Hotline for Mac b29

Good day!

It's Fall, and looking at this project's history, that apparently means it's Hotline update season! (new releases falling and such, you get it)

The promise has been that we will only support the most recent 2 releases of macOS. Though I didn't adjust the OS version number in this build, the next build will. So anything less than macOS 26 will no longer be supported. This helps keep the project and app fresh and working on Apple's latest while also reducing the complexity of working on this project so it doesn't become a burden.

New in b29:

• Server themes! Each server now takes on colors to make each server feel like a unique space. These colors are pulled from a server's banner image. You can disable themes in settings.
• New connection interface! I've taken a stab at rethinking the connection form in Hotline. Now you can just start typing a server name into the address field and it will show suggestions based on your bookmarks and any trackers you have added automatically. Recent servers appear under the address field.
• Liquid Glass! Some Liquid Glass effects are now used in the toolbar and a few other places.
• Full color toolbar: we're now generating more colors from server banners to make the toolbar even more themed.
• Instant server banners: we now cache server banners locally so you see it immediately upon signing in.
• Rebuilt chat: the chat now uses TextKit 2 and supports themes, user icons, inline image URL previews, hover underlines on links and usernames, special handling of hotline links to files, simple support for markdown code blocks with basic syntax highlighting, back-to-back messages are now grouped by user, and overall faster search and rendering.
• Tab complete usernames in chat input field.
• Redesigned file preview window with edge-to-edge video and image support.
• Support for previewing classic PICT files.
• Support for previewing zip, Compact Pro, XAR, packages, MacBinary, BinHex, and disc images using HFS, HFS+, and 9660 which includes Toast and CD master images, floppies, Disk Copy images, and those compressed with DART, KenCode, or ShrinkWrap. Handy if you want to see the contents of a large archive before downloading it.

Changed

• Updated about box.
• New Markdown renderer for news, private messages, and release notes.

Fixed

• Double-clicking a Bonjour server could fail the first time.
• Line breaks in private messages didn't show up in older Hotline clients.
• Sound effects stuttered when logging in and had their endings cut off.
• Closing a server window while it was connecting didn't stop the connection.
• Animations in the Servers window used too much CPU.
• A memory leak kept each server's data around after its window closed.
• Connections could stay open after a server disconnected, and data could be lost when a server closed the connection.
• Downloading files with resource forks used much more memory than it needed to (resource forks are streamed to disk now).

Hotline for Mac b28

New in b28:

• Highlighted words in chat (manage in Settings).
• Experimental Hotline file URLs (i.e. hotline:///files/path/to/file.zip) should work across servers.
• System notifications for transfers, highlighted words, mentions, and private messages.
• Redesigned Settings.
• An onboarding experience for new Hotline users.
• New experimental take on private messages.
• Admin names appear red in chat.
• Little update to the about box.
• Some Japanese IME input bug fixes.

Hotline for Mac b27

• Quick fix for chat input on Sequoia.
• Also fixed a bug that caused the app not to launch if you had iCloud disabled.
• Plus an input bug for those using IME input in chat.

Hotline for Mac b26

New in Beta 26:

• Newsgroup Management Create and delete newsgroup topics and categories.
• Updated Message Board An attempt to improve display of message board posts to feel less like a text file.
• New File Grid View Switch between list or icon view in Files. Grid view is now default, but your selection will be remembered.
• File Browsing Like the Finder, now double-clicking folders browses into that folder.
• Scoped File Search When browsed into a folder, search will search within that folder.
• Chat Improvements Chat is now a single stylized text view so you can select multiple messages, date dividers, etc.
• Chat Search Chat search now highlights the terms in the chat messages found.
• Chat Log Management You can now select individual chat logs to clear in Settings.
• Chat Log Storage Chat logs have been moved to a SQL database.
• Download Folder Preference You can now change where files and folders download to from Settings.
• Broadcast from Chat A new conditional toolbar item will appear in chat if you can broadcast.
• Idle All-Night-Long When connected to a server, you will now stay connected (which means your computer won't fully go to sleep as it did before).
• Plenty of Bug Fixes Though I'm sure there are plenty still. ;)
• Now Built for Apple Silicon and Intel This was just me forgetting to flip on x86 support. Sorry!

