v1.3.0 - Windows / MSVC Build Support

This release adds first-class Windows support (MSVC 2019+ and MinGW-w64), a unified cross-platform CI matrix, a Windows release artifact, and several correctness and security fixes uncovered along the way.

What's New

• Windows Build Support: BFC now builds and runs on Windows under MSVC 2019+ (cl.exe) and MinGW-w64
• Unified CI Matrix: windows-latest added to GitHub Actions alongside Linux and macOS, in both Debug and Release
• Windows Release Artifact: bfc-<version>-windows-x86_64.zip published with bfc.exe, bfc.lib, optional bfc.dll, headers, and install.bat
• Windows Memory Mapping: Real mmap/munmap implementation via CreateFileMapping/MapViewOfFile (previously stubbed)
• Security: TOCTOU Hardening: Atomic O_EXCL / O_NOFOLLOW / O_DIRECTORY opens replace prior stat-then-act patterns in extract_file and extract_directory
• Proper Monotonic Clock on Windows: clock_gettime(CLOCK_MONOTONIC) shim now uses QueryPerformanceCounter
• Clean MSVC Build: Compiles with /W4 /WX (warnings as errors), zero warnings

Changes

Build System

• Add MSVC compiler block to CMakeLists.txt (/W4 /WX /wd4996, _CRT_SECURE_NO_WARNINGS, /RTC1 Debug, /O2 /DNDEBUG Release)
• Gate -msse4.2 -mcrc32 to non-MSVC; MSVC uses <intrin.h> intrinsics directly
• Link bcrypt on Windows in place of m (math is in the C runtime on Windows)
• Move Linux-only _GNU_SOURCE from per-file #define to a single target_compile_definitions guarded by CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME STREQUAL "Linux"
• Add Windows release packaging step (PowerShell-based ZIP creation with install.bat)
• Update CI workflow to use aminya/setup-cpp@v1 and vcpkg for Windows dependency management

New Compatibility Headers

• src/lib/bfc_win32_compat.h — POSIX surface for the library: timespec, ssize_t, S_IF*/S_IS*/S_I[RWX]*, F_OK, usleep, clock_gettime, and macro mappings for mkdir, fseeko/ftello, fileno, getpid
• src/cli/cli_win32_compat.h — CLI-level shim adding dirname(), a dirent.h-equivalent over FindFirstFile, chdir → _chdir, lstat = stat, chmod → _chmod, and stubs for symlink/lutimes/futimens/utimensat/fchmod

Library

• bfc_os.c: real Windows mmap/munmap; bfc_os_sync uses fsync on macOS (where fdatasync is unreliable)
• bfc_crc32c.c: MSVC SSE4.2 detection via __cpuid; non-MSVC continues with __get_cpuid. Branching keyed on _MSC_VER so MinGW correctly takes the GCC path
• bfc_reader.c: narrowing casts to satisfy MSVC C4244/C4267; inner result shadow renamed to enc_err to kill C4456
• bfc_format.c/bfc_os.h: include bfc_win32_compat.h instead of <windows.h> directly so all Windows includes flow through one header
• Removed unused bfc_iter.c placeholder

CLI

• cmd_extract.c: atomic open(O_EXCL|O_NOFOLLOW) for files; atomic open(O_DIRECTORY|O_NOFOLLOW) probe for directories on POSIX
• cmd_create.c: directory walk skips symlinks on Windows; uses the dirent shim
• cmd_verify.c: removed unused verify_entry_callback (was dead code with MSVC C4505 / GCC __attribute__((unused)) workarounds)

Tests

• All /tmp/... paths replaced with relative paths so the suite runs from any working directory on Windows
• File I/O uses "wb"/"rb" and O_BINARY consistently to avoid CRLF translation
• test_main.c calls _CrtSetReportMode on Windows so failed asserts print to stderr instead of opening a modal dialog (which would hang CI)
• test_os.c exercises the new Windows mmap implementation
• Pre-existing assert bug in test_reader.c's symlink partial-read test fixed

Bug Fixes

• Eliminate stat+open TOCTOU race in extract_directory (POSIX path)
• Eliminate stat+open TOCTOU race in extract_file
• Fix _GNU_SOURCE redefinition warnings on Linux glibc
• Fix Windows Debug test_encrypt failure caused by modal assert dialog hang
• Apply clang-format consistently to all C/H source files

Documentation

• Update README with Windows build instructions and prerequisites
• Document Windows symlink limitation (requires Developer Mode / not extracted by default)
• Mention FUSE mount is not supported on Windows
• Add Windows to the cross-platform support list

