Why don't you share your code?

pocopito · Post by **pocopito** » Sun Dec 30, 2012 12:36 pm

Hi all

First of all I want to make clear this is not meant to be a "pro free software" post, or a try to convince people to change his/her mind, but it just comes out of curiosity. For example, till a few years ago I could have checked various of the options (I'm thinking of "just didn't know it was an option" or "I'm not quite proud of it").

Of course, in the case of the commercial chess engines (to stick to the forum topic) the question is unnecessary, but I guess this is the case of just a few engines, and it seems that exist lot of engines that are out of this category that keep private.

And, why not, the "complementary" poll could be interesting too (Why do you share your code?)

Best regards

E Diaz

hgm · Post by **hgm** » Sun Dec 30, 2012 12:54 pm

Mostly I keep sources closed to prevent people from modify it for uses I disapprove of, which would degrade its performance. Like making UCI versions of my WB engines to run them in an inferior GUI, which do not support all their features.

ZirconiumX · Post by **ZirconiumX** » Sun Dec 30, 2012 1:58 pm

There needs to be an 'other' option - I haven't really got any code to share at the moment - but when I do - it will be GPL. Probably.

Matthew:out

mar · Post by **mar** » Sun Dec 30, 2012 3:16 pm

I too miss some options:
- There are enough very strong opensource engines already so why bother
- To not support copycats who ruin competition (you would be surprised that copycats exist not only on top level)
- Others may laugh upon you when you release a messy code

(no problem if you don't give a s**t)
- Going opensource is irreversible
Even though I like open source, CC is very special in this regard.
I think that sharing ideas is the way to go IMHO.
If I ever write a new engine, it's sources will be closed. That's for sure.
I regret I went opensrc with cheng3 - it was pointless + my code is(was) very very ugly so I only made a fool of myself.

Graham Banks · Post by **Graham Banks** » Sun Dec 30, 2012 4:29 pm

mar wrote:..I regret I went opensrc with cheng3 - it was pointless + my code is(was) very very ugly so I only made a fool of myself...

With who, Martin?
Certainly not with those of us who enjoy using your engine.

mar · Post by **mar** » Sun Dec 30, 2012 4:41 pm

Graham Banks wrote: With who, Martin?
Certainly not with those of us who enjoy using your engine.

Thanks Graham but don't get me wrong - I was talking about the source.
Ugly source is very hard to maintain, has zero value for others as it's cryptic, that's it.
I don't regret releasing the engine itself, in fact it surpassed my expectations.

smrf · Post by **smrf** » Sun Dec 30, 2012 6:31 pm

One simply could talk about ideas, so there is no need to share source code.

Here a lot of people are interested in compiling the strongest engine. But
for me new ideas are of top interest. Such approaches mostly do not start
within the level range of star programs', thus unfortunately being ignored.

At least I do not see any need for to support enabling any copy and paste.