root/1.8.3/branches/devel/CHANGES.175

This is the changes file for PennMUSH 1.7.5. Please look it over; each
version contains new things which might significantly affect the
function of your server.  Changes are reported in reverse
chronological order (most recent first)

[TN] is Thorvald Natvig, a PennMUSH developer (aka Trivian)
[TAP] is T. Alexander Popiel, a PennMUSH developer (aka Talek)
[SW] is Shawn Wagner, a PennMUSH developer (aka Raevnos)
[LdW] is Luuk de Waard, a PennMUSH developer (aka Halatir)
[RLM] is Ralph Melton, a former PennMUSH developer
[NJG] is Nick Gammon, the Win32 porter
[EEH] is Ervin Hearn III, a Win32 porter (aka Noltar)
[DW] is Dan Williams, the MacOS porter
[2.2] refers to code which originated with the TinyMUSH 2.2 developers
[3] refers to code by (or inspired by) TinyMUSH 3.0
[Rhost] refers to code by (or inspired by) RhostMUSH

==========================================================================

Version 1.7.5 patchlevel 12                     November 3, 2002

Fixes:
   * Another bug in wrap() fixed. Reported by Rhysem. [SW]
   * Bug in @wall fixed. [SW]
   * Variable renaming to avoid C99 keyword 'conj'. [SW]
   * Win32 project files for MSVC++ updated by Mark.
   * Several portability fixes for MS VS.NET's compiler by BladedThoth.
   * flip() and reverse() didn't mix well. Better now.
     Reported by Julian. [SW]
   * Compiling with CHAT_SYSTEM undefined works again. Report by
     BladedThoth.
   * bxor() was actually doing a bor(). Reported by Sketch@M*U*S*H. [SW]


Version 1.7.5 patchlevel 11                     October 31, 2002

Config:
   * New mush.cnf option only_ascii_in_names (defaults to yes) prohibits
     the use of extended characters in names. Games that are running
     in non-English locales will probably want to set this to no instead. 
     Suggested by Philip Mak. [SW]
Commands:
   * Added @hook/before and @hook/after [SW,3]
Locks:
   * You can now use power^<power> and channel^<channel> in locks
     to test if the enactor has a given power or is on a given channel.
     Patch by Vadiv@M*U*S*H.
   * @lock/dropto, if set on a room, can prevent objects from being
     affected by the room's drop-to. Inspired by Oriens@Alexandria.
Functions:
   * The sha1() function computes the SHA-1 cryptographic hash of a string.
   * A new nosidefx function restriction to allow disabling the side-effect
     version of a function while still enabling the informational version.
     For things like name() and parent(). [SW]
   * @function's report includes more function restrictions in the flags
     field. [SW]
Minor changes:
   * Modularization of code for itemizing lists by Vadiv@M*U*S*H.
   * If there's no connect.html and you're on an html connection,
     connect.txt is now better formatted when sent to you. Same for 
     other cached text files. Suggested by BladedThoth@M*U*S*H.
   * CRYPT_SYSTEM 1 now behaves like CRYPT_SYSTEM 3 (replacing
     system-crypt passwords with SHS passwords). Suggested by Vadiv@M*U*S*H.
   * flag_table is no longer referenced anywhere except when it is used
     to seed the ptab_flag at startup. A stub "flag_add" function has
     been added to make life easier for hardcoders. Suggested by
     Gepht.
Fixes:
   * sig.c was broken on systems without sigprocmask. Reported by
     Arithon@Oracle
   * Bug with paging disconnected players and @away fixed.
     Reported by Vadiv@M*U*S*H.
   * Bashisms that crept into utils/mkcmds.sh has been replaced by
     more portable alternatives based on Configure's results. 
     Reported by Jason Newquist.
   * Trigonometric functions were broken for non-radian degree types.
     Fixed up.
   * @decomp <room>/<attrib> didn't properly use 'here' as the name
     of the object in its output. Reported by Oriens@Alexandria.
   * Wizards can now modify any lock on anything but God. Reported by
     Brian Favela.
   * ex/mortal and ex now produce identical output when a mortal 
     examines an object owned by someone else. Reported by Philip Mak.
   * We do a little better about trying to close html and ansi tags
     in all conditions. Bugs reported by BladedThoth @ M*U*S*H.
   * whisper/@pemit to a puppet should be relayed to the owner, even if the 
     owner is in the same room. Discovered thanks to MUSH sound test
     suite designed by Trispis@M*U*S*H.
   * The --longest switch in game/txt/Makefile was broken. Report by
     Nymeria@M*U*S*H
   * Help fixes by Noltar@Korongil and Intrevis@M*U*S*H
   * The M_READ extmail bit is now renamed M_MSGREAD, as M_READ conflicts
     with an included define on Solaris. Report by Jason Newquist.
   * Setting flags using single characters was not well documented, and
     didn't respect the character case. Reported by Intrevis@M*U*S*H.
   * @chown by a Wizard attempted to debit the Wizard's money, rather than
     that of the new owner of the object, which violated expected conservation
     of money. Reported by Peter Bengtson.
   * Several bugs in wrap()'s output fixed. Reported by Balerion@M*U*S*H. [SW]


