PolyGlot - Winboard protocol to UCI protocol adapter
- book engine for Polyglot books
- - a collection of utilities for creating opening books
+ - a collection of utilities for creating and analyzing opening books
- a utility for analyzing epd files
- a perft counter
=head1 SYNOPSIS
-polyglot [configfile]
+polyglot [configfile] [-noini] [-ec engine] [-ed enginedirectory] [-en enginename] [-log true/false] [-lf logfile] [-pg <name>=<value>]* [-uci <name>=<value>]*
polyglot make-book [-pgn inputfile] [-bin outputfile] [-max-ply ply] [-min-game games] [-min-score score] [-only-white] [-only-black] [-uniform]
polyglot merge-book -in1 inputfile1 -in2 inputfile2 [-out outputfile]
-polyglot [configfile] epd-test [-epd inputfile] [-min-depth depth] [-max-depth depth] [-max-time time] [-depth-delta delta]
+polyglot info-book [-bin inputfile] [-exact]
+
+polyglot dump-book [-bin inputfile] -color color [-out outputfile]
+
+polyglot [configfile] epd-test [engineoptions] [-epd inputfile] [-min-depth depth] [-max-depth depth] [-max-time time] [-depth-delta delta]
polyglot perft [-fen fen] [-max-depth depth]
to the engine and vice versa, except that it will play book moves on
behalf of the engine when the occasion arises.
+The engine options are exported as UCI options in UCI
+mode and as "feature option=" commands in xboard mode. The latter form
+an extension of the xboard protocol as defined by H.G. Muller.
+
+Options which normally appear in the [PolyGlot] section of the
+config file (see below) are exported as options with their name prefixed
+by "Polyglot". This makes it easy to filter them in the GUI.
+
+NOTE: Not all options are exported, only those that make sense in the
+given mode.
+
=head2 Book making utilities
PolyGlot supports the "PolyGlot opening book format". This is the
by their own GUIs.
PolyGlot can compile a pgn file into a binary PolyGlot book and furthermore
-it can merge two such binary books into a third one.
+it can merge two such binary books into a third one.
+
+PolyGlot can also extract some useful information from PolyGlot books. The utility
+"dump-book" dumps the "lines" in a book for a given color. By definition
+a line is a sequence of moves (from the starting position) in which
+the given color makes only book moves and the other color makes
+arbitrary moves (i.e. not necessarily book moves).
+
+Since a PolyGlot book is built up from positions and not lines there
+may be (and there usually are) many positions in the book that are not
+on a "line" as defined in the previous paragraph. It is convenient
+to call such positions "isolated" positions. The utility "info-book"
+counts such isolated positions.
+
+Some of the isolated positions are provably unreachable and they
+could in principle be deleted from the book. For example if a book
+contains only the move "e4" in the starting position but also the
+position after "d4 d5" then this last position is provably unreachable
+since it requires white to make a non-book move when a book move is
+available. Such situations arise frequently from the priority rules
+in merging books.
+
+Unfortunately not all isolated positions are provably unreachable and
+it is difficult to identify the latter. If invoked with "-exact" the
+utility info-book will attempt to count the isolated positions which
+require a player to make a non-book move when a book move is available.
+Due to the possibility of transpositions this is not a fool proof method.
=head2 Epd test mode
=head1 OPTIONS
-When invoked without options or with a config file as argument PolyGlot
-acts as an adapter. The config file format is documented below. The
-default config file is "polyglot.ini".
+When PolyGlot is invoked as an adapter of in epd-test mode it gets its
+options from a config file and then from the command line. The
+default config file is "polyglot.ini" but an alternative one may be
+optionally included as first argument. The config file format is
+described below.
+
+The following engine options may be specified on the command line.
+
+=over 4
+
+=item B<-noini>
+
+Do not use a config file, even if one was specified on the command line.
+
+=item B<-pg>
+
+The argument is a string of the form <name>=<value>. This option will
+set the Polyglot option <name> to <value>.
+
+=item B<-uci>
+
+The argument is a string of the form <name>=<value>. This option will
+set the engine option <name> to <value>.
