The tools page lists the load and fallback lines each core's BIOS is read from, and core_probe rejudge. The method page says a game can work on the emulator's own BIOS.
run_cli entry point, --platform through platform_arg with -p and the registry's suggestion, help on every option, typed probe_lock, options documented, the module in the testing guide. The platform Tested rows fold under one line, run output joined without semicolons, and the measurements page section fits its start-level budget.
PCSX-ReARMed opens the three regional BIOS files whatever the disc, and the rule called that a confirmation because one of them held the region. A run that opened its own region's file and the others too now settles nothing.
The first runs showed it: beetle_psx reaches the game of the US disc on the Japanese and European BIOS, through a different licence screen, so its frames differ from the full run while the oracle says boots. The interim rule read those frames as a failure. A variant now boots on the same frames as the full run or by its oracle verdict, and otherwise has no answer.
standalone_probe now holds the host probe lock for one run, its load check included, as core_probe does, and the docs no longer wrap region_check or standalone_probe in flock.
core_probe takes probe.lock itself around one execution, load check included, and releases it when the run ends. A campaign pass never holds it between runs, so two passes interleave. RETROBIOS_PROBE_LOCK names another file, RETROBIOS_PROBE_LOCK_HELD says the caller holds it. Tests use their own lock file.
pack_probe holds ~/.local/state/retrobios/probe.lock around each core_probe run and releases it between runs, so a platform pass never blocks other probes for its whole length.
The FAQ table of arcade romsets was typed by hand and told readers to
collect MAME 0.160 and FinalBurn Neo 1.0.0.2 sets for cores whose source
states 0.159 and 1.0.0.03. generate_site now writes it between generated
markers from the profiles, and a test holds the page to the generator.
An emulator page names where its version is read (the file, the tag and
the commits after it, the package), and says when the code states none
or the version could not be confirmed. HBMAME no longer claims a MAME
romset. tools.md and profiling.md document version_basis and the two
modes.
core_probe refuses to record above its load threshold. region_check gave up on the first refusal, so twelve runs ended at once on a host still busy from the previous run. It now tries a refused run again every 15 seconds for up to --max-load-wait seconds, the threshold unchanged.
hle_fallback needs the file to change the run: Beetle PSX hashes every file of its folder, so opened is not used. PCSX-ReARMed hides the BIOS logo by default: its BIOS load line stands for the bios stage. A check runs again only when the oracle entries of its content and core change, and the rules run on every pass from the kept records.
The new probes now refuse abbreviated options, read the GitHub token through github_headers, type every signature and document every option. The site build watches region_check.py and the content list, and validate.yml's tests/** counts as watching the list. The testing guide names the two new test modules.
The Tested blocks and the explorer show each variant's verdict. A frame comparison from before the oracle shows no verdict. The SQLite variants table gains verdict columns. The method page says what each verdict means and how a file is proven.
campaign.py install-timer writes the autorun units and enables nothing unless --enable is passed. The docs say a contributor who wants a schedule on their own machine installs the timer.
A step marked github_token: true receives the token. autorun accepts the key only on check_freshness.py, refresh_stale.py and python -m scripts.scraper.* tracked in this repository, refuses it on any other step and in the campaign job. The nightly steps declare it.
Host git only fetches into bare mirrors no sandbox ever sees, https only, with no user or system config and overrides emptying hooks, fsmonitor, ssh and proxy commands and every filter driver the mirror defines. Each build is a git archive of the commit and of each submodule commit from its own mirror. Old working-tree clones are deleted. The core copied out must be a regular file inside the build folder, opened without following links.
make runs on a git archive export of the commit and its submodules, the clone and its .git never bound into the sandbox. Host-side git runs with no user or system config, no hooks, no fsmonitor and the file and ext transports refused.
Runs the jobs of automation/jobs.yml under one host lock, with load and disk guards, one idle retry on a host misread, artifacts computed twice, explicit-path commits in .cache/autorun/worktree, an opt-in push (--push) and a CI circuit breaker. First jobs: nightly refresh chain, large-files asset dry run, disk cleanup and check, weekly bios integrity. install-timers writes systemd user units without enabling them.
Each line of measurements/<emulator>.jsonl now holds the whole run:
every repetition, core logs, per-frame hashes and raw timings. The gzip
data files, the data schema and the split and join code are gone, and
core_probe --record appends one line. record_version moves to 3.
The seven records are rewritten once: each new line equals its old line
joined with its data file, and rebuilds the first-layout file its id
hashes.
core_probe options --emulator, --subject and --supersedes, the record split into line and sidecar, sync_measurements.py and what the site build compiles from the pin.
The probe skipped run_cli, accepted option prefixes in its shared options, left three options undocumented and was missing from the published schemas. The worker runs under -I, so the script directory is put back on sys.path before importing common.
A check is inconclusive when the compared observable differs between repetitions, a run fails to load or a file changes during it. A disagreement on another observable stays flagged without voiding the comparison. Core log lines name the staged directories instead of the host paths.
core_probe.py loads a libretro core with no window, runs it for a
number of frames and reports the files it opened (strace), its log
lines, frame, audio and save-state hashes and its speed. bench repeats
a run after warm-up and gives median, mean, deviation and range; check
swaps one system file between runs and compares one observable.
--record writes a JSON record with the core build, frontend commit,
host and every input by hash, validated against
core-probe-record.schema.json. A busy host is refused, and a
repetition that disagrees with the first is flagged.
A project that tags without releases (eightyone, higan) was never compared,
and a core_version naming no tag (parallel-launcher 9.0.5 beside v9.0-6)
silenced the passed-release warning. The newest tag stands in when it is a
version number, and an untagged core_version is compared by number within
one scheme. --emulator is repeatable: a stored value kept only the last.
Abdessamad Derraz