--- /dev/null
+Zippy README file
+For version xboard/WinBoard 4.2.4 and later only
+$Id$
+-----------------------------------------------------
+
+Zippy is a program that lets GNU Chess act as a computer player on an
+Internet Chess Server. It also works with Crafty. Zippy is
+unsupported, experimental code.
+
+Zippy is based on XBoard, a graphical interface to GNU Chess and to
+the ICS for the X Window system on Unix. Zippy consists of exactly
+the same code as XBoard, plus one extra module that ties together the
+otherwise-separate functions of talking to GNU Chess and talking to
+the ICS. Zippy is included in the XBoard distribution.
+
+There is also a version of Zippy that is based on WinBoard, a port of
+XBoard to Win32 (Microsoft Windows NT and Windows 95). WinBoard does
+*not* run on Windows 3.1 or 3.11, not even with Win32s. In versions
+3.5 and later, the Zippy code is included in WinBoard.exe.
+
+If you use Zippy, I ask you to do the following:
+
+- Don't expect fast response if you send me mail about problems. It
+might take weeks for me to get back to you, or I might answer right
+away. Try to solve problems yourself before you mail me about them.
+Try asking someone who is actively running a Zippy-based player on ICC
+or FICS for help getting started. Mail me only if you get stuck.
+
+- Be honest. Tell the admins of whatever ICS you use that your player
+is a computer, so that it gets put onto the computer list, and follow
+the ICS computer policies. On ICC these are in "help computer"; read
+this file and abide by what it says.
+
+- If you want to interface some other chess program to ICS, feel free
+to start with this code. Some documentation is in the file
+engine-intf.html in the distribution.
+
+- Please do not use the -zt flag to have your program shout Zippy the
+Pinhead sayings (or other things that my Zippy shouts). One pinhead
+per server is plenty, and I'd like to keep the franchise. Feel free
+to use -zt to have your program shout some other kind of sayings if
+you like. Some of the jokes that Zippy shouts on ICC came from
+ftp://ftp.cco.caltech.edu/pub/humor. The poetry came from Project
+Gutenberg; try http://www.cs.cmu.edu/Web/booktitles.html as a starting
+point. You might find other suitable material at these sites. Prose
+tends to work poorly because it is dull when shouted in isolated
+250-character chunks.
+
+ --Tim Mann
+ http://www.tim-mann.org/chess.html
+
+* * *
+
+Unix: To build the Zippy version of xboard, on most systems just do:
+ configure --enable-zippy
+ make
+
+Windows: WinBoard.exe (versions 3.5 and later) includes the Zippy
+code. There is no longer a distinct WinZippy.exe.
+
+In both xboard and WinBoard, the Zippy features are off by default.
+You can activate them with two new resources/command line options, and
+you can fine-tune them with some new environment variables, all
+described below.
+
+You will probably want to make a shell script or Windows .BAT file
+that sets the environment variables you want to use and invokes Zippy
+with the right command line options for your situation. Some examples
+are at the bottom of this file.
+
+If you have problems building or running Zippy, see the rest of the
+xboard documentation: INSTALL documents the configure program, while
+READ_ME and xboard.man (or xboard.txt) document xboard itself, and
+WinBoard.hlp documents WinBoard. FAQ answers some frequently asked
+questions. The file engine-intf.html contains some information about
+the interface between xboard/WinBoard and GNU Chess (or other chess
+engines).
+
+===========
+NEW OPTIONS
+===========
+
+ -zippyPlay True/False or -zp/-xzp
+ If zippyPlay is set to True, when xboard is in -ics mode, it
+ will interface a chess engine to the ICS instead of letting you
+ play. You must also set -ics when you use this mode.
+
+ In zippyPlay mode, xboard blindly issues an accept command for
+ every (well, almost every, see below) challenge it gets,
+ without remembering anything about the challenge afterwards.
+ This means that often it will get several challenges very
+ close together and try to accept them all! ICS gives an error
+ message for every accept command after the one that actually
+ starts a match, but xboard just happily ignores the message.
+ xboard doesn't actually start the chess engine playing until
+ the first board image comes in from ICS.
+
+ The getMoveList option controls how adjourned games are
+ continued. If it is True (the default), xboard fetches the
+ move list from ICS and feeds it into the chess program before
+ having the program start play. If False, xboard feeds the
+ current position into the chess program and has it start from
+ there. The latter option gets the program going sooner, but
+ can cause problems with detection of en passant legality,
+ castling legality (if a king or rook has moved and then
+ returned to its home square), draw by repetition, and draw by
+ the 50 move rule.
