ANetBBS Changelog

Versions are internal build numbers. Public releases are tagged
separately. Current release: v1.0b2.58 (July 2026). Full release: August 1 2026.

v1.0a2.159 — Fix QWK art scatter: strip record-boundary \n; pipe colors in terminal (June 2026)

• Root cause: QWK 0xE3 record separators are stored as \n in the DB. When the body has cursor-positioning sequences, those \n characters were inserting spurious line breaks between records, moving the cursor to the wrong row before the next \x1b[r;cH could reposition it. Each record's content landed on the wrong visual row, producing the scattered-fragment display.
• web/render_msg.py render_msg_body / render_msg_body_rich: Now uses to_html() from features/ansi_html.py (VT renderer) instead of the local streaming _ansi_to_html that silently dropped cursor-pos sequences. When cursor-pos sequences are detected after CSI-fix and pipe-code conversion, \n chars are stripped before calling the VT renderer. Flat-art and plain-text messages continue to use the streaming path.
• features/bbs_ui.py read_echo_area: (1) Removed _BLOCK_ART fallback — only messages with detected cursor-positioning sequences trigger full-screen raw display; flat art goes to scrollable ANView. (2) For cursor-pos art: \n stripped from body_unicode before streaming to terminal. (3) Added |NN pipe color → ANSI SGR conversion applied to body_unicode before display (handles Synchronet/Mystic pipe codes in message signatures and art).

v1.0a2.158 — Strip SAUCE record from ANSI art before rendering (June 2026)

• echomail/qwk.py _parse_messages_dat: Strip the SAUCE metadata record at QWK import time. At the first \x1a (Ctrl+Z) byte in the decoded body, truncate — everything from \x1a onward is the binary SAUCE header (title, author, group, date, resolution fields) that, when passed to a renderer, appears as random ANSI sequences and scatters content across the display. Existing DB messages are handled at display time.
• features/bbs_ui.py read_echo_area: Strip the SAUCE record from the body before CSI fix and CP437 decode. Applies to all messages already in the DB regardless of when they were imported.
• features/ansi_html.py to_html: Strip the SAUCE record for string input. The bytes-input path already handled \x1aSAUCE stripping; this adds the same protection for the common string path used when rendering messages from the DB.

v1.0a2.157 — ANSI art full-width VT renderer + block-char detection (June 2026)

• features/ansi_html.py _to_html_vt: VT renderer now renders every row to the full WIDTH (80 columns) instead of stopping at that row's max_c. Previously, rows with sparse content (art that writes only a few characters at specific columns) appeared as narrow bars in the browser; now all rows are consistently 80 chars wide, preserving the 2-D portrait shape.
• features/ansi_html.py to_html: Added _HAS_BLOCK_ART detection. When the body contains CP437 block/half-block characters (█ ▄ ▀ ░ ▒ ▓ or latin-1 mojibake equivalents U+00B0-B2, U+00DB-DF) together with any ANSI escape, the VT renderer is used instead of the streaming renderer. Covers flat ANSI art (no cursor-positioning) that previously got the fast streaming path.
• features/bbs_ui.py read_echo_area: (1) Added f to _HAS_CPOS regex (HP-style cursor-pos alias for H, was missing). (2) Added block-char detection as a fallback: CP437 block chars in latin-1 mojibake form trigger raw terminal display even when no cursor-pos sequences are detected. (3) Raw terminal output now converts \n to \r\n so flat-art rows return to column 0 on each new line.

v1.0a2.156 — ANSI art terminal raw display; web CSS fix; ANView colors (June 2026)

• features/bbs_ui.py read_echo_area: Detect cursor-positioning sequences in the decoded body. If found (ANSI art), display raw to the terminal (\x1b[2J → stream body → \x1b[25;1H prompt) so full 2-D positioning and colors render exactly as the sender intended — matches Synchronet/SyncTERM behavior. Plain-text messages (no cursor positioning) still use the ANView scrollable frame.
• features/anedit.py launch_aneview: Change ANSI strip from removing ALL escape sequences to removing only cursor-positioning sequences ([H f A B C D G J K s u r]). SGR color/attribute codes (\x1b[...m) are now preserved so plain-text colored messages display with colors inside the ANView frame.
• features/anedit.py _ViewerScreen.draw_text: New ANSI-aware override. Uses _ansi_trunc() helper to truncate lines at _TW visible characters (ignoring escape sequences) and \x1b[K to erase trailing space rather than .ljust(). Prevents SGR sequences from being sliced mid-sequence and eliminates visible-width miscounts from ANSI bytes.
• features/anedit.py _ansi_trunc: New helper — truncates a string with embedded ANSI sequences to a maximum of maxlen visible characters while preserving all escape sequences.
• templates/echomail/read.html: Fix CSS for ANSI body display. Changed white-space: pre-wrap (allowed long art rows to wrap mid-row, scrambling the image) to white-space: pre with overflow-x: auto. Removed the per-span white-space: pre-wrap override. Fixed line-height: 1.0 (was 1.5/1.2, adding unwanted gaps between art rows).

