off-board pieces that each player has available is shown in the window
title after the player's name; in addition, the piece menus show the
number of pieces available of each type. From version 4.3.14 on, it is
-also possible in crazyhouse, bughouse or shogi to dag and drop pieces
+also possible in crazyhouse, bughouse or shogi to drag and drop pieces
to the board from the holdings squares displayed next to the board.
-
-All other XBoard commands are available from the menu bar. The most
+This latter method for dropping pieces during a game is preferred,
+and the piece-drop menu is now deprecated (except for editing a position).
+Although the old behavior can still be selected through a command-line
+option, the default function of the right mouse button is to display
+the position the chess program thinks it will end up in,
+while moving the mouse vertically with this button pressed will step
+through the principal variation to show how this position will be
+reached.
+
+Most other XBoard commands are available from the menu bar. The most
frequently used commands also have shortcut keys or on-screen buttons.
+Some rarely used parameters can only be set through options on the
+command line used to invoke XBoard.
+
+XBoard uses a settings file, in which it can remember any changes to
+the settings that are made through menus or command-line options,
+so they will still apply when you restart XBoard for another session.
+The settings can be saved into this file automatically when XBoard exits,
+or on explicit request of the user.
+The default name for the settings file is /etc/xboard/xboard.conf,
+but in a standard install this file is only used as a master settings
+file that determines the system-wide default settings,
+and defers reading and writing of user settings to a user-specific
+file like ~/.xboardrc in the user's home directory.
When XBoard is iconized, its graphical icon is a white knight if
it is White's turn to move, a black knight if it is Black's turn. See
can select this mode only while loading a game (that is, after
selecting @samp{Load Game} from the File menu). While XBoard is in
@samp{Training} mode, the navigation buttons are disabled.
+@item Show Engine Output
+@cindex Show Engine Output, Menu Item
+Shows or hides a window in which the thinking output of any loaded engines
+is displayed.
+XBoard will display lines of thinking output of the same depth ordered by score,
+(highest score on top), rather than in the order the engine produced them.
+Usually this amounts to the same, as a normal engine search will only find new PV
+(and emit it as thinking output)
+when it searches a move with a higher score than the previous variation.
+But when the engine is in multi-variation mode this needs not always be true,
+and it is more convenient for someone analyzing games to see the moves sorted by score.
+The order in which the engine found them is only of interest to the engine author,
+and can still be deduced from the time or node count printed with the line.
+@item Show Evaluation Graph
+@cindex Show Evaluation Graph, Menu Item
+Shows or hides a window which displays a graph of how the engine score(s)
+evolved as a function of the move number. Clicking on the graph will bring
+the corresponding position in the board display.
@item Show Game List
@cindex Show Game List, Menu Item
Shows or hides the list of games generated by the last @samp{Load Game}
Shows or hides a list of moves of the current game.
This list allows you to move the display to any earlier position in the game
by clicking on the corresponding move.
-@item Show Engine Output
-@cindex Show Engine Output, Menu Item
-Shows or hides a window in which the thinking output of any loaded engines
-is displayed.
@item Edit Tags
@cindex Edit Tags, Menu Item
Lets you edit the PGN (portable game notation)
@cindex Revert, Menu Item
If you are examining an ICS game and Pause mode is off, issues
the ICS command @samp{revert}.
+In local mode, when you were editing or analyzing a game,
+and have been entering a number of moves by hand, starting from
+a position not at the end of the game,
+the revert command restores the game to the variation you started from.
+The variation you had been entering is currently added as a comment
+to the original move where you deviated.
+This can be applied recursively,
+so that you can analyze variations on variations;
+each time you create a new variation by entering an alternative move,
+the current variation will be shelved.
+Revert allows you to return to the most recently shelved variation.
@item Truncate Game
@cindex Truncate Game, Menu Item
Discards all remembered moves of the game beyond the current
For the latter adjudication to work, XBoard should be able to properly understand
the engine's scores. To facilitate the latter, you can inform xboard here if
the engines report scores from the viewpoint of white, or from that of their own color.
