Briefcase

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.

Release candidate 7 for v0.3.10.

Features

* Linux apps can now be packaged in Flatpak format. (359)
* SDKs, tools, and other downloads needed to support app builds are now stored in an OS-native user cache directory instead of `~/.briefcase`. (374)
* Windows MSI installers can now be configured to ask the user whether they want a per-user or per-machine install. (382)
* The console output of Windows apps is now captured and displayed during `briefcase run`. (620)
* Windows apps are now packaged with a stub application. This ensures that Windows apps present with the name and icon of the app, rather than the `pythonw.exe` name and icon. It also allows for improvements in logging and error handling. (629)
* Temporary docker containers are now cleaned up after use. The wording of Docker progress messages has also been improved. (774)
* Users can now define a `BRIEFCASE_HOME` environment variable. This allows you to specify the location of the Briefcase tool cache, allowing the user to avoid issues with spaces in paths or disk space limitations. (789)
* Android emulator output is now printed to the console if it fails to start properly. (799)
* `briefcase android run` now shows logs from only the current process, and includes all log tags except some particularly noisy and useless ones. It also no longer clears the Logcat buffer. (814)

Bugfixes

* Apps now have better isolation against the current working directory. This ensures that code in the current working directory isn't inadvertently included when an app runs. (662)
* Windows MSI installers now install in `Program Files`, rather than `Program Files (x86)`. (688)
* Linuxdeploy plugiuns can now be used when building Linux AppImages; this resolves many issues with GTK app deployment. (756)
* Collision protection has been added to custom support packages that have the same name, but are served by different URLs. (797)
* Python 3.7 and 3.8 on Windows will no longer deadlock when CTRL+C is sent during a subprocess command. (809)


Misc

* 778, 783, 784, 785, 786, 787, 794, 800, 805, 810, 813, 815

Features
--------

* macOS apps are now notarized as part of the packaging process. (365)
* Console output now uses Rich to provide visual highlights and progress bars. (740)
* The macOS log streamer now automatically exits using the run command when the app exits. (742)
* A verbose log is written to file when a critical error occurs or --log is specified. (760)

Bugfixes
--------

* Updating an Android app now forces a re-install of the app. This corrects a problem (usually seen on physical devices) where app updates wouldn't be deployed if the app was already on the device. (395)
* The iOS simulator is now able to correctly detect the iOS version when only a device name is provided. (528)
* Windows MSI projects are now able to support files with non-ASCII filenames. (749)
* The existence of an appropriate Android system image is now verified independently to the existence of the emulator. (762)
* The error message presented when the Xcode Commandline Tools are installed, but Xcode is not, has been clarified. (763)
* The METADATA file generated by Briefcase is now UTF-8 encoded, so it can handle non-Latin-1 characters. (767)
* Output from subprocesses is correctly encoded, avoiding errors (especially on Windows) when tool output includes non-ASCII content. (770)


Improved Documentation
----------------------

* Documented a workaround for ELF load command address/offset errors seen when using manylinux wheels. (718)

Misc
----

* 743, 744, 755

Features
--------

* Apps can be updated as part of a call to package. (473)
* The Android emulator can now be used on Apple M1 hardware. (616)
* Names that are reserved words in Python (or other common programming languages) are now prevented when creating apps. (617)
* Names that are invalid on Windows as filenames (such as CON and LPT0) are now invalid as app names. (685)
* Verbose logging via -v and -vv now includes the return code, output, and environment variables for shell commands (704)
* When the output of a wrapped command cannot be parsed, full command output, and failure reason is now logged. (728)
* The iOS emulator will now run apps natively on M1 hardware, rather than through Rosetta emulation. (739)


Bugfixes
--------

* Bundle identifiers are now validated to ensure they don't contain reserved words. (460)
* The error reporting when the user is on an unsupported platform or Python version has been improved. (541)
* When the formal name uses non-Latin characters, the suggested Class and App names are now valid. (612)
* The code signing process for macOS apps has been made more robust. (652)
* macOS app binaries are now adhoc signed by default, ensuring they can run on M1 hardware. (664)
* Xcode version checks are now more robust. (668)
* Android projects that have punctuation in their formal names can now build without error. (696)
* Bundle name validation no longer excludes valid country identifiers (like ``in.example``). (709)
* Application code and dist-info is now fully replaced during an update. (720)
* Errors related to Java JDK detection now properly contain the value of JAVA_HOME instead of the word None (727)
* All log entries will now be displayed for the run command on iOS and macOS; previously, initial log entries may have been omitted. (731)
* Using CTRL+C to stop showing Android emulator logs while running the app will no longer cause the emulator to shutdown. (733)


Misc
----

* 680, 681, 699, 726, 734