This is the README file for
BBBB U U GGGGG SSSSS X X
B B U U G S X X
BBBB U U G GGG SSSSS X
B B U U G G S X X
BBBB UUU GGGGG SSSSS X X
1) Author & Copyright
bugsx was written by
(C) Copyright 1995-1997 Robert Gasch (Robert_Gasch@peoplesoft.com)
http://www.peoplesoft.com/peoplepages/g/robert_gasch/index.htm
(C) Copyright 1990-1997 Joshua R. Smith (jrs@media.mit.edu)
http://physics.www.media.mit.edu/~jrs
is copyright by the author(s). I (Robert_Gasch@peoplesoft.com) maintain
the X11 port and Joshua maintains any other ports. See section 4
and 17 for more info.
2) Distribution Policy
Permission to use, copy, modify and distribute this software for
any purpose and without fee is hereby granted, provided that this
copyright notice appear in all copies as well as supporting
documentation. All work developed as a consequence of the use of
this program should duly acknowledge such use.
See the GNU General Public Licence for more information.
What does this mean?
This means that you can pretty much do with it what you want as
long as you don't charge substantially more than the distribution
costs for it (of course you have to make the source available).
This makes software distributions like Walnut Creek or Infomagic
perfectly acceptable.
It does NOT matter wether you use it at home or in a comercial
environment.
If you want to include it in a major commercial distribution you
need my permission to do so.
3) Guarantees
bugsx should work all right *but*
No representations are made about the suitability of this software
for any purpose. This software is provided "as is" without express
or implied warranty.
4) What is bugsx?
bugsx runs under MIT's X11 window system. It was written under
UNIX but should be easily portable. It is a program which draws
the biomorphs based on parametric plots of Fourier sine and cosine
series and let's you play with them using the genetic algorithm.
The original version which ran under Suntools and XViews was
written by Joshua R. Smith sometime 1990. See the 'credits'
section for more details.
For more information about the theoretic backgrounds of
bugsx consult Joshua R. Smith's paper distributed with this
program in gzip'ed postscript format as bugs.ps.gz. You have
to uncompress this file with 'gunzip' before you can print it.
Gunzip should be available at an archive near you.
The paper can also be gotten from:
http://physics.www.media.mit.edu/~jrs/biomorphs.ps
I (Robert_Gasch@peoplesoft.com) maintain the X11 port and
Joshua (jrs@media.mit.edu) maintains any other ports.
See section 4, and 17 for more info.
5) Version Number
The current version number is 1.08
6) Where can I get Bugsx from?
Bugsx can be gotten from the following FTP sites:
media.mit.edu (/physics/dist/bugs)
ftp.x.org (/contrib/applications)
7) What if you change the program?
please mail me (Robert_Gasch@peoplesoft.com) the changes(!) as I'd like to
act as the central source for bugsx. This will also enable me to
include your changes in a future release. If your changes are
generic, I'll pass the changes on so that other versions of BUGS
can also benefit from your input.
8) Systems currently supported
Any resonable UNIX-type system running X11 should be able to
compile and run bugsx. I've tested it on the following
systems:
Linux
AIX
9) How do I get started?
This section assumes that you have all the necessary files. (The
file "Manifest" contains a list of distributed files.)
a) Customize the Imakefile to suit your system setup. On most systems
this should work OK as it is.
b) Make the Makefile by typing
xmkmf
If your system does not support generating makefiles from
Imakefiles use "Makefile.std" as a template to build your
own.
c) If your X headers do not define APP_DEFAULTS_DIR and your default
X Resource file is not
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/
edit bugsx.h and modify the definition for APP_DEFAULTS_DIR. On
most systems things should be OK the way they are, but this gives
you the possibility to customize this.
d) Once you have a valid Makefile (see step a&b) build bugsx by typing
make
Once you have created the executable, you're ready to go. The
executable will be created in the directory in which the source
for bugsx resides.
10) Brief users guide
You can get a list of supported options by typing one of the
following:
bugsx -?
bugsx -help
bugsx help
Once you start bugsx, you get the main window containing
the menu options at the top and the evenly distributed drawing
windows below the menus.
The Menus are:
Initialize - Initializes the gene pool
Breed - Breed the selected organisms.
Quit - exits bugsx
Once you have chosen "Initialize" and the first set of drawings
is shown, you can select the ones you wish to be included in
the cross-breeding by clicking (with the left button) on a
drawing window. The selected organisms will be drawn inverse.
Clicking on Breed will cross breed the selected organisms using
the genetic algorithm. If you have not selected at least two
organisms, a set of at least two will be randomly chosen and
used for the breeding.
