2 For version xboard/WinBoard 4.2.4 and later only
4 -----------------------------------------------------
6 Zippy is a program that lets GNU Chess act as a computer player on an
7 Internet Chess Server. It also works with Crafty. Zippy is
8 unsupported, experimental code.
10 Zippy is based on XBoard, a graphical interface to GNU Chess and to
11 the ICS for the X Window system on Unix. Zippy consists of exactly
12 the same code as XBoard, plus one extra module that ties together the
13 otherwise-separate functions of talking to GNU Chess and talking to
14 the ICS. Zippy is included in the XBoard distribution.
16 There is also a version of Zippy that is based on WinBoard, a port of
17 XBoard to Win32 (Microsoft Windows NT and Windows 95). WinBoard does
18 *not* run on Windows 3.1 or 3.11, not even with Win32s. In versions
19 3.5 and later, the Zippy code is included in WinBoard.exe.
21 If you use Zippy, I ask you to do the following:
23 - Don't expect fast response if you send me mail about problems. It
24 might take weeks for me to get back to you, or I might answer right
25 away. Try to solve problems yourself before you mail me about them.
26 Try asking someone who is actively running a Zippy-based player on ICC
27 or FICS for help getting started. Mail me only if you get stuck.
29 - Be honest. Tell the admins of whatever ICS you use that your player
30 is a computer, so that it gets put onto the computer list, and follow
31 the ICS computer policies. On ICC these are in "help computer"; read
32 this file and abide by what it says.
34 - If you want to interface some other chess program to ICS, feel free
35 to start with this code. Some documentation is in the file
36 engine-intf.html in the distribution.
38 - Please do not use the -zt flag to have your program shout Zippy the
39 Pinhead sayings (or other things that my Zippy shouts). One pinhead
40 per server is plenty, and I'd like to keep the franchise. Feel free
41 to use -zt to have your program shout some other kind of sayings if
42 you like. Some of the jokes that Zippy shouts on ICC came from
43 ftp://ftp.cco.caltech.edu/pub/humor. The poetry came from Project
44 Gutenberg; try http://www.cs.cmu.edu/Web/booktitles.html as a starting
45 point. You might find other suitable material at these sites. Prose
46 tends to work poorly because it is dull when shouted in isolated
50 http://www.tim-mann.org/chess.html
54 Unix: To build the Zippy version of xboard, on most systems just do:
55 configure --enable-zippy
58 Windows: WinBoard.exe (versions 3.5 and later) includes the Zippy
59 code. There is no longer a distinct WinZippy.exe.
61 In both xboard and WinBoard, the Zippy features are off by default.
62 You can activate them with two new resources/command line options, and
63 you can fine-tune them with some new environment variables, all
66 You will probably want to make a shell script or Windows .BAT file
67 that sets the environment variables you want to use and invokes Zippy
68 with the right command line options for your situation. Some examples
69 are at the bottom of this file.
71 If you have problems building or running Zippy, see the rest of the
72 xboard documentation: INSTALL documents the configure program, while
73 READ_ME and xboard.man (or xboard.txt) document xboard itself, and
74 WinBoard.hlp documents WinBoard. FAQ answers some frequently asked
75 questions. The file engine-intf.html contains some information about
76 the interface between xboard/WinBoard and GNU Chess (or other chess
83 -zippyPlay True/False or -zp/-xzp
84 If zippyPlay is set to True, when xboard is in -ics mode, it
85 will interface a chess engine to the ICS instead of letting you
86 play. You must also set -ics when you use this mode.
88 In zippyPlay mode, xboard blindly issues an accept command for
89 every (well, almost every, see below) challenge it gets,
90 without remembering anything about the challenge afterwards.
91 This means that often it will get several challenges very
92 close together and try to accept them all! ICS gives an error
93 message for every accept command after the one that actually
94 starts a match, but xboard just happily ignores the message.
95 xboard doesn't actually start the chess engine playing until
96 the first board image comes in from ICS.
