no proper UCI implementation

[tissatussa]

i just discovered your Juliette chess engine .. i managed to compile it and it seems a valid binary is created, but then it fails in CuteChess.

at first i let it play a 7m+3s game :

<4ku v4.0(149): readyok
>Juliette(148): ucinewgame
>Juliette(148): position startpos
>4ku v4.0(149): ucinewgame
>4ku v4.0(149): position startpos
>Juliette(148): isready
<Juliette(148): readyok
>Juliette(148): go wtime 423000 btime 423000 winc 3000 binc 3000
<Juliette(148): bestmove d2d4
>4ku v4.0(149): position startpos moves d2d4
>4ku v4.0(149): isready
<4ku v4.0(149): readyok
>4ku v4.0(149): go wtime 409231 btime 423000 winc 3000 binc 3000
<4ku v4.0(149): info depth 1 score cp 18 time 0 nodes 20 pv g8f6
<4ku v4.0(149): info depth 2 score cp 8 time 0 nodes 91 pv g8f6 b1c3
[...]
<4ku v4.0(149): info depth 23 score cp -30 time 12047 nodes 12539888 nps 1040913 pv d7d5
<4ku v4.0(149): info depth 24 score cp -41 time 19509 nodes 20353239 nps 1043274 pv d7d5
<4ku v4.0(149): bestmove d7d5
>Juliette(148): position startpos moves d2d4 d7d5
>Juliette(148): isready
<Juliette(148): juliette:: board initialization failed!
<Juliette(148): readyok
>Juliette(148): go wtime 409231 btime 406491 winc 3000 binc 3000
<Juliette(148): juliette:: a start position must be specified.

Juliette knows the UCI protocol but it can't interpret position startpos moves d2d4 d7d5 and quits by a start position must be specified ..

then i let it play a game with many hours thinking time, just to see what happens :

<4ku v4.0(144): readyok
>Juliette(143): ucinewgame
>Juliette(143): position startpos
>4ku v4.0(144): ucinewgame
>4ku v4.0(144): position startpos
>Juliette(143): isready
<Juliette(143): readyok
>Juliette(143): go wtime 423000 btime 423000 winc 3000 binc 3000
<Juliette(143): bestmove g1f3
>4ku v4.0(144): position startpos moves g1f3
>4ku v4.0(144): isready
<4ku v4.0(144): readyok
>4ku v4.0(144): go wtime 409222 btime 423000 winc 3000 binc 3000
<4ku v4.0(144): info depth 1 score cp -29 upperbound time 0 nodes 20
<4ku v4.0(144): info depth 1 score cp -29 time 1 nodes 40 nps 40000 pv b8c6
[...]
<4ku v4.0(144): info depth 22 score cp -27 time 8395 nodes 8957271 nps 1066976 pv d7d5 d2d4 g8f6 e2e3 e7e6 c2c4 c7c5 c4d5 e6d5 f1b5
<4ku v4.0(144): info depth 23 score cp -38 time 14169 nodes 15184113 nps 1071643 pv d7d5 d2d4 g8f6 c2c4 d5c4
<4ku v4.0(144): bestmove d7d5
>Juliette(143): position startpos moves g1f3 d7d5
>Juliette(143): isready
<Juliette(143): juliette:: board initialization failed!
<Juliette(143): readyok
>Juliette(143): go wtime 409222 btime 411832 winc 3000 binc 3000
<Juliette(143): juliette:: a start position must be specified.

Juliette doesn't output a bestmove !?

it's a pitty Juliette can't play in CuteChess .. it seems a minor bug, maybe you didn't mention those errors in e.g. CuteChess ..

btw.

• in the source code i see you implemented some UCI options by setoption, but they're not visible in the CuteChess option pane !? I guess this is also easy to repair ..
• i had to change the code just a little to get a valid bestmove output : you did a ':' after bestmove but CuteChess (and other chess software) will fail such command bestmove: [move].
• you could add the 'uci' label on your GitHub page.

[ i'm on Xubuntu 22.04 ]