ConwayLife.com

get_snackeTWO wrote: December 4th, 2025, 8:25 pm when the last object created in a soup is a linear growth how does apgsearch figure out what generation the soup stabilizes on

speedydelete wrote: January 7th, 2026, 5:51 pm If infinite growth exists and isn't destroyed in a soup, it ends up running the pattern for 21,000 generations (this is why explosive rules hang), and then running for up to 120,000 more generations while running a linear-growth detector based on hashing the center of the soup (in particular the best approximation to a circle of radius 120) and looking for collisions (I think this is how the detector works, I could be wrong). If this fails, it will cause a "Failed to detect periodic behavior!". The relevant code for this is at https://gitlab.com/apgoucher/apgmera/-/ ... tabilise.h.

I6_I6 wrote: December 4th, 2025, 12:17 pm How do I use lifelib in Python in Golly 5.0? It keeps saying "No module named lifelib".

b-engine wrote: January 8th, 2026, 9:23 am What are the corderise_stdin and corderise_test_stdin censuses in Catagolue?

rule = 'b34a5is23-a68'
rle = '''x = 13, y = 36, rule = B34a5i/S23-a68
2o$o3bo$5o5b3o$b4o4bo2bo$10b2o13$10b2o$9bo2bo$10bobo$11bo12$5b2o$4bo2b
o$4bobo$5bo!
'''
period = 292
import lifelib, random, time, hashlib
sess = lifelib.load_rules(rule)
lt = sess.lifetree(n_layers = 1, memory = 1000)
pt = lt.pattern(rle)
print(pt.population)
seed = hashlib.sha256(str(time.time()).encode('utf-8')).hexdigest()
engines = 4
def mkpt(num):
    pt2 = lt.pattern('b!')
    for e in range(engines):
        amnt = random.randint(1, period)
        pt2 = pt2 + (pt[amnt](random.randint(-30, 30), random.randint(-30, 30)))

    rle = pt2.rle_string()
    for _ in range(2):
        rle = rle[rle.find('\n')+1:]
    rle = rle.replace('\n', '')
    rle = 'x = 0, y = 0, rule = B3/S23\n' + rle + '\n'
    return rle
fullstring = ''
f = open('\\\\wsl.localhost\\Ubuntu\\home\\pk22linux\\apgmera\\engines.txt', 'w')
f.write('')
f.close()
for x in range(100000):

    fullstring = fullstring + mkpt(x)
    if x%1000 == 999:
        print(x)
        f = open('\\\\wsl.localhost\\Ubuntu\\home\\pk22linux\\apgmera\\engines.txt', 'a')
        f.write(fullstring)
        f.close()
        fullstring = ''

I6_I6 wrote: December 4th, 2025, 12:17 pm How do I use lifelib in Python in Golly 5.0? It keeps saying "No module named lifelib".

b-engine wrote: January 7th, 2026, 10:56 pm Lifelib is a C/C++ library and therefore Python can't use it.

get_snackeTWO wrote: January 7th, 2026, 6:13 pm so will a soup with a linear growth in it always end up having 21k generations or more?

I6_I6 wrote: December 4th, 2025, 12:17 pm How do I use lifelib in Python in Golly 5.0? It keeps saying "No module named lifelib".

PK22 wrote: January 9th, 2026, 2:18 pm

I6_I6 wrote: December 4th, 2025, 12:17 pm How do I use lifelib in Python in Golly 5.0? It keeps saying "No module named lifelib".

If all else fails, just copy the lifelib directory to the folder where you keep your scripts, and it should work.