98 The getMoveList option controls how adjourned games are
99 continued. If it is True (the default), xboard fetches the
100 move list from ICS and feeds it into the chess program before
101 having the program start play. If False, xboard feeds the
102 current position into the chess program and has it start from
103 there. The latter option gets the program going sooner, but
104 can cause problems with detection of en passant legality,
105 castling legality (if a king or rook has moved and then
106 returned to its home square), draw by repetition, and draw by
109 In zippyPlay mode, colorization in the ICS interaction window,
110 and the sounds corresponding to colors in that window, do not
111 work. zippyPassword and related features (see below) capture
112 the tells, etc., before they can be matched by the color/sound
115 -zippyTalk True/False or -zt/-xzt
116 If zippyTalk is set to True and xboard is in -ics mode:
118 (1) It will reply to anything said to it with a saying (if
119 there is a file of sayings in its working directory). This
120 includes channel tells and shouts where its name is mentioned.
121 Some things it says to opponents in specific situations will
122 also be made Zippy-ish; you might want to change that. See
123 zippyLines below for the file format.
125 (2) If a player XXX in your notify list logs on, xboard sends
126 the command "greet XXX" to ICS and tells XXX something from
127 its sayings file. You can alias this to whatever you like.
128 If XXX is censoring you, he is automatically removed from your
131 (3) If a player XXX in your notify list logs off, xboard sends
132 the command "farewell XXX" to ICS. You can alias this to
133 whatever you like. Note that the player is already gone, so
134 telling him something is futile.
136 If zippyTalk is on, colorization in the ICS interaction
137 window, and the sounds corresponding to colors in that window,
138 do not work. The reply feature captures the tells, etc.,
139 before they can be matched by the color/sound code.
141 In both -zp and -zt modes, if admin X spoofs Zippy, Zippy sends the
142 command "spoofedby X" to ICS. You can alias this to something if you
143 want; otherwise it will produce a harmless error message.
146 In zippyTalk mode, if user XXX shouts anything containing
147 this string, xboard sends the command "insult XXX" to ICS.
148 You can alias "insult" to whatever you like. This feature is
149 disabled if the option is not set.
151 -zippyPassword string
152 If someone does an ICS "tell" to xboard that begins with this
153 password, it will type the same string back as a command with
154 the password stripped off. For example, if the password is
155 !%%! and xboard sees the string "Darooha tells you: !%%!shout
156 Hi there", it will type the command "shout Hi there" to the
157 ICS. This feature is disabled if the option is not set.
159 -zippyPassword2 string
160 If someone does an ICS "tell" to xboard that begins with this
161 password, it will send the same string directly to the chess
162 engine with the password stripped off. This feature is
163 disabled if the option is not set. Use with caution.
165 -zippyWrongPassword string
166 This is a joke feature. If player XXX does an ICS "tell" to
167 xboard that begins with this password, it will send the
168 command "wrong XXX" to ICS. ICS does not define a "wrong"
169 command, but you can alias it to whatever you like. The
170 feature is supposed to be used after you've changed the
171 zippyPassword, so that people who knew the old password get a
172 funny message. Disabled if not set.
174 -zippyUseI True/False or -zui/-xzui
175 If this option is true, Zippy's shouts use the "i" command with
176 funny verbs; otherwise they use the "shout" command. Default
177 is true. The variable is automatically set to false if the "i"
178 command is disabled on ICS by the admins.
181 Name of the file Zippy looks in for sayings when -zt is set.
182 Default: yow.lines. File format: There must be a single ^
183 character or null character (control-@, ASCII code \000) after
184 each saying. Sayings can have newlines in them; Zippy will
185 remove them. Sayings can be at most about 250 characters;
186 longer ones will be ignored. The first saying in the file is
187 never used; you should put a comment there. If you have only
188 one or two sayings in your file, Zippy may get into a loop
189 trying to choose one. Zippy chooses a saying by seeking to a
190 random character position in the file, skipping ahead to the
191 *next* null character, and printing the saying that starts
192 there. If it hits end of file without finding a new saying,
193 it tries again. Yes, this is a dumb algorithm.
195 -zippyAcceptOnly string
196 Normally, Zippy automatically accepts challenges from all
197 opponents. If this option is set to an ICS login name, Zippy
198 will auto-accept challenges only from that opponent. Set the
199 option to an invalid name like "0" if you don't want Zippy to
200 auto-accept any challenges. You can still accept challenges
201 manually. Setting this option also suppresses the
202 zippyGameEnd feature described below. Default: not set.
