@menu
* Major modes:: The main things XBoard can do.
+* Basic operation:: Mouse and keyboard functions.
* Menus:: Menus, buttons, and keys.
* Options:: Command options supported by XBoard.
* Chess Servers:: Using XBoard with an Internet Chess Server (ICS).
machine, XBoard lets you play a game against the machine,
set up arbitrary positions, force variations, watch a game between two
chess engines, interactively analyze your stored games or set up and
-analyze arbitrary positions. (Note: Not all chess engines support
-analysis.)
+analyze arbitrary positions.
+To run engines that use the UCI standard XBoard will draw upon
+the Polyglot adapter fully transparently, but you will need to have
+the polyglot package installed for this tio work.
@item xboard -ics -icshost hostname [options]
As Internet Chess Server (ICS) interface, XBoard
lets you play against other ICS users, observe games
instructions.
@end table
-@node Menus
-@chapter Menus, buttons, and keys
-@cindex Menus
+@node Basic operation
+@chapter Basic operation
+@cindex Basic operation
To move a piece, you can drag it with the left mouse button, or you
can click the left mouse button once on the piece, then once more on
-the destination square. To drop a new piece on a square (when
-applicable), press the middle or the right mouse button over the
-square and select from the popup menu. In cases where you can drop
-either a white or black piece, use the middle button (or shift+right)
-for white and the right button (or shift+middle) for black. When you
-are playing a bughouse game on an Internet Chess Server, a list of the
-offboard pieces that each player has available is shown in the window
-title after the player's name; in addition, the piece menus show the
-number of pieces available of each type. From version 4.3.14 on, it is
-also possible in crazyhouse, bughouse or shogi to dag and drop pieces
-to the board from the holdings squares displayed next to the board.
-
-All other XBoard commands are available from the menu bar. The most
+the destination square. To under-promote a Pawn you can drag it backwards
+until it morphs into the piece you want to promote to, after which you
+drag that forward to the promotion square.
+Or after selecting the pawn with a first click you can then click
+the promotion square and move the mouse while keeping the button down
+until the piece that you want appears in the promotion square.
+To castle you move the King to its destination or, in Chess960,
+on top of the Rook you want to castle with.
+In crazyhouse, bughouse or shogi you can
+drag and drop pieces to the board from the holdings squares
+displayed next to the board.
+
+Old behavior, where right-clicking a square brings up a menu
+where you can select what piece to drop on it can still be
+selected through the @samp{Drop Menu} option.
+Only in Edit Position mode right and middle clicking a square is still used to
+put a piece on it, and the piece to drop is selected by sweeping
+the mouse vertically with the button held down.
+
+The default function of the right mouse button in other modes is
+to display the position the chess program thinks it will end up in.
+While moving the mouse vertically with this button pressed
+XBoard will step through the principal variation to show how
+this position will be reached.
+Lines of play displayed in the engine-output window,
+or PGN variations in the comment window can similarly
+be played out on the board, by right-clicking on them.
+Only in Analysis mode, when you walk along a PV,
+releasing the mouse button might forward the game upto that point,
+like you entered all previous PV moves.
+As the display of the PV in that case starts after the first move
+a simple right-click will play the move the engine indicates.
+
+In Analysis mode you can also make a move by grabbing the piece
+with a double-click of the left mouse button
+(or while keeping the @kbd{Ctrl} key pressed).
+In this case the move you enter will not be played,
+but will be excluded from the analysis of the current position.
+(Or included if it was already excluded; it is a toggle.)
+This only works for engines that support this feature.
+
+When connected to an ICS, it is possible to call up a graphical
+representation of players seeking a game in stead of the chess board,
+when the latter is not in use
+(i.e. when you are not playing or observing).
+Left-clicking the display area will switch between this 'seek graph'
+and the chess board.
+Hovering the mouse pointer over a dot will show the details of the
+seek ad in the message field above the board.
+Left-clicking the dot will challenge that player.
+Right-clicking a dot will 'push it to the back',
+to reveal any dots that were hidden behind it.
+Right-clicking off dots will refresh the graph.
+
+Most other XBoard commands are available from the menu bar. The most
frequently used commands also have shortcut keys or on-screen buttons.
+These shortcut keystrokes are mostly non-printable characters.
+Typing a letter or digit while the board window has focus
+will bring up a type-in box with the typed letter already in it.
+You can use that to type a move in siuations where it is your
+turn to enter a move,
+type a move number to call up the position after that move
+in the display,
+or, in Edit Position mode, type a FEN.
+Some rarely used parameters can only be set through options on the
+command line used to invoke XBoard.
+
+XBoard uses a settings file, in which it can remember any changes to
+the settings that are made through menus or command-line options,
+so they will still apply when you restart XBoard for another session.
+The settings can be saved into this file automatically when XBoard exits,
+or on explicit request of the user.
+Note that the board window can be sized by the user, but that this
+will not affect the size of the clocks above it, and won't be remembered
+in the settings file.
+To persistently change the size of the clocks, use the @code{size}
+command-line option when starting XBoard.
+The default name for the settings file is /etc/xboard/xboard.conf,
+but in a standard install this file is only used as a master settings
+file that determines the system-wide default settings,
+and defers reading and writing of user settings to a user-specific
+file like ~/.xboardrc in the user's home directory.
When XBoard is iconized, its graphical icon is a white knight if
-it is White's turn to move, a black knight if it is Black's turn. See
-Iconize in @ref{Keys} below if you have problems getting this
-feature to work.
+it is White's turn to move, a black knight if it is Black's turn.
+
+@node Menus
+@chapter Menus, buttons, and keys
+@cindex Menus
@menu
* File Menu:: Accessing external games and positions.
+* Edit Menu:: Altering games, positions, PGN tags or comments.
+* View Menu:: Controlling XBoard's shape and looks.
* Mode Menu:: Selecting XBoard's mode.
* Action Menu:: Talking to the chess engine or ICS opponents.
-* Step Menu:: Controlling the game.
+* Engine Menu:: Controlling settings and actions of the engine(s).
* Options Menu:: User preferences.
* Help Menu:: Getting help.
* Keys:: Other shortcut keys.
@item New Game
@cindex New Game, Menu Item
Resets XBoard and the chess engine to the beginning of a new chess
-game. The @kbd{r} key is a keyboard equivalent. In Internet Chess
+game. The @kbd{Ctrl-N} key is a keyboard equivalent. In Internet Chess
Server mode, clears the current state of XBoard, then
resynchronizes with the ICS by sending a refresh command. If you want to
stop playing, observing, or examining an ICS game, use an
Similar to @samp{New Game}, but allows you to specify a particular initial position
(according to a standardized numbering system)
in chess variants which use randomized opening positions (e.g. Chess960).
-The selected opening position will persistently be chosen on any following
-New Game command until you use this menu to select another. Selecting
-position number -1 will produce a newly randomized position on any new game.
+You can also press the @samp{Pick Fixed} button to let XBoard generate
+a random number for you.
+The thus selected opening position will then persistently be chosen on any following
+New Game command until you use this menu to select another.
+Selecting position number -1 (or pushing the @samp{Randomize} button)
+will produce a newly randomized position on any new game.
Using this menu item in variants that normally do not shuffle their opening position
does cause these variants to become shuffle variants until you use the
@samp{New Shuffle Game} menu to explicitly switch the randomization off,
@cindex New variant, Menu Item
Allows you to select a new chess variant in non-ICS mode.
(In ICS play, the ICS is responsible for deciding which variant will be played,
-and XBoard adapts autmatically.) If you play with an engine, the engine must
-be able to play the selected variant, or the command will be ignored.
+and XBoard adapts automatically.) The shifted @kbd{Alt+V} key is a
+keyboard equivalent. If you play with an engine, the engine must
+be able to play the selected variant, or the corresponding choice will be disabled.
XBoard supports all major variants, such as xiangqi, shogi, chess, chess960,
-Capablanca Chess, shatranj, crazyhous, bughouse.
+makruk, Capablanca Chess, shatranj, crazyhouse, bughouse.
+But not every board size has built-in bitmaps for un-orthodox pieces!
+Only sizes bulky (72) and middling (49) have all pieces,
+while size petite (33) has most.
+These sizes would have to be set at startup through the @code{size}
+command-line option when you start up XBoard for such variants to be playable.
+
+You can overrule the default board format of the selected variant,
+(e.g. to play suicide chess on a 6 x 6 board),
+in this dialog, but normally you would not do that,
+and leave them at '-1', which means 'default' for the chosen variant.
@item Load Game
@cindex Load Game, Menu Item
-Plays a game from a record file. The @kbd{g} key is a keyboard equivalent.
-A popup dialog prompts you for the file name. If the file contains more
-than one game, a second popup dialog
+Plays a game from a record file. The @kbd{Ctrl-O} key is a keyboard equivalent.
+A pop-up dialog prompts you for the file name. If the file contains more
+than one game, a second pop-up dialog
displays a list of games (with information drawn from their PGN tags, if
any), and you can select the one you want. Alternatively, you can load the
Nth game in the file directly, by typing the number @kbd{N} after the
file name, separated by a space.
-The game file parser will accept PGN (portable game notation),
+The game-file parser will accept PGN (portable game notation),
or in fact almost any file that contains moves in algebraic
notation.
Notation of the form @samp{P@@f7}
enclosed in parentheses, square brackets, or curly braces is assumed to
be commentary and is displayed in a pop-up window. Any other
text in the file is ignored. PGN variations (enclosed in
-parentheses) are treated as comments; XBoard is not able to walk
-variation trees.
+parentheses) also are treated as comments;
+however, if you rights-click them in the comment window,
+XBoard will shelve the current line, and load the the selected variation,
+so you can step through it.
+You can later revert to the previous line with the @samp{Revert} command.
+This way you can walk quite complex varation trees with XBoard.
The nonstandard PGN tag [Variant "varname"] functions similarly to
the -variant command-line option (see below), allowing games in certain chess
-variants to be loaded. There is also a heuristic to
+variants to be loaded.
+Note that it must appear before any FEN tag for XBoard to recognize
+variant FENs appropriately.
+There is also a heuristic to
recognize chess variants from the Event tag, by looking for the strings
that the Internet Chess Servers put there when saving variant ("wild") games.
-@item Load Next Game
-@cindex Load Next Game, Menu Item
-Loads the next game from the last game record file you loaded.
-The shifted @kbd{N} key is a keyboard equivalent.
-@item Load Previous Game
-@cindex Load Previous Game, Menu Item
-Loads the previous game from the last game record file you
-loaded. The shifted @kbd{P} key is a keyboard equivalent.
-Not available if the last game was loaded from a pipe.
-@item Reload Same Game
-@cindex Reload Same Game, Menu Item
-Reloads the last game you loaded.
-Not available if the last game was loaded from a pipe.
+@item Load Position
+@cindex Load Position, Menu Item
+Sets up a position from a position file. A pop-up dialog prompts
+you for the file name. The shifted @kbd{Ctrl-O} key is a keyboard
+equivalent. If the file contains more than one saved
+position, and you want to load the Nth one, type the number N
+after the file name, separated by a space. Position files must
+be in FEN (Forsythe-Edwards notation), or in the format that the
+Save Position command writes when oldSaveStyle is turned on.
+@item Load Next Position
+@cindex Load Next Position, Menu Item
+Loads the next position from the last position file you loaded.
+The shifted @kbd{PgDn} key is a keyboard equivalent.
+@item Load Previous Position
+@cindex Load Previous Position, Menu Item
+Loads the previous position from the last position file you
+loaded. The shifted @kbd{PgUp} key is a keyboard equivalent.
+Not available if the last position was loaded from a pipe.
@item Save Game
@cindex Save Game, Menu Item
Appends a record of the current game to a file.
-A popup dialog
+The @kbd{Ctrl-S} key is a keyboard equivalent.
+A pop-up dialog
prompts you for the file name. If the game did not begin with
the standard starting position, the game file includes the
starting position used. Games are saved in the PGN (portable
Notation of the form @samp{P@@f7}
is accepted for piece-drops in bughouse games;
this is a nonstandard extension to PGN.
+@item Save Position
+@cindex Save Position, Menu Item
+Appends a diagram of the current position to a file.
+The shifted @kbd{Ctrl+S} key is a keyboard equivalent.
+A pop-up dialog prompts you for the file name. Positions are saved in
+FEN (Forsythe-Edwards notation) format unless the @code{oldSaveStyle}
+option is true, in which case they are saved in an older,
+human-readable format that is specific to XBoard. Both formats
+can be read back by the @samp{Load Position} command.
+@item Save Selected Games
+@cindex Save Selected Games
+Will cause all games selected for display in the current Game List
+to be appended to a file of the user's choice.
+@item Save Games as Book
+@cindex Save Games as Book, Menu Item
+Creates an opening book from the currently loaded game file,
+incorporating only the games currently selected in the Game List.
+The book will be saved on the file specified in the @samp{Common Engine}
+options dialog.
+The value of @samp{Book Depth} specified in that same dialog will
+be used to determine how many moves of each game will be added to
+the internal book buffer.
+This command can take a long time to process,
+and the size of the buffer is currently limited.
+At the end the buffer will be saved as a Polyglot book,
+but the buffer will not be cleared,
+so that you can continue adding games from other game files.
+@item Mail Move
+@itemx Reload CMail Message
+@cindex Mail Move, Menu Item
+@cindex Reload CMail Message, Menu Item
+See @ref{CMail}.
+@item Exit
+@cindex Exit, Menu Item
+Exits from XBoard. The @kbd{Ctrl-Q} key is a keyboard equivalent.
+@end table
+
+@node Edit Menu
+@section Edit Menu
+@cindex Menu, Edit
+@cindex Edit Menu
+@table @asis
@item Copy Game
@cindex Copy Game, Menu Item
Copies a record of the current game to an internal clipboard in PGN
-format and sets the X selection to the game text. The game can be
+format and sets the X selection to the game text. The @kbd{Ctrl-C}
+key is a keyboard equivalent. The game can be
pasted to another application (such as a text editor or another copy
of XBoard) using that application's paste command. In many X
applications, such as xterm and emacs, the middle mouse button can be
used for pasting; in XBoard, you must use the Paste Game command.
-@item Paste Game
-@cindex Paste Game, Menu Item
-Interprets the current X selection as a game record and loads it, as
-with Load Game.
-@item Load Position
-@cindex Load Position, Menu Item
-Sets up a position from a position file. A popup dialog prompts
-you for the file name. If the file contains more than one saved
-position, and you want to load the Nth one, type the number N
-after the file name, separated by a space. Position files must
-be in FEN (Forsythe-Edwards notation), or in the format that the
-Save Position command writes when oldSaveStyle is turned on.
-@item Load Next Position
-@cindex Load Next Position, Menu Item
-Loads the next position from the last position file you loaded.
-@item Load Previous Position
-@cindex Load Previous Position, Menu Item
-Loads the previous position from the last position file you
-loaded. Not available if the last position was loaded from a pipe.
-@item Reload Same Position
-@cindex Reload Same Position, Menu Item
-Reloads the last position you loaded.
-Not available if the last position was loaded from a pipe.
-@item Save Position
-@cindex Save Game, Menu Item
-Appends a diagram of the current position to a file.
-A popup dialog
-prompts you for the file name. Positions are saved in
-FEN (Forsythe-Edwards notation) format unless the @code{oldSaveStyle}
-option is true, in which case they are saved in an older,
-human-readable format that is specific to XBoard. Both formats
-can be read back by the @samp{Load Position} command.
@item Copy Position
@cindex Copy Position, Menu Item
Copies the current position to an internal clipboard in FEN format and
-sets the X selection to the position text. The position can be pasted
+sets the X selection to the position text. The shifted @kbd{Ctrl-C} key
+is a keyboard equivalent. The position can be pasted
to another application (such as a text editor or another copy of
XBoard) using that application's paste command. In many X
applications, such as xterm and emacs, the middle mouse button can be
used for pasting; in XBoard, you must use the Paste Position command.
+@item Copy Game List
+@cindex Copy Game List, Menu Item
+Copies the current game list to the clipboard,
+and sets the X selection to this text.
+A format of comma-separated double-quoted strings is used,
+including all tags,
+so it can be easily imported into spread-sheet programs.
+@item Paste Game
+@cindex Paste Game, Menu Item
+Interprets the current X selection as a game record and loads it, as
+with Load Game. The @kbd{Ctrl-V} key is a keyboard equivalent.
@item Paste Position
@cindex Paste Position, Menu Item
Interprets the current X selection as a FEN position and loads it, as
-with Load Position.
-@item Mail Move
-@itemx Reload CMail Message
-@cindex Mail Move, Menu Item
-@cindex Reload CMail Message, Menu Item
-See @ref{CMail}.
-@item Exit
-@cindex Exit, Menu Item
-Exits from XBoard. The shifted @kbd{Q} key is a keyboard equivalent.
-@end table
-
-@node Mode Menu
-@section Mode Menu
-@cindex Menu, Mode
-@cindex Mode Menu
-@table @asis
-@item Machine White
-@cindex Machine White, Menu Item
-Tells the chess engine to play White.
-@item Machine Black
-@cindex Machine Black, Menu Item
-Tells the chess engine to play Black.
-@item Two Machines
-@cindex Two Machines, Menu Item
-Plays a game between two chess engines.
-@item Analysis Mode
-@cindex Analysis Mode, Menu Item
-XBoard tells the chess engine to start analyzing the current game/position
-and shows you the analysis as you move pieces around.
-Note: Some chess engines do not support Analysis mode.
-
-To set up a position to analyze, you do the following:
-
-1. Select Edit Position from the Mode Menu
-
-2. Set up the position. Use the middle and right buttons to
-bring up the white and black piece menus.
-
-3. When you are finished, click on either the Black or White
-clock to tell XBoard which side moves first.
-
-4. Select Analysis Mode from the Mode Menu to start the analysis.
-
-The analysis function can also be used when observing games on an ICS
-with an engine loaded (zippy mode); the engine then will analyse
-the positions as they occur in the observed game.
-@item Analyze File
-@cindex Analyze File, Menu Item
-This option lets you load a game from a file (PGN, XBoard format, etc.)
-and analyze it. When you select this menu item, a popup window appears
-and asks for a filename to load.
-If the file contains multiple games, another popup appears that lets
-you select which game you wish to analyze.
-After a game is loaded, use the XBoard arrow buttons to step
-forwards/backwards through the game and watch the analysis.
-Note: Some chess engines do not support Analysis mode.
-@item ICS Client
-@cindex ICS Client, Menu Item
-This is the normal mode when XBoard
-is connected to a chess server. If you have moved into
-Edit Game or Edit Position mode, you can select this option to get out.
-
-To use xboard in ICS mode, run it in the foreground with the -ics
-option, and use the terminal you started it from to type commands and
-receive text responses from the chess server. See
-@ref{Chess Servers} below for more information.
-
-XBoard activates some special position/game editing features when you
-use the @kbd{examine} or @kbd{bsetup} commands on ICS and you have
-@samp{ICS Client} selected on the Mode menu. First, you can issue the
-ICS position-editing commands with the mouse. Move pieces by dragging
-with mouse button 1. To drop a new piece on a square, press mouse
-button 2 or 3 over the square. This brings up a menu of white pieces
-(button 2) or black pieces (button 3). Additional menu choices let
-you empty the square or clear the board. Click on the White or Black
-clock to set the side to play. You cannot set the side to play or
-drag pieces to arbitrary squares while examining on ICC, but you can
-do so in @kbd{bsetup} mode on FICS. In addition, the menu commands
-@samp{Forward}, @samp{Backward}, @samp{Pause}, and @samp{Stop Examining}
-have special functions in this mode; see below.
+with Load Position. The shifted @kbd{Ctrl-V} key is a keyboard equivalent.
@item Edit Game
@cindex Edit Game, Menu Item
Allows you to make moves for both Black and White, and to change
moves after backing up with the @samp{Backward} command. The clocks do
-not run.
+not run. The @kbd{Ctrl-E} key is a keyboard equivalent.
In chess engine mode, the chess engine continues to check moves for legality
but does not participate in the game. You can bring the chess engine
@item Edit Position
@cindex Edit Position, Menu Item
Lets you set up an arbitrary board position.
+The shifted @kbd{Ctrl-E} key is a keyboard equivalent.
Use mouse button 1 to drag pieces to new squares, or to delete a piece
by dragging it off the board or dragging an empty square on top of it.
+When you do this keeping the @kbd{Ctrl} key pressed,
+or start dragging with a double-click,
+you will move a copy of the piece, leaving the piece itself where it was.
+In variants where pieces can promote (such as Shogi),
+left-clicking an already selected piece promotes or demotes it.
To drop a new piece on a square, press mouse button 2 or 3 over the
-square. This brings up a menu of white pieces (button 2) or
-black pieces (button 3). Additional menu choices let you empty the
-square or clear the board. You can set the side to play next by
-clicking on the word White or Black at the top of the screen.
+square.
+This puts a white or black pawn in the square, respectively,
+but you can change that to any other piece type by dragging the
+mouse down before you release the button.
+You will then see the piece on the originally clicked square
+cycle through the available pieces
+(including those of opposite color),
+and can release the button when you see the piece you want.
+(Note you can swap the function of button 2 and 3 by pressing
+the shift key, and that there is an option @code{monoMouse}
+to combine al functions in one button, which then acts as
+button 3 over an empty square, and as button 1 over a piece.)
