GNU Backgammon (or gnubg for short) is a Free Software Backgammon playing program, licensed under the GNU Public License (GPL).

GNU Backgammon for MacOS X is a full binary version of gnubg, built for MacOS X, and available for download from this website.

This picture illustrates two new features: 3D boards and international support (here, French)

Requirements

To install and run GNU Backgammon for MacOS X on your computer, you'll need the following:

• MacOS X 10.2 "Jaguar" or MacOS X 10.3 "Panther" with 256 MB RAM;
• An X11R6 server; either Apple's "X11" or the Darwin community's "XDarwin" will do;
• And, of course, the GNU Backgammon for MacOS X application (and its shared libraries)

Note: in a few words: an "X11R6 server" is a graphical user interface system widely used in the UNIX world in which gnubg has been developed -- you could say that X11R6 is to UNIX what Aqua is to MacOS X; by the way, there is no connection between the X in "MacOS X" and the X in "X11R6" :-)

Both XDarwin and Apple's X11 run as standalone applications in the MacOS X environment, mixing Aqua and X11 windows on the same Mac desktop; and both are available as free downloads; if you don't have any X11R6 server installed and running, you will still be able to use GNU Backgammon for MacOS X, but you will get no graphical interface, only text representations of the board and a text command line to input your moves in a terminal window.

How to install GNU Backgammon for MacOS X

Installing GNU Backgammon for MacOS X on your Mac is a three-step process:

• Step 1: Download and install an X11 server
• Step 2: Download and install the GNU Backgammon shared libraries
• Step 3: Download and install the GNU Backgammon application
• • The most up-to-date version of GNU Backgammon for MacOS X 10.3
  • The most up-to-date version of GNU Backgammon for MacOS X 10.2
  • The multi-processing version of GNU Backgammon for MacOS X 10.2
  • The legacy version of GNU Backgammon for MacOS X 10.2

Step 1: download and install an X11 server

If you are already running an X11 server, go directly to Step 2 below. Otherwise, download and install one of the following X11R6 servers:

• Apple's X11, available for free download at Apple's download site or part of the Mac OS X 10.3 "Panther" installation (as a custom install option, though)
• The XDarwin Project's XDarwin, available for free download at http://www.xdarwin.org/.

Note: Unless you're already familiar with working in an X11R6 environment, I would recommend your using Apple's X11 rather than XDarwin, as keyboard shortcuts, user windows manipulations and mouse buttons handling are more "Mac-wise" in Apple's X11 than in XDarwin.
Note: You won't be able to use gnubg with XDarwin if you're running Mac OS X 10.3 "Panther"; in that case, use Apple's X11 -- it's included on the Mac OS X 10.3 install CD's.

Step 2: download and install the shared libraries that GNU Backgammon for MacOS X needs

First, download the disk image file below, named sw.dmg, which contains the shared libraries that gnubg needs to run:

• The shared libraries disk image: sw.dmg (8.8 MB) For Mac OS X 10.2 "Jaguar"
• The shared libraries disk image: sw.dmg (4.5 MB) For Mac OS X 10.3 "Panther"

Note: To prevent your browser from opening the above link in your browser window, trying dragging the link onto your Finder desktop or ctrl-clicking the link and choose "Download link to disk..."

Then, in the Finder, locate the sw.dmg file you have just downloaded and double-click it: it will launch the Disk Copy application and mount the sw volume on your Finder desktop (it will appear as a hard disk).

This volume is the shared libraries folder, that you must copy to the top-level of your Macintosh HD (ie, to /sw, for the UNIX-savvy): to do that, drag the sw volume onto you Macintosh HD while holding down the alt key.

Note: When copying the sw volume to your hard disk, please hold down the alt/option key while dragging the sw icon (a big green plus sign will appear next to your mouse pointer); otherwise, the Finder will create a mere alias to the volume instead of copying its actual contents.

Once copied onto your hard disk, you can unmount the sw volume by dragging it to the Finder Trash (which will then change to an "eject arrow" icon).

