Why upgrade? I'm not a lawyer, but here's my take on the differences
to version 2:
* Software patents: better protection against abuse of patents to
prevent users from exercising the rights under the GPL. I doubt
we'll get hit with a patent suit, but it's a good move just on
general principles.
* License compatibility: compatible with more free licenses, i.e. can
"steal" more free software for use in Empire. I don't expect to steal
much, but it's nice to have the option.
* Definition of "source code": modernization of some details for today's
networked world, to make it easier to distribute the software. Not
really relevant to us now, as we normally distribute full source code.
* Tivoization: this is about putting GPL-licensed software in hardware,
then make the hardware refuse to run modified software. "Neat" trick
to effectively deny its users their rights under the GPL. Abuse was
"pioneered" by TiVo (popular digital video recorders). GPLv3 forbids
it. Unlikely to become a problem for us.
* Internationalization: more careful wording, to harden the license
outside the US. The lawyers tell us it better be done that way.
* License violations: friendlier way to deal with license violations.
This has come out of past experience enforcing the GPL.
* Additional permissions: Probably not relevant to us.
Also include myself in the list of principal authors.
other. Ensure headers in include/ can be included in any order
(except for econfig-spec.h, which is special). New header types.h to
help avoid inclusion cycles. Sort include directives. Remove some
superflous includes.
(ltend, multifire, quite_bigdef, mine, landmine)
(do_loan, prod, printdiff, sell, sona, stre)
(tend, fire_dchrg, vers, work, ac_planedamage)
(ac_shipflak, ask_off, get_mine_dsupport, att_fight)
(ask_move_in_off, detonate, sd, land_gun)
(land_unitgun, lnd_fort_interdiction, lnd_fortify)
(perform_mission, pln_mine, pln_mobcost)
(retreat_ship1, retreat_land1, shp_sweep)
(shp_fort_interdiction, shp_missle_defense)
(new_work, growfood, upd_land, land_repair)
(get_materials, do_mob_ship, do_mob_land)
(load_it, unload_it, prod_plane, produce)
(guerrilla, upd_buildeff, spread_fallout)
(upd_ship, ship_repair, min, dmin, MIN):
Remove min() and dmin() functions and replace
with a MIN macro in misc.h. Remove local MIN
macros and use the new one in misc.h. This
change removes the need for the special
case for _WIN32.
(fuel, look_ship, multifire, mission, sona)
(plane_sona, ef_open, player_accept, player_main)
(ac_dog, att_get_combat, calc_mobcost)
(ask_move_in_off, intelligence_report)
(build_mission_list_type, perform_mission)
(show_mission, use_supply, dodistribute)
(allocate_memory, max, dmax, MAX):
Remove max() and dmax() functions and replace
with a MAX macro in misc.h. Remove local MAX
macros and use the new one in misc.h. This
change removes the need for the special
case for _WIN32.
Store only up to MAXPRCON constituents, not MAXCHRNV; code doesn't
fully support more than three anyway. Remove member p_nv, use item
type I_NONE for unused slots. Rename members p_vtype, p_vamt to
p_ctype, p_camt to avoid confusion with variable-style storage.
(pchr): Initializers adapted.
(nullify_objects, materials_cost, materials_charge, prod,
show_sect_capab, grind): Adapt, simplify where possible, protect
against bad item types in pchr[].
(MAXCHRNV): Unused, remove.
constituents in sector. Work directly on item arrays instead of
copies made by getvec(). This is safe, because the old code made
single copies and always flushed them back into the unit structures
before flushing those.