release: v2.2.5 "Colophon" — provenance, licensing, and documentation integrity

.github/release-notes/v2.2.5.md

@@ -0,0 +1,107 @@
+# RustyNES v2.2.5 — "Colophon" (provenance, licensing, and documentation integrity)
+
+A **provenance, licensing, and documentation-integrity** release. It was prompted
+by community review (NESdev forums) of the project's licensing and AI-assisted
+origins, and it corrects how RustyNES *describes its own provenance* — in source
+comments, in `NOTICE`, and in the docs — so the record matches what the code
+actually is.
+
+**Zero emulation-core behavior changes.** The deterministic `#![no_std]` chip stack,
+save-state / TAS / netplay formats, and every golden vector are byte-identical to
+v2.2.4 by construction, so **AccuracyCoin holds 141/141 (100.00%)** and nestest is
+0-diff. This was re-verified after every change (AccuracyCoin full + run-ahead,
+the nestest golden log, the dual-path differential net, and the snapshot-schema
+audit), and the whole tree passes `cargo fmt`, `clippy -D warnings` (workspace +
+feature combos), `rustdoc -D warnings`, markdownlint, and the `no_std`
+cross-compile.
+
+## Why this release exists
+
+A reviewer pointed out — correctly — that a number of in-source comments described
+implementations as "ports" of other emulators, including GPL-licensed ones, and
+that the project's AI-assisted nature was not disclosed. Rather than argue the
+point, we audited the entire tree and fixed it. The short version:
+
+- The chip, mapper, and peripheral **behaviors** are implemented from public
+  hardware documentation (the NESdev wiki, published datasheets, the documented
+  6502 unofficial-opcode behavior) and pinned to public test ROMs. Where a
+  reference emulator was consulted, it was used as a **behavioral oracle** — to
+  observe and cross-check documented behavior — not as a source of copied code.
+- Some comments had mischaracterized that relationship as "ported from X." Those
+  were reworded to state what actually happened. **No GPL-licensed emulator source
+  is incorporated into RustyNES.**
+
+## Licensing & provenance
+
+- **In-source "port" comments corrected** across the CPU (unstable-store opcodes),
+  PPU (sprite-evaluation and OAM models), APU, and numerous mapper register
+  decoders — reframed from "ported from Mesen2 / puNES" (GPLv3 / GPLv2) to
+  independent implementations of publicly-documented hardware behavior,
+  cross-checked against reference emulators as oracles.
+- **`NOTICE` rewritten** to:
+  - disclose the behavioral-oracle use of GPL-licensed emulators
+    (Mesen2/MesenCE, higan, **GeraNES**, ares, FCEUX, Nestopia UE, puNES) with **no
+    code incorporated**;
+  - attribute the genuinely incorporated permissive components — **emu2413**
+    (Mitsutaka Okazaki, MIT), **TriCNES** (Chris Siebert, MIT), and **rcheevos**
+    (RetroAchievements.org, MIT) — with their copyright notices and the MIT text;
+  - attribute the bundled fonts (**Font Awesome**; **Press Start 2P** / OFL) and
+    the bundled **test ROMs** (AccuracyCoin MIT, Damian Yerrick Holy Mapperel zlib,
+    blargg / kevtris public domain);
+  - credit the CRT-shader / NTSC-filter **visual influences** as independent
+    reimplementations.
+- **GeraNES (GPL-3.0-only) disclosed** — it was cited as a reference across ~58
+  files but was previously absent from `NOTICE`.
+- **CRT shaders and NTSC filters** (`crt_royale`, `crt_guest`, `megatron`, the
+  Bisqwit and EMMIR NTSC filters) were reviewed at source level. Each is a
+  single-pass shader built on RustyNES's own uniform/pipeline conventions and is
+  structurally incompatible with being a translation of the upstream *multi-pass*
+  shader source; copyright protects code expression, not a visual look or a
+  rendering technique, so these are independent reimplementations. Comments were
+  reworded from "port / condensation of X" accordingly, and the one comment
+  claiming tables were "ported verbatim from Bisqwit's C" was corrected — those
+  tables encode the two-level NES composite signal documented at the NESdev wiki.
+- **`blip.rs`** no longer mislabels `blip_buf` as BSD/MIT (it is LGPL-2.1+); the
+  file is an independent band-limited-step (BLEP) implementation and now says so.
+
+## Documentation
+
+- **New `docs/originality-and-provenance.md`** — a candid account of where RustyNES
+  advances, diverges from, or independently re-derives NES emulation technique
+  (the one-clock timebase, the transistor-literal octal-latch fetch, the
+  machine-checked accuracy-honesty gates, the determinism contract, measured-and-
+  rejected optimizations), the development timeline, an oracle-versus-port
+  classification of every reference, and the full license posture — written to be
+  honest rather than triumphal, including that the project is heavily AI-assisted.
+- **README** — added an AI-assistance disclosure; removed a comparison graphic that
+  contained inaccurate details; corrected a mislabeled "sub-cycle accuracy in
+  action" screenshot caption (it was an early-development image); toned down
+  overstated language; and synced the Acknowledgments with `NOTICE`.
+- **`tests/roms/LICENSES.md`** — fixed a false exclusion claim (four Holy Mapperel
+  mapper ROMs stated as excluded are in fact committed), a stale crate path, and
+  the AccuracyCoin sub-test count, and added blanket coverage for the committed
+  directories not individually tabulated (328 committed `.nes` total, none
+  commercial).
+
+## Assets
+
+- **Press Start 2P OFL text** added to the Android app assets. The font shipped in
+  the Android app without the SIL Open Font License text that OFL 1.1 requires
+  travel with the font; the desktop and iOS builds already carried it.
+
+## Compatibility
+
+No format, save-state, or behavior changes. `.rns` save-states, `.rnm` movies, and
+netplay replays are byte-identical to v2.2.4. The libretro core's
+`display_version` advances to `v2.2.5`; there are no other functional changes to
+the RetroArch integration.
+
+## Verification
+
+- **AccuracyCoin: 141/141 (100.00%)** — full suite and through run-ahead.
+- **nestest: 0-diff** against the Nintendulator golden log.
+- **Dual-path differential net** and **snapshot-schema audit** green.
+- `cargo fmt --check`, `cargo clippy --workspace --all-targets -- -D warnings`
+  (plus the `retroachievements` / `scripting` / `hd-pack` feature combos),
+  `RUSTDOCFLAGS="-D warnings" cargo doc`, markdownlint, and the `no_std`
+  `thumbv7em-none-eabihf` cross-compile all pass.