Note: Previous users of gnubg for Mac OS X 10.2 upgrading to Mac OS X 10.3: you can't use the previous libraries (the sw folder) as they were built for 10.2 and are incompatible with 10.3; please download the new libraries built for 10.3 and replace your current sw folder with the new one

Step 3: download and install GNU Backgammon for MacOS X

You can choose between four different versions of gnubg for MacOS X:

The most up-to-date version of gnubg for MacOS X 10.3 "Panther" You will need the gnubg for MacOS X application, its neural net weights (version 0.14) and bearoff databases. First, download the disk image file below, named gnubg.dmg; then double-click it: it will launch the Disk Utility application and mount the gnubg volume on your Finder desktop; this volume is the gnubg for MacOS X application folder, that you can copy wherever you like onto your Macintosh HD, most preferably in your Applications folder. Once copied onto your hard disk, you can unmount the gnubg volume by dragging it to the Finder Trash (which will then change to an "eject arrow" icon). The gnubg for MacOS X 10.3 application disk image: gnubg.dmg (4.4 MB) [14-Feb-2004] Note: To prevent your browser from opening the above link in your browser window, trying dragging the link onto your Finder desktop or ctrl-clicking the link and choose "Download link to disk..." Note: When copying the gnubg volume to your hard disk, hold down the alt/option key while dragging the gnubg icon; otherwise, the Finder will create a mere alias to the volume instead of copying its actual contents. Then, dowload the two ZIP files below, named Weights-0.14.zip and Bearoff.zip; if necessary, double-click them to uncompress them; you will get two folders: Weights-0.14 and Bearoff. These folders contain the neural net weights (two files named gnubg.wd and gnubg.weights) and the bearoff databases (two other files named gnubg_os0.bd and gnubg_ts0.bd); you must copy these files into the gnubg folder you have just created in your Applications folder, on your hard disk. The gnubg neural net weights ZIP file: Weights-0.14.zip (0.8 MB) [v0.14] The gnubg bearoff databases ZIP file: Bearoff.zip (6.4 MB) Note: To prevent your browser from opening the above links in your browser window, trying dragging the links onto your Finder desktop or ctrl-clicking the links and choose "Download link to disk..."

The most up-to-date version of gnubg for MacOS X 10.2 "Jaguar" You will need the gnubg for MacOS X application, its neural net weights (version 0.14) and bearoff databases. First, download the disk image file below, named gnubg.dmg; then double-click it: it will launch the Disk Copy application and mount the gnubg volume on your Finder desktop; this volume is the gnubg for MacOS X application folder, that you can copy wherever you like onto your Macintosh HD, most preferably in your Applications folder. Once copied onto your hard disk, you can unmount the gnubg volume by dragging it to the Finder Trash (which will then change to an "eject arrow" icon). The gnubg for MacOS X 10.2 application disk image: gnubg.dmg (2.8 MB) [08-Jul-2003] Note: To prevent your browser from opening the above link in your browser window, trying dragging the link onto your Finder desktop or ctrl-clicking the link and choose "Download link to disk..." Note: When copying the gnubg volume to your hard disk, hold down the alt/option key while dragging the gnubg icon; otherwise, the Finder will create a mere alias to the volume instead of copying its actual contents. Then, dowload the two ZIP files below, named Weights-0.14.zip and Bearoff.zip; if necessary, double-click them to uncompress them; you will get two folders: Weights-0.14 and Bearoff. These folders contain the neural net weights (two files named gnubg.wd and gnubg.weights) and the bearoff databases (two other files named gnubg_os0.bd and gnubg_ts0.bd); you must copy these files into the gnubg folder you have just created in your Applications folder, on your hard disk. The gnubg neural net weights ZIP file: Weights-0.14.zip (0.8 MB) [v0.14] The gnubg bearoff databases ZIP file: Bearoff.zip (6.4 MB) Note: To prevent your browser from opening the above links in your browser window, trying dragging the links onto your Finder desktop or ctrl-clicking the links and choose "Download link to disk..."

