* Lumiera source code always was copyrighted by individual contributors
* there is no entity "Lumiera.org" which holds any copyrights
* Lumiera source code is provided under the GPL Version 2+
== Explanations ==
Lumiera as a whole is distributed under Copyleft, GNU General Public License Version 2 or above.
For this to become legally effective, the ''File COPYING in the root directory is sufficient.''
The licensing header in each file is not strictly necessary, yet considered good practice;
attaching a licence notice increases the likeliness that this information is retained
in case someone extracts individual code files. However, it is not by the presence of some
text, that legally binding licensing terms become effective; rather the fact matters that a
given piece of code was provably copyrighted and published under a license. Even reformatting
the code, renaming some variables or deleting parts of the code will not alter this legal
situation, but rather creates a derivative work, which is likewise covered by the GPL!
The most relevant information in the file header is the notice regarding the
time of the first individual copyright claim. By virtue of this initial copyright,
the first author is entitled to choose the terms of licensing. All further
modifications are permitted and covered by the License. The specific wording
or format of the copyright header is not legally relevant, as long as the
intention to publish under the GPL remains clear. The extended wording was
based on a recommendation by the FSF. It can be shortened, because the full terms
of the license are provided alongside the distribution, in the file COPYING.
* most usages are drop-in replacements
* occasionally the other convenience functions can be used
* verify call-paths from core code to identify usages
* ensure reseeding for all tests involving some kind of randomness...
__Note__: some tests were not yet converted,
since their usage of randomness is actually not thread-safe.
This problem existed previously, since also `rand()` is not thread safe,
albeit in most cases it is possible to ignore this problem, as
''garbled internal state'' is also somehow „random“
Code clean-up: mark all buffers with a dedicated tagging type
The point in question is: if we work the LocalTag into the type-hash,
could it be possible to miss an existing entry in the metadata registry?
This could cause two entries to be locked for a single buffer address,
leading to data corruption.
As far as I can see, in the current usage this would not happen,
but unfortunately this problem can not be ruled out, since the BufferProvider
API and protocol is designed to be open for various usage patterns.
However, the same potentially disastrous pattern could also materialise
when registering two different buffer types, and then locking each
for the same buffer location.
...this is a surprisingly tricky issue, since it undercuts the
generic and recursive implementation of buffer handling;
fortunately I've foreseen such demands may arise down the road
and I've reserved an »Local Key« (now renamed into `LocalTag`),
whose meaning is implementation defined and interpreted by
the specific `BufferProvider`
It became clear that a secondary system of connections must be added,
running top-down from a global model context, and thus contrary to the
regular orientation of the node network, which connects upwards from
predecessor to successor, in accordance with the pull principle.
If we accept this wiring as part of the primary structure, it can be
established immediately while building the nodes, thus adding a preconfigured
''pattern of Buffer Descriptors'' to each node, since there is no further
''moving part'' — beyond the wiring to the `BufferProvider`, which thus
becomes part of a global `ModelContext`
As an immediate consequence, the storage for this configuraion should
also be switched to `lib::Several` and handled similar to the primary
node wiring in the Builder...
In the Lumiera code base, we use C-String constants as unique error-IDs.
Basically this allows to create new unique error IDs anywhere in the code.
However, definition of such IDs in arbitrary namespaces tends to create
slight confusion and ambiguities, while maintaining the proper use statements
requires some manual work.
Thus I introduce a new **standard scheme**
* Error-IDs for widespread use shall be defined _exclusively_ into `namespace lumiera::error`
* The shorthand-Macro `LERR_()` can now be used to simplify inclusion and referral
* (for local or single-usage errors, a local or even hidden definition is OK)
