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.
World-sized bitmaps were allocated with size WORLD_SZ() / 8, which
expands to (WORLD_X * WORLD_Y / 2) / 8. The divisions truncate unless
WORLD_X * WORLD_Y is a multiple of 16. The bitmaps were one byte too
small then. Bitmap overruns happen when:
* A lookout looks at one of the last sectors of the sector file.
Besides commands look and llook, this affects navigate and march
sub-command 'l'.
* Command spy spies into one of the last sectors of the sector file.
* A map or nmap (but not a bmap) shows one of the last sectors of the
sector file, or a sector that can see one of the last sectors
(visual range is two sectors at 100% efficiency). Besides commands
lmap, map, nmap, pmap, smap, this affects move and transport
sub-command 'm'.
Diagnosed with valgrind.
Already broken in BSD Empire 1.1 (bitmaps were on the stack then).
We know player != other. Because we can have only one player in state
PS_PLAYING per country, and we know other->state == PS_PLAYING, it
follows that player->cnum != other->cnum. Thus, no functional change.
Adds another call to getnatp() hidden in relations_with(), though.
Keeping that optimized isn't worth it.
Replacing getrel(NP, THEM), where NP is known to be getnatp(US), by
relations_with(US, THEM) makes a difference only when US equals THEM.
Replace in places where it's obvious that they're not equal.
Adds a few calls to getnatp() hidden in relations_with(). Keeping
that optimized isn't worth it.
Replace patterns like "US == THEM || getrel(NP, THEM)...", where NP is
known to be getnatp(US), by "relations_with(US, THEM)...". No
functional change.
Adds a few calls to getnatp() hidden in relations_with(), though.
Keeping that optimized isn't worth it.
Replacing getrel(getnatp(US), THEM) by relations_with(US, THEM) makes
a difference only when US equals THEM. Replace in places where it's
obvious that they're not equal.
Note: getsect() sets player->owner to "player is god or owns this
sector". Thus, after getsect(..., §), sect.sct_own ==
player->cnum implies player->owner. Conversely, !player->owner
implies sect.sct_own != player->cnum. Similarly for getship(),
getplane() and nxtitem().
Replacing getrel(getnatp(US), THEM) by relations_with(US, THEM) makes
a difference only when US equals THEM.
Replace patterns like "us == them || getrel(getnatp(us), them)..." by
"relations_with(us, them)...".
Flashing yourself failed with a bogus "not logged on" message for
deities, and a mildly bogus "not a deity or friendly with us" message
for mortals.
Fix by simply permitting it. Not terribly useful, except perhaps for
empire-hub users, but why not.
The second patch hunk fixes a latent bug. Before, rejected deity
flashes led to a bogus "not logged on" message, now they lead to a
"not accepting" message. But deity flashes can't be rejected, so this
doesn't matter.
sendmessage() checked NF_FLASH on two places: when deciding whether to
send the message, and later when telling the player why it didn't send
a flash. This can race with the toggle command as follows: if a flash
could not be sent because the recipient's NF_FLASH was off, and the
recipient toggled it on before the flag was checked again, the flash
command claimed the sender wasn't logged on.
SLOW_WAR has issues:
* The check whether the attacker old-owns the attacked sector is
broken, because att_abort() uses sect.sct_oldown uninitialized.
Spotted by the Clang Static Analyzer.
* Its implementation in setrel() is somewhat scary. It's actually
okay, because that part of setrel() only runs within decl(). Other
callers don't reach it: update_main() because player->god != 0
there, and the rest because they never pass a rel < HOSTILE.
* Documentation is a bit vague.
SLOW_WAR hasn't been used in a public game in years. Fixing it is not
worth it, so remove it instead.
plane_sona() prints an empty line to make sonar contacts stand out.
Move it so the contact is visually "attached" to the right sector,
like this:
flying over sea at 15,-3
Sonar contact in 15,-3
sub #3 13,-3
flying over sea at 13,-3
Before:
flying over sea at 15,-3
Sonar contact in 15,-3
sb submarine (#3) 13,-3
flying over sea at 13,-3
struct trdstr members trd_x, trd_y are used only for teleporting
trades. For others, trad() wrote garbage coordinates to the trade
file. They weren't used except by xdump. Fortunately, even there
they're visible only to deities.
Write invalid coordinates instead. Do that in set() as well, so that
coordinates are valid only when we have a teleport destination.
Spotted by the Clang Static Analyzer.
Limited since Chainsaw 2 so that the radar map fits into a world map
without clipping, i.e. its diameter neither exceeds WORLD_X / 2 nor
WORLD_Y. Maybe range exceeding that triggered bugs then. It doesn't
now, and it makes no sense.
The limit never applied to automatic bmap update from ship radar.
The difference between the two is that PR() buffers partial lines, and
mpr() suppresses output to country#0. Doesn't matter when printing
complete lines to a country other than #0, e.g. the owner of a unit.
Don't tell him that it's his plane, he knows that.
Put a " -- " between "takes N%" and "aborted" / "shot down" for
ordinary flak as well, not just for flak vs. pinpoint bombing.
Reduce abort chance from 100-eff to 80-eff. Ordinary flak's abort
chance was reduced from 100-eff (if eff<80) to 80-eff in commit
0252d4a7, v4.3.6.
Report plane efficiency when it aborts, not 100 - efficiency.
Charge mobility proportional to damage, down to -32.
The only user is reco(), so the restriction is fine. Several
functions called on behalf of mission_flags assumed it already:
plane_sweep(), sathead(), satdisp_sect(), satdisp_units(). Simplify
the rest accordingly: plane_sona() and ac_encounter() itself.
It reported the spy's location in the spy's coordinate system
instead of the player's. Fortunately, they're the same in normal
usage. They can differ only when a deity uses a foreign spy.
It reported the ship's location in the ship's coordinate system
instead of the player's. Fortunately, they're the same in normal
usage. They can differ only when a deity uses a foreign ship.
It reported the engineer's location in the engineer's coordinate
system instead of the player's. Fortunately, they're the same in
normal usage. They can differ only when a deity uses a foreign
engineer.
The buggy code is also reachable from and march sub-command 'd', but
can't bite there, because even deities can't march foreign land units.
It reported capital location in the nation's coordinate system instead
of the player's. Fortunately, they're the same in normal usage. They
can differ only when a deity requests a nation report for another
country.
