Comments by FergusDuniho

I was looking for a global way to eliminate some PHP warnings, but that requirement proved to be too restrictive. So, I have removed it.

I then tried requiring minimal argument counts instead, but even that caused problems for unary, binary, and mixed unary/binary operators. But since they seemed to work with operators requiring 3 or more arguments, I left those minimal argument count requirements in.

After thinking about it, I decided to cancel the renaming of Futashikana Shogi. Please delete both presets for Dai Shosu Shogi.

It looks like someone has taken care of this.

See the Ai Ai tag at the bottom of the page.

I'm open to feedback on how best to manage this sort of thing. One possibility is to create a new Item with the new name, we can move over the references in the database I've mentioned, and leave the old page with just a link forwarding to the new page (possibly even an automatic redirect, though I'm not sure if that'd work in a member submission view script).

The database has a RelocatedPages table. Just add an entry that includes its old URL and its new ItemID, and the 404 script will take care of the details.

I now have a script set up that runs from the backup server to make daily backups of both the /home/chessvariants/public_html/ directory and the chessvariants database every midnight at Eastern Standard Time. The script looks like this, but with the actual database password. It doesn't need the server password, because it is using an SSH key pair to connect.

#1/bin/bash
mv /root/chessvariants.sql /root/chessvariant-backup.sql
ssh [email protected] mysqldump --opt --user=root --password=XXXXXX chessvariants > /root/chessvariants.sql
/usr/bin/rsync -ae ssh --delete [email protected]:/home/chessvariants/public_html/ /home/chessvariants/public_html/
touch /home/chessvariants/public_html/
mysql --password=XXXXXX chessvariants < /root/chessvariants.sql

Okay, I closed the A tags, and now the text is no longer red in regular mode, and it's no longer blue in Reader mode.

Are there any plans to restore this functionality?

I tried to yesterday and failed. I have not been able to get MariaDB 10 to work reliably on either server, HostSlayer or RackNerd. It used to work before I tried updating the HostSlayer VPS to Rocky Linux via updating to CentOS 8 first. So, maybe there is some setting that has to be corrected. For now, chessvariants.com runs on HostSlayer with CentOS 7, PHP 7, and MariaDB 5.5, while chessvariants.org runs on RackNerd with Rocky Linux 8, PHP 8, and MariaDB 10. Until I can get things working correctly on the new RackNerd VPS, I will continue to use MariaDB 5.5, and comment searching will remain disabled.

The touch command was used on the new server's /home/chessvariants/public_html/ directory at 12:00:14 AM EST. So, the automated daily backup worked when it was expected to. I'll look into including a backup of the database into the same script today. But since there are some different files in the folders for the database on each server, I want to fix that by making them both use the same version of MariaDB.

It depends on a feature of MariaDB 10, but when I restored the server earlier this year, MariaDB 10 was frequently losing the connection to the database, and MariaDB 5 proved more reliable. So, I switched to MariaDB 5 and manually removed the details that required 10. On the new server, I have installed Rocky Linux 8, PHP 8, and MariaDB 10. Since it also has reverse DNS, which should make email more likely to be delivered, I have plans to make it the main server when everything is working correctly on it. For now, I have to update scripts to work with PHP 8. The new server has less storage space, but it has more than enough for the site. It has less RAM, but this server usually doesn't use even half the available RAM. Both sites have 4 cores, and the new VPS uses faster CPUs. Although the new server is on chessvariants.org, it will not support comment search until I add support for this back into the database. To start with, I will look into updating to MariaDB 10 on this server.

I have set up some cron jobs to do backups with rsync. On this server, rsync will create hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, and annual backups. These are in case it's important to revert a change to a script or page. Editors with access to the server can find these in /home/chessvariants/backups/.

