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 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.
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.
The v4.8 release publishes four images (Amlogic-ng, GameForce,
OdroidGoAdvance, OdroidM1, read from its asset names). The metapackage
(packages/sx05re/emuelec/package.mk:8-77) builds the S922X cores, dolphinSA
and mame only on Amlogic-ng, Amlogic-no, RK356x and OdroidM1, and removes
duckstation on the handhelds with a sed that replaces the first match only:
pcsx_rearmed, written twice, keeps its 64-bit build. Each package is mapped
to its cores by the .so or program its install step copies, PKG_ARCH is
applied as scripts/build:28-30 does, and es_systems.cfg is edited per
device as emuelec-emulationstation/package.mk:114-143 does. Amlogic-ng and
OdroidM1 list 124 cores, the handhelds 117.
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.
AmberELEC's metapackage adds LIBRETRO_CORES_EXTRA (bsnes, Mesen, melonDS, geolith) only on RG552, RG353 and RG503, and deletes those cores from es_systems.cfg on every other device (packages/amberelec/package.mk:23-31, 45-58 at a21975bf). The new target scraper reads the Makefile's device images, that test and es_systems.cfg the way the platform scraper does: RG351P, RG351V and RG351MP list 125 cores, the other three 136. The installer reads the device from COREELEC_DEVICE in os-release (scripts/image:168).
Every change to install.py meant a sha256sum pasted by hand into
install.sh and install.ps1, and the tests that caught a stale pin
failed on two bare hashes. scripts/pin_installer.py writes both pins
(--check only reports), the pin tests name it, check_freshness reads
the pins through it and refresh_stale runs it for a stale pin row.
check_freshness gained a romfolders area and refresh_stale did not:
its rows were dropped from a saved report without a word, and --only
romfolders was refused. A rom-folder pin is moved by hand, so the area
is listed for a human, a test holds the two area lists equal, and the
--only help names every area.
tools.md said --full-narrowings is refused with --skip-packs only, while
pipeline.py also refuses it with --source platform or truth, and
advanced-usage.md kept a second, shorter list. The tools table now
carries every pair, checked against _refuse_unapplied_flags, and
advanced-usage links to it.
Step 5 compared every narrowed pack with verify and never the --split parts with the full pack, so a part writing a path the full pack settles passed every check. check_split_packs builds each platform's parts in memory and compares their union with the full pack, path for path and byte for byte.
pipeline.py --offline --with-export, listed as a standard command, passes
no --fetch to step 2e: on a fresh clone the database, verify and truth
were built before the export failed on every platform whose own file it
patches. The run is refused before step 0 when .cache/upstream-native/
holds nothing for such a platform, and tools.md says how to fill it.
The catalog table called redump.org's DATs stale and said Dat-o-Matic
blocks automation. redump.org serves BIOS DATs dated 2010 to 2022
(Content-Disposition of /datfile/{psx,ps2,gc,xbox}-bios/, read
2026-11-06), and the Redump row named /static/bios links the scraper
replaced with one /bios/<CODE> route per system.
generate_emulator_pack resolves with offline=offline and fetches a release asset the cache lacks, while verify_emulator resolved offline and called it missing. verify --emulator now applies pending_release_asset as verify --platform does, accepts --offline, and the pipeline compares emulator packs offline on both sides.
tools.md listed what keeps a platform entry out of removal_candidates
without the platform's launchers: records, which candidates.py checks
right after a path (_PROOF_ORDER).
testing-guide listed the generated artifacts without derivable.json and
the run samples of wiki/installer.md, and tools.md gave the manifest
command alone. The nightly's commit rules also had no place for the two
files its offline pipeline rewrites, so autorun stopped on them.
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 ci area of check_freshness read the PyPI and action pins only. The
exact versions website/package.json pins (astro, starlight) now get a row
each, STALE once npm publishes a newer release.
Step 5 builds the --required-only, --no-game-data, --region, --target
and --system packs of every platform in memory and compares their paths
with verify run under the same narrowing. verify_platform gains
required_only, generate_pack a record mode. A run samples three regions,
targets and systems per platform (155 packs, about 3 minutes);
--full-narrowings compares all 1,150 (25 minutes). A test fails when
_narrowings() gains a dimension that is neither compared nor exempted.
pin_frozen was prose, and no tool read the build file it cites, so a platform building another revision left the profile holding one nobody ships. pin_build records the platform, its repository, the revision read, the file, the variable and its value. check_freshness reads the file again where the platform's YAML now stands and reports STALE when the value moved. 36 of the 46 held profiles carry it, each value read from the build file at the platform's scraped revision. The other ten name no build file and are counted on one row: six RetroBat binary packages and four holds not tied to a platform build.
Since fed03c3db _add_zip_to_pack copies every archive of the collection as is. architecture.md and tools.md still said MAME and FBNeo romsets were rebuilt deterministically, so a third party rebuilding neogeo.zip to compare would read a sound pack as corrupt.
Step 5 built emulator packs one profile at a time, where two profiles never share a path. It now also builds each system pack that gathers several profiles and compares it with verify. The first run found five standalone MSX and ColecoVision packs where verify skipped the data tree of a profile the system filter left without files, and credited msx-emu's copies the pack never wrote. verify now places those trees too: 541 system packs, all equal.
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.
--skip-packs said --skip-docs would stop after verify while 4d and 4e still run, and the tools.md flag table left 8b out of --skip-docs. The help, the usage and the flag table now name the steps the step table marks.
Abdessamad Derraz