miniSCP/docs/platform-notes.md

# Platform notes — macOS / Windows / Linux behavior matrix

macOS is the primary target; Windows 11+ x64 and Linux x64 are **beta** targets
(win-arm64 and linux-arm64 deferred). Every platform seam carries a
`PORTABILITY:` comment at the branch site.

## Seam inventory (where platform branches live)

| Concern | File | mac | win | linux |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Window chrome (modern skin) | `src/bun/windows.ts`, `index.ts` | hiddenInset + traffic-light offset, UI drag header | native titlebar, compact header | same as win |
| Window chrome (win7 skin) | `src/bun/windows.ts chromeOptions` | `hidden` (clears Titled → no traffic lights) | frameless | `gtk_window_set_decorated(false)` |
| Window **resize** | `ui/.../7like/window-resize/` | native frame resizes; win7 frameless uses the synthesized handles | as mac | as mac |
| External editor launch | `src/bun/edits.ts launchEditor` | `open [-a app]` | `cmd /c start "" [app] file` | app directly / `xdg-open` |
| Editor app picker | `rpc-handlers.ts pickEditorApp` | /Applications, `.app` | %ProgramFiles%, `.exe` | home, any |
| Owner/group names | `fs/local.ts resolveId` | `id -nu` + `dscacheutil` | undefined → "—" | `id -nu` + `getent` |
| Drive roots | `fs/local.ts listLocalDrives` | empty | `fsutil fsinfo drives` | empty |
| chmod/Permissions | context-menu.service.ts, file-panel, file-actions | full | hidden for LOCAL panels (only flips read-only); SFTP unaffected | full |
| Shell wording | `ui context-menu.service.ts` | Reveal in Finder / Move to Trash | Show in Explorer / Move to Recycle Bin | Show in File Manager |
| Shortcut labels | `ui platform.ts MOD_LABEL/ALT_LABEL` | ⌘ / ⌥ | Ctrl+ / Alt+ | Ctrl+ / Alt+ |
| Tray | `src/bun/tray.ts` | 22 pt template PNG | 16 px colored PNG | colored (needs AppIndicator, see below) |
| App menu | `src/bun/menu.ts` | full menu incl. About | none (early return) — About lives in the options popover | none (unsupported upstream) |
| connections.json protection | `store/connections.ts` | chmod 0600 | `icacls` current-user ACL (0600 is meaningless) | 0600 |
| App data dir | `store/paths.ts` | ~/Library/Application Support | %APPDATA% | $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/.config |
| ssh-agent | `fs/sftp.ts` | $SSH_AUTH_SOCK | `\\.\pipe\openssh-ssh-agent` fallback | $SSH_AUTH_SOCK |
| Paths in UI | `ui format.ts joinPath/isRootPath` | "/" | separator detected from the dir string; drive-root regex | "/" |

The **context menu is HTML on every platform** (`ui/src/app/skins/*/context-menu.ts` +
`context-menu.service.ts`), not a native electrobun menu — see the Linux section
below for why. Only the three shell actions it can't do itself (reveal, open with
the default app, copy path) cross to bun, via the `shellItemAction` RPC.

Remote (SFTP) paths are ALWAYS POSIX regardless of host or server OS
(`path.posix` throughout `fs/sftp.ts`).

### Frameless windows lose the WM's resize borders (win7 skin, every platform)

`titleBarStyle: "hidden"` is what lets 7.css draw the Aero caption — on Linux the
GTK wrapper honours it with `gtk_window_set_decorated(false)`. Undecorating also
removes the window manager's resize borders and corner grips, and electrobun
1.18.1 offers **no** native resize gesture to put back: the shipped
`libNativeWrapper` exports `startWindowMove`/`stopWindowMove` with no resize
counterpart, does not link `gtk_window_begin_resize_drag`, and `BrowserWindow`
has neither `setResizable` nor min-size constructor options. The window is still
*programmatically* resizable (`setFrame`/`getFrame` work, and
`gtk_window_set_resizable(false)` is never called), so the app **synthesizes the
input affordance**: eight handles in the webview drag the native frame over RPC
(`ui/src/app/skins/7like/window-resize/`).

