root/1.8.3/trunk/game/txt/hlp/pennv183.hlp

& 1.8.3p6
& changes
This is a list of changes in this patchlevel which are probably of
interest to players. More information about new commands and functions
can probably be gotten via 'help <name of whatever>'. 'help credits'
lists the [initials] of developers and porters that are used in the list 
of changes.

Information about changes in prior releases can be found under
help topics named for each release (e.g. 'help 1.7.2p30').
A list of the patchlevels associated with each release can
be read in 'help patchlevels'.

Version 1.8.3 patchlevel 6                      Jan 01, 2008

Major changes:
 * If configure finds a copy of the pcre library installed, that will
   be used instead of the (old) version bundled with Penn. use
   --with-pcre=/path/to/it if it's not in the usual places, or
   --with-pcre=no to force use of the bundled version.

Minor changes:
 * @sitelock when there are no rules will now say that instead of
   having no output. By Talvo.
 * Log files use locking to prevent the small chance of more than one
   process writing to the same error log at the same time.
 * info_slave's logging is more clear as to its source.
 * Several places that used the select() system call now favor poll()
   and/or socket timeouts instead. (The main event loop still uses
   select() for now.)
 * A wildcard help topic search (help foo*) that only matches one
   entry will display that entry. Suggested by Cheetah.
 * New switches for commands no longer have to be added to the
   SWITCHES file; the internal list of switches is now built based on
   what switches are given in the command table and cmdlocal.c
   additions. Suggested by Talek. 


Flags and powers:
 * The announce power now also grants the ability to change the motd.
   Suggested by Yuriko.
 * New hook power grants rights to use @hook. Suggested by Paige.
 * Windows compile fixes by Intrevis.

Commands:
 * @motd gives better feedback when clearing a message.
 * The @tport/@otport/@atport/etc. attributes that get evalulated on a
   @teleport now get the dbref of the object doing the teleport in %0
   and the teleported object's old location in %1. Suggested by Daniel
   Cheng.

Functions:
 * root() uses an improved algorithm to give a more precise
   result.
 * log(N,2) uses the C log2() function if available.
 * log(N,e) takes the natural logarithm of N, like ln().
 * lports() now takes an optional viewer argument, a la lwho(). By
   Talvo.

Fixes:
 * Typo in info_slave preventing simultaneous hostname lookups fixed.
 * Compiliation fix with some compilers. Reported by Kimiko.
 * ident lookups of new connections was broken for several
   patchlevels.  Works again. Sometimes.
 * Cleaned up some warnings generated by gcc 4.2
 * Fixed some minor bugs detected by running under valgrind.
 * OpenBSD configuration fixes.

& 1.8.3p5
Version 1.8.3 patchlevel 5                      October 6, 2007

Major changes:
 * Significant rewrite of ansi parsing and better ansi support
   for many string-handling functions. Patch by Sketch.
 * Rewrite of the softcode regression testing framework, and 
   addition of more tests. [SW]

Minor changes:
 * Store a pointer to the start of a player's mailbox in objdata
   instead of the connection struct.
 * Experimental rewrite of hash tables to use the cuckoo hashing
   algorithm, with constant-time lookups even in the worst case.
   (And appears to have generally faster lookup even in normal usage.)
 * Regular expression @sitelocks save the compiled regexp instead of
   recompiling every time the rule is tested.
 * Added %4 to @pageformat, which is the default page message.

Commands:
 * Added @message, which makes it easy to use @chatformat or
   @pageformat via @hooks, or to create your own *format.

Functions:
 * Added message(), the function version of @message.

Fixes:
 * decode64() does better validation of its input. [SW]
 * Various compile fixes reported by Interevis and Kimiko.
   Win32 patched by Intrevis.
 * @sitelock does better error reporting. [SW]
 * Crash bug related to regeditall fixed.
 * @decompile didn't handle attribute trees correctly.
 * Compile failure in funstr.c on some systems. Fixed by Boris.
 * '@set =foo' failed silently. Reported by Talvo.
 * Fixes from 1.8.2p7

& 1.8.3p4
Version 1.8.3 patchlevel 4                      July 9, 2007

Major changes:
  * Parts of the build process that used a shell script to regenerate
    certain headers now use perl scripts instead, making them much
    faster. [SW]

Minor changes:
  * The hash tables used by lmath() and html functions now
    use perfect hashing to speed up lookups. [SW]
  * The various slab allocators used by attributes and locks
    and other areas have been replaced with a generic
    slab allocator. Also, many more allocations are handled
    by the new code.
  * Use the writev() system call to send data to unencrypted
    connections in bigger chunks instead of using multiple send()s of
    smaller chunks.
  * New lock types can be added via src/local.c instead of having to
    alter the table in src/locks.c. Based on patch by Talvo.
  * Builtin lock names and default flags are stored in a hash table
    instead of a list. [SW]

Attributes:
  * @chatformat allows you to customize Channel chat messages
    that you see. [GM]

Commands:
  * '@list allocations' displays allocation information.
  * @stats/tables no longer dumps mem_check information.
  * @search (and by relation search()) now has an 'elock'
    search class, permitting boolean expression searches. [GM]
  * @channel/recall extended to support recalling by time. Example:
    '@chan/recall Foo=1h' will recall lines only from the past
    hour. Patch by Talvo.
 
Functions:
  * cond() works like an if, else if, else if ... ncond(),
    condall(), ncondall() also added. [GM]
  * speak() accepts a 1st argument beginning with '&' to use
    an arbitrary speaker name. [GM]
  * New speakpenn() function handles : <pose> in Penn style.
    Suggested by Sketch, patch by Javeln.
  * lmath() accepts dist2d and dist3d. Suggested by Jess.
  * functions(local) returns just local @functions. [SW]
  * New encode64() and decode64() functions convert between
    normal text and base64 encoded text on games that have
    SSL support compiled in. [SW]
  * encrypt() and decrypt() now take an optional 3rd argument
    to control using base 64 encoding. Suggested by Noltar.
 
