PROPOSAL - ESF Open Beta Distribution method

Hey,

i saw the news on the esforces main page and would like to propose a method for the distribution.

Ever since a few months i`m active in the linux community.. and i noticed that most linux/open source projects are using subversion or cvs to maintain there versions and they also share those repository`s with everyone so that you or my or anyone else can always downloaded the latest version (also known as bleeding edge).

In the project called "Beryl Project" http://www.beryl-project.org/ they also use cvs but with a nice web based repository viewer called "Trac" http://trac.edgewall.org/

you can see it all in action on there sites.
Now my proposal is that the esf team won`t just go open beta but simply fully open with a trac system where anyone can always download the latest esf repository and can update it when a new one is avalible. this will probably use less bandwidth than the weekly snapshots idea.


And there is (as always) a bad side about this.. users will probably need to compile ESF themselves and the esf team will need to put some work in it to make the repository open.

Another good side is that the bug report thing can go away because that`s also inside trac. (can be seen as bad)

I hope you guys like this proposal.
before you say ANYTHING about it look at how this is done on the beryl site (link is above) or any other site that uses TRAC.

And I know an easy way of compiling. Win-RAR self-extractor. Just put the path C:/Program Files/Steam/steamapps/???/half-life and we just enter our steam username instead of the ???. If you're new to this feel free to PM me.

using TRAC/cvs/svn will most likely mean that it contains the source of the game and not the executables so i don`t think that`s possible but than again.. i don`t know anything about half-life programming/modding.

And i know winrar and the self-extractor options but that wouldn`t do any good when you have the source.. and trac doesn`t put the files in a rar file

you will have to checkout the repository by typing something like this in a svn client:

svn co svn://svn.esforces.com/beta1.3/trunk/ (just made up)

Well from what I've seen the game is runnable and the current version of ESF is able to be copied from one place to another (from STEAM to WON) and still work, so I don't think 1.3 will be different. Therefore, all they have to do is compile the files into a self-extractor. No wisdom there.

EDIT: I think they could host it on MegaUpload. It's maximum is 250 MB which I think will be more than enough. I'm not sure how long it can be up without download but I'll check.

EDIT 2: Here's how it is. Maximum is 500 MB and it can be hosted anonymously for 21 days. Which is more than enough because an update will be hosted every two weeks (14 days). Well that's solved.

your clearly not a programmer.
i would like to see reply`s from people who know what they are talking about

how can i say this in a nice way.. just lets keep it on that programmers want to program and they want to put in as little time as possible to build snapshots (unless it`s a automated process which is also possible) so by putting up the svn of esf it will change ALOT!! besides the esf team than can also get suggestion on how to do certain programming things... i think it`s better for all that`s why i made this proposal in the first place.

Like I said in the other thread, I'm having trouble with SVN.
I know it works great for the many but I'm sure I'm not the only one that has and probably will have problems with it.

I end up waiting hours for something to download properly from there.

In my opinion, direct downloads > everything else.
But then again there is Bitorrent, which is not all that bad.

Yeah, I've thought about that. The problem is the SVN server itself, we don't have access to one, unless we open our source and we don't have the bandwith to make one ourselves.

i agree AGAIN with Super Veggeto the easyst way would be by torrent .... at least that's my opinion ... because lot's of people will start downloading it ... wich results in a lot of seeders .... so the speed of the download won't be the problem .... thus it will be easy available for the masses .... that or a direct download .... but i would go for the direct download option more than the torrent ....

so this would be the orther of these options :

1)Direct
2)Torrent

the other posible ways are disturbing and there will be lot's of complaints ....

@harsens.. if you make esf as open as i propose it will fit the demands of sourceforge so i think you can register esf there and use the svn from there right?

or you request Greg (the hoster of this project) if he can setup a SVN server for the esf project.. it shouldn`t be that hard to set it up.. just the transfering between a online svn server and the one you currently use (assuming you use svn at this moment) could give some problems..

so the possible solutions for the SVN Server problem:
- Go open source and register at sourceforge (or just a place where you get SVN)
- Ask greg to setup a SVN


For torrent. i only have one thing to say about that: i hate them!!! that`s because it`s always working slow with me and it doesn`t mather how much ports i open or how much seeders i have.. i always seem to be limited to 100kb/s download while i can reech that ammount 7 times!! and i`ve also played with uploading and even put it on unlimited.. all just not working for me.

I don't want to open the source, we don't have the bandwith to release at esforces.com.

Zipped up, without the jappack and the mp3s, the current version is about 250MB. I suppose we can always release the full version on ftp (hl2files, esf-world) and have some incremental download elsewhere.

If it's going to be distributed through BT, it couldn't hurt to have a tutorial up explaining how to get your client in tip-top shape.

BT really is the best choice, unless the people here are just going to close their clients after downloading the program.

I too think bittorrent would be the best choice. ESF has a large enough fanbase to get enough seeders to keep the download running. I also think HL2 files is willing to make a download available.
Any people having problems with any bittorrent clients could always ask for help or we could make a couple of guides for the most popular clients.

@harsens:
So if i`m corrent a SVN for the files is oke... just there isn`t bandwidth avalible to put the SVN online.. if i can find a hosting company willing to setup a SVN account for this would that be oke with you? cause if it is i will start asking some hosting providers if they are willing to offer a svn. they most likely want to have something in return for it so adding a link to the in the afiliates list in the main page wouldn`t hurt right?

and if svn isn`t gonna be the thing for this but just one release now and incremental releases once every week you should atleast have a place where you can download with a normal speed without waiting stuff (no esf-world and hl2files though they are fine to just mirror)

well these would be good ideas ... a good one stated is esf-world ... i ... for one ... don't mind downloading from there ...allready said about the torrent bit ... fine for me .... so can we stop at these? ... they'r kinda the best solutions around .... others complex than this would shurly spawn many topics with " help i can't download .... why is it going slow .... i'm a total idiot i don't know how to use my mouse" etc etc ....

the best solution for you might not be the best solution in general!!

ok maybe not the torrent .. that ain't a best solution for every one but hl2files and esf-world is ...

well.. i prefer to wait for a reply from harsens before i start hunting on a host

Replace esf-world with BT and you have 2 awesome options to choose from.

Esf-World has a 20 minute waiting time, and I for one am not very pleased if I have to watch at my screen for 20 minutes just to know when I can START downloading. Bittorrent would be easy, a lot of people already know how to use it, and it is rather easy to set up and use it if you don't know how to use it.

from all i see i belive hl2 files is the best idea ever