https://www.robocoderepository.com
There is a web filtering tool used by some businesses known as WebSense, and the Robocode Repository has made the list of filtered sites. This means that anyone running battles from their work machines (e.g. overnight, weekends) will not be able run battles for bots who's Participant entries use the repository (if the company uses WebSense), at least not without some workaround like copying your home computer's robots directory to disk and transferring it periodically. If you see several new bot entries and some seem to be getting battles run more frequently than others, this may be the reason. Another may be that the repository is simple down, which likewise makes new entries unavailable. -- Martin Alan Pedersen
Just a little tidbit: About a year ago, I was introduced to Robocode, so I naturally found the Repository and the Wiki. Since I used the Internet mainly from school, which had WebSense, I accessed those two places from school frequently, until of course, WebSense "discovered" the Repository and added it to its "games" pages. However, the RoboWiki does work, which is much more helpful. -- Kinsen
Seriously. The repository is down more often than not. Like now, and I have an update to Ali that I'm eager to get out. We must replace the repository somehow. -- PEZ
I think I've killed the repository twice today. I'm trying to re-set up RR@home and I get part way through downloading the necessary bots and then the site goes inaccessible. Could anyone zip up the current bots? The package on the Starting With page is pretty outdated. -- Alcatraz
If there's any interest (say, four or five active robocoders), I'd consider registering roborumblerepository or some such domain and hosting the bots. It'd take a bit to rough out the security and what not but it might be better than waiting for the current repository. I'm imagining http uploads versus ftp, standard username/pass, and handling bot jars only. Let me know what you think. --Corbos
I'm certainly willing to contribute a bit financially. I have lots of space and bandwidth on dijitari.com, but they have some stuff in their user agreement about not using the domain as a file repository. I don't have as much time to contribute to creating a web interface / back end, as I'm working full-time over the summer, but I would certainly be willing to at least lend a hand in that area, too. I'm pretty experienced with Perl and SQL, moderately experienced with PHP (and it's not so hard, anyway), and of course, Java. =) The community is already supporting this wiki and the RoboRumble server, so I see no reason that we shouldn't complete the circle and host the bots, too. -- Voidious
While I can not contribute financialy, I am profiecent at coding PHP/MySQL? to assist with the backend of this new site. --UnderDark
The repository seems to be up but I can't get to any of the bot categories, such as the advanced targeting--it says that it is out of heap space, and it might be that there are too many robots for it to handle. -- Kinsen
I can contribute somehow, hopefully. -- Alcatraz
20060615 - A quick note to let everyone know I didn't forget about the repository solution. I've just decided to show some respect to my elders and let Pulsar tackle it since it was already on his mind. If anyone is dying to upload a bot, please let me know and I can host it on my domain. --Corbos
I would like to redesign and redo the roborumble server and client too but that is for later. I'll (hopefully) post a page or two for my ideas about roborumble to start a discussion later this summer. While my robot coding inspiration has been gone for some time, I know it will come back and meanwhile perhaps I could have a shot at one or two of the ideas I have about roborumble (mainly technical, the concept is fine as it is I think).
Now that was a bit off-topic. Back on topic: how do we migrate away from the robocode repository? There are a lot of robots there that we would like to keep around! Any thoughts? Could somone organize this effort by collecting all the appropiate robots and versions (jars)? I'll post more things for discussion and feedback when I have more. Preferably for easy import along with packagename, country etc.
Another question: anyone have a good name? The current project name i "Robocode Storage", but that does not feel "sexy" enough. "Robocode Cave", "Robocode Outlet", "Robocode Shop", or just robot something instead of robocode? Preferably it would have the com-domain available too. Maybe a bit more generic as it could evolve into something more (news etc).
I started it out using ruby-on-rails for the technically inclined. After 5min trying it out programming in java (using Trails which is not finshed, version 0.9 currently, but anyway) it was just to much effort to do so many simple things even when using Trails. Maybe I will change it into something java later on, depending on future needs and combined benefits for the roborumble.