The new server has a cron job to make a daily backup of the public_html directory on this server. I set up an SSH key pair to allow it to do this without a password. This will copy the /public_html/ for chessvariants.com to that for chessvariants.org. This is expected to happen at midnight EST. To be sure of what time it does it, I'll check the timestamp on the /public_html/ directory tomorrow, since I also made the script use the touch command on it when it is done updating. I still have not added commands for backing up the database. It will be important to do both together to keep their backups in sync.

Testing whether posting here meets same error as posting on new server.

I made a test copy of one of these games, and I successfully moved in it. If Oisin had around two days left, that's consistent with him having less than a day now, because the site has been back online for a few days already. Tell him to move before his time runs out.

My opponent sent an email to me saying he cannot move in the following log:

https://www.chessvariants.com/play/pbm/play.php?game=McCooey%27s+Hexagonal+Chess&log=panther-tim_olena-2021-204-636

He's in check and has few legal moves. Also, the ASCII diagram he is using will not display legal moves or allow moving with the mouse. I was able to get as far as previewing a move after changing the rendering method. Not being him, I couldn't go any further.

UPDATE: Upon further testing, I found no problem with being able to move. I created a test log that just changed userids, and I successfully moved. Since the log had no time controls, the time the site spent offline had no effect on anything.

I still see time on the clocks, and I already gave additional time to all interrupted timed games. I'll do some testing later if he still hasn't moved.

I have made additional changes to the following scripts on both servers:

• footer.php
• index/database-funcs.php
• index/drawemail.php
• index/editcomment.php
• index/listcomments.php
• index/login-funcs.php
• index/randgame.php
• play/pbm/drawdiagram.php
• play/pbm/logs.php
• play/pbm/play.php

the idea behind the Play-Test Applet is that it would make things as easy as riding a bicycle, where otherwise they are as complex as assembling your own car from parts, and learning how to drive it.

That's not quite correct. The alternative to using the Play-Test Applet will often just involve copying a preset that already works, writing FEN code for the board, assigning piece labels and notation to the correct pieces, and saving. As long as a game uses pieces already programmed in the fairychess include file, has a fixed setup, and mainly follows the rules of Chess, it should be easy enough to create a programmed preset for it without knowing how to program.

I haven't used it that way since I had Windows 95. When I did, I arranged with another person regarding the time and game we would play together, and I believe I was in communication with him while setting up the connection for Zillions-of-Games. But I do not remember the steps we went through to do that. Also, back then, I had a dial-up internet account. I now have broadband, which works differently, and I don't know if that will make a difference.

I'm quite interested by this possibility as I understand that this is a way to get rid of the creation of new sets.

It doesn't get rid of the creation of new sets. It just changes how you make them. Instead of writing a PHP file and having it put in the /play/pbm/sets/ directory, you can create a set using the GAME Code language.

However, I'm not very skilled in coding, I mean less than you all, and I don't understand everything. Is there any example in some files?

The only example is in comment 42275 on the Developer's Guide page. But this is an example of creating five different sets that each have only the standard Chess pieces in them. If you understand how it works, then you may be able to adapt it to create a set for a specific game. However, I might need to add some details to it to handle pieces that do not match up with pieces already in the set it is loading before running GAME Code.

Instead of creating a new set from scratch, you may prefer to work with an existing set that happens to include everything you need, then use the update-piece-set subroutine to define a new set in terms of it.

I did not invent this variant, but I don't see the "submit a variant you've heard of but can't find on this website" button.

I have corrected that. You are no longer listed as the inventor, and I deleted the "but ..." part from the page, since it was mainly a note to the editors.

I don't see the page, only these lines:

Any members can see unpublished pages when they're logged in. I expect you were not logged in yet.

(later on, I will try to draw a diagram)

So we're still waiting for a diagram. Okay.

They are just decorative bullet points.

If you mean to use bullet points, you should use the UL and LI tags. Also, it's not clear to me why these particular paragraphs would be bulleted.

The external images on this page are all broken. Be sure to use only locally-hosted graphics for your page.

Can anyone read this? I think it's in Spanish.

