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MFC 0.8.0 — Lean line (frozen-surface removal) lane spec

Status: proposal (no code yet). 0.8.x MFC lane content (operator decision 2026-06-24). Not a 0.7.3 gate; opens on main only after stable 0.7.3 and the 0.7.x LTSC split.

Governs: FROZEN-SURFACES (the canonical frozen-surface register), FUTURE-ROADMAP. Companion lane: Performance & Async. Backlog items: REF-025 (#91), REF-043 (#99), REF-051 (#105), REF-052 (#106), REF-055, REF-058.

Context

When 0.7.3 final ships, 0.7.x becomes the LTSC (long-term servicing) line — stable, compatibility-preserving, compile-keeping its legacy baggage — and main opens for the revived 0.8.x modernization. The operator wants 0.8.x lean: delete the dead/legacy subsystems rather than carry them forward. This lane defines and schedules that removal.

This is not new backlog — the removals already exist as tracked items. The operator's named targets map directly onto them:

Operator target Item State
IRC, Scheduler, first-start wizard, legacy splash, legacy update-checker REF-025 (#91) IN_PROGRESS
SMTP / email notifications REF-025 (#91) IN_PROGRESS
Legacy Web Interface HTML templates (keep REST) REF-043 (#99) OPEN
SOCKS / proxy support REF-051 (#105) OPEN
Archive preview + recovery REF-052 (#106) OPEN
Async known/shared startup load (perf, related) REF-058 OPEN (0.8.0)

The work is to consolidate these into one scheduled "Lean 0.8.0" lane, record the keep-list precisely, and apply the two operator decisions below. Outcome: a smaller, clearer 0.8.x codebase with the supported controller/protocol surface intact and LTSC unaffected.

Locked decisions (operator, 2026-06-24)

  1. Drop mbedTLS entirely; REST serves plaintext HTTP only. This flips the prior FROZEN-SURFACES.md / REF-043 decision that kept HTTPS/TLS because it "carries the controller API." Rationale: the control plane is local over X_LOCAL_IP, so HTTPS is unnecessary. Keep the web-server listener, allowed-IP checks, and REST /api/v1+/api/v2 routing — now HTTP-only. Removal surface: TLS paths in WebSocket.cpp, TLSthreading.*, WebServerCertificate.*, WebSocketTlsSeams.h, SMTP's mbedTLS use, and the mbedtls/mbedx509/tfpsacrypto link+include in emule.vcxproj.
  2. Safety requirement (non-negotiable): plaintext REST — which carries session tokens/credentials — must bind to the local control-plane address only (X_LOCAL_IP / loopback-equivalent), never a public or VPN-tunnel interface. This is a hard bind rule, consistent with the existing control-plane binding policy. The allowed-IP check stays as defense-in-depth.
  3. Extra removals included: 3D preview control (3DPreviewControl.*), id3lib (third-party MP3 ID3 metadata; drops MP3-tag display in file details), and TextToSpeech / SAPI (TextToSpeech.*) — the last flips the FROZEN-SURFACES.md "keep SAPI best-effort" line.

Keep-list (do NOT remove — supported boundaries)

Confirmed against FROZEN-SURFACES.md "Supported Boundaries" + code inventory:

  • Web-server listener + REST /api/v1+/api/v2 + Torznab + aMuTorrent/Arr. Only the legacy HTML template page UI is removed (REF-043); the API stays (now HTTP-only).
  • MiniMule (MiniMuleDlg.*) — a native eMuleBB feature, explicitly not in the legacy MiniMule/IE-host removal bucket. Keep it.
  • LifecycleProgressDlg — the modern startup-progress dialog the startup slice (REF-058) relies on. REF-025's "splash screen" removal targets the legacy splash behavior only and must not take LifecycleProgressDlg. No standalone CSplashScreen file exists in the tree — confirm during REF-025 execution that "splash" is the legacy bitmap path, not the lifecycle loader.
  • UPnP / interface-binding / VPN-guard (UPnPImpl*, BindAddressResolver, VPN-guard seams); CaptchaGenerator (chat anti-spam, entangled with BaseClient); HttpDownloadLog (GeoIP / IP-filter / nodes.dat / server.met fetches); Crypto++ / zlib / miniupnpc core deps.

