Please drop Stockfish
Posted: Fri Nov 07, 2008 9:27 am
Disclaimer
I am really new to computer chess, actually I am still outside of computer chess development.
Yes, I have hacked for only a couple of months on a very well tought out engine called Glaurung, but my developments are mostly C++ code related, and it is still very far to be clear if the result is stronger, equal or very possibly weaker then Glaurung.
OSS
Glaurung is released with a GPL licence, as most of open source software out there, but the recent threads on this forum have started to make me think that not all the GPL software is the same. There is some GPL software that is more GPL then other
Actually, chess software world seems to have very peculiar aspects that I didn’t found in my previous OSS experience.
The biggets and for me the most clear difference is the lone-development model of chess engines.
In my opinion the real force of OSS is not that everybody can FORK a project and add something new. The biggest power of OSS is that everybody can JOIN a project and add a contribute to THAT project.
Perhaps I didn’t notice but I failed to see chess engine projects where there is a number of active contributors that concurrently (let alone publicly) develop an engine.
I really would like 100 times more to join a possible Glaurung project and send my patches there also anonymously then fork it and build up a new version.
I would think is more effective, as is in others OSS projects: chess software requires a joint effort of different disciplines as chess alghortims experts, code experts, profiler experts, internal daily testers (incredibly important!!!!) and so on. IMHO I would think is very tailored to a developer team more then a lone developer. But I am too new to state it and I agree I cannot be opinionated on this.
But one point on which I have a strong opinion, due to my past experiences in OSS, is that a joint development is surely more fun and more gratifying because is the daily exchange of ideas with your peers that makes OSS attractive to most, me included.
I absolutly don’t care if Stockfish has the rights to join public tests or tornments, I care to have an indipendent and serious test session to state ELO of this engine, after I have these numbers, please drop Stockfish from any pubblic list and test session out there.
I strongly belive OSS is for joining people, not for splitting.
Thanks for your time
Marco
I am really new to computer chess, actually I am still outside of computer chess development.
Yes, I have hacked for only a couple of months on a very well tought out engine called Glaurung, but my developments are mostly C++ code related, and it is still very far to be clear if the result is stronger, equal or very possibly weaker then Glaurung.
OSS
Glaurung is released with a GPL licence, as most of open source software out there, but the recent threads on this forum have started to make me think that not all the GPL software is the same. There is some GPL software that is more GPL then other
Actually, chess software world seems to have very peculiar aspects that I didn’t found in my previous OSS experience.
The biggets and for me the most clear difference is the lone-development model of chess engines.
In my opinion the real force of OSS is not that everybody can FORK a project and add something new. The biggest power of OSS is that everybody can JOIN a project and add a contribute to THAT project.
Perhaps I didn’t notice but I failed to see chess engine projects where there is a number of active contributors that concurrently (let alone publicly) develop an engine.
I really would like 100 times more to join a possible Glaurung project and send my patches there also anonymously then fork it and build up a new version.
I would think is more effective, as is in others OSS projects: chess software requires a joint effort of different disciplines as chess alghortims experts, code experts, profiler experts, internal daily testers (incredibly important!!!!) and so on. IMHO I would think is very tailored to a developer team more then a lone developer. But I am too new to state it and I agree I cannot be opinionated on this.
But one point on which I have a strong opinion, due to my past experiences in OSS, is that a joint development is surely more fun and more gratifying because is the daily exchange of ideas with your peers that makes OSS attractive to most, me included.
I absolutly don’t care if Stockfish has the rights to join public tests or tornments, I care to have an indipendent and serious test session to state ELO of this engine, after I have these numbers, please drop Stockfish from any pubblic list and test session out there.
I strongly belive OSS is for joining people, not for splitting.
Thanks for your time
Marco