updated Changelog, etc for developer release

[xboard.git] / NEWS

** Version 4.5.0 (not yet released)**

 *

** Version 4.4.4 **

 * Repair exit-popup deadlock patch
 * Fix bug in sending "usermove" when forcing book moves
 * Let move parser return ImpossibleMove for off-board moves
 * Prevent engine stall on perpetual-chase evasion
 * Pop down old tags on loadng new game in WinBoard
 * Fix game end during dragging
 * Repair animate dragging
 * Fix bug in sending cores command to engine
 * Fix parsing of SAN shogi promotions
 * Fix variant switch on PGN loading
 * Allow -flipBlack to work with font-based piece rendering
 * Allow font-based piece rendering in board sizes below petite
 * Fix WinBoard game-list title
 * Fix deadlock in match-result display
 * Fix regression in colorization of zippy-matched commands
 * Fix zippy handling of draw offers from ICS
 * Make some more zippy code obey the --disable-zippy flag
 * Remove unnecessary double equals from configure.ac.
 * Cut board squares out of texture bitmap more cleverly

** Version 4.4.3 **

 * Add variant Makruk
 * Implement castling for variant CRC
 * Extensive bugfix of -autoKibitz
 * Accept <Enter> for changing chat partner
 * Change opening array -variant fairy
 * Send continuation lines to chat box they belong to
 * Use -keepAlive option to determine connection health
 * Fix of ancient WinBoard bug: check value of int options
 * Fix bug for incommensurate time odds
 * Fix piece-to-char table -variant fairy
 * Fix TwoKings ICS castling-rights bug
 * Fix reading castling rights FEN in knightmate and twokings
 * Fix OO-castling in FRC after pasting FEN
 * Fix bug in display of logos
 * Fix highlighting bug in XBoard
 * Match handles with multiple titles for channel Chat Boxes
 * Make WinBoard makefiles use parser.c in XBoard directory
 * Added missing sounds files to be able to compile on windows
 * Added logo files for xboard
 * Bugfix stale first-click
 * Fix copying of WB Chat Window contents
 * Fix XB crash on giving keyboard focus to non-text widget
 * Bugfix copying from Chat Box, own lines
 * Fix 'mamer bug' in Chat Boxes
 * Fix copying of kibitzed lines from WB Engine-Output window
 * Do not recognize non-ICS variants from PGN event tag
 * Remake programVersion string after receiving engine features
 * Set keyboard focus at startup to board window
 * Fix window-position upset on failing engine start in WinBoard
 * Allow lower-case promochar in moves of type h8=Q
 * Small bugfixed for JAWS version
 * Small bugfixes

** Version 4.4.2 **

 * add Winboard source files into tar-ball
 * remove trailing \r in xboard output
 * double buffer size to prevent overflow
 * fix problem with empty string in -firstNeedsNoncompliantFEN
 * updates makefiles to include dependency on config.h
 * correctly apply some check boxes from the option menu
 * score sign in analysis mode
 * fix for bug #28077: xboard needs to link against x11
 * fix castling rights when copying FEN to clipboard (again)
 * fixed some outstanding pixmaps
 * fix the irritating wandering off of the MoveHistory window in XBoard on opening/closing.
 * use xtell for talking to handles, but tell for talking into a channel.
 * fix bug in bughouse drop menu
 * removing some rather verbose debug messages that seem no longer needed.
 * fix engine-sync on move-number type-in bug
 * fix declaration of engineOutputDialogUp
 * fix double start of zippy engine after switch to gothic
 * the last move before the time control now gets its time listed in the PGN
 * fix casting rights after FEN pasting
 * fix crash on engine crash
 * fixed build on openbsd
 * cleaned up some debug messages and typos
 * removed files that should only be in the windboard directory
 * added missing library for build on OS X

** Version 4.4.1 **
   
 * added chat windows to keep track of multiple conversations (WinBoard only)
 * allow the result comment as a display item in the game list
 * added a "Mute All Sounds" item in the WinBoard Options menu
 * new -forceIllegalMoves option
 * new -keepAlive option (for ICS play)
 * ported -autoDisplayComment and -autoDisplayTags to xboard, controling popups
 * replaces analysispopup with engineoutputpopup in xboard
 * allow copy/paste position and game to use clipboard (xboard)
 * updated several bitmaps (xboard)
 * Made the beep sounds for JAWS board navigation configurable 
   through command-line options
 * added the result comment to the game-list tags when the game 
   list is exported to the clipboard
 * updated RTF docs
 * fixed premove problem
 * fixed engine did not start playing when out of GUI book on second 
   move with white
 * fix bug using opening books (file were not closed)
 * fixed crash when opening Engine #1 Settings when there were no 
   text-edit options in the dialog
 * fixed loading of games from command lines, fixes cmail bug
 * fix joining lines split by ICS and resizing terminal window when using ICS
   (new option -keepLineBreaksICS, -wrapContinuationSequence, -useInternalWrap)
 * fixed -autoDisplayComment
 * fixed wrong default value for engineDebugOutput in xboard
 * swapped 'tell' and 'message' parsing order for correct colorization.
 * fixed parse bug for pgn files
 * fix for edit-position "moves" being sent by XBoard to the engine
 * bugfix for protocol extensions: egtbpath -> egtpath
 * fix bug in parser
 * further bugfixes:  #8847, #10990, #27427, #27642, 
   #27666, #27667, #27668, #27715, #27751, #27760, 
   #27772, #27799, #27826 and several small ones
 * use "make distcheck" to generate tar-balls
 * prepared a system to internationalize winboard menus
 * improved mouse handler
 * rewrote wevalgraph for better frontend/backend separation
 * code cleanup 

