Add a README file for the lmno-server repository

It's been a while since I did any LMNO development, and since the last
time I did, I'm now using a new laptop. So I needed a reminder on how
to configure my web server for local development. Here that is now for
my own use, (and for the use of anyone else that might want it).

diff --git a/README b/README
new file mode 100644 (file)
index 0000000..d6b1de1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README
@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+Server-side implementation for LMNO games.
+
+This repository contains the server-side implementation for a number
+of games that are hosted at the https://lmno.games/ website.
+
+Deployment
+----------
+
+The initial deployment of the LMNO server requires configuring a web
+server. Instructions are provided below for any web server, along with
+specific configuration examples for Apache. If you are using a
+non-Apache server (such as nginx) the general concepts will still
+apply, but the syntax of the configuration will be different.
+
+First, you need to configure your web server to serve the static
+content of the LMNO implementation. This static content is actually in
+a separate git repository (lmno.games) which you should be able to
+find near where you found the current repository (lmno-server).
+
+So, first, copy the static files from the lmno.games repository to
+your server (there's a "make deploy" target in the lmno.games
+repository's Makefile that can help with this).
+
+Then, configure your web server to serve the content that you have
+deployed. Specifically, you want the server to match the path from the
+request to the local filesystem and serve the local file whenever
+there is a match. The syntax for this with Apache is as follows
+(substitute the path you chose if anything other than
+"/srv/lmno.games/www"):
+
+        DocumentRoot /srv/lmno.games/www
+        <Directory /srv/lmno.games/www>
+                Options Indexes
+        </Directory>
+
+       <Location />
+               Require all granted
+       </Location>
+
+       RewriteEngine on
+
+       # Any static files (or directories) that exist within the
+       # DocumentRoot are served directly by Apache as a first priority.
+       RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/$1 -f [OR]
+       RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/$1 -d
+       RewriteRule (.*) - [L]
+
+Note: The above configuration requires both the "rewrite" and "proxy"
+and "proxy_http" Apache modules to be installed and enabled. On some
+operating systems this can be achieved with the following commands:
+
+       sudo a2enmod rewrite
+       sudo a2enmod proxy
+       sudo a2enmod proxy_http
+
+Also, you will need to configure Apache to proxy to the node server
+any requests that _don't_ match a static file. Assuming you're running
+the LMNO node server on port 4000 (which the code currently defaults
+to) you would add the following Apache configuration just after the
+block above:
+
+       # Otherwise, for any path that does not exist in the filesystem
+       # we proxy to the dynamic web app to let it serve the resource.
+       RewriteRule ^/(.*)$ http://localhost:4000/$1 [P]
+       ProxyPassReverse / http://localhost:4000
+
+And, of course, after changing Apache configuration, you'll need to
+restart the Apache service.
+
+Finally, you'll need to arrange to start the node process on port 4000
+that will serve the dynamic LMNO content. This is as simple as
+running:
+
+       node lmno
+
+Which must be run from the directory containing the lmno.js file. And
+of course, this could be wired into an lmno service to enable this to
+be started each time the machine boots.
+
+Once this configuration is complete and working, any updates to the
+code will simply requiring terminating the node process and then
+starting it up again.
+
+Development
+-----------
+
+For testing changes to the implementation locally, we recommend doing
+the exact same deployment described above on a local machine, (that
+is, configure a web server to serve static content from the lmno.games
+repository and to proxy dynamic content to the node process). You
+might simply configure and access this at http://localhost/ if you're
+not already using a local web server for any other purpose. Otherwise,
+configure your webserver with whatever hostname and top-level path you
+prefer.