Golly bugs

[eRroR_6o6]

Can you explain the details of how to reproduce the bug? I can't seem to reproduce it either in 4.3b2 or 4.3.

The bug only seems to happen when you reset the pattern while you're drawing the cell.

[fluffykitty]

In Golly 4.3 icons in the state selector are off-center, and the icons in the file selector are different (and IMO worse). In the screenshot, top is 4.2b1, bottom is 4.3. I'm using MacOS 14.1.

Screenshot 2024-12-24 at 6.07.42 PM.png (223.97 KiB) Viewed 13050 times

[PiSpaceships]

I tried to run the following rule with 3 states (air, ice, water) in Golly 4.3:
-If air is adjacent to 3 ice cells except the a3 configurations, then it will be an ice in next generation.
-If ice is adjacent to 2 or 3 ice cells, then it stays being ice.
-If water has at least 1 ice neighbor on west, south or east, it will be an ice.
-If non-ice has water on north and non-ice in both upper corners, it will be a water.
-Ice turn into a water which turns into an air by default.

Rule table:

Code: Select all

@RULE Ice

@TABLE
n_states:3
neighborhood:Moore
symmetries:reflect_horizontally

var a={0,1,2}
var b=a
var c=a
var d=a
var e=a
var f=a
var g=a
var h=a
var i={0,2}
var j=i
var k=i
var l=i
var m=i
var n=i
var o={0,1}

#B3-a & S3-a
o,1,1,i,1,j,k,l,m,1
o,1,1,i,j,1,k,l,m,1
o,1,1,i,j,k,1,l,m,1
o,1,1,i,j,k,l,1,m,1
o,1,1,i,j,k,l,m,1,1
o,1,i,1,1,j,k,l,m,1
o,1,i,1,j,1,k,l,m,1
o,1,i,1,j,k,1,l,m,1
o,1,i,1,j,k,l,1,m,1
o,1,i,j,1,1,k,l,m,1
o,1,i,j,1,k,1,l,m,1
o,i,1,1,1,j,k,l,m,1
o,i,1,1,j,1,k,l,m,1
o,i,1,1,j,k,1,l,m,1
o,i,1,1,j,k,l,1,m,1
o,i,1,1,j,k,l,m,1,1
o,i,1,j,1,1,k,l,m,1
o,i,1,j,1,k,1,l,m,1
o,i,1,j,1,k,l,1,m,1
o,i,1,j,1,k,l,m,1,1
o,i,1,j,k,1,1,l,m,1
o,i,1,j,k,1,l,1,m,1
o,i,1,j,k,1,l,m,1,1
o,i,1,j,k,1,1,l,m,1
o,i,j,1,1,k,1,l,m,1
o,i,j,1,1,k,l,1,m,1
o,i,j,1,k,1,1,l,m,1
o,i,j,1,k,1,l,1,m,1
o,i,j,k,1,1,1,l,m,1

#S23a
1,1,1,1,i,j,k,l,m,1
1,i,j,1,1,1,k,l,m,1
1,1,1,i,j,k,l,m,n,1
1,1,i,1,j,k,l,m,n,1
1,1,i,j,1,k,l,m,n,1
1,1,i,j,k,1,l,m,n,1
1,i,1,1,j,k,l,m,n,1
1,i,1,j,1,k,l,m,n,1
1,i,1,j,k,1,l,m,n,1
1,i,1,j,k,l,1,m,n,1
1,i,1,j,k,l,m,1,n,1
1,i,1,j,k,l,m,n,1,1
1,i,j,1,1,k,l,m,n,1
1,i,j,1,k,1,l,m,n,1
1,i,j,1,k,l,1,m,n,1
1,i,j,1,k,l,m,1,n,1
1,i,j,k,1,1,l,m,n,1
1,i,j,k,1,l,1,m,n,1

#Water->Ice
2,a,b,1,c,d,e,f,g,1
2,a,b,c,d,1,e,f,g,1
2,a,b,c,d,e,f,1,g,1

#gravity
i,2,j,a,b,c,d,e,k,2

#defaults
i,a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,0
1,a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,2

For some reason it doesn't work. The invalid behavour of Golly is presented in the video below. It works in LifeViewer, so I don't know what's going on.
video

[rowett]

I tried to run the following rule with 3 states (air, ice, water) in Golly 4.3:

Code: Select all

@RULE Ice

@TABLE
n_states:3
neighborhood:Moore
symmetries:reflect_horizontally
...

