Empire Server Files

Release notes for Wolfpack Empire 4.3.28

This release fixes many bugs, some critical, some abusable.  Deity
visible changes include stricter checking of configuration tables.

Deities are urged to use this release for new games.  Upgrading
mid-game is not supported, and expected to result in total disaster.
Fine print: you should be able to upgrade from 4.3.16 or later with
the empdump utility, if you know what you're doing.

This release was made from the Git repository at

    http://git.pond.sub.org/?p=empserver;a=summary


Released files:

Source code
 * empire-4.3.28.tar.gz             Everything
 * empire-client-4.3.28.tar.gz      Just the client

Pre-formatted documentation
 * empire-info-text-4.3.28.tar.gz   Text
 * empire-info-html-4.3.28.tar.gz   HTML

Binaries
 * empire-client-4.3.28-*           Clients for various systems

User contributed files:
 * contrib/empire-server-4.3.28-i386-win32.zip 
                                    Server binaries for Windows
				    (Ron Koenderink)


Change log:

Changes to Empire 4.3.28 - Sat Jul 16 11:30:53 UTC 2011
 * Don't let POGO (#0) navigate dead ships, and march dead land units.
   The ghosts even got sighted and interdicted, and could hit mines.
   Has always been that way.
 * llook can't see land units and planes loaded on land units anymore.
 * Fix board to ignore land units loaded on land units when testing
   whether a sector can board.  Broken in 4.0.17.
 * Fix transport to reject planes loaded on land units.  The plane
   remained on its carrier.  When the land unit moved, the plane was
   teleported right back to it.  Broken since Chainsaw 3 added land
   units.
 * Fix lradar not to let land units loaded on land units use radar.
   Broken since 4.0.0 added trains.
 * Fix strength to ignore land units loaded on land units.  Broken in
   4.2.0.
 * Fix navigate and march to find paths longer than a few sectors
   again (7 for 64 bit hosts, 3 for 32 bit hosts).  Broken in 4.3.27.
 * march sub-command 'i' now shows number of military and land units
   loaded.
 * New server option -F to force start even when state looks bad.
   Risks crashes and further corruption, but gives deities a chance to
   fix up a bad game state with edit commands and such.
 * empdump -x no longer refuses to export game state that looks bad.
   Gives deities another tool to fix up a bad game state.
 * Land units loaded on land units fight che again, as they used to
   before 4.3.26.
 * When a land unit dies fighting che, land units loaded on it get
   unloaded, and planes loaded on it die.  Before, the update left
   them stuck on their dead carrier.  Impact like the next item.
   Abusable.  Broken since Chainsaw 3 added land units.
 * The update no longer destroys ships, planes and land units for lack
   of maintenance.  Before, it left any embarked planes, land units
   and nukes on their dead carrier.  In this state, units behaved as
   if their carrier was still alive, with additional protection from
   the fact that a dead carrier can't be damaged or boarded.  If
   another unit with the same number got built, it picked up the stuck
   cargo.  The cargo got teleported to its new carrier when the
   carrier moved.  Abusable, but it involves going broke, so it's
   rarely practical.  Slightly more practical before 4.3.6 removed
   budget priorities.  Broken for ships and land units when Empire 2
   added their maintenance cost, and for planes when v4.3.3 replaced
   nuclear stockpiles by nuke units.
 * Fix bogus internal error triggered by navigate and march
   sub-commands 'r', 'l' and 's'.  Broken in 4.3.27.
 * Fix client not to reject redirections and execute containing
   non-ASCII characters with a bogus scary warning when using UTF-8.
 * Fix execute not to mangle non-ASCII characters in the argument when
   prompting for it while login option utf-8 is on.
 * Fix handling of non-ASCII and control characters in batch files.
 * Conversion from UTF-8 to ASCII ate the character following a
   replaced non-ASCII character.  Buffer overrun possible if the
   terminating zero gets eaten.  Could happen in players, read, flash,
   wall, and execute.
 * Fix handling of empty commands:
   - Time used was not updated.
   - Mortal player wasn't logged off for game hours, game down, and
     time limit.
   - Notifications were delayed: going broke, becoming solvent, new
     telegrams (toggle inform off only), new announcements, capital
     lost.
 * Minor tweaks to nightly build.
 * Server's and empdump's sanity checking of configuration and game
   state is now more rigorous.
 * Deity xdump no longer dumps unused countries' realms.
 * Remove option LANDSPIES.  Deities can customize the land table to
   disable spy units.
 * Remove option TRADESHIPS.  Deities can customize the ship table to
   enable trade ships.
 * Configuration table changes (builtin and custom):
   - Rows must be in ascending uid order.
   - Omitting rows in tables item, sect-chr and infrastructure is no
     longer permitted.
   - Custom tables now replace the builtin table completely.  Before,
     omitted rows defaulted to the builtin version, except at the end
     of a table.  Commenting out unwanted stuff just works now.
   - Permit custom table product having fewer than 14 entries.
   - Reject custom tables where customization has no effect (updates,
     table, meta, all symbol tables) or where it's unsafe (news-chr).
   - Input is checked more rigorously.
 * empdump -i fixes:
   - Don't touch plane file when import fails.
   - Refuse import of incorrectly sized table instead of silently
     creating one the server will reject.
   - Replace old state completely.  Before, omitted rows in the dump
     defaulted to the old state, except at the end of a table.
   - Input is checked more rigorously.
 * Fix xdump updates not to dump bogus extra updates.
 * Fix use-after-free when a plane got shot down or aborted by flak.
   Broken in 4.3.27.
 * Friendlier diagnostics in the build command.
 * Fix build to set nuke's tech exactly like for ships, planes and
   land units.  It's not currently used for anything.
 * Research required for nukes was slightly off sometimes due to
   incorrect rounding.
 * Bridge building required 0.005 tech less than advertised, fix.
 * "show nuke" now obeys toggle techlists.
 * Fix "show land s" to show columns xpl and lnd again.  Broken in
   4.3.15.
 * Code refactoring and cleanup.
 * Documentation on custom tables, xdump updated.
 * Info file fixes.

Change log just for the client:

 * Fix client not to reject redirections and execute containing
   non-ASCII characters with a bogus scary warning when using UTF-8.