for explanation!

[CWz]

Now time for me to figure out to how add a "may afk" priv to that script

[cacatoès]

Moreover I believe the code snippet above assumes "activity" is "to walk", while some other actions may as well be considered as "activity".
I would consider someone to be active if:
* Standing up without moving and have a chat with others, or playing with his/her inventory/crafting.

I am unsure a "may afk" priv would be useful. If this is a mean to allow admins of a server to stay as long as they want, I believe some private slots would be more appropriate to answer this need.
The logic with this auto-kick is: if you're automatically kicked, you still can reconnect as soon as you're back on your computer.

So if I sum up,
* Better define what "activity" is (i.e: not only walking)
* I also guess the inactivity period should be a variable in server config (minetest.conf), unless set to a sane default (30 minutes ?)

Unfortunately I can't code, so I may formalize a feature request if this topic makes sense.