Army builder application comparisons
The following tables compares various army building applications against WarFoundry across a number of features. The features are grouped in categories for easy viewing.
General
| WarFoundry | RollCall | Army Builder | Notes
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Free to use (Free as in Beer) | Yes | Yes | No | WarFoundry and Rollcall are free to download and use, but Army Builder locks out functionality unless you buy a license
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Free to redistribute/modify (Free as in Speech) | Yes | No | No | WarFoundry is licensed under the GNU Affero GPL. RollCall has a custom license and no available source code. Army Builder is a proprietary app with custom licensing
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Free updates for all users | Yes | Yes | No | Army Builder updates are only available to people with an active paid subscription
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Runs on Windows | Yes | Yes | Yes
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Has a native Windows look | Yes | Yes | No |
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Runs on Linux | Yes | No | No | Army Builder and RollCall may work through the Wine Windows compatibility layer, but WarFoundry just needs Mono to run the WinForms build
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Has native Linux build | Yes | No | No |
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Runs on Mac OS X | Yes | No | No | As the Linux version
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Has native Mac OS X build | Possible | No | No | WarFoundry on OS X is possible and design suggestions have been made, but no current developers have access to a suitable Mac
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Compatible with other platforms | Yes | No | No | WarFoundry can run on any Mono-supported platform
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Files are backward compatible | Yes | No | No | ticket:152 is implementing backwards compatibility, so newer WarFoundry files will work in older versions of the app but without the new functionality. RollCall and Army Builder both require specific versions of the application for some files.
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Files are forward compatible | Yes | Yes | Partial | Changes between versions should be designed and handled such that old files work with new versions. Old RollCall files worked with newer versions of the app. Army Builder has some forward compatibility but files for v2 don't work with v3.
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Translator/Non-English speakers
File Writer
| WarFoundry | RollCall | Army Builder | Notes
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Easily modifiable data files | Yes (XML in a Zip) | Yes (INI file) | No (custom compression) |
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Supports multiple file formats | Yes | No | No | WarFoundry already has partial RollCall support with Army Builder support planned
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Files are backward compatible | Yes | No | No | ticket:152 is implementing backwards compatibility, so newer WarFoundry files will work in older versions of the app but without the new functionality. RollCall and Army Builder both require specific versions of the application for some files.
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Files are forward compatible | Yes | Yes | Partial | Changes between versions should be designed and handled such that old files work with new versions. Old RollCall files worked with newer versions of the app. Army Builder has some forward compatibility but files for v2 don't work with v3.
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Openly document file format | Yes Development/FileFormatsExplained 1], [browser:IBBoard.WarFoundry.API/trunk/dtds 2? | No | Partial | Some bits of documentation exist for Army Builder files, but WarFoundry files are fully defined and documented in public
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Developer
| WarFoundry | RollCall | Army Builder | Notes
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Free to redistribute/modify (Free as in Speech) | Yes | No | No | WarFoundry is licensed under the GNU Affero GPL. RollCall has a custom license and no available source code. Army Builder is a proprietary app with custom licensing
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Full access to source code | Yes | No | No | WarFoundry source code is under the GNU Affero GPL
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Can write plugins | Planned | No | No | See ticket:93
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Can be integrated into a website | Yes | No | No | The WarFoundry API can be incorporated in to any server running mod_mono or Microsoft's .Net framework for ASP.Net
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Compatible with other platforms | Yes | No | No | Developers have a wide choice of platforms that applications can run on without modification
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Extensible file format | Yes | No | No | WarFoundry's XML files are extensible with custom values that are used by plugins. Army Builder files are also XML and should be extensible, but the extent to which Army Builder supports the subsequent files is unknown and not likely to be a focus for Wolf Lair
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