Lobby event manager, a PHP script for running via cronjobs

[Repflez]

A while ago I made a php script to handle lobby events by itself via a cronjob, I decided to share it for those who may need one.
Though, it's full of jank and cursed code because it assumes config.json was copied from the example and comments are still in there, so I had to get creative.

<?php

/**
 * Event manager for newserv hosts - the php jank edition
 * @author Repflez
 * @license MIT
 */

// Dates based on the official SEGA schedule
// https://github.com/fuzziqersoftware/newserv/issues/394#issue-2141109678
$events = [
    'newyear' => ['01-01', '01-15'],    // New Years Lobby
    'val' => ['02-02', '02-14'],        // Valentines Lobby
    'white' => ['03-01', '03-14'],      // White Day Lobby
    'easter' => ['03-20', '04-10'],     // Easter Lobby
    'summer' => ['04-11', '04-17'],     // Sakura Tree Lobby
    's-summer' => ['04-18', '04-24'],   // Sakura Tree Lobby w/ Red & White Stripes Stage
    'wedding' => ['06-01', '06-30'],    // Wedding Lobby (Only LOBBY-10)
    's-spring' => ['08-08', '08-27'],   // Summer Lobby (Normal Lobby w/ Red & White Stripes Stage)
    'fall' => ['09-28', '10-02'],       // Autumm Lobby
    'hallo' => ['10-16', '11-06'],      // Halloween Lobby
    'xmas' => ['12-01', '12-25'],       // Christmas Lobby
    'none' => ['01-01', '12-31'],       // Normal lobby (Used if nothing else is active)
];

// Config filename
$configFilename = '/home/repflez/newserv/system/config.json';

// We store the newserv PID here for when we need to send the signal
$newservPID = intval(trim(shell_exec('pidof newserv')));

// Store an object for our current day
$todayDate = new DateTime();

// And the year, for the comparisons
$year = date('Y');

// Now we try to open the server config, it's a json file, but it's not a standard one,
// so eh, we're going to do something cursed, but everything here is cursed already
$config = file_get_contents($configFilename);

// Check if we have an event to do now
foreach ($events as $event => $dates) {
    $startDate = new DateTime("$year-$dates[0]");
    $endDate   = new DateTime("$year-$dates[1]");

    $inRange = ($todayDate >= $startDate && $todayDate <= $endDate);

    // If we found an event, end this foolish search, and continue
    if ($inRange) break;
}

echo "Running event is '$event' - editing config and refreshing server\n";

// Edit the config blocks now
// See? I told you this was going to be cursed
if (preg_match('/"LobbyEvents"\s*:\s*\[(.*?)\]/s', $config, $matches)) {
    $arrayBlock = $matches[1];

    // Split lines safely (keeping comments)
    $lines = preg_split('/\r\n|\r|\n/', $arrayBlock);
    $lines = array_filter($lines, function ($v) {
        return !empty(trim($v));
    });

    // Match event lines, as sanity
    $count = 0;
    foreach ($lines as &$line) {
        if ($event === 'wedding') {
            // Wedding event should be only in lobby 10, see the newserv issue for details
            if ($count !== 9) $event = 'none';
            else $event = 'wedding';
        }
        $line = preg_replace('/"([^"]*)"/', "\"$event\"", $line, 1);
        $count++;
    }

    // Rebuild array block
    $newArrayBlock = implode("\n", $lines);

    // Replace old block in file
    $newContent = preg_replace(
        '/("LobbyEvents"\s*:\s*\[)(.*?)(\])/s',
        '$1' . "\n" . $newArrayBlock . "\n" . '$3',
        $config
    );

    // Save the file
    file_put_contents($configFilename, $newContent);
}

// Send the signal to newserv and update the event,
// but only if the process is running
if ($newservPID !== 0) posix_kill($newservPID, SIGUSR1);

Edit your schedule as needed, just be sure to leave the none event at the end of the array so lobbies restore themselves to normal when an event ends.

[anzz1]

Good work, I don't think it's too janky either, regexp is how to do this as parsing it and re-saving as json would kill the original structure and comments.
Slight change I would make though, would only save the file and send the reload signal if it has actually changed.

-    // Save the file
-    file_put_contents($configFilename, $newContent);

+    if ($newContent !== $config) {
+        // Save the file
+        file_put_contents($configFilename, $newContent);
+
+        // Send the reload signal to newserv and update the event,
+        // but only if the process is running
+        $newservPID = intval(trim(shell_exec('pidof newserv')));
+        if ($newservPID !== 0) posix_kill($newservPID, SIGUSR1);
+    }

[anzz1]

How to run this daily at 00:00 in Linux, do crontab -e and add a line
0 0 * * * /usr/bin/php /home/admin/eventmanager.php > /dev/null

On Windows, you can create a daily task in the Task Scheduler (type taskschd.msc in the "Start Menu" -> "Run ..." prompt)
Download the portable ZIP of PHP 8.2 here. and extract it wherever.
In Task Scheduler right-click the Library and "Create New Task". In "Triggers" add new "Daily" task at 00:00. In "Actions" add a new "Start a program" action, put the "php.exe" to the "Program/script" field and the path to "eventmanager.php" to the "Arguments" field.

[Kfalt]

I think it would be more sensible to create a Unix Bash script; this would allow for better management and improved performance.

[anzz1]

@Kfalt A bash script being more performant isn't necessarily true, and in this context, a script run once per day, performance doesn't matter. PHP is quite okay when it comes to performance of interpreted languages anyway, a script like this probably won't even take one millisecond to complete. The spawning of the process itself, setting up the environment, and then killing it and cleaning up likely has more overhead than the script itself.