# HAMLIB 5.0 - Release Notes (DRAFT)                           2026-12-01(target)

*This more of a list of possibilities than a true document - a strawman only*

This major release includes a restructuring of HAMLIB internal storage, forcing
changes to the Application Binary Interface(ABI).

## New Hardware
- TBD

## Bug fixes & code cleanups
- shortfreq_t changed to int32?
- Functions rig_get_conf(), rot_get_conf() and amp_get_conf() have been removed.
  See [issue #924](https://github.com/Hamlib/Hamlib/issues/924).

## Build changes
- No more K&R C - C compiler needs at least c11 capability.

## Application changes
The renovation of HAMLIB working storage was done with three goals:

- Eliminate problems due to having structures within structures, which caused alignment
  issues between applications and shared libraries.
- Separate API definitions from HAMLIB internal data.
- Plan for the future.

### Structure renovation
Many of the internal HAMLIB data structures have been moved out of the rig_struct
area into their own heap buffers, and are addressed by pointers. Any application that
wishes to access these structure will have to add a new `#include` statement and
use a macro defined in that `.h` file to obtain the address.

| Structure | Old reference | Include file | New Pointer |
| --------- | ---------------- | ----------------- | ------------ |
| Rig state | `rig->state` | `<hamlib/rig_state.h>` | `HAMLIB_STATE(rig)` |
| Rig CAT port | `rig->state.rigport` | `<hamlib/port.h>` | `HAMLIB_RIGPORT(rig)` |
| Rig PTT port | `rig->state.pttport` | `<hamlib/port.h>` | `HAMLIB_PTTPORT(rig)` |
| Rig DCD port | `rig->state.dcdport` | `<hamlib/port.h>` | `HAMLIB_DCDPORT(rig)` |
| Amplifier state | `amp->state` | `<hamlib/amp_state.h>` | `HAMLIB_AMPSTATE(amp)` |
| Amplifier port | `amp->state.ampport` | `<hamlib/port.h>` | `HAMLIB_AMPPORT(amp)` |
| Rotator state | `rot->state` | `<hamlib/rot_state.h>` | `HAMLIB_ROTSTATE(rot)` |
| Rotator port | `rot->state.rotport` | `<hamlib/port.h>` | `HAMLIB_ROTPORT(rot)` |
| Rotator port2 | `rot->state.rotport2` | `<hamlib/port.h>` | `HAMLIB_ROTPORT2(rot)` |

### Separate definitions
Previously, including `hamlib/rig.h` in an application defined not only the API functions
and constants needed to use HAMLIB, but everything needed by HAMLIB itself. This may
have caused conflicts with the app's own symbols("namespace pollution"), or just added to
compilation time. Some(many?) of these are now kept solely within HAMLIB. Including
`hamlib/rig.h` should be just enough to call the API functions.

### Future considerations