xref: /dports/games/xboard/xboard-4.9.1/zippy.README

Zippy README file
For version xboard/WinBoard 4.2.4 and later only
-----------------------------------------------------

Zippy is a program that lets GNU Chess act as a computer player on an
Internet Chess Server.  It also works with Crafty.  Zippy is
unsupported, experimental code.

Zippy is based on XBoard, a graphical interface to GNU Chess and to
the ICS for the X Window system on Unix.  Zippy consists of exactly
the same code as XBoard, plus one extra module that ties together the
otherwise-separate functions of talking to GNU Chess and talking to
the ICS.  Zippy is included in the XBoard distribution.

There is also a version of Zippy that is based on WinBoard, a port of
XBoard to Win32 (Microsoft Windows NT and Windows 95).  WinBoard does
*not* run on Windows 3.1 or 3.11, not even with Win32s.  In versions
3.5 and later, the Zippy code is included in WinBoard.exe.

If you use Zippy, I ask you to do the following:

- Don't expect fast response if you send me mail about problems.  It
might take weeks for me to get back to you, or I might answer right
away.  Try to solve problems yourself before you mail me about them.
Try asking someone who is actively running a Zippy-based player on ICC
or FICS for help getting started.  Mail me only if you get stuck.

- Be honest.  Tell the admins of whatever ICS you use that your player
is a computer, so that it gets put onto the computer list, and follow
the ICS computer policies.  On ICC these are in "help computer"; read
this file and abide by what it says.

- If you want to interface some other chess program to ICS, feel free
to start with this code.  Some documentation is in the file
engine-intf.html in the distribution.

- Please do not use the -zt flag to have your program shout Zippy the
Pinhead sayings (or other things that my Zippy shouts).  One pinhead
per server is plenty, and I'd like to keep the franchise.  Feel free
to use -zt to have your program shout some other kind of sayings if
you like.  Some of the jokes that Zippy shouts on ICC came from
ftp://ftp.cco.caltech.edu/pub/humor.  The poetry came from Project
Gutenberg; try http://www.cs.cmu.edu/Web/booktitles.html as a starting
point.  You might find other suitable material at these sites.  Prose
tends to work poorly because it is dull when shouted in isolated
250-character chunks.

	--Tim Mann
	  http://www.tim-mann.org/chess.html

* * *

Unix: To build the Zippy version of xboard, on most systems just do:
	configure --enable-zippy
	make

Windows: WinBoard.exe (versions 3.5 and later) includes the Zippy
code.  There is no longer a distinct WinZippy.exe.

In both xboard and WinBoard, the Zippy features are off by default.
You can activate them with two new resources/command line options, and
you can fine-tune them with some new environment variables, all
described below.

You will probably want to make a shell script or Windows .BAT file
that sets the environment variables you want to use and invokes Zippy
with the right command line options for your situation.  Some examples
are at the bottom of this file.

If you have problems building or running Zippy, see the rest of the
xboard documentation: INSTALL documents the configure program, while
READ_ME and xboard.man (or xboard.txt) document xboard itself, and
WinBoard.hlp documents WinBoard.  FAQ answers some frequently asked
questions.  The file engine-intf.html contains some information about
the interface between xboard/WinBoard and GNU Chess (or other chess
engines).

===========
NEW OPTIONS
===========

  -zippyPlay True/False or -zp/-xzp
	If zippyPlay is set to True, when xboard is in -ics mode, it
	will interface a chess engine to the ICS instead of letting you
	play.  You must also set -ics when you use this mode.

	In zippyPlay mode, xboard blindly issues an accept command for
	every (well, almost every, see below) challenge it gets,
	without remembering anything about the challenge afterwards.
	This means that often it will get several challenges very
	close together and try to accept them all!  ICS gives an error
	message for every accept command after the one that actually
	starts a match, but xboard just happily ignores the message.
	xboard doesn't actually start the chess engine playing until
	the first board image comes in from ICS.

	The getMoveList option controls how adjourned games are
	continued.  If it is True (the default), xboard fetches the
	move list from ICS and feeds it into the chess program before
	having the program start play.  If False, xboard feeds the
	current position into the chess program and has it start from
	there.  The latter option gets the program going sooner, but
	can cause problems with detection of en passant legality,
	castling legality (if a king or rook has moved and then
	returned to its home square), draw by repetition, and draw by
	the 50 move rule.

