Oolite Bulletins

Just checked - synaptic (Mint16) is still listing v1.76.1

Tichy wrote:

Diziet Sma wrote:

Tichy wrote:

Now that oolite 1.80 is in arch linux repositories

One problem I've noticed with the Arch version so far.. it fails to create the ~/GNUstep/Library/ApplicationSupport/Oolite/ManagedAddOns folder, so all attempts to install OXZs fail. You may have to create it yourself.

Yes. I noticed that. Maybe is the same with other distributions?

It is on the Pandora, at least.. ptitSeb had to specifically add those folders himself when doing the conversion. He also set up a Config folder in AddOns, with a copy of keyconfig.plist and one or two other commonly edited configuration files.. makes things much easier for those who want to change things around, as they're not tempted to mess with the core game files.

That Config folder actually strikes me as quite a good idea, I meant to suggest it to cim, but kinda forgot about it until you reminded me..

Smivs wrote:

Just checked - synaptic (Mint16) is still listing v1.76.1

That would be because nobody's informed them of 1.80 yet.

Diziet Sma wrote:

One problem I've noticed with the Arch version so far.. it fails to create the ~/GNUstep/Library/ApplicationSupport/Oolite/ManagedAddOns folder

That's odd - it's supposed to automatically create that if it doesn't exist. I moved mine out of the way, ran Oolite, downloaded an OXZ, and it recreated the folder and put the OXZ in it.

(I wouldn't expect a Linux distro package to pre-emptively create the folder on install as there might be several user accounts each needing or not needing their own - but if Oolite doesn't create it for you when needed that's a bit odd...)

Well, I know for sure the automatic creation fails on the Pandora and ArchLinux..

What do you think of ptitSeb's idea.. creating a (partially) populated Config folder in AddOns when Oolite is installed?

cim wrote:

That's odd - it's supposed to automatically create that if it doesn't exist. I moved mine out of the way, ran Oolite, downloaded an OXZ, and it recreated the folder and put the OXZ in it.

In my setup I removed the whole GNUstep directory.
When I first launched Oolite, he created everything except ApplicationSupport/Oolite/ManagedAddOns

Then I tried to remove only the last directory, ManagedAddOns. In this case he was able to create it.

I think he can't create all the nested folders. Only the last one.

That would tend to explain it..

Diziet Sma wrote:

What do you think of ptitSeb's idea.. creating a (partially) populated Config folder in AddOns when Oolite is installed?

Probably not - it would make upgrades of Oolite harder to keep consistent. Say we'd done this before 1.77.1 was released, for Config/keyconfig.plist. Someone who installed 1.77.1, but never customised their key controls, then upgraded to 1.80, would now have 'd' as the "dump cargo" key. Someone who just installed 1.80 would have 'D' as the key, however.

More complex changes in Oolite could lead to trickier discrepancies (and of course if you customise the files you can get them anyway, but at least you then know you customised the file)

Arguably what we should have is a proper keybinding screen in the game to go along with the joystick settings screen, and save differences from the built-in keyconfig.plist to the game settings file. That gives us scope then to do fancier things like versioning the keybindings so that there's an actual upgrade path when you install a new Oolite version.

cim wrote:

Diziet Sma wrote:

What do you think of ptitSeb's idea.. creating a (partially) populated Config folder in AddOns when Oolite is installed?

Probably not - it would make upgrades of Oolite harder to keep consistent. Say we'd done this before 1.77.1 was released, for Config/keyconfig.plist. Someone who installed 1.77.1, but never customised their key controls, then upgraded to 1.80, would now have 'd' as the "dump cargo" key. Someone who just installed 1.80 would have 'D' as the key, however.

Very good point..

Tichy wrote:

I think he can't create all the nested folders. Only the last one.

Again, not necessarily - creates everything from ~/GNUstep downwards here just fine. Admittedly, I can't see an obvious reason why it should do that.

@ mods.. could we maybe get this discussion split off.. from, say, this post?
https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?p=221167#p221167

Maybe merge it with the Discussion on 1.80 thread, perhaps?

Diziet Sma wrote:

Well, I know for sure the automatic creation fails on the Pandora and ArchLinux..

Actually I'm pretty sure it didn't. That was an issue when the build was based on the 1.77.1 code base with the Addons folder itself, and those fixes were carried across. When ptitSeb first switched to the the 1.80 code base though he made a comment that the extensions manager was installing OXPs to NAND, which I took to mean that it *did* create the ManagedAddons folder - it just put it in the wrong place. (ignoring the contents of the $HOME environment variable)


- Neelix

Edit:
<---I'm Dangerous now!

Neelix wrote:

When ptitSeb first switched to the the 1.80 code base though he made a comment that the extensions manager was installing OXPs to NAND, which I took to mean that it *did* create the ManagedAddons folder - it just put it in the wrong place. (ignoring the contents of the $HOME environment variable)

Ahh.. my mistake.. I didn't quite understand that bit.. but did see messages from people saying the Manager was failing due to a missing folder..

Neelix wrote:

Edit:
<---I'm Dangerous now!

Hey.. congrats!

Diziet Sma wrote:

Neelix wrote:

When ptitSeb first switched to the the 1.80 code base though he made a comment that the extensions manager was installing OXPs to NAND, which I took to mean that it *did* create the ManagedAddons folder - it just put it in the wrong place. (ignoring the contents of the $HOME environment variable)

Ahh.. my mistake.. I didn't quite understand that bit.. but did see messages from people saying the Manager was failing due to a missing folder..

Yeah, which probably meant he initially missed the line where the folder was created when he adjusted the extension manager to use the right home folder.

See, due to the very limited amount of space on the NAND where the user's home profile resides each application on the Pandora effectively gets it's own home folder on the SD card it is installed to. This is set at run-time via the HOME environment variable. Normally this works well, but some methods of discovering the home folder don't refer to the HOME variable, so where these are used the source usually needs to be modified accordingly.

- Neelix

Jeez, I'm glad I didn't have to write all that lot. Nice job, Dizzy!

Diziet Sma wrote:

At this point, some comment on the difference between "Range" and "Sensitivity" is probably in order. So far as I can determine, there is little, if any difference between them.

Here's the difference - try dialling in a mid-range value into the range parameter, then look at the bottom left while varying sensitivity. Notice the gradient there changes as you do, so "sensitivity" affects the sensitivity at the origin.

Now vary the range with a mid-range sensitivity locked in. Notice that the gradient at the origin stays the same, but the "knee" in the curve moves in and out - the higher the range, the further out the knee.