c-chess-cli: experimental windows support

[lucasart]

Largely copy/pasted from gomoku-cli code written Haobin Duan (dhbloo).

I don't have a Windows machine to test it. But I'm interested if someone can give it a try.

Either from Linux, or (untested) from an msys2 shell on Windows:

Code: Select all

git clone https://github.com/lucasart/c-chess-cli.git
cd ./c-chess-cli
./make.py -c x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc -o c-chess-cli.exe

I would advise to start from the simplest possible test, where c-chess-cli.exe and engine.exe are in the same directory (and no '/' parsing is involved):

Code: Select all

./c-chess-cli.exe -each cmd=engine.exe depth=2 -engine name=e1 -engine name=e2

[mar]

I can confirm it builds, got some warnings though (speaking of dependency hell - python3 required to build?! - what's wrong with a plain makefile?):
warnings seem to be mostly related to a format string, perhaps my mingw is old or maybe that's actually because it uses the old msvcrt.dll, which probably doesn't support %zu (either way the format string warnings seem like a total nonsense)

Code: Select all

In file included from src/engine.c:37:
src/engine.h:41:1: warning: padding struct size to alignment boundary [-Wpadded]
 } Engine;
 ^
In file included from src/game.h:18,
                 from src/game.c:17:
src/engine.h:41:1: warning: padding struct size to alignment boundary [-Wpadded]
 } Engine;
 ^
In file included from src/main.c:18:
src/engine.h:41:1: warning: padding struct size to alignment boundary [-Wpadded]
 } Engine;
 ^
src/main.c: In function 'thread_start':
src/main.c:118:36: warning: unknown conversion type character 'z' in format [-Wformat=]
         printf("[%d] Started game %zu of %zu (%s vs %s)\n", w->id, idx + 1, count,
                                    ^
src/main.c:118:43: warning: unknown conversion type character 'z' in format [-Wformat=]
         printf("[%d] Started game %zu of %zu (%s vs %s)\n", w->id, idx + 1, count,
                                           ^
src/main.c:118:48: warning: format '%s' expects argument of type 'char *', but argument 3 has type 'size_t' {aka 'long long unsigned int'} [-Wformat=]
         printf("[%d] Started game %zu of %zu (%s vs %s)\n", w->id, idx + 1, count,
                                               ~^                   ~~~~~~~
                                               %I64d
src/main.c:118:54: warning: format '%s' expects argument of type 'char *', but argument 4 has type 'size_t' {aka 'long long unsigned int'} [-Wformat=]
         printf("[%d] Started game %zu of %zu (%s vs %s)\n", w->id, idx + 1, count,
                                                     ~^                      ~~~~~
                                                     %I64d
src/main.c:118:16: warning: too many arguments for format [-Wformat-extra-args]
         printf("[%d] Started game %zu of %zu (%s vs %s)\n", w->id, idx + 1, count,
                ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
src/main.c:118:36: warning: unknown conversion type character 'z' in format [-Wformat=]
         printf("[%d] Started game %zu of %zu (%s vs %s)\n", w->id, idx + 1, count,
                                    ^
src/main.c:118:43: warning: unknown conversion type character 'z' in format [-Wformat=]
         printf("[%d] Started game %zu of %zu (%s vs %s)\n", w->id, idx + 1, count,
                                           ^
src/main.c:118:48: warning: format '%s' expects argument of type 'char *', but argument 3 has type 'size_t' {aka 'long long unsigned int'} [-Wformat=]
         printf("[%d] Started game %zu of %zu (%s vs %s)\n", w->id, idx + 1, count,
                                               ~^                   ~~~~~~~
                                               %I64d
src/main.c:118:54: warning: format '%s' expects argument of type 'char *', but argument 4 has type 'size_t' {aka 'long long unsigned int'} [-Wformat=]
         printf("[%d] Started game %zu of %zu (%s vs %s)\n", w->id, idx + 1, count,
                                                     ~^                      ~~~~~
                                                     %I64d
src/main.c:118:16: warning: too many arguments for format [-Wformat-extra-args]
         printf("[%d] Started game %zu of %zu (%s vs %s)\n", w->id, idx + 1, count,
                ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
src/main.c:139:37: warning: unknown conversion type character 'z' in format [-Wformat=]
         printf("[%d] Finished game %zu (%s vs %s): %s {%s}\n", w->id, idx + 1,
                                     ^
src/main.c:139:42: warning: format '%s' expects argument of type 'char *', but argument 3 has type 'size_t' {aka 'long long unsigned int'} [-Wformat=]
         printf("[%d] Finished game %zu (%s vs %s): %s {%s}\n", w->id, idx + 1,
                                         ~^                            ~~~~~~~
                                         %I64d
src/main.c:139:16: warning: too many arguments for format [-Wformat-extra-args]
         printf("[%d] Finished game %zu (%s vs %s): %s {%s}\n", w->id, idx + 1,
                ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
src/main.c:139:37: warning: unknown conversion type character 'z' in format [-Wformat=]
         printf("[%d] Finished game %zu (%s vs %s): %s {%s}\n", w->id, idx + 1,
                                     ^
src/main.c:139:42: warning: format '%s' expects argument of type 'char *', but argument 3 has type 'size_t' {aka 'long long unsigned int'} [-Wformat=]
         printf("[%d] Finished game %zu (%s vs %s): %s {%s}\n", w->id, idx + 1,
                                         ~^                            ~~~~~~~
                                         %I64d
src/main.c:139:16: warning: too many arguments for format [-Wformat-extra-args]
         printf("[%d] Finished game %zu (%s vs %s): %s {%s}\n", w->id, idx + 1,
                ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

