Who command: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 19:16, 1 October 2026

WHO names two different commands in classic Galactic Empire and ge-next. They share a command word but not a purpose or output format.

Syntax

WHO

Classic Galactic Empire

Classic WHO is a machine-readable identification command for external terminal programs. It does not show who is playing Galactic Empire or who is online on the BBS.

The command returns one comma-delimited line about the player issuing it:

ID:user-id,user-name,system-registration

The fields are:

user-id: the caller's BBS login ID;
user-name: the name stored in the caller's BBS account; and
system-registration: the registration number of the MajorBBS or Worldgroup installation.

For example, a registered MajorBBS 6.x build could return a line resembling:

ID:sysop,System Operator,12345678

In a MajorBBS 5.x build, classic substitutes the literal text NULL for the system registration field, which does not exist:

ID:sysop,System Operator,NULL

The classic installation manual places WHO under Special Terminal Program Commands. It explains that terminal software could use the returned user and system identity to register itself to a particular user, host, or both. The command is not included in classic's normal in-game help index.

ge-next

ge-next repurposed WHO as a player-presence command. It prints the user IDs of the people currently playing ge-next, separated by spaces on one line.

ManicPop Mlacko Madam Airlock

The list includes the player issuing the command. It excludes Cybertrons, droids, persistent user records belonging to people who are offline, and BBS users who are online but are not actively inside the game. It is not a roster and does not report scores, ships, locations, status, or account names.

The output is independent of scanners. Distance, cloak, nebulas, and jamming do not hide another active player from WHO.

ge-next added the current behavior in version 0.2, replacing the classic terminal-identification response. It also added WHO to normal in-game help.

ge-arena

In ge-arena, WHO lists everyone who has entered the arena system, not only users whose ships are currently fighting. This includes users in the lobby, players waiting to respawn, and observers. The command is available from the arena lobby as well as during a match.

Someone who remains at the ge-arena main menu has not yet entered the arena system and is not included.