The multi-processing version of gnubg for MacOS X 10.2 "Jaguar" You will need the gnubg for MacOS X application, its neural net weights (version 0.13) and bearoff databases. This version allows you to take advantage of bi-processor machines to perform rollouts (symmetrical multi-processing, or SMP). It also allows you to connect slave gnubg's to your master gnubg to help compute rollouts faster (distributed processing). Refer to the multi-processing quickstart page to set up multi-processing. As this is a brand new feature, don't hesitate to write to me at gnubgosx@noos.fr if you need help to set up such configurations. Please note that this version is based on a different development branch than the up-to-date version above, so it lacks many of its most recent features; it also uses the older v0.13 neural net weights. First, download the zip file below, named gnubg.zip; if necessary, double-click it to uncompress it: you will get a folder named gnubg; this folder is the gnubg for MacOS Xapplication folder, that you can copy wherever you like onto your Macintosh HD, most preferably in your Applications folder. The gnubg for MacOS X 10.2 application zip file: gnubg-multi.zip (1.5 MB) [multi-processing] Then, dowload the last two zip files below, named weights-0.13.zip and Bearoff.zip; if necessary, double-click them to uncompress them; you will get two folders: Weights-0.13 and Bearoff. These folders contain the neural net weights (two files named gnubg.wd and gnubg.weights) and the bearoff databases (two other files named gnubg_os0.bd and gnubg_ts0.bd); you must copy these files into the gnubg folder you have just created in your Applications folder, on your hard disk. The gnubg neural net weights zip file: Weights-0.13.zip (0.8 MB) [v0.13] The gnubg bearoff databases zip file: Bearoff.zip (6.4 MB) Note: To prevent your browser from opening the above link in your browser window, trying dragging the link onto your Finder desktop or ctrl-clicking the link and choose "Download link to disk..."

The "legacy" version of gnubg for MacOS X 10.2 "Jaguar" This version was the first released on 09-Apr-2003. It is packed as a single disk image that contains the application, its neural net weights and bearoff databases alltogether. However, it is based on the v0.13 neural nets and lacks several features compared to the above versions (documentation, sound, one-side analysis, temperature map, etc). You should use one of the versions above. Download the disk image below, named gnubgosx.dmg; then double-clicking it: it will launch the Disk Copy application and mount the gnubgosx volume on your Finder desktop; this volume is the application folder, that you can copy wherever you like onto your Macintosh HD, most preferably in your Applications folder. This folder contains the GNU Backgammon for MacOS X application and its data files (help files, bearoff databases, neural net weights, etc). Once copied onto your hard disk, you can unmount the gnubgsox volume by dragging it to the Finder Trash (which will then change to an "eject arrow" icon). The legacy gnubg for MacOS X 10.2 application, weights and databases disk image: gnubgosx.dmg (9 MB) Note: To prevent your browser from opening the above link in your browser window, trying dragging the link onto your Finder desktop or ctrl-clicking the link and choose "Download link to disk..." Note: When copying the gnubgosx volume to your hard disk, hold down the alt key while dragging the gnubgosx icon; otherwise, the Finder will create a mere alias to the volume instead of copying its actual contents.

Note: The application folder gnubg can be installed either in the /Applications directory (the Applications folder that stands at the top level of your Macintosh HD, making it available to all users who have physical access to your Mac), or in your private ~/Applications directory (the Applications folder that stands in your "Home" folder)

Running GNU Backgammon for MacOS X

Once you have installed both an X11R6 server and GNU Backgammon for MacOS X, you can run GNU Backgammon for MacOS X by:

1. Start your X11R6 server;
2. Once your X11R6 server is running, in one of its Terminal windows (by default, Apple's X11 opens one such window at startup, and XDarwin opens three), do the following:
   
   1. If you have installed gnubg in your private Applications folder, type "cd Applications/gnubg" to get into GNU Backgammon for MacOS X's folder, and then type "./gnubg" to run it;
   2. If you have installed gnubg in the global, top-level Applications folder, type "cd /Applications/gnubg" to get into GNU Backgammon for MacOS X's folder, and type "./gnubg" to run it;

Note: Be careful when typing those commands, case matters with MacOS X; so "Applications" is not the same folder as "applications"...

Hint: Note to previous users: since some version of Mac OS X 10.3.x or X11, you have to add the extra "-w" in the shortcut command line -- read below To avoid the above running procedure's cumbersome step 2, you can create a quick launch shortcut in Apple's X11 by following the steps below: In X11, select the Applications -> Customize menu; In the "X11 Application Menu" window that pops up, click the "Add Item" button; In the newly created empty entry to the left, type in "gnubg" in the left column, and in the right column type the commands (separated by semi-colons) you would have typed to run GNU Backgammon for MacOS X from the Terminal window; that is: cd ~/Applications/gnubg;./gnubg -w if you installed gnubg in your private Applications folder, or: cd /Applications/gnubg;./gnubg -w if you installed it in the global (top-level) Applications folder. Please note the required extra "-w" argument after "./gnubg" You will then be able to launch GNU Backgammon for MacOS X by merely selecting the "gnubg" item in X11's Applications menu.