[Bug-gnubg] Adding support for human vs. human over network

[Jonathan DePeri]

My idea is to implement support for this myself. I'd add a radio button 
in the dialog created in gtkgame.c:PlayersPage under the "Human" radio 
button that would be labeled "Human (Host Network Game)". When selected,
 an adjacent text box labeled "Port:" would be enabled and would contain
 a default port (to listen on) that the user could modify. Also, the 
choice of "Human (Host Network Game)" would force the radio box shown 
for the other player to "Human (Connect to Network Game)". On the actual
 client's end, he'd have to enter the server's "Host:" and "Port:". 
(It's not obvious how these settings should appear to each player, but 
hopefully this explanation makes sense.)

In terms of actual implementation, either player will be a 
PLAYER_HUMAN from his own perspective, and his opponent will see himself
 as a PLAYER_EXTERNAL. However, I think it will probably be necessary to
 create a supplementary player type PLAYER_HUMAN_HOST and change the 
code so that comparisons such as (ap[i].pt && (PLAYER_HUMAN || 
PLAYER_HUMAN_HOST)) end up being done. (Not sure about the best way to 
do this, as I first set eyes on the gnubg sources several hours ago.)

It seems that all of this won't require terribly much work, since 
all that has to be done is to add to the GUI here and there and hook up 
the human host to the human client by treating the latter like an 
"external" player from the host's perspective (and vice-versa from the 
client's perspective). I can forsee the need to factor out some code -- 
e.g. from external.c:CommandExternal, so that the human host can listen 
for the human client. But this doesn't look like it'd be too involved.

Eager to hear what you think -- especially if this has been hashed 
over before.

Regards,

Jonathan