[Freeciv-Dev] Re: (PR#4594) topology fix for goto route packet

["Jason Short" <jdorje@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

rwetmore@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> Jason Short wrote:
>>[rwetmore@xxxxxxxxxxxx - Tue Jul 29 03:04:06 2003]:

>>The old clients don't send (-1,-1), they send (map.xsize,map.ysize). 
> 
> Go look again.  This was the cause of the original bug report ...
> 
> There are no special cases or need for special cases today except (-1,-1)
> that I am aware of, and not likely to be a lot of others, but they can be
> handled in the same way as this should be.
> 
> Note, (255, 255) as uint8 is a bug in the special case handling that needs
> to be fixed. Conversion of the special case to and from a network packet
> transmission format needs to preserve the special case.
> 
> And please quit making these false or (self-)contradictory statements :-).

You may wish to double-check your background before you make statements 
like this.

>>You still haven't answered Baumans' (and my) argument.  If (-1,-1) and
>>(map.xsize,map.ysize) are valid, real positions, how is the server
>>supposed to know when it receives this position if it is intended as the
>>special case or as a real position?
> 
> Please (re)read the postings more carefully ...

To rely on the client to separate the special case from all the other 
real-but-not-normal cases discards all ability for debugging.  If the 
client actually does send any real-but-not-normal coordinates then you 
are guaranteed to have a bug (since (-1,-1) is also 
real-but-not-normal), and guaranteed to not be able to find it (since it 
will be treated as the special case and will generate no obvious error).

This is the argument which I have seen no satisfactory answer for.  Yet 
obviously you think you have answered it, so we are at an impasse, again.

Your counter-argument is that it is bad to force the client to have the 
same definition of "normal" as the server.  I agree in principle, but I 
don't see that this outweighs the argument above.  And since client and 
server must already agree that (-1,-1) is not normal this argument is 
lessened.

jason