Version 1.7.5 patchlevel 10                     September 19, 2002

Major Changes:
   * Commands can now be restricted by generic flags or powers.
     Several mush.cnf options (restricted_building, free_objects,
     hate_dest, player_locate, cemit_power) are now restrict.cnf
     restrictions instead. By Vadiv@M*U*S*H.
Functions:
   * When a set function (setdiff, etc.) is called with 4 arguments,
     if the last one isn't a valid sorting category, it's treated as
     the output separator.  Inspired by Mux [SW]
   * checkpass(), a wizard function that checks a string against a player's
     password. Requested by Writh@M*U*S*H.
   * regedit() and variants can now accept multiple regexps and
     replacements, in order, like edit(). By Walker@M*U*S*H.
   * comp() can take a third argument to specify the type of 
     comparison to make. Suggested by Philip Mak.
   * The trigonometric functions now take an optional argument to
     control how the angles they work with are measured to allow them
     to accept angles in degrees as well as the default radians. [SW,MUX2,Rhost]
   * Added ctu() for converting between angle measurements. [SW,MUX2,Rhost]
   * Added atan2(). [SW]
   * dist2d() and dist3d() can take floating-point numbers. [SW]
   * Other small cleanups in the math functions. [SW]
Mail:
   * The MAIL_SUBJECTS option has been removed. @mail now includes
     subjects mandatorily. Suggested by Vadiv@M*U*S*H.
Minor Changes:
   * When a player @clones an object owned by another player, the
     clone is now owned by the @cloning player, instead of the original
     owner. Fixes a quota transfer issue reported by Sparta and
     Philip Mak.
   * The flag table is no longer walked with a linear search. Instead,
     ptab_firstentry and ptab_nextentry are used. Flags no longer need
     to be added in a particular order or groups in flags.c, and flags
     added through hardcode should work better. Patch by Vadiv@M*U*S*H
   * Error message for wrong number of arguments to a function
     now tells you how many arguments it thinks you gave.
     Suggested by Philip Mak.
   * GAGGED players may now perform mail reading and maintenance.
   * Internal reorganization of signal code. [SW]
   * Attempts to speak on a channel that you can't speak on or see
     now fail and command parsing continues. Suggested by Vadiv@M*U*S*H.
   * The amount of CPU time spent running a queue entry can be limited.
     This helps reduce the impact of some types of denial-of-service attacks.
     New mush.cnf directive queue_entry_cpu_time. This currently
     works only on Unix systems with setitimer. [SW]
   * Internal rewrite of page/whisper code by Vadiv@M*U*S*H.
   * Flag set/reset messages now include the name of the target object.
     Suggested by Kyieren@M*U*S*H.
   * game/txt/Makefile now includes options to limit the number of
     news/etc topic aliases that are included in the 'entries' indices
     generated by index-files.pl. Suggested by Nymeria@M*U*S*H.
   * Minor inconsistencies in @sweep output punctuation reported by
     Cmintrnt@M*U*S*H have been fixed.
   * Added hints/cygwin.sh, tested with cygwin 1.3.12. Added additional
     cygwin build information to README.
   * The whisper-pose message is now Player senses: <pose>, with no
     quotation marks added. This matches all other pose-type messages
     in the server. Suggested by Philip Mak.
   * Only escape codes described in the help are allowed in timefmt() [SW]
Fixes:
   * Archaic help reference to FORCE_WHITE removed. Noted by Oriens@Alexandria.
   * Help fixes by Cerekk@bDv TrekMUSH, Julian@M*U*S*H, Letters@M*U*S*H,
     and Philip Mak.
   * The wildcard matcher could lag the MUSH under unusual conditions.
     It's now smarter. Discovered by Sketch@M*U*S*H.
   * Fixes from 1.7.4p20
   * Fix a bug with setdiff() not using the output separator correctly. [SW]
   * convsecs() could attempt to use values larger than 2^31, which could
     crash Windows. Reported by Bellemore@M*U*S*H.
   * @config didn't correctly show default flags for objects.
     Reported by Vadiv@M*U*S*H.
   * The strcasecoll function was poorly coded, and is now fixed.
   * Created players who hadn't yet logged in didn't have LASTIP set
     properly. Reported by Philip Mak.