	In zippyPlay mode, colorization in the ICS interaction window,
	and the sounds corresponding to colors in that window, do not
	work.  zippyPassword and related features (see below) capture
	the tells, etc., before they can be matched by the color/sound
	code.

  -zippyTalk True/False or -zt/-xzt
	If zippyTalk is set to True and xboard is in -ics mode:

	(1) It will reply to anything said to it with a saying (if
	there is a file of sayings in its working directory).  This
	includes channel tells and shouts where its name is mentioned.
	Some things it says to opponents in specific situations will
	also be made Zippy-ish; you might want to change that.  See
	zippyLines below for the file format.

	(2) If a player XXX in your notify list logs on, xboard sends
	the command "greet XXX" to ICS and tells XXX something from
	its sayings file.  You can alias this to whatever you like.
	If XXX is censoring you, he is automatically removed from your
	notify list.

	(3) If a player XXX in your notify list logs off, xboard sends
	the command "farewell XXX" to ICS.  You can alias this to
	whatever you like.  Note that the player is already gone, so
	telling him something is futile.

	If zippyTalk is on, colorization in the ICS interaction
	window, and the sounds corresponding to colors in that window,
	do not work.  The reply feature captures the tells, etc.,
	before they can be matched by the color/sound code.

  In both -zp and -zt modes, if admin X spoofs Zippy, Zippy sends the
  command "spoofedby X" to ICS.  You can alias this to something if you
  want; otherwise it will produce a harmless error message.

  -zippyPinhead string
	In zippyTalk mode, if user XXX shouts anything containing
	this string, xboard sends the command "insult XXX" to ICS.
	You can alias "insult" to whatever you like.  This feature is
	disabled if the option is not set.

  -zippyPassword string
	If someone does an ICS "tell" to xboard that begins with this
	password, it will type the same string back as a command with
	the password stripped off.  For example, if the password is
	!%%! and xboard sees the string "Darooha tells you: !%%!shout
	Hi there", it will type the command "shout Hi there" to the
	ICS.  This feature is disabled if the option is not set.

  -zippyPassword2 string
	If someone does an ICS "tell" to xboard that begins with this
	password, it will send the same string directly to the chess
        engine with the password stripped off.  This feature is
        disabled if the option is not set.  Use with caution.

  -zippyWrongPassword string
	This is a joke feature.  If player XXX does an ICS "tell" to
        xboard that begins with this password, it will send the
        command "wrong XXX" to ICS.  ICS does not define a "wrong"
        command, but you can alias it to whatever you like.  The
        feature is supposed to be used after you've changed the
        zippyPassword, so that people who knew the old password get a
        funny message.  Disabled if not set.

  -zippyUseI True/False or -zui/-xzui
	If this option is true, Zippy's shouts use the "i" command with
	funny verbs; otherwise they use the "shout" command.  Default
	is true.  The variable is automatically set to false if the "i"
	command is disabled on ICS by the admins.

  -zippyLines filename
	Name of the file Zippy looks in for sayings when -zt is set.
	Default: yow.lines.  File format: There must be a single ^
	character or null character (control-@, ASCII code \000) after
	each saying.  Sayings can have newlines in them; Zippy will
	remove them.  Sayings can be at most about 250 characters;
	longer ones will be ignored.  The first saying in the file is
	never used; you should put a comment there.  If you have only
	one or two sayings in your file, Zippy may get into a loop
	trying to choose one.  Zippy chooses a saying by seeking to a
	random character position in the file, skipping ahead to the
	*next* null character, and printing the saying that starts
	there.  If it hits end of file without finding a new saying,
	it tries again.  Yes, this is a dumb algorithm.

  -zippyAcceptOnly string
        Normally, Zippy automatically accepts challenges from all
	opponents.  If this option is set to an ICS login name, Zippy
	will auto-accept challenges only from that opponent.  Set the
	option to an invalid name like "0" if you don't want Zippy to
	auto-accept any challenges.  You can still accept challenges
	manually.  Setting this option also suppresses the
	zippyGameEnd feature described below.  Default: not set.

  -zippyNoplayCrafty True/False or -znc/-xznc
	If this option is set to True, if Zippy's opponent kibitzes
	"Hello from Crafty" within the first couple of moves, Zippy
	will abort the game and add the opponent to his noplay list.
        Default: False.

  -zippyGameStart string
	At the start of each game Zippy plays (including resuming from
	adjournment), it sends this string to ICS, followed by a newline.
	If the option is not set, nothing is sent.

