RetroBat's Pico8 generator runs pico8.exe from AppConfig.GetFullPath:
the emulatorLauncher.cfg key, else the first existing of four folders of
the RetroBat install. The registry describes that search
(emulators_directory) and the manifest writes such a file as
root: emulators. The installer places it only when the BIOS folder sits
beside RetroBat's launcher config and the config does not move the
folder, and names it no_emulators_directory otherwise. Packs skip it as
they skip root: roms.
The PICO-8 0.2.7 Windows build (pico8.exe, SDL2.dll) is collected from
the archive.org copy of pico-8_0.2.7_windows.zip, its pico8.dat being
the 0.2.7 one already held.
Kronos reads kronos/stvbios.zip, else stvbios.zip at the root of the
system directory, and a ST-V game stops without either
(libretro.c:1608-1617, 1676-1681 at the pin). The archive under
archive_prefix and the root copy are one need, but only loose entries
could be members, so the required-only pack carried both.
An archive's own entry now joins a set like a loose file. verify
--emulator and the emulator pack settle archive units with the loose
entries, the required-only pick covers them, find_undeclared_files
and cross_reference record them, and the unit under archive_prefix
ranks before the same name at the root. Its members still settle the
archive by their contents. Kronos' stvbios.zip is grouped stv-bios.
No other profile reads one archive under two paths: odin and
tgpulse_next_m1 place their own entries at the prefix path, and
flycast's naomi.zip has one path per build.
A platform that binds part of a standalone layout leaves the entries no
binding covers in a folder outside the BIOS tree: they are no longer
packed at the BIOS root, and the manifest names them (root: emulator,
outside_bios_folder). A launcher that executes a profile's file binds
the program folder: in the BIOS tree, below the roms directory a registry
entry names (root: roms, installed into the folder holding the BIOS
folder), or nowhere a pack reaches. A moved entry resolves by its own
path as well as by its destination.
uae4all gains kick.rom and rom.key in its working directory and loses a
not_bundled_on that named Recalbox, which runs uae4all-rpi. lexaloffle
declares that its programs read beside their executable, lists the
Windows build RetroBat runs and the pico8_dyn ROCKNIX runs on x86_64.
Three changes to the search-list model, one commit because the readers
and the profiles must move together for the schema to hold.
Set requirement in a groups map. pom2 falls back on apple2.rom for the
][ and the ][+, and on apple2e.rom for the //e it boots and for the
unenhanced //e: one required on the file could not say both. A profile
now declares groups: {name: {required}}, a member writes no required
of its own (schema and validate_schemas refuse one) and load_emulator_
profiles derives it, true when one of its sets is. group takes a name,
a list, or a map from set to rank where the rank differs per set. pom2
is grouped from SystemProfile.cpp and MainWindow.cpp:246-296 at its pin.
One member per required set under --required-only. The pick is the
first the code reads among the held members the region filter leaves,
by rank then declaration order; a set the platform declares a member
of is carried by that declaration. The emulator pack, verify
--emulator, the platform pack, its manifest and verify --platform read
alternatives.required_only_spares or core_file_spares.
variant_group is now selection_slot: files a core chooses between by
a rule other than first found (disc territory for PicoDrive and
Pizza Boy SC, the o2em_bios option, a WebAssembly probe in SWF
Player). Where the code takes any one, the field became a group:
ARMSX1 (ArmSxBackend.java:149-157, name order), ePSXe (load_bios
0x433540-0x433621 of the 2.0.5 Linux x64 binary, one configured path,
HLE when BiosHLE is set), FPse and FPse-NG, DXX-Rebirth's HOGs
(inferno.cpp:472-512). odin and zesarux carried it with no effect.
slot.py compares ranks only between candidates that share a set.
A copies record names its files under search_dir, the folder the code
copies from, and passes_to is the target, as the schema and RetroPie,
RetroDECK and AmberELEC already write it. KNULLI listed patches.zip
under the BIOS folder it is copied into, and KNULLI and RetroBat wrote
the target as prose with the condition. The condition of a copy now
goes in depends_on_option. Only launcher records change in knulli.yml
and retrobat.yml.
A core that loads the first of several names (yabause: saturn_bios.bin,
sega_101.bin, mpr-17933.bin) needs one of them. Profiles wrote this as
required on the first name and optional on the others, so verify and
the gap report called saturn_bios.bin a missing required file while
sega_101.bin was held, and a set held only through a name marked
optional read as a need met by an optional file.
Model: an explicit group on the file entry, mirroring the platform
field. priority was not reused: it is a rank, read by slot.py, region.py
and truth.py inside a (system, region) slot, and that slot is not the
set. px68k-sdl ranks its IPL list and its font list each from 1 in one
system, pom2 ranks one list per machine model, DuckStation ranks 105
images across every region and takes any of them. A rank cannot say
where one list ends. priority stays the order inside a group.
Readers, through alternatives.settle_sets:
- verify --emulator and the emulator pack: a held member fills the
set, the others leave the report, a set nobody holds is one gap
under its first member naming the others.
- find_undeclared_files (verify platform, core complement of packs and
manifests): same rule, a platform declaration or launcher counts as
answering the set.
- cross_reference: excused members are set aside as other versions.
- slot.py: ranks compare members of one set only.
- archive members: a required set inside an archive is met by one.
- truth: a member gives no requirement of its own, one_of and
one_of_required carry the set, and the exporters and the diff leave
such a line's required as the platform wrote it.
- validate_schemas: members of a group share required.
The merge of 6c1446886 took one side of wiki/installer.md for its generated samples and dropped four hand-written changes from the other (folder browser text, --restore row, muOS card text, a kept-file sample). Redone as a three-way merge, samples regenerated.
A list naming retroarch now takes the libretro profiles whose built_by names the platform: ROCKNIX ships yabadabadoo with its RetroArch and named it nowhere, so its files never reached the ROCKNIX pack. Only change across the registry: rocknix + yabadabadoo. Also quotes the installer's current unproven-drive message.
- 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.
--fetch also exported and stopped on the absent dist/truth before any
download, so CI skipped every exporter fidelity case and tolerated the
step. --refresh-cache only downloads: the step can no longer fail
unseen.
RomM 5.4.1 and ROCKNIX 20261101 are the revisions the platform files now
name. firmware.py:58-76, base_handler.py:1002 and rocknix-systems:137-197
still cover the cited code at those tags. The native field table lists
RetroBat's group.
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 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.
Abdessamad Derraz