Bringing up the same old stuff

[vovan]

Hello,

It's me again, long time no see. First, I am glad to see that the project is still going.

Next, I wanted to make a little proposal. I already asked Mark about it, though he said I maybe should bring it up on the forums, so here I am.

Basically, it boils down to this. I have a server and a domain name registered for my own purposes, however, there is plenty of bandwidth and disk space I am not using. Hence, I was wondering if it would help you guys any to make use of it. My idea was to set up a password-protected version control repository for you, so you don't have to pass code around through email, and so you could better control the versioning - like have stable release branch, and at the same time be able to work further.

Mark said that maybe this thing would be fairly useless, simply because Laurent is pretty much the only person actively doing coding at the moment, but I think that a version-control system is useful even if there is only one person working, because it allows you to not worry about changing code. I know I used to work on my university projects without any version control, and every time I changed something fairly drastically, I made a backup of everything, just in case I screw something up beyond repair, and I did screw things up, and boy, was it a pain to get back the backup, and merge in the useful changes, and throw away the bad ones, etc. With a version control system, that's not a problem because you can always easily roll back changes, as well as make branches etc to keep drastic, potentially disasterous, changes separate from routine bug fixes.

So any way, that's what I was thinking. Tell me what you think about this idea.

Another issue is this. Mark said that if I wanted to do some more coding for you guys then I would be welcome to. The thing is, though, that I still feel bad about the last time I worked with you. I hate it when I promise to do something and don't, whatever the reason. So now I am torn. On the one hand, I really want to help you guys out, because I think this is really an outstanding project, but on the other hand, I am afraid to make any substantial time-consuming commitments, because I just don't know that I'll be able to keep them. Real life has a way of ruining these.

Vovan

[alms66]

Vovan,

I agree with Mark that the version control isn't all that needed. The coding team has been pretty good about not destroying the code thus far, though perhaps that alone is a good enough reason to use version control, since it is bound to happen sooner or later, and version control does make those situations easier to handle.

Having the code available 24-7 in a password protected area seems like a really good idea though. I'm not currently coding anything (I've got my hands full with the graphics, tech tree, and scenario), but when I'm done with the tech tree and scenario, I expect to, and it would be really nice to have this. It would allow the developers to update their code base on a daily basis (that's a bit wishful thinking, but possible), thus everyone always has the most current version. It opens up the possibility of releasing weekly builds as well, provided something was added/fixed in that given week, even if only a minor bug fix, by automating the process somewhat.

You were working on the diplomacy code, right? Considering the work that was done on that in a relatively short period of time, I'd say we could sure use you as a coder. We could use any coder actually, so, yes, come on back. Just be sure to take things easy and not let yourself get burned out too quickly, or if RL gets in the way, just take a week or two off. The only thing required is that you come back after those two weeks off.

[Mark_Everson]

Hi Vovan:

I also think that it would do much more good than harm for you to pick up the diplo code again. That aspect of the code is fairly self-contained and doesn't overly affect the code progress in other areas one way or the other. IIRC Laurent did a bit with your code just to get it more functional, but my guess is that it's not that much changed from when you left it. As diplomacy gets better, it will greatly enhance the rest of the game, and the scope of scenarios that we can make.

How about it? A committment of "I'll do what I can" is sufficient.

-Mark

[vovan]

Well, in that case... Sign me up.

As far as version control is concerned, I've set up a Subversions server, so if you guys want to use it, then it's all ready.

[LDiCesare]

I'd be glad to have some version control system. I'm always a bit afraid that my computer will crash and I'll have to ask Mark for the code I sent last time. I'm not making saves on disk every week... In fact, I should be making backup disks more than once every ... mmm... every... well you get the idea.
When merging code with other people, bugs happen. I once screwed all the work Richard had done on a xml file by mistake, so putting everything in a repository wouldn't hurt.
I'm actually accessing the web only on weekends most weeks, but it'd be more convenient if I could deliver my code that way. If you can put your hands on any decent source control software, they usually prompt people to explain what they are doing when checking in, and that's a good point too.
As for coding, be honest with yourself and don't promise things you're not sure you can do. Since you've got several things already, you can just say you'll work on it incrementally, so you don't have to promise much at a time. I'll mess with the code when I need to and if we have a server, it shouldn't be too much of a problem since changes will be seen immediately (in the sense if you have checked out a file I also want to check out, I'll see it and know it so I can ask you what you're up to, and the otehr way too).