Platform Support

• Linux (tested)
• macOS (tested)
• FreeBSD 14.x (tested)
• Windows 10/11 with MSVC 2019+ (tested)
• Windows with MinGW-w64 (supported)

Installation on Windows

# Install dependencies via vcpkg
vcpkg install zstd:x64-windows libsodium:x64-windows

# Configure with vcpkg toolchain
cmake -B build `
  -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE="$env:VCPKG_ROOT/scripts/buildsystems/vcpkg.cmake" `
  -DVCPKG_TARGET_TRIPLET=x64-windows `
  -DBFC_WITH_ZSTD=ON `
  -DBFC_WITH_SODIUM=ON

# Build
cmake --build build --config Release

# Run
.\build\bin\Release\bfc.exe create archive.bfc path\to\files\

Or extract the prebuilt bfc-1.3.0-windows-x86_64.zip and run install.bat.

Tested On

• Windows 10 / Windows 11 with MSVC 19.x (Visual Studio 2019/2022)
• x86_64 architecture
• 10/10 unit tests passing under ctest -C Debug and ctest -C Release
• Clean build under /W4 /WX (zero warnings)

Known Limitations on Windows

• Symlinks: creation requires Developer Mode or elevated privileges; symlinks stored in containers are skipped (not extracted) on Windows
• FUSE mount (BFC_WITH_FUSE): not supported on Windows

Compatibility

• No format changes. Containers produced or consumed by 1.3.0 are byte-identical to 1.2.2.
• Public API and ABI unchanged. Shared library SOVERSION is unaffected.

Contributors

Thanks to all contributors who helped bring BFC to Windows!

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Full Changelog: v1.2.2...v1.3.0

v1.2.2 - FreeBSD Build Support and Bug Fixes

This release adds official FreeBSD build support and fixes several platform compatibility issues.

What's New

• ✅ FreeBSD Build Support: BFC now builds successfully on FreeBSD 14.x
• ✅ Hardware CRC32C on FreeBSD: Proper compiler flags for SSE4.2/CRC32 intrinsics
• ✅ Platform Detection: Support for FreeBSD's amd64 architecture identifier
• ✅ API Bug Fix: Fixed encryption benchmark using incorrect reader API

Changes

Build System

• Add -mcrc32 compiler flag for CRC32 intrinsics on x86_64/amd64
• Detect FreeBSD's 'amd64' architecture (in addition to x86_64/AMD64)
• Switch from set_source_files_properties to target_compile_options for better flag handling

Bug Fixes

• Fix unused parameter warning in bfc_os_advise_nocache() on FreeBSD
• Fix benchmark_encrypt.c to use correct bfc_reader_set_encryption_password() API

Documentation

• Update README with FreeBSD installation instructions
• Add pkgconf dependency requirement for FreeBSD
• Mention FreeBSD in cross-platform support list

Platform Support

• ✅ Linux (tested)
• ✅ macOS (tested)
• ✅ FreeBSD 14.x (tested)

Installation on FreeBSD

# Install dependencies
sudo pkg install cmake pkgconf libzstd libsodium

# Build
cmake -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DBFC_WITH_ZSTD=ON -DBFC_WITH_SODIUM=ON
make -C build

# Install
sudo make -C build install

Tested On

• FreeBSD 14.3-RELEASE with Clang 19.1.7
• x86_64/amd64 architecture
• Hardware CRC32C acceleration verified working

Contributors

Thanks to all contributors who helped make BFC work on FreeBSD!

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Full Changelog: v1.2.1...v1.2.2

v1.2.1 - Add comprehensive symlink support

What's New

Symlink Support

• Full symlink preservation: Create, extract, and list symbolic links with complete metadata preservation
• Cross-platform compatibility: Works on Unix-like systems (Linux, macOS, BSD)
• All symlink types supported: Relative paths, absolute paths, broken links, and directory links
• Integration with existing features: Symlinks work seamlessly with compression (ZSTD) and encryption (ChaCha20-Poly1305)

API Enhancements

• New bfc_add_symlink() function for programmatic symlink creation
• Enhanced CLI commands to handle symlinks across all operations (create, extract, list, info, verify)
• Proper symlink detection using lstat() instead of stat()

CLI Improvements

• Create command: Automatically detects and preserves symlinks during container creation
• Extract command: Restores symlinks with original targets and timestamps using lutimes()
• List command: Displays symlinks with 'l' prefix in file mode (e.g., lrwxrwxrwx)
• Info command: Shows symlink count and type statistics
• Verify command: Validates symlink integrity and targets

Testing & Quality

• Comprehensive unit test coverage for both writer and reader functionality
• Integration tests covering all symlink scenarios
• CI/CD pipeline updated with symlink testing
• Cross-platform build fixes for Linux systems

