FOSS gamedev and creative worlds

I am having a confusing time developing a home server/client environment and need some advice.
To start, the equipment is all old and at this point maybe even laughable but it is for my 6 year old son and his friends.
All units are running some version of Debian 8
The server:
Additional apps other than basic Debian:
ssh server
nfs server

I try really hard to work from the terminal but some times I just need to use a gui file manager.
lxde with no ldm
tightvnc server

System Information
Manufacturer: Gateway
Product Name: W3644
Processor Information
Socket Designation: Socket AM2
Type: Central Processor
Family: 80486
Manufacturer: AMD
Version: AMD Sempron(tm) Processor LE-1200
Physical Memory Array
Memory Device
Data Width: 64 bits
Size: 512 MB
Form Factor: DIMM
Type: DDR2
Memory Device
Data Width: 64 bits
Size: 512 MB
Form Factor: DIMM
Type: DDR2
Type Detail: None

Client #1:
System Information
Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
Product Name: OptiPlex 755
Processor Information
Socket Designation: CPU
Type: Central Processor
Family: Core 2 Duo
Manufacturer: Intel
Physical Memory Array
Memory Device
Data Width: 64 bits
Size: 1024 MB
Form Factor: DIMM
Type: DDR2
Memory Device
Data Width: 64 bits
Size: 1024 MB
Form Factor: DIMM
Type: DDR2

Client #2
System Information
Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
Product Name: OptiPlex 745
Processor Information
Socket Designation: Microprocessor
Type: Central Processor
Family: Core 2
Manufacturer: Intel
64-bit capable
Physical Memory Array
Memory Device
Data Width: 64 bits
Size: 1024 MB
Form Factor: DIMM
Type: DDR

I am not sure what will be needed so I will provide what I believe to be pertinent.
I start the server with the command:
./minetestserver --config /root/.minetest/minetest.conf --info
Minetest Server:
path_share = /usr/share/games/minetest
path_user = /root/.minetest
SER_FMT_VER_HIGHEST_READS = 26
VER = 0.4.10
BUILD_TYPE = Release
RUN_IN_PLACE = 0
USE_CURL = 1
USE_LUAJIT = 1
STATIC_SHAREDIR = /usr/share/games/minetest
- world: /root/.minetest/worlds/world
- game: /usr/share/games/minetest/games/minetest_game

Then the server loads the various mods
Then:
ServerMap: Successfully loaded at...
Starting servser on 0.0.0.0...
Server for gameid = “minetest” listening on 0.0.0.0:3000
ServerMap: SQLite3 database opened

This is my problem I have loaded VanessaE's texture pack to:
/usr/share/games/minetest/textures/base/all
I have added this path to the minetest.conf

Furthermore, I have stated in the minetest.conf file :
Enable creative mode
Give initial stuff too
Privileges of flying, settime, and teleporting

What 6 year old wants to get eaten by a shark?
What 6 year old does not want to fly?

Unfortunately the game executing process does not seem to read the minetest.conf file because there are no privileges, or tools. And I am missing my Craftsman screwdriver.

Any advice will be much appreciated.

And, as a side note I used apt-get to install both minetes-server and minetest so I do not understand why version 0.4.10 was installed. I am curious if an upgrade would resolve my problem?

I'm not sure, but to get texturepacks to work on servers, you need to call them "server". The folder name.

Rubenwardy: Thank you for that bit of knowledge. But, do you have any advice on why minetest-server is not reading the conf file in the first place?

Say [i]--config <path-to-minetest.conf>[i] on the command line.

whtemple1959 wrote:./minetestserver --config /root/.minetest/minetest.conf --info

Are you sure it's /root? Not /home/root/.minetest/minetest.conf

rubenwardy wrote:

whtemple1959 wrote:./minetestserver --config /root/.minetest/minetest.conf --info

Are you sure it's /root? Not /home/root/.minetest/minetest.conf

Home directory of root user is /root, not /home/root, so that looks alright.
@whtemple1959 Why are you running minetestserver as root though? I'd recommend creating a new user mt (or similar), without system privileges to run the server with.

Dartmouth: I piggybacked the server on an openmediavault NFS server which did not "invite" me to create a user at installation and since it is a closed system I did not contemplate the need for a user. But, since your post I did create a user "creator" and even logging in as that user... cd /usr/games <enter> ./minetestserver --config /home/creator/.minetest/minetest.conf <enter> still starts a game without reading the conf file.
Rubenwardy: I do not know if it is my chubby fingers or my keyboard but I do tend to transpose a lot of letters while typing so I usually have to re read every terminal command twice before committing.

I am but a humble bookkeeper but I do love learning the enigmatic intricacies of Linux but this one has me tugging at my hair...

Hello again, whtemple. Do you have your minetest.conf in /home/creator/.minetest/minetest.conf ? The only reason I ask, is because that might have been overlooked so far... (I've made that same type of mistake before).

Another thing, with rubenwardy's help, I've figured out that &> grabs both stdout and stderr.

So, your terminal prompt might look like this:

I just put the --config bit in there to see if it says "Sorry, can't find file specified...." or something like that.

JohnnyComeL8ly: in response to your suggestion...http://paste.ubuntu.com/13102681/

Does the user creator exist, or did you just replace your name with creator in the pastebin?

JohnnyComeL8ly: to start the game I use the command /usr/games/minetestserver (space) --config (space) /home/creator/.minetest/minetest.conf

to start the game and get the mtdebug.txt file I use the command /usr/games/minetestserver (space) --verbose (space) --config (space) /home/creator/.minetest/minetest.conf (space) &> (space) /home/creator/mtdebug.txt

You can also do

You are able to connect to the server right? If so, what is it you can't do in-game? Can all the user names be used? Is there a reason for your minetest.conf being so long? (Especially the "keymap" section, that looks like it's the default settings.)
whtemple's auth.txt
whtemple's minetest.conf