Re: [Scidvspc-users] Packaging ScidVsPC for Debian?

[Aljoscha L. <alj...@gm...>]

Hi everyone,

just for the record, Steve followed up in private because he figured
the discussion would not be interesting for everyone, but my questions
have been answered.

The problem with the database file was partly my fault, I tried to use
only the si4 file without the sn4 and sg4 files, which can't work.

About the debian package, there are developments that might make that
unnecessary after all, see the discussion unfolding at
http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/message.php?msg_id=30593560

Kind regards,
Aljoscha

On 11 March 2013 00:37, Aljoscha Lautenbach
<alj...@gm...> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I believe I just found the answer to my last question in the README:
>
> 2.0.2.  Missing Features
>
>   o  SCID's half-implemented Docked Mode is not included. It introduces
>      quite a few bugs; keyboard input is mostly broken, and many windows
>      just can't size properly.
>
>
> I would miss that feature quite a lot, any idea how much work it would
> be to properly implement it? I might be willing to work on this,
> although some pointers on where to look would probably help a lot. ;)
>
> Kind regards,
> Aljoscha Lautenbach
>
> On 10 March 2013 23:53, Aljoscha Lautenbach
> <alj...@gm...> wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> a few months ago I started to use Scid, because it is the only chess
>> DB that is packaged for Debian. I am a correspondence chess (CC)
>> player, so I have some rather specific needs and use cases.
>> I used Chessbase for my CC games for more than 15 years, but I
>> recently deleted the Windows VM from my computer. I only kept Windows
>> around for my chess programs.
>>
>> Scid works quite well in general, but it has a lot of bugs and the
>> user interface leaves much to be desired. So I started to look into
>> helping out with the development since I'm a software engineer myself.
>> However, when I looked into the issue, I realized that Scid is not
>> really actively developed anymore, but that there are other projects
>> such as ScidVsPC or Chess DB that are quite active. Unfortunately none
>> of them are packaged for Debian.
>>
>> So instead of helping with development, I was thinking I should try to
>> packge ScidVsPC for Debian. Are there any objections from the author?
>> It would probably take several months to get it into Debian anyway,
>> and it definitely will not be part of the next release, because the
>> release freeze has been in effect for quite a while already. Packaging
>> it for Debian would also mean that, over time, it would automatically
>> transition into Ubuntu (and other Debian derivatives).
>> Please note that I am currently not affiliated with either Debian or
>> Ubuntu, I am just a long time user who has a good grasp of what is
>> going on in their respective development communities.
>>
>> Just out of curiosity, are you aware of any packaging of ScidVsPC for
>> other distributions?
>>
>>
>> I have not actually used ScidVsPC much yet, but based on a short check
>> it seems to be in much better shape than Scid.
>> However, I have some usability questions:
>>
>> It seems that ScidVsPC is not compatible with Scid's si4 DB format, is
>> that correct? So if I would want to step over from Scid, I first have
>> to export my DB as PGN, and then import it into ScidVsPC?
>>
>> And one thing that has been bothering me quite a bit when I tested it,
>> is that I could not dock the different windows into one (i.e. that the
>> pgn, gamelist and board windows are separate). Did I just not figure
>> out how to combine the windows, or are they kept separate on purpose?
>> I really don't like these kind of scattered applications, and it is
>> something that works (reasonably) well in Scid.
>>
>>
>> Finally, thank you for your work on ScidVsPC and keep up the good
>> work! it is certainly appreciated. :)
>>
>> Kind regards,
>> Aljoscha Lautenbach