Available in Canary Now

We are preparing our penultimate release of OpenPV 5.   This release is being tested internally and will be released when all core extensions are verified.   As this is the first release to fully support externally defined BSP's and Platform Support packages we expect there may be some issues to iron our in a final build which should come in the next week or so.    This build does not make many code / logic changes and is instead focused on separating the support of platforms from the core.      Below are the changes to be aware of.

• Platform Family is now a String.  The is probably the only code change for you to be aware of when writing logic.   For backward compatibility there are constants for the core platforms however if you find yourself coding against family, consider it a code "smell" that should be evaluated.    Core functionality is now 100% by Capabilities determined at runtime or via the new Hardware Definition "Capabilities". 
• Platform Support Packages are now built / versioned separately from the core.   The expectation is that these will not change very often and will only be released to add compatibility with core changes which should be minimal going forward.
• Core is now 100% C# / AOT - The core no longer relies are any prebuilt binaries in C++.  Native applications like Ahsoka.CommandLine and Ahsoka.Installer are now written in C# instead of relying on prebuild C++ Binaries allowing portability across any arm64/arm32 platform.
• C++ SDK is now deployed as Source - When you "Add SDK" to a C++ Project you now get 100% source code with no pre-built binaries.  This allows Ahsoka.Core.so and Ahsoka.Drawing.so to be built with the BSP's toolchain regardless of the platform and removes the need to recompile the core as new platforms are added.
• Desktop Platforms are now consolidated to a single platform called "Desktop".  This removes the old Ubuntu 64, Windows 64 and MacOS Platforms.    The single desktop platform replaces the old platforms and is now made up of a single hardware definition and includes the prebuilt binaries being deployed based on the customers desktop architecture.    
• New Plugins UX / Model - The Plugins UX / Workflow has been reworked to streamline your experience and align with the new external Platform Support Packages.   This dialog is no longer organized by "Profile" and instead presents a short list of tools you need to download (reduced to very few) and the Platform Support Packages.  As part of this work many of the older plugins are now directly included in the tool download (help, desktop support, etc.) streamlining the plugin experience. Platform support contents are now more visible and many of the scattered tools are consolidated to a single location.  Download Toolchain, Install Drivers etc. are now available directly on the Platform Support Card.   In addition, customers can now "Side Load" a platform support package which allows for custom hardware definitions, prep scripts etc.
  
  
   
• BSP Validation - The toolkit now has the ability to validate a BSP for OpenPV.  With the introduction of external BSP / Platform Support, the toolkit can run a "Readiness Check" on a bsp.  This will confirm many aspects of the BSP are compatible including checks for systemd, base libraries such as libc and others as well as confirming the existence / and working state of systems such as Weston / Wayland, IVI Shell and EGL Capabilities.  This shoudl allow external bsp developes to quickly ensure their new platforms are compatible with our core system components.
   

Bug Fixes and Minor Changes

• Fixes and error when Prepping on a fresh BSP which would fail if the /usr/local folder was not already created.
• Fixed the ALS Path detection on Pro.
• DFU Flashing is now supported on macOS for Pro and Select and uses a new platform driven flash process.
• Fixed various UX issues with column widths as well as missing scroll bars in a number of places.
• The Auto Test UI has moved to the status bar (small beaker icon).