Track what cooked data was made from, and cook it as a step of its own

A baked heightfield was trusted for as long as its file was readable, and the logic
container while the .scn was older than it: an edited include went unnoticed by both,
and node keys leaned on file dates, so merely touching a file changed them. And cooking
only ever happened as a side effect of starting a scenery.

Every cooked artifact now has a manifest beside it - <scenario>.ehf.deps,
<scenario>.logic.deps - listing each file it was made from with its size, modification
time and a hash of its content (simulation/cookdeps). The parser records what it
includes as it reads, so the list is exactly what the load read. An artifact is current
when every listed file still has its content: size and time are the quick check, and
when either differs the content is hashed, so a touched or copied file does not force a
rebuild and an edited one always does. A file added to the scenery cannot be in a
manifest; the files read are compared with it after the load, and a mismatch sends the
terrain to be baked on the next start - the new file's nodes, whose keys are unknown,
are drawn as geometry meanwhile - and the logic, cooked from the loaded state, is cooked
at once.

The terrain depends on what the scenario includes and not on the scenario file itself,
which the launcher rewrites on every start; the logic depends on both, since events can
be written in either, and costs milliseconds to cook again. With the manifest vouching
for file content, a triangle node's key is its file, line, include parameters and
placement, without the date.

-cook loads a scenery, brings whatever is stale up to date, and quits: the step that
prepares a scenery ahead of play. It closes the window directly, as there is no
simulation to wind down; a quit command waited a minute in the queue for one. Baking on
a first start stays as the fallback, and -nobaketerrain still turns it off.

Tried on a copy of baltyk with a terrain include of its own: a fresh cook bakes and
cooks everything, a second finds nothing to do, a touched file changes nothing, an
edited include is caught by its hash and both artifacts are rebuilt, and a new include
has the logic recooked at once and the terrain on the next run. A cooking run of baltyk
takes 5.5 s with nothing stale and 10.7 s with everything to do.

CMakeLists.txt

@@ -194,6 +194,7 @@ set(SOURCES
 "rendering/terraintilepool.cpp"
 "rendering/terrainground.cpp"
 "simulation/loadprofile.cpp"
+"simulation/cookdeps.cpp"
 "simulation/logiccook.cpp"
 "simulation/terrainbake.cpp"
 "simulation/simulationtime.cpp"

application/application.cpp

@@ -1258,6 +1258,13 @@ int eu07_application::init_settings(int Argc, char *Argv[])
 			// check it against the events in memory
 			Global.cook_logic = true;
 		}
+		else if (token == "-cook")
+		{
+			// prepare the scenery's cooked data - heightfields and logic - wherever it is missing
+			// or out of date, then quit without starting the simulation
+			Global.cook_only = true;
+			Global.bake_terrain = true;
+		}
 		else if (token == "-nobaketerrain")
 		{
 			// load the scenery's terrain triangles as written, without baking or using a
@@ -1281,7 +1288,7 @@ int eu07_application::init_settings(int Argc, char *Argv[])
 			          << " [-loadprofile]"
 			          << " [-cooklogic]"
 			          << " [-verifylogic]"
-			          << " [-nobaketerrain]"
+			          << " [-nobaketerrain] [-cook]"
 			          << "  (every switch also takes a double dash: --editor)" << std::endl;
 			return -1;
 		}

application/drivermode.cpp

@@ -195,6 +195,18 @@ bool driver_mode::update()
 	simulation::State.update_scripting_interface();
 	simulation::Environment.update();
 
