Compiling Xboard

[Gábor Szots]

Hi all,

I'm not sure I am at the right place with this.

I am totally new to Linux. I tried to compile Xboard for Ubuntu 6.10 but after ./configure I got the following message: checking for C compiler default output... configure: error: C compiler cannot create executables

In the config.log file I find:

gcc version 4.1.2 20060928 (prerelease) (Ubuntu 4.1.1-13ubuntu5)
configure:1617: $? = 0
configure:1619: gcc -V </dev/null >&5
gcc: '-V' option must have argument
configure:1622: $? = 1
configure:1646: checking for C compiler default output
configure:1649: gcc conftest.c >&5
/usr/bin/ld: crt1.o: No such file: No such file or directory
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
configure:1652: $? = 1
configure: failed program was:
| #line 1625 "configure"
| /* confdefs.h. */

What is happening here? Any help would be appreciated.

[Volker Pittlik]

Hi all,

I'm not sure I am at the right place with this...

I guess this is the right place

I am totally new to Linux. I tried to compile Xboard for Ubuntu 6.10 but after ./configure I got the following message: checking for C compiler default output... configure: error: C compiler cannot create executables

...
What is happening here? Any help would be appreciated.

Wild guessing: do you have the "build-essential" installed? Although the compiler is included in the distribution not all necessary files are on your computer after the initial installation.

You can get the files (as well as xboard itself and polyglot) easily through synaptic.

If you install xboard don't forget to do so as sudo (sudo make install). This is because xboard is normally installed outside your home directory. It does work perfectly when it is just compiled and stands in the source directory. I just have a script to start it. This script is located in a directory which is included in my path. (And I'm really to lazy to type all the parameters all the time )

Volker

BTW: Welcome to the club! I have severe hardware trouble here and have to buy a new computer in the next days. Possibly windows will disapear at all from my machine. So far I used a dual boot machine.

[Gábor Szots]

Hi all,

I'm not sure I am at the right place with this...

I guess this is the right place

I am totally new to Linux. I tried to compile Xboard for Ubuntu 6.10 but after ./configure I got the following message: checking for C compiler default output... configure: error: C compiler cannot create executables

...
What is happening here? Any help would be appreciated.

Wild guessing: do you have the "build-essential" installed? Although the compiler is included in the distribution not all necessary files are on your computer after the initial installation.

You can get the files (as well as xboard itself and polyglot) easily through synaptic.

If you install xboard don't forget to do so as sudo (sudo make install). This is because xboard is normally installed outside your home directory. It does work perfectly when it is just compiled and stands in the source directory. I just have a script to start it. This script is located in a directory which is included in my path. (And I'm really to lazy to type all the parameters all the time )

Volker

BTW: Welcome to the club! I have severe hardware trouble here and have to buy a new computer in the next days. Possibly windows will disapear at all from my machine. So far I used a dual boot machine.

Thanks, Volker. I will try out your suggestions as soon as possible (at the moment I can't leave Windows, e.g. SzG Swiss is running). Once I had build-essential installed but I thought it was no longer needed with gcc included in the distribution.

[Gábor Szots]

Hi all,

I'm not sure I am at the right place with this...

I guess this is the right place

I am totally new to Linux. I tried to compile Xboard for Ubuntu 6.10 but after ./configure I got the following message: checking for C compiler default output... configure: error: C compiler cannot create executables

...
What is happening here? Any help would be appreciated.

Wild guessing: do you have the "build-essential" installed? Although the compiler is included in the distribution not all necessary files are on your computer after the initial installation.

You can get the files (as well as xboard itself and polyglot) easily through synaptic.

If you install xboard don't forget to do so as sudo (sudo make install). This is because xboard is normally installed outside your home directory. It does work perfectly when it is just compiled and stands in the source directory. I just have a script to start it. This script is located in a directory which is included in my path. (And I'm really to lazy to type all the parameters all the time )

Volker

BTW: Welcome to the club! I have severe hardware trouble here and have to buy a new computer in the next days. Possibly windows will disapear at all from my machine. So far I used a dual boot machine.

Hi Volker,

Well, installing build-essential did help to an extent... now the compiler only complains of not having X Window System header files and link-time libraries, although I did install them (that is, all packages beginning with libxxf86).

Also, installing Xboard via Synaptic was successful, but after running the program it displays a message that it cannot find gnuchess and after clicking on OK it quits.

Is there a file in Linux similar to winboard.ini which I can edit? And where should I look for the chess engines? If I happened to install e.g. fruit how can I instruct xboard to find it?
It's plain to see that the structure of Linux is quite unfamiliar for me. I trust in myself and I am sure that sooner or later I will find the solution but a little help could turn the balance towards 'sooner'.

[Volker Pittlik]

...
Well, installing build-essential did help to an extent... now the compiler only complains of not having X Window System header files and link-time libraries, although I did install them (that is, all packages beginning with libxxf86)....

It seems there are still some files missing. I remember I had to install them too in the begining but now I can't remember which one.