+
+ In zippyPlay mode, colorization in the ICS interaction window,
+ and the sounds corresponding to colors in that window, do not
+ work. zippyPassword and related features (see below) capture
+ the tells, etc., before they can be matched by the color/sound
+ code.
+
+ -zippyTalk True/False or -zt/-xzt
+ If zippyTalk is set to True and xboard is in -ics mode:
+
+ (1) It will reply to anything said to it with a saying (if
+ there is a file of sayings in its working directory). This
+ includes channel tells and shouts where its name is mentioned.
+ Some things it says to opponents in specific situations will
+ also be made Zippy-ish; you might want to change that. See
+ zippyLines below for the file format.
+
+ (2) If a player XXX in your notify list logs on, xboard sends
+ the command "greet XXX" to ICS and tells XXX something from
+ its sayings file. You can alias this to whatever you like.
+ If XXX is censoring you, he is automatically removed from your
+ notify list.
+
+ (3) If a player XXX in your notify list logs off, xboard sends
+ the command "farewell XXX" to ICS. You can alias this to
+ whatever you like. Note that the player is already gone, so
+ telling him something is futile.
+
+ If zippyTalk is on, colorization in the ICS interaction
+ window, and the sounds corresponding to colors in that window,
+ do not work. The reply feature captures the tells, etc.,
+ before they can be matched by the color/sound code.
+
+ In both -zp and -zt modes, if admin X spoofs Zippy, Zippy sends the
+ command "spoofedby X" to ICS. You can alias this to something if you
+ want; otherwise it will produce a harmless error message.
+
+ -zippyPinhead string
+ In zippyTalk mode, if user XXX shouts anything containing
+ this string, xboard sends the command "insult XXX" to ICS.
+ You can alias "insult" to whatever you like. This feature is
+ disabled if the option is not set.
+
+ -zippyPassword string
+ If someone does an ICS "tell" to xboard that begins with this
+ password, it will type the same string back as a command with
+ the password stripped off. For example, if the password is
+ !%%! and xboard sees the string "Darooha tells you: !%%!shout
+ Hi there", it will type the command "shout Hi there" to the
+ ICS. This feature is disabled if the option is not set.
+
+ -zippyPassword2 string
+ If someone does an ICS "tell" to xboard that begins with this
+ password, it will send the same string directly to the chess
+ engine with the password stripped off. This feature is
+ disabled if the option is not set. Use with caution.
+
+ -zippyWrongPassword string
+ This is a joke feature. If player XXX does an ICS "tell" to
+ xboard that begins with this password, it will send the
+ command "wrong XXX" to ICS. ICS does not define a "wrong"
+ command, but you can alias it to whatever you like. The
+ feature is supposed to be used after you've changed the
+ zippyPassword, so that people who knew the old password get a
+ funny message. Disabled if not set.
+
+ -zippyUseI True/False or -zui/-xzui
+ If this option is true, Zippy's shouts use the "i" command with
+ funny verbs; otherwise they use the "shout" command. Default
+ is true. The variable is automatically set to false if the "i"
+ command is disabled on ICS by the admins.
+
+ -zippyLines filename
+ Name of the file Zippy looks in for sayings when -zt is set.
+ Default: yow.lines. File format: There must be a single ^
+ character or null character (control-@, ASCII code \000) after
+ each saying. Sayings can have newlines in them; Zippy will
+ remove them. Sayings can be at most about 250 characters;
+ longer ones will be ignored. The first saying in the file is
+ never used; you should put a comment there. If you have only
+ one or two sayings in your file, Zippy may get into a loop
+ trying to choose one. Zippy chooses a saying by seeking to a
+ random character position in the file, skipping ahead to the
+ *next* null character, and printing the saying that starts
+ there. If it hits end of file without finding a new saying,
+ it tries again. Yes, this is a dumb algorithm.
+
+ -zippyAcceptOnly string
+ Normally, Zippy automatically accepts challenges from all
+ opponents. If this option is set to an ICS login name, Zippy
+ will auto-accept challenges only from that opponent. Set the
+ option to an invalid name like "0" if you don't want Zippy to
+ auto-accept any challenges. You can still accept challenges
+ manually. Setting this option also suppresses the
+ zippyGameEnd feature described below. Default: not set.
+
+ -zippyNoplayCrafty True/False or -znc/-xznc
+ If this option is set to True, if Zippy's opponent kibitzes
+ "Hello from Crafty" within the first couple of moves, Zippy
+ will abort the game and add the opponent to his noplay list.