I6_I6 wrote: January 9th, 2026, 2:33 pm Where's the lifelib directory?

import lifelib
print(lifelib.__file__)

get_snackeTWO wrote: November 9th, 2025, 6:03 pm this happened when trying to run make on barrister

Code: Select all

In file included from Barrister.cpp:12:
./LifeStableState.hpp:833:12: warning: unused variable 'result' [-Wunused-variable]
  833 |       auto result = SynchroniseStateKnownColumn(c);
      |            ^~~~~~
In file included from Barrister.cpp:13:
./LifeUnknownState.hpp:144:43: warning: unused parameter 'stable' [-Wunused-parameter]
  144 |   void SanityCheck(const LifeStableState &stable) {
      |                                           ^
./LifeUnknownState.hpp:215:14: warning: unused variable 'on3' [-Wunused-variable]
  215 |     uint64_t on3 = stateCount.bit3[i];
      |              ^~~
./LifeUnknownState.hpp:216:14: warning: unused variable 'on2' [-Wunused-variable]
  216 |     uint64_t on2 = stateCount.bit2[i];
      |              ^~~
./LifeUnknownState.hpp:217:14: warning: unused variable 'on1' [-Wunused-variable]
  217 |     uint64_t on1 = stateCount.bit1[i];
      |              ^~~
./LifeUnknownState.hpp:218:14: warning: unused variable 'on0' [-Wunused-variable]
  218 |     uint64_t on0 = stateCount.bit0[i];
      |              ^~~
./LifeUnknownState.hpp:220:14: warning: unused variable 'unk3' [-Wunused-variable]
  220 |     uint64_t unk3 = unknownCount.bit3[s][i];
      |              ^~~~
./LifeUnknownState.hpp:221:14: warning: unused variable 'unk2' [-Wunused-variable]
  221 |     uint64_t unk2 = unknownCount.bit2[s][i];
      |              ^~~~
./LifeUnknownState.hpp:222:14: warning: unused variable 'unk1' [-Wunused-variable]
  222 |     uint64_t unk1 = unknownCount.bit1[s][i];
      |              ^~~~
./LifeUnknownState.hpp:223:14: warning: unused variable 'unk0' [-Wunused-variable]
  223 |     uint64_t unk0 = unknownCount.bit0[s][i];
      |              ^~~~
./LifeUnknownState.hpp:265:12: warning: unused variable 'stateon' [-Wunused-variable]
  265 |   uint64_t stateon = state[i];
      |            ^~~~~~~
./LifeUnknownState.hpp:266:12: warning: unused variable 'stateunk' [-Wunused-variable]
  266 |   uint64_t stateunk = unknown[i];
      |            ^~~~~~~~
./LifeUnknownState.hpp:267:12: warning: unused variable 'stateunkstable' [-Wunused-variable]
  267 |   uint64_t stateunkstable = unknownStable[i];
      |            ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~
./LifeUnknownState.hpp:271:12: warning: unused variable 'stable_on' [-Wunused-variable]
  271 |   uint64_t stable_on = stable.state[i];
      |            ^~~~~~~~~
./LifeUnknownState.hpp:272:12: warning: unused variable 'stable_unknown' [-Wunused-variable]
  272 |   uint64_t stable_unknown = stable.unknown[i];
      |            ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~
./LifeUnknownState.hpp:358:14: warning: unused variable 'on3' [-Wunused-variable]
  358 |     uint64_t on3 = state3[i-1];
      |              ^~~
./LifeUnknownState.hpp:370:14: warning: unused variable 'stable_on' [-Wunused-variable]
  370 |     uint64_t stable_on = nearbyStableState[i];
      |              ^~~~~~~~~
./LifeUnknownState.hpp:371:14: warning: unused variable 'stable_unknown' [-Wunused-variable]
  371 |     uint64_t stable_unknown = nearbyStableUnknown[i];
      |              ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In file included from Barrister.cpp:14:
./RotorDescription.hpp:26:13: warning: enumeration values 'NORESULT', 'STABLE', and 'OTHER' not handled in switch [-Wswitch]
   26 |     switch (type) {
      |             ^~~~
./RotorDescription.hpp:51:48: warning: unused parameter 'resType' [-Wunused-parameter]
   51 |                                      RotorType resType) {
      |                                                ^
./RotorDescription.hpp:86:13: warning: 8 enumeration values not handled in switch: 'ReflectAcrossXEven', 'ReflectAcrossYEven', 'Rotate90Even'... [-Wswitch]
   86 |     switch (transf) {
      |             ^~~~~~
Barrister.cpp:300:22: warning: unused parameter 'everActive' [-Wunused-parameter]
  300 |     const LifeState &everActive,
      |                      ^
Barrister.cpp:301:51: warning: unused parameter 'activeTimer' [-Wunused-parameter]
  301 |     const LifeCountdown<maxCellActiveWindowGens> &activeTimer,
      |                                                   ^
Barrister.cpp:302:51: warning: unused parameter 'streakTimer' [-Wunused-parameter]
  302 |     const LifeCountdown<maxCellActiveStreakGens> &streakTimer)
      |                                                   ^
24 warnings generated.
/usr/bin/ld: Warning: grouped short command line options are deprecated: -stack_size
/usr/bin/ld: Error: unable to disambiguate: -stack_size (did you mean --stack_size ?)
clang++: error: linker command failed with exit code 1 (use -v to see invocation)
make: *** [Makefile:20: Barrister] Error 

