[Freeciv-Dev] Re: release plans

[David Pfitzner <dwp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Peter Schaefer wrote:
> 
> Some new packet types have been added in the past without adding
> compatibility checks for it - this was handled most of the time
> by declaring the version incompatible with previous versions.
> Quite a lot of the new packet types didn't have any sophisticated,
> or structured payload - some just transported an integer.


Some of the time useful backward compatibility is simply 
infeasible.  Eg, if the client thinks there are a fixed number
of techs, but the game (in the server) now has a larger number
of techs, I see no way for the server to usefully cater for such 
clients.

Other times, if cvs is going through a period of multiple
compatibility breakages (eg due to above situations) then its
simply easier, and keeps the code simple, to just break 
compatability once more time, rather than clutter the code
with checks and workarounds.

I'm not saying the capability string system is perfect, but 
much of the time it works acceptably well, IMO.

-- David