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RTerm v3.9.6

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@DrOlu DrOlu released this 30 Sep 22:48
· 2 commits to main since this release
v3.9.6
a1c7a4e

RTerm v3.9.6 — AI-Native Terminal App by Hyperspace Technologies

v3.9.6 (2026-09-30)

Fix: the Windows portable "double-click does nothing" — root-caused and
reproduced live on Windows Server 2022.

The settings-BOM startup crash (the fatal one)

Reproduced: launching RTerm.Portable.3.9.4-x64.exe on a real Windows box,
the process started, ran ~30 seconds, and exited silently — no window, no
dialog, no Event Log entry. Capturing stderr from the extracted app
revealed:

UnhandledPromiseRejectionWarning: SyntaxError: Unexpected token '',
"{ "s"... is not valid JSON
    at ElectronStore._deserialize (conf)
    at new ElectronStore (electron-store)
    at ElectronAppSettingsMigration.run
    at startElectronMain

electron-store's JSON.parse chokes on a UTF-8 BOM (EF BB BF), and
the throw happens inside new Store() — before any of the migration's
own logic — with no try/catch anywhere on the path, so the unhandled
rejection killed the app during startup. The BOM arrives whenever any
external tool rewrites the settings file: Windows PowerShell 5.1's
Set-Content -Encoding UTF8 ALWAYS writes one (how this was found), as
do some editors and sync tools; a truncated file from a crash mid-write
is equally fatal.

Fix, in two layers:

  • Sanitize before reading (sanitizeSettingsJson.ts, pure +
    unit-tested): no BOM → untouched (byte-identical, zero writes); BOM +
    valid JSON → BOM stripped in place; BOM + invalid JSON → quarantined
    to <file>.corrupt-<timestamp> and removed so the app boots with
    defaults. The user loses settings, never the app.
  • Never let the migration kill startup: run() wraps the sanitize
    pass AND the new Store() constructions; an unexpected parse failure
    quarantines both store files and boots with defaults.

Spec: sanitizeSettingsJson.extreme.spec.ts — 16 cases including the
exact live-repro bytes, registered in the layout-ui chain.

Restored window bounds are now validated (the "invisible window")

createWindow() restored saved bounds with no validation. A portable
exe carries its userData between machines — bounds saved on a bigger
monitor (or a monitor that no longer exists) restore a window that is
larger than the display or entirely off-screen: the process runs, the
taskbar may show nothing, and it looks exactly like "double-click does
nothing". (Observed live: saved 1474×938 at (-8,-8) on a 1024×768
display.) Same failure after a resolution change.

Fix: clamp the restored size to the current work area (respecting
minimums) and drop the position unless it intersects some display's
work area — the OS then centers the window. Warns to the console when
it happens.

Verification

  • Live on Windows Server 2022: portable extracts (178MB → 625 files),
    launches RTerm.exe (~12s cold), and with the BOM'd settings the app
    DIED in ~30s; the same poisoned file is now sanitized and the app
    survives. (The remaining no-window on that particular headless box is
    a WinRM session-station limitation for GUI apps, not an RTerm bug —
    processes stay alive with a real desktop session available.)
  • sanitizeSettingsJson spec 16/16; typecheck:all 0 errors; full
    layout-ui chain green.

Downloads

Platform File
macOS ARM64 RTerm-3.9.6-arm64.dmg
Windows x64 (Portable) RTerm.Portable.3.9.6-x64.exe
Windows x64 (Setup) RTerm.Setup.3.9.6-x64.exe
Linux x64 (AppImage) RTerm-3.9.6-x64.AppImage
Linux x64 (deb) RTerm-3.9.6-x64.deb
Linux x64 (pacman) RTerm-3.9.6-x64.pacman
Linux x64 (rpm) RTerm-3.9.6-x64.rpm
Linux ARM64 (AppImage) RTerm-3.9.6-arm64.AppImage
Linux ARM64 (deb) RTerm-3.9.6-arm64.deb
Linux ARM64 (rpm) RTerm-3.9.6-arm64.rpm

Install

macOS: After installing, run xattr -cr /Applications/RTerm.app to remove quarantine.

Linux AppImage: chmod +x RTerm-*.AppImage && ./RTerm-*.AppImage

Linux deb: sudo dpkg -i RTerm-*.deb

Linux rpm: sudo rpm -i RTerm-*.rpm

Contact: rterm@hyperspace.ng

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