The runtime kept a back stack, a launcher fallback, an app id and a title
because a teardown destroys the Lua that would otherwise hold them. Only
the first of those is true: everything about where an app came from can
ride in the arguments, and the arguments are the one value that has to
outlive the VM.
So the runtime now does four things -- close the state, load a path, hand
the next state its arguments, defer the swap to a batch boundary -- and
sys.startApp(path, args) is the whole of navigation. Routing, history,
titles and data directories move to the Lua file a firmware boots, where
they can differ per product without a flag on Runtime.
Arguments cross as JSON, encoded while the sending state still holds the
table, so a function or a cycle raises at the call rather than stranding
a launch. start(args) receives the decoded table, or nil at boot, which
is how the entry file knows to open its own launcher.
Removes launch, replace, back, canGoBack, getAppID, getAppTitle,
setAppTitle and getAppDataPath, along with the home and data fields.
LANDSCAPE.md goes with them: it recorded a divergence from firmwares that
have since migrated.
Namespaces were shared across features: `settings` was written by core, the
panel and touch, and `input` by touch and buttons. That made "does this
firmware implement the whole feature?" a question no pointer could answer.
Each namespace now belongs to exactly one feature or to core, so a feature is
a provider pointer and the compiler validates completeness:
gui, node -> screen, tree, under the screen feature
settings -> screen (rotation, theme), sys (timezone),
touch (calibration)
input -> touch, buttons
Runtime::open() no longer requires a GuiProvider; a firmware without one runs
with no screen/tree globals and reports sys.hasFeature("screen") false.
Rotation is one value again: GuiProvider::setRotation applies and persists, so
an app rotating the panel transiently puts the old value back itself.
Fullscreen was the firmware surrendering a strip it clipped apps out of.
The strip is a sibling node now, so an app that wants the panel is chrome
choosing not to build itself.
The firmware knew four paths and called four globals, so the card could
not change its own layout or put anything around an app. It now loads one
file, and the table that file returns owns the rest: start() mounts the
route, home and data name the tree, and every callback is a field on it
rather than a global the app and its chrome would have to share.
The controller and the WiFi driver each need a large aggregate allocation,
which a live app sitting on garbage can deny - that is why a failed connect
often succeeded on retry. Both bindings now collect before initializing, and
the tree reserves its node and spec capacity so a build does not reallocate
into a tight heap.
ui.lua and hints.lua are compiled to LUA_32BITS bytecode (matching the
firmware's Lua build) and linked into the binary. A new package.searchers
entry checks them as the fallback after the SD card, so a local
/.lua/lib/ui.lua still shadows the packaged one for debugging.
Bytecode is ~40% smaller than source and loads without parsing. A fresh
SD card with no make sdcard now has the platform available.
evan