client/server (was Re: CF: Comments on documentation, 2 magic system)

[Raphael.Quinet@eed.ericsson.se]

On Wed, 10 Jul 1996, "Mark Wedel" <mwedel@pyramid.com> wrote:
[...]
>  Arguably, a cleaner way to do this until the clien/server comes along would be
> to integrates the client's scrollbar into the server code.  [...]

I thought about this, but I didn't want to do that because it would
make the old pseudo-client better and this would be remove one of the
reasons to move to the real client/server code.  So I hope that nobody
will write a patch to do that...

>  Patches can be sent either directly to me or to the list - either way I get
> them and will save and apply them (if appropriate.)  What method you choose
> probably depends on how public you want the patch - if you send it to the list,
> many people will probably apply it, and if it is still in the expiremental
> stage, you may not want that.

OK, that's what I thought.  Anyway, I don't think I will send the
patch for pausing in the list of spells, because that one is not
perfect yet.  But I have a few bug fixes for other parts of the code
which could help everybody here, so I will post them to the list.  If
I have the time, I will also re-do one patch for splitting the spells
and prayers in two lists, but without the scrolling trick.

> > P.S.: While I'm at it...  I have already asked that, but are there any
> >       plans to drop the current pseudo-client code and only support the
> >       "real" client/server code, so that everyone has to use it and we
> >       can assume that it's there when developping new code?
> 
>  Real client still needs some more work.  I haven't played it lately, but I
> know for sure that it is lacking magic mapping ability, and support for
> anything except xpm images (I believe pixmap support has been put in on at
> least one side.)  Problem is that I don't think anyone is really doing much
> work on it right now..

Well, I don't mind if only XPM is supported, because I don't use
anything else...  :-)  But here is the problem:

About one year ago (or was it two years?), I said on this list that I
would revamp my old sound code and add new environmental sounds and
other nice effects as soon as the client/server code is done.  I've
been waiting since then, hoping that one of the releases would drop
all support for the old code so that I don't have to maintain two
different versions of the code (which would be very different because
sounds would have to be handled by the client).  I don't want to start
with these major changes if the old code is still supported, because I
feel that I would be wasting my time.

I tried the client/server version some time ago and it seemed
promising, although unfinished.  Since then, I recompiled my server
with the old pseudo-client system, because many people are still using
that and improvements and bug fixes are more useful if they are done
against the old code.  So I have to work on the old code if I want to
make patches that are useful to most people, but I don't like that.
Also, this prevents me from working on user interface improvements,
because that part of the code is very different in the new
client/server version.

In summary, from my point of view, supporting two versions of the code
slows things down and prevents me (and possibly others) from working
on some improvements that I would like to add to Crossfire.  It should
be a "political" decision to drop the old pseudo-client code and clean
up the source tree, and you and Frank are probably the ones who should
decide how/when/if this is done.

When (if?) only the new code is supported, it will be possible to
improve the client and the server independently, thus allowing some
people to make the user interface more attractive while others are
adding new features to the server.  A better client would probably
attract more people to Crossfire (and potential developers too).

-Raphael