A preconfigured app bundle of Xboard for Mac OSX can also be found at the Winboard Forum.
-Correspondence chess played by electronic mail. The CMail program automates the tasks of parsing email from your opponent, playing his moves out on your board, and mailing your reply move after you've chosen it.
+
+development version
+
+We regularly do so called 'developer releases', which include the newest and the latest we are working on.
+If you want to help us test, or just want to use the new features, you might prefer to use those over the stable version.
+
+
+At the Open Build Server we provide packages that can be installed in parallel to the normal xboard version. To do this the programs are renamed to xboardnext (latest from the v4.7.x branch in git) and xboardgit (latest version from the master branch in git). Packages are available for: Debian 6.0, Fedora 17/18, RedHat RHEL 6, opensuse 12.1/12.2/12.3/Tumbleweed/Factory, Centos 6, Arch, Ubunutu 10.04/12.04/12.10. These packages are generated automatically and are for testing purposes only. Please let us know if you have any problems related to XBoard or package dependencies.
+
+ Windows builds of development version can often be found at HGM's web page.
+
+
Furthermore we provide development versions (tagged commits in git):
+
+
+- A snapshot of the master branch is available: master-20130828.
+- A snapshot of the release branch is available: (no developer release available at the moment)
-XBoard runs on Unix and Unix-like systems that use the X Window System. The project also includes a port to 32-bit Windows systems called WinBoard.
- Other information
+How to build the development version
- Tim's original pages are still available.
+git version
+ The git repository is available on Savannah. All branches can be viewed there. The web page also provides tar-balls of all tagged versions, these tar-balls are different from the ones that you can download from the ftp-server and you will need to run ./autogen.sh on them as described below.
-Downloading XBoard
+ If you want to get a copy of the repository you can clone it using the command "git clone http://git.savannah.gnu.org/r/xboard.git". For more information on how to use git, please visit the git home page.
-stable version
+ After cloning the git-repository or downloading and unpacking a snapshot tar-ball from the git repository,
+run ./autogen.sh, ./configure and then make and make install.
- The current stable version is 4.2.7
-It can be found on the main GNU ftp server:
-http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/xboard/
-(via http) and
-ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/xboard/
-(via ftp).
-It can also be found on one of the mirrors of
-ftp.gnu.org;
-please use a mirror if
-possible.
+tar-balls (from the ftp-server)
+ Unpack the tar ball and do ./configure followed by make and make install.
-development version
+For development sources and other information, please see
+the XBoard project
+page at savannah.gnu.org.
-For development sources and other information, please see the XBoard project page at savannah.gnu.org.
+archive
-At the moment we are working hard on version 4.4.0, which should be out soon (that is summer 2009)
-A snapshot of the latest source code is available at the git repository on Savannah.
- We also have test-packages available for debian (link will be available in the next few days, that is mid of 2009-07) and opensuse (rpm). Furthermore you can get a .tar.gz from alpha.gnu.org (also available in a few days, that is mid 2009-07). Keep in mind that these are still beta.
+You can also find an archive of old versions on the ftp server.
-Documentation
+
-Documentation for XBoard is available online, as
-is documentation for most GNU software. You may
-also find more information about XBoard by running info xboard
-or man xboard, or by looking at /usr/doc/xboard/,
+
The official manual page for XBoard is available online,
+as is documentation for most GNU software.
+This discusses every feature XBoard has in detail.
+You may also find this information on your local system by
+running info xboard or man xboard, or by
+looking at /usr/doc/xboard/,
/usr/local/doc/xboard/, or similar directories on your system.
+There now also exists an XBoard User Guide, which only presents the main features in a more pedestrian way.
+This would be an excellent starting point if you are a novice XBoard user.
+If you have prior experience with XBoard, but just want to know what new features have been added since the version you were used to,
+the pages in the What's New section would be the place to go.
