X-Git-Url: http://winboard.nl/cgi-bin?p=xboard.git;a=blobdiff_plain;f=NEWS;h=2b51c6aee939ac9c1bb867622f1fbcbc4ceb03ff;hp=96e812c2f77cb4d40dbdd5aebed745603b802bdc;hb=HEAD;hpb=3a019abcd6d7a0f59e99ad1af40ac5c15ac17e9e diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS index 96e812c..2b51c6a 100644 --- a/NEWS +++ b/NEWS @@ -1,40 +1,1493 @@ -** Announcing the release of XBoard and WinBoard, version 4.2.7 ** +** Version 4.8.0 ** -XBoard is a graphical chessboard for the X Window System that can -serve as a user interface for GNU Chess, Crafty, and other chess -engines, for the Internet Chess Servers, and for electronic mail -correspondence chess. XBoard can also be used by itself. It can read -and write game files in PGN (portable game notation). + (see http://www.gnu.org/software/xboard/whats_new/4.8.0/ ) -WinBoard is a similar program for 32-bit Microsoft Windows. It -includes all the major features of XBoard except email correspondence -chess. + * New features in this release + * Resuming saved unfinished games + * Setting up positions more easily + * Bitbase adjudication + * Showing tablebase hits + * A new ICS window + * Recalling board themes (XBoard) + * Playing moves by clicking them + * Fonts in the XBoard GTK build + * Using the mousewheel (XBoard) + * Displaying a blunder graph + * Slicing up a PGN database + * Auto-install of engines + + * New variant support + * ASEAN Chess + * Chu Shogi + * Mighty Lion + * Highlighting squares on engine command + * Let the engine finish a user move + * Non-standard variant names + * Fischer castling in any variant + * Knowing the moves of unknown pieces + + * Fixed bugs + * Fix crash on using some Browse buttons in dialogs of the GTK + build. + * Fix buffer overflow in PGN parser, when all lines end in + comments. + * Fix crash on specifying non-existent board texture. + * Prevent crash on double-click in XB Game List Tags dialog. + * Fix the auto-display comment control in the General Options + dialog of WinBoard, which was ignored. + * Fix adjusting clocks by clicking them in Xaw build. + * Fix zooming of Evaluation Graph XB with mousewheel, which was + not working at all. + * Fix sticky-windows feature WB for Windows 8, where it did not + work at all. + * WinBoard's seek graph is now sized to also cover any board rim. + * Key bindings XB for non menu items are no longer ignored. + * Set castling rights correctly after loading of game file from + command line. + * Allow castling and e.p. moves to be edited into opening book + (and prevent their disappearance from it). + * The sorting of engine output was made more robust against + engines that send thinking output on fail lows. + * Fix node-count display, which was clipped to 32 bits. + * Suppress board-size oscillations in GTK build. + * Fixed detection of screen size in GTK. (This is a mixed + blessing, as now it picks the largest possible window size, and + in GTK interactive down-sizing is not possible.) + * Fix mode highlighting after refusal of Two Machines mode because + 2nd engine did not support variant. + * Blow up textures that are too small. + * Ignore invalid color specs in stead of treating them as black + (important because Cairo does not understand old xpm color + names). + * Prevent XB and WB from becoming unresponsive during lengthy + tasks such as book building. + * Fix slowdown of WB during loading of huge PGN files due to + Game-List window update. + * Limit width of menu bar for small board sizes in GTK build. + * Improve the code to kill rogue engines in XB. + * Drawing of pieces outside the board (in maximaized windows), + which left lots of debris, is now suppressed. + * Make WB window sizing handle multiple screens. + * 50-move counter is no longer reset on Chess960 castlings. + * Fix legality testing of A-side castling in FRC (which was + allowed with Rook on a- and blocker on b-file). + * Fixed piece ID of Falcon in Falcon Chess, which was written as + '.' and could not be selected on promotion. + * Fix cross-edge e.p. captures in Cylinder Chess (which was not + recognized as e.p.). + * Fix animation of Seirawan Chess castling + gating at Rook + square, which made Rook disappear. + * Fix adjudication of stalemates in variant Giveaway. + * Display of the variant tag in the Game List now works. + * Reset move entry (clearing target-square markers) on 'clear + board' in Edit Position mode. + * The Game List is automatically updated when you alter the tag + selection for the game lines. + * Indicate current variant in New Variant dialog of the GTK build + (by printing it in boldface on the button). + + * Known Problems + * GTK: in a tiling window manager the size of the board seems to be + calculated incorrectly. A temporary fix for this is to use a fixed + size by using the "-size " and "-fixedSize true" options + on the command line. + + +** Version 4.7.3 ** + + (see http://www.gnu.org/software/xboard/whats_new/4.7.3/ ) + + bugfix release for 4.7.2 + + * Fix buffer overflow in parser on long PGN with scores + * Allow castling and e.p. capture moves to survive when editing opening book + * Fix node-count overflow in engine output + * Better sorting of fail-low lines in engine output + * Fix Chess960 a-side castling legality check + * Fix position search in Chess960 + * Fix adjudication of Giveaway stalemates + * Adapt WinBoard window positioning to work with multiple screens + * Cure some weirdness in XBoard when dragging pieces outside the board + * Some dialog layout improvements to facilitate internationalization + * Fix crash on using some dialog Browse buttons in GTK version + * Connect manual menu item work in GTK version + * Put code for OS X integration in the GTK version + +** Version 4.7.2 ** + + (see http://www.gnu.org/software/xboard/whats_new/4.7.2/ ) + + bugfix release for 4.7.1 + + * Make PGN parser immune to unprotected time stamps + * Fix book creation + * Fix GUI book after setup position + * Allow drops / promotions/ deferrals to be edited into book + * Allow entry of negative numbers in spin control (WB) + * Fix grabbing of selected piece + * Fix initial board sizing WB + * Fix -zippyVariants option + + +** Version 4.7.1 ** + + (see http://www.gnu.org/software/xboard/whats_new/4.7.1/ ) + + bugfix release for 4.7.0 + + * updated translations + * fixed texinfo 5.0 problems + * Work-around for Xt selection bug + * Add -backupSettingsFile option + * Make skipping of unknown option smarter + * Let popping up of WinBoard chatbox for channel open it + * Fix vertical sizing of GTK board + * Fix buffer overflow in feature parsing + * Accept setup command for non-standard board size + * Fix fatal error on unsupported board size + * Fix GTK box popup + * Let XBoard -autoBox option also affect move type-in + * Fix spurious popup after batch-mode Analyze Game + * Fix saving of analyzed game + * Provide compatibility with Alien Edition setup command + * Fix quoting of book name in tourney file + * Fix disappearence of pieces that were moved illegally + * Fix horrible bug in reading scores from PGN + * Print score of final position in Analyze Game + * Fix GTK SetInsertPos + * Fix scrolling of Chat Box + * Make Chat Box window obey -topLevel option + * Fix Xaw file browser + * Update zippy.README + + +** Version 4.7.0 ** + + (see