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Re: [computer-go] Wishlist for playing programs on KGS



#1 will be fixed in the next major realease of the server (all non-
private games will be viewable).

#2 is indeed something that needs to be added to kgsGtp, but the problem
is, how to get that message in? kgsGtp currently talks to KGS via its
protocol, and to the engine via GTP streams, then it also writes its
logs to stderr. There is no other input. Where should the command to
exit after the end of the next game come from? Suggestions are welcome.
Chris' suggestion of refusing to support clear_board works, sure, but it
seems like a bit of a hack to me and if somebody has a better suggestion
I'd like to hear it.

On Thu, 2005-10-06 at 00:54 -0400, Chris Fant wrote:
> #2 has a fairly easiy solution which I'm pretty sure I have mentioned
> on this list before.  Here it is again:
> 
> Don't support the clear_board command.  Your program will terminate
> when the game is over.  You then have full control over whether it
> restarts or not.
> 
> In my setup, I can click on start.bat to start the engine and stop.bat
> to neglect to restart the engine after the game is over.
> 
> 
> On 10/5/05, Peter McKenzie <peter.mckenzie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > In general I've found KGS a good place to run my computer program.  There is
> > a good range of opponents available and it is very easy to get up and
> > running with kgtGTP.  And of course Nick's monthly tournaments are an added
> > bonus.
> >
> > There are a few things that are less than ideal though, so here is my
> > wishlist of things that I'd like changed/fixed (in rough order of priority).
> >  Interested to see what others think.
> >
> > 1. Unable to examine unfinished games.
> >
> >  This is a basic restriction of KGS that I find quite annoying.  Say I leave
> > my program running on KGS overnight and go to check up on it in the morning.
> >  I will usually see that it has one or more unfinished games in its history.
> >  I have no way of viewing the unfinished games and therefore no way of
> > knowing why the games were unfinished.  I suspect that the opponent has
> > usually escaped in a losing position but that is just speculation.  It could
> > have been a scoring dispute for example.
> >
> > I realise that this 'feature' is designed to stop cheating but to me the
> > disadvantages seem to outweigh this factor.  A determined person could still
> > cheat anyway.  If it really is undesirable to let the escaper load and view
> > an unfinished game, then how about at least letting their opponent load the
> > game?
> >
> > 2. No easy way to tell kgsGTP to exit once the current game is finished.
> >
> > I tend to find myself sitting around waiting for my program to finish a game
> > before I disconnect it.  The problem can be worse if my program is playing a
> > match vs another program, as they start another game practically
> > immediately.
> >
> > I'd like to be able to enter a command into kgsGTP (a simple text command)
> > that would tell kgsGTP to disconnect from KGS once the current game is
> > finished.

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