Lightning 0.7.0

Lightning 0.7.0

The largest Lightning release to date: 40+ commits since v0.6.6 spanning a
new sign-in method, a complete moderation set, voice messages, thread
parity, and a long run of live-feedback fixes driven by real daily use.

OAuth 2.0 / OIDC browser sign-in — live validated

Lightning can now sign in through the system browser using OAuth 2.0 /
OIDC (Client::oauth() on matrix-sdk 0.18). PKCE, the CSRF state, the
code exchange and token refresh are SDK-owned; Lightning adds only the
loopback callback listener and the two-phase store lifecycle that keeps a
freshly issued device from ever adopting another device's store. Refresh
tokens rotate and persist; a revoked session surfaces honestly instead of
looping.

Validated live against matrix.org (Matrix Authentication Service):
end-to-end browser login, new-account registration through the Google
upstream identity provider, token refresh, restart restoration, and
sign-out. The homeserver field now discovers the available sign-in
methods as you type (and for the prefilled server on open) instead of
waiting for Enter.

Moderation: kick, ban, unban

The member profile popover now carries the full moderation set, gated by
SDK-derived power-level permissions (never role labels) and offered only
against members strictly below your own level:

• Remove (kick) and Ban, with an inline confirm and optional
  reason.
• Unban — banned members are now visible in the People list (sorted
  last, with a "Banned" chip) precisely so unban is reachable. Unban
  carries its own permission flag: its required level is max(ban, kick)
  per the spec, asked of the SDK.
• Invite back after unbanning (default on): a successful unban is
  followed by a normal invite, so restoring a member is one action.
• Inviting a banned user is blocked up front with guidance to unban
  first, instead of an unexplained server rejection.

People list: instant and live

The Room Information People list renders instantly from the local cache
(a partial snapshot precedes the network roster under the same request)
and stays live: membership changes seen in sync refresh an open panel
without reopening it, rate-limited so busy bridged rooms cannot flood the
client.

Voice messages

MSC3245 voice messages: record with a live waveform, preview, and send —
in rooms and in threads, through the SDK's encrypting attachment path.
Sent as mono 32 kbps Opus. The thread composer gained the same mic as the
room composer, with single-owner recording semantics.

Threads

• Thread participant facepiles on summary cards, from the thread's own
  events (root sender first), cached per thread.
• Thread voice messages (above) — never falling back to a room send.
• Per-room notification modes gained "Follow account default", mapped
  to the real absence of a server push rule, with retry on reconnect.

Timeline and media

• Outgoing videos carry a real poster thumbnail, extracted locally and
  attached through the SDK (encrypted alongside the payload in encrypted
  rooms); cards take the video's real shape from the first render, and
  learned dimensions persist across sessions.
• Software video decoding by default — VAAPI deadlocked on rotated video.
• Read receipts: Element-style chips now ride one fixed right-edge rail;
  a user's receipt shows on their own message; reader avatars fall back
  to the avatar the timeline itself has seen, so chips stop degrading to
  letter initials.
• Sender names are coloured per user (deterministic, hue-matched to the
  avatar palette, WCAG AA-verified inks in both light and dark themes).
• Big-emoji rendering for 1–3 emoji-only messages; images close on any
  click; files can be dropped anywhere in chat.

Interface

• Space Home: double-click a Space in the rail (or click the
  workspace title) to open the Space's front page with its room list —
  the surface existed but was unreachable.
• Room list filters: All / People / Rooms / Unreads chips, persisted
  per account — rooms no longer sink under a hundred DMs.
• Interface zoom: 75–150% whole-UI scale (Settings → Appearance, or
  Ctrl+= / Ctrl+- / Ctrl+0 anywhere). Applies on the next launch — Qt
  reads its scale factor once at startup.
• One identity-colour policy everywhere: a direct-message partner gets
  the same fallback colour in the room list, quick switcher, headers,
  member list, receipts and message rows.
• The typing indicator no longer nudges the timeline; long drafts and
  edits scroll inside the composer with the caret kept visible; editing
  starts at the end of the message.
• The circular Lightning logo ships as SVG where vectors are supported;
  upload-limit preflight uses only the server's advertised limit.

Fixed

• Composer text past ~6 lines was invisible (no scrolling existed).
• The same user could show three different fallback-avatar colours
  across surfaces.
• Send failures now surface in the room they happened in, not whichever
  room is open.
• A stale room could keep refetching mention suggestions indefinitely.

Known issues and limits

• Two timeline QML suites still assert the pre-0.6.6 virtualized
  contract (timeline-pane-qml 37 passed / 26 failed,
  timeline-hydration-qml 5 / 2) — carried, disclosed, and the
  highest-value open test work. All other suites pass on both build
  configurations (93/95 registered suites green).
• macOS: built and validated as an unsigned arm64 test bundle on real
  Apple hardware in the release pipeline, but not published — macOS
  packages wait on code signing. Linux (deb, rpm, Flatpak, AppImage,
  snap) and Windows (x86-64 portable + installer) packages are published
  and validated on clean systems.
• Interface zoom requires an app restart to take effect (Qt platform
  limit).
• Unban is unreachable in rooms at or over the 500-row roster snapshot
  cap.
• Element interoperability of provider GIF sends, sent video posters,
  QR verification and voice messages has not been re-validated for this
  release beyond automated coverage.