rolldice is just a simple program that rolls an amount of virtual dice of
any size.  Well, technically, all the attributes of the dice can't exceed
MAXSHORT, but I think it suffices for any normal FRPG. :)

rolldice is a simple program, trying to uphold the UNIX philosophy of doing
one thing, and doing that thing well.  However, this is not a claim that
rolldice cannot be improved,  only that I am satisfied with it, as of right 
now... of course, any improvements will be accepted gladly :)

27.1.99

I've had a request to add /dev/(u)random as random number input, and so 
I've added the capability to use the random number devices as random input.
The -u option gives you /dev/urandom, and the -r /dev/random.

12.2.99

I know I've been a little late in adding some new features, and I apologize,
but I'm sure you understand, college and all... anyway, there are two new
features in this version of rolldice: A default for the number of dice to
roll (so that strings like "d6" are possible now), and the ability to use
"d%" as a percentage roll (rolls d100).  Actually, for the latter, you can
use strings like "#d%" to roll # percentage dice at once... it's a feature :)

10.3.99

New in this release is the ability to print out each separate die roll.
When using this feature, you get the following output:

[sstrickl@midkemia]:~$ rolldice -s 3d6
Roll #1: 2 4 2 = 8
[sstrickl@midkemia]:~$ rolldice -s 2x3d6
Roll #1: 5 2 6 = 13
Roll #2: 1 6 2 = 9

Easy?  I thought so! :)

27.3.99

I still haven't put in the option to allow multiple dice strings on the 
command line.  However, I *have* added the ability to drop a number of
lowest die rolls.  This is for all those other methods of rolling characters
under AD&D, and I'm sure other gaming systems use this sometimes ;)

Also, /dev/urandom has been made the default random number generator, and
the use of rand() has been dropped.  If you wish this method to be added
back to rolldice, just contact me and I'll do so.

28.3.99

I made the parser code much cleaner... this won't really affect the use of
the program, except now you can kinda shuffle sections around.  They will
still be resolved in the same order as before, however, so:

[sstrickl@midkemia]:~$ rolldice -s 3d6-1*10

results in:

Roll #1: (3 5 2) * 10 - 1 = 99

not:

Roll #1: ((3 5 2) - 1) * 10 = 90

It's not quite that smart ;)

And also, finally, at long last, I've added the ability to use multiple dice
strings!  Woohoo!  So this means that unless I find or am asked to add a new
method to the dice string itself, this might be the last release of diceroll,
unless I actually do rewrite it to make it neater, find a cleaner parser
implementation, or just get bored and decide to add something else... :)

This program has been placed under the GPL... just thought I'd let you know
that. ;)

Stevie Strickland
sstrickl@resnet.gatech.edu
http://computersprache.net/~sstrickl/