Technical Details

• Symlink targets are stored as file content within the container format
• Uses existing BFC_TYPE_SYMLINK object type in the BFC format
• Maintains backward compatibility with existing containers
• CRC32C validation ensures symlink target integrity

v1.2.0 - Bug Fix Release: CLI Extract Directory Option

🐛 Bug Fixes

Fixed -C Flag in Extract Command

• Issue: The -C/--directory option in bfc extract command was failing with "I/O error" when using relative paths to container files
• Root Cause: The CLI was changing to the output directory before opening the container file, breaking relative path resolution
• Fix: Reordered operations to open the container file before changing directories
• Impact: The -C flag now works correctly for extracting to specific directories

🔧 Technical Details

Problem

# This was failing with "I/O error"
bfc extract -C /tmp/output ../path/to/container.bfc

The issue occurred because:

1. CLI parsed -C /tmp/output option
2. Code executed chdir("/tmp/output")
3. Code tried to open ../path/to/container.bfc (now relative to /tmp/output)
4. Container file not found, causing I/O error

Solution

• File: src/cli/cmd_extract.c
• Change: Moved container opening before directory change operation
• Security: Maintains proper error handling and cleanup

Before (Broken)

// Change directory first (BROKEN)
if (opts.output_dir) {
    chdir(opts.output_dir);  // Changes working directory
}
bfc_open(opts.container_file, &reader);  // Relative path now broken

After (Fixed)

// Open container first (FIXED)
bfc_open(opts.container_file, &reader);  // Works with original relative path
if (opts.output_dir) {
    chdir(opts.output_dir);  // Safe to change directory after opening
}

✅ Testing

Verified fix works with various scenarios:

• Relative paths: bfc extract -C /tmp ../container.bfc ✅
• Absolute paths: bfc extract -C /tmp /full/path/container.bfc ✅
• Current directory: bfc extract -C /tmp container.bfc ✅
• All directory preservation options work: -k, -f, etc. ✅

📋 Usage

The -C flag now works as documented:

# Extract all files to /tmp directory
bfc extract -C /tmp archive.bfc

# Extract preserving directory structure to specific location
bfc extract -k -C /tmp/restored archive.bfc

# Extract with force overwrite to specific directory
bfc extract -f -C /tmp archive.bfc

🔄 Backward Compatibility

• No breaking changes: All existing functionality remains unchanged
• API compatibility: Library API unchanged - this is purely a CLI fix
• Container format: No changes to .bfc file format

📦 What's Changed

• Fixed CLI extract -C flag functionality in src/cli/cmd_extract.c
• No changes to library code, container format, or other features
• All tests pass, including new validation for the -C flag

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This is a targeted bug fix release that resolves a specific issue with the CLI extraction functionality. Users who encountered the "I/O error" when using bfc extract -C should upgrade to this version.

v1.1.0 - Major Feature Release: Encryption & Compression Support + Enhanced Test Coverage

🔐 NEW: Full Encryption Support

• ChaCha20-Poly1305 AEAD encryption for secure file storage within BFC containers
• Argon2id key derivation from passwords for robust security
• Reader-specific encryption functions: bfc_reader_set_encryption_password() and bfc_reader_set_encryption_key()
• Encryption detection: bfc_has_encryption() to check if containers use encryption
• CLI integration: Password-based encryption/decryption support in command-line tools
• Encryption status display in container info summary

🗜️ NEW: Compression Support

• ZSTD compression integration for efficient file storage and reduced container sizes
• Configurable compression levels and thresholds for optimal performance
• Automatic compression/decompression handling in reader and writer APIs
• ZSTD streaming context support for large file processing
• Compression recommendations and performance optimizations

🧪 Comprehensive Test Coverage Improvements

• Enhanced overall line coverage from 74.5% to 78.6%, exceeding CI requirements
• Reader module coverage boost from 63.8% to 72.3% line coverage
• 800+ new test lines covering encryption, compression, and edge cases
• Robust edge case testing for malformed containers, corrupted data, and error conditions
• Parameter validation testing for all new encryption and compression APIs
• Integration testing for encryption + compression workflows

🔧 API Enhancements

• New encryption configuration APIs for both writer and reader contexts
• Compression configuration APIs with level and threshold controls
• Enhanced error handling with comprehensive validation across all functions
• Improved container verification with deep integrity checking
• Better CLI user experience with encryption status reporting

📊 Quality & Reliability Improvements

• CI/CD pipeline enhancements with proper coverage thresholds (75%)
• Extensive parameter validation for all new APIs
• Memory safety improvements in encryption and compression code paths
• Better error propagation and handling throughout the library
• Code formatting consistency and improved documentation

