Release 1.9.7.3 AntiFlood settings, debug logging, mod management overhaul, and community fixes

[jupster]

Description

This release brings AntiFlood server configuration, an in-app debug logging system, mod purge/reinstall tooling, several critical bug fixes, and integrates a number of community-contributed pull requests.

Motivation and Context

Consolidates a large batch of accumulated improvements on the feature/Update-1.9 branch, including fixes for symlink handling, async deadlocks, and NullReferenceExceptions that could affect mod downloads and deployment, alongside new profile settings requested by the community.

How Has This Been Tested?

Built and run locally via Visual Studio; manually verified mod purge/reinstall flows, AntiFlood settings persistence, debug log toggle and log file viewer, and Performance tab scrolling. CI build/CodeQL workflows updated and passing.

Screenshots (if appropriate):

Types of changes

• Bug fix (non-breaking change which fixes an issue)
• New feature (non-breaking change which adds functionality)
• Breaking change (fix or feature that would cause existing functionality to change)

Checklist:

• My code follows the code style of this project.
• My change requires a change to the documentation.
• I have updated the documentation accordingly.
• I have read the CONTRIBUTING document.

Highlights

• New profile settings: AntiFlood (cycle time/limit/hard limit/enable kick), missionHTTPDownloadBaseURL, keysFolder, bePath, hugePages, loadMissionToMemory, enableSteamLogs, limitFPS, exThreads
• New debug logging system: Settings toggle + in-app log file viewer
• Mod management: Purge & Reinstall (all / selected), Purge Unused Mods
• Bug fixes: symlink recursive-delete data-loss risk, async deadlock, NullReferenceException, serialization issues, unhandled task exceptions
• SonarCloud static analysis fixes (S2696, S2365, S2699, S3237, S2259, S7637,S1125,S1135)
• CI/build fixes: DOTNET_VERSION env var

Community contributions

Includes and integrates PRs #198, #230, #231, #246, #252, #258, #261, #262, #263, #264, #265

Huge thanks to @diaversoand @YetheSamartaka

Checklist for document updates:

• Arma-Mods
• Steam updater page
• Deployment Page
• Server Status Page
• Profile
• possibly more

[jupster]

Key Features Added

AntiFlood settings: cycle time, limit, hard limit, enable kick
Debug logging system: Settings toggle + in-app log file viewer
Mod management: Purge & Reinstall (all/selected), Purge Unused Mods
new profile settings: missionHTTPDownloadBaseURL, keysFolder, bePath, hugePages, loadMissionToMemory, enableSteamLogs, limitFPS, exThreads

Critical Fixes

Symlink recursive-delete data-loss risk
Async deadlock resolution
NullReferenceException handling
Serialization issues
Unhandled task exceptions

Code Quality

SonarCloud static analysis fixes (8 issues resolved)
CI/build improvements (DOTNET_VERSION env var)

Community Contributions

Integrates 11 community pull requests (#198, #230, #231, #246, #252, #258, #261, #262, #263, #264, #265)

Core Changes

1. Debug Logging System (New)

A lightweight, opt-in logging framework:

New Logger static class that logs to %APPDATA%/FASTER/faster.log with 10 MB rotation
Settings toggle (enableDebugLog) in the UI with "Open Log File" button
Logs are only written when enabled; failures never crash the app
Timestamps on every line, automatic log rotation (keeps 1 backup)
Comprehensively integrated throughout the codebase (deployment, mod updates, Steam operations)

// Logger API
public static bool IsEnabled => Properties.Settings.Default.enableDebugLog;
public static void Log(string message) { ... }

// Usage
Logger.Log($"DeployAll: {Deployment.DeployMods.Count} mods");

Rationale: Enables troubleshooting in production without verbose console output; essential for distributed server deployments.

2. AntiFlood Server Configuration (New)

Support for Arma's flood mitigation):

Five new server config properties: AntiFloodEnabled, AntiFloodCycleTime, AntiFloodCycleLimit, AntiFloodCycleHardLimit, AntiFloodEnableKick
UI controls in Profile → Server Settings → AntiFlood (expandable section)
Serializes to server config as:

  class AntiFlood {
     cycleTime = 5;
     cycleLimit = 5;
     cycleHardLimit = 10;
     enableKick = 1;
   };

Rationale: Allows server operators to tune anti-flood behavior per profile, addressing community requests.

3. Mod Management Overhaul

Three new operations in the Mods UI:
Purge & Reinstall All

Deletes all mod folders in staging directory
Marks all mods as UpdateRequired
Requires confirmation (type "yes")
Launches full mod update cycle

Purge & Reinstall Selected

Context menu option: right-click mods → "Purge & Reinstall"
Deletes selected mod folders and flags for re-download

Purge Unused Mods

Scans profiles to find mods not assigned to any server
Lists unused mod count and requests confirmation
Frees disk space by removing orphaned mod folders

Rationale: Addresses mod corruption/partial-download issues without manual file system operations.

Other Changes

Critical Bug Fixes

• Symlink data-loss fix (DeploymentViewModel.LinkMod): Detects and safely handles existing symlinks vs. real directories before deletion. Prevents catastrophic recursive deletion of real mod folders. Also handles UnauthorizedAccessException with user-friendly messaging about Developer Mode or admin requirements.

• Async deadlock fix (SteamUpdaterViewModel.RunModsUpdater): Refactored mod download loop to properly await async operations and use semaphore release in ContinueWith callback. Previous fire-and-forget pattern with .Wait() could deadlock when multiple tasks competed for resources.