  -zippyGameEnd string
	At the end of each game, Zippy sends this string to ICS,
        followed by a newline.  If you do not set this option, the
        string "gameend" is sent.  This is not a legal ICS command,
        but you can alias it to whatever you like, or you can leave
        it undefined, which will cause ICS to print a harmless error
        message after each game.  If you want to send more than one
        command at the end of the game, on ICC you can alias gameend
        to a "multi" command (see the ICC help files), but on FICS that
        does not work.  Instead, use the -zippyGameEnd option to have
        a string of several commands sent, with newlines in between.
        For example, you could give WinBoard the command line option
          -zippyGameEnd=\"say thanks\\nseek 5 0\\nseek 2 12\\n\"
        Note the extra backslashes: these are essential, because the
        shell will strip them from the command before passing it to
        XBoard, and XBoard needs to see the quotes (which would
        otherwise be stripped by the shell as well), because only within
        quotes it will recognize the \n as a linefeed.

  -zippyAdjourn True/False or -zadj/-xzadj
	Zippy will allow its opponent to adjourn if this option is
	set to true.  Default: False.

  -zippyAbort True/False or -zab/-xzab
	Zippy will allow its opponent to abort if this option is
	set to true.  Default: False.

  -zippyVariants string
	Zippy will decline to play chess variants unless their names
	(as given in engine-intf.html) are listed in this option.
	Default: "normal".  Example: "suicide,losers,bughouse,normal".

	Obviously, zippyVariants other than "normal" will work only
	if your chess engine can play those variants.  GNU Chess
	certainly cannot, but there are some suicide and bughouse
	engines available.  While playing bughouse, Zippy passes
	certain extra information on to the engine; see
	engine-intf.html.

  -zippyBughouse int
        This option controls how Zippy handles bughouse partner
        requests.  If zippyBughouse is set to 0, Zippy will decline
        any offers of partnership and tell the offerer that it cannot
        play bughouse.  If zippyBughouse is set to 1, Zippy will
        decline offers, but you can make Zippy your partner by having
        *it* offer *you* partnership (by using zippyPassword or typing
        directly into its window).  If zippyBughouse is set to 2,
        Zippy will accept all offers of partnership, even if it
        already has a partner.  zippyBughouse must be at least 1 for
        partner tells to be relayed to the engine with the ptell
        command.

  -zippyMaxGames int
  -zippyReplayTimeout
        If zippyMaxGames > 0, Zippy will play at most the given number
	of consecutive games against the same opponent.  Thereafter,
	Zippy will decline all challenges from that opponent (with an
	explanatory tell) until either someone else has played or
	zippyReplayTimeout seconds have elapsed.  Defaults:
	zippyMaxGames=0, zippyReplayTimeout=120.

	Note: If you use these options and you have Zippy doing seeks,
	be sure to include the "m" flag in the ICS seek command.  If
	you use "seek m", when a player responds to the seek, the ICS
	gives Zippy a challenge that it can either accept or decline.
	If you use a seek without the "m" flag, the ICS immediately
	starts a game between Zippy and the first opponent to respond,
	giving Zippy no choice about whether to accept or decline.

  -zippyShortGame int
        If zippyShortGame > 0, Zippy will decline all challenges
	from an opponent that terminated a game before the given number
	of ply (with an explanatory tell) until either someone else has
	played or zippyReplayTimeout seconds have elapsed. Do not set
	the number of moves to large; the number of ply during which
	opponents can abort a game without rating change would be a
	good setting. Default: zippyShortGame=0.

=====================
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
=====================

  For backward compatibility with version 4.0.2 and earlier only, most
  of the command line options listed above can also be set as
  environment variables.  For boolean options, use 0 for false, 1 for
  true in the corresponding environment variable.  The following
  environment variables are supported.:

    ZIPPYPINHEAD, ZIPPYPASSWORD, ZIPPYPASSWORD2, ZIPPYWRONGPASSWORD,
    ZIPPYUSEI, ZIPPYLINES, ZIPPYACCEPTONLY, ZIPPYNOPLAYCRAFTY,
    ZIPPYGAMESTART, ZIPPYGAMEEND, ZIPPYADJOURN, ZIPPYABORT,
    ZIPPYVARIANTS, ZIPPYBUGHOUSE

  Warnings: (1) If both the command line option and the corresponding
  environment variable are set, the environment variable takes
  precedence!  (2) Some of the environment variables have names that
  are too long for Solaris 2.5's /bin/csh.  Use the command line
  options instead.  (3) Newer options DO NOT have environment
  variables.  If you don't see it in the list above, it doesn't exist.
  (4) In the future the environment variables may go away entirely.
  It would be a good idea to stop using them now and switch to the
  command line options.

