[Scummvm-devel] Bringing our Core Code to another Level?

[Thierry Crozat]

On 12 Aug 2013, at 22:19, "A. Milburn" <fuzzie at users.sourceforge.net> wrote:

> On Mon, Aug 12, 2013 at 04:05:37PM +0200, Johannes Schickel wrote:
>> I think such a split off core resulting in an unbranded (i.e. no ScummVM 
>> name on it except for credits to its origins) project would be a really 
>> nice thing to do in the long run. Of course, ScummVM would then use this 
>> same core as much as possible. Thus, I think we should really discuss 
>> whether this is something people would agree with.
> 
> So, the obvious alternative approach is simply for third-party projects to
> simply fork off a copy of the core and try and keep it in sync as needed
> (which is what ResidualVM does, for example).

It looks like if we can avoid the  "try to keep it in sync"  bit that would really
help other developers wanting to use the core code for games not in the
scope of ScummVM. So in principle I agree to split off the core seems a
good idea.

The remarks from fuzzy bring a question though: will it be possible to
provide a core that can be used for other games without needing to be
forked and modified? It looks like Residual for example needed to modify
that core. How much would we be ready to accommodate changes needed
by others in the core code? And to maintain them? And this also raises the
question of whether this will make it more difficult to make changes that will
break engines, as not only in-tree engines would need to be updated but
also engines developed by others.

Thierry