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.
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.
The README ran 211 lines and 2,000 words: five commands with options,
an 18-row download table, coverage figures and the build commands, all
before the help. It now says what the project does, gives the line that
installs for Windows and for the rest, shows it, lists the six ZIPs and
the setups that install by command, and leads to the site, where the
figures and every option live. The build commands sit in a closed block.
No personal pronoun is left in its text.
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.
Code moved to sitecollection.py and the triage progress added errors
the baseline did not hold. A reused loop name, two lists without a
type, returns without a value, and a regex match read without a test
for None. Two baseline entries no longer occur and are removed.
validate.yml runs mypy against its baseline and checks that shellcheck
is installed, and pr_checks ran neither. The guard test only knew the
python, vermin and npm commands, so it missed both. A step can now pipe
its output into a second command, as mypy into mypy-baseline filter.
RetroPie was the only platform with status: archived, which kept it out
of verify --all, slots, the pipeline and list_platforms unless
--include-archived was typed. release_pack already decides which packs a
release publishes and the installer serves every platform, so the status
set nothing apart. The field, its schema entry and the flag are gone, and
RetroPie is covered by every full run like any other platform.
The v2026.10.10 notes said a pack holds every file its emulators open, so
a game never stops on a missing file, and that hashes never come from a
forum list: the gap analysis lists files no pack carries, and in md5
mode a pack keeps the platform's own md5 (verification-modes.md). The
generated text and the README now point to the gap analysis, and
release_notes.py refuses a whats-new text holding a judging or
contradicted phrase.
install.py tells a MiSTer card by its MiSTer binary and menu.rbf since
73b82375d. installer.md said so, the FAQ and the README did not, and sent a
MiSTer user to --dest the card's root, where nothing reads the files.
profile_sync.py finds and fetches the project's main by itself. The
documented --base upstream/main failed in any clone without that remote,
where the same command without --base passes.
The README, the setup pages and adding-a-platform tied archived to a
scraping schedule and a CI matrix that do not exist. Archived keeps a
platform out of the runs that cover every platform unless
--include-archived is passed.
The report named the folder of each file and left the copy to the contributor, one file and one .variants/ name at a time. --place copies each recognised file from outside bios/ to its folder under the name the lists declare, or to the .variants/ slot of a name already held, never over a file. A hash with two names or two folders is not placed.
A remote named upstream added as CONTRIBUTING said and never fetched made validate_pr --changed compare with the fork's main and exit 0 on nothing. It now fetches the project's main when the remote does not hold it. profile_sync names the fetch when --base is absent, and CONTRIBUTING adds git fetch upstream.
CONTRIBUTING sent any file over the browser's 25 MB through a clone, which GitHub refuses past 100 MB, and named a release only a maintainer can write to. It now gives the route validate_pr.py prints: an issue with the hashes.
CONTRIBUTING named the checks CI runs on a pull request and left out the npm build, validate_site.py, vermin and the pip packages the test job installs. A wiki-only change passed every listed check and failed CI.
The site, the README and the wiki take the screen's row names and the
--check pass line from install.py, and the wiki's line menu example is
written by generate_installer_doc from the function line mode runs.
which-pack describes the full screen the one-liner opens instead of a line
menu typed by hand. The systems question lays out in 80 columns under
Python 3.8, whose pty reports no width, and a test no longer reads the
host's drives.
The site serves install.sh at /retrobios/i and install.ps1 at
/retrobios/i.ps1. generate_site.py writes both copies with the
installer address set to install.py at the commit the site is built
from (GITHUB_SHA in CI, HEAD locally), so the pinned SHA-256 and the
downloaded installer always come from one commit, including while a
deploy is still running.
Every command a user copies names the short address. The raw form
stays on the installer page as the fallback. Deploy Site now runs on
changes to install.sh and install.ps1. The install box weight keeps
the address length its ratio was fitted on, so no console page moves.
The README, the installer steps, the choice of what to install and platform detection still described the line prompts as what a terminal shows. They now name the full-screen interface first, with --plain for the questions, and say that no default folder is taken where detection was refused.
get/<platform>/ lists the files of the current release pack, read from
release.json, or gives the command for a setup without one. The README,
setup pages, Get your files and the release notes link it instead of
asset URLs, which die with each deleted tag. Setups without a ZIP say so
with the command beside it, and validate_site checks every get/ page.
Abdessamad Derraz