GNUChess 6 for Android.

I have compiled GNUChess 6 (version 6.0.2) for Android. This is a binary without GUI. To my knowledge there are two apps in the market that can provide a GUI for it: Chess for Android (by Aart Bik, available from the market) or DroidFish Chess (by Peter Osterlund) (also available in the market). Both are available at no cost (without ads), moreover DroidFish Chess is open source (GPLv3).

To Install

Download Gnuchess for Android: [Download]
Install Chess for Android or DroidFish Chess from the market.

The method to import the engine depends on the app.

For Chess for Android

Put the gnuchess file downloaded previously somewhere in the Android device, for example in the Download folder of the sdcard. It should be here automatically if you download it from the Android device.

  1. Launch Chess for android.
  2. Long press on a black area of the screen -> UCI and XBoard -> Install Engine from SD -> Navigate to the previous folder and select the file downloaded previously.
  3. Long press on a black aera of the screen -> UCI and XBoard -> Import Engine -> select the Gnuchess file -> UCI -> Set the options as you want (or just leave the default) -> Done
    Warning: Do not select XBoard in the step above; the engine can misbehave or freeze.

For detailed instructions see the Chess for Android manual: http://www.aartbik.com/MISC/amenu.html

For DroidFish Chess

Put the gnuchess in the following directory /mnt/sdcard/DroidFish/uci.

In DroidFish, select Gnuchess by pressing on Menu -> More -> Manage Chess Engines -> Select Engine -> Select Gnuchess

Note on opening books

Both Chess for Android and DroidFish have their own opening books that they use independently of the engine. The latest chess for android has an option to disable its opening book. This gnuchess binary has been configured to use /sdcard/gnuchess/book.bin has its own opening book, if found.

Redistribution

Gnuchess is copyrighted by the Free Software Foundation (http://fsf.org/) under the GPLv3 or later (http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html). Respect it if you redistribute Gnuchess for Android.

Build instruction

This section is only needed if you want to recreate the gnuchess binary. I have used Archlinux (this should work on any version of GNU/Linux).

  1. Download  the GNU Linux release for ARM of Sourcery CodeBench Lite from here (the precise file I have used is arm-2011.03-41-arm-none-linux-gnueabi-i686-pc-linux-gnu.tar.bz2)
  2. Extra the previous file in /opt/sourcery-codebench (for example).
  3. Download the gnuchess source: ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/chess/gnuchess-6.0.2.tar.gz (or here: gnuchess-6.0.2.tar.gz).
  4. Download my build script and patch: gnuchess-android-build.sh and gnuchess.patch
  5. Adjust the paths at the top of the build script and run it.

Disclaimer

This file is distributed without any garantee of any kind. I can't guarantee that it will work for you.

Last updated: 8 November 2012.