+	// a cooking run is over once the scenery has loaded: whatever was stale was cooked on the
+	// way in
+	if (true == Global.cook_only)
+	{
+		// closed directly: there is no simulation to wind down, and a quit command would wait
+		// in the queue for one
+		WriteLog("Cooking finished, quitting");
+		Global.cook_only = false;
+		Application.queue_quit(true);
+		return true;
+	}
+
 	// unattended screenshot sequence, when one was asked for on the command line
 	if (true == Shots.active())
 	{

simulation/cookdeps.cpp

@@ -0,0 +1,149 @@
+/*
+This Source Code Form is subject to the
+terms of the Mozilla Public License, v.
+2.0. If a copy of the MPL was not
+distributed with this file, You can
+obtain one at
+http://mozilla.org/MPL/2.0/.
+*/
+
+module;
+#include <algorithm>
+#include <array>
+#include <cstdint>
+#include <ctime>
+#include <filesystem>
+#include <fstream>
+#include <system_error>
+#include <sstream>
+#include <string>
+#include <vector>
+
+module eu07.simulation.cookdeps;
+import eu07.utilities.logs;
+import eu07.utilities.utilities;
+
+namespace simulation::cookdeps {
+
+namespace {
+
+constexpr char const *magic { "eu07-cookdeps 1" };
+
+struct entry {
+    std::uintmax_t size { 0 };
+    std::int64_t time { 0 };
+    std::uint64_t hash { 0 };
+    std::string path;
+};
+
+// fnv-1a over the file's bytes. stable across runs and builds, which is what a manifest needs;
+// returns false when the file cannot be read
+bool
+hash_of( std::string const &Path, std::uintmax_t &Size, std::uint64_t &Hash ) {
+
+    std::ifstream input( Path, std::ios::binary );
+    if( false == input.good() ) { return false; }
+    Hash = 0xcbf29ce484222325ull;
+    Size = 0;
+    std::array<char, 1 << 16> buffer;
+    while( input ) {
+        input.read( buffer.data(), static_cast<std::streamsize>( buffer.size() ) );
+        auto const count { static_cast<std::size_t>( input.gcount() ) };
+        for( std::size_t index = 0; index < count; ++index ) {
+            Hash ^= static_cast<unsigned char>( buffer[ index ] );
+            Hash *= 0x100000001b3ull;
+        }
+        Size += count;
+    }
+    return true;
+}
+
+std::vector<std::string>
+unique( std::vector<std::string> Files ) {
+
+    std::sort( Files.begin(), Files.end() );
+    Files.erase( std::unique( Files.begin(), Files.end() ), Files.end() );
+    return Files;
+}
+
+bool
+read( std::string const &Path, std::vector<entry> &Entries ) {
+
+    std::ifstream input( Path );
+    std::string line;
+    if( ( false == static_cast<bool>( std::getline( input, line ) ) ) || ( line != magic ) ) { return false; }
+    while( std::getline( input, line ) ) {
+        std::istringstream fields( line );
+        entry item;
+        if( false == static_cast<bool>( fields >> item.size >> item.time >> std::hex >> item.hash >> std::dec ) ) { return false; }
+        fields.get(); // the space before the path, which may itself hold spaces
+        std::getline( fields, item.path );
+        Entries.push_back( item );
+    }
+    return true;
+}
+
+} // anonymous namespace
+
+bool
+write( std::string const &Path, std::vector<std::string> const &Files ) {
+
+    std::ostringstream text;
+    text << magic << '\n';
+    for( auto const &file : unique( Files ) ) {
+        entry item;
+        item.path = file;
+        if( false == hash_of( file, item.size, item.hash ) ) {
+            // a file that was read a moment ago and cannot be now; the artifact is recorded as
+            // depending on its absence, which any later read will contradict
+            item.size = 0;
+            item.hash = 0;
+        }
+        item.time = static_cast<std::int64_t>( last_modified( file ) );
+        text << item.size << ' ' << item.time << ' ' << std::hex << item.hash << std::dec << ' ' << item.path << '\n';
+    }
+
+    std::ofstream output( Path, std::ios::trunc );
+    output << text.str();
+    if( false == output.good() ) {
+        ErrorLog( "Cooked data: cannot write \"" + Path + "\"" );
+        return false;
+    }
+    return true;
+}
+
+bool
+current( std::string const &Path ) {
+
+    std::vector<entry> entries;
+    if( false == read( Path, entries ) ) { return false; }
+    for( auto const &item : entries ) {
+        auto const time { static_cast<std::int64_t>( last_modified( item.path ) ) };
+        std::error_code error;
+        auto const onsize { std::filesystem::file_size( item.path, error ) };
+        if( ( false == static_cast<bool>( error ) ) && ( time != 0 ) && ( time == item.time ) && ( onsize == item.size ) ) {
+            // same size and modification time: taken as unchanged without reading it
+            continue;
+        }
+        std::uintmax_t size { 0 };
+        std::uint64_t hash { 0 };
+        if( ( false == hash_of( item.path, size, hash ) ) || ( size != item.size ) || ( hash != item.hash ) ) {
+            WriteLog( "Cooked data: \"" + item.path + "\" has changed since \"" + Path + "\" was written" );
+            return false;
+        }
+    }
+    return true;
+}
+
+bool
+lists( std::string const &Path, std::vector<std::string> const &Files ) {
+
+    std::vector<entry> entries;
+    if( false == read( Path, entries ) ) { return false; }
+    std::vector<std::string> listed;
+    listed.reserve( entries.size() );
+    for( auto const &item : entries ) { listed.push_back( item.path ); }
+    return unique( listed ) == unique( Files );
+}
+
+} // namespace simulation::cookdeps

