updated "need help" section

[xboard.git] / index.html

<!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" -->
<title>XBoard - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title>
<!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" -->
<h2>XBoard</h2>

<!-- This is the template document for GNU web pages.  We use -->
<!-- server side includes (#include) for common elements, for -->
<!-- instance, the very first line of the file.  If you're reading -->
<!-- this in its expanded form, you can retrieve the original source,  -->
<!-- with the SSI statements intact, from -->
<!-- http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/*checkout*/www/server/standards/boilerplate.html?root=www&content-type=text%2Fplain
  -->

<!-- This document uses XHTML 1.0 Strict, but may be served as -->
<!-- text/html.  Please ensure that markup style considers -->
<!-- appendix C of the XHTML 1.0 standard. See validator.w3.org. -->

<!-- Please ensure links are consistent with Apache's MultiView. -->
<!-- Change include statements to be consistent with the relevant -->
<!-- language, where necessary. -->


<p>XBoard is a graphical user interface for chess in all its major
forms, including international chess, xiangqi (Chinese chess),
shogi (Japanese chess) and Makruk, in addition to many minor variants such as
Losers Chess, Crazyhouse, Chess960 and Capabanca Chess. It displays a
chessboard on the screen, accepts moves made with the mouse, and loads
and saves games in Portable Game Notation (PGN). It serves as a
front-end for many different chess services, including:</p>
<ul>
<li>
Chess engines that will run on your machine and play a game against
you or help you analyze, such as GNU Chess, Crafty, or many
others.</li>

<li>Chess servers on the Internet, where you can connect to play chess
with people from all over the world, watch other users play, or just
hang out and chat.</li>

<li>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.</li>
</ul>
<p>XBoard runs on Unix and Unix-like systems that use the X Window
System. </p>

<h3>Winboard</h3>

<p>The project also includes a port to 32-bit Windows systems called
WinBoard.</p>

<p>You can find the download section for the stable version of Winboard at
the <a href="http://www.open-aurec.com/wbforum/viewforum.php?f=19">Winboard
Forum</a> or try the link to a beta-version in the <a href="#download">download section</a>.</p>

<p>Development for Winboard, reporting bugs and any other requests can
also be done at the same places as for XBoard (see below).</p>

<h3> What's new </h3>
<p> Starting from 4.5.0 we will summarize the latest changes at <a href="whats_new.html">these</a> webpages. You can also find information about the next upcoming release here.
Have a look, try it out (download links below) and let us know what you think.</p>

<h3>Help needed</h3>

<p>We can always need more people to help out with XBoard/Winboard. Have a look at the following list in case you are interested:</p>

<h4>Testers </h4>
<p> 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 <a href="mailto:xboard-devel@gnu.org">&lt;xboard-devel@gnu.org&gt;</a> or just try out the program and reports bugs either to the email list or to the bug-tracker (see <a href="#download">below</a> for links).</p>

<h4>GTK developer needed</h4>
<p> 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. Progress is slow though, so if you know want to help out there are lots of things waiting to be done. Email the <a href="mailto:xboard-devel@gnu.org">mailing list</a> for more information. </p>

<h4>EPD test-suite capability</h4>
<p>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.</p>

<h4>Multi-board ICS mode</h4>
<p>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.</p>

<h4>Allow run-time loading / unloading of engines</h4>
<p>A tricky issue, because in the current code initializing the engine is intertwined
with initializing XBoard. And the whole idea is to be able to switch engine without
losing your current settings or indeed your current game. So it will require some
good thought about which options need to be reset (like -fd, for sure), and which
should be kept.</p>

<h4>Implement a tournament manager in XBoard</h4>
<p>Currently XBoard supports only two-player matches. If run-time changing of the
engine becomes possible, it wold be nice if people could also perform automatic
round-robins or gauntlets between a group of engines.</p>

<h4>Processing of engine PVs before display</h4>
<p>Currently XBoard just displays what the engine prints for PV in its thinking output
literally. Which often means long algebraic. It would be nice if the user can choose
the display format, so it can be SAN or even some other format (e.g. descriptive
notation or some specific Xangqi or Shogi format), possibly through invoking an
external processor.</p>

<h4>Update the documentation</h4>
<p>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.
</p>

<h3><a name="download"></a>Downloading XBoard</h3>

<h4>stable version</h4>

<p>The current stable version
is: <a href="ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/xboard/">4.5.0</a></p>

<p>It can be found on the main GNU ftp server:
<a href="http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/xboard/">http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/xboard/</a> (via http) and
<a href="ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/xboard/">ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/xboard/</a> (via ftp).</p>

<p>It can also be found on one of the <a href="/prep/ftp.html">mirrors
of ftp.gnu.org</a>;
please <a href="http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/xboard">use a mirror</a> if
possible.</p>

<p>Precompiled versions are available
for <a href="http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/openSUSE:/Factory:/Contrib/">openSUSE</a>
and <a href="http://packages.debian.org/squeeze/xboard">debian-squeeze</a>
(if you know of other distribution that package it, please let us
know).</p>