the resulting binary is small, but seems to depend on libwinpthread-1.dll (who said dependency hell again?), which I'm pretty sure won't be available out-of-the box, probably comes with mingw, I don't know, but it runs for me
EDIT: to be fair, libwinpthread-1.dll is 57kb without additional dependencies, so still waay better than cutechess-cli's 6MB Qt5Core

anyway - the test works, got a single game but no pgn output, which probably requires an additional argument
so will probably wait for a stable release and switch from cutechess-cli, but I don't feel like replacing something that works well for me at the moment

thanks anyway

[Ferdy]

It works. I installed python in msys2 first.

Then run the cli in power shell.

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PS F:\Tmp\c-chess-cli> ./c-chess-cli.exe -engine cmd=deuterium-106.exe name=e1 -engine cmd=Deuterium_v2019.2.37.73_64bit_pop.exe name=e2 -each depth=4 -games 8
[1] Started game 1 of 8 (e1 vs e2)
[1] Finished game 1 (e1 vs e2): 1-0 {checkmate}
Score of e1 vs e2: 1 - 0 - 0  [1.000] 1
[1] Started game 2 of 8 (e2 vs e1)
[1] Finished game 2 (e2 vs e1): 0-1 {checkmate}
Score of e1 vs e2: 2 - 0 - 0  [1.000] 2
[1] Started game 3 of 8 (e1 vs e2)
[1] Finished game 3 (e1 vs e2): 0-1 {checkmate}
Score of e1 vs e2: 2 - 1 - 0  [0.667] 3
[1] Started game 4 of 8 (e2 vs e1)
[1] Finished game 4 (e2 vs e1): 0-1 {checkmate}
Score of e1 vs e2: 3 - 1 - 0  [0.750] 4
[1] Started game 5 of 8 (e1 vs e2)
[1] Finished game 5 (e1 vs e2): 0-1 {checkmate}
Score of e1 vs e2: 3 - 2 - 0  [0.600] 5
[1] Started game 6 of 8 (e2 vs e1)
[1] Finished game 6 (e2 vs e1): 0-1 {checkmate}
Score of e1 vs e2: 4 - 2 - 0  [0.667] 6
[1] Started game 7 of 8 (e1 vs e2)
[1] Finished game 7 (e1 vs e2): 0-1 {checkmate}
Score of e1 vs e2: 4 - 3 - 0  [0.571] 7
[1] Started game 8 of 8 (e2 vs e1)
[1] Finished game 8 (e2 vs e1): 0-1 {checkmate}
Score of e1 vs e2: 5 - 3 - 0  [0.625] 8

[Ferdy]

Compiling:

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$ python make.py -c x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc -o c-chess-cli.exe
% x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc -I./src -std=gnu11 -mpopcnt -DNDEBUG -Os -ffast-math -flto -s -DVERSION=\"2021-06-22\" -Wfatal-errors -Wall -Wextra -Wstrict-prototypes -Wsign-conversion -Wshadow -Wpadded -Wmissing-prototypes src/bitboard.c src/gen.c src/position.c src/str.c src/util.c src/vec.c src/engine.c src/game.c src/jobs.c src/main.c src/openings.c src/options.c src/seqwriter.c src/sprt.c src/workers.c -o c-chess-cli.exe -lpthread -lm
In file included from src/engine.c:37:
src/engine.h:41:1: warning: padding struct size to alignment boundary [-Wpadded]
   41 | } Engine;
      | ^
In file included from src/game.h:18,
                 from src/game.c:17:
src/engine.h:41:1: warning: padding struct size to alignment boundary [-Wpadded]
   41 | } Engine;
      | ^
In file included from src/main.c:18:
src/engine.h:41:1: warning: padding struct size to alignment boundary [-Wpadded]
   41 | } Engine;
      | ^

[lucasart]