simulation/cookdeps.cppm

@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+/*
+This Source Code Form is subject to the
+terms of the Mozilla Public License, v.
+2.0. If a copy of the MPL was not
+distributed with this file, You can
+obtain one at
+http://mozilla.org/MPL/2.0/.
+*/
+
+module;
+#include <string>
+#include <vector>
+
+export module eu07.simulation.cookdeps;
+
+export {
+
+// What a cooked artifact of a scenery was made from, and whether it still is.
+//
+// A manifest lists every file that went into the artifact with its size, modification time
+// and a hash of its content. The artifact is current when every one of those files still has
+// that content. Size and time are the quick check: when both match, the file is taken as
+// unchanged; when either differs, the content is hashed, so a file that was only touched or
+// copied does not force a rebuild, and one that was edited always does.
+//
+// A manifest cannot know about a file that was added to the scenery since it was written - an
+// include line that was not there before. That shows when the scenery is read, so a caller
+// compares the files it just read with the manifest afterwards, and treats the artifact as
+// stale when the two differ.
+namespace simulation::cookdeps {
+
+// writes the manifest of Files, hashing each. returns false and logs on failure
+bool write( std::string const &Path, std::vector<std::string> const &Files );
+// whether a manifest exists at Path and every file it lists still has the content it had
+bool current( std::string const &Path );
+// whether the manifest at Path lists exactly Files, in any order and ignoring repeats
+bool lists( std::string const &Path, std::vector<std::string> const &Files );
+
+} // namespace simulation::cookdeps
+
+}

simulation/logiccook.cpp

@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import eu07.simulation.simulationsounds;
 import eu07.utilities.logs;
 import eu07.utilities.globals;
 import eu07.utilities.utilities;
+import eu07.simulation.cookdeps;
 
 namespace simulation {
 
@@ -130,7 +131,7 @@ targets_of( basic_event const &Event, scene::logic::event_kind const Kind, scene
 } // anonymous namespace
 
 bool
-cook_logic( std::string const &Sceneryfile ) {
+cook_logic( std::string const &Sceneryfile, std::vector<std::string> const &Sources ) {
 
     scene::logic::container_writer writer;
     auto const count { simulation::Events.event_count() };
@@ -158,19 +159,22 @@ cook_logic( std::string const &Sceneryfile ) {
         ErrorLog( "Logic container: " + std::to_string( unknown ) + " events of a kind this build cannot cook" );
     }
 
