New Verison of NPPAngband version 050 to be released in about a week

[takkaria]

z-file.c was completely rewritten for no discernible reason in V. I had always assumed the problem was making it GPL-ready, but I would not mind explicit correction.

It was mostly because Angband had two different ways of interacting with files (fd_ and my_f* functions), which was untidy and irritating.

[takkaria]

There is no code that I've written in there (just in an unpublished variant). I was simply wondering if this code was the code by the mysterious hmj, and if so, what was it still doing there? and if not, then where is the hmj code (so you and I and other variant authors can delete it)?

That code long ago was removed (Ben got rid of it in one of his rewrites, I believe).

[half]

I am not sure if that is you...

There is no code that I've written in there (just in an unpublished variant). I was simply wondering if this code was the code by the mysterious hmj, and if so, what was it still doing there? and if not, then where is the hmj code (so you and I and other variant authors can delete it)?

[nppangband]

Takkaria's guide lists 5 people who couldn't be contacted. One of these is hmj who "Added a case insensitive string comp for deficient systems". Is this my_stricmp in z-util.c ? I'm unsure because it seems to be it, and yet the code is still there, untouched, after quite a while.

I am not sure if that is you, but if there is code in the Angband source that you wrote, and you are OK with it being released under the GPL license, a post with your name and the following statement would be greatly appreciated:

I hereby release [insert name of your patch here or 'all my changes
to the Angband code'], under the terms of the GNU General Public License
(version 2), as well as under the traditional Angband license. It may be
redistributed under the terms of the GPL (version 2 or any later version),
or under the terms of the traditional Angband license.

[half]

Takkaria's guide lists 5 people who couldn't be contacted. One of these is hmj who "Added a case insensitive string comp for deficient systems". Is this my_stricmp in z-util.c ? I'm unsure because it seems to be it, and yet the code is still there, untouched, after quite a while.

[zaimoni]

The best guide is takkaria's. IIRC there were three main things to deal with:

1. ....
2. ....
3. Well, maybe two main things. There may have been the odd other thing, but those are the big ones.

z-file.c was completely rewritten for no discernible reason in V. I had always assumed the problem was making it GPL-ready, but I would not mind explicit correction.

[Nick]

@Nick - What changes did you have to make to get Fangband under the GPL? Is there a guide anywhere that would tell me which parts of the code need to be re-written or deleted? Thanks.

The best guide is takkaria's. IIRC there were three main things to deal with:

1. The main-xxx.c files. Some of the older ports, and the graphics from the x11 port, had to go - I think most of the rest was OK. In any case, a look at V or FA should clear most things up (they're pretty similar, except FA has UnAndrew's double/triple tile support and different game start handling).
2. Fonts, graphics, sound, etc. These were a bit of a pain, but the copying.txt in the top level directory (V and FA) points in the right direction.
3. Well, maybe two main things. There may have been the odd other thing, but those are the big ones.

Hmmm, maybe I should change the mission statement of NPP to be: What would vanilla look like if there weren't so many doggone changes?

Yeah, but WWVLLITWSMDCAngband isn't as snappy.

[nppangband]

Thanks for the idea of using Fangband code. I will check it out.

@Nick - What changes did you have to make to get Fangband under the GPL? Is there a guide anywhere that would tell me which parts of the code need to be re-written or deleted? Thanks.

Hmmm, maybe I should change the mission statement of NPP to be: What would vanilla look like if there weren't so many doggone changes?

[Nick]

@Nick
Since you've been borrowing code, what are the new V features most worth borrowing? I only know the ones I actually worked on.

Item list, ID-by-use (although I've done my own version of that), GPL, a bunch of small fixes. I think I've got my basic squelching from V now (with modifications). Pretty much all the z-* files. Pref-file handling. Plus there's a bunch of new stuff that I'm trying to work out whether to put in or not.

[Pete Mack]

That will be my next challenge....to catch up on everything that has happened in Vanilla, and make the coding changes necessary to have NPP be under the same GPL licesense that [V] is now.

@Nick
Since you've been borrowing code, what are the new V features most worth borrowing? I only know the ones I actually worked on.

@Jeff
You might find it easier to borrow from FA also because its file structure is closer to the original than V is now.

[Nick]

That will be my next challenge....to catch up on everything that has happened in Vanilla, and make the coding changes necessary to have NPP be under the same GPL licesense that [V] is now.

And it is a challenge - V is being energetically developed at the moment. I am certainly struggling to keep up - so FA actually has a number of simplified implementations of V features. For that reason, and because a lot of the other code will be familiar to you (there was a time there where every new FA release had a bunch of stolen NPP features ), you might find it a useful resource.

[nppangband]

That will be my next challenge....to catch up on everything that has happened in Vanilla, and make the coding changes necessary to have NPP be under the same GPL licesense that [V] is now.

[ekolis]

Just expect a lot of complaints about various, ahem, pet peeves, which have been addressed in later versions of Vanilla

But yeah, glad to see this variant coming back to life

[getter77]

Who doesn't love a mega-release? Sounds awesome and I do believe this will be my first venture at NPPAngband in the coming times.

[Magnate]

Welcome back.