I'm going to buy a new computer next week and I certqainly will have the same problem again. I can tell you exactly after I have been successful here.

Maybe you can ask in the Ubuntu support forums or look in their wikis. I don't know if there is something in Hungarian. There is something in German and I found a lot of help there (and infested them with xboard threads already ). It may also help simply to copy the error message to a search engine. I found ready to use solutions often that way.

...Also, installing Xboard via Synaptic was successful, but after running the program it displays a message that it cannot find gnuchess and after clicking on OK it quits...

IIRC Gnuchess has to be installed separately.

...Is there a file in Linux similar to winboard.ini which I can edit? And where should I look for the chess engines? If I happened to install e.g. fruit how can I instruct xboard to find it?...

To use xboard is a bit more complicated than winboard. Also it offers less comfort and Alessandro's extension aren't available yet.

There is nothing like a xboard.ini. To avoid to type something like

Code: Select all

nice -n 15 xboard -fcp ./'polyglot glaurung.ini' -fd ~/schach/polyglot -scp ./'polyglot glaurung.ini' -sd ~/schach/polyglot -size medium -autoflag -ponder -highlight -drag -xexit -popup -td 0 -thinking -coords -tc 15 -inc 10 -xdebug -xreuse -xreuse2 -sgf ~/schach/scid/daten/games.pgn

everytime I start xboard I have created an alias which emits the above command when I type "xb" .

To use another engine I simply type

Code: Select all

xb crafty-1 ufim-2

for example. I have an alias or a little script which desribes the path and the start command of every engine I use.

I takes a little effort to learn how to use Linux. It pays off soon in my opinion. To run my tournaments I run self written scripts (just a loop in a loop).

To use an UCI engine just needs a slighly different script. To find Fruit for example there is simply the command to start Polyglot with Fruit in my fruit-alias or script. I can give an example if necessary.

Back to the compiling problem: can you compile something easier (Glaurung for example) without problems? (edit the glaurung.h to make a correcct version for your machine!)

Regards

Volker

[Tord Romstad]

...Is there a file in Linux similar to winboard.ini which I can edit? And where should I look for the chess engines? If I happened to install e.g. fruit how can I instruct xboard to find it?...

To use xboard is a bit more complicated than winboard. Also it offers less comfort and Alessandro's extension aren't available yet.

There is nothing like a xboard.ini. To avoid to type something like

Code: Select all

nice -n 15 xboard -fcp ./'polyglot glaurung.ini' -fd ~/schach/polyglot -scp ./'polyglot glaurung.ini' -sd ~/schach/polyglot -size medium -autoflag -ponder -highlight -drag -xexit -popup -td 0 -thinking -coords -tc 15 -inc 10 -xdebug -xreuse -xreuse2 -sgf ~/schach/scid/daten/games.pgn

everytime I start xboard I have created an alias which emits the above command when I type "xb" .

I don't know exactly what the winboard.ini file does, but an alternative to using the XBoard command line flags is to edit your .Xdefaults file (which should be located in your home directory). My .Xdefaults file contains the following lines:

Code: Select all

XBoard*timeControl: 4
XBoard*timeIncrement: 1
XBoard*firstChessProgram: polyglot
XBoard*firstDirectory: /Users/tord/Documents/Programs/C/Glaurung/1.2.1/src/
XBoard*showThinking: true
XBoard*boardSize: Average
XBoard*animateMoving: false
XBoard*autoCallFlag: true
XBoard*debugMode: true

If you don't have a .Xdefaults file, just create a new file with the above contents (modified to your preferences, of course). If you already have a non-empty .Xdefaults file, just add the new lines at the end of the file. For the names of the various XBoard options, consult the XBoard manual. For these changes to have any effect, you will also have to type 'xrdb -load .Xdefaults' (without the quotes) after editing .Xdefaults.

It also wouldn't be very difficult to write a small GUI program which allows the user to select an engine, a time control, and so on from a menu, and proceeds to start XBoard with the selected options.

Back to the compiling problem: can you compile something easier (Glaurung for example) without problems? (edit the glaurung.h to make a correcct version for your machine!)

I no longer have a Linux machine available for testing, but I am pretty sure the only necessary change in glaurung.h would be to comment out the line with '#define SMP' near the top of glaurung.h if you want a single-CPU executable.

By the way, if some Linux programmers happen to be reading this: I am still looking for someone to make a Linux port of the new GUI I wrote for Glaurung this summer. The GUI is UCI compatible, and has been tested with Fruit, Hiarcs, Shredder, Eden, Glaurung, Homer, Diablo and Ruffian. There are still some bugs and missing features, but even now it is rather usable, at least for my own purposes. The GUI is written in Objective-C with Apple's Cocoa toolkit, and I hope that a Linux port using GNUStep would be reasonably straightforward.

Tord

[Gábor Szots]

Thanks to both of you for your suggestions which should be enough or I can't call myself a homo sapiens. I won't post more on this topic until I have succeeded.