Briefcase

Features

* Added support for code signing Windows apps. (366)
* The base image used to build AppImages is now user-configurable. (947)
* Support for Arch `.pkg.tar.zst` packaging was added to the Linux system backend. (1064)
* Pygame was added as an explicit option for a GUI toolkit. (1125)
* AppImage and Flatpak builds now use [indygreg's Python Standalone Builds](https://github.com/indygreg/python-build-standalone) to provide Python support. (#1132)
* BeeWare now has a presence on Mastodon. (1142)


Bugfixes

* When commands produce output that cannot be decoded to Unicode, Briefcase now writes the bytes as hex instead of truncating output or canceling the command altogether. (1141)
* When `JAVA_HOME` contains a path to a file instead of a directory, Briefcase will now warn the user and install an isolated copy of Java instead of logging a `NotADirectoryError`. (1144)
* If the Docker `buildx` plugin is not installed, users are now directed by Briefcase to install it instead of Docker failing to build the image. (1153)


Misc

* 1133, 1138, 1139, 1140, 1147, 1148, 1149, 1150, 1151, 1156, 1162, 1163, 1168, 1169, 1170, 1171, 1172, 1173, 1177

Features

* Distribution artefacts are now generated into a single `dist` folder. (424)
* When installing application sources and dependencies, any `__pycache__` folders are now automatically removed. (986)
* A Linux System backend was added, supporting `.deb` as a packaging format. (1062)
* Support for `.rpm` packaging was added to the Linux system backend. (1063)
* Support for passthrough arguments was added to the `dev` and `run` commands. (1077)
* Users can now define custom content to include in their `pyscript.toml` configuration file for web deployments. (1089)
* The `new` command now allows for specifying a custom template branch, as well as a custom template. (1101)

Bugfixes

* Spaces are no longer used in the paths for generated app templates. (804)
* The stub executable used by Windows now clears the threading mode before starting the Python app. This caused problems with displaying dialogs in Qt apps. (930)
* Briefcase now prevents running commands targeting Windows platforms when not on Windows. (1010)
* The command to store notarization credentials no longer causes Briefcase to hang. (1100)
* macOS developer tool installation prompts have been improved. (1122)

Misc

* 1070, 1074, 1075, 1076, 1080, 1084, 1085, 1086, 1087, 1094, 1096, 1097, 1098, 1103, 1109, 1110, 1111, 1119, 1120, 1130

Features

* Briefcase is more resilient to file download failures by discarding partially downloaded files. (753)
* All warnings from the App and its dependencies are now shown when running `briefcase dev` by invoking Python in [development mode](<https://docs.python.org/3/library/devmode.html>). (#806)
* The Dockerfile used to build AppImages can now include user-provided container setup instructions. (886)
* It is no longer necessary to specify a device when building an iOS project. (953)
* Briefcase apps can now provide a test suite. `briefcase run` and `briefcase dev` both provide a `--test` option to start the test suite. (962)
* Initial support for Python 3.12 was added. (965)
* Frameworks contained added to a macOS app bundle are now automatically code signed. (971)
* The `build.gradle` file used to build Android apps can now include arbitrary additional settings. (973)
* The run and build commands now have full control over the update of app requirements resources. (983)
* Resources that require variants will now use the variant name as part of the filename by default. (989)
* `briefcase open linux appimage` now starts a shell session in the Docker context, rather than opening the project folder. (991)
* Web project configuration has been updated to reflect recent changes to PyScript. (1004)

Bugfixes

* Console output of Windows apps is now captured in the Briefcase log. (787)
* Android emulators configured with `_no_skin` will no longer generate a warning. (882)
* Briefcase now exits normally when CTRL-C is sent while tailing logs for the App when using `briefcase run`. (904)
* Backslashes and double quotes are now safe to be used for formal name and description (905)
* The console output for Windows batch scripts in now captured in the Briefcase log. (917)
* When using the Windows Store version of Python, Briefcase now ensures the cache directory is created in `%LOCALAPPDATA%` instead of the sandboxed location enforced for Windows Store apps. (922)
* An Android application that successfully starts, but fails quickly, no longer stalls the launch process. (936)
* The required Visual Studio Code components are now included in verification errors for Visual Studio Apps. (939)
* It is now possible to specify app configurations for macOS Xcode and Windows VisualStudio projects. Previously, these sections of configuration files would be ignored due to a case discrepancy. (952)
* Development mode now starts apps in PEP540 UTF-8 mode, for consistency with the stub apps. (985)
* Local file references in requirements no longer break AppImage builds. (992)
* On macOS, Rosetta is now installed automatically if needed. (1000)
* The way dependency versions are specified has been modified to make Briefcase as accomodating as possible with end-user environments, but as stable as possible for development environments. (1041)
* To prevent console corruption, dynamic console elements (such as the Wait Bar) are temporarily removed when output streaming is disabled for a command. (1055)


Improved Documentation

* Release history now contains links to GitHub issues. (1022)


Misc

* 906, 907, 918, 923, 924, 925, 926, 929, 931, 951, 959, 960, 964, 967, 969, 972, 981, 984, 987, 994, 995, 996, 997, 1001, 1002, 1003, 1012, 1013, 1020, 1021, 1023, 1028, 1038, 1042, 1043, 1044, 1045, 1046, 1047, 1048, 1049, 1051, 1052, 1057, 1059, 1061, 1068, 1069, 1071

Features

* Added support for deploying an app as a static web page using PyScript. (3)
* Briefcase log files are now stored in the `logs` subdirectory and only when the current directory is a Briefcase project. (883)

Bugfixes

* Output from spawned Python processes, such as when running `briefcase dev`, is no longer buffered and displays in the console immediately. (891)

Misc

* 848, 885, 887, 888, 889, 893, 894, 895, 896, 897, 899, 900, 908, 909, 910, 915

Features

* iOS and Android now supports the installation of binary packages. (471)
* Apps can now selectively remove files from the final app bundle using the `cleanup_paths` attribute. (550)
* The Docker image for AppImage builds is created or updated for all commands instead of just `create`. (796)
* The performance of Briefcase's tool verification process has been improved. (801)
* Briefcase templates are now versioned by the Briefcase version, rather than the Python version. (824)
* Android commands now start faster, as they only gather a list of SDK packages when needed to write a log file. (832)
* Log messages can be captured on iOS if they originate from a dynamically loaded module. (842)
* Added an "open" command that can be used to open projects in IDEs. (846)

Bugfixes

* The Wait Bar is disabled for batch scripts on Windows to prevent hiding user prompts when CTRL+C is pressed. (811)
* Android emulators that don't provide a model identifier can now be used to launch apps. (820)
* All `linuxdeploy` plugins are made executable and ELF headers for AppImage plugins are patched for use in `Docker`. (829)
* The RCEdit plugin can now be upgraded. (837)
* When verifying the existence of the Android emulator, Briefcase now looks for the actual binary, not the folder
that contains the binary. This was causing false positives on some Android SDK setups. (841)
* When CTRL+C is entered while an external program is running, `briefcase` will properly abort and exit. (851)
* An issue with running `briefcase dev` on projects that put their application module in the project root has been resolved. (863)

Improved Documentation

* Added FAQ entries on the state of binary package support on mobile. (471)

Misc

* 831, 834, 840, 844, 857, 859, 867, 868, 874, 878, 879

Release candidate 8 for v0.3.10.