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Table of Contents
Capabilities — 0.1.0
Included
- C++/Qt desktop application, dark/system/light selection, dockable navigation/command/activity panes, toolbar and button bar.
- Saved session folders, filtering, natural/alphabetical ordering, create/edit/rename/cut/copy/paste/delete, bulk edits of changed fields, quick connections and default-session settings.
- Linux PTY and Windows ConPTY process backends; interactive local shells; SSH2 and SFTP through OpenSSH; raw TCP; Telnet terminal-type/window-size negotiation; serial ports and format/flow/break controls.
- Per-profile SSH host trust, key authentication, terminal password/challenge prompts, jump/proxy commands, configurable algorithms, compression, agent/X11 forwarding and local/remote/dynamic forwards. Actual provider/agent/X11 availability depends on the OS and server.
- VT220/Xterm terminal engine with ANSI/256/true colour, Unicode, alternate screens, cursor/key modes, mouse tracking, scrollback, selection/copy/paste, search, font zoom, input mappings, temporary and configured keyword highlighting.
- Tabs, horizontal/vertical group splits, tab rename/reset/clone/reorder, move-to-next-group, active-session list and password-protected local session locking.
- Workspace snapshots, scoped command broadcasting, saved commands/buttons, text/raw logging, timestamps/templates, pause/resume and rotation; text/binary terminal sends; interactive SFTP transfers.
- Explicit optional TFTP server with roots, client restrictions, overwrite policy, block-size negotiation and octet-mode transfer. It is stopped by default. Privileged UDP ports may require OS permissions; an unprivileged port can be selected.
- Python automation with a local authenticated application API, prompt waits/capture, tab/configuration/logging access and cancellation; editable send-action recording.
- Key-generation/agent command launchers, host-trust editor, named credential metadata, native JSON/XML export/import and simple text session import; printing through the OS.
- Linux Debian installer, Windows user installer/portable ZIP, complete source package and build scripts.
Limits and compatibility work
This release does not implement every item in the comprehensive specification. The following are explicit limits:
- Legacy SSH1, RLogin, TN3270, TVI/WYSE/SCO-specific emulation, RDP/TAPI, Telnet/TLS and integrated graphical FTP/S3 browsers are not included. The core terminal engine is VT220/Xterm-compatible; changing its advertised terminal type is not a promise of every legacy emulator's behaviour.
- Kermit/X/Y/Zmodem transfers and terminal pass-through/raw printer emulation are not included. Use SFTP or terminal text/binary sends. TFTP supports octet mode, not netascii.
- Session cloning uses independent connections; SSH transport multiplexing, drag-to-detach into a separate application window, arbitrary nested split trees and some tab-indicator customisation remain to be implemented.
- Command/button manager has create/edit/delete/folders and button rendering; full command/bar clipboard interchange and live-character broadcast mode are not yet included. Manual folder ordering and desktop session shortcut creation are not included.
- Saved credentials currently store username/key-file metadata; passwords remain terminal prompts and are not saved. Vault adapter code is present but a full saved-password authentication UI is not included. Optional certificate/provider/GSSAPI support is supplied by the installed OpenSSH client and must be tested with that provider.
- Recording creates send-action Python skeletons. It does not infer reliable expected prompts or automatically redact every arbitrary secret typed as ordinary terminal data. Edit recordings before retaining/sharing them.
- The implemented Python interface is listed in SCRIPTING-GUIDE.md. The larger SCRIPTING-API.md contract contains additional members for future implementation. Lua is not part of this build unless explicitly added in a later update.
- Not all advanced global/session controls from OPTIONS-CATALOGUE.md are surfaced. The application presents the controls its current implementation handles; the catalogue and SPECIFICATION.md retain the fuller product contract.
- Physical serial flow-control lines, X11/provider/certificate/GSSAPI integrations, physical printers and physical Windows hardware require dedicated target testing. A Wine launch is a Windows binary/packaging smoke test, not validation of all those integrations.
Runtime packaging
Linux uses distribution OpenSSH/Python and dynamically linked Qt libraries. The supplied .deb declares its actual dependencies and targets the build distribution.
Windows packages include Qt plugins/compiler runtimes, Python 3.14.10 and portable OpenSSH tools. When Windows already supplies OpenSSH, the application prefers that system client. The bundled fallback is Microsoft's 10.4.0.0p1 Preview build; its preview status is retained here rather than described as a stable OS component. No SSH server service is installed. Users can replace the tools through an updated compatible distribution.
See TEST-RESULTS.md for the checks actually performed on this release.
Verification
Date: 7 November 2026. Linux build environment: x86-64 Ubuntu, GCC 15.2, Qt 6.10.2, CMake/Ninja. Windows cross build: MinGW-w64 GCC 13 POSIX, Qt 6.8.3, Windows resource metadata and NSIS user installer.
Automated checks
- 28 core checks pass: JSON/XML persistence and invalid-input rollback, Unicode configuration, duplicate protection, stale-instance save rejection, CR overwrite, SGR palette state, split UTF-8 input, alternate screen restoration, bounded scrollback, lock protection, bracketed paste, Ctrl+C/Ctrl+V/Tab transmission, Telnet IAC escaping and log template expansion.
- 28 native integration checks pass: actual local PTY output and geometry; desktop-launched Python script, module and arguments; authenticated local RPC; locking/unlock rejection; snapshots; raw TCP with all 256 byte values and exact raw logs; fragmented Telnet negotiation/NAWS/CR-NUL/IAC; bidirectional serial PTY bytes; TFTP option negotiation, upload/download hashes and traversal denial; SSH first-use verification and key authentication; a forwarding-only SSH tunnel carrying traffic; SFTP upload/download hashes; clean shutdown.
- Windows/Wine package checks pass: per-user install, application startup with bundled Qt dependencies, bundled Python importing the application interface, script arguments, Windows named-pipe API and raw TCP round trip, same-version upgrade preserving the user profile, uninstall removing owned files while preserving the profile and an unrelated file deliberately placed in the install directory.
- Linux package extraction/launch and fresh-source rebuild checks are recorded in the release verification files supplied alongside the packages.
Commands:
ctest --test-dir build/linux --output-on-failure python3 tests/integration.py build/linux/lantern-terminal python3 tests/windows_smoke.py # Linux + Wine, dedicated prefix and Xvfb display :98
Tests use disposable profiles, temporary keys and loopback endpoints. No production SSH server, service configuration, user SSH trust store or pre-existing terminal profile is modified.
Limits
Wine is a Windows binary/installer smoke test. It does not validate physical Windows ConPTY/serial/provider/printer behaviour. Physical Windows hardware, real serial control lines, physical printers, X11 and organisation-specific certificate/GSSAPI/provider integrations remain untested. The broader compatibility and API limits are in CAPABILITIES.md; the full 65-scenario acceptance contract is not being represented as entirely implemented or passed.
The supplied Linux package declares its actual Qt/system dependencies and targets a compatible build distribution. Source build instructions are provided for other Linux systems. Windows uses a system OpenSSH client when present; the bundled portable fallback retains its upstream Preview designation.
