Unlucky-Launcher/packaging/release-notes.md

# Unlucky Launcher {{VERSION}}

Rust-native **single-file** Minecraft launcher: iced 0.14 + Material 3 Expressive UI, built-in AI agent
(chat / setting edits / crash diagnosis) and an MCP server other agent tools can attach to.
No WebView, no bundled runtime, no JRE download needed to start the launcher itself.

## What's new in {{VERSION}}

- **{{VERSION}} is the first release published as a stable release.** GitHub only points
  `releases/latest` at the newest **non-prerelease** release, so `0.2.2` — kept as a historical
  pre-release, untouched — never appeared there. A pushed tag now creates a stable release by default;
  a pre-release has to be asked for explicitly (`workflow_dispatch` with `prerelease=true`).
- **Self-update works end to end.** `ull update check` / `ull update apply` and the settings panel's
  Update group share one core (`crates/core/src/update/`): manifest, version and channel admission,
  length + SHA256 verification, and an atomic rename-based swap that rolls back on failure. Only the
  stable channel is published today.
- **Online content library (Modrinth, anonymous).** Search, project details and version lists come from
  Modrinth's v2 API with facets derived from the target instance, and a known hash completes a remote
  entry. Being offline is reported as "not connected", never as "no matching content".
- **Per-file decisions when importing a modpack.** The pre-import scan lists every conflicting file in
  pages of 40, and you choose keep-all, overwrite-all, or per item; files that do not conflict are
  never rewritten, and the report names every conflict afterwards.
- **Per-instance launch arguments.** JVM arguments, game arguments, memory, the Java executable and the
  graphics backend (`default` / `opengl` / `vulkan`) are set per instance, each field falling back on
  its own to the global setting and then the factory default. The CLI reads the same resolved values.

## Downloads

Asset names are `<name>_<version>_<platform>_<arch>`, underscore separated — the rule
`packaging/make_artifacts.py::asset_stem()` applies:

| Platform | Asset | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Windows 10/11 x64 | `unlucky-launcher_{{VERSION}}_windows_x64.exe` | single exe, double-click to run; this is also what you run on ARM64 Windows (x64 emulation) |

**Windows ARM64 is not part of this release.** CI still builds it on a native `windows-11-arm` runner (Windows 11
Arm64 with Visual Studio 2026), but the build has not delivered an artifact yet, so
`unlucky-launcher_{{VERSION}}_windows_arm64.exe` is deliberately kept out of the download list and out of
`SHA256SUMS.txt` instead of handing out a build nobody has verified. Worth stating plainly: every ARM64 failure
so far happened in a **pre-build toolchain probe** that guessed whether the SDK's ARM64 import libraries were
present and aborted before `cargo build` ever ran — the compiler and linker have not been heard from yet. That
probe is now evidence-only (it prints what it sees and never decides the job), so the next CI run is the first
one that can actually answer the question. `windows-x64` is the only published slot; ARM64 rejoins this table as
soon as a run produces its artifact (one line in the workflow's `PUBLISH_SLOTS`, guarded on both sides by
`packaging/check_publish_slots.py`).

**This release ships Windows only, and CI builds Windows only.** The Linux (x64 / arm64) and macOS
(Apple Silicon / Intel) slots are not built by the release workflow at all — they have not been verified
on real machines yet, so nothing unverified is handed out and no build minutes are spent on them. They
stay out of the download list and out of `SHA256SUMS.txt` until that verification happens; a manual
workflow run can build all six slots for that purpose, but the four extra slots are never published. The
support matrix below marks those slots accordingly.

The Windows asset is a bare `.exe`, so `LICENSE`, `NOTICE` and `README.md` are attached to this release
next to it: the license terms travel with every download. Slots that ship an archive (Linux / macOS, once
published) unpack to one top-level directory of the same name holding the binary plus those three
documents.

## Command line

Each published slot also ships the command line as its own small bare asset,
`ull_{{VERSION}}_<platform>_<arch>` (`.exe` on Windows):

```powershell
.\ull_{{VERSION}}_windows_x64.exe instances list   # servers and CI: no graphics stack needed
```

`ull` runs `instances`, `install`, `pack import`, `launch`, `accounts`, `sessions`, `logs`, `diag`,
`config`, `java` and `agent`, and links no graphics library at all. The GUI binary accepts the same set
before it ever opens a window, so a desktop machine does not need `ull`.

## Updating

The launcher reads `releases/latest/download/manifest.json` on startup (switchable: `update.auto_check`)
and shows four distinct outcomes: up to date, an update is available, a newer version exists but ships no
artifact for this platform, or the check itself failed. `ull update check` prints the same verdict, and
`ull update apply` downloads, verifies SHA256 and swaps the binary atomically, rolling back if the swap
fails. Nothing installs without you asking for it.