+To alter the side to move, you can click the clock
+(the words White and Black above the board)
+of the side you want to give the move to.
+To clear the board you can click the clock of the side that
+already has the move (which is highlighted in black).
+If you repeat this the board will cycle from empty to a
+'pallette board' containing every piece once to the initial
+position to the one before clearing.
+The quickest way to set up a position is usually to start
+with the pallette board, and move the pieces to were you
+want them, duplicating them where necessary by using the
+@kbd{Ctrl} key, dragging those you don't want off board,
+and use static button 2 or 3 clicks to place the Pawns.
+The old behavior with a piece menu can still be configured
+with the aid of the @code{pieceMenu} option.
+Dragging empty squares off board can create boards with
+'holes' (inaccessible black squares) in them.
Selecting @samp{Edit Position} causes XBoard to discard
all remembered moves in the current game.
edit positions on ICS in a way that other ICS users can see, use
the ICS @kbd{examine} command, or start an ICS match against yourself.
(See also the ICS Client topic above.)
-@item Training
-@cindex Training, Menu Item
-Training mode lets you interactively guess the moves of a game for one
-of the players. You guess the next move of the game by playing the
-move on the board. If the move played matches the next move of the
-game, the move is accepted and the opponent's response is autoplayed.
-If the move played is incorrect, an error message is displayed. You
-can select this mode only while loading a game (that is, after
-selecting @samp{Load Game} from the File menu). While XBoard is in
-@samp{Training} mode, the navigation buttons are disabled.
-@item Show Game List
-@cindex Show Game List, Menu Item
-Shows or hides the list of games generated by the last @samp{Load Game}
-command.
-@item Show Move History
-@cindex Show Move History, Menu Item
-Shows or hides a list of moves of the current game.
-This list allows you to move the display to any earlier position in the game
-by clicking on the corresponding move.
-@item Show Engine Output
-@cindex Show Engine Output, Menu Item
-Shows or hides a window in which the thinking output of any loaded engines
-is displayed.
@item Edit Tags
@cindex Edit Tags, Menu Item
Lets you edit the PGN (portable game notation)
@cindex Edit Comment, Menu Item
Adds or modifies a comment on the current position. Comments are
saved by @samp{Save Game} and are displayed by @samp{Load Game},
+PGN variations will also be printed in this window,
+and can be promoted to main line by right-clicking them.
@samp{Forward}, and @samp{Backward}.
+@item Edit Book
+@cindex Edit Book, Menu Item
+Pops up a window listing the moves available in the GUI book
+(specified in the @samp{Common Engine Settings} dialog)
+from the currently displayed position,
+together with their weights and (optionally in braces) learn info.
+You can then edit this list, and the new list will be stored
+back into the book when you press 'save changes'.
+When you press the button 'add next move', and play a move
+on the board, ithat move will be added to the list with weight 1.
+Note that the listed percentages are neither used, nor updated when
+you change the weights; they are just there as an optical aid.
+When you right-click a move in the list it will be played.
+@item Revert
+@itemx Annotate
+@cindex Revert, Menu Item
+@cindex Annotate, Menu Item
+If you are examining an ICS game and Pause mode is off,
+Revert issues the ICS command @samp{revert}.
+In local mode, when you were editing or analyzing a game,
+and the @code{-variations} command-line option is switched on,
+you can start a new variation by holding the Shift key down while
+entering a move not at the end of the game.
+Variations can also become the currently displayed line by
+clicking a PGN variation displayed in the Comment window.
+This can be applied recursively,
+so that you can analyze variations on variations;
+each time you create a new variation by entering an alternative move
+with Shift pressed, or select a new one from the Comment window,
+the current variation will be shelved.
+@samp{Revert} allows you to return to the most recently shelved variation.
+The difference between @samp{Revert} and @samp{Annotate}
+is that with the latter,
+the variation you are now abandoning will be added as a comment
+(in PGN variation syntax, i.e. between parentheses)
+to the original move where you deviated, for later recalling.
+The @kbd{Home} key is a keyboard equivalent to @samp{Revert}.
+@item Truncate Game
+@cindex Truncate Game, Menu Item
+Discards all remembered moves of the game beyond the current
+position. Puts XBoard into @samp{Edit Game} mode if it was not there
+already.
+The @kbd{End} key is a keyboard equivalent.
+@item Backward
+@cindex Backward, Menu Item
+@cindex <, Button
+Steps backward through a series of remembered moves.
+The @samp{[<]} button and the @kbd{Alt+LeftArrow} key are equivalents,
+as is turning the mouse wheel towards you.
+In addition, pressing the ??? key steps back one move, and releasing
+it steps forward again.
+
+In most modes, @samp{Backward} only lets you look back at old positions;
+it does not retract moves. This is the case if you are playing against
+a chess engine, playing or observing a game on an ICS, or loading a game.
+If you select @samp{Backward} in any of these situations, you will not
+be allowed to make a different move. Use @samp{Retract Move} or
+@samp{Edit Game} if you want to change past moves.
+
+If you are examining an ICS game, the behavior of @samp{Backward}
+depends on whether XBoard is in Pause mode. If Pause mode is
+off, @samp{Backward} issues the ICS backward command, which backs up
+everyone's view of the game and allows you to make a different
+move. If Pause mode is on, @samp{Backward} only backs up your local
+view.
+@item Forward
+@cindex Forward, Menu Item
+@cindex >, Button
+Steps forward through a series of remembered moves (undoing the
+effect of @samp{Backward}) or forward through a game file. The
+@samp{[>]} button and the @kbd{Alt+RightArrow} key are equivalents,
+as is turning the mouse wheel away from you.
+
+If you are examining an ICS game, the behavior of Forward
+depends on whether XBoard is in Pause mode. If Pause mode is
+off, @samp{Forward} issues the ICS forward command, which moves
+everyone's view of the game forward along the current line. If
+Pause mode is on, @samp{Forward} only moves your local view forward,
+and it will not go past the position that the game was in when
+you paused.
+@item Back to Start
+@cindex Back to Start, Menu Item
+@cindex <<, Button
+Jumps backward to the first remembered position in the game.
+The @samp{[<<]} button and the @kbd{Alt+Home} key are equivalents.
+
+In most modes, Back to Start only lets you look back at old
+positions; it does not retract moves. This is the case if you
+are playing against a local chess engine, playing or observing a game on
+a chess server, or loading a game. If you select @samp{Back to Start} in any
+of these situations, you will not be allowed to make different
+moves. Use @samp{Retract Move} or @samp{Edit Game} if you want to change past
+moves; or use Reset to start a new game.
+
+If you are examining an ICS game, the behavior of @samp{Back to
+Start} depends on whether XBoard is in Pause mode. If Pause mode
+is off, @samp{Back to Start} issues the ICS @samp{backward 999999}
+command, which backs up everyone's view of the game to the start and
+allows you to make different moves. If Pause mode is on, @samp{Back
+to Start} only backs up your local view.
+@item Forward to End
+@cindex Forward to End, Menu Item
+@cindex >>, Button
+Jumps forward to the last remembered position in the game. The
+@samp{[>>]} button and the @kbd{Alt+End} key are equivalents.
+
+If you are examining an ICS game, the behavior of @samp{Forward to
+End} depends on whether XBoard is in Pause mode. If Pause mode
+is off, @samp{Forward to End} issues the ICS @samp{forward 999999}
+command, which moves everyone's view of the game forward to the end of
+the current line. If Pause mode is on, @samp{Forward to End} only moves
+your local view forward, and it will not go past the position
+that the game was in when you paused.
+@end table
+
+@node View Menu
+@section View Menu
+@cindex Menu, View
+@cindex View Menu
+@table @asis
+@item Flip View
+@cindex Flip View, Menu Item
+Inverts your view of the chess board for the duration of the
+current game. Starting a new game returns the board to normal.
+The @kbd{F2} key is a keyboard equivalent.
+@item Show Engine Output
+@cindex Show Engine Output, Menu Item
+Shows or hides a window in which the thinking output of any loaded engines
+is displayed. The shifted @kbd{Alt+O} key is a keyboard equivalent.
+XBoard will display lines of thinking output of the same depth ordered by score,
+(highest score on top), rather than in the order the engine produced them.
+Usually this amounts to the same, as a normal engine search will only find new PV
+(and emit it as thinking output)
+when it searches a move with a higher score than the previous variation.
+But when the engine is in multi-variation mode this needs not always be true,
+and it is more convenient for someone analyzing games to see the moves sorted by score.
+The order in which the engine found them is only of interest to the engine author,
+and can still be deduced from the time or node count printed with the line.
+Right-clicking a line in this window, and then moving the mouse vertically with the
+right button kept down, will make XBoard play through the PV listed there.
+The use of the board window as 'variation board' will normally end when
+you release the right button,
+or when the opponent plays a move.
+But beware: in Analysis mode, moves thus played out might be added to the game,
+depending on the setting of the option 'Play moves of clicked PV',
+when you initiate the click left of the PV in the score area.
+The Engine-Output pane for each engine will contain a header displaying the
+multi-PV status and a list of excluded moves in Analysis mode,
+which are also responsive to right-clicking:
+Clicking the words 'fewer' or 'more' will alter the number of variations
+shown at each depth, through the engine's MultiPV option,
+while clicking in between those and moving the mouse horizontally adjust
+the option 'Multi-PV Margin'. (In so far the engines support those.)
+@item Show Move History
+@cindex Show Move History, Menu Item
+Shows or hides a list of moves of the current game.
+The shifted @kbd{Alt+H} key is a keyboard equivalent.
+This list allows you to move the display to any earlier position in the game
+by clicking on the corresponding move.
+@item Show Evaluation Graph
+@cindex Show Evaluation Graph, Menu Item
+Shows or hides a window which displays a graph of how the engine score(s)
+evolved as a function of the move number.
+The shifted @kbd{Alt+E} key is a keyboard equivalent.
+The title bar shows the score (and search depth at which it was obtained)
+of the currently displayed position numerically.
+Clicking on the graph will bring
+the corresponding position in the board display.
+A button 3 click will toggle the display mode between plain and differential
+(showing the difference in score between successive half moves).
+Using the mouse wheel over the window will change the scale of the
+low-score region (from -1 to +1).
+@item Show Game List
+@cindex Show Game List, Menu Item
+Shows or hides the list of games generated by the last @samp{Load Game}
+command. The shifted @kbd{Alt+G} key is a keyboard equivalent.
+The line describing each game is built from a selection of the PGN tags.
+Which tags contribute, and in what order, can be changed by the @samp{Game list tags}
+menu dialog, which can be popped up through the 'Tags' button below the Game List.
+Display can be restricted to a sub-set of the games meeting certain criteria.
+A text entry below the game list allows you to type a text that the game lines
+must contain in order to be displayed.
+Games can also be selected based on their Elo PGN tag,
+as set in the @samp{Load Game Options} dialog, which can be popped up through the
+'Thresholds' button below the Game List.
+Finally they can be selected based on containing a position similar to the one
+currently displayed in the main window, by pressing the 'Position' button below
+the Game List, (which searches the entire list for the position), or the 'Narrow'
+button (which only searches the already-selected games).
+What counts as similar enough to be selected can also be set in the
+@samp{Load Game Options} dialog, and ranges from an exact match to just the
+same material.
+@item Tags
+@cindex Tags, Menu Item
+Pops up a window which shows the PGN (portable game notation)
+tags for the current game.
+For now this is a duplicate of the @samp{Edit Tags} item in the @samp{Edit} menu.
+@item Comments
+@cindex Comments, Menu Item
+Pops up a window which shows any comments to or variations on the current move.
+For now this is a duplicate of the @samp{Edit Comment} item in the @samp{Edit} menu.
@item ICS Input Box
@cindex ICS Input Box, Menu Item
If this option is set in ICS mode,
The input box is especially useful if you want to type in something long or do
some editing on your input, because output from ICS doesn't get mixed
in with your typing as it would in the main terminal window.
+@item ICS Chat/Console
+@cindex ICS Chat/Console, Menu Item
+This menu item opens a window in which you can interact with the ICS,
+and conduct upto 5 chats with other ICS users (or channels),
+so you don't have to use the messy xterm from which you launched XBoard
+for that.
+The window has a text entry at the bottom where you can type your
+commands and messages unhindered by the stream of ICS output.
+The latter will be displayed in a large pane above the input field,
+the ICS Console.
+This pane can be vertically split into two, however, where half of it
+is then used to display selected ICS output, belonging to a chat with
+another user, or output from an ICS channel.
+Such output will then not appear in the Console pane.
+
+To use the window, write the name of your chat partner, the channel number,
+or the words 'shouts', 'whispers', 'cshouts' in the upper field
+(ending with <Enter>).
+Everything you type in the lowest field will then automatically be sent to
+the mentioned party, while everything that party sends to you will
+appear in the central text box, rather than appear in the ICS console.
+The row of buttons allow you to choose between chat;
+to start a new chat, just select an empty button,
+and complete the @samp{Chat partner} field.
+There are several keyboard accelerators to control this window:
+<Esc> will close the private chat, and assign the input field to the
+@item Board
+@cindex Board, Menu Item
+Summons a dialog where you can customize the look of the chess board.
+Here you can specify the directory from which piece images should be taken,
+when you don't want to use the built-in piece images
+(see @code{pieceImageDirectory} option),
+external images to be used for the board squares
+(@code{liteBackTextureFile} and @code{darkBackTextureFile} options),
+and square and piece colors for the default pieces.
+The current combination of these settings can be assigned a 'theme' name
+by typing one in the text entry in the lower-left of the dialog,
+and closing the latter with OK.
+It will then appear in the themes listbox next time you open the dialog,
+where you can recall the complete settings combination with a double-click.
+@item Game List Tags
+@cindex Game List Tags, Menu Item
+a duplicate of the Game List dialog in the Options menu.
+@end table
+
+@node Mode Menu
+@section Mode Menu
+@cindex Menu, Mode
+@cindex Mode Menu
+@table @asis
+@item Machine White
+@cindex Machine White, Menu Item
+Tells the chess engine to play White.
+The @kbd{Ctrl-W} key is a keyboard equivalent.
+@item Machine Black
+@cindex Machine Black, Menu Item
+Tells the chess engine to play Black.
+The @kbd{Ctrl-B} key is a keyboard equivalent.
+@item Two Machines
+@cindex Two Machines, Menu Item
+Plays a game between two chess engines.
+The @kbd{Ctrl-T} key is a keyboard equivalent.
+@item Analysis Mode
+@cindex Analysis Mode, Menu Item
+@cindex null move
+@cindex move exclusion
+XBoard tells the chess engine to start analyzing the current game/position
+and shows you the analysis as you move pieces around.
+The @kbd{Ctrl-A} key is a keyboard equivalent.
+Note: Some chess engines do not support Analysis mode.
+
+To set up a position to analyze, you do the following:
+
+1. Select Edit Position from the Mode Menu
+
+2. Set up the position. Use the middle and right buttons to
+bring up the white and black piece menus.
+
+3. When you are finished, click on either the Black or White
+clock to tell XBoard which side moves first.
+
+4. Select Analysis Mode from the Mode Menu to start the analysis.
+
+You can now play legal moves to create follow-up positions for the
+engine to analyze, while the moves will be remembered as a stored game,
+and then step backward through this game to take the moves back.
+Note that you can also click on the clocks to set the opposite
+side to move (adding a so-called @samp{null move} to the game).
+
+You can also tell the engine to exclude some moves from analysis.
+(Engines that do not support the exclude-moves feature will
+ignore this, however.)
+The general way to do this is to play the move you want to exclude
+starting with a double click on the piece.
+When you use drag-drop moving, the piece you grab with a double click
+will also remain on its square, to show you that you are not really
+making the move, but just forbid it from the current position.
+Playing a thus excluded move a second time will include it again.
+Excluded moves will be listed as text in a header line in the
+Engine Output window, and you can also re-include them by
+right-clicking them there.
+This header line will also contain the words 'best' and 'tail';
+right-clicking those will exclude the currently best move,
+or all moves not explicitly listed in the header line.
+Once you leave the current position all memory of excluded
+moves will be lost when you return there.
+
+
+Selecting this menu item while already in @samp{Analysis Mode} will
+toggle the participation of the second engine in the analysis.
+The output of this engine will then be shown in the lower pane
+of the Engine Output window.
+The analysis function can also be used when observing games on an ICS
+with an engine loaded (zippy mode); the engine then will analyze
+the positions as they occur in the observed game.
+
+@item Analyze Game
+@cindex Analyze Game, Menu Item
+This option subjects the currently loaded game to automatic
+analysis by the loaded engine.
+The @kbd{Ctrl-G} key is a keyboard equivalent.
+XBoard will start auto-playing the game from the currently displayed position,
+while the engine is analyzing the current position.
+The game will be annotated with the results of these analyses.
+In particlar, the score and depth will be added as a comment,
+and the PV will be added as a variation.
+
+Normally the analysis would stop after reaching the end of the game.
+But when a game is loaded from a multi-game file
+while @samp{Analyze Game} was already switched on,
+the analysis will continue with the next game in the file
+until the end of the file is reached (or you switch to another mode).
+
+The time the engine spends on analyzing each move can be controlled
+through the command-line option @samp{-timeDelay},
+which can also be set from the @samp{Load Game Options} menu dialog.
+Note: Some chess engines do not support Analysis mode.
+@item Edit Game
+Duplicate of the item in the Edit menu.
+Note that @samp{Edit Game} is the idle mode of XBoard, and can be used
+to get you out of other modes. E.g. to stop analyzing, stop a game
+between two engines or stop editing a position.
+@item Edit Position
+Duplicate of the item in the Edit menu.
+@item Training
+@cindex Training, Menu Item
+Training mode lets you interactively guess the moves of a game for one
+of the players. You guess the next move of the game by playing the
+move on the board. If the move played matches the next move of the
+game, the move is accepted and the opponent's response is auto-played.
+If the move played is incorrect, an error message is displayed. You
+can select this mode only while loading a game (that is, after
+selecting @samp{Load Game} from the File menu). While XBoard is in
+@samp{Training} mode, the navigation buttons are disabled.
+@item ICS Client
+@cindex ICS Client, Menu Item
+This is the normal mode when XBoard
+is connected to a chess server. If you have moved into
+Edit Game or Edit Position mode, you can select this option to get out.
+
+To use xboard in ICS mode, run it in the foreground with the -ics
+option, and use the terminal you started it from to type commands and
+receive text responses from the chess server. See
+@ref{Chess Servers} below for more information.
+
+XBoard activates some special position/game editing features when you
+use the @kbd{examine} or @kbd{bsetup} commands on ICS and you have
+@samp{ICS Client} selected on the Mode menu. First, you can issue the
+ICS position-editing commands with the mouse. Move pieces by dragging
+with mouse button 1. To drop a new piece on a square, press mouse
+button 2 or 3 over the square. This brings up a menu of white pieces
+(button 2) or black pieces (button 3). Additional menu choices let
+you empty the square or clear the board. Click on the White or Black
+clock to set the side to play. You cannot set the side to play or
+drag pieces to arbitrary squares while examining on ICC, but you can
+do so in @kbd{bsetup} mode on FICS. In addition, the menu commands
+@samp{Forward}, @samp{Backward}, @samp{Pause}, and @samp{Stop Examining}
+have special functions in this mode; see below.
+@item Machine Match
+@cindex Machine match, Menu Item
+Starts a match between two chess programs,
+with a number of games and other parameters set through
+the @samp{Tournament Options} menu dialog.
+When a match is already running, selecting this item will make
+XBoard drop out of match mode after the current game finishes.
@item Pause
@cindex Pause, Menu Item
Pauses updates to the board, and if you are playing against a chess engine,
also pauses your clock. To continue, select @samp{Pause} again, and the
display will automatically update to the latest position.
-The @samp{P} button and keyboard @kbd{p} key are equivalents.
+The @samp{P} button and keyboard @kbd{Pause} key are equivalents.
If you select Pause when you are playing against a chess engine and
it is not your move, the chess engine's clock
@table @asis
@item Accept
@cindex Accept, Menu Item
-Accepts a pending match offer. If there is more than one offer
+Accepts a pending match offer.
+The @kbd{F3} key is a keyboard equivalent.
+If there is more than one offer
pending, you will have to type in a more specific command
instead of using this menu choice.
@item Decline
@cindex Decline, Menu Item
-Declines a pending offer (match, draw, adjourn, etc.). If there
+Declines a pending offer (match, draw, adjourn, etc.).
+The @kbd{F4} key is a keyboard equivalent. If there
is more than one offer pending, you will have to type in a more
specific command instead of using this menu choice.
@item Call Flag
@cindex Call Flag, Menu Item
Calls your opponent's flag, claiming a win on time, or claiming
-a draw if you are both out of time. You can also call your
-opponent's flag by clicking on his clock or by pressing the
-keyboard @kbd{t} key.
+a draw if you are both out of time.
+The @kbd{F5} key is a keyboard equivalent.
+You can also call your
+opponent's flag by clicking on his clock.
@item Draw
@cindex Draw, Menu Item
Offers a draw to your opponent, accepts a pending draw offer
from your opponent, or claims a draw by repetition or the 50-move
-rule, as appropriate. The @kbd{d} key is a keyboard equivalent.
