Run from the retrobios package, a hint and --help named python3 install.py, a file that user does not have. The package's launcher sets RETROBIOS_BOOTSTRAP=pypi, and the command is read from the environment it runs in: uvx retrobios from uv's cache, pipx run retrobios from pipx's, retrobios once installed.
- The installer speaks without "you": the first screen asks "Where
to install?", rows read "Copy the BIOS files from an old card or a
folder", a close match reads "Close matches: ...". The handheld
launchers and their port text follow, and the pronoun guard no
longer lists any installer message.
- A setup that runs as an app opens on its one-line command, the
folder table after it; a setup that runs on its own device keeps
the network folder first, which its ZIP route needs.
- The home steps say what to do: "Its page gives one line to copy",
"Paste it, press Enter".
Every archive has a recipe in recipes/archives.json, and no page a user
reads said so. A short reference page says what a recipe is, how to
rebuild one archive and what exact and canonical mean. Its counts and the
README line are counted from the recipe file at each build.
The README gains a row of four badges: PyPI version, Python versions,
the Validation workflow on main and the license. Tests hold the badges,
the counts and the page's command.
The events transcript on the installer page is a --check run that finds
files missing. Since November such a run ends on 3, as the Exit status
table says, and the sample still showed 1.
The FAQ said the installer stops when it does not match "its
fingerprint", and the bootstraps print "does not match its expected":
the page quotes them again, within the page's word ceiling.
build_pypi.py stages install.py, the launcher, __main__.py, README and
LICENSE, then runs uv build with flit_core 3.12.0 pinned and
SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH set from install.py's commit. Adds python -m retrobios,
the PyPA classifiers, keywords and project URLs. CI installs uv.
- The installer says "Every file on the list is in place." where it
said "Everything is in place.": a check covers the files the
collection holds, and the required ones it lacks follow.
- The FAQ, first install, legal and home pages state only what the
code shows (PlayStation 1 and Saturn run without a BIOS on some
emulators, save files are never touched, records are added).
- MinUI and MyMinUI show their own boot logos, and the Android,
Linux handheld and iPhone tiles show the Android robot, Tux and a
plain device icon, each credited in sources.json.
- Each Markdown copy, llms.txt and llms-full.txt name the commit
they were built from, version.json the current one, and the
answering rules tell assistants to fetch a stale copy again.
- The deploy lists the pages whose words changed (digests.json) and
posts them to IndexNow once the site is live.
Each claim in the README and the wiki now matches the code or data it
describes: line citations counted as such (93%), closed-source profiles
named, severity tied to the check mode, installs limited to files the
collection holds, and the demo labelled as a demonstration card.
make_demo.py records a second variant: the full-screen interface at the
640x480 screen of an R36S, on an ArkOS root made with bwrap, started as
the Tools menu launcher starts it (RETROBIOS_PAD=gptokeyb), driven by the
keys gptokeyb sends for the buttons. demo.json holds one entry per
variant with its alt text. No Windows variant: under pwsh on Linux the
installer's summary gives --dest /mnt/e/bios back.
The quick install box of Get your files gets an "On the device" tab with
the handheld recording, the terminal recording under the others but
Windows, and, under the text of each computer tab, a drawing of opening
the terminal and pasting (sitesteps.py, inline SVG in the theme's
colours, title and desc). The terminal steps name the physical action.
scripts/build_pypi.py writes a wheel and an sdist from install.py, the
copy install.sh pins, and packaging/pypi. The version is the date of the
release in release.json. validate.yml now runs on packaging/ changes.
The page said a long list opens on None. The list opens on its first
system since the three tick lists share one rule (A on None unticked
every system as a beginner's first press). The page now says what the
screen does, and a test reads both.
The build writes <page>/index.md beside each page, named in its head,
and llms-full.txt. llms.txt and the setup skill say how to answer from
the site, not from memory, and the setup_bios_files WebMCP tool gives a
setup's folder and exact file names from the picker data.
--yes alone installed the whole list, 6.4 GB on a dArkOS card holding
two games, while the screen offers what the games need first. A run that
asks nothing now takes that first choice when the card holds games, and
says so. --all-files installs the whole list. A run given its list
(the screen's own runs) or narrowed by name is unchanged.
The README shows the GIF under the commands. The home page and Get your
files show the video through InstallDemo.astro: nothing is fetched until
it is on screen, reduced motion and Save-Data keep the poster with a play
button, and a description is read to screen readers.
scripts/make_demo.py builds an ArkOS card under tmp/demo/, mounts it in a
user mount namespace, serves the checkout on loopback and runs
docs_assets/demo/install.tape with VHS, then encodes the GIF, WebM, MP4
and poster and holds them to their size targets.
llms.txt and an ARD manifest name the pages and the JSON API, and lead
an agent setting up a device to --for-games --required-only. Every page
registers four read-only WebMCP tools: the setup command, a hash lookup,
an emulator's files and the site search.
--for-games --required-only on a dArkOS card from a computer kept every
file of the list: --dest skipped the card's detection, so its rom
folders were never found. The games part beside the BIOS folder now
names them. The manifest marks a data tree every core runs without
(optional), and --required-only leaves it out: one GBA and one SNES game
took FBNeo's cheats and samples, 3,472 files no game opened.
Mini vMac opens no MinivMacBootv2.dsk at babdf7b5: disks come from a .cmd
(libretro-core.c:181-195) or disk1.dsk to disk9.dsk
(OSGLUERETRO.c:563-579). The name is the one Recalbox's configgen writes
into its .cmd, already recorded in its launchers: layer. Nine manifests
no longer send the 24 MB image to platforms that never open it.
Abdessamad Derraz