Android UCI engine update: Pawny 1.0.JA

I remember an old build of Pawny was available for Android before this new build compiled by Jim Ablett. If my memory is good, the previous one was compiled by Jim too, way long ago but i remember that Pawny didn't work for me under Chess for Android, while it played without problem using Fischer clocks under Droidfish.

As complementary information joint to the release, JA states similar observations. So, Droidfish is fine again to run Pawny but Chess for Android, despite its recent 5.0.5 version which now supports Fischer clocks, will still require a trick to run Pawny.

That trick needs Polyglot to be renamed as Pawny and installed as XB engine under Chess for Android. To complete the full setup, we need the provided config file with ini extension, containing the necessary info for Polygot to find and drive the real Pawny engine which must be also installed like an engine under Chess for Android. You never need to import the real engine but the renamed Polyglot binary which is designed to represent it.

The ini file SHOULD NOT BE RENAMED according to JA. The filename Pawny.ini is hard coded into Polyglot binary. If ini renamed, the engine stops working with error on second move.

I will check whether it's possible to just copy the real engine into eng folder of CfA. In any case, installing it is safe as described above.

You see how simple is the procedure! If you are familiar with the method to run UCI engines with Winboard on a PC, you can proceed exactly the same way on Android.

I didn't yet test how good Pawny works that way. You can download all necessary files to give a try: HERE