Minetest
========
[](https://hosted.weblate.org/engage/minetest/?utm_source=widget)
[](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/lgpl-2.1.en.html)
Minetest is a free open-source voxel game engine with easy modding and game creation.
Copyright (C) 2010-2022 Perttu Ahola <celeron55@gmail.com>
and contributors (see source file comments and the version control log)
Table of Contents
------------------
1. [Further Documentation](#further-documentation)
2. [Default Controls](#default-controls)
3. [Paths](#paths)
4. [Configuration File](#configuration-file)
5. [Command-line Options](#command-line-options)
6. [Compiling](#compiling)
7. [Docker](#docker)
8. [Version Scheme](#version-scheme)
Further documentation
----------------------
- Website: https://minetest.net/
- Wiki: https://wiki.minetest.net/
- Developer wiki: https://dev.minetest.net/
- Forum: https://forum.minetest.net/
- GitHub: https://github.com/minetest/minetest/
- [doc/](doc/) directory of source distribution
Default controls
----------------
All controls are re-bindable using settings.
Some can be changed in the key config dialog in the settings tab.
| Button | Action |
|-------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------|
| Move mouse | Look around |
| W, A, S, D | Move |
| Space | Jump/move up |
| Shift | Sneak/move down |
| Q | Drop itemstack |
| Shift + Q | Drop single item |
| Left mouse button | Dig/punch/use |
| Right mouse button | Place/use |
| Shift + right mouse button | Build (without using) |
| I | Inventory menu |
| Mouse wheel | Select item |
| 0-9 | Select item |
| Z | Zoom (needs zoom privilege) |
| T | Chat |
| / | Command |
| Esc | Pause menu/abort/exit (pauses only singleplayer game) |
| + | Increase view range |
| - | Decrease view range |
| K | Enable/disable fly mode (needs fly privilege) |
| J | Enable/disable fast mode (needs fast privilege) |
| H | Enable/disable noclip mode (needs noclip privilege) |
| E | Aux1 (Move fast in fast mode. Games may add special features) |
| C | Cycle through camera modes |
| V | Cycle through minimap modes |
| Shift + V | Change minimap orientation |
| F1 | Hide/show HUD |
| F2 | Hide/show chat |
| F3 | Disable/enable fog |
| F4 | Disable/enable camera update (Mapblocks are not updated anymore when disabled, disabled in release builds) |
| F5 | Cycle through debug information screens |
| F6 | Cycle through profiler info screens |
| F10 | Show/hide console |
| F12 | Take screenshot |
Paths
-----
Locations:
* `bin` - Compiled binaries
* `share` - Distributed read-only data
* `user` - User-created modifiable data
Where each location is on each platform:
* Windows .zip / RUN_IN_PLACE source:
* `bin` = `bin`
* `share` = `.`
* `user` = `.`
* Windows installed:
* `bin` = `C:\Program Files\Minetest\bin (Depends on the install location)`
* `share` = `C:\Program Files\Minetest (Depends on the install location)`
* `user` = `%APPDATA%\Minetest` or `%MINETEST_USER_PATH%`
* Linux installed:
* `bin` = `/usr/bin`
* `share` = `/usr/share/minetest`
* `user` = `~/.minetest` or `$MINETEST_USER_PATH`
* macOS:
* `bin` = `Contents/MacOS`
* `share` = `Contents/Resources`
* `user` = `Contents/User` or `~/Library/Application Support/minetest` or `$MINETEST_USER_PATH`
Worlds can be found as separate folders in: `user/worlds/`
Configuration file
------------------
- Default location:
`user/minetest.conf`
- This file is created by closing Minetest for the first time.
- A specific file can be specified on the command line:
`--config <path-to-file>`
- A run-in-place build will look for the configuration file in
`location_of_exe/../minetest.conf` and also `location_of_exe/../../minetest.conf`
Command-line options
--------------------
- Use `--help`
Compiling
---------
- [Compiling on GNU/Linux](doc/compiling/linux.md)
- [Compiling on Windows](doc/compiling/windows.md)
- [Compiling on MacOS](doc/compiling/macos.md)
Docker
------
- [Developing minetestserver with Docker](doc/developing/docker.md)
We provide a Dockerfile that can be used to build the server.
Version scheme
--------------
We use `major.minor.patch` since 5.0.0-dev. Prior to that we used `0.major.minor`.
- Major is incremented when the release contains breaking changes, all other
numbers are set to 0.
- Minor is incremented when the release contains new non-breaking features,
patch is set to 0.
- Patch is incremented when the release only contains bugfixes and very
minor/trivial features considered necessary.
Since 5.0.0-dev and 0.4.17-dev, the dev notation refers to the next release,
i.e.: 5.0.0-dev is the development version leading to 5.0.0.
Prior to that we used `previous_version-dev`.