Message from discussion
Scid 3.6.4 released (chess database)
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2007 16:43:26 +0000
From: "Dave (from the UK)" <see-my-signat...@southminster-branch-line.org.uk>
Reply-To: feb-2...@althorne.org
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Subject: Re: Scid 3.6.4 released (chess database)
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Thomas T. Veldhouse wrote:
>>He is also sharing the work of others, without acknowledging them.
>>
>>
>
>
> Huh? Yes he is!
>
> "Scid is a chess database application (original version available at
> http://scid.sourceforge.net). As Scid's author has been unreachable for a very
> long time, I decided to continue his work. So the version of Scid found here
> is not a fork of the original project but a continuation of it. "
>
> Further, he links to the license and source code. What more can you ask?
This is a little more complex than it appears. READ ON ....
I'm NOT concerned about what he has taken from Scid (that is allowed
under the GPL), but what he claims to have done, but has not. In
particular, what code he took of mine, without acknowledgment.
First, you need to know a bit of the background. I started ChessDB,
http://chessdb.sourceforge.net/
as a continuation/fork (you use what ever term you want), some time
before Scid-pg existed. After I started, Pascal offered some code, that
I was intending to add, but did not as it was too buggy - also I doubted
the worth of it in a database. Whatever the reasons, so we parted.
He then claims to have started his Scid-pg/Scid independant of ChessDB.
He claims my code is a fork, but his is not.
I's no big deal we parted. But code which was in ChessDB, either written
by myself, or others, has been copied with no acknowledgment. In fact,
not only no acknowledgment, but he denied it. Once proof of this
surfaced, he stopped posting to the Scid mailing list.
Two people have sent me emails suggesting that some of what he claims to
have written may have been written by Shane, but is not on the Scid web
site. which Pascal now passes off has his own. Whether that is true or
not I don't know, but there are parts which I know for 100% certain
Pascal never wrote - AND CAN PROVE IT. (I wrote some myself, which is
how I know)
The plagerist said on the Scid mailing list:
**** From Pascal "The Plagiarist" Georges******
So I will switch naming of my releases from scid-pg to scid as I have
the right to. As chessDB is a fork of Scid (2004), and until anybody
else is better placed than me to continue Scid, I request things to be
strictly separated : given Kirkby's attitude, I hope he'll be honest
enough to continue his fork in a strict separated way than mine : I deny
him the right to use my own code, as I'll never use his own code (I
never heard of a forking project whose that was in conflict with the
mainline take code from the original).
***********************************************
So me (David Kirkby) can't use "his" code (based on the GPL'ed Scid), as
denies me the right me to do so. Yet Scid was GPL'ed, so he can't "deny
me the right". (That is one of the main conditions of the GPL).
But his claim not to use code from ChessDB is a blatant lie. There is
actually quite a lot of it.) You do not even need to look at the source
code to see this, as some of the startup messages are identical,
(complete with my spelling error), but he changed "ChessDB" to "Scid".
1) The very first release of ChessDB, version 3.6.2 in December 2007,
printed when it started up:
"Shane is NOT reponsible for bugs in ChessDB"
Pascal's Scid/Scid-pg, which supposedly uses no code from ChessDB, says
"Shane is NOT reponsible for bugs in Scid"
Put one above the other:
"Shane is NOT reponsible for bugs in ChessDB"
"Shane is NOT reponsible for bugs in Scid"
Do they look similar? Do you notice the spelling error? He copied
tcl/end.tcl, with changes I had made, then simply changed "ChessDB" to
"Scid".
I changed Scid to ChessDB, so Shane is not responsible for bugs I might
create. The distinction is clear. With Pascal's, it is very "mudddy"
indeed, with him saying Shane is not responsible for bugs in Scid.
My version is in the CVS on Sourceforge some weeks before the first
version of Scid-pg
http://chessdb.cvs.sourceforge.net/chessdb/chessdb/tcl/end.tcl?view=log&pathrev=Version_3_6_4---18th-December-2006
2) Look at his ChangeLog.old. That is *exactly* the same as ChangeLog in
ChessDB.
http://chessdb.cvs.sourceforge.net/chessdb/chessdb/ChangeLog?view=log&pathrev=Version_3_6_4---18th-December-2006
He simply renamed my file. I don't object to this as such, but do when
he denies it. He was obviously unaware I had written that. No such file
with that name exists in Shane's code.
3) Scid-pg (in at least releases 1 to about 15). when it starts prints:
"Also look at the online tutorial http://scid.sourceforge.net/tutorial/
will always have the very latest "
Clearly, with no way to update the Scid web site (the plagiarist was
denied the request by Sourceforge), there was no way he could have had
the very latest documentation at http://scid.sourceforge.net/tutorial/
So why did he put that in his code? It is not in Shane's source code
(check yourself if you want).