Version 1.7.5 patchlevel 9                     July 16, 2002

Minor Changes:
   * /noeval switch added to @wall/@rwall/@wizwall and variants.
     Suggested by Philip Mak.
Fixes:
   * Added a missing space in the @function report for softcoded
     @functions. [SW]
   * MUX-style @function foo=obj/attr works right. [SW]
   * Cleaned up some multiple includes of the same header files. [SW]
   * Lots of cleanup of old _() macros and similar by Vadiv@M*U*S*H.
   * Added help for @stats/table. Suggested by Intrevis@M*U*S*H.
   * Fixes to csrimalloc #ifdefs that broke in last patchlevel. [SW]
   * A typo that could crash @function on certain operating systems
     has been fixed. Report by Jeff Heinen.
   * Improved switch() help. [SW]
   * Changes in the way switchinc.c is generated, to reduce the number
     of patches that attempt to patch it due to indentation changes. [SW]

Version 1.7.5 patchlevel 8                     June 26, 2002

Minor Changes:
  * Added @nspemit and nspemit(). Wizard-only versions of @pemit and
    pemit() that don't print nospoof information. Suggested by many people,
    most recently Mike Griffiths and Nymeria@M*U*S*H. [SW]
  * Help updates. [SW]
  * Force the pipes to compression program for database reads and saves to be
    block-buffered. [SW]
  * @function name=obj/attrib now works, as well as
    @function name=obj,attrib [TAP]
  * The AF_PREFIXMATCH flag is no longer shown on attributes it's set
    on when you examine them.
Fixes:
  * A bunch of internal code cleanup, especially around casts. [SW]
  * The disconnected room check is skipped on GOING rooms. Suggested
    by Philip Mak.
  * The dbck check for nameless rooms was only checking disconnected
    rooms; now it checks all rooms.
  * hasflag() did not work with single-character flag abbreviations.
    Report by Mystery8.
  * The variable named 'template' in src/strutil.c has been renamed
    to avoid clashes with the C++ reserved word. Suggested by Mac@M*U*S*H.
  * Improvement to help @filter. Suggested by Philip Mak. [SW]
  * Files in the patches directory ending in ~ are ignored
    when patches.h is rebuilt. [SW]
  * Removed a // comment from strutil.c, as we're still
    just following the c89 standard, not c99. Report by
    Vadiv@M*U*S*H. [SW]
  * make indent now indents the .dst files before the .c ones.
    Fixes some spurious warnings from later makes. Suggested by
    Vadiv@M*U*S*H. [SW]
  * Code cleanup, mostly tprintf() and unneeded header file
    checking elimination. [SW]
  * Since a Windows header #defines OPAQUE, which conflicts with a
    #define for the mush flag of the same name, rename
    our #define rather than #undefining the Windows one. [SW]
  * Fixes from 1.7.4p19


