Dipwatch is a python script that lets you generate email notifications for your gunboat games, saving your workday productivity hours. This is the third best thing since bread came sliced, the second obviously being chips and guacamole.

Steps to get Dipwatch functional

1. Install python dependencies: requests and BeautifulSoup. This should be as easy as

    - pip install requests
    - pip install beautifulsoup4
   

   Look at the documentation for those packages for help

2. Only notifications to your Gmail account are supported at the moment. Replace the header DPW_GMAIL_UID with your email address, and DPW_GMAIL_ASP with an Application-Specific Password for this script. You can configure these at https://accounts.google.com

3. Set DPW_REFRESH_MINUTES to your desired update frequency. No emails will be sent unless the game changes state. Please DO NOT use a number lower than 10 minutes, be nice to the server.

How to Run

I recommend doing

python dipwatch.py >dipwatch.log 2>&1 &

Occassionally examine dipwatch.log to make sure everything is okay. You should get an email as soon as you start the script when it fetches current state, things are probably working if you do.

Known Bugs and Issues

Treat this as a hack I threw together to fix something that was annoying me. If you'd like to help me fix issues or add features, I will be grateful for an extended period of time.

To-Do

Here are some ideas for extending dipwatch. Feel free to submit pull requests!

1. Blocking alert. Inform me if my 'Not Ready' vote is holding up the game
2. Update summary. Tell me what happened in this phase. Did I gain centers or lose them? Do I have to make retreats?
3. New Messages. Alert me if I've received any new messages. Including a summary of each message would be fantastic!

De-cloaking Research

1. Attempt to identify other players in an anonymous games, if you know who's playing the game. Compare game state changes (received messages, votes or saved move sets) with last seen times on player profiles. Is such de-cloaking possible on webdiplomacy? If it is, perhaps last seen times should not be shown on the profile except to moderators.