That is a **stopgap** — each drag tick is an RPC hop plus an FFI call, where a
real WM grab is compositor-side. `scripts/check-electrobun-resize.ts` watches the
installed electrobun for the missing primitives and prints the removal checklist
when they appear; it runs from `postinstall`, so an electrobun bump surfaces it
without anyone remembering to look. The modern skin keeps the native frame and
needs none of this.

## Memory footprint (expected, not a bug)

Investigated 2026-07 — packaged build. Roughly **~200 MB macOS / ~300 MB
Windows** (Linux sits near macOS: WebKitGTK, like WKWebView, is lighter than
Chromium), which is normal for a Bun + system-WebView app (30 MB is native /
no-web-engine territory; Tauri-class apps run ~80–200 MB, Electron 150–400 MB).
Not reducible to tens of MB without dropping the web UI.

- macOS splits across several "miniSCP" processes: the **Bun main** (~120 MB:
  backend + the bundled electrobun runtime + live SSH sessions — the largest and
  least reducible piece), the **`views://app`** WKWebView content process (~60 MB,
  the Angular UI), and the standard WebKit **Networking** / **Graphics and
  Media** helpers. All are one app; WebKit just names them per-role.
- Windows is higher because **WebView2 is Chromium** (multi-process: browser +
  GPU + renderer + utility + crashpad), vs macOS's lighter WKWebKit.
- Measure against a **packaged** build — `bun run dev` inflates the WebContent
  heap (ng-serve, unminified, sourcemaps, live-reload) and is not representative.
- Verified non-issues: transfers stream (no whole-file buffering), icons
  tree-shaken to ~33 glyphs, zoneless Angular, 364 KB prod bundle.
- Only real growth levers if this ever matters: the file list is **not
  virtualized** (a directory with tens of thousands of entries retains a DOM row
  each), and each open tab keeps both panels' full `entries` arrays; terminal
  transfers are retained until cleared. None affect normal use.

## Linux runtime dependencies (REQUIRED — the app will not start without them)

electrobun's `libNativeWrapper.so` links AppIndicator *hard* for the tray, so a
missing library is a hard boot failure (`ERR_DLOPEN_FAILED` out of `bun:ffi`
`dlopen`), not a degraded tray. The transitive deps (`libdbusmenu-glib`,
`libdbusmenu-gtk3`, `libayatana-indicator3`, `libayatana-ido3`) come in as
package dependencies:

| Distro | Install |
|---|---|
| Arch / CachyOS | `sudo pacman -S libayatana-appindicator` |
| Debian / Ubuntu | `sudo apt install libayatana-appindicator3-1` |
| Fedora | `sudo dnf install libayatana-appindicator-gtk3` |

GTK/WebKit itself comes from the distro too — electrobun uses the system webview
(`bundleCEF: false`), so `webkit2gtk` must be present.

Diagnosing a boot failure:

```sh
ldd build/dev-linux-x64/*/bin/libNativeWrapper.so | grep 'not found'
```

`libasar.so => not found` in that output is **expected and harmless** — it ships
in the same `bin/` folder and resolves at load time; only an unresolved
`libayatana-appindicator3.so.1` is fatal.

**Tray visibility** is a separate matter from linking: GNOME 3.26+ hides the
legacy tray, so the icon needs the
[AppIndicator extension](https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/615/appindicator-support/).
KDE Plasma, XFCE, MATE and Cinnamon show it out of the box. The app runs fine
either way — the tray is a convenience, and every action it offers exists in-app.

## Linux known issues (upstream electrobun)

- **No native menus of any kind.** Application menus and `showContextMenu` are
  both no-ops (electrobun's `dist/api/bun/proc/linux.md`; the app logs
  "Application menus are not supported on Linux" at boot). The app menubar was
  already macOS-only, and the panel context menus are now HTML on every platform,
  so nothing is missing at the UI level — but do not add a feature that depends
  on a native menu.
- **NVIDIA renders black without the DMABUF workaround.** WebKitGTK can't
  allocate GBM buffers on the proprietary driver, so the window paints nothing
  while the log looks perfectly healthy. Every launch path sets
  `WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER=1` when `/proc/driver/nvidia` exists —
  `scripts/linux-gpu.ts` for dev, the `miniSCP.sh` wrapper in the tarball for
  releases. The app can't do it itself (Bun's `process.env` writes don't reach
  child processes); see [gotchas.md](gotchas.md#linux).
- **Benign startup noise**: a deprecation warning pointing at
  `libayatana-appindicator-glib`. Not fatal.
- **Unsigned, unpackaged**: the release artifact is a portable tarball — no
  AppImage, `.deb`, `.desktop` entry or icon installation. Unpack and run
  `miniSCP.sh` (which execs `bin/launcher`).