+ Default: False.
+
+ -zippyGameStart string
+ At the start of each game Zippy plays (including resuming from
+ adjournment), it sends this string to ICS, followed by a newline.
+ If the option is not set, nothing is sent.
+
+ -zippyGameEnd string
+ At the end of each game, Zippy sends this string to ICS,
+ followed by a newline. If you do not set this option, the
+ string "gameend" is sent. This is not a legal ICS command,
+ but you can alias it to whatever you like, or you can leave
+ it undefined, which will cause ICS to print a harmless error
+ message after each game. If you want to send more than one
+ command at the end of the game, on ICC you can alias gameend
+ to a "multi" command (see the ICC help files), but on FICS that
+ does not work. Instead, use the -zippyGameEnd option to have
+ a string of several commands sent, with newlines in between.
+ For example, you could give WinBoard the command line option
+ -zippyGameEnd='say thanks\nseek 5 0\nseek 2 12\n'
+ You could give xboard the command line option
+ -xrm '*zippyGameEnd: say thanks\nseek 5 0\nseek 2 12\n'
+
+ -zippyAdjourn True/False or -zadj/-xzadj
+ Zippy will allow its opponent to adjourn if this option is
+ set to true. Default: False.
+
+ -zippyAbort True/False or -zab/-xzab
+ Zippy will allow its opponent to abort if this option is
+ set to true. Default: False.
+
+ -zippyVariants string
+ Zippy will decline to play chess variants unless their names
+ (as given in engine-intf.html) are listed in this option.
+ Default: "normal". Example: "suicide,losers,bughouse,normal".
+
+ Obviously, zippyVariants other than "normal" will work only
+ if your chess engine can play those variants. GNU Chess
+ certainly cannot, but there are some suicide and bughouse
+ engines available. While playing bughouse, Zippy passes
+ certain extra information on to the engine; see
+ engine-intf.html.
+
+ -zippyBughouse int
+ This option controls how Zippy handles bughouse partner
+ requests. If zippyBughouse is set to 0, Zippy will decline
+ any offers of partnership and tell the offerer that it cannot
+ play bughouse. If zippyBughouse is set to 1, Zippy will
+ decline offers, but you can make Zippy your partner by having
+ *it* offer *you* partnership (by using zippyPassword or typing
+ directly into its window). If zippyBughouse is set to 2,
+ Zippy will accept all offers of partnership, even if it
+ already has a partner. zippyBughouse must be at least 1 for
+ partner tells to be relayed to the engine with the ptell
+ command.
+
+ -zippyMaxGames int
+ -zippyReplayTimeout
+ If zippyMaxGames > 0, Zippy will play at most the given number
+ of consecutive games against the same opponent. Thereafter,
+ Zippy will decline all challenges from that opponent (with an
+ explanatory tell) until either someone else has played or
+ zippyReplayTimeout seconds have elapsed. Defaults:
+ zippyMaxGames=0, zippyReplayTimeout=120.
+
+ Note: If you use these options and you have Zippy doing seeks,
+ be sure to include the "m" flag in the ICS seek command. If
+ you use "seek m", when a player responds to the seek, the ICS
+ gives Zippy a challenge that it can either accept or decline.
+ If you use a seek without the "m" flag, the ICS immediately
+ starts a game between Zippy and the first opponent to respond,
+ giving Zippy no choice about whether to accept or decline.
+
+=====================
+ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
+=====================
+
+ For backward compatibility with version 4.0.2 and earlier only, most
+ of the command line options listed above can also be set as
+ environment variables. For boolean options, use 0 for false, 1 for
+ true in the corresponding environment variable. The following
+ environment variables are supported.:
+
+ ZIPPYPINHEAD, ZIPPYPASSWORD, ZIPPYPASSWORD2, ZIPPYWRONGPASSWORD,
+ ZIPPYUSEI, ZIPPYLINES, ZIPPYACCEPTONLY, ZIPPYNOPLAYCRAFTY,
+ ZIPPYGAMESTART, ZIPPYGAMEEND, ZIPPYADJOURN, ZIPPYABORT,
+ ZIPPYVARIANTS, ZIPPYBUGHOUSE
+
+ Warnings: (1) If both the command line option and the corresponding
+ environment variable are set, the environment variable takes
+ precedence! (2) Some of the environment variables have names that
+ are too long for Solaris 2.5's /bin/csh. Use the command line
+ options instead. (3) Newer options DO NOT have environment
+ variables. If you don't see it in the list above, it doesn't exist.