The following keys can be used to control bugsx:
q - quit bugsx
i - initialize population
b - breed
Interesting/useful sample settings:
bugsx -interval 3 -number 4 -batch -nobreed -segments 500
bugsx -interval 3 -batch -showbreed
bugsx -seed 10
10) Command line parameters
bugsx accepts the following parameters as command line options:
+rv reverse video (use to override xrdb entry)
+synchronous syncronous mode (use to override xrdb entry)
-? help
-background <arg> backgound color
-batch run program in batch mode
-bg <arg> same as -background
-bordercolor <arg> border color
-borderwidth <arg> border width
-cycle <arg> re-initialize population after n batch turns
-display display
-extend_print show extended reproduction info while running
-fg <arg> same as -forground
-font <arg> font
-foreground <arg> forground color (also file system bar color)
-geometry <arg> geometry
-help help
-iconic iconic
-interval <arg> interval used per turn
-mb show menu border
-name <arg> run bugsx under this name
-nobreed do not breed when running in batch mode
-number <arg> number of biomorphs to draw (must be a square #)
-printpop print the population when breeding
-rv reverse video
-seed <arg> use this seed for random number generator
-segments <arg> use this many segments to draw an organism
-showbreed show breeding subpopulation when in batch mode
-showgenes show a graphic representation of the genes
-synchronous synchronous mode
-v verbose
-xrm make no entry in resrouce database
help help
11) XResources
bugsx recognizes the following XResources. Usually bugsx will search
for resources under the program name but you can override this with
the -name flag. If you do not wish to use a specific application
defaults file, you can execute xrdb -merge to merge your resource
specifications into the XResource database.
bugsx first checks in the directory pointed at by the environment
variable XAPPLRESDIR. If this doesn't yield any resource definitions
it checks the APP_DEFAULTS_DIR. This is defined in your headers or
in bugsx.h. If you want to change this you'll have to recompile bugsx.
background universal backgound color
batch run program in batch mode
batchbreed do not breed when running in bactch mode
borderColor border color
borderWidth border width
cycle re-initialize population after n batch turns
display display
extend_print show extended reproduction info while running
font font
foreground universal foreground color
help show help
mainWin.geometry main window geometry
iconic start program in iconic mode
interval interval used per turn
minimize minimize window size
menuborder draw menu borders
name run bugsxunder this name
number number of biomorphs to draw (must be a square #)
printpop print the population when breeding
reverseVideo reverse video
seed use this seed for random number generator
segments use this many segments to draw an organism
showbreed show breeding subpopulation when in batch mode
showgenes show a graphic representation of the genes
synchronous syncronous mode
verbose verbose mode
12) Troubleshooting
Problem: Compile failes with a problem with the catlist() function
definition.
Solution: In terms of portability this is the most fragile part
of bugsx. I've done my best to make this portable, but
there may be systems whose compiler simply throws up once
he sees catlist. If you do have problems with catlist(),
there are a number of things you can try:
1) Try using another compiler (gcc generally accepts the
catlist() function as-is).
2) Undef/Define __STDC__ in your compiler directives. Most
compilers do this via the -U flag.
If these fail, you'll have to adapt catlist() for your
machine. In that case, accept my apologies for the problems
and please send me a mail telling me what you did so that I
can integrate your fix into the sources, sparing others of
this misery.
Problem: Bugsx won't find my resource definitions.
Solution: Bugsx handles resources as follows:
a) bugsx checks in the directory pointed at by the environment
variable XAPPLRESDIR. If this doesn't yield any resource
definitions we go to step b. If bugsx ignores your personal
resrource definitions, make sure you have XAPPLRESDIR
set to the proper value and exorted.
b) bugsx checks the APP_DEFAULTS_DIR. This is defined in your
headers or in bugsx.h. If you want to change this you'll
have to recompile bugsx.
The reasoning behind this approach is to allow user preferences
to take preference over the system preferences.
Problem: Bugsx seems to start OK but I don't get the window.
Solution: Check if your DISPLAY variable is set correctly (you
can always use the -v falg to see if it does start up
correctly).
13) I've found a bug. What now?
Read section 11 (Troubeshooting) to see if it falls under one of
the problems listed there. If not either fix it yourself or mail
me. If my time allows it, I'll try to fix things.
14) I've come up with a feature which I think would be useful.
Here again you can do 2 things:
1) Implement it yourself. If you do this then
reread section 5 (What if you change the program?)
to get an idea what I would like you to do with the
result.
2) Mail me. I'll consider it and if I agree with you
will implement it whenever I find time.
15) I would like to receive future releases of bugsx.
Send me mail telling me that. Somewhere in the mail *list*
the email address you want to receive future releases at.
16) I'm extatic about this wonderful program. How can I make the author happy?
If you really feel this way, how about a short mail message
telling me that you are happy about using bugsx. If you're
really, really extatic, send me a postcard to this address:
Steneveld 26
6715 HB Ede
Holland
17) I hate this worthless program. It ruins my day.
Don't use it. Don't mail me!
18) Credits
Much (maybe even most) of this program is based on the program
BUGS, written by Joshua R. Smith sometime 1990. I've rewritten
the code to run under XWindows, fixed some minor things and
added some options (both user interface wise as well as in the
breeding/mutation possiblities) here and there to make it more
fun to play with bugsx, but the basic engine is adapted from
the original BUGS version. If you are interested in other
BUGS ports, mail Joshua (jrs@media.mit.edu) about this or visit
his web page at:
http://physics.www.media.mit.edu/~jrs/biomorphs.ps
