[Freeciv-Dev] Re: packet_conn_ping_info and connections

[Jason Dorje Short <jdorje@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Andreas Røsdal wrote:
> On Tue, 19 Oct 2004, Mike Kaufman wrote:
>
> > On Tue, Oct 19, 2004 at 02:33:27PM -0400, Jason Dorje Short wrote:
> >
> > > packet_conn_ping_info assumes there can be no more than MAX_NUM_PLAYERS
> > > connections.  Is this a safe assumption?  It seems unlikely.
> > this is absolutely wrong.
> >
> > sernet.h:
> >
> > #define MAX_NUM_CONNECTIONS (2 * (MAX_NUM_PLAYERS + MAX_NUM_BARBARIANS))
> >
> > the 2 there was put in by me, but it's really arbitrary. For a really
> > exciting game (league finals?), you might want to have a great many
> > observers. We might want to raise it sometime in the future.
>
> Why should there be a limit to the number of connections? Also, why should
> there be a limit to the number of players?
1.  Assumptions in the code.

2.  Limitations in the network code (arrays must be bounded).

If the first were fixed then MAX_NUM_PLAYERS could be made much larger. 
 MAX_NUM_CONNECTIONS could easily be larger.  However without 
redesigning the network packets or the core network code there must be 
_some_ limitation.
The most common code assumption is that 
MAX_NUM_PLAYERS+MAX_NUM_BARBARIANS<=32.  4-byte bitfields are used for 
players.  However this has been fixed in a number of places already.
jason