-- Pulsar
Not a day too early. How about bots.robowiki.net? Migration could be about taking all the bots in the RoboRumble and then all repository bots we can spider off of the wiki. As each author signs on he/she "grabs" the bots that are of his/her creation. Maybe if this new repository could recognize that there could be several authors behind one bot? If you haven't traveled too far along the ruby rails then maybe we could consider something like Joomla (https://www.joomla.org) which could set us up with a framework for blogs/news and what have we. It could even frame the robowiki itself in for all I know. -- PEZ
Joomla seems very nice, not sure how to integrate it with/use as a robot repository though? Several authors for one bot sounds like a good idea! -- Pulsar
Well, people have made music/art and other kinds of repositories using joomla. I thought maybe some of those application might be easy to adapt. But Joomla is very huge and complex and unless one finds a plugin that is almost exactly what we want it is too much work figuring joomla out. Better build something mean and lean. -- PEZ
I'm always impressed by your humility, Corbos. Anyway, it's starting to seem that we really need a solution to this problem asap, as the repository is still down after quite a few days now. Pulsar, are you still working on the solution code-wise? As far as hosting the site and the bots... unless robowiki.net or fervir.com (RR server) have the space and bandwidth, we still need to find a host.
My web host for dijitari.com ([Globat]) is great, but they have a stipulation in their user agreement about using the site as a file repository (like 50% or more of downloads being binary files), which is kinda wack. As far as I can tell, the [Site5 agreement] doesn't have any such stipulation. I think PEZ uses them for this site. If we do need to collaborate on a new domain and web host, they seem like a decent option. I would be willing to split costs on the domain purchase and hosting, if needed. -- Voidious
Yes I'm still working on it, though Im just back from Germany, Berlin watching a world cup game :). I will have more time in a week or two it seems. Honestly I've just put in a few hours to experiment with it so far. Though it won't need much more than that. At first at least, I can host it. Probably ok for a longer time as well. But maybe we would like to move it to some "real" hosting later on, we will see. Right now the roborumble, and also this new repository, would run on a server I have at home. The connection is 100/10mbit (download/upload) so that will probably be fine. I'll hand out some admin rights too of course so we are not dependant on just me. We need to try it out for a few days first too I guess. Great news that the old repository is up again at least! Maybe a good time to download bots that we can upload to the new one later on! -- Pulsar
I don't know how much i'll be able to contribute (I know woefully little about this sort of thing), but I agree that the repository needs to be replaced. It's become just a bit too unreliable. --wcsv
So now I have some hours here and there to spend on this, but then my monitor stops working of course... still some warranty left though so a replacement should be on its way really soon. I'll put up something really basic to test first and most likely at a temporary location and then I'll spice it up. --Pulsar
I'm back, and I own a webhosting company. Need hosting? Why not get it for free. I don't do domain registration though, but hostway.com does it for $7/year. --AaronKrill
I'm not completely sure why the consciouness check would not work correctly, but I was aware of one other instance where it broke, too. I will check it out sometime; but, for now, I think if you edit the page again you will get a new check that will work. Let me know if you get repeated failures ever. -- Voidious
Perhaps we should just get started on coding up the repository replacement. If neither robowiki.net nor rumble.fervir.com have the space/bandwidth to support it, we could surely chip in and get a host reasonably cheap. Pulsar, are you around? Corbos, what would be your language of choice if we were to start a new solution? I'm comfortable with Perl, PHP, JSP, and SQL, and would be willing to learn whatever else if you wanted to collaborate on the coding. -- Voidious
I'm around, some time problems as usual, but it has been started. FNL and I have had some discussions about how to integrate it with the robocode client and bouncing some ideas etc. Robocode repository replacement development HAS been started. The source forge project has been registered (thanks to FNL) and the domain name has been registered (robocodedepot.net) which also reveals the name of the new site: Robocode Depot. Programming language used is java. Frameworks/helpers are: Wicket (with Databinder and thereby Hibernate) along with MySQL?. I can't and won't commit to a time frame but I can say this much: The first version of the robocode depot will be much improved upon as time permits. I hope this is considered good news. :-) As time allows and development is progressing I'll create a wiki page here with updates and questions for feedback and comments. This along with some preliminary test versions of course. --Pulsar
Yes, of course, that's great news. Please don't think I was trying to mutiny, we just hadn't heard from you in a while on the wiki. =) Let me know if there's anything I can do to help! -- Voidious
Oh no, not at all Voidious. I'm well aware of my lack of response on this and I hate the fact that this is not happening any quicker. First of all I will need lots of feedback and testing of the basics then we are off to handle and discuss the details and more fun stuff :-) When a first pre-alpha-alpha (something that runs and displays a list of robots or so) I'll upload the source for direct-source feedback and involvement too. I feel that an iterative approach is the best so that we get something that we all want. --Pulsar
So is anyone else having trouble accessing the repository? I wanted to download some bots to sic on mine, but it's just not working. Out of curiosity, I tried accessing the forum, and it says that it's out of heap space. Yikes! -- RobertWalker
I don't know how long I'll be extending this offer, but anyone who wants me to host their bot for Roborumble downloading can IM / email me and I'll place the bot on my Comcast site. -- Martin
It seems to me that the major problem with RobocodeRepository might be all your bandwidth/CPU being used by the spambots on your forums. If you disabled the guest posting privilege on the forum, i bet the uptime would skyrocket. --Skilgannon
I'm Dan Lynn, the guy behind the beleaguered robocoderepository.com. I've been checking out the new activity surrounding the robocode project and am quite excited to see that it is getting some much deserved attention.
