PRP Explorer OPEN SOURCED

[Tsar Hoikas]

Hello all,

I realize that it's been awhile since you've heard anything about PRP Explorer (well, other than version 0.7 likes to eat your PRPs...). After quite a bit of thinking, I thought that instead of just letting the code go to waste, that it would be benificial to all to open source it. So, the result is the immediate opening of the formerly private PRP Explorer subversion.

Before you cheer hallejulah to your Deity of choice (or just say "YESS!" because you don't have/don't think your Deity has any influence), I'd like to tell you a bit about the history of PRP Explorer.

PRP Explorer not the first tool that was able to manipulate the PRP Files. There were some command line utilities that would read the PRPs and extract each object from them. PRP Explorer was the first to go beyond that, however, and provide a means to edit the objects without extracting them. It was written as a quick "proof-of-concept" to tinker with the files and see what did what: in other words, it was something quick to double check understanding. After that understanding was gained, PRPExplorer was to be left to rot. Yet, it has still survived to the present day due to several people who began writing PRPEx and those early tools. So, what does this mean for you? The PRP Explorer code is: UGLY and Not very easily extended.

Now, for a bit of new news, PRP Explorer 0.7 has been labeled unstable. The latest code in the trunk is of a new version: 0.8. PRP Explorer 0.8 is based off of PRP Explorer 0.6, so it shouldn't have the issues that PRP Explorer 0.7 SATAN did; however, this also means that many of the advanced features from 0.7 are missing as well. I have begun replacing those features myself, but right now, I lack the time to rewrite everything myself.

The PRP Explorer Trac is located at: http://trac.hoikas.com/prpex
The PRP Explorer SVN is located at: http://svn.hoikas.com/PRPExplorer

Please not that you cannot write to the PRP Explorer SVN anonymously. I will have to grant you access to do that. Please contact me if you're interested. If you have a patch for the code and don't have write access (yet), then you can submit it via the Trac Tickets.

[Grogyan]

Is this related in anyway to the H'uru project?

[Aloys]

That's pretty cool of you. Although often a project going open source means that its author don't intend to work on it anymore And reading your post it certainly sounds like it is the case here.. What about PRP Studio then?

Grogyan: If by "H'uru project" you mean PyPRP, then no. However if by "H'uru project" you mean "any tool than can help develop or tinker with Ages" then yes.

[Tsar Hoikas]

Is this related in anyway to the H'uru project?

PRP Explorer was originally maintained and developed by various members of the H'uru Team (the H'uru Project is a defunct UU shard that usurped the name of H'uru). It passed in this order: From IngisKahn to Paradox to me...

That's pretty cool of you. Although often a project going open source means that its author don't intend to work on it anymore And reading your post it certainly sounds like it is the case here.. What about PRP Studio then?

I'll still be working on PRP Explorer from time to time, I won't be putting nearly as much into it as I did last summer... That burned me out. This move was designed to hopefully get the community in general involved with the development of PRP Explorer and to take some of the strain off of me.

PRP Studio... Hmmm... No comment at the present moment. I've long overshot my release date for that. I'll let you know when I have more information on that front.

[TomahnaGuy]

Just as a side note here: H'uru Studio blog is broken still.

TG

[Tsar Hoikas]

Just as a side note here: H'uru Studio blog is broken still.

TG

It was disabled due to the extreme amount of hacking attempts it received.

[TomahnaGuy]

Just as a side note here: H'uru Studio blog is broken still.

TG

It was disabled due to the extreme amount of hacking attempts it received.

Oh. I doubt it but... will it be back?

[Paradox]

No, the HuruStudio program has no plans for release. It was based on the PRPExplorer code, which almost guaranteed a dead project from the beginning.

There are other tools in development, but they are all aimed solely at testing object data integrity that they would not be useful to anyone except a developer.

PlasmaShop 3.0 (written by Zrax) will hopefully include a PRP Editor similar to PRPExplorer that supports the HuruStudio goals.

[Lontahv]

/me wonders why it was hacked so much

Maybe it could be useful for catching hackers, or at least making their brains explode in the attempt to hack. There are ways you can use "honeypots" to lure and destroy hackers.

~Lontahv

[Tsar Hoikas]

I would rather keep my webspace alive.

One more successful cracking and phishing website put up, and I'm going to be shutdown.