+rule, as appropriate. The @kbd{F6} key is a keyboard equivalent.
@item Adjourn
@cindex Adjourn, Menu Item
Asks your opponent to agree to adjourning the current game, or
agrees to a pending adjournment offer from your opponent.
+The @kbd{F7} key is a keyboard equivalent.
@item Abort
@cindex Abort, Menu Item
Asks your opponent to agree to aborting the current game, or
-agrees to a pending abort offer from your opponent. An aborted
+agrees to a pending abort offer from your opponent.
+The @kbd{F8} key is a keyboard equivalent. An aborted
game ends immediately without affecting either player's rating.
@item Resign
@cindex Resign, Menu Item
-Resigns the game to your opponent. The shifted @kbd{R} key is a
+Resigns the game to your opponent. The @kbd{F9} key is a
keyboard equivalent.
@item Stop Observing
@cindex Stop Observing, Menu Item
Ends your participation in observing a game, by issuing the ICS
observe command with no arguments. ICS mode only.
+The @kbd{F10} key is a keyboard equivalent.
@item Stop Examining
@cindex Stop Examining, Menu Item
Ends your participation in examining a game, by issuing the ICS
unexamine command. ICS mode only.
+The @kbd{F11} key is a keyboard equivalent.
+@item Upload to Examine
+@cindex Upload to Examine, Menu Item
+Create an examined game of the proper variant on the ICS,
+and send the game there that is currenty loaded in XBoard
+(e.g. through pasting or loading from file).
+You must be connected to an ICS for this to work.
+@item Adjudicate to White
+@itemx Adjudicate to Black
+@itemx Adjudicate Draw
+@cindex Adjudicate to White, Menu Item
+@cindex Adjudicate to Black, Menu Item
+@cindex Adjudicate Draw, Menu Item
+Terminate an ongoing game in Two-Machines mode (including match mode),
+with as result a win for white, for black, or a draw, respectively.
+The PGN file of the game will accompany the result string
+by the comment "user adjudication".
@end table
-@node Step Menu
-@section Step Menu
-@cindex Step Menu
-@cindex Menu, Step
+@node Engine Menu
+@section Engine Menu
+@cindex Engine Menu
+@cindex Menu, Engine
@table @asis
-@item Backward
-@cindex Backward, Menu Item
-@cindex <, Button
-Steps backward through a series of remembered moves.
-The @samp{[<]} button and the @kbd{b} key are equivalents,
-as is turning the mouse wheel towards you.
-In addition, pressing the Control key steps back one move, and releasing
-it steps forward again.
-
-In most modes, @samp{Backward} only lets you look back at old positions;
-it does not retract moves. This is the case if you are playing against
-a chess engine, playing or observing a game on an ICS, or loading a game.
-If you select @samp{Backward} in any of these situations, you will not
-be allowed to make a different move. Use @samp{Retract Move} or
-@samp{Edit Game} if you want to change past moves.
-
-If you are examining an ICS game, the behavior of @samp{Backward}
-depends on whether XBoard is in Pause mode. If Pause mode is
-off, @samp{Backward} issues the ICS backward command, which backs up
-everyone's view of the game and allows you to make a different
-move. If Pause mode is on, @samp{Backward} only backs up your local
-view.
-@item Forward
-@cindex Forward, Menu Item
-@cindex >, Button
-Steps forward through a series of remembered moves (undoing the
-effect of @samp{Backward}) or forward through a game file. The
-@samp{[>]} button and the @kbd{f} key are equivalents,
-as is turning the mouse wheel away from you.
-
-If you are examining an ICS game, the behavior of Forward
-depends on whether XBoard is in Pause mode. If Pause mode is
-off, @samp{Forward} issues the ICS forward command, which moves
-everyone's view of the game forward along the current line. If
-Pause mode is on, @samp{Forward} only moves your local view forward,
-and it will not go past the position that the game was in when
-you paused.
-@item Back to Start
-@cindex Back to Start, Menu Item
-@cindex <<, Button
-Jumps backward to the first remembered position in the game.
-The @samp{[<<]} button and the shifted @kbd{B} key are equivalents.
-
-In most modes, Back to Start only lets you look back at old
-positions; it does not retract moves. This is the case if you
-are playing against a local chess engine, playing or observing a game on
-a chess server, or loading a game. If you select @samp{Back to Start} in any
-of these situations, you will not be allowed to make different
-moves. Use @samp{Retract Move} or @samp{Edit Game} if you want to change past
-moves; or use Reset to start a new game.
+@item Edit Engine List
+@cindex Edit Engine List, Menu Item
+Opens a window that shows the list of engines registered for use
+by XBoard, together with the options that would be used with them
+when you would select them from the @samp{Load Engine} dialogs.
+You can then edit this list, e.g. for re-ordering the engines,
+or adding uncommon options needed by this engine
+(e.g. to cure non-compliant behavior).
+@item Load New 1st Engine
+@itemx Load New 2nd Engine
+@cindex Load Engine, Menu Item
+Pops up a dialog where you can select or specify an engine to be loaded.
+You can even replace engines during a game, without disturbing that game.
+(Beware that after loading an engine, XBoard will always be in Edit Game mode,
+so you will have to tell the new engine what to do before it does anything!)
+When you select an already installed engine from the ‘Select Engine from List’
+listbox,
+all other fields of the dialog will be ignored.
+In other cases, you have to specify the engine executable,
+possible arguments on the engine command line
+(if the engine docs say the engine needs any),
+and the directory where the engine should look for its files
+(if this cannot be deduced automatically from the specification of the engine executable).
+You will also have to specify (with the aid of checkboxes) if the engine is UCI.
+If ‘Add this engine to the list’ is ticked (which it is by default),
+the engine will be added to the list of installed engines in your settings file,
+(provided you save the settings!),
+so that next time you can select it from the listbox.
+You can also specify a ‘nickname’,
+under which the engine will then appear in that drop-down list,
+and even choose to use that nickname for it in PGN files for engine-engine games.
+The info you supply with the checkboxes whether the engine should use GUI book,
+or (for variant engines) automatically switch to the current variant when loaded,
+will also be included in the list.
+For obsolete XBoard engines, which would normally take a long delay to load
+because XBoard is waiting for a response they will not give,
+you can tick ‘WB protocol v1’ to speed up the loading process.
+@item Engine #N Settings
+@cindex Engine #N Settings, Menu Item
+Pop up a menu dialog to alter the settings specific to the applicable engine.
+For each parameter the engine allows to be set,
+a control element will appear in this dialog that can be used to alter the value.
+Depending on the type of parameter (text string, number, multiple choice,
+on/off switch, instantaneous signal) the appropriate control will appear,
+with a description next to it.
+XBoard has no idea what these values mean; it just passes them on to the engine.
+How this dialog looks is completely determined by the engine,
+and XBoard just passes it on to the user.
+Many engines do not have any parameters that can be set by the user,
+and in that case the dialog will be empty (except for the OK and cancel buttons).
+UCI engines usually have many parameters. (But these are only visible with
+a sufficiently modern version of the Polyglot adapter needed to run UCI engines,
+e.g. Polyglot 2.0.1.) For native XBoard engines this is less common.
+
+@subsection Common Settings
+@cindex Common Settings, Menu Item
+Pops up a sub-menu where you can set some engine parameters common to most engines,
+such as hash-table size, tablebase cache size, maximum number of processors
+that SMP engines can use.
+The shifted @kbd{Alt+U} key is a keyboard equivalent.
+Older XBoard/WinBoard engines might not respond to these settings,
+but UCI engines always should.
-If you are examining an ICS game, the behavior of @samp{Back to
-Start} depends on whether XBoard is in Pause mode. If Pause mode
-is off, @samp{Back to Start} issues the ICS @samp{backward 999999}
-command, which backs up everyone's view of the game to the start and
-allows you to make different moves. If Pause mode is on, @samp{Back
-to Start} only backs up your local view.
-@item Forward to End
-@cindex Forward to End, Menu Item
-@cindex >>, Button
-Jumps forward to the last remembered position in the game. The
-@samp{[>>]} button and the shifted @kbd{F} key are equivalents.
+It is also possible to specify a GUI opening book here, i.e. an opening
+book that XBoard consults for any position a playing engine gets in.
+It then forces the engine to play the book move, rather than to think up its own,
+if that position is found in the book.
+The book can switched on and off independently for either engine.
+The way book moves are chosen can be influenced through the settings of
+book depth and variety.
+After both sides have played more moves than the specified depth,
+the book will no longer be consulted.
+When the variety is set to 50, moves will be played with the probability
+specified in the book.
+When set to 0, only the move(s) with the highest probability will be played.
+When set to 100, all listed moves will be played with equal pobability.
+Other settings interpolate between that.
-If you are examining an ICS game, the behavior of @samp{Forward to
-End} depends on whether XBoard is in Pause mode. If Pause mode
-is off, @samp{Forward to End} issues the ICS @samp{forward 999999}
-command, which moves everyone's view of the game forward to the end of
-the current line. If Pause mode is on, @samp{Forward to End} only moves
-your local view forward, and it will not go past the position
-that the game was in when you paused.
-@item Revert
-@cindex Revert, Menu Item
-If you are examining an ICS game and Pause mode is off, issues
-the ICS command @samp{revert}.
-@item Truncate Game
-@cindex Truncate Game, Menu Item
-Discards all remembered moves of the game beyond the current
-position. Puts XBoard into @samp{Edit Game} mode if it was not there
-already.
+@item Hint
+@cindex Hint, Menu Item
+Displays a move hint from the chess engine.
+@item Book
+@cindex Book, Menu Item
+Displays a list of possible moves from the chess engine's opening
+book. The exact format depends on what chess engine you are using.
+With GNU Chess 4, the first column gives moves, the second column
+gives one possible response for each move, and the third column shows
+the number of lines in the book that include the move from the first
+column. If you select this option and nothing happens, the chess
+engine is out of its book or does not support this feature.
@item Move Now
@cindex Move Now, Menu Item
Forces the chess engine to move immediately. Chess engine mode only.
+The @kbd{Ctrl-M} key is a keyboard equivalent.
+Many engines won't respond to this.
@item Retract Move
@cindex Retract Move, Menu Item
Retracts your last move. In chess engine mode, you can do this only
thinking, use @samp{Move Now} first. In ICS mode, @samp{Retract Move}
issues the command @samp{takeback 1} or @samp{takeback 2}
depending on whether it is your opponent's move or yours.
-@item Adjudicate to White
-@itemx Adjudicate to Black
-@itemx Adjudicate Draw
-@cindex Adjudicate to White, Menu Item
-@cindex Adjudicate to Black, Menu Item
-@cindex Adjudicate Draw, Menu Item
-Terminate an ongoing game in Two-Machines mode (including match mode),
-with as result a win for white, for black, or a draw, repsectively.
-The PGN file of the game will accompany the result string
-by the comment "user adjudication".
+The @kbd{Ctrl-X} key is a keyboard equivalent.
+@item Recently Used Engines
+@cindex Recently Used Engines, In Menu
+At the bottom of the engine menu there can be a list of names
+of engines that you recently loaded through the Load Engine menu dialog
+in previous sessions.
+Clicking on such a name will load that engine as first engine,
+so you won't have to search for it in your list of installed engines,
+if that is very long.
+The maximum number of displayed engine names is set by the
+@code{recentEngines}command-line option.
@end table
@node Options Menu
@section Options Menu
@cindex Menu, Options
@cindex Options Menu
+@subsection General Options
+@cindex General Options, Menu Item
+The following items to set option values appear in the dialog
+summoned by the general Options menu item.
@table @asis
-@item Flip View
-@cindex Flip View, Menu Item
-Inverts your view of the chess board for the duration of the
-current game. Starting a new game returns the board to normal.
-The @kbd{v} key is a keyboard equivalent.
-@item Adjudications
-@cindex Adjudications, Menu Item
-Pops up a sub-menu where you can enable or disable various adjudications
-that XBoard can perform in engine-engine games.
-You can instruct XBoard to detect and terminate the game on checkmate
-or stalemate, even if the engines would not do so, to verify engine
-result claims (forfeiting engines that make false claims), rather than
-naively following the engine, to declare draw on posititions
-which can never be won for lack of mating material, (e.g. KBK),
-or which are impossble to win unless the opponent seeks its own demise
-(e.g. KBKN).
-For these adjudications to work, @samp{Test Legality} should be switched on.
-It is also possible to insruct XBoard to enforce a 50-move or 3-fold-repeat
-rule and automtically declare draw (after a user-adjustable number of moves
-or repeats) even if the engines are prepared to go on.
-It is also possible to have XBoard declare draw on games that seem to drag on
-forever, or adjudicate a loss if both engines agree (for 3 cosecutive moves) that one
-of them is behind more than a user-adjustable score threshold.
-For the latter adjudication to work, XBoard should be able to properly understand
-the engine's scores. To faclitate the latter, you can inform xboard here if
-the engines report scores from the viewpoint of white, or from that of their own color.
-@item Engine Settings
-Pops up a sub-menu where you can set some engine parameters common to most engines,
-such as hash-table size, tablebase cache size, maximum number of processors
-that SMP engines can use, and where to find the Polyglot adapter needed
-to run UCI engines under XBoard. The feature tht allows setting of these parameters on
-engines is new since XBoard 4.3.15, so not many WinBoard engines respond
-to it yet, but UCI engines should.
-It is also possible to specify a GUI opening book here, i.e. an opening
-book that XBoard consults for any position a playing engine gets in.
-It then forces the engine to play the book move, rather than to think up its own,
-if that position is found in the book.
-The book can switched on and off independently for either engine.
-@item Time Control
-@cindex Time Control, Menu Item
-Pops up a sub-menu where you can set the time-control parameters interactively.
-Allows you to select classical or incremental time controls,
-set the moves per session, session duration, and time increment.
-Also allows specification of time-odds factors for one or both engines.
-If an engine is given a time-odds factor N, all time quota it gets,
-be it at the beginning of a session or through the time increment or
-fixed time per move, will be divided by N.
-@item Always Queen
-@cindex Always Queen, Menu Item
-If this option is off, XBoard brings up a dialog
+@item Absolute Analysis Scores
+@cindex Absolute Analysis Scores, Menu Item
+Controls if scores on the Engine Output window during analysis
+will be printed from the white or the side-to-move point-of-view.
+@item Almost Always Queen
+@cindex Almost Always Queen, Menu Item
+If this option is on, 7th-rank pawns automatically change into
+Queens when you pick them up,
+and when you drag them to the promotion square and release them there,
+they will promote to that.
+But when you drag such a pawn backwards first,
+its identity will start to cycle through the other available pieces.
+This will continue until you start to move it forward;
+at which point the identity of the piece will be fixed,
+so that you can safely put it down on the promotion square.
+If this option is off, what happens depends on the
+option @code{alwaysPromoteToQueen},
+which would force promotion to Queen when true.
+Otherwise XBoard would bring up a dialog
box whenever you move a pawn to the last rank, asking what piece
-you want to promote it to. If the option is true, your pawns are
-always promoted to queens. Your opponent can still underpromote.
+you want to promote to.
@item Animate Dragging
@cindex Animate Dragging, Menu Item
If Animate Dragging is on, while you are dragging a piece with the
move is completed (unless the move was already animated by Animate Dragging).
If Animate Moving is off, a moved piece instantly disappears from its
old square and reappears on its new square when the move is complete.
-@item Auto Comment
-@cindex Auto Comment, Menu Item
-If this option is on, any remarks made on ICS while you are observing or
-playing a game are recorded as a comment on the current move. This includes
-remarks made with the ICS commands @kbd{say}, @kbd{tell}, @kbd{whisper},
-and @kbd{kibitz}.
-Limitation: remarks that you type yourself are not recognized;
-XBoard scans only the output from ICS, not the input you type to it.
+The shifted @kbd{Ctrl-A} key is a keyboard equivalent.
@item Auto Flag
@cindex Auto Flag, Menu Item
If this option is on and one player runs out of time
before the other,
XBoard
will automatically call his flag, claiming a win on time.
+The shifted @kbd{Ctrl-F} key is a keyboard equivalent.
In ICS mode, Auto Flag will only call your opponent's flag, not yours,
and the ICS may award you a draw instead of a win if you have
insufficient mating material. In local chess engine mode,
XBoard
-may call either player's flag and will not take material into account.
+may call either player's flag and will not take material into account (?).
@item Auto Flip View
@cindex Auto Flip View, Menu Item
If the Auto Flip View option is on when you start a game, the board
will be automatically oriented so that your pawns move from the bottom
of the window towards the top.
-@item Auto Observe
-@cindex Auto Observe, Menu Item
-If this option is on and you add a player to your @code{gnotify}
-list on ICS, XBoard will automatically observe all of that
-player's games, unless you are doing something else (such as
-observing or playing a game of your own) when one starts.
-The games are displayed
-from the point of view of the player on your gnotify list; that is, his
-pawns move from the bottom of the window towards the top.
-Exceptions: If both players in a game are on your gnotify list, if
-your ICS
-@code{highlight}
-variable is set to 0, or if the ICS you are using does not
-properly support observing from Black's point of view,
-you will see the game from White's point of view.
-@item Auto Raise Board
-@cindex Auto Raise Board, Menu Item
-If this option is on, whenever a new game begins, the chessboard window
-is deiconized (if necessary) and raised to the top of the stack of windows.
-@item Auto Save
-@cindex Auto Save, Menu Item
-If this option is true, at the end of every game XBoard prompts
-you for a file name and appends a record of the game to the file
-you specify.
-Disabled if the @code{saveGameFile} command-line
-option is set, as in that case all games are saved to the specified file.
-@xref{Load and Save options}.
-@item Blindfold
-@cindex Blindfold, Menu Item
-If this option is on, XBoard displays the board as usual but does
-not display pieces or move highlights. You can still move in the
-usual way (with the mouse or by typing moves in ICS mode), even though
-the pieces are invisible.
-@item Flash Moves
-@cindex Flash Moves, Menu Item
-If this option is on, whenever a move is completed, the moved piece flashes.
-The number of times to flash is set by the flashCount command-line
-option; it defaults to 3 if Flash Moves is first turned on from the menu.
If you are playing a game on an ICS, the board is always
oriented at the start of the game so that your pawns move from
if it is false (the default), White's pawns move from bottom to top
at the start of each game; if it is true, Black's pawns move from
bottom to top. @xref{User interface options}.
-@item Get Move List
-@cindex Get Move List, Menu Item
-If this option is on, whenever XBoard
-receives the first board of a new ICS game (or a different game from
-the one it is currently displaying), it
-retrieves the list of past moves from the ICS.
-You can then review the moves with the @samp{Forward} and @samp{Backward}
-commands
-or save them with @samp{Save Game}. You might want to
-turn off this option if you are observing several blitz games at once,
-to keep from wasting time and network bandwidth fetching the move lists over
-and over.
-When you turn this option on from the menu, XBoard
-immediately fetches the move list of the current game (if any).
+@item Blindfold
+@cindex Blindfold, Menu Item
+If this option is on, XBoard displays the board as usual but does
+not display pieces or move highlights. You can still move in the
+usual way (with the mouse or by typing moves in ICS mode), even though
+the pieces are invisible.
+@item Drop Menu
+@cindex Drop Menu, Menu Item
+Controls if right-clicking the board in crazyhouse / bughouse
+will pop up a menu to drop a piece on the clicked square
+(old, deprecated behavior)
+or allow you to step through an engine PV
+(new, recommended behavior).
+@item Enable Variation Trees
+@cindex Enable Variation Trees, Menu Item
+If this option is on, playing a move in Edit Game or Analyze mode
+while keeping the Shift key pressed will start a new variation.
+You can then recall the previous line through the @samp{Revert} menu item.
+When off, playing a move will truncate the game and append the move
+irreversibly.
+@item Headers in Engine Output Window
+@cindex Headers in Engine Output Window, Menu Item
+Controls the presence of column headers above the variations and
+associated information printed by the engine, on which you can issue
+button 3 clicks to open or close the columns.
+Available columns are search depth, score, node count, time used,
+tablebase hits, search speed and selective search depth.
+@item Hide Thinking
+@cindex Hide Thinking, Menu Item
+If this option is off, the chess engine's notion of the score and best
+line of play from the current position is displayed as it is
+thinking. The score indicates how many pawns ahead (or if negative,
+behind) the chess engine thinks it is. In matches between two
+machines, the score is prefixed by @samp{W} or @samp{B} to indicate
+whether it is showing White's thinking or Black's, and only the thinking
+of the engine that is on move is shown.
+The shifted @kbd{Ctrl-H} key is a keyboard equivalent.
@item Highlight Last Move
@cindex Highlight Last Move, Menu Item
If Highlight Last Move is on, after a move is made, the starting and
ending squares remain highlighted. In addition, after you use Backward
or Back to Start, the starting and ending squares of the last move to
be unmade are highlighted.
+@item Highlight with Arrow
+@cindex Highlight with Arrow, Menu Item
+Causes the highlighting described in Highlight Last Move to be done
+by drawing an arrow between the highlighted squares,
+so that it is visible even when the width of the grid lines is set to zero.
@item Move Sound
@cindex Move Sound, Menu Item
-If this option is on, XBoard alerts you by playing a sound
-after each of your opponent's moves (or after every
-move if you are observing a game on the Internet Chess Server).