how fix

I6_I6 wrote: March 5th, 2026, 3:51 pm I tried to use toStandard.lua (using macOS), but it keeps saying:

Code: Select all

.../toStandard.lua:92:
Given rule is not valid in any algorithm.

even though the rule was set to LifeSuper. It changes the rule to SuperToStandard with the correct 2-state conversion. (The script seems to create a SuperToStandard.rule file in my rules folder.) How do I fix this problem? (Note: I have absolutely no Lua knowledge whatsoever.)

g.note(baserule .. suffix)

dvgrn wrote: March 6th, 2026, 10:07 am

I6_I6 wrote: March 5th, 2026, 3:51 pm I tried to use toStandard.lua (using macOS), but it keeps saying:

Code: Select all

.../toStandard.lua:92:
Given rule is not valid in any algorithm.

even though the rule was set to LifeSuper. It changes the rule to SuperToStandard with the correct 2-state conversion. (The script seems to create a SuperToStandard.rule file in my rules folder.) How do I fix this problem? (Note: I have absolutely no Lua knowledge whatsoever.)

Unfortunately all I can say is that that I had some trouble with error messages along those lines, when I was developing those Lua conversion scripts. The errors were mysteriously irreproducible -- i.e., they went away after a few test cycles, and I was never able to figure out how to re-create them or what caused them.

We can try troubleshooting, and it will probably only be mildly painful. First, are you working with Golly 5.0? There were some maybe-related fixes a few years ago.

Second, can you try temporarily adding a new line in front of line 92 in toStandard.lua --

Code: Select all

g.note(baserule .. suffix)

-- and just report here what the pop-up message says?

-- Fast [Rule][History|Super] to [Rule] converter by Michael Simkin,
--   intended to be mapped to a keyboard shortcut, e.g., Alt+J
-- Sanity checks and Lua translation by Dave Greene, May 2017
-- Creates special rule and runs it for one generation, then switches to Life 
-- Replace 2k + 1-> 1 and 2k -> 0
-- Preserves step and generation count
-- v1.1, 11 May 2024: support [Rule]Investigator patterns

local g = golly()

local rule = g.getrule()
local algo = g.getalgo()

local function CreateRule(filename, ruletext)
    local fname = g.getdir("rules")..filename..".rule"
    local f=io.open(fname,"r")
    if f~=nil then
        io.close(f)  -- rule already exists
    else 
        local f = io.open(fname, "w")
        if f then
            f:write(ruletext)
            f:close()
        else
            g.warn("Can't save SuperToStandard rule in filename:\n"..filename)
        end
    end
end

-- deal with bounded-universe syntax appropriately
ind = string.find(rule, ":")
suffix = ""
baserule = rule
if ind then
    suffix = rule:sub(ind)
    baserule = rule:sub(1,ind-1)
end

-- No effect if the current rule is not a Super algo rule
if algo ~= "Super" then g.exit("The current rule is not a [Rule]History, [Rule]Super, or [Rule]Investigator rule.") end

ruletextSuper = [[@RULE SuperToStandard
@TABLE
n_states:26
neighborhood:oneDimensional
symmetries:none
var a={0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25}
var b={a}
var c={2,4,6,8,10,12,14,16,18,20,22,24}
var d={3,5,7,9,11,13,15,17,19,21,23,25}
c,a,b,0
d,a,b,1]]