Removal table

LOC are rough, from the eMuleBB srchybrid inventory. "Entanglement" flags anything that needs care beyond a file delete.

Subsystem Item Files (srchybrid) ~LOC Entanglement
Archive preview + recovery REF-052 ArchivePreviewDlg.*, ArchiveRecovery.* ~3.4k Self-contained UI; file-detail preview tab + IDD_ARCHPREV resource + context menu.
IRC REF-025 Irc*.cpp/h (6 pairs), PPgIRC.* ~6.4k Tab/window in EmuleDlg, toolbar button, prefs page, ChatSelector, context menus; uses proxy layer (also being removed).
SMTP / email REF-025 SendMail.*, SMTPdialog.*, PPgNotify.* ~2k EmailSettings in Preferences; uses mbedTLS (removed with TLS).
Scheduler REF-025 Scheduler.*, PPgScheduler.*, SchedulerPolicySeams.h — Scheduler tick in the timer; prefs page + keys.
First-start wizard REF-025 Wizard.* — First-run flow in InitInstance/EmuleDlg.
Legacy splash + update-checker REF-025 (legacy splash path), update-check — Keep LifecycleProgressDlg.
Proxy / SOCKS REF-051 AsyncProxySocketLayer.*, PPgProxy.* ~1.7k Proxy layer in EMSocket.cpp; ProxySettings in Preferences. Synergy with WSAPoll port.
Web Interface HTML templates REF-043 template/page UI in CWebServer (keep listener+REST) — Split HTML page UI from REST routing; keep REST.
mbedTLS / TLS → REST plaintext REF-060 (new) WebSocket.cpp TLS, TLSthreading.*, WebServerCertificate.*, WebSocketTlsSeams.h, emule.vcxproj deps — REST goes plaintext HTTP, bound local-only; decouple SMTP's TLS (SMTP removed anyway).
3D preview control REF-055 (fold) 3DPreviewControl.* ~71 Member of PPgDisplay.
id3lib MP3 metadata (confirmed 2026-06-24) REF-055 (fold) KnownFile.cpp:61 ID3_GetStringW, FileInfoDialog.cpp:34-35 id3 includes; id3lib.lib+ID3LIB_LINKOPTION in emule.vcxproj — MediaInfo DLL is now the sole MP3-metadata path — migrate KnownFile.cpp:61 to it; third_party/emulebb-id3lib no longer built. Without MediaInfo.dll, MP3 tag display is gone (accepted).
TextToSpeech / SAPI REF-025 (extend) TextToSpeech.* — Voice notifications; flips the FROZEN-SURFACES "keep SAPI" line.
Sound / WAV event notifications (added 2026-06-24) REF-025 (extend) PlaySound/sndPlaySound call sites in EmuleDlg.cpp (+ IRC paths already going), PPgMessages.cpp sound checkbox, sound prefs keys in Preferences.* ~0.2–0.3k Shares paths with IRC (also removed). Keep peer chat — only the audio alerts go.
PeerCache dead resource-strings (added 2026-06-24) REF-055 (fold) commented IDS_PEERCACHE_* strings across lang/*.rc (~41 files) trivial PeerCache code/opcodes already gone; pure dead-string hygiene.

Item mapping

  • Schedule REF-025, REF-043, REF-051, REF-052 to milestone 0.8.0.
  • New REF-060 for the mbedTLS/TLS removal + REST-plaintext switch (distinct surface: WebSocket TLS, cert, SMTP-TLS decouple, dep+vcxproj). Number is proposed; mint the emulebb/emulebb issue at promotion.
  • Extend REF-025 scope to add TextToSpeech/SAPI and Sound/WAV event notifications.
  • Fold 3D-preview-control + id3lib + PeerCache dead-string cleanup into REF-055 (code-quality/modernization), or split to small items at promotion.