+
+
+A description of the Chess Engine Communication Protocol used by XBoard to communicate with Chess Engines can be found here.
+
+It would be great if people would like to help in the developing process. We can use all kinds of help, from people who just use the software and have a feature request (send them to developer mailing list), to people who can update/check the documentation and especially people who test development versions (send problems to the developer mailing list).
+Have a look at the following list in case you are interested:
-Screenshots
+Translators
+We added support for different languages to XBoard and need people to translate it. The translation is handled by the translation project. You can check on the current status and how to join the translation project.
+
+Testers
+ We are always looking for people who are willing to test the latest new features and give us feedback or new ideas. If you are interested, please send an email to our list at <xboard-devel@gnu.org> or just try out the program and reports bugs either to the email list or to the bug-tracker (see below for links).
+
+GTK developer needed
+ We are also working on merging Winboard and XBoard back into one version using a cross platform GTK-front end. This will help us clean up the code and make things like internationalization easier. We made some progress, if you know want to help out there are still lots of things waiting to be done. Email the mailing list for more information.
+
+EPD test-suite capability
+A sort of match mode where one engine automatically does a number of 'games',
+(using a position file filled with EPDs as starting positions),
+except that each 'game' lasts only for one move, and the 'result' is then computed
+by XBoard depending on if this move was the correct solution specified in the EPD.
+
+Multi-board ICS mode
+Implement a slave mode where XBoard forks itself, connecting a pipe between
+what normally would be the ICS socket of the child, and a new output channel
+of the parent, so that the parent can forward board and move lists belonging to
+a specific game to the slave dedicated to display it.
+
+Update the documentation
+The documentation could need some updates. In our effort to merge
+Winboard and XBoard back together, we also want to merge the RTF file
+back into the XBoard texinfo file. This will take some effort though,
+since the two versions still differ in several areas and this would
+need to be highlighted. The benefit would be though that we could
+prepare a much better and up to date Windows documentation.
+
-Will be added soon.
+Update the webpage
+The content of the webpage could be updated with screenshots from
+the latest version. We also have a new tutorial that could be
+integrated. The webpage should also be integrated with git, so that
+all developers have access to it.
Links
-We will add links soon for special topics, such as: computer chess, bughouse and other topics.
+
+ - XBoard/Winboard
+
+ - Tim's original pages are still available.
+ - XBoard can also run engines that use the UCI protocol, with
+ the aid of the Polyglot protocol adapter. A new Polyglot
+ version, (1.4.67b), especially adapted to support the new
+ features of XBoard 4.4.0 and later, can be
+ found here.
+
+
+
+ - Incomplete list of computer engines that work with XBoard
+
+
+ - Chess server you can connect to using XBoard
+
+
+ - Other interfaces
+
+
+
Frequently Asked Question(FAQ)
@@ -114,11 +294,14 @@ interface.
A very active forum is the WinBoard Forum (where our current main developer HGM can be found).
-Reporting Bug
+Reporting Bugs and Requesting New Features
If you think you found a bug, please check the bugtracker for open and already closed bugs. If you found a new bug, please, file a bug-report either via our bug-related email list or in the bugtracker.
-
-
-
Maintainer
-
-XBoard is currently being maintained by Tim Mann, Arun Persaud and H.G. Muller. Please
-use the mailing lists above for contact.
-
Please remember that development of XBoard, and GNU in general, is a
volunteer effort, and you also can contribute. For information, please
read How to help GNU.
-
-
-
-
-
-
+Licensing
+
+XBoard
+is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the
+terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free
+Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at your
+option) any later version.
+
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-
-
Translations of this page
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+ 
+ ![[screenshot normal game]](graphics/xboard-4.4.0.png)
![[screenshot bughouse game]](graphics/xboard-4.4.0-variant.png)
![[screenshot shogi game]](graphics/xboard-4.4.0-showgi.png)
![[screenshot xiangqi game]](graphics/xboard-4.4.0-XQ.png)