For some reason it doesn't work.

symmetries:reflect_horizontally is invalid. it should be reflect_horizontal.

[PiSpaceships]

I tried to run the following rule with 3 states (air, ice, water) in Golly 4.3:

Code: Select all

rule table

For some reason it doesn't work.

symmetries:reflect_horizontally is invalid. it should be reflect_horizontal.

I fixed it and it still doesn't work.

[confocaloid]

I fixed it and it still doesn't work.

Can you provide more details on which patterns don't appear to evolve correctly?

I tested the following pattern in Golly 4.3 and in LifeViewer build 1226. It appears to work the same way in both cases. In particular generation 100 shows population 476 and bounding box 27-by-112. Is that as expected, or it is supposed to evolve differently?

Code: Select all

x = 10, y = 10, rule = Ice
A2.A2.2B.B$.2B.A.A.BA$BA3.B.A2B$3A2.A2BA$.A2.BA$.BA2.2A2B$B.A2.A.A$A.
AB2.B3A$2.BA.A.A.B$A5.BABA!

@RULE Ice

@TABLE
n_states:3
neighborhood:Moore
symmetries:reflect_horizontal

var a={0,1,2}
var b=a
var c=a
var d=a
var e=a
var f=a
var g=a
var h=a
var i={0,2}
var j=i
var k=i
var l=i
var m=i
var n=i
var o={0,1}

#B3-a & S3-a
o,1,1,i,1,j,k,l,m,1
o,1,1,i,j,1,k,l,m,1
o,1,1,i,j,k,1,l,m,1
o,1,1,i,j,k,l,1,m,1
o,1,1,i,j,k,l,m,1,1
o,1,i,1,1,j,k,l,m,1
o,1,i,1,j,1,k,l,m,1
o,1,i,1,j,k,1,l,m,1
o,1,i,1,j,k,l,1,m,1
o,1,i,j,1,1,k,l,m,1
o,1,i,j,1,k,1,l,m,1
o,i,1,1,1,j,k,l,m,1
o,i,1,1,j,1,k,l,m,1
o,i,1,1,j,k,1,l,m,1
o,i,1,1,j,k,l,1,m,1
o,i,1,1,j,k,l,m,1,1
o,i,1,j,1,1,k,l,m,1
o,i,1,j,1,k,1,l,m,1
o,i,1,j,1,k,l,1,m,1
o,i,1,j,1,k,l,m,1,1
o,i,1,j,k,1,1,l,m,1
o,i,1,j,k,1,l,1,m,1
o,i,1,j,k,1,l,m,1,1
o,i,1,j,k,1,1,l,m,1
o,i,j,1,1,k,1,l,m,1
o,i,j,1,1,k,l,1,m,1
o,i,j,1,k,1,1,l,m,1
o,i,j,1,k,1,l,1,m,1
o,i,j,k,1,1,1,l,m,1

#S23a
1,1,1,1,i,j,k,l,m,1
1,i,j,1,1,1,k,l,m,1
1,1,1,i,j,k,l,m,n,1
1,1,i,1,j,k,l,m,n,1
1,1,i,j,1,k,l,m,n,1
1,1,i,j,k,1,l,m,n,1
1,i,1,1,j,k,l,m,n,1
1,i,1,j,1,k,l,m,n,1
1,i,1,j,k,1,l,m,n,1
1,i,1,j,k,l,1,m,n,1
1,i,1,j,k,l,m,1,n,1
1,i,1,j,k,l,m,n,1,1
1,i,j,1,1,k,l,m,n,1
1,i,j,1,k,1,l,m,n,1
1,i,j,1,k,l,1,m,n,1
1,i,j,1,k,l,m,1,n,1
1,i,j,k,1,1,l,m,n,1
1,i,j,k,1,l,1,m,n,1