Evaluated and kept (2026-06-24)

These were inventoried as lean candidates and deliberately kept — recorded so they are not re-proposed:

Kept Why
eD2K peer chat (ChatWnd.*, ChatSelector.*, SmileySelector.*) + CaptchaGenerator Operator chose to keep peer messaging. Stays retained-but-unsupported (FROZEN-SURFACES already marks chat UI unsupported); not removed. Captcha protects it, so it stays too.
Internal video thumbnail/preview (Preview.*, PreviewDlg.*, FFmpeg pipeline, thumbnail column, search frame-grid) Operator kept it. (External-player "preview" + REST preview endpoint are unaffected either way.)
WebServices external-lookup menus (WebServices.*, webservices.dat) Kept. Isolated ShellExecute URL launcher.
Pinger raw-ICMP latency (Pinger.*) Kept. Diagnostic readout in client/stats dialogs.
Skin/color profiles, ZIP/GZIP (ZIPFile.*/GZipFile.*), Collections, Statistics, MediaInfo Skin is too deeply wired for the ROI; ZIP/GZIP is needed by Collections + IP-filter/GeoIP gz; Collections is the suite bridge; Statistics is core monitoring; MediaInfo is the kept metadata path.
ReleaseUpdateCheck.* (modern GitHub-release checker) Confirm before removing. REF-025 lists a "legacy update checker"; this modern GitHub checker is likely kept (packaging uses GitHub releases). Do not remove without confirming which one REF-025 means.

Sequencing & synergies

  • Low-risk deletions first (archive, IRC, SMTP, 3D-preview, id3lib, TextToSpeech, web-HTML-templates): isolated, shrink the surface with little risk.
  • Proxy removal (REF-051) interleaves with the WSAPoll network-core-thread port and simplifies it — the reference v0.72a tree removed proxy during its WSAPoll migration. Preserve only the VPN-bind/egress-pin path; the proxy layer goes.
  • SMTP + TLS removal share the mbedTLS decouple — do them together (REF-025 SMTP + REF-060 TLS).
  • REST-plaintext removes TLS state, which simplifies the off-UI-thread REST read-locking in the Performance & Async lane.

Definition of Done (per removal slice)

  • Subsystem files deleted; all wiring (menus, toolbar, prefs pages, context menus, resource IDs, Preferences keys, emule.vcxproj entries) removed; build green Debug|x64 + Release|x64.
  • No eD2K/Kad wire change: the protocol-oracle packet diff (packet_trace_diff.py, key (protocol_marker, opcode, payload_hex)) shows no regression vs the 0.7.3 baseline. (Every removal here is UI/auxiliary; none may touch protocol.)
  • For REF-043/REF-060: REST /api/v1+/api/v2 contract tests pass over plaintext HTTP; the listener binds local-only (assert: no public/VPN-interface bind); allowed-IP check intact.
  • For REF-051: VPN-guard + leak posture unchanged after proxy removal.
  • 0.7.x LTSC untouched.

Out of scope

  • Removing anything on the keep-list (REST/listener, MiniMule, LifecycleProgressDlg, UPnP/ VPN-guard, CaptchaGenerator, HttpDownloadLog, Crypto++/zlib/miniupnpc).
  • Any protocol/opcode/Kad change.
  • Landing removals on the 0.7.x LTSC line.

Verification

Documentation task — verification is review-and-consistency plus the code-time gates above: - Lean lane ↔ FROZEN-SURFACES.md ↔ REF items ↔ Performance & Async docs are consistent; FROZEN-SURFACES.md has no leftover contradiction (TLS + SAPI boundaries flipped coherently; MiniMule + LifecycleProgressDlg keeps explicit). - Every code claim cites a real file on main. - Per WORKSPACE-POLICY: one removal-slice per commit (per REF item / subsystem), English-only, no AI attribution, on main.