I can confirm it builds, got some warnings though (speaking of dependency hell - python3 required to build?! - what's wrong with a plain makefile?):
warnings seem to be mostly related to a format string, perhaps my mingw is old or maybe that's actually because it uses the old msvcrt.dll, which probably doesn't support %zu (either way the format string warnings seem like a total nonsense)

Code: Select all

In file included from src/engine.c:37:
src/engine.h:41:1: warning: padding struct size to alignment boundary [-Wpadded]
 } Engine;
 ^
In file included from src/game.h:18,
                 from src/game.c:17:
src/engine.h:41:1: warning: padding struct size to alignment boundary [-Wpadded]
 } Engine;
 ^
In file included from src/main.c:18:
src/engine.h:41:1: warning: padding struct size to alignment boundary [-Wpadded]
 } Engine;
 ^
src/main.c: In function 'thread_start':
src/main.c:118:36: warning: unknown conversion type character 'z' in format [-Wformat=]
         printf("[%d] Started game %zu of %zu (%s vs %s)\n", w->id, idx + 1, count,
                                    ^
src/main.c:118:43: warning: unknown conversion type character 'z' in format [-Wformat=]
         printf("[%d] Started game %zu of %zu (%s vs %s)\n", w->id, idx + 1, count,
                                           ^
src/main.c:118:48: warning: format '%s' expects argument of type 'char *', but argument 3 has type 'size_t' {aka 'long long unsigned int'} [-Wformat=]
         printf("[%d] Started game %zu of %zu (%s vs %s)\n", w->id, idx + 1, count,
                                               ~^                   ~~~~~~~
                                               %I64d
src/main.c:118:54: warning: format '%s' expects argument of type 'char *', but argument 4 has type 'size_t' {aka 'long long unsigned int'} [-Wformat=]
         printf("[%d] Started game %zu of %zu (%s vs %s)\n", w->id, idx + 1, count,
                                                     ~^                      ~~~~~
                                                     %I64d
src/main.c:118:16: warning: too many arguments for format [-Wformat-extra-args]
         printf("[%d] Started game %zu of %zu (%s vs %s)\n", w->id, idx + 1, count,
                ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
src/main.c:118:36: warning: unknown conversion type character 'z' in format [-Wformat=]
         printf("[%d] Started game %zu of %zu (%s vs %s)\n", w->id, idx + 1, count,
                                    ^
src/main.c:118:43: warning: unknown conversion type character 'z' in format [-Wformat=]
         printf("[%d] Started game %zu of %zu (%s vs %s)\n", w->id, idx + 1, count,
                                           ^
src/main.c:118:48: warning: format '%s' expects argument of type 'char *', but argument 3 has type 'size_t' {aka 'long long unsigned int'} [-Wformat=]
         printf("[%d] Started game %zu of %zu (%s vs %s)\n", w->id, idx + 1, count,
                                               ~^                   ~~~~~~~
                                               %I64d
src/main.c:118:54: warning: format '%s' expects argument of type 'char *', but argument 4 has type 'size_t' {aka 'long long unsigned int'} [-Wformat=]
         printf("[%d] Started game %zu of %zu (%s vs %s)\n", w->id, idx + 1, count,
                                                     ~^                      ~~~~~
                                                     %I64d
src/main.c:118:16: warning: too many arguments for format [-Wformat-extra-args]
         printf("[%d] Started game %zu of %zu (%s vs %s)\n", w->id, idx + 1, count,
                ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
src/main.c:139:37: warning: unknown conversion type character 'z' in format [-Wformat=]
         printf("[%d] Finished game %zu (%s vs %s): %s {%s}\n", w->id, idx + 1,
                                     ^
src/main.c:139:42: warning: format '%s' expects argument of type 'char *', but argument 3 has type 'size_t' {aka 'long long unsigned int'} [-Wformat=]
         printf("[%d] Finished game %zu (%s vs %s): %s {%s}\n", w->id, idx + 1,
                                         ~^                            ~~~~~~~
                                         %I64d
src/main.c:139:16: warning: too many arguments for format [-Wformat-extra-args]
         printf("[%d] Finished game %zu (%s vs %s): %s {%s}\n", w->id, idx + 1,
                ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
src/main.c:139:37: warning: unknown conversion type character 'z' in format [-Wformat=]
         printf("[%d] Finished game %zu (%s vs %s): %s {%s}\n", w->id, idx + 1,
                                     ^
src/main.c:139:42: warning: format '%s' expects argument of type 'char *', but argument 3 has type 'size_t' {aka 'long long unsigned int'} [-Wformat=]
         printf("[%d] Finished game %zu (%s vs %s): %s {%s}\n", w->id, idx + 1,
                                         ~^                            ~~~~~~~
                                         %I64d
src/main.c:139:16: warning: too many arguments for format [-Wformat-extra-args]
         printf("[%d] Finished game %zu (%s vs %s): %s {%s}\n", w->id, idx + 1,
                ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