I'd like you guys to know that robocoderepository is also seeing new activity. It has been suffering from mounting issues over the years and has finally seen the forums closed and other features scaled back or removed. However, this is not the 'new activity' that I was referring to. I have been working on a completely new robocoderepository that is being rewritten from the ground up using ruby on rails.
Some of the new features will include:
I'll be opening up the main News page for moderated contributions. We'll have to pick some responsible volunteers for managing this.
Not all of these features will come online immediately. But, the new site will launch with at least the current feature set. I'm also striving for no interruption of service. I plan on taking the old site down and then about an hour later bringing up the new site. Be looking for the new site sometime in the next month or so.
I'll try to update this page occasionally with progress reports.
Currently, the bot upload mechanism is in place. It uses a fancy combination of flash and DHTML. The basic site features upload/download/search are all being exposed via RESTful and webservice APIs. Flemming Larsen mentioned that he is interested in taking advantage of this within the robocode app to directly upload bots. The site has unit, functional, and integration tests for all the data models and pages.
I'm currently not planning on any forums. However, the feedback comments on each individual bot should be nice. I'm also currently planning to only allow JAR uploads. The bot pages will still display the separate class/src/jar files that it currently does (for old bots in the repository).
--DanLynn
Hey there! Well, first, I must say thanks for your long-time service in hosting the repository over the years. Despite the occasional frustrating downtime, a lot of people have made use of it for hosting their bots and it's been a huge help to them.
Unfortunately, I must tell you that we've been moving towards setting up a new repository. David Alves has been working on one that we intended to host at roborumble.org. I believe he's actually planning to go live with it sometime pretty soon. I certainly don't want to to spurn your offer - you clearly have good intentions, a track record of helping the Robocode community, a huge existing archive of Robocode bots, and web programming skills. =) But it might be good to chat with David first so we can decide on the best course of action.
Cheers,
-- Voidious
Hi Dan,
We seem to have had the same idea. =) I've been writing a repository replacement in ruby on rails for several months. An incomplete version is already uploaded and working at https://roborumble.org, with a domain and VPS that I got specifically for this project. I'm not sure how we should proceed from here. If you're just at the planning stage or haven't written much code, would you consider helping me with the one that I've started? I'd be happy to have another person working on it. If you've already invested a lot of time into it, I don't really know what a good solution is. It seems silly to have two repositories, but I'd also hate to have all the work and money I've put into roborumble.org go to waste, and I'm sure you feel the same about your new rails repository. Any thoughts?
Good to see people helping the community. I'm pretty much going to redo the site anyway just for the sheer pleasure of programming. I'd be willing to grant svn access to others who would like to refine or add new site features after I get it launched. If we have multiple people supporting the site then it will much less likely fall into disrepair. It should be pretty easy to work with the source code - I'm using best practice RESTful + MVC design principles. The code is extremely clean so far. I appreciate your investment in the roborumble site - I've made the same investment. With the new robocoderepository RESTful/webservice API, you could actually use robocoderepository as an ActiveResource? source of data for your own site. Then you could build any rumble-specific features into your own site. ...or add them to robocoderepository itself.
-- DanLynn
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