Open Source

[Enso]

I want EST Soft to release the source code for Cabal's game client *and* server as open source. If they did I'd be willing to commit 5 to 10 **free** hours of work per week or so on said source.

Beyond that, I think it would also be prudent for EST to be more forthcoming about their server architecture and invite suggestions for improvement on that from the community as well.

I can see a couple knee jerk reactions to this:

- Won't people just start making their own private servers? Yes, I'm sure they would. Are you denying that private Cabal servers already exist?
- If there are private servers with official up to date Cabal servers, won't that leech money from EST? Maybe a little. But I can guarantee the quality of Cabal's client/server are *not* why people play Cabal. The in-game market and community momentum matter much, much more. Also people are already invested (both time and money wise) in Cabal NA/EU/etc, and switching to a private server would feel like "starting over".
- How will we stop the h4x0rz? There are many ways to verify with the server that a client hasn't been tampered with. Not all of them need to be proprietary, but it certainly is easier if they are so that aspect of the client or server need not be open source even if the rest of the program is.

There are also a few case studies:

- Reddit's site is open source (https://github.com/reddit/reddit). How many people running Reddit's *exact* source are pulling over 15 million unique visitors a month? Zero.
- Facebook releases information about its server architecture (http://www.opencompute.org/). How many Facebook clones have over 1 billion active users? Zero.
- Apple releases the kernel of its operating system (http://www.opensource.apple.com/source/xnu/), and a lot of its core technologies (compiler (http://opensource.apple.com/source/clang/), rendering engine (http://www.webkit.org/), etc). I'm sure Apple's nearly 700 billion dollar market cap (http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=apple+market+cap) speaks for itself.

I really just want Cabal to stop having as many issues related to simple software bugs. And each new release doesn't have to break in novel ways.

[doomer123]

git rid of gg too pls :< me dcing all day is badddddd

[aznboy200]

Open source will lead to duping like maplestoryy

[aznboy200]

All we need are the right packets and every can be 3 slot ampd

[aznboy200]

git rid of gg too pls :< me dcing all day is badddddddcing or channel crashers u decide

[AMoniCGrey]

I get kicked more from IGN bull than I did on GG... Honestly I hate both. I also hate bots... Annoying lil buggers that could be an easy fix with an ip ban. But that's none of my business. I do however agree that it would be nice to be able to community fix issues. As far as hackers go... All the games you ever played have them... Some are better than others, either way they're going to be around whether we like it or not. I agree Cabal could open source, but if they haven't already then where do the private servers that already do exist come from? I get they're not 'up to date' but that's because many choose not to be. Not sure if it's because of copyright or whatever but be mindful I believe the newest costume [Welcome to Nightmare] came from a private server concept. Or it's damn near close to another costume that a private server had. I know many people who went to private servers and honestly the only reason I still play this one is because I know this one... and it still has some of the people I learned to play this game with.

[aznboy200]

Open source will lead to exploits like I said every1 can be 3 slot amped packet sniffing Is how they do it and costume wise is the edit they can do to a costume through the cabal folder files correct me if I'm wrong

[Enso]

Open source will lead to exploits like I said every1 can be 3 slot amped packet sniffing Is how they do it and costume wise is the edit they can do to a costume through the cabal folder files correct me if I'm wrong

You clearly have no idea how computer/network security works. You can, of course, modify your client to render whatever you want as 3 slotted amp whatever. That can be prevented to a certain extent (checksum verification of all assets pre-load), but does not affect gameplay so is not worth it. Changing which items are owned by your account cannot be done through "packet sniffing". It would require access to the game server directly. In server/client games, the server holds the truth, not the client. If you send a packet saying something that conflicts with the server, the server simply rejects it and possibly flags your account for abuse.

Furthermore, it's possible to encrypt the packets (and include ways to detect tampering) so you wouldn't even know which packets were what and where to inject your malicious packets into the stream.

RE open source = exploits: chances are (unless you wrote it yourself or are using IE) the browser engine you are using is open source. So are the SSL/TLS libraries (which secure things such as your bank account password) the browser (and server it's talking to) uses. Also, chances are the operating system running on that server (as well as all of its security software) is also open source. Same with the web server. Possibly the language compiler/interpreter as well.

In addition to all that, the server software with the worst (AFAIK) security record (namely IIS) is closed source. Same with client software (namely IE/Trident).