-    return writer.write( scene::logic::container_path( Sceneryfile ) );
+    auto const path { scene::logic::container_path( Sceneryfile ) };
+    return ( true == writer.write( path ) )
+        && ( true == cookdeps::write( path + ".deps", Sources ) );
 }
 
 bool
-logic_stale( std::string const &Sceneryfile ) {
+logic_stale( std::string const &Sceneryfile, std::vector<std::string> const &Sources ) {
 
     auto const path { scene::logic::container_path( Sceneryfile ) };
 
     if( false == FileExists( path ) ) {
         return true;
     }
-    if( last_modified( scenery_file( Sceneryfile ) ) > last_modified( path ) ) {
+    if( ( false == cookdeps::current( path + ".deps" ) )
-        WriteLog( "Logic container: \"" + path + "\" is older than the scenery, recooking" );
+     || ( false == cookdeps::lists( path + ".deps", Sources ) ) ) {
+        WriteLog( "Logic container: \"" + path + "\" was made from files that have changed since, recooking" );
         return true;
     }
     // the header says whether this build can read it at all, which covers a container

simulation/logiccook.cppm

@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ http://mozilla.org/MPL/2.0/.
 
 module;
 #include <string>
+#include <vector>
 
 export module eu07.simulation.logiccook;
 
@@ -24,18 +25,16 @@ export {
 // determinism the plan asks for comes from the writer, not from where it is called.
 namespace simulation {
 
-// writes the container next to the scenery. returns false and logs on failure
+// writes the container next to the scenery, with the manifest of the Sources it was made
-bool cook_logic( std::string const &Sceneryfile );
+// from. returns false and logs on failure
+bool cook_logic( std::string const &Sceneryfile, std::vector<std::string> const &Sources );
 // reads a cooked container back and checks it against the events currently loaded. logs
 // every disagreement and returns true only when there are none
 bool verify_logic( std::string const &Sceneryfile );
-// whether the container next to this scenery needs cooking: there is none, this build
+// whether the container next to this scenery needs cooking: there is none, this build cannot
-// cannot read the one that is there, or the scenery has been edited since.
+// read the one that is there, a file it was made from has changed, or the scenery now reads
-//
+// a different set of files than Sources says it was made from
-// Edits to an .inc the scenery pulls in do NOT make it stale - only the .scn's own
+bool logic_stale( std::string const &Sceneryfile, std::vector<std::string> const &Sources );
-// timestamp is compared, because the list of files that went into a load is not kept. Cook
-// by hand with -cooklogic after editing an include.
-bool logic_stale( std::string const &Sceneryfile );
 
 } // namespace simulation
 

simulation/simulationstateserializer.cpp

@@ -101,6 +101,7 @@ state_serializer::deserialize_begin( std::string const &Scenariofile ) {
 		WriteLog("Default SBT absent");
     }
     scene::Groups.create();
+    state->input.track_includes( state->included );
 
     // before a token is read: pick up a heightfield baked on an earlier run, or arm the
     // bake when there is none. it has to happen here because the decision to skip terrain
@@ -214,18 +215,22 @@ state_serializer::deserialize_continue(std::shared_ptr<deserializer_state> state
 		Region->serialize( state->scenariofile );
 	}
 
-    terrainbake::finish( state->scenariofile );
+    terrainbake::finish( state->scenariofile, *state->included );
 
     loadprofile::report( state->scenariofile );
 
