Blog: v26.8.1 — the settings store, and the escape hatch

Spine is the move from an XML settings file to a SQLite store, and the
reason it comes with `aethersdr --config`: a stored value can be bad
enough to stop the app launching, so a settings editor that lives inside
the GUI is unavailable exactly when it is needed. A recovery mechanism
that depends on the thing it recovers only works when you don't need it.
That generalises past this release, which is what earns it the lede.

Also covered: why a full-file rewrite made the blast radius of changing
one checkbox the entire configuration; credentials moving to the OS
keychain, and why a settings file is a sociable object that ends up in
bug reports and forum posts; the TCI slice-routing fixes, including the
cached route that could put RF out of a stale slice's antenna; and the
metering staleness, where the ACOM gauge reading 206 W for 120 W matters
because reflected power is the number you use to decide whether to stop
transmitting.

The three upgrade-blocking changes lead, ahead of any of it — Intel Macs
losing Copy Assist (one optional feature was setting the bundle's macOS
floor), aarch64 needing Trixie, and Qt 6.8 for source builds.

Notes the v26.7.4.1 hotfix in passing, since it was never written up here
and anyone still on v26.7.4 should move regardless.

New "store" motif for the art — stacked platters with the key set apart,
for the credentials that no longer live among them.

Card, article, art and reading time verified rendered in a browser; the
generated post index, blog.md and token counts picked the post up without
touching the generator.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

Author: ten9876

api/v1/posts.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "site": "https://www.aethersdr.com/blog",
-  "count": 13,
+  "count": 14,
   "note": "Posts are routed client-side; the canonical URL of a post is the blog page plus its slug fragment.",
   "posts": [
     {
@@ -13,6 +13,16 @@
       "image": "https://www.aethersdr.com/assets/img/first-contribution-card.svg",
       "pinned": true
     },
+    {
+      "slug": "release-26-8-1",
+      "title": "v26.8.1: settings that survive, and a way in when they don’t",
+      "url": "https://www.aethersdr.com/blog#release-26-8-1",
+      "published": "2026-08-02",
+      "summary": "Your settings stop being an XML file and become a database — transactional saves, verified backups, and credentials moved out to your OS keychain. Then the part that matters when it goes wrong: a config editor that runs without the GUI, because the escape hatch can’t depend on the thing it’s rescuing.",
+      "readingTime": "10 min read",
+      "image": "https://www.aethersdr.com/assets/img/release-26-8-1-card.svg",
+      "pinned": false
+    },
     {
       "slug": "release-26-7-4",
       "title": "v26.7.4: Copy Assist, and the eight milliseconds that ate half the audio",

api/v1/site.json

@@ -58,5 +58,5 @@
     "signatures": "Every release ships .asc signatures and SHA256SUMS.txt."
   },
   "latestReleaseMentionedOnSite": "v26.7.1",
-  "postCount": 13
+  "postCount": 14
 }

assets/img/release-26-8-1-card.svg

@@ -3,8 +3,8 @@
 export const MD_MAP = {
   '/': { asset: '/index.md', tokens: 3065 },
   '/index.md': { asset: '/index.md', tokens: 3065 },
-  '/blog': { asset: '/blog.md', tokens: 14362 },
-  '/blog.md': { asset: '/blog.md', tokens: 14362 },
+  '/blog': { asset: '/blog.md', tokens: 17534 },
+  '/blog.md': { asset: '/blog.md', tokens: 17534 },
   '/lineage': { asset: '/lineage.md', tokens: 1994 },
   '/lineage.md': { asset: '/lineage.md', tokens: 1994 },
 };

assets/img/release-26-8-1-hero.svg

@@ -301,6 +301,16 @@ def build_card(path):
       '<rect x="38" y="-11" width="48" height="7" rx="3.5" fill="currentColor" opacity=".85"/>'
       '<rect x="38" y="8" width="58" height="7" rx="3.5" fill="currentColor" opacity=".4"/>'
       '<rect x="38" y="27" width="30" height="7" rx="3.5" fill="currentColor" opacity=".2"/>',
+    # Stacked platters, and the key that no longer lives among them.
+    "store": "".join(
+        f'<ellipse cy="{cy}" rx="60" ry="16" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" '
+        f'stroke-width="2.8" opacity="{op}"/>'
+        f'<path d="M-60 {cy}v24a60 16 0 0 0 120 0v-24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" '
+        f'stroke-width="2.8" opacity="{op}"/>'
+        for cy, op in ((-62, ".42"), (-10, ".68"), (42, "1")))
+    + '<circle cx="92" cy="-56" r="14" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="3"/>'
+      '<path d="M92-42v40m0-24h11m-11 12h8" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" '
+      'stroke-width="3" stroke-linecap="round"/>',
     # Cross-needle: the reading is where they intersect.
     "meter": '<path d="M-86 34a92 92 0 0 1 172 0" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" '
              'stroke-width="2.4" opacity=".45"/>'
@@ -363,6 +373,7 @@ def build_release(root, slug, version, kicker, motif, force=False):
 
 
 RELEASES = [
+    ("release-26-8-1", "v26.8.1", "Settings that survive", "store"),
     ("release-26-7-4", "v26.7.4", "Speech to text", "copyassist"),
     ("release-26-7-3", "v26.7.3", "Meters you can trust", "meter"),
     ("release-26-7-2", "v26.7.2", "Digital voice", "dstar"),