#Water->Ice
2,a,b,1,c,d,e,f,g,1
2,a,b,c,d,1,e,f,g,1
2,a,b,c,d,e,f,1,g,1

#gravity
i,2,j,a,b,c,d,e,k,2

#defaults
i,a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,0
1,a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,2

[PiSpaceships]

I tested the following pattern in Golly 4.3 and in LifeViewer build 1226. It appears to work the same way in both cases. In particular generation 100 shows population 476 and bounding box 27-by-112. Is that as expected, or it is supposed to evolve differently?

Code: Select all

x = 10, y = 10, rule = Ice
A2.A2.2B.B$.2B.A.A.BA$BA3.B.A2B$3A2.A2BA$.A2.BA$.BA2.2A2B$B.A2.A.A$A.
AB2.B3A$2.BA.A.A.B$A5.BABA!

...

In LifeViewer it evolves exactly as I wanted, but it still doesn't evolve correctly in Golly.

EDIT: I changed the name of the rule to IceB and it works! I think that Golly behaved incorrectly because first version of this rule was incorrect and Golly 'remembered' it, unaware that meanwhile the rule changed. It's still an error to fix.

[confocaloid]

[...] In LifeViewer it evolves exactly as I wanted, but it still doesn't evolve correctly in Golly. [...]

Which version of Golly you are using?

[...] It's still an error to fix.

I think this isn't an error. To replace the existing copy of a .rule file, you can simply copy the new version into clipboard and do Ctrl+Shift+O ("Open Clipboard"). It should ask for confirmation before overwriting the existing file.

[PiSpaceships]

Which version of Golly you are using?

Golly 4.3.

I think this isn't an error. To replace the existing copy of a .rule file, you can simply copy the new version into clipboard and do Ctrl+Shift+O ("Open Clipboard"). It should ask for confirmation before overwriting the existing file.

I didn't know that... Sorry for wasting your time...

[confocaloid]

That feature could be more visible than it is, but then probably some other feature would become less visible/less discoverable.

Some features can be found by looking through the supplied documentation, or looking through the menu items, or looking through the "File -> Preferences" dialog (and asking on the forums or reading an earlier discussion).

[PiSpaceships]

That feature could be more visible than it is, but then probably some other feature would become less visible/less discoverable.

Some features can be found by looking through the supplied documentation, or looking through the menu items, or looking through the "File -> Preferences" dialog (and asking on the forums or reading an earlier discussion).

Thank you.

[Andrew]

In Golly 4.3 icons in the state selector are off-center, and the icons in the file selector are different (and IMO worse).

Yep, I see the same issue on my Mac. It looks like a regression due to building Golly with a newer version of wxWidgets, so I'll try to fix it for the next release (probably much later this year).

[b-engine]

This ruletable works in LifeViewer:

Code: Select all

@RULE Phox
@TABLE 
n_states:3
neighborhood:Moore
symmetries:rotate4reflect
var a={0,1,2}
var a1=a
var a2=a
var a3=a
var a4=a
var a5=a
var a6=a
var a7=a
var a8=a

0,0,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,2
0,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1
0,0,2,1,2,0,0,0,0,1
0,2,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,2
0,0,2,1,2,0,2,1,2,1
0,0,2,2,2,2,2,0,0,1
0,2,2,0,1,2,0,0,0,1
0,0,2,1,2,0,0,0,0,1
0,0,2,2,1,0,0,0,0,2
0,1,0,1,0,1,0,1,0,1
0,0,0,0,2,1,0,1,2,2
0,2,1,0,1,2,0,0,0,1
0,0,2,2,2,0,0,0,2,1

1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1
1,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,1
1,2,2,2,2,2,0,0,0,2
1,2,0,0,0,2,0,0,0,2
1,1,2,2,2,1,2,2,2,2
1,2,2,0,2,2,0,0,0,2
1,2,0,2,0,2,0,0,0,2
1,2,0,0,2,2,0,0,0,2
1,0,1,0,1,0,0,2,0,2

