Re: xboard 4.9.1 + gnuchess 6.7.2 don't work together

[Antonio Ceballos]

Hi Frank,

It should work with the latest version of GNU Chess: 6.2.7. If it does not, I would like

to understand why and fix it.

Let's check that GNU Chess can find the configuration file (gnuchess.ini).

Try to run the program on the command line for an interactive game in ASCII mode

and enter a move, e.g. 'e4':

gnuchess

(GNU Chess prints a verbose greeting message)

e4

Does the program display an error message like this?

Can't open file "/usr/local/share/gnuchess/gnuchess.ini": No such file or directory - using defaults

In such a case, you can copy gnuchess.ini to your current directory.

You can also try the above using the xboard flag:

gnuchess --xboard

(GNU Chess prints a short greeting message)

e4

Please let me know what you see.

Regards,

Antonio

On Sat, Nov 14, 2020 at 7:35 PM Fr Ml <fr_ml@t-online.de> wrote:

Hi Antonio,

thanks.
Unfortunately this didn't work:

By using:

xboard -fcp 'gnuchess --xboard'
GNU Chess don't do anything, even the first move is missed. (Attached xboard.debug2)
by:
xboard -fcp 'gnuchess'
I have the old problem: just the first move from black. I've heard that downgrading gnuchess to an older version could help.

I must say sometimes XBoard with GNU Chess works. Even with the simple: 'xboard' command.

On 11/14/20 4:55 PM, Antonio Ceballos wrote:

Hi Frank,

Thanks for your report. I think that the problem comes from the way GNU Chess is

invoked.

When you want to run it from XBoard, you must use the --xboard flag. The manual

of GNU Chess (info gnuchess) includes a couple of examples that show how to run

XBoard from the command line specifying GNU Chess as the first chess engine.

For instance:

xboard -fcp 'gnuchess --xboard'

If you just simply type

xboard -fcp 'gnuchess'

the interaction between both programs will not work.

The way XBoard invoked GNU Chess can be seen in xboard.debug. You should see

something like:

StartChildProcess (dir=".") gnuchess --xboard

In your attachment, the --xboard flag is missing.

Please let me know if this is of help to solve the problem.

Regards,

Antonio

On Sat, Nov 14, 2020 at 2:54 PM Fr Ml <fr_ml@t-online.de> wrote:

Hello,

Xboard 4.9.1 doesn't work with GNU Chess 6.7.2 (archlinux machine).
If I'm white, it just makes one move and then after my second move it does nothing.
I've asked Xboard (bug-xboard@gnu.org) about this problem but they say, it's a GNU Chess problem.

So I don't know. Somehow the interaction between the two programs doesn't work?

I've attached the debug file:`xboard -debug`

Regards
Frank