Nations mantainer

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XYZ
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Nations mantainer

Post by XYZ »

Referring to this discussion: http://forum.freeciv.org/f/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=784 Is the nations mantainer "position" vacant?
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dunnoob
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Re: Nations mantainer

Post by dunnoob »

XYZ wrote:Referring to this discussion: http://forum.freeciv.org/f/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=784 Is the nations mantainer "position" vacant?
Yes, methinks there are also about ten totally passive Wiki admin positions vacant, not counting JTN and Cazfi, who are busy with more important stuff, also not counting the founder, who is still alive and to some seriously limited way still aware of the wiki, and not counting another admin, who is busy with code + translation + the German wiki: HRM 696681

Fair warning, you should know that I'll bury you in about 200 "now valid" SVG flags as fast as I can produce them at some random point in time.
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Re: Nations mantainer

Post by XYZ »

Fair warning, you should know that I'll bury you in about 200 "now valid" SVG flags as fast as I can produce them at some random point in time.
Well, I made that offer one year ago... In a month I got more time. But most important would for me to know how I do it... It would need an idiot-proof instruccion.
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dunnoob
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Re: Nations mantainer

Post by dunnoob »

XYZ wrote:It would need an idiot-proof instruccion.
A proper subset is idiot-proof: Check old vs. new SVG visually in its file history on the Wiki, if they appear to be identical you need no new PNG flags + shields. That's where my old glasses for old eyes fail, I'd miss minor color changes.

If the license is "public domain from commons" it is good enough. Maybe the credits in flags.spec should not lie and claim GPLv2, but you could also silently let it pass as "nobody cares, the Wiki got it right". That would cover most "now valid" SVGs, notably everything simply fixed with "garbage in - valid out" rsvg-convert.exe, where the new colors and the new credits by definition match the old colors and old credits.

If there is a visual difference you need new PNGs: There is a simple script on GitHub suited for a *NIX box, if you are on Windows it won't help you. Then you can reject the "now valid" SVG request with reason "need new PNGs". IOW, I'm willing to produce these PNGs if really required on Windows, but it would be a lot of work until I can do that automatically for dozens of SVGs.

Finally there are a few cases (less than ten) needing real review, something with the license isn't as usual, or the new SVG tries to bypass a license issue with an older SVG, and would need new PNGs if accepted.
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Re: Nations mantainer

Post by cazfi »

dunnoob wrote:If the license is "public domain from commons" it is good enough. Maybe the credits in flags.spec should not lie and claim GPLv2
It's not a lie. PD "license" does not prevent us from taking it and relicensing it under GPLv2 (ourselves). If there's any clauses (it's not pure PD) preventing this, it can't be used in freeciv.
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dunnoob
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Re: Nations mantainer

Post by dunnoob »

The simple cases (1+12) including the complete part I of GNAPATCH#7393 with the worst SVGs are now collected in HRM 706407.

Updated four days later: golden horde (GNAPATCH#7482) and chuvashia (GNAPATCH#7481) added to the simple cases in HRM 706407 (no visual difference from my dubious PoV).

New ticket HRM 707576 for the last two seriously broken SVGs listed in aa-log.txt, both are visually different (need new PNGs, any old credits or old license obsolete): liberia + west papua.

Parts II + III of 7393 are now covered by HRM 707595 + HRM 707793, this could be better sorted: Some cases need no new PNGs, just copy the valid SVG as for part I, most cases are visually different, two or three tricky cases are unsuited for a simple "make PNG" script (CoA off centre or other obstacles), for hre.svg you could pick (3 valid solutions exist), and for Jaffna you'd need a copyright lawyer. Parts II + III are unsuited for a 5 minutes test run.

HRM 707579 is a simple clean-up task (=get rid of four non-existing flag_alt), and HRM 707881 is a simple add three flags and revive an existing 4th flag test case, valid SVGs + 2*2 PNGs per SVG already exist (attached to the Gna! patches.)
Last edited by dunnoob on Mon Oct 30, 2017 1:09 pm, edited 2 times in total.
cazfi
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Re: Nations mantainer

Post by cazfi »

Nations maintainer have to check (and possibly fix) that submissions are correct both technically and follow freeciv policies.
Some of those are documented in www.freeciv.org/wiki/Nations - I think previous maintainer had more fine grained policies in place, but I don't know if those are documented anywhere any more.
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Re: Nations mantainer

Post by dunnoob »

dunnoob wrote:HRM 696681
Almost all fixed: 236 pages deleted, various file rename and edit requests also resolved.
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hima
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Re: Nations mantainer

Post by hima »

As another former nations maintainer, I'm really happy to see new people stepping up to the plate! If there's anything I can do to help don't hesitate to reach out.

I glanced through the Nations wiki page; it seems pretty much in line with the policies that I personally followed. One topic that was close to my heart was the look and feel of the flag images. This included standardizing on a 2:3 aspect ratio across the board, sacrificing 'official' color schemes for brighter or more distinct colors, and in general using svg images that rendered well down to 29x20 bitmap images instead of the most historically accurate designs.

At a related note, I noticed that two of the flags that were updated recently on master, Liberia and USA, aren't 2:3 aspect ratio anymore. This means small bitmap flags that are 29x16 px instead of 29x20 px, which to me look inconsistent when playing the game. If y'all want to move away from standardization on 2:3 that's fine by me. But just wanted to make sure it wasn't unintentional.
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dunnoob
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Re: Nations mantainer

Post by dunnoob »

hima wrote:If y'all want to move away from standardization on 2:3 that's fine by me. But just wanted to make sure it wasn't unintentional.
Definitely unintentional, I only cared about valid, the wanted PNG sizes are still documented on the nations page of the Wiki.

There is a new recipe subpage explaining how to get 2:3 from any SVG. There's no script implementing this recipe at the moment. It is linked as draft on the nation page, I tested it "manually" for one or two patches including SVG + 2*2 PNGs.

Intentionally wrong colors on fixed invalid SVGs are most likely destroyed, e.g., the valid USA SVG is a copy from commons with hopefully correct colors. If you want intentionally wrong colors, each SVG on the wiki has its own talk page for discussions.

The HRM issues collecting lots of individual Gna! patches in a few issues are less suited for discussions (background based on Gna!#7393).
Update: "Manually" means rsvg-convert (SVG to PNG) + imagew (scale 2:3 input PNG down to three different wanted 2:3 output PNGs) + ffmpeg (PNG to PAM and back to PNG) + a Rexx script to copy or remove rows or columns of pixels at the top, right, bottom, or left side: In Freeciv terminology that's urdl (up, right, down, left) matching the clockwise CSS margins, borders, etc.

The decision which pixels are copied or removed is "manual" by a visual inspection, e.g., the CoA for shields can be off center. Oddly the target sizes are not exactly 2:3, it's 44x30 instead of 45x30, it's 29x20 instead of 30x20, and the shields are worse. For 44 or 29 instead of 45 or 30 either the right or left column has to go.
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