Date: Fri, 10 Apr 2009 00:42:02 +0200
To: Arun Persaud <address@hidden>
From: "h.g. muller" <address@hidden>
Subject: Re: [Bug-XBoard] Please Help
that sounds very promising. I emailed Allessandro and if he already
signed the forms than we could go right ahead... If it is ok, I'll
forward your email address to the gnu-guys, so that they can start the
process to get you all set up.
OK, no problem.
> From then on basically all changes and new code in the back end and
> front end
> files where from my hand, with one exception: I based the code for the
> GUI book on code from Michel van den Bergh, which was already released
> in the public domain. So I guess he already abdicated his rights
> (the code is published on his website, see
> http://alpha.uhasselt.be/Research/Algebra/Toga/book_format.html ,
> which also makes a comment on the legal status.)
so that's for the GUI? I guess, if we change to gtk we would rewrite
that code anyway... (btw: is gtk ok with you? I got the feeling it is,
but I guess the question never really came up ;))
Why would you want to rewrite it? This is pure back-end code, not?
(I put it in the file book.c, which goes in both the WinBoard and XBoard
build.)
My knowledge of gtk is zero, so I don't feel qualified to have any opinion
on it
at all. I understand that it is something that would compile both on Linux and
WinBoard.
that should be ok... I think the rule of thumb is if you add more than
15 lines of code they want to get a form signed. This doesn't include
similar changes as adding a #define in every file or so...
Then I think it is OK.
Do we really need backward compatibility, if we provide a SVG version of
all the graphics? Since changing to gtk and getting all the changes you
did into Savannah, we change so many things and introduce new
dependencies for gtk anyway, I would think that this would be a good
point to clean things up and through all the Xt/Xaw stuff out completely
and perhaps other things too.
The point is that there are people who are using XBoard with customized
graphics, e.g. like this:
http://linuz.sns.it/~monge/wiki/index.php/Chess_pieces .
They won't be happy when they download the new XBoard executable, and
it turns out it does not understand the pixmaps they took so much effort to
design anymore.
>> do you have your code in version control? would be nice to keep the
>> history of all the changes for example
>
> Unfortunately not, as I haven't the slightest idea what version
control is,
> and what it is good for...
this is my take on version control: it basically allows you to take a
snapshot of the code whenever you want and add a comment to it. So
whenever you add a feature you would take a new snapshot and add a
comment: "added feature foobar". It also makes it very easy to get a
diff from version abc compared to version xyz, so you can easily see
what was changed or to revert changes you made. The main advantage is
that it makes it easy for people to work on the same project at the same
time, since it can keep track of who changed what and what was changed
when, which makes debugging easier. It also helped resolves merge
conflicts in case several people changed similar things. There are a lot
of different programs out there that can be used to do this. Xboard on
Savannah uses CVS, which feels a bit outdated to me (but Tim would like
to keep it, since he is very familiar with it). I use git
(http://git-scm.com/) for most of my stuff nowadays. But using just
tar-balls is fine with me too... I can upload the stuff to Savannah and
handle the CVS part of it, that way you can do more coding, which I
guess would be more productive ;)
OK, I will definitely have to gt acquainted with this. I have never programmed
anything as part of a team, so I had never to deal with some of the problems
you sketch, but I can imagine they exist.
If I work on my own I keep very few 'snapshots', basically only the versions
that I release. And they usually contain many new features, as I typically
work
on many features at the same time. And often they are not even finished when
I release, e.g. when I postpone creating menu items for them to a later
release,
and initilly only have them accessible through command-line options. There
has been no plan or grand design; I add features as I need them (or people
request them), and then I slowly polish them to perfection.
As far as I can see it we should do the following:
* get you signed up for the gnu-project
* get Allessandro's signature
* keep you working on winboard
* keep me working on gtk
Sounds like a good plan. Note that in expanding the capabilities of WinBoard,
I also extended WinBoard protocol with some sorely needed new commands.
Documenttion will probably also have to be put on the agenda.
I am currently working on what will become 4.3.16; this includes fixing some
bugs people complained about. In the WinBoard branch I am currently working
on the displaying of engine logos (next to the clocks), which can be supplied
as bitmap files through the command-line options -firstLogo and -secondLogo.
(
http://www.talkchess.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=26554&postdays=0&postorder=a
sc&highlight=logos&topic_view=flat&start=0 )
This already works, but I am trying to make the ue of logos more user-friendly
by suplying an option -autoLogo, which searches the logo files automatically
in the engine directory. The user then only has to run WB with /autoLogo=true
once, after which this setting gets incorporated into the winboard.ini
file, and
from the on logos will automatically be selected to go with the engines.
This also works already, and quite satisfactory, in Two Machines mode.
Problem is that I have no clear idea yet what to display in other modes
for the second logo, when the second engine is not used. E.g. in ICS mode,
should it look for freechess.bmp and chessclub.bmp files, with logos for the
various servers. Or should it try to find logos corresponding to the opponent
you are playing? And what if you play an engine as a Human? Should it look for
a logo file corresponding to your user name? I am still brooding on all this.
A second thing I am working on is better adjudcation in engine-engine games
in variant xiangqi, to know which side should be declared loser on a
three-fold
repetition.
Regards,
H.G.
once we have all the signature, we get your code into Savannah and then
start working on combining xboard and winboard using gtk as a
cross-platfrom GUI.
cheers
ARUN