Sol 0.2.0 — Developer Preview

Sol 0.2.0 — Developer Preview

This is the first Sol release with a downloadable macOS app. The disk image is
ad-hoc signed and checksum verified, but it is not notarized yet. After dragging
Sol to Applications, macOS may require Open Anyway under System Settings →
Privacy & Security on first launch.

Highlights

• Added a separate native Library with All, Recent, and Unplayed filters.
• Added a Game Detail screen with high-resolution hero art, file information,
  playtime, native Play and More controls, and Finder shortcuts.
• Fixed clipped carousel cards and constrained adaptive library posters so they
  remain inside their grid at every supported window size.
• Added a native GitHub update indicator. Sol downloads the DMG and checksum,
  verifies SHA-256 locally, then opens the installer; it never silently replaces
  the running app.
• Added semantic app/build versions and a tag-driven DMG release contract.
• Made artwork matching prefer exact title IDs and exact titles across multiple
  candidates before accepting a fuzzy result.
• Made playtime crash-resistant with 30-second checkpoints plus pause and stop
  saves. The library refreshes as checkpoint events arrive.
• Made the game library bookmark-only and retained its security scope for the
  entire emulation session. Invalid old grants now request a native folder
  reselection instead of probing a protected path at startup.
• Moved engine state into Sol's own Application Support folder and replaced
  automatic legacy-folder probing with an explicit, non-destructive native
  import action.
• Added a signed App Sandbox audit build without enabling it for public users
  before real-game sandbox validation is complete.

Graphics and engine

• Serialized all DLSM MetalFX presentation work that touches shared textures.
  Spatial can no longer submit a second frame while the GPU is reading the
  compatibility input from the first frame.
• Kept the truthful source layer visible until DLSM completes its first frame,
  and restored it after repeated presentation failures instead of flashing a
  stale or black output layer.
• Rebuilt and validated the managed Sol Engine with checkpointed playtime.
• Confirmed the bundled MoltenVK package is already the current 1.4.2 release;
  no dependency downgrade or speculative version change was made.
• Public builds still keep DLSM disabled while Spatial and Temporal continue
  developer validation.

Build and release work

• Fixed the first DMG contribution's checksum test and NUL-safe nested-bundle
  signing traversal, made damaged extensions repairable, and added explicit
  Hardened Runtime/JIT entitlements for the public app.
• A new release is published only after its DMG, signatures, runtime contents,
  and checksum all pass, preventing another source-only release record.
• The release gate verifies the app metadata and main executable both retain
  the macOS 15 deployment target under the current Xcode toolchain.
• CI now builds the managed engine and full Xcode app in addition to Swift tests.
• Added developer, artwork-provider, sandbox, and release documentation.
• Replaced stale README imagery with the real 0.2 Home, Library, and Game Detail
  screens and added a clearer source layout.

Known limits

• The DMG is not Developer ID signed or notarized.
• DLSM remains hidden in normal public launches.
• The sandbox entitlement set is an audit target, not the default target.
• Compatibility follows the pinned Sol Engine revision; game-specific upstream
  regressions may still exist.