DorkNet/BRANCHES.md

Branches

DorkNet maintains a long-lived branch per supported Rec Room client build. Each branch is an independent fork of the server + client patcher tuned to that build's wire protocol. Pick the one matching your install.

Active branches

december-2020-12-18

• Client build: Rec Room 2020.12.18
• Status: active
• Notes:
  • Single EF Initial migration; SQLite + Postgres both work out of the box.
  • Includes the chat-threads, clubs, playlists, weekly-challenge, and room-keys subsystems added late-2020.
  • Server's Versions/Late2020VersionPlugin is the active version plugin; client header X-DorkNet-Version: december_2020_12_18.

march-2020-03-10

• Client build: Rec Room 2020.03.10 (also serves 2020.03.06)
• Status: active
• Notes:
  • Earlier wire shape — no clubs, no playlists, simpler store catalog.
  • Diverges from december-2020-12-18 by ~170 files; cannot be unified with the plugin abstraction alone.

Setup for either is the same — see docs/advanced-setup.md (starts with a "pick your branch" step).

How to pick

If you don't know which Rec Room build you have, check:

• Steam: right-click Rec Room → Properties → Local files → Browse → look at the Recroom_Release_Data/StreamingAssets/version.txt if present, or note the install timestamp.
• Manual install (the typical DorkNet setup path): the build is in the folder name (RecRoom-2020.12.18, RecRoom-2020.03.10, etc.).
• Easy launcher: auto-detects the build and picks the branch.

Machine-readable manifest

versions.json carries the same information in a format the Easy launcher and install scripts can consume directly. Add new versions there too when a new branch lands.

Adding a new version branch

1. Land the server code on a new orphan branch named <month>-<build> (e.g. august-2021-08-04).
2. Add a row to the active-branches list above.
3. Add the matching entry to versions.json.
4. Add a docs/<month>-setup.md setup guide.
5. Tag a release on the new branch so the Easy launcher's release-fetcher picks it up.

Branches are intentionally long-lived — once a build is supported, its branch keeps getting patches against the same wire protocol. Don't rebase across branches; cherry-pick when a fix applies to multiple.