You may also want to customize other things by editing zippy.c and
recompiling the program.

=====================
ICS VARIABLE SETTINGS
=====================

You need to do the following settings on ICS:

    set highlight 0  <-- I'm not sure this is still needed
    set oldmatch 0
    set examine 0

If you want to use the zippyPassword remote-control feature, it's a
good idea to do the following, so that commands you give Zippy won't
be truncated because the ICS wrapped a "tell" to a new line:

    set wrap 0       <-- on ICC, or
    set width 255    <-- on FICS

You will probably want to turn on server-side autoflagging too:

    set autoflag 1

======
SIMULS
======

It has been discovered that Zippy can play simuls on ICC (but not on
FICS).  If you arrange for Zippy to send the ICC command "simulize" in
the -zippyGameStart string, it will accept additional games while
playing.  Zippy will use the same engine for every game, so whenever
it switches opponents, the engine's state will be reset with the "new"
command.  This will of course weaken its play, so don't enable simuls
if you want your engine to have the highest possible rating.

Zippy was never designed to work with simuls; it just works by
accident, and it hasn't been tested much.  So please report any bugs
you notice, but don't expect them to be fixed rapidly.

Be sure to use xboard/WinBoard 4.2.4 or later for simuls, because some
obscure bugs are fixed in that version that affect starting a game in
the middle (as with resuming from adjournments or switching opponents
in a simul).

As noted under -zippyPlay above, you should have -getMoveList on to
ensure that the engine knows the game history after switching boards
and thus handles draw by repetition and by the 50-move rule correctly.
It should, however, also work to turn off this option to speed things
up and reduce network bandwidth, if you don't mind the engine
occasionally failing to see draw possibilities.  Unfortunately,
though, with Crafty 18.3 (and probably other versions too) as the
engine, users trying this have experienced Crafty crashes.  This looks
to me like a Crafty bug, but I wasn't able to reproduce it, so it
remains a mystery.


========
EXAMPLES
========

Here are some small example command lines.  You may want to use more
options; see the man page, info file, or help file, and perhaps the
FAQ file too.  You may want to put the command line into a Unix shell
script or Windows .BAT file, which is simply a text file of commands.
On Unix, turn on execute permission for the file (chmod a+x file); on
Windows, give it the extension .BAT.  You can then run it just like an
ordinary program.  Please do not ask me questions about how to make a
shell script or .BAT file; these are not functions of xboard/WinBoard,
but basic operating system features that you can learn about from
introductory books, friends, teachers, or the online help for your
system.  The examples below should be more than enough to get you
started.

Unix command lines:

# xboard + GNU Chess on chessclub.com
xboard -zp -ics -icshost chessclub.com -icshelper timestamp \
    -zippyPassword beer

# xboard + GNU Chess on freechess.org
xboard -zp -ics -icshost freechess.org -icshelper timeseal \

# xboard + Crafty on chessclub.com
xboard -zp -ics -icshost chessclub.com \
    -fd /home/crafty -fcp crafty -icshelper timestamp \
    -zippyPassword beer

# xboard + Crafty on freechess.org
xboard -zp -ics -icshost freechess.org -autoflag \
    -fd /home/crafty -fcp crafty -icshelper timeseal \
    -zippyPassword beer

Windows command lines:

REM WinBoard + GNU Chess on chessclub.com
WinBoard -zp -ics -icshost chessclub.com -fcp GNUChess -icshelper timestamp -zippyPassword beer

REM WinBoard + GNU Chess on freechess.org
WinBoard -zp -ics -icshost freechess.org -fcp GNUChess -icshelper timeseal -zippyPassword beer

REM WinBoard + Crafty on chessclub.com
WinBoard -zp -ics -icshost chessclub.com -fd C:\Crafty -fcp WCrafty -icshelper timestamp -zippyPassword beer

REM WinBoard + Crafty on freechess.org
WinBoard -zp -ics -icshost freechess.org -fd C:\Crafty -fcp WCrafty -icshelper timestamp -zippyPassword beer