Downloads, installation, acknowledgements and feedback

Downloads and installation

The program is available as a free download. It is written in Python and Tkinter and distributed under the GNU General Public License. This means that you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GPL. So, if you like it you can give a copy to your friends.

Because it is written in Python and Tkinter it should run on many platforms. So far it has been tested on XP, Macs and Linux. The program is stored as Python source code in a single 450KB file which can be downloaded from the link given below. Python has been included on all Linux distributions I've used (Except Ubuntu, see below), but those running Microsoft systems, such as XP, will need to install the latest version of Python before they can run Sourkoban. So, Microsoft users, if you haven't already done so, please obtain and install the latest version of Python from Python.org.

Please download Sourkoban.pyw (all platforms). For most of the browsers I've tried, a right mouse click on this link brings up an appropriate save option. A left mouse click can also be used. If this results in a page of source code in your browser, it has loaded the Python code. In this case, save the page. Either way, save to a text file named Sourkoban.pyw. I am reliably informed, though why it should be so is a mystery to me, that on XP systems it may be necessary to save the page as a file of type text (e.g. as Sourkoban-pyw.txt) and then rename it to Sourkoban.pyw

On XP, no installation is required - simply save the file to your desktop where it should appear as an icon which includes the Python logo:

(But only if you've installed Python).

Double clicking will start the program.

On Linux, save the file in a convenient directory. You can run the program from that directory by typing:

"python Sourkoban.pyw &"

But that may be considered the old fashioned way. To run the program from a Linux GUI such as KDE you need to make Python the default program for opening Sourkoban.pyw (On Microsoft this is done automatically by naming the file *.pyw). To do this from KDE I download the file to the Desktop; right click on the file icon; drag down to "Open With"; select "Other"; and type "python" into the text box; before closing the window I also click on "Remember file association for this file type" so that python remains the default application for opening this file (and other files named *.pyw). Now I can run the program by simply clicking on the file icon.

Those wishing to use my programs on Ubuntu will need to install python-tk using the Adept Package Manager as it is not installed by default.

(eg type "sudo aptitude get python-tk").

Acknowledgements

I thank David Skinner and Aymeric du Peloux for making their ingenious maps available. I am also very grateful to George Petrov for allowing me to use solutions from his web site. I downloaded map sets from the sites of: Scott Lindhurst and Erim Sever. Both of these sites have lots of useful additional Sokoban information.

In writing Sourkoban I made extensive use of the following online documentation: Lots from Python.org plus Tkinter insights from John Shipman, Stephen Ferg and Fredrik Lundh. At one point I got stuck and received help from members of the Daniweb developers forum. Thanks.

Feedback

Feedback, of any kind (or unkind), is welcome.

This is my third Python program. The first is the ever popular Sudoku playing game SourGumdrop, and the second is Kakuro playing game SourGumdropK. If you have any suggestions for additions or improvements, please let me know. And, of course, there are bugs in any program. So please help to improve it.

Please send any comments about the program or the web pages to

rodg (the usual curly AT symbol) sourgumdrop DOT org DOT uk