README

GWDGUI

GWDGUI is a desktop application for international draughts (10×10). It lets players and engine authors play games, examine analysis, explore variations, run engine tournaments and search game databases. It supports engines using the Hub and DXP protocols, including GWD.

Download version 3.4 · User manual · Change history

This README describes the current source tree. Changes made after the latest tagged release are listed under Unreleased.

Features

• Human-versus-human, human-versus-engine and engine-versus-engine games, with configurable time controls and multiple games in the game history.
• Legal move selection on the board or from a list, including a chooser for captures that share the same source and destination.
• Game-tree browsing with nested variations, comments, analysis and clocks; PDN import/export and FEN position setup, copying and pasting.
• Hub engine analysis and annotators, principal-variation browsing, Auto Play, score history, an evaluation bar and optional board hints.
• Single and double round-robin and Swiss tournaments, with concurrent games, saved standings, recovery files and PDN game records.
• SQLite game databases with PDN import, duplicate detection, player/event filters and position searches.
• Configurable board colours and notation styles, separate engine/annotator PV colours and a font chooser for the moves window.
• An offline, searchable manual under Help → Manual and the build commit under Help → About GWDGUI.

Download and run

The version 3.4 release provides Linux x86_64 and Windows x86_64 portable archives, plus the executables, draughts font and manual as separate downloads. Compare download checksums with the release's SHA256SUMS file.

Extract the archive for your operating system into a writable directory. On Windows, run gwdgui.exe. On Linux, run:

./gwdgui

Linux requires the GTK2 and SQLite3 runtime libraries. Keep draughts.ttf beside the executable. GWDGUI also needs an independently installed draughts engine for engine play or analysis; you can play human-versus-human games without one.

Getting started

1. Open Engines..., add an executable and select its Hub or DXP protocol. Use Launch engine to test it, then Launched correctly to save it. See Configuring engines for protocol settings.
2. Choose New game..., select the players and time control, and start play. Make a human move by clicking its source and destination, or choose a legal move from the list.
3. Select games in Game History. Click moves to browse; use Left/Right to navigate the focused notation, tree or PV view.
4. Use Tournament... for engine competitions, or the Database menu for collections and position searches.
5. Press F1 for the full manual. Ctrl+O opens PDN, Ctrl+S saves PDN, Ctrl+, opens preferences and Ctrl+Q quits with the normal save prompts.

Settings and saved files

Keep the application directory writable: engines.json and prefs.json are stored beside the executable. Per-engine .params.json files are stored beside the engine they describe. Save games, databases and named tournaments wherever you prefer. Unsaved tournament recovery files use the operating system's per-user configuration directory.

Engine paths are specific to the machine and operating system. Re-register or edit engine entries when moving between Linux and Windows. For DXP, give each simultaneous connection its own port.

See File locations and portability and Common problems for details.

Build from source

Use Lazarus/LCL 3.0 or later, its bundled SynEdit package and Free Pascal 3.2.2 or later. Keep the source directory writable and keep draughts.ttf with the resulting executable.

Linux

Install the GTK2 Lazarus development environment, SQLite3 runtime library and Python 3, then run from the source directory:

bash build.sh
./gwdgui

The script compiles in a temporary directory, embeds the manual and Git identity, and replaces the local executable only after compilation succeeds.

Windows

With Lazarus installed, run:

build.bat

The script finds lazbuild.exe on PATH or in standard Lazarus installation folders. You can supply its full path explicitly:

build.bat "C:\lazarus\lazbuild.exe"

It builds a candidate executable in lib\candidate and replaces gwdgui.exe only after a successful build, preserving the previous executable on failure. Alternatively, open gwdgui.lpi in Lazarus, select the Windows build mode under Project → Project Options → Build modes, and choose Build.

The Windows build mode embeds the manual and Git identity without Python. Install Git for Windows and make git available on PATH before starting the build. A Git checkout identifies its commit; a source archive without .git reports that identity as unavailable. Modified tracked files are marked in About.

The Linux build script and Windows build mode provide embedded help and identity. The Lazarus Default mode instead loads MANUAL.md from beside the executable and reports that build identity is unavailable.

Checks

Run the headless regression suite from the source directory:

bash tests/run_regression_checks.sh

It requires FPC, Python 3 and ripgrep. GTK interface tests additionally require Lazarus/GTK2 and a display:

bash tests/run_gui_checks.sh
bash tests/run_tournament_checks.sh

tests/README.md describes the other checks. bash tests/run_windows_cross_check.sh runs the batch recovery checks under Wine when available, then attempts a Windows cross-build when FPC's win64 units are installed. Missing tools or target units are reported as skips. Cross-building and Wine tests do not replace native Windows testing.

Project and license

GWDGUI is maintained by Gijsbert Wiesenekker and was developed using Codex and Claude. Its tagged releases and commit history record the development from the initial Lazarus GUI through the current application.

See LICENSE for the GNU General Public License, version 3.