2,1,2,2,0,0,0,0,0,2
2,1,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2
2,2,1,2,2,2,0,0,0,2
2,2,1,2,0,0,0,0,0,2
2,2,2,1,2,2,0,0,0,2
2,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,2
2,1,2,0,0,0,0,0,0,2
2,2,1,2,0,1,0,0,0,2
2,1,2,2,a,0,a,2,2,2
2,2,1,0,2,1,0,0,0,2
2,2,2,1,2,2,2,0,0,2
2,2,1,2,0,2,1,2,0,2
2,0,2,0,2,2,0,2,2,1
2,2,0,0,0,2,0,0,0,1
2,0,1,2,1,2,0,0,0,2
2,1,0,2,2,1,2,2,0,2
2,2,1,2,0,2,0,0,0,2


a,a1,a2,a3,a4,a5,a6,a7,a8,0

But when pasted into Golly 4.3 (Open clipboard), it shows a Golly warning:

Code: Select all

The rule file is not valid:
Phox.rule

[confocaloid]

I think this is caused by the (normally invisible) trailing whitespace in the line '@TABLE '. Try to remove the trailing space and see if it works.

This ruletable works in LifeViewer:

Code: Select all

@RULE Phox
@TABLE 
n_states:3
neighborhood:Moore
symmetries:rotate4reflect

[...]

[Andrew]

If you try to draw a cell and reset a pattern simultaneously while it's running, it clears the whole layer.

This can only happen if you use a keyboard shortcut to select Control > Reset while the mouse button is down. In the next version of Golly the Reset will simply be ignored.

[muzik]

This does not act as a shifted torus:

Code: Select all

x = 5, y = 4, rule = B3/S23:T20,20-2147483648
bo2bo$o$o3bo$4o!

Nor does this:

Code: Select all

x = 4, y = 5, rule = B3/S23:T20-2147483648,20
obo$3bo$3bo$o2bo$b3o!

While the bounded grid validation here is incorrect, I'd still very much like to see this behaviour implemented as an actual bounded grid, since there's otherwise no way to simulate a finite cylinder.

Currently the * symbol is only used for Klein bottles and spheres. Perhaps it could be used for torus bounded grids to indicate what sides act as a hard boundary versus what sides are connected? We could have T20,20* and T20*,20, and they would behave as they do above.

We could do the same for the cross-surface to get Mobius strip bounded grids: C20,20* and C20*,20

[smeech]

Sorry if this is the wrong place to ask!

The file pane down the left side of the Golly v3.3 window has a white background and pale grey text here (Linux Mint Xfce X11) which makes it almost unreadable.

Is there somewhere this can be changed? It's not altered by changes to my system theme (except for the background colour of the selected item), and DeepWiki suggests it's hard-coded.

Screenshot_2025-05-15_10-45-49.png (3.09 KiB) Viewed 3735 times

[LaundryPizza03]

On macOS 15.6.1 with Apple M2, Golly occasionally freezes while opening the menu bar. All cores on my system are busy doing other processes, but this doesn't otherwise hurt performance noticeably for normal use.

[Disaster16439]

I’m on mobile. Recently, it seems like copying a pattern doesn’t work all of the time (so I copy a pattern, and when I paste, it still pastes the thing that was previously copied.

[Andrew]

On macOS 15.6.1 with Apple M2, Golly occasionally freezes while opening the menu bar.

I'm pretty sure this is a bug in macOS. I've seen the same issue happen occasionally in Terminal.app. Never seen it happen in Golly so far. Let me know if you manage to find steps to reproduce the problem in Golly.

[Antonin Duda]

Why does copy+pasting this rule to golly not work?