+
+=item B<-ec>
+
+This is an alias for -pg "EngineCommand=<value>"
+
+=item B<-ed>
+
+This is an alias for -pg "EngineDir=<value>"
+
+=item B<-en>
+
+This is an alias for -pg "EngineName=<value>"
+
+=item B<-log> (default: false)
+
+This is an alias for -pg "Log=<value>"
+
+=item B<-lf> (default: "polyglot.log")
+
+This is an alias for -pg "LogFile=<value>".
+
+=item B<-wb> (default: "true")
+
+This is an alias for -pg "OnlyWbOptions=<value>".
+
+=back
When invoked as
words when a position occurs both in "in1" and "in2" only the
moves and weights from "in1" will be retained in "out".
+When invoked
+as
+
+=head2 polyglot dump-book
+
+PolyGlot supports the following options
+
+=over 4
+
+=item B<-bin> (default: book.bin)
+
+Input file in PolyGlot book format.
+
+=item B<-color>
+
+The color for whom to generate the lines.
+
+=item B<-out> (default: book_<color>.txt)
+
+The name of the output file.
+
+=back
+
+When invoked
+as
+
+=head2 polyglot info-book
+
+PolyGlot supports the following options
+
+=over 4
+
+=item B<-bin> (default: book.bin)
+
+Input file in PolyGlot book format.
+
+=item B<-exact>
+
+Attempt to count the provably unreachable positions among the isolated ones.
+Note that this takes a very long time.
+
+=back
+
When invoked as
=head2 polyglot epd-test
-(possibly with a config file as first argument) PolyGlot supports the following
-options
+(possibly with a config file as first argument) PolyGlot supports
+besides the generic options described above the following additional
+options.
=over 4
=item B<-depth-delta> (default: 3)
-Stop the search if the best move has been constant for this many depths,
-on condition that the mininal depth and minimal time have been reached.
+Stop the search if the solution as been found and the best move has
+been constant for this many depths, on condition that the mininal
+depth and minimal time have been reached.
=item B<-min-depth> (default: 8)
option = value
...
-Lines starting with "#" are ignored.
+The characters "#" and ";" serve as comment characters.
-NOTE: There can be spaces in option names or values. Do not use
-quotes. Boolean values are written as "true" or "false".
+Initial and final white space is stripped from option names and
+values. If you need to use characters which have a special meaning to
+PolyGlot (these are ';#[]=\') you should quote them by preceding them
+with '\'. "Quoting" other characters in this way has no effect. In
+particular the use of '\' as a path separator in windows should
+normally not affected.
=head2 [PolyGlot] section
Put here the name of the engine executable file. You can also add
command-line arguments. Path searching is used and the current
-directory will be "EngineDir".
+directory will be "EngineDir". On Linux the EngineCommand is passed
+to wordexp so that shell quoting rules and expansions are applied.
+On Windows the EngineCommand is simply passed to CreateProcess which
+does its own shell like processing.
+
+=item B<SettingsDir> (default: $HOME/.polyglot on Linux; ".\_PG" on Windows)
+
+The directory where ini files are stored for engines that are started with
+-noini. Such ini files may be created by pushing the "Save" button in the
+Engine settings dialog in WB/XB 4.4.0 and higher. As a special exception
+(for WB/XB 4.4.0 compatibility) this directory is also used in case
+PolyGlot is started with config files named "polyglot_1st.ini" or
+"polyglot_2nd.ini".
=item B<Log> (default: false)
Show search information during engine pondering. Turning this off
might be better for interactive use in some interfaces.
+=item B<ScoreWhite> (default: true)
+
+Report score from white's point of view in xboard mode.
+
=item B<KibitzMove> (default: false)
Whether to kibitz when playing a move.
xboard command to use for kibitzing, normally "tellall" for kibitzing
or "tellothers" for whispering.
-
=item B<KibitzDelay> (default: 5)
How many seconds to wait before starting kibitzing. This has an
effect only if "KibitzPV" is selected, move kibitzes are always sent
regardless of the delay.
+=item B<KibitzInterval> (default: 0)
+
+This is another form of throttling. PolyGlot will usually wait this
+many seconds before doing the next kibitz.
+
=item B<UCI> (default: false)
If true PolyGlot will not understand xboard commands.
+=item B<MateScore> (default: 10000)
+
+Mate score reported to GUI when in xboard mode.
