[FreeCiv-Java] Re: Build: jfreeciv FAILED to build

["Ross W. Wetmore" <rwetmore@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

One can probably assume that the early-adopters of JFreeciv
will be sophisticated enough not to be deterred by installing
a Windows upgrade. There might be an issue if Microsoft has
done something more to their pre-installed version than a simple
upgrade would provide, though.

By the time JFreeciv really is out big time :-), 1.4 may be the
standard.

From a development perspective, developing to 1.4 with backwards
compatibility patches for 1.3 may make more sense. For one, the
longer things take the less the patch is needed, rather than the 
reverse scenario where developing to 1.3, a 1.4 fix will always 
be required.

It is worthwhile "testing" against 1.3, or documenting (in code
as well as Notes) what 1.4 specific things break in 1.3 as you 
go.

Just my 2 cents ...

Cheers,
RossW
=====

At 12:34 PM 01/12/13 -0800, Ben Mazur wrote:
>From: "Brian Duff"
>
>> wow, I didn't know that: I suppose it's a good thing for
>Java, but not
>> necessarily ideal for us :(
>>
>> I still think we should move to 1.4, even at the possible
>expense of a few
>> potential users (er gamers) :). Maybe we should look into
>web start to make
>> it as easy as possible to install jfreeciv (I think web
>start can download /
>> install JREs for you...?)
>>
>> Brian
>
>What are the exact features we gain by using 1.4?  Brian
>mentioned:
>
>o Numeric keypad differentiation
>o Increased scrolling performance
>
>I can't envision living without any of the 1.4 features
>although:
>
>o XML might be useful for a config file, if we moved away
>from .civclientrc
>o I think a drag & drop worklist would be more intuitive
>than the up/down/add/remove/etc. buttons the C client uses.
>This would be easier to implement in 1.4, though not
>impossible in 1.3.
>
>I think we should stick with 1.3 if moving to 1.4 is going
>to lose us any users.  However, I don't think anybody
>willing to download both the binary distribution, data
>files, and to play locally, one of the server binaries, is
>going to be deterred by having to install the latest JRE.
>
>Ben