-The sound is not played after moves you make or moves read from a
-saved game file. By default, the
-sound is the terminal bell, but on some systems you can change it
-to a sound file using the soundMove option; see below.
-
+Enables the sounding of an audible signal when the computer performs a move.
+For the selection of the sound, see @samp{Sound Options}.
If you turn on this option when using XBoard with the Internet
Chess Server, you will probably want to give the
@kbd{set bell 0}
command to the ICS, since otherwise the ICS will ring the terminal bell
after every move (not just yours). (The @file{.icsrc} file
is a good place for this; see @ref{ICS options}.)
-@item ICS Alarm
-@cindex ICS Alarm, Menu Item
-When this option is on, an alarm sound is played when your clock
-counts down to the icsAlarmTime (by default, 5 seconds) in an ICS
-game. For games with time controls that include an increment, the
-alarm will sound each time the clock counts down to the icsAlarmTime.
-By default, the alarm sound is the terminal bell, but on some systems
-you can change it to a sound file using the soundIcsAlarm option; see
-below.
-@item Old Save Style
-@cindex Old Save Style, Menu Item
-If this option is off, XBoard saves games in PGN
-(portable game notation) and positions in FEN (Forsythe-Edwards
-notation). If the option is on, a save style that is compatible
-with older versions of XBoard is used instead.
-The old position style is more human-readable
-than FEN; the old game style has no particular advantages.
+@item One-Click Moving
+@cindex One-Click Moving, Menu Item
+If this option is on, XBoard does not wait for you to click both the
+from- and the to-square, or drag the piece, but performs a move as soon
+as it is uniqely specified.
+This applies to clicking an own piece that only has a single legal move,
+clicking an empty square or opponent piece where only one of your pieces
+can move (or capture) to.
+Furthermore, a double-click on a piece that can only make a single capture
+will cause that capture to be made.
+Promoting a Pawn by clicking its to-square will suppress the promotion
+popup or other methods for selecting an under-promotion,
+and make it promote to Queen.
@item Periodic Updates
@cindex Periodic Updates, Menu Item
If this option is off (or if
the analysis window
will only be updated when the analysis changes. If this option is
on, the Analysis Window will be updated every two seconds.
+@item Play Move(s) of Clicked PV
+@cindex Play Move(s) of Clicked PV, Menu Item
+If this option is on, right-clicking a PV in the Engine Output window
+during Analyze mode will cause the first move of that PV to be played.
+You could also play more than one (or no) PV move by moving the mouse
+to engage in the PV walk such a right-click will start,
+to seek out another position along the PV where you want to continue
+the analysis, before releasing the mouse button.
@item Ponder Next Move
@cindex Ponder Next Move, Menu Item
If this option is off, the chess engine will think only when it is on
move. If the option is on, the engine will also think while waiting
for you to make your move.
+The shifted @kbd{Ctrl-P} key is a keyboard equivalent.
@item Popup Exit Message
@cindex Popup Exit Message, Menu Item
If this option is on, when XBoard wants to display a message just
If this option is off, when you make an error in moving (such as
attempting an illegal move or moving the wrong color piece), the
error message is displayed in the message area. If the option is
-on, move errors are displayed in small popup windows like other errors.
-You can dismiss an error popup either by clicking its OK button or by
-clicking anywhere on the board, including downclicking to start a move.
-@item Premove
-@cindex Premove, Menu Item
-If this option is on while playing a game on an ICS, you can register
-your next planned move before it is your turn. Move the piece with
-the mouse in the ordinary way, and the starting and ending squares
-will be highlighted with a special color (red by default). When it is
-your turn, if your registered move is legal, XBoard will send it to
-ICS immediately; if not, it will be ignored and you can make a
-different move. If you change your mind about your premove, either
-make a different move, or double-click on any piece to cancel the move
-entirely.
-@item Quiet Play
-@cindex Quiet Play, Menu Item
-If this option is on, XBoard will automatically issue an ICS
-@kbd{set shout 0}
-command whenever you start a game and a
-@kbd{set shout 1}
-command whenever you finish one. Thus, you will not be distracted
-by shouts from other ICS users while playing.
+on, move errors are displayed in small pop-up windows like other errors.
+You can dismiss an error pop-up either by clicking its OK button or by
+clicking anywhere on the board, including down-clicking to start a move.
+@item Scores in Move List
+@cindex Scores in Move List, Menu Item
+If this option is on, XBoard will display the depth and score
+of engine moves in the Move List, in the format of a PGN comment.
@item Show Coords
@cindex Show Coords, Menu Item
If this option is on, XBoard displays algebraic coordinates
along the board's left and bottom edges.
-@item Hide Thinking
-@cindex Hide Thinking, Menu Item
-If this option is off, the chess engine's notion of the score and best
-line of play from the current position is displayed as it is
-thinking. The score indicates how many pawns ahead (or if negative,
-behind) the chess engine thinks it is. In matches between two
-machines, the score is prefixed by @samp{W} or @samp{B} to indicate
-whether it is showing White's thinking or Black's, and only the thinking
-of the engine that is on move is shown.
+@item Show Target Squares
+@cindex Show Target Squares, Menu Item
+If this option is on, all squares a piece that is 'picked up' with the mouse
+can legally move to are highighted with a fat colored dot in
+yellow (non-captures) or red (captures).
+Special moves might have other colors
+(e.g. magenta for promotion, cyan for a partial move).
+Legality testing must be on for XBoard to know how the piece moves.
+@item Sticky Windows
+@cindex Sticky Windows, Menu Item
+Controls whether the auxiliary windows such as Engine Output, Move History
+and Evaluation Graph should keep touching XBoard's main window when
+you move the latter.
@item Test Legality
@cindex Test Legality, Menu Item
If this option is on, XBoard tests whether the moves you try to make
with the mouse are legal and refuses to let you make an illegal move.
+The shifted @kbd{Ctrl-L} key is a keyboard equivalent.
Moves loaded from a file with @samp{Load Game} are also checked. If
the option is off, all moves are accepted, but if a local chess engine
or the ICS is active, they will still reject illegal moves. Turning
rules that XBoard does not understand. (Bughouse, suicide, and wild
variants where the king may castle after starting on the d file are
generally supported with Test Legality on.)
+@item Top-Level Dialogs
+@cindex Top-Level Dialogs, Menu Item
+Controls whether the auxiliary windows will appear as icons in the
+task bar and independently controllable, or whether they open and
+minimize all together with the main window.
+@item Flash Moves
+@itemx Flash Rate
+@cindex Flash Moves, Menu Item
+@cindex Flash Rate, Menu Item
+If this option is non-zero, whenever a move is completed,
+the moved piece flashes the specified number of times.
+The flash-rate setting determines how rapidly this flashing occurs.
+@item Animation Speed
+@cindex Animation Speed, Menu Item
+Determines the duration (in msec) of an animation step,
+when @samp{Animate Moving} is swiched on.
+@item Zoom factor in Evaluation Graph
+@cindex Zoom factor in Evaluation Graph, Menu Item
+Sets the valueof the @code{evalZoom} option,
+indicating the factor by which the score interval (-1,1) should be
+blown up on the vertical axis of the Evaluation Graph.
@end table
+@subsection Time Control
+@cindex Time Control, Menu Item
+Pops up a sub-menu where you can set the time-control parameters interactively.
+The shifted @kbd{Alt+T} key is a keyboard equivalent.
+Allows you to select classical or incremental time controls,
+set the moves per session, session duration, and time increment.
+Also allows specification of time-odds factors for one or both engines.
+If an engine is given a time-odds factor N, all time quota it gets,
+be it at the beginning of a session or through the time increment or
+fixed time per move, will be divided by N.
+
+@subsection Adjudications
+@cindex Adjudications, Menu Item
+Pops up a sub-menu where you can enable or disable various adjudications
+that XBoard can perform in engine-engine games.
+The shifted @kbd{Alt+J} key is a keyboard equivalent.
+You can instruct XBoard to detect and terminate the game on checkmate
+or stalemate, even if the engines would not do so, to verify engine
+result claims (forfeiting engines that make false claims), rather than
+naively following the engine, to declare draw on positions
+which can never be won for lack of mating material, (e.g. KBK),
+or which are impossible to win unless the opponent seeks its own demise
+(e.g. KBKN).
+For these adjudications to work, @samp{Test Legality} should be switched on.
+It is also possible to instruct XBoard to enforce a 50-move or 3-fold-repeat
+rule and automatically declare draw (after a user-adjustable number of moves
+or repeats) even if the engines are prepared to go on.
+It is also possible to have XBoard declare draw on games that seem to drag on
+forever, or adjudicate a loss if both engines agree (for 3 consecutive moves) that one
+of them is behind more than a user-adjustable score threshold.
+For the latter adjudication to work, XBoard should be able to properly understand
+the engine's scores. To facilitate the latter, you can inform xboard here if
+the engines report scores from the viewpoint of white, or from that of their own color.
+
+@subsection ICS Options
+@cindex ICS Options, Menu Item
+The following options occur in a dialog summoned by the
+ICS Options menu item.
+@table @asis
+@item Auto Kibitz
+@cindex Auto Kibitz, Menu Item
+Setting this option when playing with or aginst a chess program on an ICS
+will cause the last line of thinking output of the engine before its move
+to be sent to the ICS in a kibitz command.
+In addition, any kibitz message received through the ICS from
+an opponent chess program will be diverted to the engine-output window,
+(and suppressed in the console),
+where you can play through its PV by right-clicking it.
+@item Auto Comment
+@cindex Auto Comment, Menu Item
+If this option is on, any remarks made on ICS while you are observing or
+playing a game are recorded as a comment on the current move. This includes
+remarks made with the ICS commands @kbd{say}, @kbd{tell}, @kbd{whisper},
+and @kbd{kibitz}.
+Limitation: remarks that you type yourself are not recognized;
+XBoard scans only the output from ICS, not the input you type to it.
+@item Auto Observe
+@cindex Auto Observe, Menu Item
+If this option is on and you add a player to your @code{gnotify}
+list on ICS, XBoard will automatically observe all of that
+player's games, unless you are doing something else (such as
+observing or playing a game of your own) when one starts.
+The games are displayed
+from the point of view of the player on your gnotify list; that is, his
+pawns move from the bottom of the window towards the top.
+Exceptions: If both players in a game are on your gnotify list, if
+your ICS
+@code{highlight}
+variable is set to 0, or if the ICS you are using does not
+properly support observing from Black's point of view,
+you will see the game from White's point of view.
+@item Auto Raise Board
+@cindex Auto Raise Board, Menu Item
+If this option is on, whenever a new game begins, the chessboard window
+is deiconized (if necessary) and raised to the top of the stack of windows.
+@item Auto Save
+@cindex Auto Save, Menu Item
+If this option is true, at the end of every game XBoard prompts
+you for a file name and appends a record of the game to the file
+you specify.
+Disabled if the @code{saveGameFile} command-line
+option is set, as in that case all games are saved to the specified file.
+@xref{Load and Save options}.
+@item Background Observe
+@cindex Background Observe, Menu Item
+Setting this option will make XBoard suppress display of any boards
+from observed games while you are playing.
+In stead the last such board will be remembered,
+and shown to you when you right-click the board.
+This allows you to peek at your bughouse partner's game when you want,
+without disturbing your own game too much.
+@item Dual Board
+@cindex Dual Board, Menu Item
+Setting this option in combination with @samp{Background Observe}
+will display boards of observed games while you are playing
+on a second board next to that of your own game.
+@item Get Move List
+@cindex Get Move List, Menu Item
+If this option is on, whenever XBoard
+receives the first board of a new ICS game (or a different game from
+the one it is currently displaying), it
+retrieves the list of past moves from the ICS.
+You can then review the moves with the @samp{Forward} and @samp{Backward}
+commands
+or save them with @samp{Save Game}. You might want to
+turn off this option if you are observing several blitz games at once,
+to keep from wasting time and network bandwidth fetching the move lists over
+and over.
+When you turn this option on from the menu, XBoard
+immediately fetches the move list of the current game (if any).
+@item Quiet Play
+@cindex Quiet Play, Menu Item
+If this option is on, XBoard will automatically issue an ICS
+@kbd{set shout 0}
+command whenever you start a game and a
+@kbd{set shout 1}
+command whenever you finish one. Thus, you will not be distracted
+by shouts from other ICS users while playing.
+@item Seek Graph
+@cindex Seek Graph, Menu Item
+Setting this option will cause XBoard to display an graph of
+currently active seek ads when you left-click the board
+while idle and logged on to an ICS.
+@item Auto-Refresh Seek Graph
+@cindex Auto-Refresh Seek Graph, Menu Item
+In combination with the @samp{Seek Graph} option this
+will cause automatic update of the seek graph while it is up.
+This only works on FICS and ICC,
+and requires a lot of bandwidth on a busy server.
+@item Auto-InputBox PopUp
+@cindex Auto-InputBox PopUp, Menu Item
+Controls whether the ICS Input Box will pop up automatically when
+you type a printable character to the board window in ICS mode.
+@item Quit After Game
+@cindex Quit After Game, Menu Item
+Controls whether XBoard will automatically disconnect from the ICS
+and close when the game currently in progress finishes.
+@item Premove
+@itemx Premove White
+@itemx Premove Black
+@itemx First White Move
+@itemx First Black Move
+@cindex Premove, Menu Item
+@cindex Premove White, Menu Item
+@cindex Premove Black, Menu Item
+@cindex First White Move, Menu Item
+@cindex First Black Move, Menu Item
+If this option is on while playing a game on an ICS, you can register
+your next planned move before it is your turn. Move the piece with
+the mouse in the ordinary way, and the starting and ending squares
+will be highlighted with a special color (red by default). When it is
+your turn, if your registered move is legal, XBoard will send it to
+ICS immediately; if not, it will be ignored and you can make a
+different move. If you change your mind about your premove, either
+make a different move, or double-click on any piece to cancel the move
+entirely.
+
+You can also enter premoves for the first white and black moves
+of the game.
+@item ICS Alarm
+@itemx ICS Alarm Time
+@cindex ICS Alarm, Menu Item
+@cindex ICS Alarm Time, Menu Item
+When this option is on, an alarm sound is played when your clock
+counts down to the icsAlarmTime in an ICS game.
+(By default, the time is 5 seconds, but you can pecify other values
+with the Alarm Time spin control.)
+For games with time controls that include an increment, the
+alarm will sound each time the clock counts down to the icsAlarmTime.
+By default, the alarm sound is the terminal bell, but on some systems
+you can change it to a sound file using the soundIcsAlarm option; see
+below.
+@item Colorize Messages
+@cindex Colorize Messages, Menu Item
+Ticking this options causes various types of ICS messages do be
+displayed with different foreground or background colors in the console.
+The colors can be individually selected for each type,
+through the accompanying text edits.
+@end table
+
+@subsection Tournament Options
+@cindex Tournament Options, Menu Item
+Summons a dialog where you can set options important for playing automatic
+matches between two or more chess programs
+(e.g. by using the @samp{Machine Match} menu item in the @samp{Mode} menu).
+@table @asis
+@item Tournament file
+@cindex Tournament file, Menu item
+To run a tournament, XBoard needs a file to record its progress,
+so it can resume the tourney when it is interrupted.
+When you want to conduct anything more complex than a simple
+two-player match with the currently loaded engines,
+(i.e. when you select a list of participants),
+you must not leave this field blank.
+When you enter the name of an existing tournament file,
+XBoard will ignore all other input specified in the dialog,
+and will take the corresponding info from that tournament file.
+This resumes an interrupted tournament, or adds another XBoard
+agent playing games for it to those that are already doing so.
+Specifying a not-yet-existing file will cause XBoard to create it,
+according to the tournament parameters specified in the rest of the dialog,
+before it starts the tournament on ‘OK’.
+Provided that you specify participants;
+without participants no tournament file will be made, but other entered values
+(e.g. for the file with opening positions) will take effect.
+Default: configured by the @code{defaultTourneyName} option.
+@item Sync after round
+@itemx Sync after cycle
+@cindex Sync after round, Menu Item
+@cindex Sync after cycle, Menu Item
+The sync options, when on, will cause WinBoard to refrain from starting games
+of the next round or cycle before all games of the previous round or cycle are finished.
+This guarantees correct ordering in the games file,
+even when multiple XBoard instances are concurrently playing games for the same tourney.
+Default: sync after cycle, but not after round.
+@item Select Engine
+@itemx Tourney participants
+@cindex Select Engine, Menu Item
+@cindex Tourney participants, Menu Item
+With the Select Engine drop-down list you can pick an engine from your list
+of installed engines in the settings file, to be added to the tournament.
+The engines selected so far will be listed in the ‘Tourney participants’ memo.
+The latter is a normal text edit, so you can use normal text-editing functions
+to delete engines you selected by accident, or change their order.
+Do not type names yourself there, because names that do not exactly match
+one of the names from the drop-down list will lead to undefined behavior.
+@item Tourney type
+@cindex Tourney type, Menu Item
+Here you can specify the type of tournament you want.
+XBoard’s intrinsic tournament manager support round-robins (type = 0),
+where each participant plays every other participant, and (multi-)gauntlets,
+where one (or a few) so-called ‘gauntlet engines’ play an independent set of opponents.
+In the latter case, you specify the number of gauntlet engines.
+E.g. if you specified 10 engines, and tourney type = 2,
+the first 2 engines each play the remaining 8.
+A value of -1 instructs XBoard to play Swiss; for this to work an external
+pairing engine must be specified through the @code{pairingEngine} option.
+Each Swiss round will be considered a tourney cycle in that case.
+Default:0
+@item Number of tourney cycles
+@itemx Default number of Games
+@cindex Number of tourney cycles, Menu Item
+@cindex Default number of Games, Menu Item
+You can specify tourneys where every two opponents play each other multiple times.
+Such multiple games can be played in a row,
+as specified by the ‘number of games per pairing’,
+or by repeating the entire tournament schedule a number of times
+(specified by the ‘number of tourney cycles’).
+The total number of times two engine meet will be the product of these two.
+Default is 1 cycle;
+the number of games per pairing is the same as the default number of match games,
+stored in your settings file through the @code{defaultMatchGames} option.
+@item Save Tourney Games
+@cindex Save Tourney Games, Menu Item
+File where the tournament games are saved
+(duplicate of the item in the @samp{Save Game Options}).
+@item Game File with Opening Lines
+@itemx File with Start Positions
+@itemx Game Number
+@itemx Position Number
+@itemx Rewind Index after
+@cindex Game File with Opening Lines, Menu Item
+@cindex File with Start Positions, Menu Item
+@cindex Game Number, Menu Item
+@cindex Position Number, Menu Item
+@cindex Rewind Index after, Menu Item
+These items optionally specify the file with move sequences or board positions the tourney
+games should start from.
+The corresponding numbers specify the number of the game or position in the file.
+Here a value -1 means automatic stepping through all games on the file,
+-2 automatic stepping every two games.
+The Rewind-Index parameter causes a stepping index to reset to one after reaching
+a specified value.
+A setting of -2 for the game number will also be effective in a tournament without
+specifying a game file, but playing from the GUI book instead.
+In this case the first (odd) games will randomly select from the book,
+but the second (even) games will select the same moves from the book as the previous game.
+(Note this leads to the same opening only if both engines use the GUI book!)
+Default: No game or position file will be used. The default index if such a file is used is 1.
+@item Disable own engine bools be default
+@cindex Disable own engine books be default, Menu Item
+Setting this option reverses the default situation for use of the GUI opening book
+in tournaments from what it normally is, namely not using it.
+So unless the engine is installed with an option to explicitly specify it should
+not use the GUI book (i.e. @code{-firstHasOwnBookUCI true}),
+it will be made to use the GUI book.
+@item Replace Engine
+@itemx Upgrade Engine
+@cindex Replace Engine, Menu Item
+@cindex Upgrade Engine, Menu Item
+With these two buttons you can alter the participants of an already running tournament.
+After opening the Match Options dialog on an XBoard that is playing for the tourney,
+you will see all the tourney parameters in the dialog fields.
+You can then replace the name of one engine by that of another
+by editing the @samp{participants} field.
+(But preserve the order of the others!)
+Pressing the button after that will cause the substitution.
+With the @samp{Upgrade Engine} button the substitution will only affect future games.
+With @samp{Replace Engine} all games the substituted engine has already played will
+be invalidated, and they will be replayed with the substitute engine.
+In this latter case the engine must not be playing when you do this,
+but otherwise there is no need to pause the tournament play
+for making a substitution.
+@item Clone Tourney
+@cindex CloneTourney, Menu Item
+Pressing this button after you have specified an existing tournament file
+will copy the contents of the latter to the dialog,
+and then puts the originally proposed name for the tourney file back.
+You can then run a tourney with the same parameters
+(possibly after changing the proposed name of the tourney file for the new tourney)
+by pressing 'OK'.
+@end table
+
+@subsection Load Game Options
+@cindex Load Game Options, Menu Item
+Summons a dialog where you can set the @code{autoDisplayComment} and
+@code{autoDisplayTags} options, (which control popups when viewing loaded games),
+and specify the rate at which loaded games are auto-played,
+in seconds per move (which can be a fractional number, like 1.6).
+This rate is also used with the @code{Analyze Game} menu item.