## Support matrix

Published = shipped as a download of **this** release, listed in `SHA256SUMS.txt`.

| Platform | Status in this release | Level | Runtime requirements |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Windows 10/11 x64 | **published** | first class | nothing beyond the OS (UCRT is part of Win10+) |
| Windows 11 ARM64 | not published (build evidence only) | first class (launcher artifact) | nothing extra; the launcher runs natively, the game itself runs through the OS x64 emulation layer with an x64 JDK |
| macOS 12+ Apple Silicon | not built (unverified) | first class (unverified) | nothing; unsigned build, needs the Gatekeeper workaround |
| macOS 12+ Intel | not built (unverified) | first class (unverified) | same as above |
| Linux x64, X11 | not built (unverified) | first class (unverified) | `libxkbcommon`, `fontconfig`, `libGL` (or software renderer), `libxcb` |
| Linux x64, Wayland | not built (unverified) | supported (unverified) | `wayland-client`, `libxkbcommon`, plus the X11 set for XWayland apps |
| Linux arm64, X11 | not built (unverified) | first class (unverified) | glibc 2.35+, `libxkbcommon`, `fontconfig`, `libGL`, `libxcb` |
| Linux arm64, Wayland | not built (unverified) | supported (unverified) | the above plus `wayland-client` |
| Windows 8.1/8/7 | not built | unsupported | the baseline is Windows 10 |
| Android — Termux + X11 | not built (no CI slot) | experimental, not promised | CLI and GUI from source only; GUI verified on-device twice: CPU software rendering and self-built Mesa/turnip GPU acceleration (see `packaging/docs/termux-glibc-build.md` and `README.termux.md`) |

`windows-x64` is the only published slot this release; Windows ARM64 stays out until a CI run actually produces
its artifact (see Downloads above — so far every ARM64 failure was the pre-build probe, never the compiler).
Both arm64 rows are formal matrix slots, not the experimental Termux path, and Linux arm64 is not built by
default — someone has to run it on real hardware (via a manual all-slots run) before it joins this list. The
rows above and the matrix table in `packaging/docs/compliance-support-boundaries.md` §9 are the same list —
change one, change the other.

## Install

**Windows** — put the `.exe` anywhere and run it. `_windows_x64.exe` is the only Windows asset in this
release, and it is also what you run on ARM64 Windows (the OS runs it through its x64 emulation layer).
The first run creates `.ULL/` and `.minecraft/` next to the exe (portable is the default data mode); the
per-user `%APPDATA%\ULL` plus `%APPDATA%\.minecraft`, or a custom root, are selectable instead.

Linux / macOS are not part of this release; their asset names are already fixed by the same rule
(`unlucky-launcher_{{VERSION}}_linux_x64.tar.gz`, `_linux_arm64`, `_macos_arm64`, `_macos_x64`) so the
links will not change shape when those slots open.

## No GPU? Software renderer

The UI renders through `wgpu` (GPU) and falls back to the `tiny-skia` CPU rasteriser when no usable
adapter is present; `--software-renderer` (or its equivalent `--renderer=cpu`) forces that path.

## Verify the download

`SHA256SUMS.txt` lists exactly the assets attached to this release (Windows only), and `sha256sum -c`
checks the ones you actually downloaded:

```bash
sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS.txt --ignore-missing   # Linux / WSL
shasum -a 256 -c SHA256SUMS.txt                # macOS (sha256sum is not bundled)
Get-FileHash .\unlucky-launcher_{{VERSION}}_windows_x64.exe -Algorithm SHA256   # Windows PowerShell
```

```
{{SUMS}}
```

## Known limitations of this build

- Microsoft (MSA) sign-in works out of the box: this build carries the Azure public client id it needs
  (a public client id, not a credential — it ships inside the binary), so there is nothing to configure
  before signing in. Setting `ULL_MSA_CLIENT_ID=<id>` before launching still overrides it; the variable
  is read at startup, so restart the launcher after changing it. A build with no id anywhere stops
  before any network call, and the GUI banner says so plainly: the title "Microsoft sign-in is not
  configured", a body naming `ULL_MSA_CLIENT_ID=<id>` (set it, or build with it, then restart) and
  `Code: msa_not_configured`, with no Retry button. Every other sign-in failure keeps the generic
  banner plus its own `Code:` line, with the full reason only in the launcher log. `ull accounts add
  msa` prints the same fix on the command line. Offline profiles and authlib-injector servers need no
  id.
- Binaries are not code-signed / notarized yet: Windows SmartScreen and macOS Gatekeeper warn on first
  launch. The checksums above are the integrity reference for now.
- When the macOS slot ships it is the bare binary (single-file promise), not a `.app` bundle: no Dock
  icon or Finder double-click — launch it from a terminal.

## License

Apache-2.0, third-party notices in `NOTICE`. Not affiliated with Mojang or Microsoft; no game files ship.

## UI framework in this build

Every asset here is built from the iced UI (`crates/app-iced`, iced 0.14, MIT); no other UI framework is
linked into it.