write readme, add license

1 files changed, 45 insertions, 1 deletions

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-to do: write readme.
+=== bracket bot ===
+
+before you begin, you will need the following:
+* a discord bot token
+    (see e.g. https://github.com/reactiflux/discord-irc/wiki/Creating-a-discord-bot-&-getting-a-token)
+* the channel id of the channel where the polls should be posted
+    (see https://support.discord.com/hc/en-us/articles/206346498-Where-can-I-find-my-User-Server-Message-ID)
+* a list of entries for your bracket
+
+to build the bracket bot, just run make. the bracket bot uses libcurl,
+libsqlite3, and Niels Lohmann's json library. the json library is downloaded
+at build time. the required packages to build on debian are the following:
+* g++
+* libcurl-dev (this is a virtual package, satisfiable by a few options)
+* libsqlite3-dev
+* make
+* wget
+
+when the bot is run, it expects the following environment variables:
+* BOT_TOKEN: the bot token
+* CHANNEL_ID: the channel id
+* POLLS_PER_DAY: the number of polls to post each day
+* POST_TIME_UTC: the number of seconds past midnight utc to post the polls
+    (for example, to post at midnight eastern daylight time, set this to 14400)
+and it expects to find a list of entries, separated by newlines, in a file
+named entries.txt in the directory where it is run.
+
+the bot creates a sqlite3 database in database.db, with the following tables:
+* misc: this contains one column and one row with the current round number
+* entries: a list of every entry
+  * name: the name of the entry
+  * round: if the entry has been eliminated, a zero. if the entry has passed
+    the current round, then the number of the next round. if the entry has not
+    appeared in a poll this round, or is in an active poll, then the number of
+    the current round.
+  * in_active_poll: if the entry is in an active poll, a one, otherwise a zero
+* active_polls: a list of the message ids for the active polls
+* past_polls: a list of every concluded poll
+  * round: the round where this poll happened
+  * entry_1: the name of the first entry
+  * entry_2: the name of the second entry
+  * users_1: the user ids of the users who voted
+    for the first entry, separated by commas
+  * users_2: the user ids of the users who voted
+    for the second entry, separated by commas