RELEASE_NOTES.md

# Release Notes: v4.0.0 OmniCrown

## Added

- Whole-archive password mode hiding manifest, file names, and metadata.
- PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA256 + ChaCha20 + HMAC-SHA256 password envelope.
- Optional GF(256) two-parity recovery records.
- `repair` command.
- `compat-zip` command.
- `hvce_gui.py` Tkinter GUI.
- Windows context-menu PowerShell installer.
- Compact lzma/zlib adaptive manifest compression.
- Solid small-file micro-pack for office/source folders.
- Faster high-entropy skip path.
- Safer extraction policy for symlinks.
- Expanded benchmark corpora: small office, photonic generators, versioned media, already-compressed, random control.

## Changed from v3

- v3 archive format is superseded by HVCE4.
- Header compression now chooses zlib or lzma.
- Encrypted archives now hide all private manifest content.
- Small files default to microgroups when beneficial.
- Random and media-like data is explicitly treated as an archiver state problem, not a false compression-ratio promise.

## Compatibility

This reference implementation reads HVCE4 archives produced by this package. It is not a stable long-term container standard yet.