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.
Oops when a stale copy is written back, i.e. the processor was yielded
since the copy was made. Such bugs are difficult to spot. Sequence
numbers catch them when they do actual harm (they also catch different
bugs). Generation numbers catch them even when they don't.
New ef_generation to count generations. Call new ef_make_stale() to
increment it whenever the processor may be yielded.
New struct emptypedstr member generation. To conserve space, make it
a bit-field of twelve bits, i.e. generations are only recorded modulo
2^12. Make sure all members of unit empobj_storage share it. It is
only used in copies; its value on disk and in the cache is
meaningless. Copies with generation other than ef_generation are
stale. Stale copies that are a multiple of 2^12 generations old can't
be detected, but that is sufficiently improbable.
Set generation to ef_generation by calling new ef_mark_fresh() when
making copies in ef_read() and ef_blank(). nav_ship() and
fltp_to_list() make copies without going through ef_read(), and
therefore need to call ef_mark_fresh() as well. Also call it in
obj_changed() to make check_sect_ok() & friends freshen their argument
when it is unchanged.
New must_be_fresh() oopses when its argument is stale. Call it in
ef_write() to catch write back of stale copies.
Store them and ef_type in bit-fields.
Allocate eight bits for ef_type. Values range from 0 to EF_GAME
(currently 16), so this is plenty.
Allocate twelve bits for sequence numbers. Sequence number mismatches
are now missed when the numbers are equal modulo 2^12. Still
sufficiently improbable.
Common machines store the bit-fields in a 32 bit word. There are
twelve bits left in that word for future use. Total savings 16 bits,
which is exactly what the previous commit spent on wider uids on
common machines.
Before, they were stored as short. Wider uids use more space, but the
next commit will recover it by narrowing other members.
The use of short has always limited the number of ships, planes, land
units and nukes to SHRT_MAX (commonly 32768). Only the most extreme
games ever came close.
Commit 49780e2c (v4.3.12) added struct sctstr member sct_uid to make
struct empobj member uid work for sectors. This made the limit apply
to sectors as well. We've had games with more than 32768 sectors.
struct lndstr member lnd_flags is a leftover from Empire3's C_SYNC,
which was ripped out in 4.0.0.
struct lonstr member l_sel, struct nuk_str members nuk_ship, nuk_land,
and struct trtstr member trt_bond have been there basically forever
without any use.
This oopses on output dependency violations, e.g. two threads doing a
read-modify-write without synchronization, or the one thread nesting
several read-modify-writes. Such bugs are difficult to spot, and tend
to be abusable. I figure we have quite a few of them.
New struct emptypedstr member seqno. Make sure all members of unit
empobj_storage share it. Initialize it in files: main() and
file_sct_init(). Set it in ef_blank() and new ef_set_uid() by calling
new get_seqno(). Use ef_set_uid() when copying objects: swaps(),
doland(), doship(), doplane(), dounit(), delete_old_news(). Step it
in ef_write() by calling new new_seqno().
Factor do_read() out of fillcache() to make it available for
get_seqno().
Make sure all members of unit empobj_storage share it.
Add matching timestamp member to struct comstr, struct empobj, struct
gamestr, struct lonstr, struct natstr, struct nwsstr, struct trdstr,
struct trtstr. The timestamp isn't yet set for these. To be fixed.
Move the timestamp member to the right place in struct lndstr, struct
loststr, struct realmstr, struct nukstr, struct plnstr, struct sctstr,
struct shpstr.
Make sure all members of unit empobj_storage share uid in addition to
ef_type.
Add matching uid member to struct gamestr, struct natstr and struct
sctstr, and set them.
Swap struct empobj members uid and own to make that easier, and update
struct comstr, struct lndstr, struct lonstr, struct loststr, struct
nwsstr, struct nukstr, struct plnstr, struct realmstr, struct shpstr,
struct trdstr, struct trtstr accordingly.
Note that the uid isn't properly set for struct nwsstr, struct lonstr,
struct trdstr, struct comstr and struct loststr. To be fixed.
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.
(sect_ca, ship_ca, land_ca, plague_stages, empfile):
Add plague stages symbol table.
(treaty_ca, loan_ca, agreement_statuses, empfile):
Add agreement status symbol table.
Combine treatystatuses (TS_FREE, TS_SIGNED and TS_PENDING)
and loan statuses (LS_FREE, LS_SIGNED and LS_PENDING)
into a single agreement status.
(pchr_ca, level, empfile): Add packing symbol table.