204 -zippyNoplayCrafty True/False or -znc/-xznc
205 If this option is set to True, if Zippy's opponent kibitzes
206 "Hello from Crafty" within the first couple of moves, Zippy
207 will abort the game and add the opponent to his noplay list.
210 -zippyGameStart string
211 At the start of each game Zippy plays (including resuming from
212 adjournment), it sends this string to ICS, followed by a newline.
213 If the option is not set, nothing is sent.
216 At the end of each game, Zippy sends this string to ICS,
217 followed by a newline. If you do not set this option, the
218 string "gameend" is sent. This is not a legal ICS command,
219 but you can alias it to whatever you like, or you can leave
220 it undefined, which will cause ICS to print a harmless error
221 message after each game. If you want to send more than one
222 command at the end of the game, on ICC you can alias gameend
223 to a "multi" command (see the ICC help files), but on FICS that
224 does not work. Instead, use the -zippyGameEnd option to have
225 a string of several commands sent, with newlines in between.
226 For example, you could give WinBoard the command line option
227 -zippyGameEnd='say thanks\nseek 5 0\nseek 2 12\n'
228 You could give xboard the command line option
229 -xrm '*zippyGameEnd: say thanks\nseek 5 0\nseek 2 12\n'
231 -zippyAdjourn True/False or -zadj/-xzadj
232 Zippy will allow its opponent to adjourn if this option is
233 set to true. Default: False.
235 -zippyAbort True/False or -zab/-xzab
236 Zippy will allow its opponent to abort if this option is
237 set to true. Default: False.
239 -zippyVariants string
240 Zippy will decline to play chess variants unless their names
241 (as given in engine-intf.html) are listed in this option.
242 Default: "normal". Example: "suicide,losers,bughouse,normal".
244 Obviously, zippyVariants other than "normal" will work only
245 if your chess engine can play those variants. GNU Chess
246 certainly cannot, but there are some suicide and bughouse
247 engines available. While playing bughouse, Zippy passes
248 certain extra information on to the engine; see
252 This option controls how Zippy handles bughouse partner
253 requests. If zippyBughouse is set to 0, Zippy will decline
254 any offers of partnership and tell the offerer that it cannot
255 play bughouse. If zippyBughouse is set to 1, Zippy will
256 decline offers, but you can make Zippy your partner by having
257 *it* offer *you* partnership (by using zippyPassword or typing
258 directly into its window). If zippyBughouse is set to 2,
259 Zippy will accept all offers of partnership, even if it
260 already has a partner. zippyBughouse must be at least 1 for
261 partner tells to be relayed to the engine with the ptell
266 If zippyMaxGames > 0, Zippy will play at most the given number
267 of consecutive games against the same opponent. Thereafter,
268 Zippy will decline all challenges from that opponent (with an
269 explanatory tell) until either someone else has played or
270 zippyReplayTimeout seconds have elapsed. Defaults:
271 zippyMaxGames=0, zippyReplayTimeout=120.
273 Note: If you use these options and you have Zippy doing seeks,
274 be sure to include the "m" flag in the ICS seek command. If
275 you use "seek m", when a player responds to the seek, the ICS
276 gives Zippy a challenge that it can either accept or decline.
277 If you use a seek without the "m" flag, the ICS immediately
278 starts a game between Zippy and the first opponent to respond,
279 giving Zippy no choice about whether to accept or decline.
281 =====================
282 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
283 =====================
285 For backward compatibility with version 4.0.2 and earlier only, most
286 of the command line options listed above can also be set as
287 environment variables. For boolean options, use 0 for false, 1 for
288 true in the corresponding environment variable. The following
289 environment variables are supported.:
291 ZIPPYPINHEAD, ZIPPYPASSWORD, ZIPPYPASSWORD2, ZIPPYWRONGPASSWORD,
292 ZIPPYUSEI, ZIPPYLINES, ZIPPYACCEPTONLY, ZIPPYNOPLAYCRAFTY,
293 ZIPPYGAMESTART, ZIPPYGAMEEND, ZIPPYADJOURN, ZIPPYABORT,
294 ZIPPYVARIANTS, ZIPPYBUGHOUSE
296 Warnings: (1) If both the command line option and the corresponding
297 environment variable are set, the environment variable takes
298 precedence! (2) Some of the environment variables have names that
299 are too long for Solaris 2.5's /bin/csh. Use the command line
300 options instead. (3) Newer options DO NOT have environment
301 variables. If you don't see it in the list above, it doesn't exist.