+ (4) In the future the environment variables may go away entirely.
+ It would be a good idea to stop using them now and switch to the
+ command line options.
+
+You may also want to customize other things by editing zippy.c and
+recompiling the program.
+
+=====================
+ICS VARIABLE SETTINGS
+=====================
+
+You need to do the following settings on ICS:
+
+ set highlight 0 <-- I'm not sure this is still needed
+ set oldmatch 0
+ set examine 0
+
+If you want to use the zippyPassword remote-control feature, it's a
+good idea to do the following, so that commands you give Zippy won't
+be truncated because the ICS wrapped a "tell" to a new line:
+
+ set wrap 0 <-- on ICC, or
+ set width 255 <-- on FICS
+
+You will probably want to turn on server-side autoflagging too:
+
+ set autoflag 1
+
+======
+SIMULS
+======
+
+It has been discovered that Zippy can play simuls on ICC (but not on
+FICS). If you arrange for Zippy to send the ICC command "simulize" in
+the -zippyGameStart string, it will accept additional games while
+playing. Zippy will use the same engine for every game, so whenever
+it switches opponents, the engine's state will be reset with the "new"
+command. This will of course weaken its play, so don't enable simuls
+if you want your engine to have the highest possible rating.
+
+Zippy was never designed to work with simuls; it just works by
+accident, and it hasn't been tested much. So please report any bugs
+you notice, but don't expect them to be fixed rapidly.
+
+Be sure to use xboard/WinBoard 4.2.4 or later for simuls, because some
+obscure bugs are fixed in that version that affect starting a game in
+the middle (as with resuming from adjournments or switching opponents
+in a simul).
+
+As noted under -zippyPlay above, you should have -getMoveList on to
+ensure that the engine knows the game history after switching boards
+and thus handles draw by repetition and by the 50-move rule correctly.
+It should, however, also work to turn off this option to speed things
+up and reduce network bandwidth, if you don't mind the engine
+occasionally failing to see draw possibilities. Unfortunately,
+though, with Crafty 18.3 (and probably other versions too) as the
+engine, users trying this have experienced Crafty crashes. This looks
+to me like a Crafty bug, but I wasn't able to reproduce it, so it
+remains a mystery.
+
+
+========
+EXAMPLES
+========
+
+Here are some small example command lines. You may want to use more
+options; see the man page, info file, or help file, and perhaps the
+FAQ file too. You may want to put the command line into a Unix shell
+script or Windows .BAT file, which is simply a text file of commands.
+On Unix, turn on execute permission for the file (chmod a+x file); on
+Windows, give it the extension .BAT. You can then run it just like an
+ordinary program. Please do not ask me questions about how to make a
+shell script or .BAT file; these are not functions of xboard/WinBoard,
+but basic operating system features that you can learn about from
+introductory books, friends, teachers, or the online help for your
+system. The examples below should be more than enough to get you
+started.
+
+Unix command lines:
+
+# xboard + GNU Chess on chessclub.com
+xboard -zp -ics -icshost chessclub.com -icshelper timestamp \
+ -zippyPassword beer
+
+# xboard + GNU Chess on freechess.org
+xboard -zp -ics -icshost freechess.org -icshelper timeseal \
+
+# xboard + Crafty on chessclub.com
+xboard -zp -ics -icshost chessclub.com \
+ -fd /home/crafty -fcp crafty -icshelper timestamp \
+ -zippyPassword beer
+
+# xboard + Crafty on freechess.org
+xboard -zp -ics -icshost freechess.org -autoflag \
+ -fd /home/crafty -fcp crafty -icshelper timeseal \
+ -zippyPassword beer
+
+Windows command lines:
+
+REM WinBoard + GNU Chess on chessclub.com
+WinBoard -zp -ics -icshost chessclub.com -fcp GNUChess -icshelper timestamp -zippyPassword beer
+
+REM WinBoard + GNU Chess on freechess.org
+WinBoard -zp -ics -icshost freechess.org -fcp GNUChess -icshelper timeseal -zippyPassword beer
+
+REM WinBoard + Crafty on chessclub.com
+WinBoard -zp -ics -icshost chessclub.com -fd C:\Crafty -fcp WCrafty -icshelper timestamp -zippyPassword beer
+
+REM WinBoard + Crafty on freechess.org
+WinBoard -zp -ics -icshost freechess.org -fd C:\Crafty -fcp WCrafty -icshelper timestamp -zippyPassword beer
projects / xboard.git / blobdiff