Enjoy! :)

Hotline for Mac b25

New in Beta 25:

• Transfers Window View your transfers happening across Hotline servers: ⌘⇧T
• Folder Uploading You can now drag folders into the files view to upload.
• Redesigned Accounts Account management is now accessible from the Server menu or the Hotline toolbar. I removed it from the sidebar because most of the time it is unnecessary and thus shouldn't take up that much space.
• Disconnect Users Admins can now kick users from the server (no banning yet)
• View Client Info Admins can now view user client info (nickname, IP address, active transfers, etc).
• Better File Preview Now using QuickLook for file previews so we support previewing more document types (videos, music, GIFs, etc.)
• Bonjour Servers Find Hotline servers running on your local network with Bonjour. So far I believe mobius Hotline servers is the only server that can optionally broadcast itself via Bonjour.
• Better Error Handling You should now see more errors (when appropriate) from the server.
• Colorful Toolbar The Hotline toolbar now takes on the colors of the server banner.
• Animated Banners Hotline will now display animated GIF banners.
• Create Folders Admins can now create folders in the files view.
• Broadcast Message Admins can now broadcast messages to users on the server from the Server menu: ⌘B.

Enjoy! :)

Hotline for Mac b24

New in Beta 24:

• Chat Persistence Public Chat is now persisted to disk encrypted between sign ins. Old chats are loaded above the agreement/banner in Public Chat with each session separated by a gray divider.
• Chat Search Search and filter current and old Public Chat using the new search field in chat. New messages are filtered live.
• Update Notification It's not quite an auto-update mechanism, but it's close. You should be notified now when there is a new build with what's new and a Download button to download the latest build to your Downloads folder. Updates are checked for automatically on launch. The Not Now button will wait a week to let you know again.
• Basic Markdown in Chat Support for simple Markdown styling syntax in Public Chat.
• Chat Server Banner For those who run Hotline without the toolbar window, the server banner is now displayed in Public Chat just above the agreement.
• Join/Leave Redesign Join and leave messages have a simpler design that read better with the rest of the chat.
• New Networking Backend I'm building a new async networking library to make our Hotline protocol implementation far nicer to work with. The new networking code is now in use with Trackers and file previews. Please file a bug if you see any issues with these two as I plan to move more of the client over to this new backend.

Alright, that's it. There's quite a bit here, so hopefully no serious bugs, but if there are please file bugs or feature requests through the Help menu to GitHub. Thanks! :D

Hotline for Mac b23

New in Build 23:

• File Search A new search field has appeared in the Files view for every server. This feature is highly beta so let me know what issues you encounter. Please note that I've tried to build this to be empathetic of a server's load. So while search does slow down over time and there is a cache that is searched first. That being said, please note that you may be disconnected or banned from the odd server that has some sort of request/sec limit in place. A few other things: upload/dropbox folders are never cached as their contents may change more frequently, you can force a fresh search (uncached) by holding the shift key while pressing enter to start your search, and the search doesn't scan from top to bottom because there is some intelligence to burst into folders when we find matches and to scan the tree one level at a time at random to help with large trees.

Hotline for Mac b22

New in build 22:

• Folder Downloading Select a folder on a server (that supports this feature) and click the download button. Please test and report any bugs thanks. 😬
• Tracker Filtering Type in the new Tracker window search field to filter bookmarks and servers.
• Bookmark Syncing iCloud syncing for bookmarks is improved.
• Edit Bookmarks Right click on a bookmark to edit it, including name, address, login, and password.
• Server Status We now show user count on servers that report it in the Tracker view.
• Fixed Annoying Tracker Refresh Tracker lists should not refresh weirdly when the Tracker window is put in the background.

Apologies for the release hiatus. Genuine thanks for all the bug reports and support! ❤️

Hotline for Mac b21

New in build 21:

• Support for file uploads (including preservation of resource forks from old files as well as common file extension -> HFS type/creator conversions and Finder file comments).
• Drag and drop from Finder to upload.
• Updated app icon!
• Hold shift while sending a public chat message to announce message to chat.
• Display of server error messages.
• Some minor style changes throughout.

Enjoy! :)

Hotline for Mac b20

New in build 20:

• Account management has been added and shows up for those who can manage accounts on a server.
• Upload and Admin Drop Box folders now have yellow and red folder icons.
• New colorful icons.
• Refined toolbar window.
• Option-double clicking a server in the Servers window now opens the connect window with the IP address filled.
• Removed headers on users and transfers and replaced with dividers.