302 (4) In the future the environment variables may go away entirely.
303 It would be a good idea to stop using them now and switch to the
304 command line options.
306 You may also want to customize other things by editing zippy.c and
307 recompiling the program.
309 =====================
310 ICS VARIABLE SETTINGS
311 =====================
313 You need to do the following settings on ICS:
315 set highlight 0 <-- I'm not sure this is still needed
319 If you want to use the zippyPassword remote-control feature, it's a
320 good idea to do the following, so that commands you give Zippy won't
321 be truncated because the ICS wrapped a "tell" to a new line:
323 set wrap 0 <-- on ICC, or
324 set width 255 <-- on FICS
326 You will probably want to turn on server-side autoflagging too:
334 It has been discovered that Zippy can play simuls on ICC (but not on
335 FICS). If you arrange for Zippy to send the ICC command "simulize" in
336 the -zippyGameStart string, it will accept additional games while
337 playing. Zippy will use the same engine for every game, so whenever
338 it switches opponents, the engine's state will be reset with the "new"
339 command. This will of course weaken its play, so don't enable simuls
340 if you want your engine to have the highest possible rating.
342 Zippy was never designed to work with simuls; it just works by
343 accident, and it hasn't been tested much. So please report any bugs
344 you notice, but don't expect them to be fixed rapidly.
346 Be sure to use xboard/WinBoard 4.2.4 or later for simuls, because some
347 obscure bugs are fixed in that version that affect starting a game in
348 the middle (as with resuming from adjournments or switching opponents
351 As noted under -zippyPlay above, you should have -getMoveList on to
352 ensure that the engine knows the game history after switching boards
353 and thus handles draw by repetition and by the 50-move rule correctly.
354 It should, however, also work to turn off this option to speed things
355 up and reduce network bandwidth, if you don't mind the engine
356 occasionally failing to see draw possibilities. Unfortunately,
357 though, with Crafty 18.3 (and probably other versions too) as the
358 engine, users trying this have experienced Crafty crashes. This looks
359 to me like a Crafty bug, but I wasn't able to reproduce it, so it
367 Here are some small example command lines. You may want to use more
368 options; see the man page, info file, or help file, and perhaps the
369 FAQ file too. You may want to put the command line into a Unix shell
370 script or Windows .BAT file, which is simply a text file of commands.
371 On Unix, turn on execute permission for the file (chmod a+x file); on
372 Windows, give it the extension .BAT. You can then run it just like an
373 ordinary program. Please do not ask me questions about how to make a
374 shell script or .BAT file; these are not functions of xboard/WinBoard,
375 but basic operating system features that you can learn about from
376 introductory books, friends, teachers, or the online help for your
377 system. The examples below should be more than enough to get you
382 # xboard + GNU Chess on chessclub.com
383 xboard -zp -ics -icshost chessclub.com -icshelper timestamp \
386 # xboard + GNU Chess on freechess.org
387 xboard -zp -ics -icshost freechess.org -icshelper timeseal \
389 # xboard + Crafty on chessclub.com
390 xboard -zp -ics -icshost chessclub.com \
391 -fd /home/crafty -fcp crafty -icshelper timestamp \
394 # xboard + Crafty on freechess.org
395 xboard -zp -ics -icshost freechess.org -autoflag \
396 -fd /home/crafty -fcp crafty -icshelper timeseal \
399 Windows command lines:
401 REM WinBoard + GNU Chess on chessclub.com
402 WinBoard -zp -ics -icshost chessclub.com -fcp GNUChess -icshelper timestamp -zippyPassword beer
404 REM WinBoard + GNU Chess on freechess.org
405 WinBoard -zp -ics -icshost freechess.org -fcp GNUChess -icshelper timeseal -zippyPassword beer
407 REM WinBoard + Crafty on chessclub.com
408 WinBoard -zp -ics -icshost chessclub.com -fd C:\Crafty -fcp WCrafty -icshelper timestamp -zippyPassword beer
410 REM WinBoard + Crafty on freechess.org
411 WinBoard -zp -ics -icshost freechess.org -fd C:\Crafty -fcp WCrafty -icshelper timestamp -zippyPassword beer