+
=item B<Book> (default: false)
Indicates whether a PolyGlot book should be used. This has no effect
PolyGlot is unaware of whether the engine is itself using a book or
not.
-=item B<Chess960> (default: false)
-
-Play Chess960 (also called Fischer Random Chess or FRC),
-
-=item B<MateScore> (default: 10000)
-
-Mate score reported to GUI when in xboard mode.
-
=item B<BookFile> (default: book.bin)
The name of the (binary) book file. Note that PolyGlot will look for
Of course, full path can be used in which case the current directory
does not matter.
-NOTE: When using PolyGlot with a UCI GUI this parameter can be set
-via the UCI option "Polyglot BookFile".
-
=item B<BookRandom> (default: true)
Select moves according to their weights in the book. If false the move
=item B<BookLearn> (default: false)
-Record learning information in the opening book. Naturally this requires
-the opening book to be writable.
+This is a noop.
+
+=item B<BookDepth> (default: 256)
+
+Stop using the book after this number of moves.
+
+=item B<BookTreshold> (default: 5)
+
+Do not play moves with a weight (probability) lower than this (in per mil).
=item B<UseNice> (default: false)
This a bit vector in which each bit represents the processors that a
process is allowed to run on. This option works only on Windows.
+=item B<STFudge> (default: 20)
+
+PolyGlot will translate "st x" as "go movetime 1000*x-STFudge".
+The rationale is that in the UCI specification the argument of movetime
+is defined as the exact search time whereas the argument of the
+st command is only an upperbound.
+
+=item B<OnlyWbOptions> (default: true)
+
+If true then PolyGlot restricts the options it sends to those that
+are potentially useful for WinBoard.
=back
Work arounds are identical to options except that they should be used
only when necessary. Their purpose is to try to hide problems with
-various software (not just engines). The default value is always
-correct for bug-free software.
+various software (not just engines).
IMPORTANT: Any of these work arounds might be removed in future
versions of PolyGlot. You are strongly recommended to contact the
When true, PolyGlot repeats the last pv string (which also contains
score,depth and time usage) it got from the engine. Some engines
-however do not send a new pv string just before sending the move and
-the now old pv string might confuse debugtools that parse the winboard
-debug files.
-
+however do not send a new pv string just before sending the move.
+In that case the output of PolyGlot would be inconsistent.
+When RepeatPV is false PolyGlot does not repeat the last pv string.
+Due to the way kibitzing is implemented, KibitzMove is disabled in that case.
=back
=head1 EXAMPLES
+Running the UCI engine "fruit" under xboard 4.3.15 and later (this invokes PolyGlot internally).
+
+ xboard -fcp fruit -fUCI
+
+An explicit command line for using the UCI engine "fruit" with logging enabled (this works also with older versions of xboard).
+
+ xboard -fcp "polyglot -noini -log true -ec fruit"
+
+The equivalent config file would be:
+
+ [PolyGlot]
+ EngineCommand = fruit
+ Log = true
+ [Engine]
+
Compile "games.pgn" into a book "book.bin" retaining all lines of at
most 30 plies.
polyglot make-book -pgn games.pgn -bin book.bin -max-ply 30
-Merge books "in1.bin" and "in2.bin" into a book "out.bin".
+Merge books "w1.bin" and "w2.bin" into a book "w.bin".
polyglot merge-book -in1 w1.bin -in2 w2.bin -out w.bin
+Inspect lines for white in "w.bin"
-Here is a minimal config file
+ polyglot dump-book -bin w.bin -color white -out w_white.txt
- [PolyGlot]
- EngineCommand = fruit
- [Engine]
+Test epd file "test.epd" with a (maximum) search time of 7 minutes per position
+ polyglot epd-test -epd test.epd -max-time 420
=head1 EXIT STATUS
Various enhancements: Fonzy Bleumers<match(at)geenvis.net>
-UCI port: Michel Van den Bergh <michel.vandenbergh(at)uhasselt.be>
+UCI port and implementation of new WB protocol: Michel Van den Bergh
+<michel.vandenbergh(at)uhasselt.be>
+
+
=head1 SEE ALSO
projects / polyglot.git / blobdiff