An element's mandatory flag came from the one truth entry its md5 paired
with. saturn/saturn_bios.bin names yabause, yabasanshiro and kronos,
which require it, and was paired with the beetle_saturn entry, which
does not. Each named core's entries for the file, found by name, now
decide, except a namesake elsewhere in the same tree (bluemsx KANJI.rom
under Shared Roms is not the one under MSX2+ - European).
The 3.12 guard rested on generate_readme f-strings that have since been
rewritten. Every script compiles under CPython 3.9.25, 3.10 and 3.11, and
only generate_pack's parenthesized context managers fail under 3.8. Under
3.9 the offline pipeline (--skip-packs) completed with no change to the
committed artifacts, the 15 manifests matched 3.12 byte for byte, and the
RomM pack was identical. CI now compiles every script under a real 3.9.
The recipe snapshot kept only the archives a profile or platform names,
so provenance_report --missing named no set for dumps a public romset
carries (fm7740sx holds the FM77AV40SX DICROM, EXTSUB and KANJI2 ROMs).
The importer now also keeps the sets holding a catalog entry the
collection lacks. Reimported from mame0289 and the cached FBNeo DATs:
MAME 1726 to 2148 recipes, FBNeo 104 to 111, none dropped.
The help said "Only regenerate DB and verify" while steps 1b, 4d, 7 and
8 still ran and rewrote derivable.json, README.md and docs/. It now names
the steps it skips and points to --skip-docs.
Started outside the repository root, both ended on a FileNotFoundError
traceback: the database and the data registry name files from the root.
They now move to the root after reading the paths the caller typed, which
stay relative to where they were typed.
_enrich_hashes repeated "ground truth" five times with capitalised
insistence for a three-step lookup, and the MAME ZIP rebuild listed
three guarantees of which two were the same.
Every step runs from the repository root, but the lock and the purge of
stale packs read --output-dir from the caller's directory. Started from
scripts/, the run locked and purged scripts/dist/ and wrote to dist/,
leaving the stale packs there. The directory is now made absolute before
the lock, dist/ at the root by default.
Quick Install was the one Title Case heading left in the published
text. The Files sentence was glued to the paragraph above it, two
paragraphs before the table whose column it describes. It now names
the column and sits just above the table.
The triage, --changed-only and --strict counted refs only. Prose that
--realign-prose would move or refuse blocks every recale and bump, and
blastem read 0 to review. Each report now carries that reading. The
triage also gets a header, a closing count, and one sampling notice per
run instead of one per profile.
The RetroPie target scraper read master and the EmuDeck one the default
branch, while both platform files are pinned on a commit: a module flag
changed in between filtered packages the pinned list does not describe.
Both now read the revision pinned_revision returns, which also accepts the
codeload URL the RetroPie scraper records. EmuDeck Windows stays on the
emudeck-we default branch: the platform file pins no revision of it.
The lock refusal, "no pack for", "no manifest for" and "no pack to
verify" went to stdout, so a run redirected to a log exited 1 with
nothing on the terminal. A test reads both scripts and refuses an ERROR
line printed to stdout.
generate_pack refreshed the data directories before probing its output
lock. The refresh waits for every run holding a tree, and a pipeline holds
them all: a second build sat silent for hours instead of being refused.
The output lock is now taken first, and a refresh that has to wait for a
tree names it.
A value of another length was looked up as an MD5 and reported NOT FOUND,
a SHA-256 was dropped, and an input with no hash ended on "No valid
hashes found in input". Digests are now read by length (CRC32, MD5 and
its 29-digit Batocera form, SHA-1, SHA-256), SHA-256 is looked up in the
database, and any other value is refused with the formats accepted.
kronos tags the ST-V BIOS epr-19854.ic8 taiwan, mednafen_stv tags it
asia-ntsc, the SMPC area Mednafen names for Taiwan (ss.cpp:1119,
2363-2364). As siblings under asia they never matched, so a request in
one spelling dropped the file tagged in the other, and --region
taiwan,us dropped the Saturn sega_101.bin. AREA_TERRITORIES relates
each area to the territory it serves, china for asia-pal included, in
region.py and its installer copy.
--platform retroarch --system sony-playstaton listed the first ten systems
of the alphabet. The warning now names the closest systems and the
command that lists the platform's own, as --system alone already did.
The region grouping and phase 2 of each pack and manifest called
find_undeclared_files with the same arguments: 30 reports for the 15
manifests of --all --manifest, 2.8 s, now 15 and 1.7 s. The 15 manifests
are byte-identical before and after.
One unparsable commit in a profile's history stopped the walk and
marked every older prose citation unknown, which refused the recale and
bump for good (lindbergh-loader, df7346b3). The revision is now passed
over unless the pins differ on its two sides while the field's
citations changed across it.
_fetch_asset hashed the cache copy, then hashed the path again for the
release check. A copy another run promoted in between answered the second
question, and the caller was told the cache held nothing when it held
the file asked for. Both checks now read one snapshot, taken while the
inode stays the same.
A source_commit string from before the field was keyed by mode pinned
the standalone repository, yet was read as a writing pin for every mode.
xenia-edge then saw its libretro pin move under unchanged prose, and
the recale and bump were refused.
refresh_data_dirs printed one line per entry and no total, a dry run named
the cached tag only, and cutting a quoted ETag at 12 characters kept one
quote. The run now ends on refreshed / up to date / failed counts, a dry
run shows the remote tag beside the cached one, and tags lose their quotes
before they are cut.