Version 1.7.5 patchlevel 7                     May 14, 2002

Utilities:
  * 'make globalinstall' will install executables, scripts, and
    a game/ directory structure in a global location (/usr/libexec/pennmush
    by default). Facilitates rpm builds. By Vadiv@M*U*S*H.
  * The utils/ln-dir.sh script can be used to clone a globalinstall'd
    pennmush for an individual MUSH/user. In combination, these two
    are a replacement for 'make customize', especially for mud hosters.
    By Vadiv@M*U*S*H.
  * You can now configure options.h settings from the command line
    using: make DEFINE="OPTION OPTION=value" UNDEFINE="OPTION" update
    This will mostly be useful for autoinstallers and packaging scripts.
    Suggested by Vadiv@M*U*S*H.
Minor Changes:
  * The default gcc compile flags now include some extra warnings.
  * The prefix-table code now only aliases down to unique prefixes.
    This prevents @w from calling @wipe (reported by Philip Mak),
    and means that you'll need to use alias.cnf to get some of those
    short aliases. [SW]
  * Attribute lookups only do prefix-matching on attributes with the
    AF_PREFIXMATCH flag. Most standard atr_tab.h attributes have this
    flag, but newly added @attributes won't. Solves a problem with
    inadvertant prefix-matching of @attribs reported by Sam Knowlton.
Fixes:
  * Fixes from 1.7.4p18
  * @decomp/skipdefaults skips @lsets of default lock flags.
    Suggested by Oriens@Alexandria. [SW]
  * Typo in src/bsd.c corrected. Reported by Nymeria@M*U*S*H.
  * Missing prototype in src/help.c. Reported by Nymeria@M*U*S*H.
  * A bunch of linting.
  * Win32 portability fixes. [EEH]
  * Updated MSVC++ project files for win32. [EEH]
  * @newpassword = foo would change the password of an arbitrary player.
    This is now corrected. Report by Oriens@Alexandria.

Version 1.7.5 patchlevel 6                     April 22, 2002

Config:
  * New attribute_alias config directive, and some default attribute
    aliases added to alias.cnf. Based on a report from Hilikiradi.
Functions:
  * textfile() returns help/news/etc. entries. Suggested by Trispis@M*U*S*H.
Minor changes:
  * New @warnings type lock-checks that reports problems with @locks. [SW]
  * exit-unlinked checks do some sanity checks on variable exits. [SW]
  * Improved error-checking in evaluation of @locks. [SW]
  * No more hdrs/warnings.h file. [SW]
  * New @nameaccent attribute to add accent marks to object
    names in speech and things like look. Idea from Elendor. [SW]
  * accent() understands a few more things. [SW]
  * The accented characters->html entities table and other
    lookup tables are now in a seperate file, src/tables.c,
    which can be regenerated if needed by utils/gentables.c [SW]
  * Improvements in caching of cached text files. [SW]
Fixes:
  * Buglet in ansi display of high-bit characters fixed. Report by
    Trispis@M*U*S*H. [SW]
  * Improved @clock2 help by Linda Antonsson.
  * Fixes from 1.7.4p17
  * A truly perverse database could cause an infinite loop on load. [TAP]
  * Win32 portability fixes. [NJG, EEH]
  * The notify code assumed that integers could be directly stored in
    pointers. This isn't always true. [SW]
  * Removed some un-used code. [SW]
  * Fixed some compiler warnings and general code cleanup. [SW]
  * Changed signal handlers to always use the ANSI/ISO C form (Returning
    void, basically) [SW]
  * A null string no longer prefix-matches anything. Report by Prot Diryn
    and Cheetah@M*U*S*H.
  * @sitelock/remove could remove entries it shouldn't if you remove the first
    one after the '@sitelock will add sites...' line. Reported by
    Ambrosia@M*U*S*H. [SW]
  * The last line of the access.cnf file sometimes wouldn't get read
    properly. [SW]