-@item Engine Settings
+@item General Settings
+@cindex General Settings, Menu Item
Pops up a sub-menu where you can set some engine parameters common to most engines,
such as hash-table size, tablebase cache size, maximum number of processors
that SMP engines can use, and where to find the Polyglot adapter needed
to run UCI engines under XBoard. The feature that allows setting of these parameters on
-engines is new since XBoard 4.3.15, so not many WinBoard engines respond
+engines is new since XBoard 4.3.15, so not many XBoard/WinBoard engines respond
to it yet, but UCI engines should.
It is also possible to specify a GUI opening book here, i.e. an opening
book that XBoard consults for any position a playing engine gets in.
It then forces the engine to play the book move, rather than to think up its own,
if that position is found in the book.
The book can switched on and off independently for either engine.
+@item Engine #N Settings
+@cindex Engine Settings, Menu Item
+@cindex Engine #1 Settings, Menu Item
+@cindex Engine #2 Settings, Menu Item
+Pop up a menu dialog to alter the settings specific to the applicable engine.
+(The second engine is only accessible once it has been used in Two-Machines mode.)
+For each parameter the engine allows to be set,
+a control element will appear in this dialog that can be used to alter the value.
+Depending on the type of parameter (text string, number, multiple choice,
+on/off switch, instantaneous signal) the appropriate control will appear,
+with a description next to it.
+XBoard has no idea what these values mean; it just passes them on to the engine.
+How this dialog looks is completely determined by the engine,
+and XBoard just passes it on to the user.
+Many engines do not have any parameters that can be set by the user,
+and in that case the dialog will be empty (except for the OK and cancel buttons).
+UCI engines usually have many parameters. (But these are only visible with
+a sufficiently modern version of the Polyglot adapter needed to run UCI engines,
+e.g. Polyglot 1.4.55b.) For native XBoard engines this is less common.
@item Time Control
@cindex Time Control, Menu Item
Pops up a sub-menu where you can set the time-control parameters interactively.
and over.
When you turn this option on from the menu, XBoard
immediately fetches the move list of the current game (if any).
+@item Highlight Dragging
+@cindex Highlight Dragging, Menu Item
+If Highlight Dragging is on, and the option -showTargetSquares is also on
+in the settings file, all squares a piece that is 'picked up' with the mouse
+can legally move to are highighted with a fat colored dot in the
+highlightColor (non-captures) or premoveHighlightColor (captures).
+Legality testing must be on for XBoard to know how the piece moves.
@item Highlight Last Move
@cindex Highlight Last Move, Menu Item
If Highlight Last Move is on, after a move is made, the starting and
rules that XBoard does not understand. (Bughouse, suicide, and wild
variants where the king may castle after starting on the d file are
generally supported with Test Legality on.)
+@item Save Settings Now
+@cindex Save Settings Now, Menu Item
+Selecting this menu item causes the current XBoard settings to be
+written to the settings file, so they will also apply in future sessions.
+Note that some settings are 'volatile', and are not saved,
+because XBoard considers it too unlikely that you want those to apply
+next time.
+In particular this applies to the Chess program names, and all options
+giving information on those Chess programs (such as their directory,
+if they have their own opening book, if they are UCI or native XBoard),
+or the variant you are playing.
+Such options would still be understood when they appear in the settings
+file in case they were put there with the aid of a text editor, but they
+would disappear from the file as soon as you save the settings.
+@item Save Settings on Exit
+@cindex Save Settings on Exit, Menu Item
+Setting this option has no immediate effect, but causes the settings
+to be saved when you quit XBoard. What happens then is otherwise
+identical to what happens when you use select "Save Settings Now",
+see there.
@end table
@node Help Menu
Sets the Ponder Next Move menu option. @xref{Options Menu}. Default: true.
@item -smpCores number
Specifies the maximum number of CPUs an SMP engine is allowed to use.
-Only works for engines that support the WinBoard-protocol cores feature.
+Only works for engines that support the XBoard/WinBoard-protocol cores feature.
@item -mg or -matchGames n
@cindex mg, option
@cindex matchGames, option
@cindex niceEngines, option
This option allows you to lower the priority of the engine processes,
so that the generally insatiable hunger for CPU time of chess engines does not interfere so much
-with smooth operation of WinBoard (or the rest of your system).