.gitignore

@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@
 /target/
 /target/doc/
 /target/criterion/
+# Nested per-crate target/ dirs (build output; the root /target/ rule is anchored).
+crates/*/target/
 **/*.rs.bk
 *.bench
 # This workspace ships a binary app — commit the lock (re-include it).

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -14,6 +14,62 @@ cycle-accurate core later replaced.
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+## [2.2.5] - 2026-08-03 - "Colophon" (provenance, licensing, and documentation integrity)
+
+A **provenance, licensing, and documentation-integrity** release, prompted by
+community review of the project's licensing and AI-assisted origins. **Zero
+emulation-core behavior changes**, so **AccuracyCoin holds 141/141 (100.00%)**, nestest is
+0-diff, and the `#![no_std]` chip stack, save-state / TAS / netplay formats, and
+every golden vector are byte-identical to v2.2.4 by construction.
+
+### Changed
+
+- **In-source "port" comments corrected.** A full-tree audit found comments that
+  described implementations of publicly-documented hardware behavior (the CPU
+  unstable-store opcodes, the PPU sprite-evaluation / OAM models, and numerous
+  mapper register decoders) as "ports of" copyleft emulators (Mesen2 — GPLv3;
+  puNES — GPLv2). Those behaviors are implemented from the NESdev wiki, published
+  datasheets, and the documented 6502 behavior, and were cross-checked against
+  reference emulators as *oracles*; the comments were reworded to say so. No
+  GPL-licensed emulator source is incorporated.
+- **CRT shaders & NTSC filters reworded.** `crt_royale` / `crt_guest` / `megatron`
+  and the Bisqwit / EMMIR NTSC filters were reviewed at source level and reframed
+  from "port / condensation of X" to independent single-pass reimplementations of
+  the *look and technique* (copyright protects code expression, not a visual look);
+  no upstream shader source is incorporated. The comment claiming tables were
+  "ported verbatim from Bisqwit's C" was corrected — those tables encode the
+  NESdev-documented NES composite signal.
+- **`blip.rs`** no longer mislabels `blip_buf` as BSD/MIT (it is LGPL-2.1+); the
+  file is an independent BLEP implementation and now says so.
+- **README** toned down and corrected: added an AI-assistance disclosure, removed
+  a comparison graphic with inaccurate details, fixed a mislabeled
+  ("sub-cycle accuracy") screenshot caption, and synced Acknowledgments with
+  `NOTICE`.
+
+### Added
+
+- **`NOTICE` rewritten** to disclose the behavioral-oracle use of GPL emulators
+  (Mesen2/MesenCE, higan, **GeraNES**, ares, FCEUX, Nestopia UE, puNES — no code
+  incorporated), attribute the incorporated permissive components (emu2413,
+  TriCNES, rcheevos — all MIT, with the MIT text), the bundled fonts (Font Awesome;
+  Press Start 2P / OFL) and test ROMs, and credit the CRT-shader / NTSC-filter
+  visual influences as independent reimplementations. GeraNES (GPL-3.0-only), cited
+  across ~58 files, was previously undisclosed.
+- **New `docs/originality-and-provenance.md`** — an honest account of where
+  RustyNES advances, diverges from, or independently re-derives NES emulation
+  technique, its development timeline, and its full license posture (including that
+  the project is heavily AI-assisted).
+- **Press Start 2P OFL text** added to the Android app assets (it shipped without
+  the required OFL text; desktop and iOS already carried it).
+
+### Fixed
+
+- **`tests/roms/LICENSES.md`** — a false exclusion claim (four Holy Mapperel mapper
+  ROMs stated as excluded were in fact committed), a stale crate path, and the
+  AccuracyCoin sub-test count; and added blanket coverage for the committed
+  directories not individually tabulated (328 committed `.nes` total, none
+  commercial).
+
 ## [2.2.4] - 2026-07-24 - "Cartridge" (libretro core builds/installs for RetroArch)
 
 A **libretro / RetroArch distribution** cut. Its purpose is that the RustyNES

Cargo.toml

@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ members = [
 default-members = ["crates/rustynes-libretro"]
 
 [workspace.package]
-version = "2.2.4"
+version = "2.2.5"
 edition = "2024"
 rust-version = "1.96"
 license = "MIT OR Apache-2.0"