README for Pente 2.2.5, 31 July 2001
QUICK BUILD RULES:
Run "./configure", then "make", then "pente". If all goes well, you're now playing the game!
MORE ABOUT COMPILING:
To compile Pente, you need an ANSI compatible C compiler, such as gcc. If you want a graphic interface, you need X11R3 or later; otherwise you will only be able to use the curses or text interfaces. Pente will intelligently configure itself to run on the interfaces available.
Pente uses Gnu's "autoconfig" utility. To build a makefile, type "./configure" and (hopefully) configure will do the rest. If you have problems building, see the end of this document.
Once you have a Makefile you may want to edit the following parts:
prefix, bindir, mandir:
These should point to the directories where the executable and
the man pages should be put. These can also be set with
"configure --prefix=...", etc.
CC
This is the C compiler that will be used. If you want to use
a different compiler than the one that "configure" wants to
use, you shouldn't just change the Makefile. Instead,
set the shell environment variable "CC" to the name of your C
compiler before running "configure". If you just change the
Makefile after "configure" runs, then "configure" will build
configuration files for the wrong compiler.
CFLAGS:
Set this to optimize as well as your C compiler can. "configure"
will try to guess at the best value.
LFLAGS:
If configure doesn't add all the libraries it needs you can add
them here.
After you have built the Makefile and (optionally) edited it, you can build pente by typing "make". You can then run pente straight from the build area. There will be a symbolic link, "pente", that you can run. The actual binary will be called "pente-<computer name>". For example, on my linux system I get "pente-i586-Linux". This is done so that you can build pente for different computers on a single file system. "pente" will always point to the last binary built.
To install pente, you must first set the bindir and mandir as described above, then type "make install".
Instructions on how to play pente are part of the X interface. The man page contains information on running pente.
Please send bug reports, comments, etc. to William shubert, internet address "wms@igoweb.org", and don't forget to check out my web page at "http://www.igoweb.org/~wms/"!
Enjoy!
LICENCE
This source code and all associated documentation is covered by the Gnu General Public Licence version 2. You should have gotten a copy of this document with the source code in a file called "COPYING". If you didn't, it is available from the Free Software Foundation, Inc. of Cambridge, MA or by anonymous FTP from prep.ai.mit.edu. The X11 version also has the licence in one of the help pages.
RELEASE HISTORY
2.2.4 Changed some text in help files and comments.
2.2.2 Last release.
2.1.7 Got a bunch of bugs out. Ready for another post to
2.1.0 Got network play working again! Much nicer than before.
Beta release to find bugs.
2.0.5 Added French text thanks to Eric Dupas, fixed several minor bugs
and several major portability bugs.
2.0.0 Major rewrite on the interface code. Also added the "redo"
button, the setup window, and greatly improved the help window.
1.1.1 Fixed bug in "pente -perf" that made comparing numbers useless.
Announced in rec.games.go and hand-mailed to people who ask for it.
1.1.0 Bug fixes, user interface enhancements, and portability changes.
Fixed innumerable bugs in the user interface and the computer
strategy system. No changes were made to computer strategy
except where it didn't do what I intended when I first wrote it.
Added the help window and generally tweaks up every part of the
user interface to look and feel as nice as possible.
Added use of Gnu Autonfig utility and tried system on several
different machines.
1.0.0 First release. Put into alt.games.abstact FTP site.
REQUEST FOR HELP
If this program doesn't just configure and build on your system, drop me a note about what went wrong and I'll try to fix it in a patch release.
Also, I want it to support different languages. Currently it can run in English, French or Italian. If you want to translate my strings into another language, great! Get in touch with me!
I'd like to make the sound interface more portable; right now I only know how to do sound on a Sparc or a Linux machine. If you can port it to other machines, by all means let me know.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks to Eric Dupas for translating the X11 strings into French and to Andrea Borgia for translating them into Italian. Thanks to Yary Hluchan for helping to rewrite the man page. And thanks for all the people who submitted bug reports or ideas for the program, who tried to compile on their machines, or who were willing to beta test the program!