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.
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.
This simplifies things. In particular, it gets rid of random rounding
in getcommand(), which created a variation in the nightly build
depending on whether the update starts before or after the deity logs
out.
Replace struct natstr member nat_minused by nat_timeused, and update
cou_ca[] accordingly (this affects xdump nat). Replace player member
minleft by timeleft, and getminleft() by gettimeleft(). Update
getcommand(), daychange(), player_main(), status() accordingly, taking
care not to change player output. Change edit country key 'u' to work
in seconds.
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.
them. From Marc Olzheim.
Type modifier 'l' was missing in many places, probably rendering the
server useless on 64-bit hosts.
(ef_flush, ef_write, ef_extend, lwpCreate, lwpDestroy): Use conversion
specifier 'p' to print pointers.
(check_market): Fix display of loan amount.
(doland): Fix unescaped '%' (undefined behavior).
(ldump, ndump, pdump, sdump): Don't use flag '0' with conversion
specifier 's' (undefined behavior).
(dump, ldump, lost, ndump, pdump, sdump, empth_create, update_sched):
Cast time_t and pthread_t to long for printing.
(lwpStackCheck, lwpStackCheckUsed, finish_sects): Insert cast to fix
argument type on all platforms.
(prod): Remove extra argument.
(perform_mission, airdamage, retreat_land1, lwpReschedule): Format
string missed arguments.