• NullReferenceException guards (ArmaMod.UpdateInfos): Added null-check and API key warning flow. If Steam API fails, displays UI message suggesting user check their API key instead of crashing.

• Unhandled exception handlers (App.xaml.cs): Attached three global handlers for unobserved task exceptions, dispatcher exceptions, and CLR exceptions. All log via Logger instead of crashing silently.

Code Quality & Refactoring

• Nullable reference types (PropertyChangedEventHandler?): Updated multiple model classes to use nullable annotations (Arma3Profile, ArmaMod, ServerCfg, SteamUpdaterViewModel, ServerStatus)

• String interpolation (nameof()): Replaced hardcoded property names in RaisePropertyChanged() calls across ServerCfg, BasicCfg, and other models (~80+ changes)

• Safer casts: Replaced unsafe Cast<ToggleButton>() with null-aware pattern in MainWindow profile menu handling

• Profile menu reordering: Added UI buttons (▲/▼) to reorder profiles in menu; stores changes to settings

New Server Profile Options

Command-line flag support added to GetCommandLine():

-hugePages (checkbox)
-bepath / -keysFolder (path pickers with folder dialogs)
-exThreads (numeric, 0–7)
-loadMissionToMemory (checkbox)
-limitFPS (numeric, range 30–999, min changed from 0)
-enableSteamLogs (checkbox)

• missionHTTPDownloadBaseURL (server config field)

UI/UX Improvements

Performance tab scrolling: Wrapped Performance Settings in to prevent overflow
Language selector: Added combobox for server language (BasicCfg.Language) with 11 language options
Profile deletion: Now calls LoadServerProfiles() to refresh UI instead of manual item removal (fixes inconsistency when new DockPanel structure is used)
Mods view: Added "Purge & Reinstall All" and "Purge Unused Mods" toolbar buttons; added context menu option

Merge Readiness and Risk Assessment

Status: Ready to merge with minor observations

Code quality: Solid. Refactoring is conservative and well-motivated. Error handling is comprehensive.
Test coverage: Manually tested core flows (mod purge/reinstall, AntiFlood settings persistence, debug log toggle). CI (build, CodeQL) is passing.
Breaking changes: None, new features are opt-in (AntiFlood disabled by default, debug logging off by default, new command-line flags are optional).
Documentation: PR description is clear and detailed. No gaps in feature description.
Version bump: Correctly incremented from 1.9.7.2 to 1.9.7.3 in .csproj and FASTER_Version.xml.

Breaking Changes & Compatibility Analysis

The PR is fully backward-compatible. New features are optional and disabled by default. Existing profiles and deployments will continue to work without modification.

1. Symlink Deletion Safety

The Data-Loss Risk & The Fix

Problem (Previous Behavior): The original code naively called Directory.Delete(linkPath, true) without checking whether linkPath was a symlink or a real directory:

if (Directory.Exists(linkPath))
{
    if (new DirectoryInfo(linkPath).Attributes.HasFlag(FileAttributes.ReparsePoint))
    {
        Logger.Log($"  Removing existing symlink: {linkPath}");
        Directory.Delete(linkPath);  // ← No recursive flag for symlinks
    }
    else
    {
        Logger.Log($"  Removing existing real dir: {linkPath}");
        Directory.Delete(linkPath, true);  // ← Recursive only for real dirs
    }
}

How It Works:

Symlinks: FileAttributes.ReparsePoint detects symlinks. Deleting a symlink with recursive=false removes only the symlink, not the target
Real directories: Only delete recursively if it's a real directory (fallback for edge cases)

Migration Impact: ✅ None

Existing symlinks work unchanged; this just makes deletion safer
No profile settings are affected

2. Advanced Options Refactoring (ServerCfg)

Cosmetic Config Change (lines 964–965, ServerCfg.cs):

// OLD (flat):
+ $\"LogObjectNotFound = {logObjectNotFound};\\r\\n\"
+ $\"SkipDescriptionParsing = {skipDescriptionParsing};\\r\\n\"

// NEW (grouped in class):
+ $\"class AdvancedOptions\\r\\n{{\\r\\n\\tLogObjectNotFound = {logObjectNotFound};" +
+ "\\tSkipDescriptionParsing = {skipDescriptionParsing};\\r\\n}};\\r\\n\"

Migration Impact: ⚠️ Minor Config Structure Change (Non-Breaking)

• Old profiles generate flat LogObjectNotFound and SkipDescriptionParsing
• New profiles generate them inside class AdvancedOptions { ... }

Summary: Backward Compatibility

Feature	Breaking?	Risk	Details
Symlink Safety	No	Very Low	Only affects symlink deletion logic; improves safety
AntiFlood	No	None	Opt-in, defaults disabled
New Command-Line Flags	No	None	Only generated if configured
Language Setting	No	None	Defaults to "English"
Advanced Options Class	No	Low	Arma accepts both flat and grouped formats
Profile Menu DockPanel	No	None	Transparent to user; backward-compatible wrapper
Nullable Types	No	None	Compile-time only
Debug Logging Setting	No	None	Defaults disabled; users opt-in

[sonarqubecloud]

Quality Gate failed

Failed conditions
C Security Rating on New Code (required ≥ A)

See analysis details on SonarQube Cloud

Catch issues before they fail your Quality Gate with our IDE extension SonarQube for IDE

[jupster]

i swear ive never needed to pin so many versions like what the heck sonar