Re: [Freeciv-Dev] Client X

[Peter Schaefer <schaefer@xxxxxx>]

Daniel Sjolie wrote:
>
> Ok, I'm now thinking:
> Let's make it 'ai' and 'ui' (because it is the right thing to do)
> and then forget about the 'gui' level and don't be afraid to put
> graphic related functions/abstractions in 'ui'...
> At least we're moving the inconsistence further away and it should
> be easier to add a 'gui' directory to 'ui' in the future if that
> would be justified than go the other way...
> 
> > One issue is that when You have the ai in the client You loose quite
> > some stuff if the client crashes...
> > One idea would be to implement a simple and general package thingy
> > for sending information to the server for 'safe-keeping'...
> > I certainly think it would be better than keep adding new packets
> > for every feature that could be implemented in the client...

That sounds good .. . If I may add to that .. . [Crusade Mode]
I think it would be nice if we at freeciv would think about
developing the client as an Engine or Interface that could be used 
for all kinds of stuff .. . I don't want to say 'Make it big and 
complicated', rather 'just so that it is easier to use the client for 
something different'.
While this may seem as too much effort for too few people,
I'm hoping that people will come to freeciv to develop the tools
they need for their own games.
[/Crusade Mode]

I noticed there were several special purpose
packets added lately ( though I don't remember the details ), with
a payload similar to older packets. Maybe it is possible to treat
packets in a more generic way. Like having packets that go:
packet_type_int destination_package variable_name variable_value.
If package size is a concern, there could be vectors, i.e.
a series of packet contents with a similar purpose and destination.
I would prefer this, since having incompatibility flags between every
release is IMHO becoming a problem.
There needs to be a stronger drive for a more stable protocol.
Maybe the server needs to be smarter.

(Still liking freeciv,)
-- 
Peter Schaefer - schaefer@xxxxxx, schaefer@xxxxxx