[crossfire] Crossfire+/Crossfire2 Versioning and Metaserver

Marc Lehmann schmorp at schmorp.de
Sun Apr 15 12:10:01 CDT 2007


On Sun, Apr 15, 2007 at 01:09:18AM +0200, Yann Chachkoff <yann.chachkoff at myrealbox.com> wrote:
> > The project is indeed different, but why shouldn't it have 'crossfire'
> > somewhere in it's name when it's inheritance is still so much visible?
> >
> Because it is confusing.

We asked a number of times for indications of that, but received none.
Obviously (all of) "you" are not confused about it at all, so who is, and
how? We asked our players, and they do not seem to be confused by that.

> Actually, such a user is fooled. If I'm a new CF player, I'll not pick
> a server randomly, but will probably select the latest one, because it
> probably got the most interesting features.

Then wouldn't it make to keep it as it is? Looking at all servers on a
"most interesting feature" basis clearly makes the 2.x servers "more
interesting", both for internal features as well as player-visible ones.

(Remember that crossfire 2.x does implement most of the features that the
crossfire 1.x "team" plans for their version 2, so in a very definite
sense the current 2.0+ server is much closer to what the crossfire project
wants as 2.0 than the 1.x servers).

So if you want to make a discussion about technical merrit, the 2.x
servers (both 2.0+ and 2.1) win: they support more users with _much_
less cpu and bandwith usage, no lag due to I/O, much less crash-related
and game-related bugs, better and safer object management and a lot
more user-visible features such as greatly enhanced balancing, less
frustration, better graphics (at least for 2.1, only partly for 2.0+),
etc. etc.

If you think version numbers should reflect "most interesting" features,
then the current situation is your goal, and no confusion could come from
it.

> > a name like 'Crossfire+' or 'Crossfire-ng' is pretty different from 'Crossfire' and shouldn't cause confusion.
> 
> Except that with those both examples, one gets the idea that the project is the next version of an older software.

That is an empty claim. People did not get the impression that "C++" is
the next version of "C", either, similar for other cases. People will
think it might be an enhanced version, or a new generation of something,
which is actually what is the case.

> > Similar as 'syslogng' isn't confused with 'syslog' or 'quake' with 'quake2'.
>
> syslog-ng is a tool for system administrators, not lambda players. I think there is a rather important difference between both publics.

Care to name it?

> > We don't object to change the project name to 'Crossfire+' again. But
> > some rationale or explanation why that still is confusing would be nice.
>
> Note that the confusion is not limited to the name of the project - the
> discussion started because of the displayed version number (remember
> that the project name appears nowhere in the metaserver infos). Even
> if you estimate that "Crossfire-xxx" is not confusing, having a "2.1"
> number without anything else definitely is.

Thats your opinion, but there is no evidence for that so far. I find it
interesting to get that claim repeated without any evidence, and when
challenged for evidence, we never get any reply.

Honestly, I am a bit annoyed at crossfire 1.x. We wanted to use the "+", and
we constantly being told that the + should go from the version number. Now
that we did we are asked (or some cases commanded) to add it again.

Before shoving perceived or made-up problems into our direction, couldn't
all of you first agree on what you really want and then ask us? Obviously
we are happy to comply, but it is no fun if you make a full 180 every few
months. Could it be that the reason you are annoyed at us is actually of
your own making? I think it is unfair to call us "arrogant" when all we do
is try to play nice but only earn arbitrariness in return?

(This is not directly aimed at you, Yann. Actually: thanks a lot to you
because you are one of the few people who actually tried to explain things
instead of just whining without trying to be constructive).

-- 
                The choice of a
      -----==-     _GNU_
      ----==-- _       generation     Marc Lehmann
      ---==---(_)__  __ ____  __      pcg at goof.com
      --==---/ / _ \/ // /\ \/ /      http://schmorp.de/
      -=====/_/_//_/\_,_/ /_/\_\      XX11-RIPE



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