+You can also set search criteria for determining which games
+will be displayed in the Game List for a multi-game file,
+and thus be eligible for loading:
+@table @asis
+@item Elo of strongest player
+@itemx Elo of weakest player
+@itemx year
+@cindex Elo of strongest player, Menu Item
+@cindex Elo of weakest player, Menu Item
+@cindex year, Menu Item
+These numeric fields set thresholds (lower limits) on the Elo rating of the mentioned player,
+or the date the game was played.
+Defaults: 0
+@item Final nr of pieces
+@cindex Final nr of pieces, Menu Item
+Here you can enter a range (e.g. 8-10), and only games will be selected that
+has a number of men in this range on the board in their final position.
+@item Search mode
+@cindex Search mode, Menu Item
+@cindex find position, Menu Item
+@cindex narrow, Menu Item
+This setting determines which positions in a game will be considered a match
+to the position currently displayed in the board window
+when you press the @samp{find position} button in the Game List.
+You can search for an exact match,
+a position that has all shown material in the same place,
+but might contain additional material,
+a position that has all Pawns in the same place,
+but can have the shown material anywhere,
+a position that can have all shown material anywhere,
+or a position that has material between certain limits anywhere.
+For the latter you have to place the material that must be present
+in the four lowest ranks of the board,
+and optional additional material in the four highest ranks of the board.
+You can request the optional material to be balanced.
+The @samp{narrow} button is similar in fuction to the @samp{find position} button,
+but only searches in the already selected games,
+rather than the complete game file,
+and can thus be used to refine a search based on multiple criteria.
+@item number of consecutive positions
+@cindex number of consecutive positions, Menu Item
+When you are searching by material, rather than for an exact match,
+this parameter indicates forhowmany consecutive game positions
+the same amount of material must be on the board before it is
+considered a match.
+@item Also match reversed colors
+@itemx Also match left-right flipped position
+@cindex Also match reversed colors, Menu Item
+@cindex Also match left-right flipped position, Menu Item
+When looking for matching positions rather than by material,
+these settings determine whether mirror images
+(in case of a vertical flip in combination with color reversal)
+will be also considered a match.
+The left-right flipping is only useful after all castling rights
+have expired (or in Xiangqi).
+@end table
+
+@subsection Save Game Options
+@cindex Save Game Options, Menu Item
+Summons a dialog where you can specify the files on which XBoard should
+automatically save any played or entered games,
+(the @code{saveGameFile} option),
+or the final position of such games (the @code{savePositionfile} option).
+You can also select 'auto-save' without a file name,
+in which case XBoard will prompt the user for a file name after each game.
+In ICS mode you can limit the auto-saving to your own games
+(i.e. suppress saving of observed games).
+You can also set the default value for the PGN Event tag that will
+be used for each new game you start.
+Various options for the format of the game can be specified as well,
+such as whether scores and depths of engine games should be saved as comments,
+and if a tag with info about the score with which the engine came out of book
+should be included.
+For Chess, always set the format to PGN, rather than "old save stye"!
+
+@subsection Game List
+@cindex Game List Tags, Menu Item
+Pops up a dialog where you can select the PGN tags that should appear
+on the lines in the game list, and their order.
+
+@subsection Sound Options
+@cindex Sound Options, Menu Item
+Summons a dialog where you can specify the sounds that should accompany
+various events that can occur XBoard.
+Most events are only relevant to ICS play,
+but the move sound is an important exception.
+For each event listed in the dialog,
+you can select a standard sound from a menu.
+You can also select a user-supplied sound file,
+by typing its name into the designated text-edit field first,
+and then selecting "Above WAV File" from the menu for the event.
+A dummy event has been provided for trying out the sounds with the
+"play" button next to it.
+The directory with standard sounds, and the external program for playing
+the sounds can be specified too, but normally you would not touch these
+once XBoard is properly installed.
+When a move sound other than 'None' is selected,
+XBoard alerts you by playing that sound
+after each of your opponent's moves (or after every
+move if you are observing a game on the Internet Chess Server).
+The sound is not played after moves you make or moves read from a
+saved game file.
+
+@subsection Save Settings Now
+@cindex Save Settings Now, Menu Item
+Selecting this menu item causes the current XBoard settings to be
+written to the settings file, so they will also apply in future sessions.
+Note that some settings are 'volatile', and are not saved,
+because XBoard considers it too unlikely that you want those to apply
+next time.
+In particular this applies to the Chess program names, and all options
+giving information on those Chess programs (such as their directory,
+if they have their own opening book, if they are UCI or native XBoard),
+or the variant you are playing.
+Such options would still be understood when they appear in the settings
+file in case they were put there with the aid of a text editor, but they
+would disappear from the file as soon as you save the settings.
+
+Note that XBoard no longer pays attention to options values specified
+in the .Xresources file.
+(Specifying key bindings there will still work, though.)
+To alter the default of volatile options, you can use the following method:
+Rename your ~/.xboardrc settings file (to ~/.yboardrc, say), and create
+a new file ~/.xboardrc, which only contains the options
+
+@example
+-settingsFile ~/.yboardrc
+-saveSettingsFile ~/.yboardrc
+@end example
+
+@noindent
+This will cause your settings to be saved on ~/.yboardrc in the future,
+so that ~/.xboardrc is no longer overwritten.
+You can then safely specify volatile options in ~/.xboardrc, either
+before or after the settingsFile options.
+Note that when you specify persistent options after the settingsFile options
+in ~/.xboardrc, you will essentially turn them into volatile options
+with the specified value as default, because that value will overrule
+the value loaded from the settings file (being read later).
+
+@subsection Save Settings on Exit
+@cindex Save Settings on Exit, Menu Item
+Setting this option has no immediate effect, but causes the settings
+to be saved when you quit XBoard. What happens then is otherwise
+identical to what happens when you use select "Save Settings Now",
+see there.
@node Help Menu
@section Help Menu
command when you built XBoard.
@item Man XBoard
@cindex Man XBoard, Menu Item
-Displays the XBoard documentation in man page format. For this
+Displays the XBoard documentation in man page format.
+The @kbd{F1} key is a keyboard equivalent. For this
feature to work, the file @file{xboard.6} must have been installed by
the @samp{make install} command when you built XBoard, and the
directory it was placed in must be on the search path for your
system's @samp{man} command.
-@item Hint
-@cindex Hint, Menu Item
-Displays a move hint from the chess engine.
-@item Book
-@cindex Book, Menu Item
-Displays a list of possible moves from the chess engine's opening
-book. The exact format depends on what chess engine you are using.
-With GNU Chess 4, the first column gives moves, the second column
-gives one possible response for each move, and the third column shows
-the number of lines in the book that include the move from the first
-column. If you select this option and nothing happens, the chess
-engine is out of its book or does not support this feature.
@item About XBoard
@cindex About XBoard, Menu Item
Shows the current XBoard version number.
@cindex Keys
@cindex Shortcut keys
@table @asis
-@item Iconize
-Pressing the @kbd{i} or @kbd{c} key iconizes XBoard. The graphical
-icon displays a white knight if it is White's move, or a black knight
-if it is Black's move. If your X window manager displays only text
-icons, not graphical ones, check its documentation; there is probably
-a way to enable graphical icons. If you get black and white reversed,
-we would like to hear about it; see @ref{Problems} below for
-instructions on how to report this problem.
+@item Show Last Move
+@cindex Show Last Move, Shortcut Key
+By hitting @kbd{Enter} the last move will be re-animated.
+@item Load Next Game
+@cindex Load Next Game, Menu Item
+Loads the next game from the last game record file you loaded.
+The @kbd{Alt+PgDn} key triggers this action.
+@item Load Previous Game
+@cindex Load Previous Game, Menu Item
+Loads the previous game from the last game record file you
+loaded. The @kbd{Alt+PgUp} key triggers this action.
+Not available if the last game was loaded from a pipe.
+@item Reload Same Game
+@cindex Reload Same Game, Menu Item
+Reloads the last game you loaded.
+Not available if the last game was loaded from a pipe.
+Currently no keystroke is assigned to this ReloadGameProc.
+@item Reload Same Position
+@cindex Reload Same Position, Menu Item
+Reloads the last position you loaded.
+Not available if the last position was loaded from a pipe.
+Currently no keystroke is assigned to this ReloadPositionProc.
@end table
-You can add or remove shortcut keys using the X resources
-@code{form.translations}. Here is an example of what would go in your
-@file{.Xresources} file:
+In the Xaw build of XBoard you can add or remove shortcut keys
+using the X resources @code{paneA.translations}.
+Here is an example of what could go into your
+@file{.Xdefaults} file:
@example
-XBoard*form.translations: \
- Shift<Key>?: AboutGameProc() \n\
- <Key>y: AcceptProc() \n\
- <Key>n: DeclineProc() \n\
- <Key>i: NothingProc()
+XBoard*paneA.translations: \
+ Shift<Key>?: MenuItem(Help.About) \n\
+ Ctrl<Key>y: MenuItem(Action.Accept) \n\
+ Ctrl<Key>n: MenuItem(Action.Decline) \n\
+ Ctrl<Key>i: MenuItem(Nothing)
@end example
@noindent
-Binding a key to @code{NothingProc} makes it do nothing, thus removing
-it as a shortcut key. The XBoard commands that can be bound to keys
+So the key should always be bound to the action 'MenuItem',
+with the (hierarchical) name of the menu item as argument.
+There are a few actions available for which no menu item exists:
+Binding a key to @code{Nothing} makes it do nothing, thus removing
+it as a shortcut key. Other such functions that can be bound to keys
are:
@example
-AbortProc, AboutGameProc, AboutProc, AcceptProc, AdjournProc,
-AlwaysQueenProc, AnalysisModeProc, AnalyzeFileProc,
-AnimateDraggingProc, AnimateMovingProc, AutobsProc, AutoflagProc,
-AutoflipProc, AutoraiseProc, AutosaveProc, BackwardProc,
-BlindfoldProc, BookProc, CallFlagProc, CopyGameProc, CopyPositionProc,
-DebugProc, DeclineProc, DrawProc, EditCommentProc, EditGameProc,
-EditPositionProc, EditTagsProc, EnterKeyProc, FlashMovesProc,
-FlipViewProc, ForwardProc, GetMoveListProc, HighlightLastMoveProc,
-HintProc, Iconify, IcsAlarmProc, IcsClientProc, IcsInputBoxProc,
-InfoProc, LoadGameProc, LoadNextGameProc, LoadNextPositionProc,
-LoadPositionProc, LoadPrevGameProc, LoadPrevPositionProc,
-LoadSelectedProc, MachineBlackProc, MachineWhiteProc, MailMoveProc,
-ManProc, MoveNowProc, MoveSoundProc, NothingProc, OldSaveStyleProc,
-PasteGameProc, PastePositionProc, PauseProc, PeriodicUpdatesProc,
-PonderNextMoveProc, PopupExitMessageProc, PopupMoveErrorsProc,
-PremoveProc, QuietPlayProc, QuitProc, ReloadCmailMsgProc,
-ReloadGameProc, ReloadPositionProc, RematchProc, ResetProc,
-ResignProc, RetractMoveProc, RevertProc, SaveGameProc,
-SavePositionProc, ShowCoordsProc, ShowGameListProc, ShowThinkingProc,
-StopExaminingProc, StopObservingProc, TestLegalityProc, ToEndProc,
-ToStartProc, TrainingProc, TruncateGameProc, and TwoMachinesProc.
+AboutGame, DebugProc (switches the -debug option on or off),
+LoadNextGame, LoadPrevGame, ReloadGame, ReloadPosition.
@end example
@node Options
This section documents the command-line options to XBoard. You can
set these options in two ways: by typing them on the shell command
-line you use to start XBoard, or by setting them as X resources
-(typically in your @file{.Xresources} file). Many of the options
+line you use to start XBoard, or by editing the settings file
+(usually ~/.xboardrc) to alter the value of the setting that was
+saved there. Some of the options
cannot be changed while XBoard is running; others set the initial
state of items that can be changed with the @ref{Options} menu.
numbers as values, you can use the long or short option names
interchangeably.
-Each option corresponds to an X resource with the same name, so
-if you like, you can set options in your @file{.Xresources} file
-or in a file named @file{XBoard} in your home directory.
-For options that have two names, the longer one is the name of
-the corresponding X resource; the short name is not recognized.
-To turn a boolean option on or off as an
-X resource, give its long name followed by the value
-true or false (@samp{XBoard*longOptionName: true}).
-
@menu
* Chess engine options:: Controlling the chess engine.
* UCI + WB Engine Settings:: Setting some very common engine parameters
+* Tournament options:: Running tournaments and matches between engines.
* ICS options:: Connecting to and using ICS.
* Load and Save options:: Input/output options.
* User interface options:: Look and feel options.
-* Adjudication Options:: Control adjudcation of engine-engine games.
+* Adjudication Options:: Control adjudication of engine-engine games.
* Other options:: Miscellaneous.
@end menu
If mode=0, both play with reduced time. Default: 0.
@item -hideThinkingFromHuman true/false
Controls the Hide Thinking option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: true.
-(Relaces the Show-Thinking option of older xboard versions.)
+(Replaces the Show-Thinking option of older xboard versions.)
@item -thinking/-xthinking or -showThinking true/false
@cindex thinking, option
@cindex showThinking, option
@cindex ponderNextMove, option
Sets the Ponder Next Move menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: true.
@item -smpCores number
-Specifies the maxmum nmber of CPUs an SMP engine is allowed to use.
-Only works for engines that support the WinBoard-protocol cores feature.
+Specifies the maximum number of CPUs an SMP engine is allowed to use.
+Only works for engines that support the XBoard/WinBoard-protocol cores feature.
@item -mg or -matchGames n
@cindex mg, option
@cindex matchGames, option
Name of second chess engine, if needed.
A second chess engine is started only in Two Machines (match) mode.
Default: @file{Fairy-Max}.
+@item -fe or -firstEngine nickname
+@cindex fe, option
+@cindex firstEngine, option
+This is an alternative to the @code{fcp} option for specifying the first engine,
+for engines that were already configured (using the @samp{Load Engine} dialog)
+in XBoard's settings file.
+It will not only retrieve the real name of the engine,
+but also all options configured with it.
+(E.g. if it is UCI, whether it should use book.)
+@item -se or -secondEngine nickname
+@cindex se, option
+@cindex secondEngine, option
+As @code{fe}, but for the second engine.
@item -fb/-xfb or -firstPlaysBlack true/false
@cindex fb, option
@cindex firstPlaysBlack, option
This option is effective only when the chess engine is being run
on the local host; it does not work if the engine is run remotely
using the -fh or -sh option.
-@item -initString string
+@item -initString string or -firstInitString
@itemx -secondInitString string
@cindex initString, option
+@cindex firstInitString, option
@cindex secondInitString, option
The string that is sent to initialize each chess engine for a new game.
Default:
Setting this option from the command line is tricky, because you must
type in real newline characters, including one at the very end.
In most shells you can do this by
-entering a @samp{\} character followed by a newline. It is easier to set
-the option from your @file{.Xresources} file; in that case you can
-include the character sequence @samp{\n} in the string, and it will
-be converted to a newline.
+entering a @samp{\} character followed by a newline.
+Using the character sequence @samp{\n} in the string should work too, though.
If you change this option, don't remove the @samp{new}
command; it is required by all chess engines to
@cindex niceEngines, option
This option allows you to lower the priority of the engine processes,
so that the generally insatiable hunger for CPU time of chess engines does not interfere so much
-with smooth operation of WinBoard (or the rest of your system).
+with smooth operation of XBoard (or the rest of your system).
Negative values could increase the engine priority, which is not recommended.
@item -firstOptions string
@itemx -secondOptions string
@cindex firstOptions, option
@cindex secondOptions, option
-The given string is a comma-separated list of (option name, option value) pairs,
-like the following example: style=Karpov,blunder rate=0.
-If the options announced by the engine at startup through the feature commands of WinBoard protocol
-matches one of the option names (i.e. style or blunder rate),
-it would be set to the given value (i.e. Karpov or 0)
+The given string is a comma-separated list of (option name=option value) pairs,
+like the following example: "style=Karpov,blunder rate=0".
+If an option announced by the engine at startup through the feature commands of the XBoard/WinBoard protocol
+matches one of the option names (i.e. "style" or "blunder rate"),
+it would be set to the given value (i.e. "Karpov" or 0)
through a corresponding option command to the engine.
This provided that the type of the value (text or numeric) matches as well.
@item -firstNeedsNoncompliantFEN string
with the setboard command will be replaced by the given string. This can for
instance be used to run engines that do not understand Chess960 FENs in
variant fischerandom, to make them at least understand the opening position,
-through setting the string to KQkq -. (Note you also have to give the e.p. field!)
+through setting the string to "KQkq -". (Note you also have to give the e.p. field!)
Other possible applications are to provide work-arounds for engines that want to see
castling and e.p. fields in variants that do not have castling or e.p.
-(shatranj, courier, xiangqi, shogi) so that WinBoard would normally omit them
-(string = - -), or to add variant-specific fields that are not yet supported by WinBoard
+(shatranj, courier, xiangqi, shogi) so that XBoard would normally omit them
+(string = "- -"), or to add variant-specific fields that are not yet supported by XBoard
(e.g. to indicate the number of checks in 3check).
+@item -shuffleOpenings
+@cindex shuffleOpenings, option
+Forces shuffling of the opening setup in variants that normally have a fixed initial position.
+Shufflings are symmetric for black and white, and exempt King and Rooks in variants
+with normal castling.
+Remains in force until a new variant is selected.
+@item -fischerCastling
+@cindex fischerCastling, option
+Specifies Fischer castling (as in Chess960) should be enabled in variants
+that normally would not have it.
+Remains in force until a new variant is selected.
@end table
@node UCI + WB Engine Settings
@cindex sUCI, option
@cindex firstIsUCI, option
@cindex secondIsUCI, option
-Indicates if the mentioned engine executable file is an UCI engine,
+Indicates if the mentioned engine executable file is a UCI engine,
and should be run with the aid of the Polyglot adapter rather than directly.
Xboard will then pass the other UCI options and engine name to Polyglot
-through a .ini temporary file ceated for the purpose.
-@item -PolyglotDir filename
-@cindex PolyglotDir, option
-Gives the name of the directory in which the Polyglot adapter for UCI engines expects its files.
-Default: "/usr/local/share/polyglot".
+on its command line, according to the option @code{adapterCommand}.
+@item -fUCCI
+@itemx -sUCCI
+@itemx -fUSI
+@itemx -sUSI
+@cindex fUCCI, option
+@cindex sUCCI, option
+@cindex fUSI, option
+@cindex sUSI, option
+Options similar to @code{fUCI} and @code{sUCI}, except that they
+use the indicated engine with the protocol adapter specified in
+the @samp{uxiAdapter} option.
+This can then be configured for running a UCCI or USI adapter,
+as the need arises.
+@item -adapterCommand string
+@cindex adapterCommand, option
+The string contains the command that should be issued by XBoard
+to start an engine that is accompanied by the @code{fUCI} option.
+Any identifier following a percent sign in the command (e.g. %fcp)
+will be considered the name of an XBoard option, and be replaced
+by the value of that option at the time the engine is started.
+For starting the second engine, any leading "f" or "first" in
+the option name will first be replaced by "s" or "second",
+before finding its value.
+Default: 'polyglot -noini -ec "%fcp" -ed "%fd"'
+@item -uxiAdapter string
+@cindex uxiAdapter, option
+Similar to @code{adapterCommand}, but used for engines accompanied
+by the @code{fUCCI} or @code{fUSI} option, so you can configure
+XBoard to be ready to handle more than one flavor of non-native protocols.
+Default: ""
+@item -polyglotDir filename
+@cindex polyglotDir, option
+Gives the name of the directory in which the Polyglot adapter for UCI engines resides.
+Default: "".
@item -usePolyglotBook true/false
@cindex usePolyglotBook, option
-Specifies if the Polygot book should be used.
-@item -PolyglotBook filename
-@cindex PolyglotBook, option
-Gives the filename of the opening book that Polyglot should use.
-From XBoard 4.3.15 on, native WinBoard engines will also use the opening book specified here,
-provided the @code{usePolyglotBook} option is set to true,
-and the option @code{firstHasOwnBookUCI} or @code{secondHasOwnBookUCI} applying to the engine
-is set to false.
+Specifies if the Polyglot book should be used as GUI book.
+@item -polyglotBook filename
+@cindex polyglotBook, option
+Gives the filename of the opening book.
+The book is only used when the @code{usePolyglotBook} option is set to true,
+and the option @code{firstHasOwnBookUCI} or @code{secondHasOwnBookUCI}
+applying to the engine is set to false.
The engine will be kept in force mode as long as the current position is in book,
-and XBoard will select the book moves for it. Default "".
+and XBoard will select the book moves for it. Default: "".
@item -fNoOwnBookUCI or -firstXBook or -firstHasOwnBookUCI true/false
@itemx -sNoOwnBookUCI or -secondXBook or -secondHasOwnBookUCI true/false
@cindex fNoOwnBookUCI, option
@cindex firstXBook, option
@cindex secondXBook, option
Indicates if the mentioned engine has its own opening book it should play from,
-rather than using the external book through XBoard. Default: false.
+rather than using the external book through XBoard.