http://www.gnu.org/software/xboard/whats_new/4.7.0/ ) + + * Code refactoring of XBoard + * The old X11 front-end has been largely rewritten, + so that all windows are now created by a single + generic routine + * XBoard now uses the Cairo library for all drawing + * Pixmaps and bitmaps no longer supported; + XBoard now uses PNG and SVG images instead. + * An alternative (as yet experimental) front-end + using GTK has been added + + * Interactive Analysis + * Excluding moves from analysis by playing them + * Excluded-moves header in Engine Output window + * Analyzing with two engines simultaneously + * Annotating an entire muti-game file + * Analysing positions by Monte-Carlo play + + * Other New Functionality + * Displaying player logos (XB) + * Player logo on ICS can be based on player handle + * Chat boxes for XBoard + * Narrowing down of position searches + * Copying pieces when editing a position + * Starting WinBoard through drag & drop + * Recalling fully configured engines and ICS + * Creating an opening book from a game file + * Pausing a game + * Automatically observing partner games with dual-board + + * Interface Improvements + * Recognizes file type of lone argument by extension + * Default startup settings configurable per mode + * Separate menu items for loading 1st and 2nd engine + * Engines can be selected from listboxes + * Grouping of engines in the installed-engines list + * Stay in Analyze or Game Start mode after engine loading + * 'Continue Later' button in WB tournament dialog + * A new --help option (XB) + * A second board window for observing ICS games (XB) + * Smoother graphics and a resizable board (XB) + * A rejuvenated file browser (XB Xaw) + * Scrolling listboxes with mouse wheel (XB Xaw) + * Tabbing through dialog etry fields (XB Xaw) + * Adapt width of auxilliary windows on board resize (WB) + * External piece bitmaps (WB) + * Border around the board (WB) + * Saving settings as themes (WB) + + * Bug fixes + * Grayout of Analysis menu item in zippy mode + * Crash on flagging in -st mode + * Keep track of virginity in variant seirawan FENs + * Immunity to capitalized promo pieces + * Avoid board sizes with unavailabile variant pieces + * Work-around for FICS violation of SAN + * Check validity of tourney participants + * Loop-Chess promotions with legality testing on + * Fix -fSAN option in Analyze File mode + * Scrolling of Engine Output after PV walk (XB) + * Start browsing in currently-selected folder (WB) + * Allow entry of fractional timeIncrement (WB) + * Resolve conflict between -mps and -inc options + * Size of mini-Shogi promotion zone + * Adjudication of stalemate and perpetuals in Shogi + * Rep-draw detection in drop games + * Insufficient-material draws in Knightmate + * Replacing of engine in non-last game position + * Sweep selection of promo-piece in click-click move + * Don't save aborted games in tourney PGN + * Remember ponder, book and other settings in tourney file + * Do not erase PGN tags on engine loading + * Solved feature problems with engine loading in match mode + * Re-send option settings to -xreuse engine + * Allow use of 'shadow' promotion pieces in any variant + * WinBoard did not always start in its installation folder + * Initialization of 'Twice' checkbox in Tournament dialog (WB) + * Clearing of marker dots after mode or settings change + * some smaller bugfixes + +** Version 4.6.2 ** + (for a more detailed list with screenshots see http://www.gnu.org/software/xboard/whats_new/4.6.2/ ) + bugfix relase for 4.6.1 + * Suppress clear-board message after pasting FEN + * Fix faking of castling rights after editing position with holdings + * Fix second-engine variant test + +** Version 4.6.1 ** + (for a more detailed list with screenshots see http://www.gnu.org/software/xboard/whats_new/4.6.1/ ) + + bugfix release for 4.6.0 + + * Fix memory corruption bug on second-engine loading (through menu or in tournament), + which could destroy -firstInitString + * Fix bug loading a new engine through the menu (not loading it with the full game, + but just upto the current move) + * Prefix engine command with "./" when a pathname is split up during install, so the engine actually runs (XB) + * Fix fall-back to -ncp mode when engine does not start (cutting short the feature timeout) + * Fix bug in position search for FRC castlings (where a King could 'fall off' the board) + * Add a message to inform the user how to clear the board, in sweep-select edit-position mode + * Fix a bug that could stop the clock when the board window was dragged (XB) + * Fix switching off highlighting during game (so last highlights do not remain for the rest of the game) + * Allow user to enter the name of a non-existing file when browsing for a save file (WB) + * Make sure rarely used engine-related options (such as -firstNPS) are also correctly loaded during session + * Correctly handle parsing of Crazyhouse promotions with legality-testing off + * Fix click-click detour under-promotions, which were not working for non-captures + * Don't strip path from engine command if directory is explicitly given in Load Engine dialog + * Consistently make auxiliary windows top level-shells or not, with new -topLevel option (XB) + * No longer fatal if second engine does not support current variant (just refuse Two Machines mode) + * Scroll XBoard game list to keep selected item in view (XB) + * Suppress spurious error popup when starting observing of bughouse games + * Fix vertical axis ticks in eval graph with drop games + * Put title on same line as menu bar only for -size 72 and larger (with -titleInWindow, XB) + * Properly open and close debug file when switching debug mode through key binding Ctrl-D (XB) + +** Version 4.6.0 ** + + (see http://www.gnu.org/software/xboard/whats_new/4.6.0/ ) + + * Engine vs. Engine + * Loading and installing engines through the menu + * Running tournaments with more than two partipants + * Stopping a match between two engines + * Replacing a tourney participant + * Playing openings in color-reversed pairs + * Perpetual chasing in Xiangqi + + * Interface Improvements + * Auto-Queen, and still under-promote? + * Piece fonts and figurine fonts + * Displaying PVs as SAN + * Small scores in the Eval Graph + * How close is the 50-move draw? + * Sign of the engine scores + + * Interactive Analysis + * Playing moves from the PV + * Rapidly changing the number of PVs + * Setting the other side to move in analysis + * Annotating a game with an engine + + * Other New Functionality + * Searching a position in a PGN file + * Editing the opening book + + * XBoard -> WinBoard Convergence + * Exporting the game list (XB) + * A move type-in box (XB) + * New-style Move History window (XB) + +** Version 4.5.3a ** + + (see http://www.gnu.org/software/xboard/whats_new/4.5.3a/ ) + + * only changes to Winboard : build non JAW by default, fix compile errors + +** Version 4.5.3 ** + + (see http://www.gnu.org/software/xboard/whats_new/4.5.3/ ) + + * fixes of major bugs: + * In the file-browse dialog . and .. no longer mask other files if they are non-first in the directory + * Fix XBoard crash on showing an empty Engine Settings dialog, printing a message in stead + * The XBoard Game List can now handle files with more than 1900 games, by paging through