Why is this game named after a J-Pop group?

Why are there numbers on the setup diagram?

I modified the formatting of the rules and removed the redundant text, but I do not understand this game. Rapprochement is not a common everyday word, and even after looking it up, it doesn't help me understand the object of this game.

I made the description of the Nobleman clearer for someone who cannot see or follow the link, and then I approved this page.

I revised the wording of the rules a bit and approved this page.

I replaced the setup diagram with a local one and approved this page. This game uses reproduction in an interesting way.

This could use some more detail, particularly regarding its connection with Fischer Random Chess, a.k.a. Chess 960. There are more than 960 possible positions, but there are only 960 that are possible by the rules in Fischer Random Chess for selecting the position.

Published.

I'm still waiting for changes to be made to this page, as indicated in my previous comment.

I wanted to take a photograph of this, but my folding magnetic set folds between the fourth and fifth ranks. So, all the spaces would be the wrong color. Does anyone have a magnetic set of the sort used in this game? And would you be willing to take a photograph of it with the pieces in place?

I don't understand the use of ≽ and ≅ on this page.

I modified the rule regarding notation, because the rules of a game cannot specify the notation to such detail unless they are for a specific tournament or something like that. Some games are recorded with different kinds of notation, and software like Game Courier or Zillions-of-Games will use their own style of notation for all games.

I unhid this page, but I did not examine the notes section in detail.

I have removed the See Also section, because the links are in the Related menu.

I just updated explode to work with an empty separator, and I wrote and tested this function:

def nolowercase allfalse lambda (islower #0) explode "" #0;

I corrected the name and removed some dead links. This page would benefit from an update. If you're interested in providing a better page with better and more detailed graphics, you're welcome to.

I have now updated the ItemID and the game's name in the database.

Now that I have bought a set off of ebay, I have a better understanding of the rules. I was wrong about the last two points I made in my previous comment. The only discernible difference from Chess on the Dot is the castling rule. I have now described both games together on the Spherical Chess page.

In the routine below the variable 'sqr' stays 0 for all iterations. Only when I deleted the comma ("for (sqr piece) $space;") it runs through the square labels. Yet the GAME code manual suggest a comma should be present.

The Developer's Guide was wrong. I have corrected it. It uses spaces as separators, and when I used a comma, it added the comma to the variable name, so that this code worked:

foreach (key, var) spaces:
  echo #key, #var;
next;

But this code did not:

foreach (key, var) spaces:
  echo #key #var;
next;

(And thanks for fixing the dash problem; I would never have found that.)

It's important to remember that it was a minus sign, not a dash. When you use the # prefix before a variable name, it rewrites your code by replacing your variable with its value. Because it rewrote your code with a minus sign, your line of code was now trying to do subtraction. This threw a monkey wrench into your code in a way that a mere dash – which would be a meaningless string that was wider than a minus sign – would not have. Inserting the value of variables in this way is mainly intended for using variables with commands that do not process expressions (at all or for a certain argument). Within expressions, it is usually safer to use the var operator, which simply returns the variable value without rewriting your code. I believe functions are now an exception to this, since the following code prints 13, not 17:

set a 8;
def test + 9 #a;
set a 4;
print fn test;

I am still pondering the question of the name. If I change the name, will the URL change? And if so, would we lose these most excellent comments?

The URL will change, but I can manually update the database to keep the comments with the page.

It's not so much that there is a bug here but that this preset was written before I gave Game Courier the ability to move pieces by clicking with the mouse. So, I did not program it to handle partial moves. As long as you enter the whole move at once, which will require some typing, it will allow the promotion. I will eventually get around to updating this preset or replacing it with a new one.

I updated this page with new presets that use logical directions. I made these in preparation for making presets for spherical variants. The links to the old presets are still provided, as they will help illustrate the difference between using mathematical directions and using logical directions. While I was at it, I made improvements to the code for displaying circular boards. The files are now more naturally oriented, there are now rank markings on the board, and the image map better matches how the board is drawn.