CreateRule("SuperToStandard", ruletextSuper)

ruletextInvestigator = [[@RULE InvestigatorToStandard
@TABLE
n_states:21
neighborhood:oneDimensional
symmetries:none
var a={0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20}
var b={a}
var c={2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20}
c,a,b,0]]

CreateRule("InvestigatorToStandard", ruletextInvestigator)

-- If rulestring contains "Super", "History", or "Investigator" suffix, remove it and continue
if baserule:sub(-5) == "Super" then
    baserule = baserule:sub(1,#baserule-5)
    g.setrule("SuperToStandard")
elseif baserule:sub(-7) == "History" then
    baserule = baserule:sub(1, #baserule-7)
    g.setrule("SuperToStandard")
elseif baserule:sub(-12) == "Investigator" then
    baserule = baserule:sub(1,#baserule-12)
    g.setrule("InvestigatorToStandard")
else
    g.show("Rule is not one of the known formats supported by the Super algorithm.")
    g.exit()
end

-- If rulestring is "LifeV" then convert it to B3/S23V
if baserule:lower() == "lifev" then baserule = "B3/S23V" end

-- If rulestring is "LifeH" then convert it to B3/S23H
if baserule:lower() == "lifeh" then baserule = "B3/S23H" end

g.run(1)
step = g.getstep()


g.setrule(baserule .. suffix)
g.setalgo("HashLife")
g.setstep(step)
g.setgen("-1")

I6_I6 wrote: March 6th, 2026, 11:57 am There was already a blank line in front of line 92. I added another new line and it gave me the same error.

g.note(baserule .. suffix)

dvgrn wrote: March 6th, 2026, 12:59 pm

I6_I6 wrote: March 6th, 2026, 11:57 am There was already a blank line in front of line 92. I added another new line and it gave me the same error.

Have another look -- I asked for the addition of precisely this new line -- g.note, not g.setrule:

Code: Select all

g.note(baserule .. suffix)

That will pop up a window showing the exact name of the rule that Golly is trying to switch to, before it actually switches to it.

Copy and paste here whatever message comes up, and then we can think about it a little more.

Golly note:
Life

I6_I6 wrote: March 6th, 2026, 1:02 pm Alright, here's what it says:

Code: Select all

Golly note:
Life

dvgrn wrote: March 6th, 2026, 5:25 pm

I6_I6 wrote: March 6th, 2026, 1:02 pm Alright, here's what it says:

Code: Select all

Golly note:
Life

Okay, and then you still get the same "Given rule is not valid in any algorithm." error message right after that? And you end up with Golly stranded in the rule "SuperToStandard"?

1. Creates a SuperToStandard.rule file in your rules folder
2. Converts the rule of the current pattern into SuperToStandard
3. Runs the pattern for 1 generation. SuperToStandard makes it so that all even states instantly die and odd states survive.
4. Converts the rule to normal Life (B3/S23)

dvgrn wrote: March 6th, 2026, 5:25 pm That's weird, of course, because Golly generally knows that "Life" is an alias for "B3/S23", and it sets the rule appropriately without complaining. But now I don't remember why exactly it knows about that alias, or what could possibly get in the way of it remembering that alias.

What happens in your Golly 5.0 if you choose "Set Rule" from the menu and try changing the rule to "Life" manually?

Given rule is not valid in any algorithm.

dvgrn wrote: March 6th, 2026, 5:25 pm There's a "Life.rule" that is installed into Golly's pre-installed Rules table, so it should certainly be finding that even if the alias isn't operational for some reason! Can you find "Life.rule" in your Rules folder?

dvgrn wrote: March 6th, 2026, 5:25 pm As I mentioned, I have a very vague memory of this exact error message happening once, back when I was QA-testing the new Lua script. It was an annoyingly persistent error... and then it went away mysteriously for no reason and I was unable to get it to happen again, even after starting all over again with a new copy of Golly.

So even though this is annoying, it might be really useful if this error keeps happening to you -- maybe we can finally figure out what's going wrong here.

Very likely I could invent three lines of Lua code that would work around the mysterious problem without understanding it -- but I'd rather actually solve the problem than just put a Band-Aid over it.