Fixes:
  * Compile fixes for some linux (And other?) systems that expect
    all libraries to be after source files on the command line
    when linking. Reported by Balerion.
  * Compile fix for some Postgresql installations. Reported by
    Nymeria.
  * Fix to fraction() when dealing with numbers that can't
    be fractioned. Discovered by Ashen-Shugar.
  * Fixes to align() and coalescing by Javelin. Bugs reported by
    Sketch and tramp.
  * Fixes to speak() to bring it closer to Tiny's behavior in
    common cases by Sketch and Javelin.
  * Fixes to ANSI output where extra ^[[m were being sent.
  * Default flags weren't getting set on some attributes in certain
    cases. Report by Talvo.
  * Fixes from 1.8.2p6

& 1.8.3p3
Version 1.8.3 patchlevel 3                      June 13, 2007

Minor changes:
  * The sockets used to talk to info_slave changed from streams
    to datagrams, simplifying code. [SW]
  * info_slave deals better with simultaneous connections. [SW]
  * info_slave requires the presence of the socketpair(2) function.
    It was already using it anyways.
  * Use of some system calls with portability issues encapsulated in
    wrapper functions. [SW]
  * sql() returns error codes directly instead of notifying %!. [SW]

Functions:
  * lattr() and lattrp() take an optional delimiter argument. Suggested
    by Nathan Baum. [SW]
  * New csecs() and msecs() functions, like ctime() and mtime() but
    returning the time in seconds instead of a formatted string. Based on
    a patch by Talvo.
  * ctime() and mtime() take an optional second argument to control which
    time zone the time is displayed for: UTC or the server's. [SW]
  * fn() by Javelin
  * letq(). Suggested by Nathan Baum. [SW]
  
Fixes:
  * Assorted compiler warning fixes. [SW]
  * Compile fix on OS X 10.3. Reported by Viila. [SW]
  * @sql wasn't enabled if Sqlite3 was the only database turned on.
    Reported by qa'toq.
  * Problems with sql() using Sqlite3. Reported by qa'toq. [SW]
  * Problems with null queries using MySQL. Reported by duckwa. [SW]
  * Start fixing code that assumes that int and long are the same
    size. [SW]
  * Linting of code that uses strcpy, strncpy() and sprintf() to
    rule out remote possibilities of buffer overflows. [SW]
  * align() off-by-one error in left coalescing fixed. Reported by
    Sketch. [Javelin]
  * User locks were broken in the last patch. Reported by Michael Brazaitis.
    [SW]
  * ./configure --without-ssl works. Reported by Starr. [SW]
  * objid matcher didn't work properly. [SW]
  * Many functions that used parse_dbref updated to use parse_objid,
    to see more objid compliance. [GM]
  * Fixes from 1.8.2p5

& 1.8.3p2
Version 1.8.3 patchlevel 2                      May 16, 2007

Major changes:
  * configuration is now done by autoconf. ./Configure is
    now ./configure and its options have changed. See
    INSTALL and ./configure --help [SW]
  * Support for the postgresql SQL server. Javelin.
  * Support for sqlite3 SQL databases. [SW]

Minor changes:
  * You can no longer run a mush as root. [SW]
  * cemit_noisy config option.  Suggested by Kimiko. [SW]
  * @function sorts the list of user-defined functions
    by object and then name. Suggested by Trinsec. [SW]
  * Better logging of the register login screen command
    for systems without a sendmail program. [SW]
  * Assorted refactoring of source code. [SW]
  
Functions:
  * isobjid(). By Balerion.
  * player() returns the dbref of the player connected to a given
    port.  By  Nathan Baum.
  * root(X,3) uses the C cbrt() function if available. [SW]
  * New formats for align() that allow flowing text. Javelin.
  * isdbref() understands objids. By Balerion.

Fixes:
  * regmatch() broken with %q-registers. Javelin. 
  * Better checking of dbref config options to make sure they're
    valid objects. Suggested by Talvo. [SW]
  * Fixed assorted cases of accidently modifying const objects.
    Thanks to Jake. [SW]
  * Fixed a crash bug in strmatch(). [GM]
  * wrap() of Pueblo tags didn't work very well. Fixed by
    Sketch.
  * @wipe's count is accurate when attribute trees are being
    deleted. Reported by Talvo.
 
& 1.8.3p1
Version 1.8.3 patchlevel 1                      March 11, 2007

Minor changes:
  * page command now processes page output through PAGEFORMAT
    attribute, allowing user-set page messages. [GM]
  * sql_host configuration option now permits alternate tcp port.
    Suggested by Mercutio. Patch by Javelin.
  * Refactoring of fun_stringsecs to help function etime_to_secs.
    Patch by Javelin.
  * %1 in @aconnect works like in @adisconnect. Patch by Javelin.

Fixes:
  * restart script once again includes DATEMSK export for
    extended convtime support. Reported by KimikoMuffin.
  * Memory leak in 1.8.3p0 regedit fixed.
  * Fixes included from 1.8.2p3.
  * Document change in @chan/title behavior with commas.

& 1.8.3p0
Version 1.8.3 patchlevel 0                      January 27, 2007

Major changes:
  * Rewrite of color handling. [GM]

Minor changes:
  * Cleaned up the internals of @wipe. [SW]
  * strmatch() now takes a third argument, to store wildcard captures. [GM]
  * Termination of OS/2 support. [SW]

Fixes:
  * Fixes included from versions up to 1.8.2p2.