Open Salamander: Samandarin 0.15 changelist

This document summarizes user-visible changes since 5.0-samandarin-0.14. It intentionally omits internal refactoring unless it changed compatibility, reliability, security, or observable behavior.

0.15.1 hotfix

• Fixed startup behavior so synchronous startup dialogs remain visible and interactive without revealing incomplete main-window frames or causing startup flicker.
• Fixed recovery and migration issues involving missing plug-in language files, temporary files, imported settings, and upgraded installations; extension versions are now preserved during upgrades.
• Improved PictView associations and viewer-mask migration, added native decoding support for additional image formats, and routed interactive STL previews through the Windows preview handler, including elevated Salamander support.
• Removed obsolete Office, OpenDocument, EPUB, and XPI extensions from imported archive rows while preserving normal Ctrl+PgDown content probing and standalone associations.
• Fixed crashes in Salamatrix, Registry Search, and the Portable Devices plug-in, and improved Salamatrix shutdown/refresh lifetime handling.
• Improved the Internal Viewer text-selection behavior, log mode under transient file locks, and detection of CP1250 text/conversion files.
• Added Unicode and additional file-type support to Multimedia Viewer, including audio metadata support, and restored its Debug-build dependencies.
• Improved FTP client operation dialogs and reconnect behavior, including correct handling of empty rows and saved-password prefill.
• Improved Copy/Move scheduling with scan-ahead conflict processing, dependency-aware parallel operation handling, responsive conflict controls, and configurable operation-wide actions.
• Improved ServiceExplorer support for Unicode paths and preserved panel/tab directory history across navigation and upgrades.
• Fixed live Per-Monitor DPI icon switching across panels, plug-ins, menus, toolbars, associations, overlays, and detached windows; icon artwork is rebuilt for the target monitor scale without restarting Salamander.
• Updated translations, plug-in packages, release metadata, and catalog SHA-256 values; packaging now keeps existing archives when run without -Force.

File management and operations

• Added storage-aware Copy and Move operation scheduling: run operations globally in sequence, concurrently when storage paths do not conflict, or ask for each operation.
• Added separate configurable SSD/NVMe limits for parallel file transfers within a single Copy or Move operation.
• Updated the File Operation Progress window to present multiple active transfers while retaining queue, pause, resume, and error controls.
• Added Ctrl+PgDown content probing to open supported archives with missing or incorrect extensions, self-extracting archives, and package-based Office/OpenDocument files without changing normal Enter behavior.
• Added Shift+F5 multi-target copy to all selected folders in the opposite panel.
• Added Copy and Move between plug-in file systems and archives, including FTP-to-archive, remote-to-remote, and archive-to-archive workflows.
• Added Total Commander DiskDir-compatible disk catalogs and recursive Make File List output for disk and archive panels.
• Added path autocomplete to Copy, Move, Quick Rename, Create Folder, and Change Directory dialogs.
• Added extended Delete confirmation with a reviewable table of selected names.
• Added mounted NTFS-folder volumes to Change Drive and optionally to the Drive Bar, including configurable labels/path display and optional Windows Sandbox volumes.
• Added an occupied-space option that remains on the current file system instead of following directory links or mounted folders.
• Updated bundled 7-Zip to 26.02 with additional archive, package, file-system, and disk-image formats.
• Improved Unicode and long-path handling in ZIP, 7-Zip, RAR, Checksum, File Comparator, viewers, editors, and external file-action workflows.
• Fixed ZIP names containing diacritics when Windows uses UTF-8 as the active system code page.