+    // the logic depends on the scenario file itself as well as on what it includes: events
+    // can be written in either
+    auto sources { *state->included };
+    sources.push_back( scenery_file( state->scenariofile ) );
     if( true == Global.verify_logic ) {
         verify_logic( state->scenariofile );
     }
     else if( ( true == Global.cook_logic )
-          || ( true == logic_stale( state->scenariofile ) ) ) {
+          || ( true == logic_stale( state->scenariofile, sources ) ) ) {
         // cooked from the loaded state rather than from the text, and immediately read back,
         // so a container that disagrees with what it was cooked from says so on the spot
-        if( true == cook_logic( state->scenariofile ) ) {
+        if( true == cook_logic( state->scenariofile, sources ) ) {
             verify_logic( state->scenariofile );
         }
     }

simulation/simulationstateserializer.cppm

@@ -43,6 +43,9 @@ struct deserializer_state {
 	// the named scenery has no file on disk: the world is empty, so there's nothing to compile to SBT
 	bool blank{ false };
 	cParser input;
+	// every file the scenery includes, as it is read: what anything cooked from this load
+	// depends on
+	std::shared_ptr<std::vector<std::string>> included { std::make_shared<std::vector<std::string>>() };
 	scene::scratch_data scratchpad;
 	using deserializefunctionbind = std::function<void()>;
 	std::unordered_map<

simulation/terrainbake.cpp

@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ import eu07.utilities.logs;
 import eu07.utilities.globals;
 import eu07.utilities.utilities;
 import eu07.simulation.loadprofile;
+import eu07.simulation.cookdeps;
 
 namespace simulation::terrainbake {
 
@@ -77,11 +78,6 @@ struct table_record {
     std::uint32_t mask;
 };
 
-struct file_stamp {
-    std::uint64_t size { 0 };
-    std::int64_t time { 0 };
-};
-
 // one triangle as it waits in the spill file for the passes: its corners in world space with
 // their texture coordinates, the node it came from, which holds its material, and its number
 struct spilled {
@@ -115,8 +111,6 @@ struct {
     std::unordered_map<std::uint64_t, table_record> table;
     std::vector<std::uint8_t> masks;
     std::size_t skipped { 0 }, filtered { 0 }, drawn { 0 };
-    // size and modification time of every file a key was taken in, looked up once per load
-    std::unordered_map<std::string, file_stamp> files;
 } state;
 
 // where a field is written: the finest beside the scenery as <scenario>.ehf, coarser ones as
@@ -133,6 +127,24 @@ table_path( std::string const &Heightfield ) {
     return Heightfield + ".nodes";
 }
 
+std::string
+manifest_path( std::string const &Heightfield ) {
+
+    return Heightfield + ".deps";
+}
+
+// throws away every file of a bake, so the next start makes a new one
+void
+discard( std::string const &Sceneryfile ) {
+
+    std::error_code error;
+    for( std::uint32_t field = 0; field < fieldcount; ++field ) {
+        std::filesystem::remove( heightfield_path( Sceneryfile, field ), error );
+    }
+    std::filesystem::remove( table_path( heightfield_path( Sceneryfile ) ), error );
+    std::filesystem::remove( manifest_path( heightfield_path( Sceneryfile ) ), error );
+}
+
 bool
 load_table( std::string const &Path ) {
 
@@ -301,21 +313,8 @@ node_key(
             mix( Text.data(), Text.size() );
             mix( "\n", 1 ); } };
 