<h4>development version</h4>

<p>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). </p>

<p>At the moment we have three developer versions:</p>

<ul>
<li>A snapshot of the 4.5.x branch: (nothing to see there since 4.5.0 has just been released)
<!-- This will become the next stable version.  <a href="ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/xboard/">4.4.4.20100806</a>. 
A precompiled version will available soon for <a href="http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/apersaud/">openSUSE</a>. -->
    
</li>
<li>A snapshot of the master branch: <a href="ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/xboard/">master-20101211</a>. <br />
The master branch at this moment also includes changes that will go in future versions, but not necessary in the next release. Since this includes lots of changes, chances for major bugs are higher. Precompiled packaged versions are available for <a href="http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/apersaud/">openSUSE </a>, <a href="http://packages.debian.org/experimental/xboard">debian</a> and <a href="http://hgm.nubati.net/WinBoard-4.5.0.exe ">Windows</a>.

</li>
<li>A snapshot of the gtk branch: <a href="ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/xboard/">gtk-20100806</a>. <br />
   In the gtk branch we are working on merging Winboard and Xboard back together using a gtk-frontend. This code doesn't work 100% yet, it will crash quite often, but you can almost play normal games against a machine already. A precompiled version is available for <a href="http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/apersaud/">openSUSE</a>.</li>
</ul>

<h5>How to build the development version</h5>

<h6>git version</h6>
<p> After cloning the git-repository, do ./autogen.sh, ./configure and then a make.</p>

<h6>tar-balls</h6>
<p> Unpack the tar ball and do ./configure followed by make.</p>


<p>For development sources and other information, please see
the <a href="http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/xboard/">XBoard project
page</a> at <a href="http://savannah.gnu.org">savannah.gnu.org</a>.</p>

<p>A snapshot of the latest source code for all branches is available at
the <a href="http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/xboard.git">git
repository</a> on Savannah.</p>

<h4>archive</h4>

<p>You can also find an archive of old versions on <a href="ftp://ftp.gnu.org/old-gnu/xboard/">the ftp server</a>.</p>

<h3>Documentation</h3>

<p><a href="manual/">Documentation for XBoard</a> is available online,
as is <a href="/manual/">documentation for most GNU software</a>.  You
may also find more information about XBoard by
running <em>info&nbsp;xboard</em> or <em>man&nbsp;xboard</em>, or by
looking at <em>/usr/doc/xboard/</em>,
<em>/usr/local/doc/xboard/</em>, or similar directories on your system.</p>

<p>The Chess Engine Communication Protocol can be found <a href="engine-intf.html">here</a>.</p>

<h3>Screenshots</h3>

<p>These are screenshots taken from version 4.4.0 (click to enlarge).</p>
<a href="graphics/xboard-4.4.0.png"><img src="graphics/xboard-4.4.0.png" alt=" [screenshot normal game] " height="200" /></a>
<a href="graphics/xboard-4.4.0-variant.png"><img src="graphics/xboard-4.4.0-variant.png" alt=" [screenshot bughouse game] " height="200" /></a>
<a href="graphics/xboard-4.4.0-showgi.png"><img src="graphics/xboard-4.4.0-showgi.png" alt=" [screenshot bughouse game] " height="200" /></a>
<a href="graphics/xboard-4.4.0-petite.png"><img src="graphics/xboard-4.4.0-petite.png" alt=" [screenshot bughouse game] " height="200" /></a>
<a href="graphics/xboard-4.4.0-XQ.png"><img src="graphics/xboard-4.4.0-XQ.png" alt=" [screenshot bughouse game] " height="200" /></a>

<h3>Links</h3>

<ul>
  <li> XBoard/Winboard 
    <ul>
      <li> <a href="http://www.tim-mann.org/chess.html">Tim's original pages</a> are still available.</li>
      <li> XBoard can also run engines that use the UCI protocol, with
        the aid of the Polyglot protocol adapter.  A new Polyglot
        version, (1.4.30b), especially adapted to support the new
        features of XBoard 4.4.0, can be
        found <a href="http://alpha.uhasselt.be/Research/Algebra/Toga/polyglot-release/">here</a>.</li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li> Incomplete list of computer engines that work with XBoard
    <ul>
      <li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/chess/">GNU chess</a></li>
      <li><a href="http://home.hccnet.nl/h.g.muller/CVfairy.html">Fairy-Max</a></li>
      <li><a href="http://wbec-ridderkerk.nl/html/lastupdates.htm">A list with lots of engines</a></li>
      <li><a href="http://home.hccnet.nl/h.g.muller/XQ.html">List of Xiangqi engines</a></li>
      <li> other popular engines are crafty, phalanx, fruit, toga2, glaurung, ... </li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li> Chess server you can connect to using XBoard
    <ul>
      <li> <a href="http://www.freechess.org"> Free Internet Chess Server (FICS) </a></li>
      <li> <a href="http://www.chessclub.com/"> The Internet Chess Club </a> </li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li> Other interfaces
    <ul>
      <li> <a href="http://www.bergo.eng.br/eboard/">eboard</a> </li>
    </ul>
  </li>
</ul>

<h3>Frequently Asked Question(FAQ)</h3>

<p>If you have any questions, please check out our <a href="FAQ.html">FAQ</a>.</p>