+with smooth operation of XBoard (or the rest of your system).
Negative values could increase the engine priority, which is not recommended.
@item -firstOptions string
@itemx -secondOptions string
@cindex secondOptions, option
The given string is a comma-separated list of (option name=option value) pairs,
like the following example: "style=Karpov,blunder rate=0".
-If the options announced by the engine at startup through the feature commands of WinBoard protocol
+If an option announced by the engine at startup through the feature commands of the XBoard/WinBoard protocol
matches one of the option names (i.e. "style" or "blunder rate"),
it would be set to the given value (i.e. "Karpov" or 0)
through a corresponding option command to the engine.
through setting the string to "KQkq -". (Note you also have to give the e.p. field!)
Other possible applications are to provide work-arounds for engines that want to see
castling and e.p. fields in variants that do not have castling or e.p.
-(shatranj, courier, xiangqi, shogi) so that WinBoard would normally omit them
-(string = "- -"), or to add variant-specific fields that are not yet supported by WinBoard
+(shatranj, courier, xiangqi, shogi) so that XBoard would normally omit them
+(string = "- -"), or to add variant-specific fields that are not yet supported by XBoard
(e.g. to indicate the number of checks in 3check).
@end table
@item -PolyglotBook filename
@cindex PolyglotBook, option
Gives the filename of the opening book that Polyglot should use.
-From XBoard 4.3.15 on, native WinBoard engines will also use the opening book specified here,
+From XBoard 4.3.15 on, native XBoard/WinBoard engines will also use the opening book specified here,
provided the @code{usePolyglotBook} option is set to true,
and the option @code{firstHasOwnBookUCI} or @code{secondHasOwnBookUCI} applying to the engine
is set to false.
@item -defaultHashSize n
@cindex defaultHashSize, option
Sets the size of the hash table to n MegaBytes. Together with the EGTB cache size
-this number is also used to calculate the memory setting of WinBoard engines,
-for those that support the memory feature of WinBoard protocol. Default: 64.
+this number is also used to calculate the memory setting of XBoard/WinBoard engines,
+for those that support the memory feature of the XBoard/WinBoard protocol. Default: 64.
@item -defaultCacheSizeEGTB n
@cindex defaultCacheSizeEGTB, option
Sets the size of the EGTB cache to n MegaBytes. Together with the hash-table size
-this number is also used to calculate the memory setting of WinBoard engines,
-for those that support the memory feature of WinBoard protocol. Default: 4.
+this number is also used to calculate the memory setting of XBoard/WinBoard engines,
+for those that support the memory feature of the XBoard/WinBoard protocol. Default: 4.
@item -defaultPathEGTB filename
@cindex defaultPathEGTB, option
Gives the name of the directory where the end-game tablebases are installed, for UCI engines.
xboard*soundIcsUnfinished: unfinished.wav
xboard*soundIcsAlarm: alarm.wav
@end example
+@item -dropMenu true|false
+@cindex dropMenu, option
+This option allows you to emulate old behavior,
+where the right mouse button brings up the (now deprecated) drop menu
+rather than displaying the position at the end of the principal variation.
+Default: False.
@end table
@node Load and Save options
specifies the standard output.
@item -pgnExtendedInfo true/false
@cindex pgnExtendedInfo, option`
-If this option is set, WinBoard saves depth, score and time used for each
+If this option is set, XBoard saves depth, score and time used for each
move that the engine found as a comment in the PGN file.
Default: false.
@item -pgnEventHeader string
Default: "Computer Chess Game".
@item -saveOutOfBookInfo true/false
@cindex saveOutOfBookInfo, option`
-Include the information on how the engine(s) game out of its opening book in a special 'annotator' tag with the PGN file.
+Include the information on how the engine(s) game out of its opening book
+in a special 'annotator' tag with the PGN file.