The role a part writes (source or upstream) was kept per path, first
met first kept, so a later part naming the other role was read in the
other repository. In prose the word source made a citation external
and the word upstream was dropped. The role now travels on each part.
An element whose md5 the truth contradicts without naming another is
written back whole. It was counted as an entry the format cannot keep.
It now counts as kept, and the md5 it keeps is named as withheld.
check_freshness --only native rebuilds the truth model to compare it, and
the hash conflict notes generate_truth reports opened the freshness output.
They are dropped there, and any other stderr line still passes through.
RomM compares file_size_bytes with the entry's size before any hash. A
new hash the truth gives no size for went out beside the old size and
was reported as a size removal. The entry now stays as written and the
correction is withheld and named.
The coreinfo area compared .info names only: a firmwareN_path added to a
profiled core's .info came out OK. check_freshness now compares each
profiled .info's git blob with platforms/_core_info.json, recorded on
2026-10-21 from the current listing, and --record-coreinfo CORE records
one as reviewed.
Downloader rejects an entry without an integer size (db_entity.py:187)
and compares it after each fetch (fetch_file_worker.py:127). A new hash
the truth gives no size for is withheld and named, not written beside
the old size nor reported as a size removal.
An element lists its cores. Its mandatory flag now follows whether those
cores need the file, and stays as written where none of them reads it.
cdi/cdibios.zip keeps mandatory=false (same_cdi does not read it), the
two amiberry kickstarts keep theirs, saturn_bios.bin becomes optional
for the three HLE cores it names.
diff_platform compared only version, files and core lists: a rescrape
that changed launchers, dual_mode_cores or a system's core, native_id or
data_directories came out identical. Every other field is now compared,
without the revision read (source) and the source_ref lines that move with it.
Every member was deflated, archives and PNGs included. On the 2026-10-20
RetroArch pack the .zip, .7z, .chd, .png, .ogg and .pk4 members are 2.1 GB
that took 28 s to deflate again for 9.6 MB saved (0.45 %), and about 16 GB
for 72 MB across all packs. Those formats are now stored. The choice reads
the member name only, so a pack stays byte-reproducible.
Bios.cpp:64-68 hashes a .zip with Zip::Md5Composite, the md5 of its
members in name order. A profile's md5 on an archive is the container's,
so it neither pairs with, corrects nor fills that field, and an archive
addition with only a container md5 is left out.
The buildbot system row was planned as refresh_data_dirs.py --key
'buildbot system', which always exits 1 on an unknown key. A data row now
runs only when its subject is a _data_dirs.yml entry; the rest is shown
for a human to add.
scraper_cli wrote a platform YAML with no system when the parse came back
empty, and exited 0. It now exits 1 before writing, unless the scraper
declares lists_files = False (RetroPie, whose files are inherited); RetroPie
in turn raises when its archive declares no package.
_stable_hashes retried through the hash cache, so both retries returned
the first reading and the file was read once before the manifest run
stopped. The retries now read the file again.
Both are written as <platform>.json. --manifest-targets aimed at install/
replaced install/retroarch.json with a target table, and --manifest aimed
at install/targets/ did the reverse, both with exit 0. Each mode now stops
when the output directory holds the other kind and names the directory to
use.
The Required packs and manifests carried every data tree, the FreeIntv
overlays included. A data_directories entry now accepts required: false,
and the platform, emulator and manifest walks leave such a tree out under
--required-only. FreeIntv reads its overlays only with the multi-screen
option and draws a placeholder keypad without one (src/libretro.c:294-296,
350-369).
The MAME and FBNeo hash scrapers cached an empty parse for 24 hours and
reported OK. Both now raise before writing, and an empty cache is never
served as fresh.
--verify-packs after an --all-variants build rebuilt only the full pack's
name and opened it alone. The five narrowed packs of the same run passed
without a line. Each one is now named with the hash check the build ran
on its members.
--emulator accepts a buildbot core name from a profile's cores:, and a
mistyped target gets the closest names instead of every target. diff_truth
shows destinations and reports unpaired entries as evidence, not removals.
The verify summary counts discrepancies, a shared destination names both
systems, a truth hash conflict names both cores, and pipeline steps carry
their place in the real run instead of N/8. Every GitHub API caller takes
the token from github_token(), which falls back to gh auth token.
Troubleshooting, the FAQ and the download page sent people who only ran
the installer to verify.py, which reads the repository, not their BIOS
folder. Download links now name the exact asset of the recorded release,
the --dest example names the BIOS folder on the card, the slice layout
left with the last release that used it, and the shown verify output is
what the tool prints.
A fork's GITHUB_TOKEN is read-only, so the comment never arrived and a
valid file turned red. The report now goes to the job summary for every
pull request, and the comment and labels run only where the token can
write. validate_pr points an oversized file to an issue instead of a
platform setting a contributor cannot use.
RetroPie's YAML listed no standalone_cores, so every package was laid
out as a libretro core and the standalone files of amiberry, dolphin,
hatari, mame and ppsspp never reached the pack. Packages without the
lr- prefix (bar the retroarch frontend) are now standalone, and names
shipped both ways are dual-mode.
Abdessamad Derraz