them + * The state of the Move-History window is now remembered by XBoard even when the Engine-Output window is up + * Fix crash on switching sounds in WinBoard under Windows Vista + * Fix empty-string option values on XBoard command line (which were ignored) + * Fix spurious vertical scrolling in XBoard Engine-Output window on clicking in it + * Obey an engine's san feature when sending book moves to it + * Fix XBoard crash when 'filtering' made Game List empty + * Suppress clearing of Engine-Output window on automatic updates in analyze mode + * Force Move-History refresh after loading/reverting variation + * Fix closing brace, when joining two comments to same move + + * fixes of minor bugs: + * Suppress playing sounds when no -soundProgram is set + * Fix display of last move of last match game + * Update window title after last game of match + * Never one-click move when legality testing is off + * Suppress playing book move when total weigth of all moves is zero + * Restore echo after ^C killed XBoard during ICS password + * Fix default of -remoteUser, which could cause crash when playing remote engines + * Fix recognition of separators between options in -adapterCommand command line + * Fix button sizing in generic popup + * Fix translatability of 'Spartan Chess' menu item WB + * Remove some duplicats from WB language template file + * Fix spurious 'Unfinished' sounds during ICS examining + * Fix bug in handling of partner command in zippy-mode bughouse games + * Create more space in some WB dialogs to accomodate translations + + * Improvements benefitting the speaking version for the visually impaired (WB): + * Implement NVDA support in JAWS version + * Fix translation of spoken composite messages + * Fix JAWS reading of Engine-Settings dialog by removing group-boxes + * Add tab stops in WB generic popup + * Reorder controls in Engine-Setings dialog WB, so they are tabbed through in logical order + + * fixed compiler warnings/errors and portability: + * Fix use of random function in XBoard shuffle dialog callback + * Fix inconsistent type of the variable 'shuffleOpenings' + * Silence warnings during rpm build + * Fix warnings XBoard file browser + * Fix some warnings and header-file improvement + + * misc: + * Add -at and -opt options as alternative for @, as work-around for Windows shortcut bug + * Make occurrence of unknown option in settings file non-fatal + * Stale output no longer lingers in the engine-output window when a new game starts + * Popdown (stale) Comment window on new game + +** Version 4.5.2a (Winboard only)** + + (see http://www.gnu.org/software/xboard/whats_new/4.5.2/ ) + + * Fix Engine Settings button options in WinBoard + +** Version 4.5.2 ** + + (see http://www.gnu.org/software/xboard/whats_new/4.5.2/ ) + + * Main new feature: + * Added many option dialogs and reworked some of the old ones + + * bugfixes, packaging and install: + * Fix nps bug + * Fix flipBlack option XBoard with board texture + * Fix two bugs in reading position diagram + * Fix parsing bug of FRC castling + * Fix bugs in FRC castling rights + * Fix display of promotion piece in ICS superchess + * Fix path browsing in WinBoard + * Fix use of game/position file in first match game + * Fix build on Mac OS X + * install bitmaps and sounds during "make install" + * some minor bug fixes + * code cleanup (e.g. 64 bit warnings, removed malloc.h) + +** Version 4.5.1 ** + + (see http://www.gnu.org/software/xboard/whats_new/4.5.1/ ) + + * bugfixes: + * Revert "Implement -reset option feature in WinBoard" + * Fix deselection of greyed-out variant button (WB) + * Put warning in HTML help + * Fix unmarked translation + * Fix Alfil bug + * Fix variant janus size prefix + * Fix Xiangqi King facing + * Fix showing of user move after adjudication + * Make language choice from menu persistent + * Fix ICS channel 0 + * Fix some resource leaks + + * fixed packaging issues: + * add DIFFSTAT and SHORTLOG to tar-ball + * added history.c to the tar-ball. Needed for Winboard + + * fixed compiler warnings/errors: + * added missing header file for sprintf + * added missing #includes and missing prototypes to filebrowser + * Fix MSVC compilability + * Fix 64-bit Windows compilability + * Fix MSVC snprintf problem + + * fixed configure problems: + * fixed configure script to correctly detect Xaw3d library + * updated configure.ac to check for Xaw header files + + * misc: + * Fix two typos in option names in texi file + + +** Version 4.5.0 ** + + (see http://www.gnu.org/software/xboard/whats_new/4.5.0/ for more details) + + General + ------- + * User specific settings files + * More logical (and standard) menu structure + * Translation into other languages (WB) + * Walking the PV of an engine + * Exploring variations + * Playing through PGN variations + * Annotating a game with analysis results + * Editing Comments + * Controlling move choice of the GUI book + * Keeping the clock in sync in tournaments + * Starting an engine match from the menu + * Fixed thinking time per move + * Improved multi-PV support + * Where your pieces can move to + * Editing crazyhouse holdings + * Thai Chess (Makruk) and Seirawan Chess + * Non-compliant FEN and SAN input + * Improved Xiangqi adjudications + * Allowing engines to setup a position + + Merging XBoard & WinBoard + ------------------------------ + * Evaluation graph (XB) + * Settings file (XB) + * Filtering the game list (XB) + * Game-List options dialog (XB) + * Recalling the ICS input history (XB) + * Aribtrary board textures (XB) + * Highlight arrow (XB) + + ICS-client Enhancements + ----------------------- + * Maintaining a healty ICS connection + * Claiming a draw after your move + * ICS seek graph + * One-click moving + * Observing your bughouse partner + * Improved Chat-Box interface (WB) + * Uploading games to an ICS + * Side-by-side boards + + +** 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 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 -4.2.7 corrects about two dozen bugs in the 4.2.6 release. See the -ChangeLog for a list. In addition, WinBoard 4.2.7 comes bundled with -GNU Chess 5.07 instead of the old 5.02+ version. The XBoard and -WinBoard source code trees have been merged, so the xboard download -now contains the complete source for both. - -The various larger contributions that people have submitted since the -4.2.6 release are not yet included in 4.2.7. The source code for -these contributions is now available, however (see -http://www.tim-mann.org/extensions.html), and we plan to include most -of them in a future release once the contributors complete necessary -copyright assignment paperwork. - -You can get both XBoard and WinBoard from either our new Savannah -project pages or their existing pages on Tim Mann's web site: - -- https://savannah.gnu.org/projects/xboard/ -- http://www.tim-mann.org/chess.html - -Most of the known bugs and deficiencies in previous versions have -*not* been addressed in this release. It is not necessary to report -your favorite bug again if you have reported it before, unless the -ChangeLog erroneously says it has been fixed. Most known bugs, -deficiencies, and suggestions received are now listed in the ToDo -file. If you find a bug not listed there, please report it in the bug -tracker at