[Welcome to Sensei's Library!]

StartingPoints
ReferenceSection
About


Referenced by
EscapersOnKGS
KGSBugs
KGSClientSupportF...
KGSPlans
KGSUsersGuide
KGSWishlist
KGSWishlistOld
SGFWishlist

Homepages
WilliamShubert

 

KGS Status
    Keywords: Clubs & Places, Software

This page is where wms gives info on the status of the next KGS release. It's kind of a companion page to the KGS Wishlist; the wish list is where KGS users say what they would like me to do, this is where I say what I want me to do. For slightly more long term plans, see KGS Plans. As soon as a release is out, I'll cut out its status from here, but you can see past release status at [ext] the KGS change log.


KGS 2.5.6 is in beta testing - Please Help! Visit [ext] http://kgs.kiseido.com/beta.html for information on how to help test!

yoyoma: Perhaps we could hold some special fun events on the Beta server to draw people there. For example occasionally make an announcement on the normal server about a spontaneous 9x9 tournament in the Beta server starting in a few minutes.

Whew, 2.5.5 is out. Hopefully this will work well enough that I can leave it up for a while. There was one server crash that I couldn't find the cause of, so I added a lot of information logging around the assertion that killed it. Hopefully I will catch this one next time it hits and do a mid-version server patch to fix it at last.

To do once 2.5.6 is released

  • Test tournaments. The tournament system was testing during 2.5.5, and worked well, except that tournament players were often getting booted out. The server logs gave no indication why the people were disconnected, so for 2.5.6 I changed the server to always report the exact message that made the server decide to cut somebody off (in the past each message that would cut somebody off was supposed to add a log message, but sometimes I would forget). Once 2.5.6 is out, I'll run another few tournaments, and this time there should be enough information to tell me why the people are being disconnected.
  • Try a newer version of tomcat, see if the newer jsp:applet tags will work correctly under OS X + MSIE.

Done for 2.5.6

  • Fixed the "have no quiet button in other people's demo games" bug. There was a separate bug in 2.5.3 where you wouldn't have a quiet button in any demo game that was loaded; I fixed it for your own games, but it was still broken in other people's games. Oops.
  • Trying to make a ranked game in a private room no longer leaves you with a worthless uncloseable challenge window.
  • Fixed the bizarre "19??19" bug in Linux non-webstart clients. This was a packaging bug, there is a new .rpm on the download page that will fix this bug for you.
  • Fixed the time zones on JSP pages bug (in 2.5.5 all times are shown in US Pacific time, even though it says it shows them in the time zone you selected.)
  • Fixed strange little bug that mis-sorted the ChampFr demo game in the game list.
  • Fixed bad URL to download the plugin in the applet.jsp page.
  • A GTP client is ready. It is being beta tested now. Download from [ext] http://www.igoweb.org/~wms/upload/ if you want to try it out!
    • Made server and standard client changes for GTP. Server now restricts rated games from robots to accounts with "ranked robot" authorization (and won't let humans play rated in those accounts). Client now shows open games by robot as "roboGo [10k] (Robot)" in the game list.
    • Finished GTP changes for ranked games.
    • Bisqwit: This is interesting. Btw, I noticed that it doesn't honor the server.host and server.port settings (neither on command line nor in the properties file).
      • wms: Oops. Thanks. Will be fixed in the next release.
  • Can now load an old game even if your opponent has an open game. In general, having an open game should never be counted as "playing," and over time I will make this be the case, but I'm starting here.
  • Now correctly shows private/nonprivate status when you press "Rules" in a game on the server.
  • The "return" link on the time zone setter will send you to the proper place again.
  • When a picture is uploaded, it now forces the server to clear the old picture from its cache.
  • Split the SQL-based logs off into a separate database so that they won't get replicated and backed up. (If the server goes through massive failure and loses the whole SQL database, I think that the least of my problems will be wondering who was swearing at who at the time).
  • Switch to real java prefs instead of current rc-file method of saving preferences. This should make the preferences "disappear" a lot less often than before, and doesn't rely on my ugly ".cgoban2rc" file (this file was especially ugly because on Windows there is no real home directory, making it hard to figure out where to put it!) This will only work on java 1.4, since java 1.3 and earlier had no "java.util.prefs" package. People on java 1.3 will still use the old ugly system. Note: Buddy list and censor list will be kept in this transition, other preferences will be lost when you switch to 2.5.6. Sorry about that.
  • Now possible to close the list of open games.
  • Made the "~" invisible to you if your opponent is stronger. Since the "~" means that they don't play weaker players enough, it is silly to refuse to let somebody play weaker players and lose the ~.
  • Fixed "inactive" rank graphs. Right now they sit, and when you turn your rank back on, the server thinks that you never had the graph inactive at all. Now when you turn your rank back on, your old data will still be there, but with "holes" in the graph for the times when your rank was disabled. Once 1/2 of your graph is holes, the entire graph is erased. DrStraw - does this mean that if you turn your rank off for 6 months and then turn it back on then it takes 3 months to display it again (i.e. more than half of the previous 6 months)?
    • wms: No, don't worry. :-) As soon as your graph is erased, then the next time you have a rank, you will have one graph point in one day - so there will be no waiting!
  • Made the "Blitz" warnings blink only when you are answering a challenge, not when you are creating one.
  • Made the "open list?" checkbox be remembered when you log out. Also made it remember the game type (ranked/free/demo) of the last game you set up.
  • Allowed cloning of demo games.
  • When closing a game, instead of "Do you really want to close? Yes/no", it gives options of "close...resign...continue playing".
  • Add sorting options to open games list.
  • Now you can right-click on game and user lists even in a blank space and get the sorting options. Before you always had to click on an actual game or user.
  • Fixed bug: When censored people talk in a game, the move number will pop up as if the comment was not censored.
  • Fixed superko on server. If you were playing superko and made an undo just before you hit the superko rule it would sometimes get confused about whose move it was when the superko play was made.
  • Got "ctrl-click" working again for observers.
  • More checks to ensure that the teacher is always white in simul games.
  • Escapers will not lose their rank, instead will get games marked as "forfeited" once they have too many unfinished games.
  • Fixed all the "?" characters in Japanese (and probably other) JSP pages.
  • Unable to reproduce bug: seems like sometimes when players leave a game, the server's copy of their clock doesn't stop properly. I saw this happen when I was testing another bug, but now I cannot make it happen again. If anybody is sure that they left the game, then came back (and their opponent stayed the whole time), and their clock was too low after making a move (or if they ran out of time immediately after moving when they returned!), then please email me and tell me exactly what steps happened, what type of game it was, etc.!
  • Changed code to have score be set in only one place, and at that place also cleared any escaper flags for the game. This is to fix a bug where somehow somebody ended up as an escaper in a finished game.
  • If your opponent runs out of time and is stuck, you won't get tagged escaper for leaving the game.
  • Fixed the simul bug that can crash the teacher of the simul game if one of the "students" reviews the game. Not all reviews crash the teacher, but certain actions during review can.
  • Phase 1 of ultra top-secret project X complete - speex codec integrated.
    • -- sorry to write on this page, but would you provide some input of what "ultra top-secret project X" is all about? :)
    • wms: Well, I started calling it that because it is so long term that I didn't want to announce what exactly I was working on yet. So I decided to use a code name, then I thought it should at least be a funny code name. :-) Anyway, phase 1 is very near done, there will be some info next week on what exactly it is. Phase 1 on its own will be nifty but not super exciting; I'll add other things later, I predict around May or June the whole project will be done.
      • DrStraw fingerprint id for escapers?
      • Joshual000 2 admins on special assignment delving into the 'paranormal' at kgs
      • TJ The ko threat is out there. Believe.
    • wms: Well, whatever it is, I can say that I just finished the client code for this. It is partially tested. Now I need to write the server side code, then the client will go into beta, at which time I will let out what it is. :-)
    • wms: Well, now you know what phase 1 is, check the top of this block of text.