Version 1.7.5 patchlevel 5                     March 11, 2002

Commands:
  * @notify and @drain now accept a new switch /any. [TAP]
  * Added @remit/list. Suggested by Tareldin@M*U*S*H [SW]
Minor changes:
  * We now use the Mersenne Twister pseudo-random number generator,
    which is better that that available in most C libraries.
    Moreover, we seed with /dev/urandom, if it's available. [SW]
  * The 'T' type character (for THING) is now shown when one-character
    flag lists are displayed. This is more consistent with other types,
    and makes it harder to confuse #23O (#23, opaque) with #230
    (#230, no flags). Suggested by Eratl@M*U*S*H.
  * @lock/use on a parent used to apply to attempts to use $commands on
    a child. This is no longer necessary, given inheritable locks,
    so the behavior has been changed. Parents' locks are no longer checked
    when deciding if a $command inherited from the parent should be run
    via a child.
  * New 'call_limit' config option can limit the number of recursive
    parser calls to control process stack size and avoid crashes
    on systems with limited stack. Defaults to unlimited, however, because
    setting this value too small breaks mushcode. Report by Bellemore
    and BladedThoth @ M*U*S*H.
Fixes:
  * Code cleanup - some stuff from 1.7.4 got left in that isn't
    used in 1.7.5 any more. [SW]
  * Fixes from 1.7.4p16, notably an important fix for timed semaphores.
  * Cygwin portability fixes. [NJG]
  * Updated MSVC++ project files. [EEH]


Version 1.7.5 patchlevel 4                     February 15, 2002

Major changes:
  * The mush recognizes telnet-aware connections. This is
    neccessary for properly sending them some 8-bit characters. [SW]
  * Much more support for handling accented characters in the ISO 8859-1
    character set. See help for accent(), stripaccents(), and NOACCENTS.
    Inspired by Elendor. [SW]
  * Things that do first-unique-prefix matching (command, attribute and flag
    names) now use a more space-efficient data structure than before.
    This adds two new files, src/ptab.c and hdrs/ptab.h [SW]
Commands:
  * @sitelock/remove removes a sitelock entry. [SW]
Functions:
  * ord() and chr() functions for converting characters to/from numerical
    values that represent them. [SW]
Minor changes:
  * The useless FORCE_WHITE flag is really, truely, gone. [SW]
  * Use the new arglens argument to functions in more places. [SW]
  * capstr() and before() fixes reimplemented using arglens. [SW]
  * We now use the Mersenne Twister PRNG algorithm. [SW]
Fixes:
  * setunion() no longer eats empty list elements. [SW]
  * Setting an inherited lock on a child could change the parent's lock.
    Reported by Riverwolf. [SW]
  * Help fixes. [SW, Nymeria]
  * Players waiting at the connect screen weren't being disconnected
    by the idle_timeout.
  * Detection of cygwin in Configure may be improved.
  * Fixes from 1.7.4p15.

Version 1.7.5 patchlevel 3                     January 24, 2002

Fixes:
  * before() was broken in 1.7.5p2. Reported by Sam Knowlton.
  * capstr() was broken in 1.7.5p2.
  * Win32 portability fixes by Noltar@Korongil.

Version 1.7.5 patchlevel 2                     January 23, 2002

Major changes:
  * Implementations for softcode functions get the lengths of their arguments
    passed to them, and this is taken advantage of in a number of places. [SW]
Minor changes:
  * It's harder to get a partial dbref because of end-of-buffer truncation. [SW]
  * Code cleanup. In particular, safe_str() and friends are no longer
    macros for a safe_copy_str() or the like, because hardly anything
    used a different buffer length than BUFFER_LEN, and those places
    can be handled other ways. [SW]
Fixes:
  * Win32 portability fixes by Noltar@Korongil and Eric Koske.
  * When you have two hidden connections, one idle over the inactivity limit,
    and the other not, @hide/off on the active connection unhides both,
    but you also see the Inactivity re-hide message from the other
    connection. Reported by Trispis.
  * iname() function actually added to function table so it works.
    Reported by K. Shirow.
  * @lock obj=attrib:value locks didn't work properly. Reported by
    Linda Antonsson.
  * Fixes from 1.7.4p14.

