birdshot 2.0.0-rc1 "Migration"

The native line. The birdshot pipeline rewritten in C++17 under native/: no Python, no runtime, no third-party code — the math kit, the NOAA solar ephemeris, the JSON and the baseline JPEG encoder are all in-tree. One CMake build targets macOS, Windows, Linux and the BSDs; CI builds and selftests all four on every push.

Headless parity with 1.x — the EV-space PID (lux feed-forward, highlight priority, fast acquire, the shutter/gain ladder), the quality gates and focus measures, Bird Flight's full gate ladder, the s<N>/ms<N>/us<N> buckets and centisecond names, index.jsonl, the same settings.json. Measured: RAPID ~475 fps, COLLECT ~190 fps through the identical pipeline.

Horizons ships — birdshot sun (the day's events to ±1 min), birdshot plan (sunset azimuth/drift, descent rate, the lower-limb contact window, the lens-FOV-vs-seasonal-swing check), birdshot align (frames paired across days by solar elevation, not clock time), WGS84 site handling. The synthetic backend lights its sky from the real solar elevation at your coordinates.

Not in the RC, by design: the GUI (the four faces stay on the 1.x Python line), platform camera backends, cascade/EXIF/assembly. native/README.md carries the accounting and the release rule: no 2.0.0 final until a real camera backend has captured real frames on real hardware.

Assets: one static birdshot binary per platform (build+selftest gated), plus the 1.x Python sdist/wheel this tag's tree also carries.

29-check selftest: green. Verify any download with birdshot selftest.

birdshot 1.0.0-rc1 · “Cow Tools” — alpha proof of concept

Alpha release candidate — proof-of-concept deployment.

The original birdshot, retroactively designated the alpha prototype. Deployed and running on the target hardware: Debian 11 (bullseye) on a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 (4 GB) mounted on a CM4 I/O breakout board, driving the Raspberry Pi HQ Camera (IMX477). Last physically tested at deployment; the system is currently powered off, which is exactly why this is a candidate and not a release — promotion to v1.0.0 waits on a documented selftest pass with the Pi powered back on.

What works at this tag: the capture engine, metered auto-exposure, quality gates, storage cascade, EXIF tagging, and timelapse assembly. See CHANGELOG.md for the rename, sanitisation, and licence details.

Codename per the new release system (docs/ROADMAP.md): Cow Tools — hand-made, purpose not immediately obvious, clearly a great deal of effort. Required background reading: docs/BIRDS-VS-COWS.md. Next up: v1.1.0 “The Chickens Are Restless” — camera selection dropdown, cross-platform backends (Mac + Pi), copal-driven install, birdshot-cli doctor, the CPU/responsiveness work, and the Capture Bird Flight auto-take mode.

Deploy from source (sync.sh over SSH, or the tarball below).