FFLaguna Seems it's some sort of speech compression technology. More information on Ultra Top Secret Project X Phase 1: www.speex.org

Hikaru79 Personally, I think this will revolutionize KGS-- imagine, not having to wait for your sensei to type out his lengthy explanation of why your move was horrible! :D Now you can be corrected in real time! Get to know your online "friends" better! By speeding up the reviewing process, a whole lot more people will probably be more willing to give one, and they will undoubtedly be even more in-depth! Of course, there's possibilities of abuse, but that comes with just about every mode of communication. This is a practical, useful feature, and it is truly original--the first go server to even attempt it. ^_^ Excellent idea, WMS! Can't wait to try it out :)

wms: Yes, teaching is exactly the plan. It will be only for teachers, so that in group lessons for example, teacher can talk and students hear, then students can type their questions to the teacher, and teacher just says the answers (or shows them on the board, or both). And KGS isn't the first - both Korean and Chinese servers have this already, I'm just copying a good idea when I hear it. :-) Sorry that you won't be able to chat with your friends, the latency etc. won't be good enough for true two way VoIP.

Hu: I worry that this will greatly reduce the usefulness of teaching games in the archive, since it will record only one side (the questions) and that is arguably the least useful side. Or are you intending to record the voice track as an extension to SGF? >^.^<

(Sebastian:) Good idea. Let's propose this for SGF.

wms: Actually, that was going to be phase 2 of the ultra top-secret project. (And phase 3, just to keep you puzzled, would have nothing to do with audio at all.) But I'm going about it a different way. I'm not going to embed audio data in an SGF file; that would make the audio really horribly chopped up since it would come in the same order as the teacher said it if the teacher ever went backwards in the SGF file. I'm going to instead take a multimedia stream and have audio data in one channel and SGF deltas in another. This means that each of these teaching games would be saved twice - once as SGF for backwards compatibility, and once as "SGF movie" format. Anyway, if you want to add a standard for audio data in SGF files, feel free, but it won't work for my purposes so I'll have to use a different system anyway.

Zarlan: Great! I've wanted that "SGF movie"-format, as lessons go back and forth in the SGF. Except for the audio, since I hadn't though of that.

inimino: This is simply an incredible idea! Will you release an open specification of this data format so other programs can manipulate it? If so I think it is likely to become a new standard for reviews like GTL, commented pro games, etc. Really a great improvement and a gift to the whole Go community.

Put off for a later release

  • Add a "top games" list similar to open list, of the highest-ranked games on the server. Implementing this is messier than I hoped, and in general I want to think more about how exactly I want it to work, plus I feel pretty happy in general with 2.5.6 with the other changes made so I'm going to put this on hold.

Done for 2.5.7

During beta for 2.5.6 (on now), I'm starting work on 2.5.7.

  • In 2.5.7, you can't switch from a "?" rating to a rating above 10k by losing games. That is, if you lose to a 6d, you will no longer be "5d?". You have to win a game against somebody 10k or stronger to get a rank in that range.
  • Improved the game archives performance. Currently it needs to know the total games for an account so that it knows how many page entries to include at the bottom; this means an extra SQL query, so I put the "maxPages" in the query arguments and when you look at one page from an account, this gets filled in so later pages skip the "extra" query. This is dumb, because if you bookmark game archives for an account, the total page count won't change if you come back a month later, no matter how many games have been played! In 2.5.7, it just caches internally the number of pages for an account for a while. It also will every 5 minutes check, and if any games have been added to an account it clears that account's cached page counts.


This is a copy of the living page "KGS Status" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2004 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.