🚀 Performance & Security

• Hardware-accelerated encryption where available
• Efficient compression algorithms with streaming support
• Secure key management with proper cleanup and memory protection
• Optimized file I/O for compressed and encrypted content
• Minimal performance overhead for encryption/compression operations

📈 Development Experience

• Enhanced build system with optional dependency management
• Comprehensive examples for encryption and compression workflows
• Improved debugging support with better error messages
• Updated CI/CD workflows with artifact publishing permissions

Breaking Changes

⚠️ None - This release maintains full backward compatibility with v1.0.0

Requirements

• Optional: libsodium for encryption support (-DBFC_WITH_SODIUM=ON)
• Optional: libzstd for compression support (-DBFC_WITH_ZSTD=ON)

Summary

This major feature release transforms BFC from a basic container format into a comprehensive, secure, and efficient file archival solution with enterprise-grade encryption and compression capabilities.

BFC v1.0.0 - High-Performance Binary File Container

🚀 BFC v1.0.0 - Initial Release

We're excited to announce the first stable release of BFC (Binary File Container), a high-performance, single-file container format for storing files and directories with complete POSIX metadata preservation.

✨ Key Features

• Single-file containers - Everything stored in one .bfc file
• POSIX metadata preservation - Full permissions, timestamps, and file types
• Fast random access - O(log N) file lookup with sorted index
• Integrity validation - CRC32C checksums with hardware acceleration
• Cross-platform support - Linux, macOS, and other Unix systems
• Crash-safe writes - Atomic container creation with index at EOF
• Memory efficient - Optimized for large containers and small memory footprint

📦 Installation

Linux

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo dpkg -i bfc_1.0.0_x86_64.deb

# RHEL/Fedora/CentOS
sudo rpm -i bfc-1.0.0-1.x86_64.rpm

# Manual installation
tar -xzf bfc-1.0.0-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
cd bfc-1.0.0-linux-x86_64
sudo ./install.sh

macOS

# Install from DMG (recommended)
# Download and mount bfc-1.0.0-macos-{arch}.dmg
# Drag BFC.app to Applications or run CLI installer

# Manual installation
tar -xzf bfc-1.0.0-macos-{arch}.tar.gz
cd bfc-1.0.0-macos-{arch}
sudo ./install.sh

🔧 Quick Start

# Create a container
bfc create archive.bfc /path/to/files/

# List contents
bfc list archive.bfc

# Extract files
bfc extract archive.bfc

# Verify integrity
bfc verify --deep archive.bfc

# Get detailed information
bfc info archive.bfc

📊 Performance Targets

• Write: ≥300 MB/s for 1 MiB files
• Read: ≥1 GB/s sequential, ≥50 MB/s random 4 KiB
• List: ≤1 ms for directories with ≤1024 entries
• Index load: ≤5 ms for 100K entries on NVMe SSD

🛡️ Security

• Path traversal prevention with strict normalization
• Safe extraction using O_NOFOLLOW and parent directory validation
• CRC32C validation on all read operations
• Bounds checking on all buffer operations
• No arbitrary code execution - pure data format

📚 Documentation

• Usage Guide
• API Documentation
• File Format Specification
• Examples

🏗️ Technical Details

• Language: C17
• Build System: CMake 3.10+
• Compiler: GCC 7+ or Clang 6+
• Dependencies: POSIX-compliant system
• Test Coverage: 80%+ lines, 98%+ functions
• Static Analysis: cppcheck + CodeQL integration

📋 What's Included

Linux Packages

• bfc-1.0.0-linux-x86_64.tar.gz - Portable archive
• bfc_1.0.0_x86_64.deb - Debian/Ubuntu package
• bfc-1.0.0-1.x86_64.rpm - RHEL/Fedora package

macOS Packages

• bfc-1.0.0-macos-x86_64.tar.gz / .dmg - Intel Mac
• bfc-1.0.0-macos-arm64.tar.gz / .dmg - Apple Silicon

Each package includes:

• bfc - CLI tool
• libbfc.{a,so,dylib} - Static and shared libraries
• bfc.h - C API header
• Installation scripts and documentation

🙏 Acknowledgments

Built with modern C17, CMake, and GitHub Actions CI/CD. Thanks to the open source community for tools and inspiration.

🐛 Reporting Issues

Found a bug? Please open an issue with:

• BFC version
• Operating system and version
• Steps to reproduce
• Expected vs actual behavior

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Full Changelog: https://github.com/zombocoder/bfc/commits/v1.0.0