Code: Select all

@RULE blockylife

@TABLE
n_states:3
neighborhood:Moore
symmetries:permute
var a={1,2}
var a1=a
var a2=a
var a3=a
var a4=a
var a5=a
var a6=a
var a7=a
var b={0,1,2}
var b1=b
var b2=b
var b3=b
var b4=b
var b5=b
var b6=b
var b7=b
var c={0,1}
var c1=c
var c2=c
var c3=c
var c4=c
0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,1
1,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,1
1,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1
1,b,b1,1,1,1,1,1,1,2
2,2,2,2,c,c1,c2,c3,c4,2
2,b,b1,b2,b3,b4,b5,b6,b7,0
0,2,b,0,0,0,0,0,0,1
1,b,b1,b2,b3,b4,b5,b6,b7,0

EDIT by dvgrn: Sample pattern to try out in LifeViewer and Golly 5.0:

Code: Select all

x = 20, y = 7, rule = blockylife
2.A$.A.A14.2A$2A12.A2.2BA$3.A13.2B$.2BA10.2B.A$.2B11.2B$A12.2A!

@RULE blockylife

@TABLE
n_states:3
neighborhood:Moore
symmetries:permute
var a={1,2}
var a1=a
var a2=a
var a3=a
var a4=a
var a5=a
var a6=a
var a7=a
var b={0,1,2}
var b1=b
var b2=b
var b3=b
var b4=b
var b5=b
var b6=b
var b7=b
var c={0,1}
var c1=c
var c2=c
var c3=c
var c4=c
0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,1
1,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,1
1,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1
1,b,b1,1,1,1,1,1,1,2
2,2,2,2,c,c1,c2,c3,c4,2
2,b,b1,b2,b3,b4,b5,b6,b7,0
0,2,b,0,0,0,0,0,0,1
1,b,b1,b2,b3,b4,b5,b6,b7,0

[Andrew]

Why does copy+pasting this rule to golly not work?

Seems to work fine on my system (Golly 5.0 on macOS). What exactly is going wrong?

[Antonin Duda]

Seems to work fine on my system (Golly 5.0 on macOS). What exactly is going wrong?

I think my laptop is haunted, i actually have no idea why it doesn't work for me...
Uhh... it specifically doesn't work when i name the rule "blockylife".
My idea is, my laptop somehow encodes the file "blockylife.rule" incorrectly...
When i remove or change one character from the rule name, it starts working again.
When i first copied+pasted this rule to golly, golly kept telling me "blockylife.rule is not valid", even though there was nothing wrong with it

[rowett]

EDIT by dvgrn: Sample pattern to try out in LifeViewer and Golly 5.0:

Code: Select all

x = 20, y = 7, rule = blockylife
2.A$.A.A14.2A$2A12.A2.2BA$3.A13.2B$.2BA10.2B.A$.2B11.2B$A12.2A!

@RULE blockylife

@TABLE
n_states:3
neighborhood:Moore
symmetries:permute
var a={1,2}
var a1=a
var a2=a
var a3=a
var a4=a
var a5=a
var a6=a
var a7=a
var b={0,1,2}
var b1=b
var b2=b
var b3=b
var b4=b
var b5=b
var b6=b
var b7=b
var c={0,1}
var c1=c
var c2=c
var c3=c
var c4=c
0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,1
1,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,1
1,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1
1,b,b1,1,1,1,1,1,1,2
2,2,2,2,c,c1,c2,c3,c4,2
2,b,b1,b2,b3,b4,b5,b6,b7,0
0,2,b,0,0,0,0,0,0,1
1,b,b1,b2,b3,b4,b5,b6,b7,0

If I save this as a .rle file then I can open it in Golly 5.0 on Windows.

However, if I copy it to the clipboard and then use File>Open Clipboard I get a dialog saying "Golly warning: The first line in blockylife.rule does not start with @RULE. 2B$.2BA10.2B.A$.2B11.2B$A12.2A!"

[Andrew]

However, if I copy it to the clipboard and then use File>Open Clipboard I get a dialog saying "Golly warning: The first line in blockylife.rule does not start with @RULE. 2B$.2BA10.2B.A$.2B11.2B$A12.2A!"

Yep, I can reproduce the problem on my Windows system (doesn't happen on macOS or Linux). Turns out ftell doesn't work correctly if you open a file in "rt" mode but the file doesn't use CR+LF as line endings (Golly saves clipboard data using just LF). I've committed a fix that seems to work on various examples I've tested.