the resulting binary is small, but seems to depend on libwinpthread-1.dll (who said dependency hell again?), which I'm pretty sure won't be available out-of-the box, probably comes with mingw, I don't know, but it runs for me
EDIT: to be fair, libwinpthread-1.dll is 57kb without additional dependencies, so still waay better than cutechess-cli's 6MB Qt5Core

anyway - the test works, got a single game but no pgn output, which probably requires an additional argument
so will probably wait for a stable release and switch from cutechess-cli, but I don't feel like replacing something that works well for me at the moment

thanks anyway

Thanks.
* struct padding warning is benign. will fix it.
* I much prefer python to make. so much easier and more flexible. either one is a dependency. but it's trivial to compile without the script, so not a real dependency (some use IDE for that).
* libwinpthread is indeed an avoidable dependency. I can just replace the pthread code by some OS specific wrapper, not hard to do, just tedious. will fix that eventually.

[lucasart]

* libwinpthread is indeed an avoidable dependency. I can just replace the pthread code by some OS specific wrapper, not hard to do, just tedious. will fix that eventually.

Can't I just statically link libpthread ? If I use -static, it will include glibc which is insanely bloated, so I don't want that. There must be a way to statically link a specific lib (ie. just the '-lpthread' part)...

Edit:This should work. Links libpthread statically (but not libc and libm). No python and git dependency either (make.py is just for practicality, not a real dependency):

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$ x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc -I./src -std=gnu11 -mpopcnt -DNDEBUG -Os -ffast-math -flto -s -DVERSION=\"2021-06-22\" src/*.c -o ./c-chess-cli -static -lpthread -Wl,-Bdynamic -lm

PS: I wonder. Doesn't libc and libm also require static linking ? Would mingw produce an executable that dynamically links against the microsoft one (on Windows by default) ? Or would it link against its own GNU based one, which requires the user to install some DLLs ?

[mar]

* libwinpthread is indeed an avoidable dependency. I can just replace the pthread code by some OS specific wrapper, not hard to do, just tedious. will fix that eventually.

Can't I just statically link libpthread ? If I use -static, it will include glibc which is insanely bloated, so I don't want that. There must be a way to statically link a specific lib (ie. just the '-lpthread' part)...

Edit:This should work. Links libpthread statically (but not libc and libm). No python and git dependency either (make.py is just for practicality, not a real dependency):

Code: Select all

$ x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc -I./src -std=gnu11 -mpopcnt -DNDEBUG -Os -ffast-math -flto -s -DVERSION=\"2021-06-22\" src/*.c -o ./c-chess-cli -static -lpthread -Wl,-Bdynamic -lm

yes, you're right - actually using make.py ... --static links libwinpthread statically while still linking to dynamic msvcrt.dll for me - so I get a single binary that's now 81kb without any external dependencies, that's pretty cool and shows the power of compact code written in plain C

in contrast cutechess-cli is 920kb binary with a dependency on 2 external libs, totalling 6.6MB

[lucasart]

* libwinpthread is indeed an avoidable dependency. I can just replace the pthread code by some OS specific wrapper, not hard to do, just tedious. will fix that eventually.

Can't I just statically link libpthread ? If I use -static, it will include glibc which is insanely bloated, so I don't want that. There must be a way to statically link a specific lib (ie. just the '-lpthread' part)...

Edit:This should work. Links libpthread statically (but not libc and libm). No python and git dependency either (make.py is just for practicality, not a real dependency):

Code: Select all

$ x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc -I./src -std=gnu11 -mpopcnt -DNDEBUG -Os -ffast-math -flto -s -DVERSION=\"2021-06-22\" src/*.c -o ./c-chess-cli -static -lpthread -Wl,-Bdynamic -lm

yes, you're right - actually using make.py ... --static links libwinpthread statically while still linking to dynamic msvcrt.dll for me - so I get a single binary that's now 81kb without any external dependencies, that's pretty cool and shows the power of compact code written in plain C

in contrast cutechess-cli is 920kb binary with a dependency on 2 external libs, totalling 6.6MB

Awesome. I could grind a few kB by implementing the few 'pthread_' functions directly in win32 API, but I'd say it's not worth the trouble (just pollutes the code base for little gain).

[mar]

Awesome. I could grind a few kB by implementing the few 'pthread_' functions directly in win32 API, but I'd say it's not worth the trouble (just pollutes the code base for little gain).

I don't think it's worth the effort, a single 81kB binary is plenty good these days, like plenty

[mar]

ok, I'm running a first real test with c-chess-cli, seems to work so far!
had to change "re" to "rt" in openings.c (actually "r" would work probably - never heard of "e" though), somehow microsoft CRT doesn't like "re" and fails with an error
EDIT: actually had to replace all "re" with "r", "we" with "w" and "ae" with "a", now everything seems to work fine