https://savannah.gnu.org/projects/xboard/ or by email to -bug-xboard [AT] tim-mann.org. +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 4.3.14 ** + +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. + + +** 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 + +** Winboard_F.4.3.12 release notes + +This WinBoard (beta-)version is derived from Allessandro Scotti's +Winboard_x, and supports the following new options, mainly in the area +of adjudication of engine-engine games, improved Crazyhouse support, +and allowing variants with non-conventional pieces and or board +sizes. (All option are shown here with their default values): + +/variant=normal +This (already existing) option has been expanded with +several new variants, involving non-conventional pieces and deviating +board sizes. The board size is automatically adapted to the selected +variant, unless explicitly overruled (see below). The new variants are +(with default board size, files x ranks, in parentheses): + +variant name Game board description +knightmate Knightmate (8x8) Variant where the King moves as a Knight, and vice versa +capablanca Capablanca Chess (10x8) Variant featuring Archbishop and Chancellor as new pieces +gothic Gothic Chess (10x8) Same as Capablanca, with a more interesting opening position +courier Courier Chess (12x8) a Medieval form that combines elements of Shatranj and modern Chess +shogi Shogi (9x9) Japanese Chess +xiangqi Xiangqi (9x10) Chinese Chess +fairy Fairy Chess (8x8) Variant were you can use all pieces of other variants together + +The variant can be set from the newly added "File -> New Variant..." +sub-menu. Extra board files are indicated by the letters i, j, k, l, +... For boards with more than 9 ranks, the counting starts at zero! +More than 10 ranks is not tested and unlikely to work in the area of +PGN saving / reading. Non-FIDE pieces will be referred to in FENs and +PGN by letters that depend on the variant, and might collide with +piece designators in other variants. E.g. in Xiangqi 'C' is a Cannon, +in Capablanca Chess it is a Chancellor. Pieces that do not belong in a +variant cannot be addressed in FEN and PGN either, for as long as that +variant is selected, unless the letter assignment is overruled with +the aid of the /pieceToCharTable option. The variant is not saved in +the winboard.ini file; on start-up we always get variant "normal" +unless we use the command-line option, or have added the option to the +winboard.ini file manually (in which case it will disappear when this +file is overwritten by WinBoard saving its options). WinBoard_F knows +the movement of all pieces occurring in Capablanca Chess (of which +FIDE Chess is a subset), Shatranj, Courier, Xiangqi and 9x9 Shogi, so +that these games can be played with legality testing enabled. + +/pieceToCharTable="PNBRQFWEMOUHACGSKpnbrqfwemouhacgsk" +Each piece that WinBoard knows (in its legality test) has a letter +associated with it, by which it will be referred to in FEN or PGN. The +default assignment can be overruled with this option. The value has to +be a string of even length, with at least 12 characters. The first +half of the string designates the white pieces, the second half the +black. The last letter for each color will be assigned to the +King. (This is the piece that moves as an orthodox King; note that +Nightmate and Xiangqi have a different royal piece.) All letters +before it will be assigned to the other pieces in the order: + +P Pawn (move often depends on variant) +N Knight (move subtly different in Xiangqi (where it is written as H) or Shogi) +B Bishop +R Rook +Q Queen (Lance L in Shogi) +F Ferz/General (The Shatranj 'Queen' and Xiangqi 'Adviser', used for Silver General S in Shogi.) +W Wazir/GrandVizer (Gold General G in Shogi, in Xiangqi it is royal and denoted by K) +E Alfil/Elephant (Moves subtly different in Xiangqi vs Shatranj/Courier) +M Commoner/Man +O Cannon/Pao +U Unicorn (representation of Royal Knight in Knightmate, used as promoted Pawn in Shogi) +H Nightrider (Promoted Knight in Shogi and CrazyHouse) +A Archbishop/Cardinal (Promoted Bishop in Shogi and CrazyHouse) +C Chancellor/Marshall (Promoted Rook in Shogi and CrazyHouse) +G Grasshopper (Promoted Queen in Crazyhouse, promoted Lance in Shogi) +S (Promoted Silver in Shogi) +K King + +Pieces that are not mentioned (because the argument has less than 34 +characters) will remain disabled. Mentioned pieces can be disabled by +assigning them a '.' (period). They are then not recognized in FEN or +PGN input. Non-FIDE pieces that are not assigned a letter will also +not appear on the promotion menu. It is not advisable to disable a +piece that is present in the opening position of the selected variant, +though. +Promoted pieces that need to be distinguished from original pieces of +the same type (because of demotion on capture and transfer to the +holdings) will be indicated by the letter for the unpromoted piece +with a '+' in front of it (Shogi), or by the letter of the promoted +piece with a '~' after it (Crazyhouse, Bughouse, in general everything +with holdings that is not Shogi). To achieve this, they should be +assigned the characters '+' or '~', respectively. +All the new pieces have a native bitmap representation in the board +sizes 'bulky' and 'middling'. For all window sizes that do not support +such fairy bitmaps, promoted NBRQ are represented as a 2-sizes-smaller +normal piece symbol, so that Crazyhouse can be played at any +size. People disliking the fairy representations might even prefer +this. +There is an enhanced 'Edit Position' menu popup (right-clicking on the +squares after selecting this mode in the main menu), featuring some +common non-FIDE pieces, and 'promote' and 'demote' options to make +those not directly in the menu. The promotion popup shows ArchBishop +and Chancellor in Capablanca and Gothic, (or in fact in any game where +this piece is not disabled or a promoted version of a normal piece), +and leaves only the options YES / NO in Shogi. In Xiangqi there are no +promotions. + +/fontPieceToCharTable="PNBRQFWEMOUHACGSKpnbrqfwemouhacgsk" +This option is similar to /pieceToCharTable, but sets the font +character that is used to display the piece on the screen (when +font-based rendering is in use), rather than in the FEN or PGN. The +default setting should work with George Tsavdaris' WinboardF font, +which uses the 'intuitive' mapping of font characters to symbols. With +font-based rendering the fairy pieces can be used at any board size. +Note that UHACGS are also used to represent the promoted versions of +PNBRQF, in games like Crazyhouse and Shogi, where the promotion has to +be undone on capture. In such games you are likely to prefer a +different representation of those pieces then when they represent true +fairy pieces. + +/flipBlack=FALSE +Traditional Shogi bitmaps are only included for size "moderate". For +other sizes you must depend on font-based rendering. + +/detectMate=TRUE +/testClaim=TRUE +/materialDraws=TRUE +/trivialDraws=FALSE +/ruleMoves=51 +/repeatsToDraw=6 +The option /materialDraws=TRUE causes games with insufficient mating +material to be adjudicated immediately as draws, in case the engines +would not claim these draws. This applies to KK, KNK and KBK. The +option /trivialDraws adjudicates KNNK, KBKB, KNKN, KBKN, KRKR and KQKQ +to draws after 3 moves (to allow for a quick tactical win). Note that +in KQKQ this might not be sound, but that problem would disappear once +bitbase probing is implemented. + +Clocks +The flag-fell condition is now indicated as '(!)' behind the displayed +time, to eliminate the necessity for overwriting the message in the +title bar (which might contain indispensible information in match +mode). + +Other improvements / changes +Castling rights and e.p. rights are now fully maintained, and +considered in legality testing. They are imported from and written to +FEN, as is the 50-move counter. (When reading an incomplete FEN they +are still guessed, though.) The time (in sec, or min:sec) is now +always stored together with the PV information to the PGN, if storing +the latter was requested (through ticking "extended PGN info" in +"Options -> General..."). The saved time is the WinBoard clock time +(as opposed to the time reported by the engine). + +** Winboard_F.4.3.8 release notes + +This Winboard supports the following new options (shown here with their default values): + +/variant=normal +This (already existing) option has been expanded with several new +variants, involving non-conventional pieces and deviating board +sizes. The board size is automatically adapted to the selected +variant, unless explicitly overruled (see below). The new variants are +(with default board size, files x ranks, in parentheses): + +variant name Game board description +knightmate Knightmate (8x8) Variant where the King moves as a Knight, and vice versa +capablanca Capablanca Chess (10x8) Variant featuring Archbishop and Chancellor as new pieces +gothic Gothic Chess (10x8) Same as Capablanca, with a more interesting opening position +courier Courier Chess (12x8) a Medieval form that combines elements of Shatranj and modern Chess +shogi Shogi (9x9) Japanese Chess +xiangqi Xiangqi (9x10) Chinese Chess +fairy Fairy Chess (8x8) Variant were you can use all pieces of other variants together + +The variant can be set from the newly added "File -> New Variant..." sub-menu. +Extra board files are indicated by the letters i, j, k, l, ... For +boards with more than 9 ranks, the counting starts at zero! Non-FIDE +pieces will be referred to in FENs and PGN by letters that depend on +the variant, and might collide with piece designators in other +variants. E.g. in Xiangqi 'C' is a Cannon, in Capablanca Chess it is a +Chancellor. Pieces that do not belong in a variant cannot be addressed +in FEN and PGN either as long as that variant is selected, unless the +letter assignment is overruled by the /pieceToCharTable option. The +variant is not saved in the winboard.ini file; on start-up we always +get variant "normal" unless we use the command-line opton, or have +added the option to the winboard.ini file manually (in which case it +will disappear when this file is overwritten). WinBoard_F knows the +movement of all pieces occurring in Capablanca Chess (of which FIDE +Chess is a subset), Shatranj, Courier, Xiangqi and 9x9 Shogi, so that +these games can be played with legality testing enabled. + +/pieceToCharTable="PNBRQFWEMOUHACGSKpnbrqfwemouhacgsk" +Each piece that WinBoard knows (in its legality test) has a letter +associated with it, by which it will be referred to in FEN or PGN. The +default assignment can be overruled with this option. The value has to +be a string of even length, with at least 12 characters. The first +half of the string designates the white pieces, the second half the +black. The last letter for each color will be assigned to the +King. (This is the piece that moves as an orthodox King; note that +Nightmate and Xiangqi have a different royal piece.) All letters +before it will be assigned to the other pieces in the order: + +P Pawn (move often depends on variant) +N Knight (move subtly different in Xiangqi (where it is written as H) or Shogi) +B Bishop +R Rook +Q Queen (Lance L in Shogi) +F Ferz/General (Silver General S in Shogi) +W Wazir/GrandVizer (Gold General G in Shogi, in Xiangqi it is royal and denoted by K) +E Alfil/Elephant (Moves subtly different in Xiangqi vs Shatranj/Courier) +M Commoner/Man +O Cannon/Pao +U Unicorn (representation of Royal Knight in Knightmate, used as promoted Pawn in Shogi) +H Nightrider (Promoted Knight in Shogi and CrazyHouse) +A Archbishop/Cardinal (Promoted Bishop in Shogi and CrazyHouse) +C Chancellor/Marshall (Promoted Rook in Shogi and CrazyHouse) +G Grasshopper (Promoted Queen in Crazyhouse, promoted Lance in Shogi) +S (Promoted Silver in Shogi) +K King + +Pieces that are not mentioned (because the argument has less than 34 +characters) will remain disabled. Mentioned pieces can be disabled by +assigning them a '.' (period). They are then not recognized in FEN or +PGN input. It is not advisable to disable a piece that is present in +the opening position of the selected variant, though. +Promoted pieces that need to be distinguished from original pieces of +the same type (because of demotion on capture and transfer to the +holdings) will be indicated by the letter for the unpromoted piece +with a '+' in front of it (Shogi), or by the letter of the promoted +piece with a '~' after it (Crazyhouse, Bughouse, in general everything +with holdings that is not Shogi). +All the new pieces have a native biytmap representation in the board +sizes 'bulky' and 'middling'. For all window sizes that do not support +such fairy bitmaps, promoted NBRQ are represented as a 2-sizes-smaller +normal piece symbol, so that Crazyhouse can be played at any +size. People disliking the fairy representations might even prefer +that. +There is an enhanced 'Edit Position' menu popup (right-clicking on the +squares after selecting this mode in the main menu), featuring some +common non-FIDE pieces, and 'promote' and 'demote' options to make +those not directly in the menu. The promotion popup shows ArchBishop +and Chancellor in Capablanca and Gothic, (or in fact in any game where +this piece is not disabled), and leaves only the options YES / NO in +Shogi. In Xiangqi there are no promotions. + +/alphaRank=FALSE +This option does not seem to work for reading PGN files. Saving works +fine. For now, using it is not recommended. In the future it might be +redefined as only affecting engine-engine communication, . + +/flipBlack=FALSE +Setting this option will cause upside-down display of the native piece +bitmaps used to represent the pieces of the side that plays black, as +would be needed for a traditional representation of Shogi pieces. It +can be set from the "Options -> Board..." sub-menu, and it is saved in +the winboard.ini file. For now, traditional Shogi bitmaps are not +included, though. + +Other improvements / changes +Castling rights and e.p. rights are now fully maintained, and +considered in legality testing. They are imported from and written to +FEN, as is the 50-move counter. The time (in sec, or min:sec) is now +always stored together with the PV information to the PGN, if storing +the latter was requested (through ticking 'extended PGN info' in +"Options -> General..."). The saved time is the Winboard clock time +(as opposed to the time reported by the engine). + +** Winboard_F.4.3.7 