The truth is that he simply copied the line from ChessDB, changing
"ChessDB" to "Scid".
4) All my changes connected with removing compiler warnings form the C++
and header files were copied, with no acknowledgment.
5) The file tcl/source/check.wav is copied. Funny how its the same file.
6) Other changes I made, based on code on the web at the unofficial Scid
web site:
http://scid.skjoldebrand.org/fileadmin/martoni_upload/scid/scid-3.6b1.tar.bz2
are included, with no acknowledgement. In fact, I don't think he even
knew there were there - despite the fact they were documented in my code.
A list of my changes can be found at
http://chessdb.sourceforge.net/Scid/index.php.en
7) The code that annotates blunders first appeared in ChessDB. I did not
write it (it was written by Jermeny White for ChessDB, and said ChessDB
at the top). Pascal does not mention this.
8) In textbuf.h, I added this:
> // Changed ch to int, to avoid compiler warnings.
> void ClearTranslation (int ch) { Translation[ch] = NULL; }
which appears too, in "his" code.
9) In src/position.cpp, there are changes I made (casts). A diff from
the Scid code shows they were copied from my ChessDB, not direclty from
Shane's Scid as he claims.
< scid_Init();
---
> chessdb_Init();
2587,2592c2587,2592
< pieceFromByte ['K'] = WK; pieceFromByte ['k'] = BK;
< pieceFromByte ['Q'] = WQ; pieceFromByte ['q'] = BQ;
< pieceFromByte ['R'] = WR; pieceFromByte ['r'] = BR;
< pieceFromByte ['B'] = WB; pieceFromByte ['b'] = BB;
< pieceFromByte ['N'] = WN; pieceFromByte ['n'] = BN;
< pieceFromByte ['P'] = WP; pieceFromByte ['p'] = BP;
---
> pieceFromByte [(int) 'K'] = WK; pieceFromByte [(int) 'k'] = BK;
> pieceFromByte [(int) 'Q'] = WQ; pieceFromByte [(int) 'q'] = BQ;
> pieceFromByte [(int) 'R'] = WR; pieceFromByte [(int) 'r'] = BR;
> pieceFromByte [(int) 'B'] = WB; pieceFromByte [(int) 'b'] = BB;
> pieceFromByte [(int) 'N'] = WN; pieceFromByte [(int) 'n'] = BN;
> pieceFromByte [(int) 'P'] = WP; pieceFromByte [(int) 'p'] = BP;
2800,2805c2800,2805
< pieceFromByte ['K'] = WK; pieceFromByte ['k'] = BK;
< pieceFromByte ['Q'] = WQ; pieceFromByte ['q'] = BQ;
< pieceFromByte ['R'] = WR; pieceFromByte ['r'] = BR;
< pieceFromByte ['B'] = WB; pieceFromByte ['b'] = BB;
< pieceFromByte ['N'] = WN; pieceFromByte ['n'] = BN;
< pieceFromByte ['P'] = WP; pieceFromByte ['p'] = BP;
---
> pieceFromByte [(int) 'K'] = WK; pieceFromByte [(int) 'k'] = BK;
> pieceFromByte [(int) 'Q'] = WQ; pieceFromByte [(int) 'q'] = BQ;
> pieceFromByte [(int) 'R'] = WR; pieceFromByte [(int) 'r'] = BR;
> pieceFromByte [(int) 'B'] = WB; pieceFromByte [(int) 'b'] = BB;
> pieceFromByte [(int) 'N'] = WN; pieceFromByte [(int) 'n'] = BN;
> pieceFromByte [(int) 'P'] = WP; pieceFromByte [(int) 'p'] = BP;
I could go on, but there is no point.
He is clearly a liar. He has taken code from ChessDB. Two people have
said he may have got code from Shane which he passes off as his own.
Several feel he should not be ussing the name "Scid", but should use
another name (like his original Scid-pg), so the difference between what
Shane wrote and what Pascal wrote is clear.
If I were Shane, I would not be happy about it. Several on the Scid
mailing list feel likewise.
IMHO, he shold
A) Acknowledge where much of his code comes from.
B) Use a name other than Scid.
All the best,
Dr. David Kirkby.
--
Dave (from the UK)
Please note my email address changes periodically to avoid spam.
It is always of the form: month-y...@althorne.org
Hitting reply will work for a few months only - later set it manually.
http://chessdb.sourceforge.net/ - a Free open-source Chess Database
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