@item -oldsave/-xoldsave or -oldSaveStyle true/false
@cindex oldsave, option
@cindex oldSaveStyle, option
The character string lists the PGN tags that should be printed in the
Game List, and their order. The meaning of the codes is e=event,
s=site, d=date, o=round, p=players, r=result, w=white Elo, b=black Elo,
-t=time control, v=variant, a=out-of-book info.
+t=time control, v=variant, a=out-of-book info, c=result comment.
Default: "eprd"
+@item -ini or -settingsFile filename
+@itemx -saveSettingsFile filename
+@itemx @@filename
+@cindex saveSettingsFile, option
+@cindex SettingsFile, option
+@cindex init, option
+@cindex at sign, option
+When XBoard encounters an option -settingsFile (or -ini for short),
+or @@filename, it tries to read the mentioned file,
+and substitutes the contents of it (presumaby more command-line options)
+in place of the option.
+In the case of -ini or -settingsFile, the name of a successfully read
+settings file is also remembered as the file to use for saving settings
+(automatically on exit, or on user command).
+An option of the form @@filename does not affect saving.
+The option -saveSettingsFile does specify a name of the file to use
+for saving, without reading any options from it, and is thus also effective
+when the file did not exist yet.
+So the settings will be saved to the file specified in the last
+-saveSettingsFile or succesfull -settingsFile / -ini command,
+if any, and in /etc/xboard/xboard.conf otherwise.
+Usualy the latter is only accessible for the system administrator, though,
+and will be used to contain system-wide default setings, amongst which
+a -saveSettingsFile and -settingsFile options to specify a settings file
+accessible to the individual user, such as ~/.xboardrc in the user's
+home directory.
@end table
@node User interface options
Medium 64x64, Moderate 58x58, Average 54x54, Middling 49x49, Mediocre
45x45, Small 40x40, Slim 37x37, Petite 33x33, Dinky 29x29, Teeny 25x25,
or Tiny 21x21.
-Pieces of all these sizes are built into XBoard.
+Orthodox pieces of all these sizes are built into XBoard.
Other sizes can
be used if you have them; see the pixmapDirectory and bitmapDirectory
options.
+Complete sets of un-orthodox pieces are only provided in sizes
+Bulky, Middling and (to a lesser extent) Petite;
+Archbishop, Marshall and Amazon are also available in all sizes between
+Bulky and Petite.
+When no bitmap is available, the piece will be displayed as Amazon or King.
The default depends on the size of your screen; it is approximately the
largest size that will fit without clipping.
Determines whether XBoard displays its pieces and squares with
two colors (true) or four (false). You shouldn't have to
specify @code{monoMode}; XBoard will determine if it is necessary.
+@item -showTargetSquares true/false
+@cindex showTargetSquares, option
+Determines whether XBoard can highlight the squares a piece has
+legal moves to, when you grab that piece with the mouse.
+If this option is set, this feature can be controlled through
+the Highlight Dragging menu item.
@item -flashCount count
@itemx -flashRate rate
@itemx -flash/-xflash
@cindex -animateSpeed, option
Number of milliseconds delay between each animation frame when Animate
Moves is on.
+@item -autoDisplayComment true/false
+@itemx -autoDisplayTags true/false
+@cindex -autoDisplayComment, option
+@cindex -autoDisplayTags, option
+If set to true, these options cause the window with the move comments,
+and the window with PGN tags, respectively, to pop up automatically when
+such tags or comments are encountered during the replaying a stored or
+loaded game. Default: true.
+@item -pasteSelection true/false
+@cindex -pasteSelection, option
+If this option is set to true, the Paste Position and Paste Game
+options paste from the currently selected text. If false, they paste
+from the clipboard. Default: false.
@end table
@node Adjudication Options
cylinder Pieces wrap around the board edge
knightmate King moves as Knight, and vice versa
super Superchess (shuffle variant with 4 exo-pieces)
+makruk Thai Chess (shatranj-like, P promotes on 6th rank)
fairy A catchall variant in which all piece types
known to XBoard can participate (8x8)
unknown Catchall for other unknown variants
@item -debugFile filename or -nameOfDebugFile filename
@cindex debugFile, option
@cindex nameOfDebugFile, option
-Sets the name of the file to which WinBoard saves debug information
+Sets the name of the file to which XBoard saves debug information
(including all communication to and from the engines).