Version 1.7.5 patchlevel 1                     December 3, 2001

Minor Changes:
  * PCRE updated to 3.7. [SW]
  * player_name_len is now runtime configurable. Suggested by
    Linda Antonsson. [SW]
  * Any object of any type may be a ZMO, and any object of any type
    may be zoned to a ZMO of any type. However, searching for
    $commands has not changed, so $commands on a ZMO are only
    searched when the ZMO is not a room, and $commands on objects
    within the ZMO are only searched when the ZMO is a room. [TAP]
  * @chzoneall nows directly calls @chzone, and @chzone now tells
    you when it's not changing a zone. [TAP]
  * The term "Zone Master" (player) has been replaced by "Shared
    Player" in the help. [TAP]
  * Many obsolete db formats are no longer readable. hdrs/oldattrib.h
    and src/convdb.c are no more. [SW]
  * Code cleanup. [SW]
Fixes:
  * Help file for mix updated. Report by Cmintrnt@M*U*S*H
  * Updated win32 config.h file and other fixes by Noltar@Korongil
  * WHO wasn't showing unconnected players. Report by Noltar@Korongil. [SW]
  * Help fixes. [SW]

Version 1.7.5 patchlevel 0                     November 14, 2001

Major Changes:
  * This is now the development minor version. This first release includes
    relatively few changes, to make converting to it easier.
  * Internal changes to the lock system. This requires a new minimal.db,
    which is now distributed. [SW]
  * Locale-based string collation throughout.
  * Only ANSI C compilers are still supported; no more K&R. Files are
    gradually going to be converted to ANSI C only.
  * There is now an option to make ZMOs and ZMRs not count for
    control of objects, only ZMPs. [SW]
Flags:
  * The ZONE player flag has been renamed SHARED, to help seperate the
    ZMP control-only meaning from the command-matching of ZMOs and ZMRs. [SW]
Commands:
  * /preserve switch for @link prevents @chowning. Suggested by Vexon@M*U*S*H
  * Admin WHO and SESSION now includes unconnected descriptors. [SW]
  * Unconnected descriptors can now be booted. Patch by Bellemore@M*U*S*H.
  * Unconnected descriptors can now be paged by admin with page/port. [SW]
Functions:
  * mix() can take more than 10 lists and of unequal length. [3,SW]
  * iname() returns the name of an object from inside (honoring nameformat)
    Idea by Jeffrey@TheHotel.
  * lplayers() returns a list of players in the location. Handy for
    room parents. By Vexon@M*U*S*H.
  * lvplayers(), lvcon(), lvexits() are like lplayers/lcon/lexits, but
    leave out dark things (and disconnected players). Handy for room
    parents. By Vexon@M*U*S*H.
Minor Changes:
  * munge() now passes its delimiter as %1 to make generic sorting easier. [SW]
  * Word-based attribute compression is faster than before, for both
    compression and decompression. [SW]
  * Windows memory-usage information for wizards is now in @uptime, not
    @stats [SW]
  * Word-based attribute compression stats can be viewed on non-Windows
    mushes as well, by defining COMP_STATS. See externs.h for details. [SW]
  * Setting of the internal QUEUE and semaphore attributes does not modify
    an object's last-modified timestamp. [SW]
  * Speaking on a channel that you're gagging is now treated like
    speaking on a channel that you're not on. Suggested by rodregis@M*U*S*H
  * You can use @exitto in place of &DESTINATION to set the destinatino
    for variable exits, though DESTINATION is checked first. [3]
  * WATCHER is another name for the MONITOR flag. [3]
  * max_guest_pennies and guest_paycheck config options. Inspired by [SW]
  * Lock and unlock messages now show object name and dbref, and tell
    you if you unlock an already unlocked object. Suggested by Jamie Warren.
  * A version of portmsg for Win32 is in the win32 directory.
    Donated by CU5@WCX
  * Tweaks to info_slave, which now uses readv/writev. [SW]
  * Lots of code cleanup. [SW]
  * CHAT_SYSTEM, INFO_SLAVE, and FUNCTION_SIDE_EFFECTS are now #define'd
    by default. [TAP]
Fixes:
  * Indentation fixes [SW]
  * Fixes up to 1.7.4p12 merged in.