Interface, panels, and search

• Added detachable individual tabs via context menu or drag-out, with independent windows, persistence, and reattachment to either panel side.
• Added independently detached full left/right panel windows with file-operation support.
• Added tab locking, protected path changes, tab-width options, bold active-tab styling, overflow wheel scrolling, and right-button wheel switching.
• Added shared or separate history for panels and tabs and persistence of forward/back history across restarts, including plug-in and extension locations.
• Added configurable UI and menu fonts across dialogs, viewers, plug-in windows, and panels.
• Expanded Windows Explorer properties: choose by category, reorder and persist detailed-view columns, search/edit supported values and tags, and sort by plug-in or extension columns.
• Updated panel icons to match modern Windows Explorer associations more closely and added ICO image thumbnails.
• Added WebP, SVG, STL, CDR, folder, and other supported thumbnails.
• Added sortable Find, Registry Search, and Batch Renamer results with ascending/descending order and optional mixed files/directories or keys/values.
• Added compact rich panel tooltips with file-type metadata.
• Added optional Windows Dark Mode color-scheme support across the application and participating plug-ins.
• Improved Per-Monitor V2 DPI behavior for windows, dialogs, controls, icons, panels, and detached views.
• Added a docked or floating Tree View synchronized with the active disk panel.
• Added configurable command-shell templates, discovered Windows Terminal profiles, and an elevated-shell shortcut (Shift+Num /).
• Added additional Windows user-folder shortcuts.
• Added visible shutdown progress for slow shutdown operations.
• Improved main-window size preservation after sleep and display changes.

Viewers, thumbnails, and formats

• Added the native Prism Text Viewer with syntax highlighting for source, configuration, markup, logs, and many other text formats.
• Added the native WebView2 Render Viewer for HTML, Markdown, SVG, WebP, AVIF, APNG, raster images, and PDF.
• Added shared native viewer behavior including zoom, encoding selection, line numbers, wrapping, whitespace display, persistent settings, DPI support, and Salamander dark mode.
• Expanded Internal Viewer with Unicode text, line/column and selection status, zoom, optional line numbers, and auto-refreshing Log View Mode.
• Restored PictView support beyond installed WIC codecs through native decoders for TGA, PCX, Netpbm, SVG, DDS/DX10, XCF, PDN, 3DM, DWG, WMF/EMF, and embedded previews in EPS, AI, PDF, and MOV.
• Added interactive STL viewing through an installed Explorer 3D preview handler.
• Added dynamic discovery of installed WIC codecs rather than treating optional formats as universally available.
• Added JSONL handling in Database Viewer and expanded modern viewer file associations.

Salamatrix and system extensions

• Stabilized Salamatrix Framework v1 with versioned host services and manifest-declared capabilities.
• Added extension commands, context menus, toolbars, viewers, panel file systems, typed columns, actions, icons, settings, localization, and a dedicated Extension Bar.
• Added native dialog, picker, progress, notification, storage, clipboard, and event APIs for extensions.
• Kept public runtime capabilities equivalent across JavaScript, Python, PowerShell, PHP, and Lua providers.
• Added Salamatrix Studio for Visual Studio Code with project tooling, manifest editing, visual native dialog/menu design, preview, and generated runtime code.
• Added Process Explorer with process details, end task/tree, executable location, and properties actions.
• Added Hardware Monitor with hardware hierarchy, sensors, utilization, SMART/NVMe data, and Device Manager actions.
• Added Windows Event Viewer with Custom Views, Windows Logs, Applications and Services Logs, event properties, and XML details.
• Added File Lock Inspector, Git Worktree Navigator, Interactive Extension Menu Builder, local AI provider support, Hyper-V tools, Windows Service Explorer, and Windows Portable Devices integrations.

Plug-ins, configuration, and security

• Added automatic catalog installation and updating for native plug-ins, runtimes, and extensions with dependency resolution.
• Added catalog icons and capability declarations to Plugin Manager.
• Added fail-closed verification of official packages using catalog SHA-256 values and Authenticode publisher validation for extracted first-party binaries.
• Added disclosure of curated network, external-process, and web-access capabilities.
• Added portable file-based configuration storage and a portable installation mode without Registry entries.
• Added configuration management, import/export, target-location selection, and a guided restore workflow.
• Improved configuration autosave and recovery.
• Added AI-assisted localization workflows and an Italian localization.
• Added a modern SFTP/SCP plug-in with password, private-key/PPK, keyboard-interactive authentication, known-host verification, resume, remote edit, chmod, and automatic SCP fallback.
• Improved SFTP reconnect, saved-password prefill, and responsive drag/layout behavior.
• Added a compatibility layer for existing Altap Salamander 4.0 plug-ins.
• Digitally signed distributed executables, libraries, plug-ins, and the installer.