MAKEBEAROFF(6)							   Games Manual 						    MAKEBEAROFF(6)

NAME

       makebearoff - generate a GNU Backgammon bearoff database

SYNOPSIS

       makebearoff [-HCcgnvh] -f filename [-t PxC] [-o P] [-s cache-size] [-O filename]

DESCRIPTION

       makebearoff generates GNU Backgammon bearoff databases, which are used to improve play in the endgame.  It can generate either two-sided
       (exact) databases that tell precisely the chance of winning or one-sided (approximate) databases that provide a variety of probabilities
       looking at each side independently.

       Bearoff databases can get quite large and can take a significant amount of time to generate for large numbers of chequers and/or points.

OPTIONS

       -f filename, --outfile filename
	      Write the bearoff database to filename.  This option must be given.

       -t PxC, --two-sided PxC
	      Generate a two-sided bearoff database for P points and C chequers for each player.  Be warned that the size of the database grows
	      rapidly with larger numbers of points and chequers.

       -o P, --one-sided P
	      Generate a one-sided bearoff database for P points.  One-sided bearoff databases are always generated for up to fifteen chequers.

       -s N, --xhash-size N
	      Use a memory cache of size N while building the database.  If the cache is smaller than the database size, database generation will
	      be slower due to disk writes.

       -O filename, --old-bearoff filename
	      Reuse an already generated bearoff database.  Any needed data already in this database will just be copied without regenerating it.

       -H, --no-header
	      Do not write the normal bearoff database header.

       -C, --no-cubeful
	      Do not calculate cubeful equities for two-sided databases.

       -c, --no-compress
	      Do not compress one-sided databases.

       -g, --no-gammons
	      Do not include gammon distributions in one-sided databases.

       -n, --normal-dist
	      Rather than storing exact probabilities, approximate probabilities in a one-sided database with a normal distribution.

       -v, --version
	      Show version information and exit.

       -h, --help
	      Display usage and exit.

EXAMPLES

       To generate a two-sided database for up to eight chequers on six points:

	   makebearoff -t 6x8 -f gnubg_ts.bd

       Note that this database is 72MB in size.  To generate a one-sided database for up to fifteen chequers on ten points:

	   makebearoff -o 10 -f gnubg_os.bd

       Note that this database is 118MB in size.

SEE ALSO

       gnubg(6), bearoffdump(6)

AUTHORS

       Joseph Heled, Oystein Johansen, Jorn Thyssen, and Gary Wong, with the assistance of many others <bug-gnubg@gnu.org>.

       This manual page was written by Russ Allbery <rra@debian.org>, for the Debian GNU/Linux system (but may be used by others).  It may be
       redistributed and/or modified under the terms of version 2 of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation
       (the same license as GNU Backgammon).

								    2006-01-15							    MAKEBEAROFF(6)