@item -engineDebugOutput number
@cindex engineDebugOutput, option
-Specifies how WinBoard should handle unsolicited output from the engine,
+Specifies how XBoard should handle unsolicited output from the engine,
with respect to saving it in the debug file.
The output is further (hopefully) ignored.
-If number=0, WinBoard refrains from writing such spurious output to the debug file.
+If number=0, XBoard refrains from writing such spurious output to the debug file.
If number=1, all engine output is written faithfully to the debug file.
If number=2, any protocol-violating line is prefixed with a '#' character,
as the engine itself should have done if it wanted to submit info for inclusion in the debug file.
@itemx -delayAfterQuit number
@cindex delayBeforeQuit, option
@cindex delayAfterQuit, option
-These options specify how long WinBoard has to wait before sending a termination signal to rogue engine processes, that do not want to react to the 'quit' command. The second one determines the pause after killing the engine, to make sure it dies.
+These options specify how long XBoard has to wait before sending a termination signal to rogue engine processes, that do not want to react to the 'quit' command. The second one determines the pause after killing the engine, to make sure it dies.
@end table
the piece you are trying to drop. But this way of dropping pieces should be considered
an obsolete feature, now that pieces can be dropped by dragging them from the holdings
to the board. Anyway, if you would attempt an illegal move when using a chess engine or the ICS,
-WinBoard will accept the error message that comes back, undo the move, and let you try another.
+XBoard will accept the error message that comes back, undo the move, and let you try another.
FEN positions saved by XBoard do include correct information about whether castling or
en passant are legal, and also handle the 50-move counter.
The mate detector does not understand that non-contact mate is not really mate in bughouse.
@cindex Problems
@cindex Reporting problems
-Report bugs and problems with XBoard to @code{<bug-xboard@@gnu.org>}.
+You can report bugs and problems with XBoard using
+the bug tracker at @code{https://savannah.gnu.org/projects/xboard/}
+or by sending mail to @code{<bug-xboard@@gnu.org>}. It can also
+be useful to report or discuss bugs in the WinBoard Forum at
+@code{http://www.open-aurec.com/wbforum/},
+WinBoard development section.
Please use the @file{script} program to start a typescript, run
XBoard with the @samp{-debug} option, and include the typescript
output in your message.
Also tell us what kind of machine and what operating system version
you are using. The command @samp{uname -a} will often tell you this.
-Here is a sample of approximately what you should type:
-
-@example
-script
-uname -a
-./configure
-make
-./xboard -debug
-exit
-mail bug-xboard@@gnu.org
-Subject: Your short description of the problem
-Your detailed description of the problem
-~r typescript
-.
-@end example
-
-The WinBoard / XBoard 4.3 line is being developed by H.G. Muller
-independently of the GNU Savannah xboard project.
-Bug reports on this version, and suggestions for improvements and additions,
-are best posted in the WinBoard forum,
-WinBoard-development section (http://www.open-aurec.com/wbforum).
If you improve XBoard, please send a message about your changes,
and we will get in touch with you about merging them in
to the main line of development.
-Also see our Web site at http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/xboard/.
@node Contributors
@chapter Authors and contributors
@cindex Authors
@cindex Contributors
-Tim Mann has been responsible for XBoard versions 1.3 and beyond, and
-for WinBoard, a port of XBoard to Microsoft Win32 (Windows NT and
-Windows 95). H.G.Muller is responsible for version 4.3.
-
-Mark Williams contributed the initial (WinBoard-only) implementation
-of many new features added to both XBoard and WinBoard in version
-4.1.0, including copy/paste, premove, icsAlarm, autoFlipView, training
-mode, auto raise, and blindfold. Ben Nye contributed X copy/paste
-code for XBoard.