PK22 wrote: January 8th, 2026, 11:31 am
Those are what I've been using to test a lifelib program that randomly places copies of unstable engines and outputs the RLEs, with the intention being to help with finding corderisations.
Here's the source code, but it's messy and bespoke:

<blah>

x = 3, y = 2, rule = B2-ak3ik4c5k7e/S12-c3k4c6i
bo$obo!

I6_I6 wrote: March 14th, 2026, 1:48 am

splitterrules wrote: March 15th, 2026, 5:54 pm

UnbihexiumFan wrote: March 16th, 2026, 6:33 pm

PK22 wrote: January 8th, 2026, 11:31 am
Those are what I've been using to test a lifelib program that randomly places copies of unstable engines and outputs the RLEs, with the intention being to help with finding corderisations.
Here's the source code, but it's messy and bespoke:

<blah>

How could I use this tool myself? I've been searching for stabilizations of this engine:

Code: Select all

x = 3, y = 2, rule = B2-ak3ik4c5k7e/S12-c3k4c6i
bo$obo!

as some stabilizations have already yielded new puffer speeds which have been corderized into spaceships:

I6_I6 wrote: March 14th, 2026, 1:48 am

splitterrules wrote: March 15th, 2026, 5:54 pm

But I don't know how I would run something like that, maybe due to my limited coding skills and/or my unfamiliarity with apgsearch.

rule = input('Enter the rule.\n>')
rle = input('Enter the headerless RLE of the unstable engine.\n>')
period = int(input('Enter the period.\n>'))
rule = rule.lower().replace('/', '')
import lifelib, random, time, hashlib, os
sess = lifelib.load_rules(rule)
lt = sess.lifetree(n_layers = 1, memory = 1000)
pt = lt.pattern(rle)
seed = hashlib.sha256(str(time.time()).encode('utf-8')).hexdigest()
engines = int(input('How many engines do you wish to place?\n>'))
area = input('Enter the area you wish to place engines in; e.g \'50x50\' or \'24x48\'.\n>')
dx = int(area.lower().split('x')[0])
dy = int(area.lower().split('x')[1])
def mkpt():
    pt2 = lt.pattern('b!')
    for e in range(engines):
        amnt = random.randint(1, period)
        pt2 = pt2 + (pt[amnt](random.randint(0, dx), random.randint(0, dy)))

    rle = pt2.rle_string()
    for _ in range(2):
        rle = rle[rle.find('\n')+1:]
    rle = rle.replace('\n', '')
    rle = 'x = 0, y = 0, rule = B3/S23\n' + rle + '\n'
    return rle
fullstring = ''
file = os.getcwd() + '/engines.txt'
file = file.replace('\\', '/')
f = open(file, 'w', encoding='utf-8')
f.write('')
f.close()
rles = set()
count = -1
print('Generating engines, use Ctrl+C to exit...')
while True:
    try:
        count += 1
        if count%1000 == 0:
            print(count)
            if count%10000 == 0:
                f = open(file, 'a', encoding='utf-8')
                f.write(''.join(rles))
                f.close()
                rles = set()
        rles.add(mkpt())
    except KeyboardInterrupt:
        break
f = open(file, 'a', encoding='utf-8')
f.write(''.join(rles))
f.close()
print('Engines saved to '+file)

python3 corderise.py
./recompile.sh --rule <rule> --symmetry corderise_stdin
./apgluxe -n 100000 -k <your_payosha_key> < engines.txt

PK22 wrote: March 17th, 2026, 2:11 am Here is a version that's easier to use:

Code: Select all

blah

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/***/apgspaceinvaders/lifelib/pythlib/lowlevel.py", line 247, in <module>
    remote_load()
  File "/home/***/apgspaceinvaders/lifelib/pythlib/lowlevel.py", line 160, in remote_load
    obj = pickle.load(stdin)
KeyboardInterrupt
Error in atexit._run_exitfuncs:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/***/apgspaceinvaders/lifelib/pythlib/session.py", line 214, in cleanup_sessions
    sess.lifelib.annihilate()
  File "/home/***/apgspaceinvaders/lifelib/pythlib/lowlevel.py", line 237, in annihilate
    self.the_library.stdin.close()
BrokenPipeError: [Errno 32] Broken pipe