release notes + +This Winboard supports the following new options (shown here with +their default values): + +/variant=normal +This (already existing) option has been expanded with several new +variants, involving non-conventional pieces and deviating board +sizes. The board size is automatically adapted to the selected +variant, unless explicitly overruled (see below). The new variants are +(with default board size, files x ranks, in parentheses): + +variant name Game board description +knightmate Knightmate (8x8) Variant where the King moves as a Knight, and vice versa +capablanca Capablanca Chess (10x8) Variant featuring Archbishop and Chancellor as new pieces +gothic Gothic Chess (10x8) Same as Capablanca, with a more interesting opening position +courier Courier Chess (12x8) a Medieval form that combines elements of Shatranj and modern Chess +shogi Shogi (9x9) Japanese Chess +xiangqi Xiangqi (9x10) Chinese Chess +fairy Fairy Chess (8x8) Variant were you can use all pieces of other variants together + +The variant can be set from the newly added "File -> New Variant..." sub-menu. +Extra board files are indicated by the letters i, j, k, l, ... For +boards with more than 9 ranks, the counting starts at zero! Non-FIDE +pieces will be referred to in FENs and PGN by letters that depend on +the variant, and might collide with piece designators in other +variants. E.g. in Xiangqi 'C' is a Cannon, in Capablanca Chess it is a +Chancellor. Pieces that do not belong in a variant cannot be addressed +in FEN and PGN either as long as that variant is selected, unless the +letter assignment is overruled by the /pieceToCharTable option. The +variant is not saved in the winboard.ini file; on start-up we always +get variant "normal" unless we use the command-line opton, or have +added the option to the winboard.ini file manually (in which case it +will disappear when this file is overwritten). WinBoard_F knows the +movement of all pieces occurring in Capablanca Chess (of which FIDE +Chess is a subset), Shatranj, Courier, Xiangqi and 9x9 Shogi, so that +these games can be played with legality testing enabled. + +/pieceToCharTable="PNBRQFWEMOUHACGSKpnbrqfwemouhacgsk" +Each piece that WinBoard knows (in its legality test) has a letter +associated with it, by which it will be referred to in FEN or PGN. The +default assignment can be overruled with this option. The value has to +be a string of even length, with at least 12 characters. The first +half of the string designates the white pieces, the second half the +black. The last letter for each color will be assigned to the +King. (This is the piece that moves as an orthodox King; note that +Nightmate and Xiangqi have a different royal piece.) All letters +before it will be assigned to the other pieces in the order: + +P Pawn (move often depends on variant) +N Knight (move subtly different in Xiangqi (where it is written as H) or Shogi) +B Bishop +R Rook +Q Queen (Lance L in Shogi) +F Ferz/General (Silver General S in Shogi) +W Wazir/GrandVizer (Gold General G in Shogi, in Xiangqi it is royal and denoted by K) +E Alfil/Elephant (Moves subtly different in Xiangqi vs Shatranj/Courier) +M Commoner/Man +O Cannon/Pao +U Unicorn (representation of Royal Knight in Knightmate, used as promoted Pawn in Shogi) +H Nightrider (Promoted Knight in Shogi and CrazyHouse) +A Archbishop/Cardinal (Promoted Bishop in Shogi and CrazyHouse) +C Chancellor/Marshall (Promoted Rook in Shogi and CrazyHouse) +G Grasshopper (Promoted Queen in Crazyhouse, promoted Lance in Shogi) +S (Promoted Silver in Shogi) +K King + +Pieces that are not mentioned (because the argument has less than 34 +characters) will remain disabled. Mentioned pieces can be disabled by +assigning them a '.' (period). They are then not recognized in FEN or +PGN input. It is not advisable to disable a piece that is present in +the opening position of the selected variant, though. +Promoted pieces that need to be distinguished from original pieces of +the same type (because of demotion on capture and transfer to the +holdings) will be indicated by the letter for the unpromoted piece +with a '+' in front of it (Shogi), or by the letter of the promoted +piece with a '~' after it (Crazyhouse, Bughouse, in general everything +with holdings that is not Shogi). +All the new pieces have a native biytmap representation in the board +sizes 'bulky' and 'middling'. For all window sizes that do not support +such fairy bitmaps, promoted NBRQ are represented as a 2-sizes-smaller +normal piece symbol, so that Crazyhouse can be played at any +size. People disliking the fairy representations might even prefer +that. +There is an enhanced 'Edit Position' menu popup (right-clicking on the +squares after selecting this mode in the main menu), featuring some +common non-FIDE pieces, and 'promote' and 'demote' options to make +those not directly in the menu. The promotion popup shows ArchBishop +and Chancellor in Capablanca and Gothic, (or in fact in any game where +this piece is not disabled), and leaves only the options YES / NO in +Shogi. In Xiangqi there are no promotions. + +/fontPieceToCharTable="PNBRQFWEMOUHACGSKpnbrqfwemouhacgsk" +This option is similar to /pieceToCharTable, but sets the font +character that is used to display the piece on the screen (when +font-based rendering is in use), rather than in the FEN or PGN. The +default setting should work with the WinboardF font, which uses the +'intuitive' mapping of font characters to symbols. Note that UHACGS +are also used to represent the promoted versions of PNBRQF, in games +like Crazyhouse and Shogi, where the promotion has to be undone on +capture. + +/boardWidth=-1 /boardHeight=-1 +Set a number of files and ranks of the playing board to a value that +will override the defaults for the variant that is selected. A value +of -1 means the variant default board size will be used for the +corresponding parameter (and is itself the default value of these +options). These parameters can be set in the "Files -> New Variant..." +sub-menu, where they are reset to the default -1 is you OK the chosen +variant without typing something to overrule it. These parameters are +saved in the winboard.ini file. (But unless you saved while a variant +with board-size override was selected, they will always be saved as +-1.) +A variant with a non-standard board size will be communicated to the +engine(s) with the board size prefixed to the variant name, +e.g. "variant 12x8_capablanca". In protocol 2 the engine must first +enable this feature by sending "boardsizeFxR" amongst the accepted +variants, where F is the maximum number of files, and R the maximum +number of ranks, as decimal numbers. + +/holdingsSize=-1 +Set the size of the holdings for dropable pieces to a value that will +override the default for the variant that is selected. A value of -1 +means the variant default holdings size will be used for that +parameter (and is itself the default value of this options). This +parameter can be set in the Files -> New Variant... sub-menu, where it +is reset to the default -1 is you OK the chosen variant without typing +something to overrule it. This parameters is saved in the winboard.ini +file. To disable holdings, set their size to 0. They will then not be +displayed. For