-    // what the file is now: an edit anywhere in it changes every key it holds
+    // the file's content is vouched for by the bake's manifest, so its name is enough here
-    auto lookup { state.files.find( File ) };
-    if( lookup == state.files.end() ) {
-        std::error_code error;
-        file_stamp stamp {};
-        auto const size { std::filesystem::file_size( File, error ) };
-        stamp.size = ( error ? 0 : static_cast<std::uint64_t>( size ) );
-        auto const time { std::filesystem::last_write_time( File, error ) };
-        stamp.time = ( error ? 0 : static_cast<std::int64_t>( time.time_since_epoch().count() ) );
-        lookup = state.files.emplace( File, stamp ).first;
-    }
-
     text( File );
-    mix( &lookup->second.size, sizeof( lookup->second.size ) );
-    mix( &lookup->second.time, sizeof( lookup->second.time ) );
     auto const line { static_cast<std::uint64_t>( Line ) };
     mix( &line, sizeof( line ) );
     for( auto const &parameter : Parameters ) { text( parameter ); }
@@ -348,7 +347,9 @@ begin( std::string const &Sceneryfile ) {
         // what counts as terrain, or one missing a part, is thrown away and baked again
         // rather than used
         std::vector<std::string> baked;
-        auto usable { true == load_table( table_path( path ) ) };
+        auto usable {
+            ( true == cookdeps::current( manifest_path( path ) ) )
+         && ( true == load_table( table_path( path ) ) ) };
         for( std::uint32_t field = 0; ( field < fieldcount ) && ( true == usable ); ++field ) {
             auto const fieldpath { heightfield_path( Sceneryfile, field ) };
             if( false == FileExists( fieldpath ) ) { continue; }
@@ -365,13 +366,10 @@ begin( std::string const &Sceneryfile ) {
                 + std::to_string( state.table.size() ) + " triangle nodes replaced by them" );
             return;
         }
-        WriteLog( "Terrain bake: the heightfields beside this scenery were baked under different rules, baking them again" );
+        WriteLog( "Terrain bake: the heightfields beside this scenery are out of date, baking them again" );
         state.table.clear();
         state.masks.clear();
-        for( std::uint32_t field = 0; field < fieldcount; ++field ) {
+        discard( Sceneryfile );
-            std::filesystem::remove( heightfield_path( Sceneryfile, field ), error );
-        }
-        std::filesystem::remove( table_path( path ), error );
     }
 
     // the triangles wait on disk beside the heightfield rather than in memory: a large scenery
@@ -483,12 +481,18 @@ add( std::uint64_t const Key, std::vector<world_vertex> const &Vertices, std::st
 }
 
 void
-finish( std::string const &Sceneryfile ) {
+finish( std::string const &Sceneryfile, std::vector<std::string> const &Included ) {
 
     if( true == planning() ) {
         WriteLog(
             "Terrain bake: " + std::to_string( state.skipped ) + " triangle nodes left to the heightfield, "
             + std::to_string( state.filtered ) + " drawn in part, " + std::to_string( state.drawn ) + " drawn as written" );
+        // an include added or taken away since the bake: nodes of a new file were drawn as
+        // geometry this time, as none of their keys is known, but the next start bakes again
+        if( false == cookdeps::lists( manifest_path( heightfield_path( Sceneryfile ) ), Included ) ) {
+            WriteLog( "Terrain bake: the scenery includes different files than when it was baked; baking again on the next start" );
+            discard( Sceneryfile );
+        }
     }
     if( false == state.collecting ) { return; }
 
@@ -581,6 +585,7 @@ finish( std::string const &Sceneryfile ) {
             + std::to_string( step * std::pow( fieldstride, field ) ) + " m";
     }
     write_table( table_path( heightfield_path( Sceneryfile ) ) );
+    cookdeps::write( manifest_path( heightfield_path( Sceneryfile ) ), Included );
 
     auto const seconds {
         std::chrono::duration<double>( std::chrono::steady_clock::now() - state.started ).count() };