** Version 4.4.0 **

A new release of both XBoard and WinBoard is now available.  Version
4.4.0 includes many changes. It is the first major release of
xboard/winboard after a fork of the project after version 4.2.7. It
includes small changes made in the main line and changes made by a
fork of Alessandro Scotti and lots of changes made afterwards by
H.G. Muller (released as versions 4.3.x). This release represents a
unified version of all changes made after the fork. It includes many
new features and bugfixes.

You can get both XBoard and WinBoard from the Savannah
project pages:

https://savannah.gnu.org/projects/xboard/

If you find a bug, please report it in the bug tracker at
https://savannah.gnu.org/projects/xboard/ or by email to bug-xboard
(AT) gnu.org.


** Version 4.3.16 **

New command-line options
/niceEngines=N       for adjusting the priority of engine processes so they don't soak up all your system resources
/firstOptions="..."   Allows the setting of options that engines define through the feature option="..." commands
/secondOptions="..."
/firstLogo=filename.bmp  Displays the mentioned bitmap next to the clock (with H:W =1:2 aspect ratio) (WB only)
/secondLogo=filename.bmp
/autoLogo=false          get logo files automatically from engineDirectory\logo.bmp

General enhancements:
* New WB-protocol command: 'feature option="NAME -TYPE VALUE OTHER"', which engines can use to define options
* New WB-protocol command: 'option NAME VALUE' used to set value of engine-defned options.
* implements /delayAfterQuit and /delayBeforeQuit in XBoard, and uses SIGKILL to terminate rogue engine processes


** Version 4.3.15 **

New command-line options
/rewindIndex=N (for the new auto-increment mode of the loadGameIndex or loadPositionIndex in match mode)
/sameColorGames=N (for playing a match where the same player has white all the time)
/egtFormats="..." (for specifying where various end-game tables are installed on the computer)

New menu items
+ Time-odds factors can be set in the time-control dialog
+ Nr of CPUs for SMP engines can be set in the Options -> UCI dialog
+ Own-Book options can be switched from the Options -> UCI dialog
+ The ScoreIsAbs options can be set from the Options -> Engine dialog
+ New-Variant menu adds Superchess

General Enhancements:
* WinBoard engines can now also use the Polyglot opening book (implemented as general GUI book)
* New WB-protocol commands memory, cores and egtpath make interactive setting of these parameters 
  possible on WB engines
* New Polyglot is available that relays the interactive setting of these parameters to UCI engines
* Match mode suports an auto-increment mode, so that all games or positions from a file can be played
* Draw claims with Kings and an arbitrary number of like Bishops (e.g. KBBKB) are accepted

The source tree in original xboard 4.2.7 format can now be compiled under Cygwin with the aid
of the cygwin.mak file in the ~/winboard/ subdirectory of the source releasy, after you put
the hep-file from an executabl distribution there. Maefiles for other compilers are not updated
since 4.2.7, as I do not have those compilers.


** Version 4.3.14k **

Compared to version 4.3.13 described below, this version features

New command-line options: 
/autoKibitz (for relaying the PV info of the engine to the ICS) 
/userName="..." (for setting the name of the Human player, also as menu) 
/engineDebugOutput=N (controlling the writing of engine output to debug file) 
/firstNPS=N (for time management by node count or CPU time) 
/secondNPS=N (likewise for the other engine) 

New Menu items 
+ Enter Username (same as /userName command-line option) 
+ Save Diagram (for saving the Chessboard display as bitmap file) 
+ Machine Both (not implemented yet, but menu item already provided) 
+ New-Variant menu adds CRC, Janus and Berolina (the latter only with legality testing off!) 
+ Any variant can be played from a shuffled opening setup 