## First-Linux-boot smoke test

1. Install the AppIndicator package for your distro (table above), then
   `bun run start`. The window opens **and actually renders the UI** (a black
   window on NVIDIA means the DMABUF workaround didn't apply — check for
   `Failed to create GBM buffer` in the log), and the tray icon appears (or
   doesn't, on bare GNOME — that's the extension caveat, not a failure).
2. Right-click a file row: menu appears at the pointer, Send to Other Panel is
   first, Permissions is present, Escape / click-outside / arrow keys + Enter all
   work, and a right-click near the bottom-right flips the menu instead of
   overflowing.
3. Right-click empty panel space (New Folder / New File / Refresh / Show in File
   Manager) and a column header (checkmarks toggle columns live).
4. Copy Path puts the path on the clipboard; Show in File Manager opens the
   distro's file manager; Open (local file) launches the default app via
   `xdg-open`.
5. local↔remote transfers both directions; external editor round-trip
   (temp download → save → auto-upload) with the inotify watcher.
6. Move to Trash lands the item in the desktop's trash; connections.json is 0600.
7. `bun scripts/release.ts --target linux-x64` produces
   `release/linux-x64/miniSCP-Build<N>-linux-x64.tar.gz`; unpack it elsewhere and
   run `miniSCP.sh`.

## Windows known issues (upstream electrobun, documented not fixed)

- **HiDPI blur** — WebView2 renders at 1x on scaled displays
  (blackboardsh/electrobun#324, open). Most user-visible defect; wait for
  upstream DPI awareness.
- **Notifications** are legacy balloon style (`Shell_NotifyIcon`), not
  Windows toasts.
- **Unsigned binaries** — Setup.exe and the portable exe both trigger
  SmartScreen / Mark-of-the-Web on first run. No Authenticode support in
  electrobun 1.18.1 (signtool post-hook or electrobun-builder are options
  later). Installer unpacks to `%LOCALAPPDATA%`, desktop shortcut only — no
  Start Menu entry or uninstaller.
- `hiddenInset` degrades to `hidden` on Windows — irrelevant here because
  non-mac windows use the native titlebar.
- `findInPage` is a `window.find()` shim on WebView2 — irrelevant here, the
  editor find is custom.

## First-Windows-boot smoke test

Code paths written blind (no Windows box was available); verify in order:

1. Build: `bun scripts/release.ts --target win-x64` on the Windows machine —
   core binaries download from GitHub releases on first run; Setup.zip AND
   the portable zip appear under `release/win-x64/` (the portable step warns
   instead of failing if the assembled-app folder layout differs — fix the
   `appDir` path in release.ts if so).
2. App boots, tray icon renders colored, window has a native titlebar.
3. Drives dropdown in each panel lists `C:\` (+ others); navigating to a
   drive root hides the `'..'` row; the path bar shows consistent `\` paths.
4. local↔remote transfers both directions; self-copy guard still blocks
   same-path copies.
5. External editor: default app opens via `cmd /c start`; the Choose… picker
   starts in Program Files and accepts an .exe; remote temp-edit → save →
   auto-upload works (directory watcher on NTFS).
6. Context menus: Send to Other Panel is the first row item; Show in Explorer,
   Move to Recycle Bin (item restorable from the bin), Copy Path; Permissions
   ABSENT on local rows, present on remote.
7. Ctrl+T/W/F/S and Ctrl+digit tab jumps; tooltips read "Ctrl+…".
8. connections.json ACL: `icacls connections.json` shows only the current
   user after saving a connection.
9. Editor/manager windows open, modal bounce works, About shows from the
   options popover.
10. Known-issue confirmation: HiDPI blur on a scaled display (expected until
    upstream fixes it).