That would give new meaning to the name xBetza.

Contrary to what was documented, the rlink command was not available. Maybe I accidentally used Ctrl-z too many times. So, I added it back in. I also fixed a bug in link that stopped it from working after the first pair.

I expanded the power of the map command. It was previously useful only for creating logical directions from leaps defined in terms of ranks and files. This limited it to the directions available on a simple grid. To make it easier to create directions for boards with unusual geometries, it can now be used with previously created logical directions. In the Cylindrical Chess preset I'm working on, I used link and rlink to add connections between the a and h files for east and west, and then I used map to define the diagonal and hippogonal directions without handwriting them link by link. The code looks like this:

map n 0 1 s 0 -1 w -1 0 e 1 0; // Orthogonal directions
link w (a1 h1) (a2 h2) (a3 h3) (a4 h4) (a5 h5) (a6 h6) (a7 h7) (a8 h8);
rlink e (a1 h1) (a2 h2) (a3 h3) (a4 h4) (a5 h5) (a6 h6) (a7 h7) (a8 h8);
map nw (n w) ne (n e) sw (s w) se (s e);
map nne (n ne) nnw (n nw) sse (s se) ssw (s sw);
map nee (ne e) nww (nw w) sww (sw w) see (se e);

Here is the relevant rule:

When there are no captured pieces a Cavalier may promote to, it may not move to the last rank, though it may still check the Eques Rex on the last rank.

Is there a violation of this rule?

The link was using the PersonID as the value for userid. I changed it to use the UserID, and now it seems to work correctly.

Many of the archived pages are lacking graphics. I will provide links to pages with complete graphics:

• Rook
• Knight
• King

I could not find complete graphics for the other pieces. The Bishop page has one graphic image, but it does show an important difference from the Bishop in Chess on the Dot. When passing through a pole, a Bishop may continue its move in either direction, whereas in Chess on the Dot, it must continue its move in the same direction it was going before. The text on the Queen indicates that it moves as a Rook or a Bishop and has the same ability as the Bishop to move diagonally in either direction after passing over a pole. The text on the Pawn page does not indicate anything unusual. It moves as it does in other Spherical Chess variants.

Based on what I could glean of the rules from archived copies of the website, Global Chess is mostly like Chess on the Dot but has a few differences:

1. Only normal castling is available. If, for example, the white King has a clear path to the a1 Rook in either direction, it can castle by moving to c1 but not by moving to g1. Whereas Chess on the Dot would also allow castling by moving to g1.
2. The Bishop in Global Chess is more powerful, because it can go in either direction after passing over the pole, whereas the Bishop in Chess on the Dot may only continue in its original direction.
3. The Knight has only six moves when near the pole, as it does in Miller's Spherical Chess. The extra two moves available in Chess on the Dot (and also in Nadvorney's version) are not shown in the diagrams for the Knight.

I get the same thing when I click the "change password" link on my profile page. There must be a bug in the script.

I have been testing the ZRF, which I got on the Zillions-of-Games website here:

https://zillions-of-games.com/cgi-bin/zilligames/submissions.cgi?do=show;id=450

It looks like the following may be true:

• The Rook moves as it does in other spherical variants, such as Miller's, Nadvorney's, and Chou's Chess on the Dot.
• The Knight moves as it does in Nadvorney's Spherical Chess, which is the same as it moves in Chess on the Dot.
• The Bishop moves as it does in Chao's Chess on the Dot, though there are some details I'm not sure about yet.
• The Queen moves as a Rook or a Bishop.
• In addition to moving one space as a Queen, a King near a pole can make two moves that are unavailable to Rooks, Bishops, and Queens. It can move to the space on either side of the one directly opposite it across the pole.
• There is no castling.

Although this is called Chess vs Strong Makruk, all it describes is Strong Makruk.

Okay, I unhid this page.