Bugfixes: 
* Problems with switching the variant in ICS zippy mode solved 
* In ICS observing mode game history is now fully accessible 
* Moves are not fed to engine in zippy mode, when observing a game from a variant unknown to the engine 
* a problem with loading PGN of FRC games with move disambiguation and initial castling rights was fixed.
* A bug in the clock display that made previous versions of WinBoard crash for tiny displays is fixed

General enhancements: 
* variant name displayed in title bar in ICS mode, when not 'normal' 
* when receiving a challenge in ICS zippy mode, it is checked if the engine supports the variant (/zippyVariants="..." can still be used to limit the allowed variants, and for protocol-1 engines is still the only thing to go on) 
* when loading a game from a PGN file, WB automatically switches to the variant specified in the PGN tags 
* when starting from a loaded position (using /loadPositionFile), this position will be used on subsequent 'New Game' commands as well (until we switch variant)

New is also that the source tree is now brought back in the original WinBoard 4.2.7 format, including
xboard source files. Note, however, that the xboard sources are from an older date, and I did not test
if they still compile together with the much newer backend sources. I did add code in xboard.c to recognize
the new command-line options I added since then, and in so far they are back-end options that should be enough 
to make them work. This is completely untested, though; I did not even try to compile it. Last time anyone
built a working xboard.exe from this was at a stage where WinBoard did have adjustable board size, allowing
it to play Xiangqi. But no crazyhouse holdings yet.


** Version 4.3.13a **

This version of WinBoard_F fixes several bugs in 4.3.12, and also addse a few new features.
The new features include:
- some more fairy pieces, so that each side now has 22 piece types in stead of 17,
making most fairy pieces available in board size "petite" (next to "bulky" and "middling"),
making the ArchBishop and Chancellor, as well as one wildcard piece (the Lance) available in all 
sizes from "petite" to "bulky".
- The FRC support is fully fixed, both in local and ICS mode.
- A mechanism is provided for safe draw claiming in cases where a 3-fold repetition woud occur only
  after your own move. In this case a draw will be awarded by WinBoard if the engine sends "offer draw"
  before making its move.
- Genuine draw offers are not passed on immediately to the opponent but held up to when the offerer announces
  its move.
- Variants FRC, Cylinder and Falcon are added to the "New Variant..." menu.
- Support for playing time-odds games is added. (Options /firstTimeOdds, /secondTimeOdds, /timeOddsMode)
- A mechanism is provided for attaching WinBoard options to the engine command, to create options that
follow the engine (e.g. time odds) in a tournament run under a tournament manager.
Bugfixes include:
- Shatranj in ICS mode (did not work at all before)
- Some draw adjudications (QRKR was mistaken for KRKR, and KBKB with like Bishops is now recognized)
- time info in the PGN is now correct



** Version 4.3.14 **

This relaese was not made by the GNU xboard team, but by H.G.Muller.
It mainly contains developments on WinBoard. Nevertheless, an attempt
has been started to back-port the enormous number of improvements that
have been made to WinBoard since the Linux and Windows developments branched
to xboard. This is reflected by the source tree now having the same format
as that of xboard 4.2.7, including all the xboard sources. 

An enormous amount of work still has to be done to make the xboard version
fully equivalent to WinBoard, especially on user-interface side. As a modest
beginning, the xboard source files have been patched to allow their compilation
with the newer back-end files from WinBoard. To this end, the number of piece
types in xboard has been increased from 6 to 22, and the WinBoard bitmaps
have been converted to xboard source format (.bm) and are included in the
xboard bitmaps directory. Other quick patches include the coloring of the
board squares (for xiangqi and holdings), and some code in the user-move
handling to suppress all moves into or out of the area between board and
holdings in crazyhouse, and the treatment of king-captures-own-piece
as a possibly valid move (for FRC castling). This should make it possible 
to run xboard with the new back-end files without too much inconvenience.

New xboard command-line options have been added to make the added back-end 
features available. The include the new variants (as argument of the old
-variant option), -boardWidth, -boardHeight and -holdingsSize. Be sure
to call xboard with "-boardSize middling" or "-boardSize bulky" if you
want to play with fairy pieces, or xboard might crash due to unavailability
of bitmaps. Other added xboard options are:

ADJUDICATION OPTIONS:
-checkMates
-testClaims
-materialDraws
-trivialDraws
-ruleMoves
-repeatsToDraw
-adjudicateLossThreshold
-firstScoreAbsolute
-secondScoreAbsolute

TIME-CONTROL OPTIONS
-firstTimeOdds
-secondTimeOdds
-timeOddsMode
-firstNPS
-secondNPS

GENERAL OPTIONS
-matchPause
-engineDebugOutput
-userName
-pgnExtendedInfo
-pgnEventHeader
-hideThinkingFromHuman

This is all completely untested, but as the options merely switch on well-tested
code in the back-end, there should not be too many problems with them.
Bugs can be reported in the WinBoard forum.