[Bug-gnubg] Controlling GnuBG via commandline for AI

[Marcus Cavanaugh]

Hello,

I'm developing a multiplayer gaming site. I would like to add GnuBG's  
AI to enable players to play against a bot. I don't play backgammon  
much, but I have been looking through GnuBG's documentation. It seems  
that the easiest method to interface with GnuBG would be to invoke it  
in commandline mode for each AI turn; I'd send GnuBG the current board  
position, and then read out the next suggested move. Is this a  
reasonable way to approach it?

It seems like it would only take a couple of commands to load the  
board position and extract the AI's move, but I'm not sure what  
commands would be most straightforward.

Something like:

    load position <file>
    hint
    export position pos <file>

(Can it use stdin/stdout instead? And is "hint" the best way to find  
the recommended move?)

Any tips would be greatly appreciated. As I mentioned earlier, I've  
only played a little backgammon and have only begun looking at GnuBG.

Thanks,

Marcus



--
Marcus Cavanaugh
address@hidden