Version 5 (modified by ibboard, 10 years ago) (diff)

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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
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
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
Free updates for all users Yes Yes No Army Builder updates are only available to people with an active paid subscription
Runs on Windows Yes Yes Yes
Has a native Windows look Yes Yes No
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
Has native Linux build Yes No No
Runs on Mac OS X Yes No No As the Linux version
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
Compatible with other platforms Yes No No WarFoundry can run on any Mono-supported platform
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.
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.

Translator/Non-English speakers

WarFoundry RollCall Army Builder Notes
Translatable UI Yes No Planned WarFoundry will be fully translatable on final release, with ticket:179 fixing the missing translations. Army Builder apparently has the hooks but hasn't made use of them.
Translatable files Planned No No Planned in WarFoundry through ticket:202

File Writer

WarFoundry RollCall Army Builder Notes
Easily modifiable data files Yes (XML in a Zip) Yes (INI file) No (custom compression)
Supports multiple file formats Yes No No WarFoundry already has partial RollCall support with Army Builder support planned
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.
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.
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

Developer

WarFoundry RollCall Army Builder Notes
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
Full access to source code Yes No No WarFoundry source code is under the GNU Affero GPL
Can write plugins Planned No No See ticket:93
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
Compatible with other platforms Yes No No Developers have a wide choice of platforms that applications can run on without modification
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