v1.0a2.155 — CP437 decode in ANView; VT ANSI renderer for web; scroll fix (June 2026)

• features/anedit.py launch_aneview: Body was displayed as latin-1 mojibake (Û instead of █). Apply the same CP437 re-decode as the web path (encode latin-1 → bytes → decode cp437, keeping control chars 0x01–0x1F as-is) before stripping ANSI sequences. Block/line-drawing chars now render as proper Unicode in UTF-8 terminal sessions.
• features/anedit.py ANView._handle + _scroll_view: UP/DOWN arrows now scroll the viewport by 1 line immediately (was: moved cy without visible text change until cy left viewport). Space scrolls down a page. PgUp/PgDn/Home/End/Ctrl+Home/End all work. Replaced non-ASCII ↑↓ hint chars with ASCII Up/Dn — SyncTERM displayed them as ??.
• features/ansi_html.py: Added virtual-terminal renderer _to_html_vt. When cursor-positioning sequences (\x1b[H, \x1b[A/B/C/D, \x1b[2J, etc.) are detected in the body, routes to the VT renderer which maintains an 80-column cell grid, processes all cursor moves, and outputs the correct 2-D layout. Streaming renderer kept for plain-text messages. Result: ANSI art on the web viewer displays with correct positioning instead of as a scrambled linear stream.

v1.0a2.154 — Terminal ANSI fix, no-pager reader, ANView message viewer (June 2026)

• features/bbs_ui.py: Three improvements to the terminal echomail reader. (1) Apply the same CSI-split fix from v1.0a2.153 at view time so QWK 0xE3 artifacts ([1;45m etc.) don't appear in the terminal. (2) Remove the 18-line page-break (-- more (Enter, Q=back to list) --) — messages scroll freely. (3) Add R=Reply and N=New Msg options after reading; both launch ANEdit with the appropriate pre-fills in the current area.
• features/anedit.py: Added _ViewerScreen, ANView, and launch_aneview. ANView is a read-only ANEdit-frame viewer: navigation keys scroll, R/N/Q exit with action codes, bottom border shows viewer hints, status bar shows Read-only · Ln:X/Y, cursor is hidden.

v1.0a2.153 — Fix ANSI sequences split anywhere by QWK line separator (June 2026)

• echomail/qwk.py _parse_messages_dat + web/render_msg.py render_msg_body/render_msg_body_rich: v1.0a2.152 only fixed the case where QWK 0xE3 fell between ESC and [. The separator can fall anywhere in a CSI sequence — in the parameter string too (e.g. \x1b[1;\n37m). Replaced the narrow \x1b\n→\x1b string replace with re.sub(r'\x1b\n?\[[0-9;?\n]*[@-~]', lambda m: m.group(0).replace('\n',''), ...) which strips \n from any position within a matched escape sequence, covering all split positions in one pass.

v1.0a2.152 — Fix ANSI sequences split by QWK line separator (June 2026)

• echomail/qwk.py _parse_messages_dat: QWK byte 0xE3 (line separator) can fall between ESC (0x1B) and [ when an ANSI CSI sequence straddles a QWK line boundary. After \xe3→\n conversion the sequence became \x1b\n[1;45m, which _ansi_to_html's regex couldn't match. Added .replace('\x1b\n', '\x1b') after the separator conversion to rejoin split sequences before storage.
• web/render_msg.py render_msg_body / render_msg_body_rich: same \x1b\n→\x1b replacement at render time so all messages already in the database (imported before this fix) render correctly without a migration.

v1.0a2.151 — Fix ANSI rendering in web echomail viewer (June 2026)

• web/render_msg.py _decode_charset: CP437 maps byte 0x1B (ESC) to U+2190 (←), breaking _ansi_to_html's \x1b\[ regex so all ANSI color sequences leaked as visible text. Fix: after CP437 decode, restore bytes 0x01–0x1F to their original control-char code points. CP437 is a single-byte codec so a zip(raw, decoded) rebuild is safe and exact.

v1.0a2.150 — QWK overhaul: nine bug fixes (June 2026)

Full audit and repair of the QWK subsystem.