-
-Hugh Fisher added animated piece movement to XBoard, and Henrik Gram
-(henrikg@@funcom.com) added it to WinBoard. Frank McIngvale added
-click/click moving, the Analysis modes, piece flashing, ZIICS import,
-and ICS text colorization to XBoard. Jochen Wiedmann ported XBoard to
-the Amiga, creating AmyBoard, and converted the documentation to
-texinfo. Elmar Bartel contributed the new piece bitmaps introduced in
-version 3.2. John Chanak contributed the initial implementation of
-ICS mode. The color scheme and the old 80x80 piece bitmaps were taken
+Chris Sears and Dan Sears wrote the original XBoard. They were
+responsible for versions 1.0 through 1.2. The color scheme was taken
from Wayne Christopher's @code{XChess} program.
-Chris Sears and Dan Sears wrote the original XBoard. They were
-responsible for versions 1.0 through 1.2.
+Tim Mann was primarily responsible for XBoard versions 1.3 through
+4.2.7, and for WinBoard (a port of XBoard to Microsoft Win32) from its
+inception through version 4.2.7.
+
+John Chanak contributed the initial implementation of ICS mode. Evan
+Welsh wrote @code{CMail}, and Patrick Surry helped in designing,
+testing, and documenting it. Elmar Bartel contributed the new piece
+bitmaps introduced in version 3.2. Jochen Wiedmann converted the
+documentation to texinfo. Frank McIngvale added click/click moving,
+the Analysis modes, piece flashing, ZIICS import, and ICS text
+colorization to XBoard. Hugh Fisher added animated piece movement to
+XBoard, and Henrik Gram added it to WinBoard. Mark Williams
+contributed the initial (WinBoard-only) implementation of many new
+features added to both XBoard and WinBoard in version 4.1.0, including
+copy/paste, premove, icsAlarm, autoFlipView, training mode, auto
+raise, and blindfold. Ben Nye contributed X copy/paste code for
+XBoard.
-Evan Welsh wrote @code{CMail}. Patrick Surry helped in designing,
-testing, and documenting CMail.
+In a fork from version 4.2.7, Alessandro Scotti added many elements to
+the user interface of WinBoard, including the board textures and
+font-based rendering, the evaluation-graph, move-history and
+engine-output window. He was also responsible for adding the UCI
+support.
+
+H. G. Muller continued this fork of the project, producing version
+4.3. He made WinBoard castling- and e.p.-aware, added variant support
+with adjustable board sizes, the crazyhouse holdings, and the fairy
+pieces. In addition he added most of the adjudication options, made
+WinBoard more robust in dealing with buggy and crashing engines, and
+extended time control with a time-odds and node-count-based modes.
+Most of the options that initially were WinBoard only have now been
+back-ported to XBoard.
-Alessandro Scotti added many elements to the user interface of WinBoard,
-including the board textures and font-based rendering, the evaluation-graph,
-move-history and engine-output window.
-He was also responsible for adding the UCI support.
+Michel van den Bergh provided the code for reading Polyglot opening books.
-H.G. Muller made WinBoard castling- and e.p.-aware,
-added variant support with adjustable board sizes,
-the crazyhouse holdings, and the fairy pieces.
-In addition he added most of the adjudication options,
-made WinBoard more robust in dealing with buggy and crashing engines,
-and extended time control with a time-odds and node-count-based modes.
-Most of the options that initially were WinBoard only have now been back-ported to XBoard.
+Meanwhile, some work continued on the GNU XBoard project maintained at
+savannah.gnu.org, but version 4.2.8 was never released. Daniel
+Mehrmann was responsible for much of this work.
-Michel van den Bergh provided the code for reading Polyglot opening books.
+Most recently, Arun Persaud worked with H. G. Muller to merge all
+the features of the never-released XBoard/WinBoard 4.2.8 of the GNU
+XBoard project and the never-released 4.3.16 from H. G.'s fork into a
+unified XBoard/WinBoard 4.4, which is now available both from the
+savannah.gnu.org web site and the WinBoard forum.
-Arun Persaud worked with H.G. Muller to combine all the features of the never-released WinBoard 4.2.8
-of the Savannah project (mainly by Daniel Mehrmann),
-and the never-released 4.3.16 into a unified WinBoard 4.4,
-which is now available both from the Savannah web site and the WinBoard forum.
@node CMail
@chapter CMail
@cindex cmail
projects / xboard.git / blobdiff