+Default: depends on setting of the option @code{discourageOwnBooks}.
+@item -discourageOwnBooks true/false
+@cindex discourageOwnBooks, option
+When set, newly loaded engines will be assumed to use the GUI book,
+unless they explicitly specify differently.
+Otherwise they will be assumed to not use the GUI book,
+unless the specify differently (e.g. with @code{firstXBook}).
+Default: false.
+@item -bookDepth n
+@cindex bookDepth, option
+Limits the use of the GUI book to the first n moves of each side.
+Default: 12.
+@item -bookVariation n
+@cindex bookVariation, option
+A value n from 0 to 100 tunes the choice of moves from the GUI books
+from totally random to best-only. Default: 50
+@item -mcBookMode
+@cindex mcBookMode, option
+When this volatile option is specified, the probing algorithm of the
+GUI book is altered to always select the move that is most under-represented
+based on its performance.
+When all moves are played in approximately the right proportion,
+a book miss will be reported, to give the engine opportunity to
+explore a new move.
+In addition score of the moves will be kept track of during the session
+in a book buffer.
+By playing an match in this mode, a book will be built from scratch.
+The only output are the saved games, which can be converted to an
+actual book later, with the @samp{Save Games as Book} command.
+This command can also be used to pre-fill the book buffer
+before adding new games based on the probing algorithm.
+@item -fn string or -firstPgnName string
+@itemx -sn string or -secondPgnName string
+@cindex firstPgnName, option
+@cindex secondPgnName, option
+@cindex fn, option
+@cindex sn, option
+Indicates the name that should be used for the engine in PGN tags of
+engine-engine games.
+Intended to allow you to install verions of the same engine with different settings,
+and still distinguish them.
+Default: "".
@item -defaultHashSize n
@cindex defaultHashSize, option
Sets the size of the hash table to n MegaBytes. Together with the EGTB cache size
-this number is also used to calculate the memory setting of WinBoard engines,
-for those that support the memory feature of WinBoard protocol. Default: 64.
+this number is also used to calculate the memory setting of XBoard/WinBoard engines,
+for those that support the memory feature of the XBoard/WinBoard protocol. Default: 64.
@item -defaultCacheSizeEGTB n
@cindex defaultCacheSizeEGTB, option
Sets the size of the EGTB cache to n MegaBytes. Together with the hash-table size
-this number is also used to calculate the memory setting of WinBoard engines,
-for those that support the memory feature of WinBoard protocol. Default: 4.
+this number is also used to calculate the memory setting of XBoard/WinBoard engines,
+for those that support the memory feature of the XBoard/WinBoard protocol. Default: 4.
@item -defaultPathEGTB filename
@cindex defaultPathEGTB, option
Gives the name of the directory where the end-game tablebases are installed, for UCI engines.
One egtpath command for each matching format will be sent.
Popular formats are "nalimov" DTM tablebases and "scorpio" bitbases.
Default: "".
+@item -firstChessProgramNames=@{names@}
+This option lets you customize the listbox with chess-engine names
+that appears in the @samp{Load Engine} and @samp{Tournament Options} dialog.
+It consists of a list of strings, one per line.
+When an engine is loaded, the corresponding line is prefixed with "-fcp ",
+and processed like it appeared on the command line.
+That means that apart from the engine command,
+it can contain any number of XBoard options you want to use with this engine.
+(Commonly used options here are -fd, -firstXBook, -fUCI, -variant.)
+
+The value of this option is gradually built as you load new engines
+through the @samp{Load Engine} menu dialog, with @samp{Add to list} ticked.
+To change it in other ways, (e.g. deleting engines),
+use the menu item @samp{Edit Engine List} in the @samp{Engine} menu.
+@end table
+
+@node Tournament options
+@section Tournament options
+@cindex Tournament Options
+@cindex Options, Tournament
+@table @asis
+@item -defaultMatchGames n
+@cindex defaultMatchGames, option
+Sets the number of games that will be used for a match between two engines
+started from the menu to n. Also used as games per pairing in other tournament
+formats. Default: 10.
+@item -matchPause n
+@cindex matchPause, option
+Specifies the duration of the pause between two games of a match or tournament
+between engines as n milliseconds.
+Especially engines that do not support ping need this option,
+to prevent that the move they are thinking on when an opponent unexpectedly
+resigns will be counted for the next game, (leading to illegal moves there).
+Default: 10000.
+@item -tf filename or -tourneyFile filename
+@cindex tf, option
+@cindex tourneyFile, option
+Specifies the name of the tournament file used in match mode
+to conduct a multi-player tournament.
+This file is a special settings file,
+which stores the description of the tournament (including progress info),
+through normal options (e.g. for time control, load and save files),
+and through some special-purpose options listed below.
+@item -tt number or -tourneyType number
+@cindex tt, option
+@cindex tourneyType, option
+Specifies the type of tourney: 0 = round-robin,
+N>0 = (multi-)gauntlet with N gauntlet engines,
+-1 = Swiss through external pairing engine.
+Volatile option, but stored in tourney file.
+@item -cy number or -tourneyCycles number
+@cindex cy, option
+@cindex tourneyCycles, option
+Specifies the number of cycles in a tourney.
+Volatile option, but stored in tourney file.
+@item -participants list
+@cindex participants, option
+The list is a multi-line text string that specifies engines
+occurring in the @code{firstChesProgramNames} list
+in the settings file by their (implied or explicitly given) nicknames,
+one engine per line.
+The mentioned engines will play in the tourney.
+Volatile option, but stored in tourney file.
+@item -results string
+@cindex results, option
+The string of +=- characters lists the result of all played games in a toruney.
+Games currently playing are listed as *,
+while a space indicates a game that is not yet played or playing .
+Volatile option, but stored in tourney file.
+@item -defaultTourneyName string
+@cindex defaultTourneyName, option
+Specifies the name of the tournament file XBoard should propose
+when the @samp{Match Options} dialog is opened.
+Any %y, %M, %d, %h, %m, %s in the string are replaced by the current
+year, month, day of the month, hours, minutes, seconds of the current time,
+respectively, as two-digit number.
+A %Y would be replaced by the year as 4-digit number. Default: empty string.
+@item -pairingEngine filename
+@cindex pairingEngine, option
+Specifies the external program to be used to pair the participants in Swiss tourneys.
+XBoard communicates with this engine in the same way as it communicates with Chess engines.
+The only commands sent to the pairing engine are “results N string”,
+(where N is the number of participants,
+and string the results so far in the format of the results option),
+and “pairing N”, (where N is the number of the tourney game).
+To the latter the pairing engine should answer with “A-B”,
+where A and B are participant numbers (in the range 1-N).
+(There should be no reply to the results command.) Default: empty string.
+@item -afterGame string
+@itemx -afterTourney string
+@cindex afterGame, option
+@cindex afterTourney, option
+When non-empty, the given string will be executed as a system command
+after each tournament game, orafterthe tourney completes, respectively.
+This can be used, for example, to autmatically run a cross-table generator
+on the PGN file where games are saved, to update the tourney standings.
+Default: ""
+@item -syncAfterRound true/false
+@itemx -syncAfterCycle true/false
+@cindex syncAfterRound, option
+@cindex syncAfterCycle, option
+Controls whether different instances of XBoard concurrently running the
+same tournament will wait for each other.
+Defaults: sync after cycle, but not after round.
+@item -seedBase number
+@cindex seedBase, option
+Used to store the seed of the pseudo-random-number generator in the
+tourneyFile, so that separate instances of XBoard working on the same
+tourney can take coherent 'random' decisions, such as picking an
+opening for a given game number.
@end table
@node ICS options
the given character I/O device instead of opening a TCP connection.
Use this option if your system does not have any kind of
Internet connection itself (not even a SLIP or PPP connection),
-but you do have dialup access (or a hardwired terminal line) to
+but you do have dial-up access (or a hardwired terminal line) to
an Internet service provider from which you can telnet to the ICS.
The support for this option in XBoard is minimal. You need to
this option to work.
Also diverts similar kibitz information of an opponent engine that is playing you
through the ICS to the engine-output window, as if the engine was playing locally.
+@item -seekGraph true/false or -sg
+@cindex seekGraph, option
+@cindex sg, option
+Enables displaying of the seek graph by left-clicking the board when
+you are logged on to an ICS and currently idle.
+The seek graph show all players currently seeking games on the ICS,
+plotted according to their rating and the time control of the game they seek,
+in three different colors (for rated, unrated and wild games).
+Computer ads are displayed as squares, human ads are dots.
+Default: false.
+@item -autoRefresh true/false
+@cindex autoRefresh, option
+Enables automatic updating of the seek graph,
+by having the ICS send a running update of all newly placed
+and removed seek ads.
+This consumes a substantial amount of communication bandwidth,
+and is only supported for FICS and ICC.
+Default: false.
+@item -backgroundObserve true/false
+@cindex backgroundObserve, option
+When true, boards sent to you by the ICS from other games while you are playing
+(e.g. because you are observing them)
+will not be automatically displayed.
+Only a summary of time left and material of both players will appear
+in the message field above the board.
+XBoard will remember the last board it has received this way,
+and will display it in stead of the position in your own game
+when you press the right mouse button.
+No other information is stored on such games observed in the background;
+you cannot save such a game later, or step through its moves.
+This feature is provided solely for the benefit of bughouse players,
+to enable them to peek at their partner's game without the need
+to logon twice.
+Default: false.
+@item -dualBoard true/false
+@cindex dualBoard, option
+In combination with -backgroundObserve true, this option will display
+the board of the background game side by side with that of your own game,
+so you can have it in view permanently.
+Any board or holdings info coming in will be displayed on the secondary
+board immediately.
+This feature is still experimental and largely unfinished.
+There is no animation or highlighting of moves on the secondary board.
+Default: false.
+@item -disguisePromotedPieces true/false
+@cindex disguisePromotedPieces, option
+When set promoted Pawns in crazyhouse/bughouse are displayed identical
+to primordial pieces of the same type, rather than distinguishable.
+Default: true.
@item -moves/-xmoves or -getMoveList true/false
@cindex moves, option
@cindex getMoveList, option
@cindex pre, option
@cindex premove, option
Sets the Premove menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: true.
+@item -prewhite/-xprewhite or -premoveWhite
+@itemx -preblack/-xpreblack or -premoveBlack
+@itemx -premoveWhiteText string
+@itemx -premoveBlackText string
+@cindex prewhite, option
+@cindex premoveWhite, option
+@cindex preblack, option
+@cindex premoveBlack, option
+@cindex premoveWhiteText, option
+@cindex premoveBlackText, option
+Set the menu options for specifying the first move for either color.
+@xref{Options Menu}. Defaults: false and empty strings, so no pre-moves.
@item -quiet/-xquiet or -quietPlay true/false
@cindex quiet, option
@cindex quietPlay, option
Sets the Quiet Play menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
-@item -colorizeMessages or -colorize
+@item -colorizeMessages or -colorize/-xcolorize
@cindex Colors
@cindex colorize, option
+@cindex colorizeMessages, option
Setting colorizeMessages
to true tells XBoard to colorize the messages received from
the ICS. Colorization works only if your xterm
supports ISO 6429 escape sequences for changing text colors.
+Default: true.
@item -colorShout foreground,background,bold
@itemx -colorSShout foreground,background,bold
+@itemx -colorCShout foreground,background,bold
@itemx -colorChannel1 foreground,background,bold
@itemx -colorChannel foreground,background,bold
@itemx -colorKibitz foreground,background,bold
@cindex Colors
@cindex colorShout, option
@cindex colorSShout, option
+@cindex colorCShout, option
@cindex colorChannel1, option
@cindex colorChannel, option
@cindex colorKibitz, option
your xterm. Bold can be 1 or 0. If background is omitted, ``default''
is assumed; if bold is omitted, 0 is assumed.
-Here is an example of how to set the colors in your @file{.Xresources} file.
-The colors shown here are the default values; you will get
-them if you turn @code{-colorize} on without specifying your own colors.
-
-@example
-xboard*colorizeMessages: true
-xboard*colorShout: green
-xboard*colorSShout: green, black, 1
-xboard*colorChannel1: cyan
-xboard*colorChannel: cyan, black, 1
-xboard*colorKibitz: magenta, black, 1
-xboard*colorTell: yellow, black, 1
-xboard*colorChallenge: red, black, 1
-xboard*colorRequest: red
-xboard*colorSeek: blue
-xboard*colorNormal: default
-@end example
@item -soundProgram progname
@cindex soundProgram, option
@cindex Sounds
bell by sending a ^G character to standard output, instead of playing
a sound file. If an option is set to the empty string "", no sound is
played for that event.
+@item -soundDirectory directoryname
+@cindex soundDirectory, option
+@cindex Sounds
+This option specifies where XBoard will look for sound files,
+when these are not given as an absolute path name.
@item -soundShout filename
@itemx -soundSShout filename
+@itemx -soundCShout filename
@itemx -soundChannel filename
+@itemx -soundChannel1 filename
@itemx -soundKibitz filename
@itemx -soundTell filename
@itemx -soundChallenge filename
@itemx -soundSeek filename
@cindex soundShout, option
@cindex soundSShout, option
+@cindex soundCShout, option
@cindex soundChannel, option
+@cindex soundChannel1, option
@cindex soundKibitz, option
@cindex soundTell, option
@cindex soundChallenge, option
These sounds are triggered in the same way as the colorization events
described above. They all default to "", no sound. They are played
only if the colorizeMessages is on.
+CShout is synonymous with SShout.
@item -soundMove filename
@cindex soundMove, option
This sound is used by the Move Sound menu option. Default: "$".
This sound is played when an ICS game that you are participating in is
aborted, adjourned, or otherwise ends inconclusively. Default: "" (no
sound).
-
-Here is an example of how to set the sounds in your @file{.Xresources} file:
-
-@example
-xboard*soundShout: shout.wav
-xboard*soundSShout: sshout.wav
-xboard*soundChannel1: channel1.wav
-xboard*soundChannel: channel.wav
-xboard*soundKibitz: kibitz.wav
-xboard*soundTell: tell.wav
-xboard*soundChallenge: challenge.wav
-xboard*soundRequest: request.wav
-xboard*soundSeek: seek.wav
-xboard*soundMove: move.wav
-xboard*soundIcsWin: win.wav
-xboard*soundIcsLoss: lose.wav
-xboard*soundIcsDraw: draw.wav
-xboard*soundIcsUnfinished: unfinished.wav
-xboard*soundIcsAlarm: alarm.wav
-@end example
@end table
@node Load and Save options
@item -td or -timeDelay seconds
@cindex td, option
@cindex timeDelay, option
-Time delay between moves during @samp{Load Game}. Fractional seconds
-are allowed; try @samp{-td 0.4}. A time delay value of -1 tells
-XBoard not to step through game files automatically. Default: 1
-second.
+Time delay between moves during @samp{Load Game} or @samp{Analyze File}.
+Fractional seconds are allowed; try @samp{-td 0.4}.
+A time delay value of -1 tells
+XBoard not to step through game files automatically. Default: 1 second.
@item -sgf or -saveGameFile file
@cindex sgf, option
@cindex saveGameFile, option
@cindex autoSaveGames, option
Sets the Auto Save menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
Ignored if @code{saveGameFile} is set.
+@item -onlyOwnGames true/false
+@cindex onlyOwnGames, option
+Suppresses auto-saving of ICS observed games. Default: false.
@item -lpf or -loadPositionFile file
@itemx -lpi or -loadPositionIndex index
@cindex lpf, option
If this option is set, XBoard appends the final position reached
in every game played to the specified file. The file name @file{-}
specifies the standard output.
+@item -positionDir directory
+@cindex positionDir, option
+Specifies the directory where file browsing should start when using
+the @samp{Load Position} menu item.
@item -pgnExtendedInfo true/false
-@cindex pgnExtendedInfo, option`
-If this option is set, WinBoard saves depth, score and time used for each
+@cindex pgnExtendedInfo, option
+If this option is set, XBoard saves depth, score and time used for each
move that the engine found as a comment in the PGN file.
Default: false.
@item -pgnEventHeader string
-@cindex pgnEventHeader, option`
+@cindex pgnEventHeader, option
Sets the name used in the PGN event tag to string.
Default: "Computer Chess Game".
+@item -pgnNumberTag true/false
+@cindex pgnNumberTag, option
+Include the (unique) sequence number of a tournament game into the saved
+PGN file as a 'number' tag.
+Default: false.
@item -saveOutOfBookInfo true/false
-@cindex saveOutOfBookInfo, option`
-Include the information on how the engine(s) game out of its opening book in a special 'annotator' tag with the PGN file.
+@cindex saveOutOfBookInfo, option
+Include the information on how the engine(s) game out of its opening book
+in a special 'annotator' tag with the PGN file.
+Default: true.
@item -oldsave/-xoldsave or -oldSaveStyle true/false
@cindex oldsave, option
@cindex oldSaveStyle, option
The character string lists the PGN tags that should be printed in the
Game List, and their order. The meaning of the codes is e=event,
s=site, d=date, o=round, p=players, r=result, w=white Elo, b=black Elo,
-t=time control, v=variant, a=out-of-book info.
+t=time control, v=variant, a=out-of-book info, c=result comment.
Default: "eprd"
+@item -ini or -settingsFile filename
+@itemx -saveSettingsFile filename
+@itemx @@filename
+@cindex saveSettingsFile, option
+@cindex SettingsFile, option
+@cindex init, option
+@cindex at sign, option
+When XBoard encounters an option -settingsFile (or -ini for short),
+or @@filename, it tries to read the mentioned file,
+and substitutes the contents of it (presumaby more command-line options)
+in place of the option.
+In the case of -ini or -settingsFile, the name of a successfully read
+settings file is also remembered as the file to use for saving settings
+(automatically on exit, or on user command).
+An option of the form @@filename does not affect saving.
+The option -saveSettingsFile does specify a name of the file to use
+for saving, without reading any options from it, and is thus also effective
+when the file did not exist yet.
+So the settings will be saved to the file specified in the last
+-saveSettingsFile or succesfull -settingsFile / -ini command,
+if any, and in /etc/xboard/xboard.conf otherwise.
+Usualy the latter is only accessible for the system administrator, though,
+and will be used to contain system-wide default setings, amongst which
+a -saveSettingsFile and -settingsFile options to specify a settings file
+accessible to the individual user, such as ~/.xboardrc in the user's
+home directory.
+@item -saveSettingsOnExit true/false
+@cindex saveSettingsOnExit, option
+Controls saving of options on the settings file. @xref{Options Menu}.
+Default: true.
@end table
@node User interface options
@item -display
@itemx -geometry
@itemx -iconic
+@itemx -name
@cindex display, option
@cindex geometry, option
@cindex iconic, option
+@cindex resource name, option
These and most other standard Xt options are accepted.
@item -noGUI
@cindex noGUI, option
Suppresses all GUI functions of XBoard
-(to speed up automated ultra-fast engine-engine games, which you dont want to watch).
+(to speed up automated ultra-fast engine-engine games, which you don't want to watch).
There will be no board or clock updates, no printing of moves,
and no update of the icon on the task bar in this mode.
+@item -logoSize N
+@cindex logoSize, option
+This option controls the drawing of player logos next to the clocks.
+The integer N specifies the width of the logo in pixels;
+the logo height will always be half the width.
+When N = 0, no logos will be diplayed.
+Default: 0.
+@item -firstLogo imagefile
+@itemx -secondLogo imagefile
+@cindex firstLogo, option
+@cindex secondLogo, option
+Specify the images to be used as player logos when @code{logoSize}
+is non-zero, next to the white and black clocks, respectively.
+@item -autoLogo true/false
+@item -logoDir filename
+@cindex autoLogo, option
+@cindex logoDir, option
+When @code{autoLogo} is set, XBoard will search for a PNG image file
+with the name of the engine or ICS in the directory specified.
+For a human player it will look for a file <username>.png in this
+directory, but only when ~/.logo.png does not provide one.
+by @code{logoDir}.
+@item -recentEngines number
+@itemx -recentEngineList list
+@cindex recentEngines, option
+@cindex recentEngineList, option
+When the number is larger than zero, it determines how many recently
+used engines will be appended at the bottom of the @samp{Engines} menu.
+The engines will be saved in your settings file as the option
+@code{recentEngineList}, by their nicknames,
+and the most recently used one will always be sorted to the top.
+If the list after that is longer than the specified number,
+the last one is discarded.
+Changes in the list will only become visible the next session,
+provided you saved the settings.
+Default: 6.
+@item -autoInstall list
+@cindex autoInstall, option
+When the list is set to a non-empty string, XBoard will scan the
+operating system's plugin directory for engines supporting UCI
+and XBoard protocol at startup.
+When it finds an engine that was installed after it last saved
+its settings, a line to launch that engine (as per specs in
+the plugin file) is appended to the -firstChessProgramNames
+list of installed engines.
+In the future it will be possible to use the autoInstall list to limit
+this automatic adding of engines based on the chess variant they play.
+@item -oneClickMove true/false
+@cindex oneClickMove, option
+When set, this option allows you to enter moves by only clicking the to-
+or from-square, when only a single legal move to or from that square
+is possible.
+Double-clicking a piece (or clicking an already selected piece)
+will instruct that piece to make the only capture it can legally do.
+Default: false.