• poller.py: stamp _qwk_conf_num on outbound messages before QWKClient.poll(). Without it, all outbound echomail went to conference 0 (netmail) — hub discarded it.
• qwk_user.py upload(): REP body decode now uses latin-1 + replace('\xe3', '\n') — CP437 decode turned 0xE3 into π instead of a newline.
• qwk_user.py upload(): added network_id=area.network_id to EchomailMessage — NOT NULL column was unset; IntegrityError was silently swallowed and all REP replies lost.
• qwk_user.py upload(): moved EchoArea.query outside the parse loop (was running one DB query per message).
• qwk_user.py _build_qwk_blob: fixed body line separator \r\n → \xe3; encoding cp437 → latin-1. QWK readers saw blank bodies.
• qwk_user.py _last_read_map: r.last_read_id → r.last_message_id. AttributeError was swallowed; every download included all messages ever.
• qwk.py _ftp_download: hub_id candidates now listed before packet_id — for DOVE-Net you download VERT.qwk, not ANET.qwk.
• qwk.py _parse_messages_dat: skip killed messages (active_flag == 0xE2) after reading body bytes; also added defensive \r\n/\r normalization.
• qwk.py _clean_body: extract @CHRS:/@CHARSET: value and return as chrs key — previously discarded, so UTF-8 messages from Synchronet displayed as garbled CP437. _import_message already accepted msg_data.get('chrs'), it just never received it.

v1.0a2.149 — Echomail area sysop-only flag + security levels (June 2026)

• Echomail EchoAreaForm: added is_sysop_only BooleanField; min_access_level already existed in the form but wasn't exposed in the template.
• Area edit form (echomail/admin/area_form.html): Active, Subscribed, Sysop Only checkboxes now shown together in a flags box; Min Access Level field alongside with hint text.
• Areas list (echomail/admin/areas.html): Status column replaced with four separate columns — Active ✓/✗, Subscribed ✓/✗, Sysop Only 🔒/—, Level badge (color-coded by range).
• new_area route: now saves is_sysop_only and min_access_level on area creation.
• web/echomail.py: extracted _check_area_access(area) helper; applied to area view, thread, compose, and next-unread routes. Area index and compose dropdown filter by both is_sysop_only and min_access_level <= user.access_level.
• New templates: auth/verify_sent.html, auth/verified.html, auth/resend_verification.html.
• Admin nav: new "SMTP / Email" link above Settings divider.

6 new web games

• Klondike Solitaire — full rules, undo, auto-foundation, win detection.
• Video Poker (Jacks or Better) — 5-card draw, pay table, multi-bet, hold mechanic.
• Texas Hold'em vs CPU — 4-player table, easy/medium/hard bluffing AI, full 7-card hand eval.
• Blackjack — hit/stand/double/split, 4-deck shoe, chip-click bet UI, dealer to 17.
• Slot Machines — 3 themed machines (Classic Bars, Lucky Fruits, Retro BBS) with animated reels.
• Galaga — Canvas arcade: enemy formations, dive attacks, tractor-beam boss capture, particle FX, touch controls.

v1.0a2.146 — Fix dial-out directory DB lookup in terminal context (June 2026)

• Root cause of dial-out directory not syncing: _load_directory() in
  features/dialout.py queried the DB without a Flask app_context. Terminal
  processes have no ambient Flask context so the query raised silently
  (except pass), always falling back to the hardcoded DEFAULT_DIRECTORY.
  Added with _app().app_context(): — same pattern as bbs_ui.py / menu_engine.py.
  Both PeerBbs (web directory) and DialoutDestination entries now appear on
  SSH/telnet.

v1.0a2.145 — BBS Directory: edit local entries + remove Who's Online (June 2026)

• Local BBS entries in the web admin (/bbses/admin) can now be edited via a
  modal form — all fields: name, hostname, port, web URL, location, software,
  FTN address, description, active toggle. Previously delete/disable only.
• Removed finger/who's-online polling entirely: _do_finger, _refresh_peer,
  background refresh, online count badges, "Who's on" button, admin columns.
  view.html is now a clean BBS detail/connect page.

v1.0a2.144 — Dial-out dir sync + User access flags (June 2026)

• Terminal dial-out menu now reads from PeerBbs (web BBS Directory Local tab)
  as primary source, with DialoutDestination as secondary. Entries added via
  the web BBS Directory are now visible on SSH/telnet.
• New user_access_flags table; sysop can suspend echomail, MRC, IRC, games,
  QWK downloads, or file downloads per user from /admin/users/<id>/manage.
  New table — upgrade-safe, no migration needed. Suspended users see a clear
  message and are returned to the menu.

v1.0a2.143 — Fix ANSI menu action: @PAUSE@ pagination + end-of-screen hold (June 2026)

• @PAUSE@ in ANSI body now splits into pages; user presses any key to advance.
  Previously the code passed through as literal text on screen.
• ansi menu action now forces a final key-wait after the screen displays so
  the menu doesn't immediately redraw and erase the content.
• _show_ansi_screen gains force_pause=False param; _act_ansi passes True.