Zippy README file
For version xboard/WinBoard 4.2.4 and later only
-$Id$
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Zippy is a program that lets GNU Chess act as a computer player on an
tends to work poorly because it is dull when shouted in isolated
250-character chunks.
- --Tim Mann <tim@tim-mann.org>
+ --Tim Mann
http://www.tim-mann.org/chess.html
* * *
-Unix: To build the Zippy version of xboard, on most systems just do:
+Unix: To build the Zippy version of xboard, on most systems just do:
configure --enable-zippy
make
If you have problems building or running Zippy, see the rest of the
xboard documentation: INSTALL documents the configure program, while
-READ_ME and xboard.man (or xboard.doc) document xboard itself, and
+READ_ME and xboard.man (or xboard.txt) document xboard itself, and
WinBoard.hlp documents WinBoard. FAQ answers some frequently asked
questions. The file engine-intf.html contains some information about
the interface between xboard/WinBoard and GNU Chess (or other chess
its sayings file. You can alias this to whatever you like.
If XXX is censoring you, he is automatically removed from your
notify list.
-
+
(3) If a player XXX in your notify list logs off, xboard sends
- the command "farewell XXX" to ICS. You can alias this to
+ the command "farewell XXX" to ICS. You can alias this to
whatever you like. Note that the player is already gone, so
telling him something is futile.
-
+
If zippyTalk is on, colorization in the ICS interaction
window, and the sounds corresponding to colors in that window,
do not work. The reply feature captures the tells, etc.,
does not work. Instead, use the -zippyGameEnd option to have
a string of several commands sent, with newlines in between.
For example, you could give WinBoard the command line option
- -zippyGameEnd='say thanks\nseek 5 0\nseek 2 12\n'
- You could give xboard the command line option
- -xrm '*zippyGameEnd: say thanks\nseek 5 0\nseek 2 12\n'
+ -zippyGameEnd=\"say thanks\\nseek 5 0\\nseek 2 12\\n\"
+ Note the extra backslashes: these are essential, because the
+ shell will strip them from the command before passing it to
+ XBoard, and XBoard needs to see the quotes (which would
+ otherwise be stripped by the shell as well), because only within
+ quotes it will recognize the \n as a linefeed.
-zippyAdjourn True/False or -zadj/-xzadj
Zippy will allow its opponent to adjourn if this option is
partner tells to be relayed to the engine with the ptell
command.
- -zippyMaxGames int
+ -zippyMaxGames int
-zippyReplayTimeout
If zippyMaxGames > 0, Zippy will play at most the given number
of consecutive games against the same opponent. Thereafter,
starts a game between Zippy and the first opponent to respond,
giving Zippy no choice about whether to accept or decline.
+ -zippyShortGame int
+ If zippyShortGame > 0, Zippy will decline all challenges
+ from an opponent that terminated a game before the given number
+ of ply (with an explanatory tell) until either someone else has
+ played or zippyReplayTimeout seconds have elapsed. Do not set
+ the number of moves to large; the number of ply during which
+ opponents can abort a game without rating change would be a
+ good setting. Default: zippyShortGame=0.
+
=====================
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
=====================
the middle (as with resuming from adjournments or switching opponents
in a simul).
+As noted under -zippyPlay above, you should have -getMoveList on to
+ensure that the engine knows the game history after switching boards
+and thus handles draw by repetition and by the 50-move rule correctly.
+It should, however, also work to turn off this option to speed things
+up and reduce network bandwidth, if you don't mind the engine
+occasionally failing to see draw possibilities. Unfortunately,
+though, with Crafty 18.3 (and probably other versions too) as the
+engine, users trying this have experienced Crafty crashes. This looks
+to me like a Crafty bug, but I wasn't able to reproduce it, so it
+remains a mystery.
+
+
========
EXAMPLES
========