<h3>Mailing Lists and Discussion Forums</h3>

<h4>mailing lists</h4>

<p>XBoard has two mailing lists:
<a href="mailto:bug-xboard@gnu.org">&lt;bug-xboard@gnu.org&gt;</a> and
<a href="mailto:xboard-devel@gnu.org">&lt;xboard-devel@gnu.org&gt;</a>.</p>

<p>The main discussion list is
<a href="mailto:xboard-devel@gnu.org">&lt;xboard-devel@gnu.org&gt;</a>,
and is used to discuss most aspects of XBoard, including development
and enhancement requests. Please send bug reports
to <a href="mailto:bug-xboard@gnu.org">&lt;bug-xboard@gnu.org&gt;</a>.</p>

<p>Announcements about XBoard and most other GNU software are made on
<a href="mailto:info-gnu@gnu.org">&lt;info-gnu@gnu.org&gt;</a>.</p>

<p>To subscribe to these or any GNU mailing lists, please send an empty
mail with a Subject: header of just <tt>subscribe</tt> to the relevant
-request list.  For example, to subscribe yourself to the GNU
announcement list, you would send mail to <a
href="mailto:info-gnu-request@gnu.org?Subject=subscribe">&lt;info-gnu-request@gnu.org&gt;</a>.
Or you can use the <a
href="http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu">mailing list web
interface</a>.</p>

<h4>discussion forums</h4>

<p>A very active forum is the <a href="http://www.open-aurec.com/wbforum/">WinBoard Forum</a> (where our current main developer HGM can be found).</p>

<h3>Reporting Bugs and Requesting New Features</h3>

<p> If you think you found a bug, please check the <a href="http://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?group=xboard">bugtracker</a> 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 <a href="http://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?group=xboard">bugtracker</a>.

<p> For feature requests, please use our mailinglist: <a href="mailto:xboard-devel@gnu.org">&lt;xboard-devel@gnu.org&gt;</a>.</p>

<!-- will be in one of the next releases
-<h3>Translating XBoard</h3>

<p>To translate XBoard's messages into other languages, please see the <a
href="http://translationproject.org/domain/xboard.html">Translation Project
page for XBoard</a>.  If you have a new translation of the message strings,
or updates to the existing strings, please have the changes made in this
repository.  Only translations from this site will be incorporated into
XBoard.  For more information, see the <a
href="http://translationproject.org/html/welcome.html">Translation
Project welcome page</a>.
-->

<p>Please remember that development of XBoard, and GNU in general, is a
volunteer effort, and you also can contribute. For information, please
read <a href="/help/">How to help GNU</a>.</p>


<!-- If needed, change the copyright block at the bottom. In general, -->
<!-- all pages on the GNU web server should have the section about    -->
<!-- verbatim copying.  Please do NOT remove this without talking     -->
<!-- with the webmasters first. -->
<!-- Please make sure the copyright date is consistent with the document -->
<!-- and that it is like this "2001, 2002" not this "2001-2002." -->
</div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above -->
<!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" -->
<div id="footer">

<p>Please send FSF &amp; GNU inquiries to
<a href="mailto:gnu@gnu.org">&lt;gnu@gnu.org&gt;</a>.
There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a>
the FSF.<br />
Please send broken links and other corrections or suggestions to
<!-- If you are a project maintainer or developer, please use your own -->
<!-- project email, as webmasters does not manage project web pages. -->
<!-- However, please report problems in this boilerplate file -->
<!-- itself to webmasters.  -->
<!-- And remove this whole comment when you copy the file to a new page. -->
<a href="mailto:bug-xboard@gnu.org">&lt;bug-xboard@gnu.org&gt;</a>.</p>

<p>Please see the <a
href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations
README</a> for information on coordinating and submitting translations
of this article.</p>

<p>Copyright &copy; 2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc.</p>

<p>Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article are
permitted worldwide, without royalty, in any medium, provided this
notice, and the copyright notice, are preserved.</p>

<p>Updated:
<!-- timestamp start -->
$Date$
<!-- timestamp end -->
</p>
</div>

<div id="translations">
<h4>Translations of this page</h4>

<!-- Please keep this list alphabetical by language code. -->
<!-- Comment what the language is for each type, i.e. de is German. -->
<!-- Write the language name in its own language (Deutsch) in the text. -->
<!-- If you add a new language here, please -->
<!-- advise web-translators@gnu.org and add it to -->
<!--  - /home/www/html/server/standards/README.translations.html -->
<!--  - one of the lists under the section "Translations Underway" -->
<!--  - if there is a translation team, you also have to add an alias -->
<!--  to mail.gnu.org:/com/mailer/aliases -->
<!-- Please also check you have the language code right; see: -->
<!-- http://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/php/code_list.php -->
<!-- If the 2-letter ISO 639-1 code is not available, -->
<!-- use the 3-letter ISO 639-2. -->
<!-- Please use W3C normative character entities. -->

<ul class="translations-list">
<!-- English -->
<li><a href="/server/standards/boilerplate.html">English</a>&nbsp;[en]</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>