v2.0.0-beta-4

v2.0.0-beta-4

This fourth v2 beta implements the alias/tag/CLI/CE redesign and improves logging shutdown, command forwarding and developer test preparation.

Aliases, tags and context enrichment

• Macro aliases retain their exact names in dictionaries and use one event tag across filters, statistics, text, JSON/KV and visualization. -alias Name:Tag and -salias Name:Tag override tag selection; repeat these overrides when logging because they are not stored.
• Context Enrichment applies the alias event-tag rules before source-prefix rules, once per tag group. Scalar aliases support enrichment within the existing scalar limits; native triceS accepts fixed text. String-alias extensions and added runtime strings are rejected. Changes between the original build tag and stored-format host tag produce a warning with workarounds.

CLI options and custom tags

• Multi-character option names now ignore case; one-character names remain case-sensitive. Option values keep their spelling.
• Use -utag instead of -ulabel; the old name reports a replacement hint. Custom tags now ignore case and share one group, weight, color and statistics counter, following the built-in tag presentation rules.
• Removed the unused, unimplemented -exec option. Start external servers manually before logging; the option previously printed a placeholder without starting a process.

Fixes and developer workflow

• TCP/UDP shutdown preserves cleanup diagnostics. The interactive command shell handles EOF and write failures, stops with logging, and forwards commands through byte-display and binary-log wrappers. UDP4 rejects unsupported command use without panicking.
• The local C logger correctly handles a boolean %t conversion at the end of a format.
• Developer tests reuse available tool versions without setup prompts, skip formatting when Bind leaves sources unchanged, allow configurable Go test timeouts, and use the C locale for consistent output.
• Pinned tool downloads retry transient network and HTTP failures with increasing delays while retaining SHA-256 verification. Linux library CI frees space for tool archives and extraction before setup.
• CI link checks validate local files and anchors in PRs. Pushes to main and manual runs also check external links, keeping temporary website outages out of PR link results.
• Manuals expand alias/CE guidance, CHAR/DUMP monitoring, decoder extension and JSON/KV examples. The reference PDF now includes stamp expressions.
• Release instructions now start with a short checklist for notes, PR integration, tags and manual publication. Follow-up notes preserve completed release-review decisions and their Git provenance.

Homebrew (stable releases)

Install a stable release via Homebrew: brew install rokath/tap/trice.
For a beta, download this release's platform archive and use its matching target sources.

macOS

If Gatekeeper blocks the downloaded tool, remove the quarantine flag from
the unpacked binary path, for example:

xattr -d com.apple.quarantine path/to/trice

Windows

If SmartScreen or the file block flag gets in the way, unblock the unpacked
binary path, for example:

Unblock-File path\to\trice.exe