non-zero holding size N, the holdings are displayed +left and right of the board, and piece drops can be effected by +dragging pieces from the holdings to the drop square. In bughouse, the +holdings will be filled by the ICS. In all other variants, captured +pieces will go into the holdings (after reversing their color). Only +the first N pieces of the /pieceToCharTable argument will go into the +holdings. All other pieces will be converted to Pawns. (In Shogi, +however they will be demoted in the regular way before determining if +they fit.) Pieces that are disabled (per default and per +/pieceToCharTable option) might not be counted when determining what +are the first N pieces. Non-standard holdingsize will be communicated +to the engine by prefixing it (together with the board size, even if +this is standard) to the variant name, e.g. "variant 7x7+5_shogi". In +protocol 2 the engine should enable this feature by sending +"holdingsH" amongst the variant names, where H is the maximum +acceptable holdings size as a decimal number. + +/alphaRank=FALSE +When this parameter is true, a-h are converted to 1-9, and vice versa, +in all move output and input (to PGN files or SAN move display as well +as in communication with the engine). This might be useful for Shogi, +where conventionally one uses letters to designate ranks, and digits +to designate files. Engines that want to use this option must make +sure pieces are never represented by lower case! This option can be +set from the Files -> New Variant... menu, where it defaults to FALSE +unless you explicitly set it. It is not saved in the winboard.ini +file. Note that the PGN format in Shogi also leaves out the trailing +'+' as check indicator: In Shogi such a trailing '+' means promotion, +while a trailing '=' means defer promotion. Prefix '+' signs are used +on moves with promoted pieces, disambiguation is done western SAN +style. + +/allWhite=FALSE +Causes the outline of the 'white' pieces to be superimposed onto the +'black' piece symbols as well (as a black outline) when native bitmaps +are used (as opposed to font-based rendering). This is useful if we +choose a very light color to represent the 'black' pieces. It might be +particularly useful in Shogi, where the conventional representation of +the 'black' pieces is as upside-down white pieces, so that both colors +would be white. This option is saved in the winboard.ini file, and can +be set in the "Options -> Board..." sub-menu. + +/flipBlack=FALSE +This option is reserved for future use. It will cause upside-down +display of the 'black' native piece bitmaps, as would be needed for +Shogi. For now it can be set from the "Options -> Board..." sub-menu, +and it is saved in the winboard.ini file, but it is ignored. + +/detectMate=TRUE +/testClaim=TRUE +/materialDraws=TRUE +/trivialDraws=FALSE +/ruleMoves=51 +/repeatsToDraw=6 +These are all options that only affect engine-engine play, and can be +set from the "Options -> Engine..." sub-menu. They are all related to +adjudication of games by the GUI. Legality checking must be switched +on for them to work. If /detectMate is TRUE, the GUI recognizes +checkmate and stalemate (but not in games with holdings!), and ends +the game accordingly before the engines can claim. This is convenient +for play with engines that fail to claim, and just exit. With +/testClaim set, all result and illegal-move claims by engines that +claim more than their own loss are scrutinized for validity, and false +claims result in forfeit of the game. Useful with buggy engines. The +option /materialDraws=TRUE causes games with insufficient mating +material to be adjudicated immediately as draws, in case the engines +would not claim them. The option /trivialDraws adjudicates KNNK, +KBKB, KNKN, KBKN, KRKR and KQKQ to draws after 3 moves (to allow for a +quick tactical win. Note that in KQKQ this might not be sound, but +that problem would disappear once bitbase probing is added). The +/ruleMoves determine after how many reversible moves the game is +adjudicated as a draw. Setting this to 0 turns this option off. Draw +claims by the engine are still accepted (by /testClaim) after 50 +reversible moves, even if /ruleMoves species a larger number. Note +that it is perfectly legal according to FIDE rules to play on after 50 +reversible moves, but in tournaments having two engines that want to +play on forever is a nuisance in endings like KBNKR, where one of the +engines thinks it is ahead and can avoids repeats virtually forever. +The option /repeatsToDraw makes the GUI adjudicate a game as draw +after the same position has occurred the specified number of times. If +it is set to a value > 3, engines can still claim the draw after +3-fold repeat. All these options are saved in the winboard.ini file. + +Clocks +There is an "Options -> flip Clocks" command, that swaps the position +of white and black clocks (convenient in over-the-board matches, where +the screen is next to the board, and you want your own time to be +displayed on your side of the screen). The clocks can be adjusted in +"edit game" mode: right-clicking them adds one minute, left-clicking +subtracts one minute. (Also for OTB matches, to keep them synchronized +with the official match clock.) The flag-fell condition is now +indicated as (!) behind the time. + +Other improvements +Castling rights and e.p. rights are now fully maintained, and +considered in legality testing. They are imported from and written to +FEN, as is the 50-move counter. + +** Winboard_F 4.3.2 + +These are the release notes of Winboard_F 4.3.2, which is released +under the GPL. This version was derived from Allessandro Scotti's +Winboard_x 4.2.7 source files. It only includes the files that were +changed: + +config.h +common.h +parser.h +moves.h +resource.h + +winboard.c +backend.c +moves.c + +parser.l +winboard.rc + +and some bitmaps for piece symbols + +I made modifications in the following areas: + +1) Adjudication and claim verification +2) Fairy pieces and board sizes other than 8x8 +3) Miscellaneous + +Miscellaneous + +/matchPause=10000 +is an option to set the length of the pause between two games of a +match. The value is in msec, default value is 10000 (I will present +all newly implemented options with their default value as example). Be +aware that some engines might not be stopped yet if you make the pause +too small, but might still be puking output, which then will interfere +with the next game. But the fixed value of 10 sec of the old Winboard +seemed like overdoing it. + +Time info in PGN +When you ask for the PV-info to be stored in the PGN (a Winboard_x +option), it now also stores the time spent on the move with it. + +Flag fell +In engine-engine games the messge "white/black/both" flag(s) fell" no +longer appears in the window caption, but as an exclamation point +behind the clock time. (To prevent the annoying overwriting of the +normal header line). + +Adjudications and Claim verification. + +These functions are only present in engine-engine games, and only if +legality-testing is switched on. (The latter will be typically +switched off in games with bizarre rules, which the GUI doesn't know, +and in that case the GUI can never have an opinion on the outcome of a +game.) + +Illegal-move forfeit +As soon as one of the engines plays an illegal move, it forfeits the +game. This feature was already present, but it should be 100% reliable +now, as it also takes e.p. and castling rights into account, rather +than erring on the safe side. + +Illegal-move claim +From the above, it follows that any illegal-move claims by an engine +must be false, and will result in forfeiting the game. (In Winboard_x +this message is ignored, causing the game or match to hang.) + +Checkmate adjudication +As soon as one of the engines does a move that results in checkmate, +the GUI declares the game won, without waiting for the engine to claim +it. + +Insufficient mating material +As soon as the material on the board has shrunk to KK, KNK or KBK, the +game is declared draw. + +/adjudicateLossThreshold=0 +This option was already present in Winboard_x, (to declare a game lost +for which both engines agree for 3 moves that the score is below the +given threshold), but a non-zero value is now also used to enable the +following adjudications. If you only want the latter, just make the +threshold impossibly low (-40000 will usually do the trick). + +Trivial draws +If we are 3 moves into a KQKQ, KRKR, KBKB KBKN or KNKN end-game, the +game is adjudicated as draw. + +/repeatsToDraw=6 +When the specified number of repeats occurs, the game is adjudicated +draw. Should keep track of e.p. and castling rights. This does not +require legality-testing to be switched on. The engines retain the +legal right to claim after a 3-fold repetition, though. If you set +this parameter to 3 or less, they will never get the chance. Better +not set it to 1 or less. + +/ruleMoves=51 +After the given number of full moves without capture or Pawn move, the +game is adjudicated draw. Even without legality testing. The engines +retain the legal right to claim after 50 moves. + +/testClaims=FALSE +When enabled, this option verifies all result claims made by the +engines, and overrules the claim if it is false (forfeiting the game +for the claimer). An engine can still safely claim a win for its +opponent on a nonsense reason, though; this is taken to be the +equivalent of 'resign'. Draw claims (made before a draw adjudication) +are checked against the 50-move, 3-fold-repetition or +insufficient-material rules. Win claims are always considered false, +as the GUI adjudicates checkmates (and stalemates) before any engine +can claim them. + +Fairy-Chess support + +/boardWidth=8 +Sets the number of files on the board. The additional files are named +i, j, k, l... in PGN, and should be indicated this way in +communicating moves to and from the engine. Currently works upto +12. No guarantees on how the rest of the display (clocks, etc.) looks +if you make this number < 8. + +/boardHeight=8 +Sets the number of ranks. Extra ranks are numbered 9, 10, 11... in +PGN. This is so far largely untested, and unlikely to work for +double-digit ranks. Displaying boards with upto 12 ranks seems to +work, though, but double-digit ranks might cause all kind of unforseen +problems in PGN file and move parser, or in communication with the +engine. To avoid such problems as much as possible, in boards with +more than 9 ranks the counting of ranks will start at zero rather than +one! + +/fontPieceToCharTable="......." +This paramater, controlling the mapping of font symbols to piece +types, was already present in Winboard_x. The default is dependent on +the font selected with the /renderPiecesWithFont option. It can now +accept upto 32 pieces, but the length should always be even. The first +half designates the white pieces, the second half the black, both in +the order PNBRACHFEWDOGMQK. (The letters mentioned here are the +letters by which the pieces will be indicated in PGN and FEN notation, +what you have to give as argument depends on the font you use. A black +king might be 'l', for instance). If you give fewer then 32 pieces, +this will go at the expense of what is just before Queen. So the last +two symbols you give for each color are always Queen and King, the +others are assigned in the order Pawn, Knight, ... Pieces that do not +get a symbol assigned will remain invisible. + +fairy-FEN support +The letters ACDEFGHMOW are accepted in FENs in addition to the regular +PNBRQK,(and of course the lower case versions for black), and are +passed to the engine in a setboard or edit menu. Double-digit skips +are acceptable in FENs. 'x' is interpreted as a skip of 10. Castling +rights should no longer be ignored. (Doesn't work for FRC yet, +though.) The 50-move-plies field should also be meaningful now. + +Legality testing for Fairy pieces +There is a build in notion of what some of the new pieces can do, according to +A = Archbishop (aka Cardinal) = N+B +C = Chancellor (aka Marshall) = N+R +F = Ferz (aka General), moves 1 step diagonal +W = Wazir (aka Grand Vizer), moves 1 step orthogonal +E = Elephant (aka Alfil), jumps 2 steps diagonal +D = Dabbabah (aka War Machine), jumps 2 steps orthogonal +M = Man (aka Commoner), moves as King, but is not a royal piece +O = Cannon, moves along Rook lines, but cannot capture unless it jumps over + exactly one piece (friend or foe), and captures the first piece + it encounters thereafter. It can only jump if it captures something. + The piece jumped over (the 'platform') is not affected. +The other pieces have not yet any moves implemented: +H = Nightrider +G = Grasshopper +In games that use the mentioned pieces as described (Shatranj, +Courier, Capablanca Chess) you can leave legality testing on. If you +use them to represent pieces that move differently, you should switch +legality testing off. + +Pawn moves +Pawn motion is made dependent on the variant played: in Shatranj and +Courier the double move is forbidden. In those games promotions are +always to Ferz. In Capablanca Chess the ArchBishop and Chancellor also +appear as choices in the promotion popup box. + + +/variant="normal" +Several new variants names are added (replacing "variant31" upto +"variant36"). They affect the initial position. (Board size has to be +set separately.) They are: courier (a Medieval predecessor of modern +Chess, played on a 12x8 board) capablanca (on a 10x8 board, featuring +Archbishop and Chancellor) gothic (as Capablanca, but with a more +exciting initial setup) xiangqi (Chinese Chess) shogi (Japanese Chess, +no support yet) fairy (This variant plays on 8x8 with HEW in stead of +NBR on the Queen side, so that all back-rank pieces are (potentially) +different) Make sure the selected board size matches the variant; this +is not automatic + +Xiangqi and Shogi support (or lack thereof) +Xiangqi is only partially supported. The board display is +western-style (the pieces play on squares, rather than grid +intersections). The legality testing uses the Shatranj Knight and +Elephant, that cannot be blocked, and thus allows some moves that +should be illegal in Xiangqi. The Palace region is indicated on the +board, but there is no testing if the King or Mandarins (implemented +as ordinary Ferzes) leave the Palace. SAN might be non-standard, as it +uses O to indicate Cannon. Most of this will be fixed in a future +version. Shogi is not yet supported at all, first the shaky +implementation of Crazyhouse will have to be beefed up.