News - 2023/04/29 - FLL 0.6.5 Release
Author: Kevin Day
Description: News post on 2023/04/29.
Keywords: Kevin Day, Kevux, FLL, Featureless, Linux, Library, Distribution, Open-Source, News, 2023

# 2023 / 04 / 29 - FLL 0.6.5 Release

The Featureless Linux Library stable version `0.6.5` is released.

This release contains fixes and improvements discovered during daily use and several back ported fixes.

Adds the following stand alone programs:

- `fss_payload_read`
- `fss_payload_write`

There are several build system improvements to make the project easier to use. Several of the project build scripts are out of date in parameter handling and processing. Proper Featureless Make functionality that is expected to be supported by the boostrapt script is found lacking in a few small ways.

The build setting files and fakefile files in this project should now have some more environment variables added by default. These added environment variables are focused on locale.

The function `fl_string_dynamic_partial_compare_trim()` has been found to not be exposed in the header files by accident. This means that the previous API is not consistent with the compiled ABI. The function is now present that the API should now be consistent with the ABI.

The Featureless Make program is not as usable in the previous releases when using commands like "`fake help`". This is due to an oversight where there may be no "`main`" section for a file that only has a "`help`" section. This bug is fixed such that an error is no longer produced when missing "`main`" in the cases where the "`main`" section is not required.

Parameter expansion problems in regards to quotes in Featureless Make is now resolved.

The way threading is being used and linked to based on the default projects settings has been improved upon. Any relevant documentation is updated accordingly.

Overall the project is proven to be rather stable and there have been very few bugs that needed to be resolved.

The following are changes since the `0.6.4` stable release.

Security Fixes:

- FLL: `fl_directory_list()` is not appending a NULL.
- FLL: Add the locale specific environment variables to everything by default.
- FLL: Invalid read in trim comparison functions.
- Featureless Make: `fake_build_arguments_standard_add()` is treating static path the same as shared.
- FSS Basic List Read: Invalid read in help output due to incorrect size assigned to static string.

Features:

- None.

Bug Fixes:

- FLL: Fix return codes and clean up package.sh.
- FLL: Incorrect return code in tests causes false failures in CI.
- FLL: Incorrect wrapping define usage.
- FLL: Invalid macro name for `f_string_map_multi_t` and `f_utf_string_map_multi_t`.
- FLL: Rebuild the disable defines file and update the readme.
- FLL: Add missing function `fl_string_dynamic_partial_compare_trim()`.
- FLL: The `fl_string parsing` functions do not check `buffer.used`.
- FLL: Out of date repository build scripts.
- FLL: Out of date `install.sh` and Featureless Make helper scripts.
- Featureless Make: Stand alone build fails to compile due to missing `f_string_append_nulless()`.
- Featureless Make: The stage files should not begin with "`-`".
- Featureless Make: Remove extra arguments being added.
- Featureless Make: When specifying a specific section name, do not care if there is no "`main`" section.
- Featureless Make: Incorrect file path in error message.

Refactors:

- None.

Updates:

- FLL: Month name to April in man pages.
- FLL: Improve thread configuration, document modes in build settings files, and update build scripts.
- FLL: Back port utf string compare unit tests.
- FLL: Back port utf string compare code from 0.7.x.
- FLL: Back port unit tests from 0.7.x development.
- FLL: Add the locale specific environment variables to everything by default.
- Featureless Make: Use `f_string_append_nulless()` instead of `f_string_append()` just in case.
- Featureless Make: Don't call `f_file_exists()` until after child status is checked.
- FSS Payload Read/Write: Add stand alone build for `fss_payload_read and fss_payload_write`.

Check out the project on the FLL release page.

The project is built like a tool chest. Individuals who are unfamiliar with the project should have an easier time trying out the pre-packaged monolithic sources. These programs, by default, are designed to build against a library built using the monolithic source tree.

The stand alone sources for the several programs can be found pre-packaged at Sourceforge.

Kevin Day