1 Topic by Chacmool (edited by chacmool 2004-01-11 15:18)

  • From: Gothenburg, Sweden
  • Registered: 2002-07-03
  • Posts: 946

Topic: No more mod readme files!

Well, I'm written some mods now... and I'm getting really tired of writing the readme.txt files. I don't like them at all anymore, it's just frustrating to write something twice! (especially since I sometimes forget to do update the readme.txt file...)

So, a solition to the problem could be to use some program to compare a clean PunBB-istall with one where the mod is install. I've tried one and it works quite well smile

Example page for the new version of such report can be seen here (its for PunPoll 1.2) The page only shows changes, so if there are other mods installed, the line-numbering wont work. The header is made by me, so it's some work to do anyway... and it's not that obvious what to do all the time (A "Lxy" without a following "Rxy" means that you should remove the lines starting at line xy).

Does people understand the file? Is it easy to do something wrong? What do you think?

Edit: The program I used was Beyond Compare. I'm sure there's better programs out there though, this popped up first when I asked Google smile

  • Jansson
  • Former PunBB Developer
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  • Registered: 2003-01-06
  • Posts: 856

Re: No more mod readme files!

It's pretty easy to understand, but I think it's more easy to do mistakes in that one than the old one.

  • From: 127.0.0.1
  • Registered: 2001-11-02
  • Posts: 9,167

Re: No more mod readme files!

True. I've never written a mod, but I can imagine writing and updating the readme can be a lot of work for the larger mods. An alternative to Beyond Compare is to use diff/patch. However, I hardly know any Windows users that have it installed.

"Programming is like sex: one mistake and you have to support it for the rest of your life."

Rickard's Website

  • From: Gothenburg, Sweden
  • Registered: 2002-07-03
  • Posts: 946

Re: No more mod readme files!

Kennel wrote:

True. I've never written a mod, but I can imagine writing and updating the readme can be a lot of work for the larger mods. An alternative to Beyond Compare is to use diff/patch. However, I hardly know any Windows users that have it installed.

Is it that hard to install it if you want a mod then?

  • From: 127.0.0.1
  • Registered: 2001-11-02
  • Posts: 9,167

Re: No more mod readme files!

Probably not.

"Programming is like sex: one mistake and you have to support it for the rest of your life."

Rickard's Website

6 Reply by Chacmool (edited by chacmool 2004-01-13 17:32)

  • From: Gothenburg, Sweden
  • Registered: 2002-07-03
  • Posts: 946

Re: No more mod readme files!

Another one found: Using hdiff instead gives a few line above and under the changed/added/removed line. See the example... I think this one is better, but maybe not enough though?

7 Reply by dR slIzer (edited by dR slIzer 2004-01-13 17:48)

  • From: Sweden
  • Registered: 2002-06-18
  • Posts: 100

Re: No more mod readme files!

Yeah, diff och patch are great tools for this such of thing. But as mentioned most Windows users don't have them. 'comp' (built in command in CMD) can be used to compare files on a windows box but I don't think there is any program that can substitute the real unix tools wink

"Real programmers are those that can sleep in front of terminals ... with their eyes opened."

"Real programmers don't work from 9 to 5. If any real programmers are around at 9am it's because they were up all night."

8 Reply by Chacmool (edited by chacmool 2004-01-13 17:56)

  • From: Gothenburg, Sweden
  • Registered: 2002-07-03
  • Posts: 946

Re: No more mod readme files!

dR slIzer wrote:

Yeah, diff och patch are great tools for this such of thing. But as mentioned most Windows users don't have them. 'comp' (built in command in CMD) can be used to compare files on a windows box but I don't think there is any program that can substitute the real unix tools wink

Yes, but with hdiff the users must do the changes themselves instead of having path doing it. The question is if it's as easy as the readme.txt-files to understand.

Don't know how well the programs work if there's other mods installed before...

9 Reply by Jansson (edited by Cactuz 2004-01-13 18:42)

  • Jansson
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Re: No more mod readme files!

There is no point of having a program patching the files cause that could lead to problems when mods got together.

But it looked pretty easy to understand, if not easier than the readme files we are using now, but the extreme width could lead to mistakes I think.

  • From: 127.0.0.1
  • Registered: 2001-11-02
  • Posts: 9,167

Re: No more mod readme files!

Yeah, maybe that's the way to go. However, if you distribute the HTML output of that program hdiff, you might as well include the actuall diff file as well so people can patch it automatically if they want to.

"Programming is like sex: one mistake and you have to support it for the rest of your life."

Rickard's Website

  • From: Gothenburg, Sweden
  • Registered: 2002-07-03
  • Posts: 946

Re: No more mod readme files!

Cactuz wrote:

But it looked pretty easy to understand, if not easier than the readme files we are using now, but the extreme width could lead to mistakes I think.

On some places yes, but where there's no extreme-lines it's really easy to see the difference between the files.

Kennel wrote:

Yeah, maybe that's the way to go. However, if you distribute the HTML output of that program hdiff, you might as well include the actuall diff file as well so people can patch it automatically if they want to.

Yeah, that's no problem. Though, not everybody has access to diff/hdiff, and we don't want the modders to end up using alot of different types of files either...

  • Jansson
  • Former PunBB Developer
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  • Registered: 2003-01-06
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Re: No more mod readme files!

Well, do as you want, but that file isn't very strict which could lead to a mistake.

Suggestion:
Why not make a tool to convert that file into the original readme style?

13 Reply by Louis (edited by Louis 2004-02-14 21:10)

  • Louis
  • Senior Member
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  • From: Toronto, Canada
  • Registered: 2003-12-24
  • Posts: 197

Re: No more mod readme files!

Jansson wrote:

Suggestion:
Why not make a tool to convert that file into the original readme style?

I'm considering that one myself. I'm working out the idea for a general PunBB mod tool. It might have that feature, or perhaps we should scrap mod readmes all together. Please post your ideas here.