+@item -monoMouse true/false
+@cindex monoMouse, option
+When set button 1 clicks on empty squares in Edit Position mode
+will be interpreted as button 3 clicks, so they place a piece.
+Default: false.
@item -movesound/-xmovesound or -ringBellAfterMoves true/false
@cindex movesound, option
@cindex bell, option
@cindex queen, option
@cindex alwaysPromoteToQueen, option
Sets the Always Queen menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
+@item -sweepPromotions true/false
+@cindex sweepPromotion, option
+Sets the @samp{Almost Always Promote to Queen} menu option.
+@xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
@item -legal/-xlegal or -testLegality true/false
@cindex legal, option
@cindex testLegality, option
Medium 64x64, Moderate 58x58, Average 54x54, Middling 49x49, Mediocre
45x45, Small 40x40, Slim 37x37, Petite 33x33, Dinky 29x29, Teeny 25x25,
or Tiny 21x21.
-Pieces of all these sizes are built into XBoard.
-Other sizes can
-be used if you have them; see the pixmapDirectory and bitmapDirectory
-options.
+Xboard installs with a set of scalable (svg) piece images,
+which it scales to any of the requested sizes.
+The square size can further be continuously scaled by sizing the board window,
+but this only adapts the size of the pieces,
+and has no effect on the width of the grid lines or the font choice
+(both of which would depend on he selected boardSize).
The default depends on the size of your screen; it is approximately the
largest size that will fit without clipping.
black border
between squares, @code{n3} the desired size for the
clockFont, @code{n4} the desired size for the coordFont,
-@code{n5} the desired size for the default font,
+@code{n5} the desired size for the messageFont,
@code{n6} the smallLayout flag (0 or 1),
and @code{n7} the tinyLayout flag (0 or 1).
All dimensions are in pixels.
the window layout is rearranged to make more room for the title.
If tinyLayout is 1, the labels on the menu bar are abbreviated
to one character each and the buttons in the button bar are made narrower.
+@item -overrideLineGap n
+@cindex overrideLineGap, option
+When n >= 0, this forces the width of the black border between squares
+to n pixels for any board size. Mostly used to suppress the grid
+entirely by setting n = 0, e.g. in xiangqi or just getting a prettier
+picture. When n < 0 this the size-dependent width of the grid lines
+is used. Default: -1.
@item -coords/-xcoords or -showCoords true/false
@cindex coords, option
@cindex showCoords, option
bar from the window, allowing the message line to be wider. You can
still get the functions of these buttons using the menus or their keyboard
shortcuts. Default: true.
+@item -evalZoom factor
+@cindex evalZoom, option
+The score interval (-1,1) is blown up on the vertical axis of
+the Evaluation Graph by the given factor.
+Default: 1
+@item -evalThreshold n
+@cindex evalThreshold, option
+Score below n (centiPawn) are plotted as 0 in the Evaluation Graph.
+Default: 25
@item -mono/-xmono or -monoMode true/false
@cindex mono, option
@cindex monoMode, option
Determines whether XBoard displays its pieces and squares with
two colors (true) or four (false). You shouldn't have to
specify @code{monoMode}; XBoard will determine if it is necessary.
+@item -showTargetSquares true/false
+@cindex showTargetSquares, option
+Determines whether XBoard can highlight the squares a piece has
+legal moves to, when you grab that piece with the mouse.
+Default: false.
@item -flashCount count
@itemx -flashRate rate
@itemx -flash/-xflash
@cindex highlight, option
@cindex highlightLastMove, option
Sets the Highlight Last Move menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
+@item -highlightMoveWithArrow true/false
+@cindex highlight Arrow, option
+@cindex highlightMoveWithArrow, option
+Sets the Highlight with Arrow menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
@item -blind/-xblind or -blindfold true/false
@cindex blind, option
@cindex blindfold, option
Sets the Blindfold menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: false.
+@item -periodic/-xperiodic or -periodicUpdates true/false
+@cindex periodic, option
+@cindex periodicUpdates, option
+Controls updating of current move andnode counts in analysis mode. Default: true.
+@item -fSAN
+@itemx -sSAN
+@cindex fSAN, option
+@cindex sSAN, option
+Causes the PV in thinking output of the mentioned engine to be converted
+to SAN before it is further processed.
+Warning: this might lose engine output not understood by the parser,
+and uses a lot of CPU power.
+Default: the PV is displayed exactly as the engine produced it.
+@item -showEvalInMoveHistory true/false
+@cindex showEvalInMoveHistory, option
+Controls whether the evaluation scores and search depth of engine moves
+are displayed with the move in the move-history window.
+Default: true.
@item -clockFont font
@cindex clockFont, option
@cindex Font, clock
The font used for the clocks. If the option value is a pattern
that does not specify the font size, XBoard tries to choose an
appropriate font for the board size being used.
-Default: -*-helvetica-bold-r-normal--*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*.
+Default Xaw: -*-helvetica-bold-r-normal--*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*.
+Default GTK: Sans Bold %d.
@item -coordFont font
@cindex coordFont, option
@cindex Font, coordinates
is true. If the option value is a pattern that does not specify
the font size, XBoard tries to choose an appropriate font for
the board size being used.
-Default: -*-helvetica-bold-r-normal--*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*.
-@item -font font
-@cindex font, option
-@cindex Font
-The font used for popup dialogs, menus, comments, etc.
+Default Xaw: -*-helvetica-bold-r-normal--*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*.
+Default GTK: Sans Bold %d.
+@item -messageFont font
+@cindex messageFont, option
+@cindex Font, message
+The font used for popup dialogs, menus, etc.
If the option value is a pattern that does not specify
the font size, XBoard tries to choose an appropriate font for
the board size being used.
-Default: -*-helvetica-medium-r-normal--*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*.
+Default Xaw: -*-helvetica-medium-r-normal--*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*.
+Default GTK: Sans Bold %d.
+@cindex tagsFont, option
+@cindex Font, tags
+The font used in the Edit Tags dialog.
+If the option value contains %d, XBoard will replace it by
+an appropriate font for the board size being used.
+(Only used in GTK build.)
+Default: Sans Normal %d.
+@cindex commentFont, option
+@cindex Font, comment
+The font used in the Edit Comment dialog.
+If the option value contains %d, XBoard will replace it by
+an appropriate font for the board size being used.
+(Only used in GTK build.)
+Default: Sans Normal %d.
+@cindex icsFont, option
+@cindex Font, ics
+The font used to display ICS output in the ICS Chat window.
+As ICS output often contains tables aligned by spaces,
+a mono-space font is recommended here.
+If the option value contains %d, XBoard will replace it by
+an appropriate font for the board size being used.
+(Only used in GTK build.)
+Default: Monospace Normal %d.
+@cindex moveHistoryFont, option
+@cindex Font, moveHistory
+The font used in Move History and Engine Output windows.
+As these windows display mainly moves,
+one could use a figurine font here.
+If the option value contains %d, XBoard will replace it by
+an appropriate font for the board size being used.
+(Only used in GTK build.)
+Default: Sans Normal %d.
+@cindex gameListFont, option
+@cindex Font, gameList
+The font used in the listbox of the Game List window.
+If the option value contains %d, XBoard will replace it by
+an appropriate font for the board size being used.
+(Only used in GTK build.)
+Default: Sans Bold %d.
@item -fontSizeTolerance tol
@cindex fontSizeTolerance, option
In the font selection algorithm, a nonscalable font will be preferred
use a nonscalable font only if it is exactly the right size;
a large value (say 1000) will force a nonscalable font to always be
used if available. Default: 4.
-@item -bm or -bitmapDirectory dir
-@itemx -pixmap or -pixmapDirectory dir
-@cindex bm, option
-@cindex bitmapDirectory, option
-@cindex pixmap, option
-@cindex pixmapDirectory, option
-These options control what piece images xboard uses. The XBoard
-distribution includes one set of pixmap pieces in xpm format, in the
-directory @file{pixmaps}, and one set of bitmap pieces in xbm format,
-in the directory @file{bitmaps}. Pixmap
-pieces give a better appearance on the screen: the white pieces have
-dark borders, and the black pieces have opaque internal details. With
-bitmaps, neither piece color has a border, and the internal details
-are transparent; you see the square color or other background color
-through them.
-
-If XBoard is configured and compiled on a system that includes libXpm,
-the X pixmap library, the xpm pixmap pieces are compiled in as the
-default. A different xpm piece set can be selected at runtime with
-the @code{pixmapDirectory} option, or a bitmap piece set can be selected
-with the @code{bitmapDirectory} option.
-
-If XBoard is configured and compiled on a system that does not include
-libXpm (or the @code{--disable-xpm} option is given to the configure
-program), the bitmap pieces are compiled in as the default. It is not
-possible to use xpm pieces in this case, but pixmap pieces in another
-format called "xim" can be used by giving the @code{pixmapDirectory} option.
-Or again, a different bitmap piece set can be selected with the
-@code{bitmapDirectory} option.
-
-Files in the @code{bitmapDirectory} must be named as follows:
-The first character of a piece bitmap name gives the piece it
-represents (@samp{p}, @samp{n}, @samp{b}, @samp{r}, @samp{q}, or @samp{k}),
-the next characters give the size in pixels, the
-following character indicates whether the piece is
-solid or outline (@samp{s} or @samp{o}),
-and the extension is @samp{.bm}.
-For example, a solid 80x80 knight would be named @file{n80s.bm}.
-The outline bitmaps are used only in monochrome mode.
-If bitmap pieces are compiled in and the bitmapDirectory is missing
-some files, the compiled in pieces are used instead.
-
-If the bitmapDirectory option is given,
-it is also possible to replace xboard's icons and menu checkmark,
-by supplying files named @file{icon_white.bm}, @file{icon_black.bm}, and
-@file{checkmark.bm}.
-
-For more information about pixmap pieces and how to get additional
-sets, see @ref{zic2xpm} below.
+@item -pid or -pieceImageDirectory dir
+@cindex pid, option
+@cindex pieceImageDirectory, option
+This options control what piece images xboard uses.
+XBoard will look in the specified directory for an image in png
+or svg format for every piece type, with names like BlackQueen.svg,
+WhiteKnight.svg etc.
+When neither of these is found (or no valid directory is specified)
+XBoard will first ty to use an image White/BlackTile.svg in that same
+directory, and if that is not present either
+use the svg piece that was installed with it
+(from the source-tree directory @samp{svg}).
+Both svg and png images will be scaled by XBoard to the required size,
+but the png pieces lose much in quality when scaled too much.
+Default: "".
+@item -inscriptions utf8string
+@cindex inscriptions, option
+The positions in the utf8string correspond to XBoard's piece types,
+and for each type a glyph can be defined.
+This glyph will then be rendered on top of the image for the piece.
+This is useful in combination with the White/BlackTile.svg images,
+which could be the image of a blank Shogi tile, for writing the
+kanji piece name on top of it on the fly.
+Default: "".
+
@item -whitePieceColor color
@itemx -blackPieceColor color
@itemx -lightSquareColor color
@itemx -darkSquareColor color
@itemx -highlightSquareColor color
+@itemx -preoveHighlightColor color
@itemx -lowTimeWarningColor color
@cindex Colors
@cindex whitePieceColor, option
@cindex lightSquareColor, option
@cindex darkSquareColor, option
@cindex highlightSquareColor, option
+@cindex premoveHighlightColor, option
@cindex lowTimeWarningColor, option
Colors to use for the pieces, squares, and square highlights.
Defaults:
-premoveHighlightColor gray70
-lowTimeWarningColor gray70
@end example
+
+The PieceColor options only work properly if the image files
+defining the pieces were pure black & white
+(possibly anti-aliased to produce gray scales
+and semi-transparancy),
+like the pieces images that come with the install.
+Their effect on colored pieces is undefined.
+The SquareColor option only have an effect
+when no board textures are used.
+@item -trueColors true/false
+@cindex trueColors, option
+When set, this option suppresses the effect of the
+PieceColor options mentioned above.
+This is recommended for images that are already colored.
+@item -useBoardTexture true/false
+@itemx -liteBackTextureFile filename
+@itemx -darkBackTextureFile filename
+@cindex useBoardTexture, option
+@cindex liteBackTextureFile, option
+@cindex darkBackTextureFile, option
+Indicate the png image files to be used for drawing the board squares,
+and if they should be used rather than using simple colors.
+The algorithm for cutting squares out of a given bitmap is such that
+the picture is perfectly reproduced when a bitmap the size of
+the complete board is given.
+If the filename ends in "-NxM.png", with integer N and M,
+it is assumed to contain a bitmap of a complete board of N files
+and M ranks, and XBoard will scale it to exactly match the
+current square size.
+If N=M=0 it scales the entire bitmap to the size of the board,
+irrespective of the number of files and ranks of the latter.
+Without any -NxM suffix textures are only blown up by an integer
+factor when they are smaller than the square size, or,
+when the name starts with "xq", too small to cover the
+complete Xiangqi board.
+Default: false and ""
@item -drag/-xdrag or -animateDragging true/false
@cindex drag, option
@cindex animateDragging, option
@cindex -animateSpeed, option
Number of milliseconds delay between each animation frame when Animate
Moves is on.
+@item -autoDisplayComment true/false
+@itemx -autoDisplayTags true/false
+@cindex -autoDisplayComment, option
+@cindex -autoDisplayTags, option
+If set to true, these options cause the window with the move comments,
+and the window with PGN tags, respectively, to pop up automatically when
+such tags or comments are encountered during the replaying a stored or
+loaded game. Default: true.
+@item -pasteSelection true/false
+@cindex -pasteSelection, option
+If this option is set to true, the Paste Position and Paste Game
+options paste from the currently selected text. If false, they paste
+from the clipboard. Default: false.
+@item -autoCopyPV true|false
+@cindex autoCopyPV, option
+When this option is set, the position displayed on the board when
+you terminate a PV walk
+(initiated by a right-click on board or engine-output window)
+will be automatically put on the clipboard as FEN.
+Default: false.
+@item -dropMenu true|false
+@cindex dropMenu, option
+This option allows you to emulate old behavior,
+where the right mouse button brings up the (now deprecated) drop menu
+rather than displaying the position at the end of the principal variation.
+Default: False.
+@item -pieceMenu true|false
+@cindex pieceMenu, option
+This option allows you to emulate old behavior,
+where the right mouse button brings up the (now deprecated) piece menu
+in Edit Position mode.
+From this menu you can select the piece to put on the square you
+clicked to bring up the menu,
+or select items such as @kbd{clear board}.
+You can also @kbd{promote} or @kbd{demote} a clicked piece to convert
+it into an unorthodox piece that is not directly in the menu,
+or give the move to @kbd{black} or @kbd{white}.
+@item -variations true|false
+@cindex variations, option
+When this option is on, you can start new variations in Edit Game or
+Analyze mode by holding the Shift key down while entering a move.
+When it is off, the Shift key will be ignored.
+Default: False.
+@item -appendPV true|false
+@cindex appendPV, option
+When this option is on, a button 3 click left of a PV in the Engine
+Output window will play the first move of that PV in Analyze mode,
+or as many moves as you walk through it by moving the mouse.
+Default: False.
+@item -absoluteAnalysisScores true|false
+@cindex absoluteAnalysisScores, option
+When true, scores on the Engine Output window during analysis
+will be printed from the white point-of-view, rather than the
+side-to-move point-of-view.
+Default: False.
+@item -scoreWhite true|false
+@cindex scoreWhite, option
+When true, scores will always be printed from the white point-of-view,
+rather than the side-to-move point-of-view.
+Default: False.
+@item -memoHeaders true|false
+@cindex memoHeaders, option
+When true, column headers will be displayed in the Engine Output window
+for the depth, score, time and nodes data.
+A button 3 click on these headers will hide or show the corresponding data.
+(Not intended for dynamic use, as already printed data of the current search
+will not be affected!)
+Defaul: False.
@end table
@node Adjudication Options
is below the given score threshold for that engine. Make sure the score
is interpreted properly by XBoard,
using @code{-firstScoreAbs} and @code{-secondScoreAbs} if needed.
-Default: 0 (no adjudiction)
+Default: 0 (no adjudication)
@item -adjudicateDrawMoves n
@cindex adjudicateDrawMoves, option
If the given value is non-zero, XBoard adjudicates the game as a draw
-if after the given number of moves it was not yet decided. Defaut: 0 (no adjudication)
+if after the given number of moves it was not yet decided. Default: 0 (no adjudication)
@item -checkMates true/false
@cindex checkMates, option
If this option is set, XBoard detects all checkmates and stalemates,
as repeats, XBoard is fully e.p. and castling aware!
@end table
+@node Install options
+@section Install options
+@cindex Options, install
+@table @asis
+@item --show-config parameter
+@cindex show-config, option
+When called with this option, XBoard will close immediately after printing the
+value of the indicated configuration parameter, or, when no parameter was given,
+after printing a list of all such parameters.
+Currently the only valid values for parameter are Datadir and Sysconfdir.
+This option can be used by install scripts for board themes
+to figure out where the currently active XBoard stores its data.
+@item -date timestamp
+@xitem -saveDate timestamp
+@cindex date, option
+@cindex saveDate, option
+These options specify an epoch as an integer number.
+The @code{saveDate} option is written by XBoard in the settings file every time the
+settings are saved, with the current time, so that later runs of XBoard can know this.
+The @code{date} option can be included in settings files to indicate when lines
+following it were added to those files.
+Some options will be ignored if the epoch specified by the latest @code{date} option
+predates the -saveDate setting (implying they must have been seen before).
+@item -addMasterOption string
+@cindex addMasterOption, option
+Adds the mentioned string as an additional line of XBoard's master settings file,
+after adding a line with a @code{date} option to timestamp it.
+Intended to add options of the 'install' type (see below) to the master file,
+which will then be processed by any XBoard that has not seen them since
+it last saved its settings.
+@item -autoClose
+@cindex autoClose, option
+The presence of this option cause XBoard to close immediately after processing
+all its options (from settings file and command line).
+Typically used from install scripts together with options that change XBoard's
+settings files, so that XBoard can be run in batch mode rather than interactively.
+@item -installEngine string
+@cindex installEngine, option
+Adds the given string as an additional line to the value of the
+@code{firstChessProgramNames} option when the -saveDate setting preceeds the -date setting.
+Intended for adding to the master settings file with the aid of -addMasterOption
+in the install script of engines, as a method for broadcasting the presence
+of a new engine to all users,
+which would then see it automatically registered with XBoard.
+Made obsolete by the advent of the plugin standard (see the @code{autoInstall} option),
+which broadcasts such presence in a non-XBoard-specific way
+by dropping *.eng files in a certain system directory.
+@item -installTheme string
+@cindex installTheme, option
+Adds the given string as an additional line to the value of the
+-themeNames option when the -saveDate setting preceeds the -date setting.
+Intended for adding to the master settings file with the aid of -addMasterOption
+in the install script of board graphics themes,
+as a method for broadcasting the availability of a new theme to all users,
+who would then see the theme appear automatically in the listbox in the
+View Board menu dialog next time they run XBoard.
+@end table
+
@node Other options
@section Other options
@cindex Options, miscellaneous
If this option is true, XBoard acts as a passive chessboard; it
does not start a chess engine at all. Turning on this option
also turns off clockMode. Default: false.
+@item -viewer
+@itemx -viewerOptions string
+@cindex viewer, option
+@cindex viewerOptions, option
+Presence of the volatile option @code{viewer} on the command line
+will cause the value of the persistent option @code{viewerOptions}
+as stored in the settings file to be appended to the command line.
+The @code{view} option will be used by desktop associations with
+game or position file types, so that @code{viewerOptions} can be
+used to configure the exact mode XBoard will start in when it
+should act on such a file (e.g. in -ncp mode, or analyzing
+with your favorite engine). The options are also automatically
+appended when Board is invoked with a single argument not being
+an option name, which is then assumed to be the name of a
+@code{loadGameFile} or (when the name ends in .fen) a
+@code{loadPositionFile}.
+Default: "-ncp -engineOutputUp false -saveSettingsOnExit false".
+@item -tourneyOptions string
+@cindex tourneyOptions, option
+When XBoard is invoked with a single argument that is a file
+with .trn extension, it will assume this argument to be the value
+of a @code{tourneyFile} option,
+and apped the value of the persistent option @code{tourneyOptions}
+as stored in the settings file to the command line.
+Thus the value of @code{tourneyOptions} can be
+used to configure XBoard to automatically start running a
+tournament when it should act on such a file.
+Default: "-ncp -mm -saveSettingsOnExit false".
@item -mode or -initialMode modename
@cindex mode, option
@cindex initalMode, option
AnalyzeFile, EditGame, EditPosition, and Training.