simulation/terrainbake.cppm

@@ -35,11 +35,11 @@ export {
 // triangles the heightfield really shows stop being drawn on their own, so nothing can vanish
 // from the scenery - the worst a bad bake can do is draw something twice.
 //
-// A triangle node is recognised by the file and line it is written at - with that file's size
+// A bake is used only while every file the scenery included when it was made still has the
-// and modification time - the parameters its include was given, and the origin and rotation in
+// content it had (cookdeps): the scenario file itself is not among them, since the launcher
-// force, not by its position in the load. An edited file changes the keys of everything in it,
+// rewrites it on every start and the terrain lives in what it includes. Within a bake that
-// and those nodes are then simply drawn again instead of the wrong ones being dropped. Hashing
+// holds, a triangle node is recognised by the file and line it is written at, the parameters
-// the node's text instead would cost a second parse of every triangle node in the scenery.
+// its include was given, and the origin and rotation in force.
 //
 // The rasterising is scene/terraincooker.h, the same code the tool uses.
 namespace simulation::terrainbake {
@@ -77,8 +77,10 @@ node_decision examine(
     std::string_view const Type, glm::dvec3 const &Offset, glm::vec3 const &Rotation, bool const Worldspace );
 // one triangle node, in world space, as it is about to be drawn
 void add( std::uint64_t const Key, std::vector<world_vertex> const &Vertices, std::string_view const Material );
-// called once the scenery has been parsed. writes the heightfield and its node table
+// called once the scenery has been parsed, with every file it included. writes the
-void finish( std::string const &Sceneryfile );
+// heightfields, their node table and the manifest of what they were made from; or, when a
+// bake was used, checks the scenery still includes what that bake was made from
+void finish( std::string const &Sceneryfile, std::vector<std::string> const &Included );
 
 } // namespace simulation::terrainbake
 

utilities/Globals.cppm

@@ -131,6 +131,9 @@ struct global_settings {
     // bake a heightfield for a scenery that has none, the first time it is opened, and use
     // it from then on. -nobaketerrain turns it off
     bool bake_terrain{ true };
+    // -cook: load the scenery, bring what is cooked from it up to date, and quit. the step that
+    // prepares a scenery's data ahead of play, so that the game never has to bake on its own
+    bool cook_only{ false };
     // cooked heightfields drawn in place of the legacy terrain geometry, coarsest first
     // once sorted. a scenery needs several: a regional elevation model sampled every
     // hundred metres, and a corridor of its own for each line, sampled every two

utilities/parser.cpp

@@ -376,6 +376,10 @@ void cParser::startIncludeFromParser(cParser& srcParser, bool ToLower, std::stri
 	);
 	mIncludeParser->allowRandomIncludes = allowRandomIncludes;
 	mIncludeParser->autoclear(m_autoclear);
+	if (mIncluded) {
+		mIncluded->push_back(mPath + includefile);
+		mIncludeParser->mIncluded = mIncluded;
+	}
 
 	if (mIncludeParser->mSize <= 0) {
 		ErrorLog("Bad include: can't open file \"" + includefile + "\"");
@@ -549,6 +553,8 @@ void cParser::injectString(const std::string &str)
 	{
 		mIncludeParser = std::make_shared<cParser>(str, buffer_TEXT, "", LoadTraction, std::vector<std::string>(), allowRandomIncludes);
 		mIncludeParser->autoclear(m_autoclear);
+		// text put into the input can include files of its own
+		mIncludeParser->mIncluded = mIncluded;
 	}
 }
 

utilities/parser.cppm

@@ -111,6 +111,9 @@ class cParser //: public std::stringstream
     std::size_t Line() const;
     // parameters of the innermost file being read, the (pN) values its include line gave
     std::vector<std::string> const & Parameters() const;
+    // collects into Into the path of every file this parser includes, and every file those
+    // include in turn. what a cooked artifact of a scenery depends on is exactly this list
+    void track_includes( std::shared_ptr<std::vector<std::string>> Into ) { mIncluded = std::move( Into ); }
 	// returns number of currently processed line in main file, -1 if inside include
 	int LineMain() const;
 	bool expandIncludes = true;
@@ -130,6 +133,7 @@ class cParser //: public std::stringstream
     std::size_t count();
     // members:
     bool m_autoclear { true }; // unretrieved tokens are discarded when another read command is issued (legacy behaviour)
+    std::shared_ptr<std::vector<std::string>> mIncluded; // where included files are recorded, if anywhere
     bool LoadTraction { true }; // load traction?
     std::shared_ptr<std::istream> mStream; // relevant kind of buffer is attached on creation.
     std::string mFile; // name of the open file, if any