Author: Odd Gunnar Malin
Date: 05:44:58 01/19/04
Go up one level in this thread
On January 18, 2004 at 09:25:47, Bob Durrett wrote:
>
>For the vast majority of the people here at CCC, doing things the "old fashioned
>way" is not a problem.
>
>But times are changing. It should not be necessary to be a computer programmer
>to install an amateur chess engine.
>
>I, at least, would like to have an installation wizard for Crafty and also one
>for each and every chess engine listed in Dann Corbit's list! [A deinstaller
>would be a good idea too.]
>
>Bob D.
Which gui is of interest?
I'm working on an installerprogram right now, but it hard to find time. It have
some progress anyhow.
Currently it support installation in Winboard and Scid.
Next will be ChessPartner I think and assigning shortcut to the program-menu so
the engine can start up Winboard for direct playing against the engine. Then
Chess Assistant, Chessmaster 8/900 and some of the Fritzes.
As i write I try to also write the description text, just to clear my head. Here
is what into it right now:
------------------------------------------------------------------
Engineinstaller ver. 1.0 Beta
This program is meant to be a help for the author to guidline an user through
the
installation process.
This program is typical started from a setup program. Also add it to the
uninstall
option with the parametre /u
It could also be used as a standalone tool.
Startup parametre
*****************
Syntax: EngineInstaller [options]
/g Path to where to put any shortcut links (icons).
/i installationfile for setup, defaults to EngineInstaller.ini
/u remove the engine from previous installed guis.
Installationfile
****************
The filename defaults to 'engineinstaller.ini' but could be
changed with the parametre '/i'.
Sections
--------
If you want to install the engine as several entries in a gui, just add
a new section with the new settings. The file are readed from top to bottom
so you can change the default several times.
[Default]
; Set parameters that are common for several section here.
[Winboard]
; Add Winboard parameters here.
[Scid]
; Add Scid parameters here.
[Shortcut]
; Create shortcuts in the program menu.
Gui = Winboard
Parameters
----------
Program - Add the name of the program (exefile) here. If you need to specify a
directory this have to be relative to the installation directory.
Ex. 'Program = yace.exe', 'Program = bin\yace.exe'.
Default = ''
Name - Add the name you want to display for the user here. Not all gui use
this and some take it from the engine itself if it is a wbII- or
uci-engine.
Default = ''
Author - Add the authors name here. Uci-engines would take this from the
engine
itself.
Default = ''
Disable - Set this to '0' if you don't want the engine to be installed in this
gui, eg. you know it wouldn't work.
If you want to change the default behaviour that would enable
installation
in all known gui you can set it to false in the [Default] section,
then
you of course have to use 'Disable = 0' for all gui you want it to
install itself to.
Default = 0
Argument - Additional string to add to the command line.
Default = ' '
Winboard - Winboardengine type 1 or 2, 0 = no winboardsupport
Default = 2
UCI - Could the engine run as uci engine.
Default = 0
RunOnce - The engine have to be restarted after each game.
Default = 0
GUI - Type of gui to use for shortcuts.
Elo - Proposed Elo for the engine.
Url - Url to homesite for the engine.
Comment for some gui
********************
Winboard
--------
This is a Winboard only gui so for installing uci-engines you need an
additional tool/adapter. One such adapter is uci2wb by Roland Pfister.
If you search the internet I'm sure you find it. Currently it is
located at http://wbec-ridderkerk.nl/
It will check the uninstall option in the register to locate the path
to Winboard. Works on ver. 4.x
Scid
----
(Beta) History
**************
14.11.03 Start of project.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
A sample of an installerfile for Yace looks like this.
-------------------------------------------
; Installationfile for Yace Paderborn 2003
[Default]
Program = yace.exe
Name = Yace Paderborn (2003)
Author = Dieter Buerssner
UCI = 1
; Bye default the installationprogram will try to install the engine
; into all found Gui's.
; Adding a shortcut in the Program menu for starting up the engine with
Winboard.
[ShortCut]
GUI=Winboard
-----------------------------------------
I don't see this as an user tool but rather as a help tool for the
engine-author.
Odd Gunnar
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