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+---
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+title: Resurrecting Zombies
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+tags: haxe, games, zombie protagonist
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+description: Digging up and dusting off some decade-old code to see if it works with a months-old compiler.
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+---
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+
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+About ten years ago, I decided to write [a flash
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+game](/stuff/zombie_protagonist.html). I used unconventional
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+technologies ([Haxe](http://haxe.org/) for the code, and
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+[darcs](http://darcs.net/) for the source control). After tinkering
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+with it for a year or so, I never touched it again (This, I fear, is
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+not uncommon in the world of side projects).
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+
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+Until now! I've got a new site, and I'm trying to clean up some old
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+stuff, so it's time to dig up the code, dust it off, and see if it
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+works, and how it works.
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+
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+### Darcs
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+
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+Originally, I self-hosted the code, accessing it via using darcs over
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+ssh on my server. Eventually, I used a hosting service for darcs
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+(patch-tag.com). When that site folded a few years back, I failed to
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+get a copy in time, and assumed that the source was lost.
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+
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+But, wait, I found a tarball of the source! It has no history, but at
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+least it's something. Hopefully it's the most recent version.
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+
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+But, wait again, I found a buried source directory that actually
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+included the `_darcs` information! Excellent! I had a copy of the full
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+history after all.
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+
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+Now, I love darcs^[pijul]. I use [git](https://git-scm.com/)
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+professionally, of course. It's incredibly fristrating to use git
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+after being acclimated to darcs -- so many things become awkward, or
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+translate poorly. Yet git is the lingua franca of modern source
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+control, and to deny that is to [claim that forests don't
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+exist](http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/09/flat-earth-truthers/499322/). Therefore, I must convert to git.
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+
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+Darcs has some [minimal, but excellent
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+documentation](http://darcs.net/Using/Convert) on exporting to
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+git. Which I use. But a `git log` shows me only one commit. What's up
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+with that? I want my full commit history, please. Several hours later,
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+I finally just try `darcs log` in the darcs repo:
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+
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+~~~ {.bash}
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+$ darcs log
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+patch 93e98bccb6c6773f349d394eb27bf311081b0fac
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+Author: jmelesky <code@phaedrusdeinus.org>
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+Date: Tue May 12 15:11:18 PDT 2009
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+ * import from darcs1 repo
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+~~~
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+
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+Well, that answers that. I apparently destroyed the history myself,
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+seven years back. More's the pity. That does answer whether I'm
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+dealing with an ancient darcs repo, or [a slightly less
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+ancient](http://darcs.net/DarcsTwo) one.
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+
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+### Haxe
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+
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+Now that we're in a git repo, let's see if we can compile this son of
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+a gun. Haxe is easy to install, but has changed quite a bit since it
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+was young and edgy and called "haXe". I've got a file called
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+`build.hxml`^[hxml] in my repo, but apparently haxe no longer uses
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+that sort of build file.
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+
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+Instead, I'll start with something that's my best guess [based on
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+modern comiler usage](http://haxe.org/manual/compiler-usage.html):
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+
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+~~~ {.bash}
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+ haxe -cp . -main ZombieProtagonist -swf Zombie.swf
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+./Actor.hx:47: characters 8-19 : Actor should be Void
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+.... (lots more errors)
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+~~~
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+
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+Well, I guess the language has progressed a bit. Or, I suppose, this
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+is a version which never compiled. I think the former, though.
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+
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+More work to be done. In the meantime, the project is [up on
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+github](https://github.com/jmelesky/zombie_protagonist). Tune in next
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+time to see more of my continuing struggles to create a SWF file.
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+
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+
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+
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+[pijul]: If I were to start over again today, I might be tempted by
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+[pijul](http://pijul.org/), which has most of darcs' strengths, and
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+few of its weaknesses. But I'm not, so I won't.
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+
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+[hxml]: The [documentation for the old
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+compiler](http://old.haxe.org/doc/compiler) indicate that this was
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+really a thing, which is good, because the [modern
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+stuff](http://haxe.org/manual/compiler-usage-flags.html) doesn't
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+mention it at all. I got a bit concerned for my past sanity.
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john melesky