@item -variant varname
@cindex variant, option
-Activates preliminary, partial support for playing chess variants
+Activates (sometimes partial) support for playing chess variants
against a local engine or editing variant games. This flag is not
needed in ICS mode. Recognized variant names are:
gothic similar, with a better initial position
caparandom An FRC-like version of Capablanca Chess (10x8)
janus A game with two Archbishops (10x8 board)
-courier Medieval intermedite between shatranj and
+courier Medieval intermediate between shatranj and
modern Chess (on 12x8 board)
falcon Patented 10x8 variant with two Falcon pieces
-berolina Pawns capture straight ahead, and move diagonal
+berolina Pawns capture straight ahead, and move diagonally
cylinder Pieces wrap around the board edge
knightmate King moves as Knight, and vice versa
super Superchess (shuffle variant with 4 exo-pieces)
+makruk Thai Chess (shatranj-like, P promotes on 6th rank)
+asean ASEAN Chess (a modernized version of Makruk)
+spartan Spartan Chess (black has unorthodox pieces)
+great Great Shatranj, a 10x8 variant without sliders
+grand Grand Chess, on 10x10 with Capablanca pieces
+lion Mighty-Lion Chess, with a multi-capturing Lion
+elven Eleven Chess, with Lion and crowned sliders on 10x10
+chu Chu Shogi, historic 12x12 variant with 2x46 pieces
fairy A catchall variant in which all piece types
known to XBoard can participate (8x8)
unknown Catchall for other unknown variants
@end example
-In the shuffle variants, XBoard now does shuffle the pieces, although
+In the shuffle variants, XBoard does shuffle the pieces, although
you can still do it by hand using Edit Position. Some variants are
supported only in ICS mode, including bughouse, and
-kriegspiel. The winning/drawing conditions in crazyhouse (offboard
-interposition on mate), losers, suicide, giveaway, atomic, and 3check
-are not fully understood.
-Berolina and cylinder chess can only be played with legality testing off.
-In crazyhouse, XBoard now does keep
-track of offboard pieces. In shatranj it does implement the baring
-rule when mate detection is switched on.
+kriegspiel.
+Berolina and cylinder chess are only partially supported,
+and can only be played with legality testing off.
+
+Apart from these standard variants, engines can define variants
+of arbitrary names, briefing XBoard transparently on the rules
+for piece movement, board size and initial setup,
+so that they work nearly as well as fully-supported standard variants.
+(But obviously only while using that engine.)
+The user might have to alter the adjudication settings for some
+variants, however. E.g. it makes no sense to adjudicate a draw
+after 50 reversible moves in variants that have a 64-move rule,
+or no similar rule at all.
+
@item -boardHeight N
@cindex boardHeight, option
Allows you to set a non-standard number of board ranks in any variant.
A value of -1 means the position is randomly generated by XBoard
at the beginning of every game.
Default: -1
-@item -pieceToSquareTable string
-@cindex pieceToSquareTable, option
+@item -pieceToCharTable string
+@cindex pieceToCharTable, option
The characters that are used to represent the piece types XBoard knows in FEN
-diagrams and SAN moves. The string argument has to have an even length
+diagrams and SAN moves. The string argument has to specify an even number of pieces
(or it will be ignored), as white and black pieces have to be given separately
(in that order). The last letter for each color will be the King.
The letters before that will be PNBRQ and then a whole host of fairy pieces
-in an order that has not fully crystallized yet (currently FEACWMOHIJGDVSLU,
+in an order that has not fully crystallized yet (currently FEACWMOHIJGDVLSU,
F=Ferz, Elephant, A=Archbishop, C=Chancellor, W=Wazir, M=Commoner, O=Cannon,
H=Nightrider). You should list at least all pieces that occur in the variant
-you are playing. If you have less than 44 characters in the string, the pieces
-not mentioned will get assigned a period, and you will not be able to distinguish
-them in FENs. You can also explicitly assign pieces a period, in which case they
+you are playing. If you have fewer characters in the string than XBoard has
+pieces, the pieces not mentioned will get assigned a period,
+and will not be usable in the variant.
+You can also explicitly assign pieces a period, in which case they
will not be counted in deciding which captured pieces can go into the holdings.
A tilde '~' as a piece name does mean this piece is used to represent a promoted
-Pawn in crazyhouse-like games, i.e. on capture it turns back onto a Pawn.
+Pawn in crazyhouse-like games, i.e. on capture it turns back to a Pawn.
A '+' similarly indicates the piece is a shogi-style promoted piece, that should
revert to its non-promoted version on capture (rather than to a Pawn).
-Note that promoted pieces are represented by pieces 11 further in the list.
+Note that promoted pieces are represented by pieces 11 further in the list
+(27 in variant chu).
+To get around the limitation of the alphabet,
+piece IDs can also be 'dressed letters', i.e. a single letter
+(upper case for white, lower case for black)
+followed by a single quote or an exclamation point.
You should not have to use this option often: each variant has its own default
setting for the piece representation in FEN, which should be sufficient in normal use.
Default: ""
+@item -pieceNickNames string
+@cindex pieceNickNames, option
+The characters in the string are interpreted the same way as in the
+@code{pieceToCharTable} option. But on input, piece-ID letters are
+first looked up in the nicknames, and only if not defined there,
+in the normal pieceToCharTable. This allows you to have two letters
+designate the same piece, (e.g. N as an alternative to H for Horse
+in Xiangqi), to make reading of non-compliant notations easier.
+Default: ""
+@item -colorNickNames string
+@cindex colorNickNames, option
+The side-to-move field in a FEN will be first matched against the letters
+in the string (first character for white, second for black),
+before it is matched to the regular 'w' and 'b'.
+This makes it easier to read non-compliant FENs,
+which, say, use 'r' for white.
+Default: ""
@item -debug/-xdebug or -debugMode true/false
@cindex debug, option
@cindex debugMode, option
@item -debugFile filename or -nameOfDebugFile filename
@cindex debugFile, option
@cindex nameOfDebugFile, option
-Sets the name of the file to which WinBoard saves debug information
+Sets the name of the file to which XBoard saves debug information
(including all communication to and from the engines).
+A @kbd{%d} in the given file name (e.g. game%d.debug) will be replaced
+by the unique sequence number of a tournament game,
+so that the debug output of each game will be written on a separate file.
@item -engineDebugOutput number
@cindex engineDebugOutput, option
-Specifies how WinBoard should handle unsolicited output from the engine,
+Specifies how XBoard should handle unsolicited output from the engine,
with respect to saving it in the debug file.
The output is further (hopefully) ignored.
-If number=0, WinBoard refrains from writing such spurious output to the debug file.
+If number=0, XBoard refrains from writing such spurious output to the debug file.
If number=1, all engine output is written faithfully to the debug file.
-If number=2, any protocol-violating line is prefixed with a # character,
+If number=2, any protocol-violating line is prefixed with a '#' character,
as the engine itself should have done if it wanted to submit info for inclusion in the debug file.
This option is provided for the benefit of applications that use the debug file
as a source of information, such as the broadcaster of live games TLCV / TLCS.
@itemx -delayAfterQuit number
@cindex delayBeforeQuit, option
@cindex delayAfterQuit, option
-These options specify how long WinBoard has to wait before sending a termination signal to rogue engine processes, that do not want to react to the quit command. The second one determines the pause after killing the engine, to make sure it dies.
+These options order pauses before and after sending the "quit" command to an engine that must be terminated.
+The pause between quit and the previous command is specified in milliseconds.
+The pause after quit is used to schedule a kill signal to be sent to the engine process after the
+number of specified seconds plus one.
+This signal is a different one as the terminiation signal described in the protocol specs
+which engines can suppress or ignore, and which is sent directly after the "quit" command.
+Setting @code{delayAfterQuit} to -1 will suppress sending of the kill signal.
+Default: 0
+@item -searchMode n
+@cindex searchMode, option
+The integer n encodes the mode for the @samp{find position} function.
+Default: 1 (= Exact position match)
+@item -eloThresholdBoth elo
+@itemx -eloThresholdAny elo
+@cindex eloThresholdBoth, option
+@cindex eloThresholdAny, option
+Defines a lower limit for the Elo rating, which has to be surpassed
+before a game will be considered when searching for a board position.
+Default: 0
+@item -dateThreshold year
+@cindex dateThreshold, option
+Only games not played before the given year will be considered when
+searching for a board position
+
@end table
Some special XBoard features are activated when you are
in examine mode on ICS. See the descriptions of the menu commands
@samp{Forward}, @samp{Backward}, @samp{Pause}, @samp{ICS Client},
-and @samp{Stop Examining} on the @ref{Step Menu}, @ref{Mode Menu}, and
-@ref{Options Menu}.
+and @samp{Stop Examining} on the @ref{Edit Menu}, @ref{Mode Menu}, and
+@ref{Action Menu}.
@node Firewalls
@chapter Firewalls
xboard -ics -icshost firewall.example.com -icsport 23
@end example
@noindent
-Or in your @file{.Xresources} file:
-
-@example
-XBoard*internetChessServerHost: firewall.example.com
-XBoard*internetChessServerPort: 23
-@end example
-@noindent
Then when you run XBoard in ICS mode, you will be prompted
to log in to the firewall host. This works because port 23 is the
standard telnet login service. Do so, then telnet to ICS, using a
@end example
@noindent
-Or in your @file{.Xresources} file:
-
-@example
-XBoard*gateway: rsh.example.com
-XBoard*internetChessServerHost: chessclub.com
-@end example
-
Then when you run XBoard in ICS mode, it will connect to
the ICS by using @file{rsh} to run the command
@samp{telnet chessclub.com 5000} on host @samp{rsh.example.com}.
@end example
@noindent
-Or in your @file{.Xresources} file:
-
-@example
-XBoard*useTelnet: true
-XBoard*telnetProgram: ptelnet
-@end example
-
-@noindent
Then when you run XBoard in ICS mode, it will issue the
command @samp{ptelnet chessclub.com 5000} to connect to the ICS.
that is, your @file{ptelnet} program doesn't let you connect to
alternative ports. As noted above, your chess server may allow you to
connect on port 23 instead. In that case, just add the option
-@samp{-icsport ""} to the above command, or add
-@samp{XBoard*internetChessServerPort:} to your @file{.Xresources} file.
+@samp{-icsport ""} to the above command.
But if your chess server doesn't let you connect on port 23, you will have
to find some other host outside the firewall and hop through it. For
instance, suppose you have a shell account at @samp{foo.edu}. Set
@end example
@noindent
-Or in your @file{.Xresources} file:
-
-@example
-XBoard*useTelnet: true
-XBoard*telnetProgram: ptelnet
-XBoard*internetChessServerHost: foo.edu
-XBoard*internetChessServerPort:
-@end example
-
-@noindent
Then when you run XBoard in ICS mode, it will issue the
command @samp{ptelnet foo.edu} to connect to your account at
@samp{foo.edu}. Log in there, then type @samp{telnet chessclub.com 5000}.
the piece you are trying to drop. But this way of dropping pieces should be considered
an obsolete feature, now that pieces can be dropped by dragging them from the holdings
to the board. Anyway, if you would attempt an illegal move when using a chess engine or the ICS,
-WinBoard will accept the error message that comes back, undo the move, and let you try another.
+XBoard will accept the error message that comes back, undo the move, and let you try another.
FEN positions saved by XBoard do include correct information about whether castling or
en passant are legal, and also handle the 50-move counter.
The mate detector does not understand that non-contact mate is not really mate in bughouse.
You can load and edit games that contain piece drops.
The (obsolete) piece menus are not active,
but you can perform piece drops by dragging pieces from the holdings.
-Edit Position mode does not allow you to edit the crazyhouse holdings properly.
-You cannot drag pieces to the holding, and using the popup menu to put pieces
-there does not adapt the holding counts and leads to an inconsistent state.
-Set up crazyhouse positions by loading / pasting a bFEN, from there you can set the holdings.
Fischer Random castling is fully understood.
You can enter castlings by dragging the King on top of your Rook.
You can probably also play Fischer Random successfully on ICS by typing
@cindex Problems
@cindex Reporting problems
-Report bugs and problems with XBoard to @code{<bug-xboard@@gnu.org>}.
+You can report bugs and problems with XBoard using
+the bug tracker at @code{https://savannah.gnu.org/projects/xboard/}
+or by sending mail to @code{<bug-xboard@@gnu.org>}. It can also
+be useful to report or discuss bugs in the WinBoard Forum at
+@code{http://www.open-aurec.com/wbforum/},
+WinBoard development section.
Please use the @file{script} program to start a typescript, run
XBoard with the @samp{-debug} option, and include the typescript
output in your message.
Also tell us what kind of machine and what operating system version
you are using. The command @samp{uname -a} will often tell you this.
-Here is a sample of approximately what you should type:
-
-@example
-script
-uname -a
-./configure
-make
-./xboard -debug
-exit
-mail bug-xboard@@gnu.org
-Subject: Your short description of the problem
-Your detailed description of the problem
-~r typescript
-.
-@end example
-
-The WinBoard / XBoard 4.3 line is being developed by H.G. Muller
-independently of the GNU Savannah xboard project.
-Bug reports on this version, and suggestions for improvements and additions,
-are best posted in the WinBoard forum,
-WinBoard-development section (http://www.open-aurec.com/wbforum).
If you improve XBoard, please send a message about your changes,
and we will get in touch with you about merging them in
to the main line of development.
-Also see our Web site at http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/xboard/.
@node Contributors
@chapter Authors and contributors
@cindex Authors
@cindex Contributors
-Tim Mann has been responsible for XBoard versions 1.3 and beyond, and
-for WinBoard, a port of XBoard to Microsoft Win32 (Windows NT and
-Windows 95). H.G.Muller is responsible for version 4.3.
-
-Mark Williams contributed the initial (WinBoard-only) implementation
-of many new features added to both XBoard and WinBoard in version
-4.1.0, including copy/paste, premove, icsAlarm, autoFlipView, training
-mode, auto raise, and blindfold. Ben Nye contributed X copy/paste
-code for XBoard.
-
-Hugh Fisher added animated piece movement to XBoard, and Henrik Gram
-(henrikg@@funcom.com) added it to WinBoard. Frank McIngvale added
-click/click moving, the Analysis modes, piece flashing, ZIICS import,
-and ICS text colorization to XBoard. Jochen Wiedmann ported XBoard to
-the Amiga, creating AmyBoard, and converted the documentation to
-texinfo. Elmar Bartel contributed the new piece bitmaps introduced in
-version 3.2. John Chanak contributed the initial implementation of
-ICS mode. The color scheme and the old 80x80 piece bitmaps were taken
+Chris Sears and Dan Sears wrote the original XBoard. They were
+responsible for versions 1.0 through 1.2. The color scheme was taken
from Wayne Christopher's @code{XChess} program.
-Chris Sears and Dan Sears wrote the original XBoard. They were
-responsible for versions 1.0 through 1.2.
+Tim Mann was primarily responsible for XBoard versions 1.3 through
+4.2.7, and for WinBoard (a port of XBoard to Microsoft Win32) from its
+inception through version 4.2.7.
+
+John Chanak contributed the initial implementation of ICS mode. Evan
+Welsh wrote @code{CMail}, and Patrick Surry helped in designing,
+testing, and documenting it. Elmar Bartel contributed the new piece
+bitmaps introduced in version 3.2. Jochen Wiedmann converted the
+documentation to texinfo. Frank McIngvale added click/click moving,
+the Analysis modes, piece flashing, ZIICS import, and ICS text
+colorization to XBoard. Hugh Fisher added animated piece movement to
+XBoard, and Henrik Gram added it to WinBoard. Mark Williams
+contributed the initial (WinBoard-only) implementation of many new
+features added to both XBoard and WinBoard in version 4.1.0, including
+copy/paste, premove, icsAlarm, autoFlipView, training mode, auto
+raise, and blindfold. Ben Nye contributed X copy/paste code for
+XBoard.
-Evan Welsh wrote @code{CMail}. Patrick Surry helped in designing,
-testing, and documenting CMail.
+In a fork from version 4.2.7, Alessandro Scotti added many elements to
+the user interface of WinBoard, including the board textures and
+font-based rendering, the evaluation-graph, move-history and
+engine-output window. He was also responsible for adding the UCI
+support.
+
+H. G. Muller continued this fork of the project, producing version
+4.3. He made WinBoard castling- and e.p.-aware, added variant support
+with adjustable board sizes, the crazyhouse holdings, and the fairy
+pieces. In addition he added most of the adjudication options, made
+WinBoard more robust in dealing with buggy and crashing engines, and
+extended time control with a time-odds and node-count-based modes.
+Most of the options that initially were WinBoard only have now been
+back-ported to XBoard.
-Allessandro Scotti added many elements to the user interface of WinBoard,
-including the board textures and font-based rendering, the evaluation-graph,
-move-history and engine-output window.
-He was also responsible for adding the UCI support.
+Michel van den Bergh provided the code for reading Polyglot opening books.
-H.G. Muller made WinBoard castling- and e.p.-aware,
-added variant support with adjustable board sizes,
-the crazyhouse holdings, and the fairy pieces.
-In addition he added most of the adjudication options,
-made WinBoard more robust in dealing with buggy and crashing engines,
-and extended time control with a time-odds and node-count-based modes.
-Most of the options that initially wre WinBoard only have now been back-ported to XBoard.
+Meanwhile, some work continued on the GNU XBoard project maintained at
+savannah.gnu.org, but version 4.2.8 was never released. Daniel
+Mehrmann was responsible for much of this work.
-Michel van den Bergh provided the code for reading Polyglot opening books.
+Most recently, Arun Persaud worked with H. G. Muller to merge all
+the features of the never-released XBoard/WinBoard 4.2.8 of the GNU
+XBoard project and the never-released 4.3.16 from H. G.'s fork into a
+unified XBoard/WinBoard 4.4, which is now available both from the
+savannah.gnu.org web site and the WinBoard forum.
-Arun Persaud worked with H.G. Muller to combine all the features of the never-released WinBoard 4.2.8
-of the Savannah project (mainly by Daniel Mehrmann),
-and the never-released 4.3.16 into a unified WinBoard 4.4,
-which is now available both from the Savannah web site and the WinBoard forum.
@node CMail
@chapter CMail
@cindex cmail
A one-word alias for yourself or your opponent.
@item -wname <full name>
@itemx -bname <full name>
-@itemx -name <full name>
+@itemx -myname <full name>
@itemx -oppname <full name>
The full name of White, Black, yourself or your opponent.
@item -wna <net address>
environment variable @code{$CMAIL_MAILPROG} or failing that
@file{/usr/ucb/Mail}, @file{/usr/ucb/mail} or @file{Mail}. You will need
to set this variable if none of the above paths fit your system.
-@item -gamesFile <file>
-@cindex .cmailgames
-A file containing a list of games with email addresses. This defaults to
-the environment variable @code{$CMAIL_GAMES} or failing that
-@file{.cmailgames}.
-@item -aliasesFile <file>
-@cindex .cmailaliases
-A file containing one or more aliases for a set of email addresses. This
-defaults to the environment variable @code{$CMAIL_ALIASES} or failing
-that @file{.cmailaliases}.
@item -logFile <file>
A file in which to dump verbose debugging messages that are invoked with
the @samp{-v}
* Fairy-Max:: The Fairy-Max chess engine.
* HoiChess:: The HoiChess chess engine.
* Crafty:: The Crafty chess engine.
-* zic2xpm:: The program used to import chess sets from ZIICS.
@end menu
@node GNU Chess
@node Fairy-Max
@section Fairy-Max
-Fairy-Max is a derivative from the World's smallest Chess program micro-Max,
+Fairy-Max is a derivative from the once World's smallest Chess program micro-Max,
which measures only about 100 lines of source code.
The main difference with micro-Max is that Fairy-Max loads its move-generator
tables from a file, so that the rules for piece movement can be easily configured
to implement unorthodox pieces.
-Fairy-Max can therefore play a lage number of variants, normal Chess being one of those.
-In addition it plas Knightmate, Capablanca and Gothic Chess, Shatranj, Courier Chess,
+Fairy-Max can therefore play a large number of variants, normal Chess being one of those.
+In addition it plays Knightmate, Capablanca and Gothic Chess, Shatranj, Courier Chess,
Cylinder chess, Berolina Chess, while the user can easily define new variants.
It can be obtained from:
<crafty's directory> is the directory in which you installed Crafty
and placed its book and other support files.
-@node zic2xpm
-@section zic2xpm
-
-The ``zic2xpm'' program is used to import chess sets from the ZIICS(*)
-program into XBoard. ``zic2xpm'' is part of the XBoard distribution.
-ZIICS is available from:
-
-ftp://ftp.freechess.org/pub/chess/DOS/ziics131.exe
-
-To import ZIICS pieces, do this:
-@table @asis
-@item 1. Unzip ziics131.exe into a directory:
-
-@example
-unzip -L ziics131.exe -d ~/ziics
-@end example
-@item 2. Use zic2xpm to convert a set of pieces to XBoard format.
-
-For example, let's say you want to use the
-FRITZ4 set. These files are named ``fritz4.*'' in the ZIICS distribution.
-
-@example
-mkdir ~/fritz4
-cd ~/fritz4
-zic2xpm ~/ziics/fritz4.*
-@end example
-@item 3. Give XBoard the ``-pixmap'' option when starting up, e.g.:
-
-@example
-xboard -pixmap ~/fritz4
-@end example
-
-Alternatively, you can add this line to your @file{.Xresources} file:
-
-@example
-xboard*pixmapDirectory: ~/fritz4
-@end example
-@end table
-
-(*) ZIICS is a separate copyrighted work of Andy McFarland.
-The ``ZIICS pieces'' are copyrighted works of their respective
-creators. Files produced by ``zic2xpm'' are for PERSONAL USE ONLY
-and may NOT be redistributed without explicit permission from
-the original creator(s) of the pieces.
-
@ifnottex
@node Copyright
@unnumbered Copyright