Hamlib/ReleaseNotes_5.0.md

2.5 KiB

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.

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