Darkelf Shadow v7.0.16

# Darkelf Shadow CE 7.0.16

An interface and documentation update for the 7.x series, improving Find bar alignment and simplifying the Darkelf Inspector.

Find bar alignment

Replace font-based chevrons and the close character with centered, drawn icons.

Use matching heights for the input field and navigation buttons.

Remove conflicting button-size rules.

Keep the close icon synchronized with the selected accent color.

Preserve Find Previous, Find Next, Enter-to-find and close behavior.

Developer testing confirmed the corrected alignment.

Darkelf Inspector

Remove redundant Requests and Blocked counters from the bottom status strip.

Display **STANDBY** for inactive Lockdown and Panic modes.

Display **ACTIVE** when those modes are triggered.

Remove obsolete Network tab instructions from Help.

Remove the Network reference from the Inspector header.

Update the Help overview to match the visible Console, Quantum, MiniAI, Shortcuts and Help tabs.

Document Cmd+Q and closing the last browser window in the shortcut guide.

STANDBY means defensive blocking is inactive while MiniAI continues monitoring. These changes update presentation and documentation without changing threat thresholds or shutdown behavior.

About correction

Correct **Tim Burms** to **Tim Burns** in the About acknowledgment.

Retained navigation improvements

Show hovered-link destinations in the bottom-left corner using Qt's native link-hover signal.

Adjust previews to the available width and shorten long URLs with an ellipsis.

Clear previews during navigation and tab changes.

Hide previews during website video fullscreen.

Remove control and bidirectional formatting characters from displayed previews without changing link destinations.

Restrict Google language/region URL rewriting to homepage and search paths.

Preserve Google Maps parameters and redirects.

Retain English request headers and YouTube language/region settings.

Developer testing previously confirmed that `https://www.google.com/maps?hl=en&gl=us` loaded after the interceptor correction.

Retained shutdown and session cleanup

Clean up inside the application without a detached background worker.

Destroy WebEngine pages and the profile before checking that storage files are closed.

Remove selected website-session stores during normal shutdown, including closing the last window, Cmd+Q and Delete & Quit.

Preserve native authentication configuration, the WebAuthn secret and macOS Keychain credentials.

Remove obsolete status files from the previous cleanup implementation.

Use a synchronous Qt process for the storage check.

Python/PyPI and ordinary source launches use an **off-the-record profile**. The native macOS ARM64 app retains its **named Darkelf profile** for native authentication. Both use web-content caching in memory and nonpersistent cookies.

Cleanup can fail if storage remains locked or access is denied. Crashes and forced termination cannot guarantee cleanup. Filter caches, saved snapshots and other intentionally saved files can remain. Historical profiles created by older builds are not automatically removed.

Retained browser reliability improvements

Restore browser controls when opening or switching tabs during video fullscreen.

Ignore stale fullscreen events from background or deleted pages.

Guard delayed keyboard-filter installation against deleted Qt views.

Validate HTTP/HTTPS URLs and redirects used by the View Source fallback.

Limit fallback source downloads to **8 MiB**, while preserving literal HTML display without executing it.

Guard WebAuthn handling against duplicate requests, reentrant polling and stale request cleanup.

The source-download limit does not restrict normal browsing or file downloads.

Privacy controls and filtering

Apply panic and lockdown checks before compatibility exceptions.

Recognize private IP addresses through address parsing.

Report **BLOCKED / PROTECTED / TRUSTED / COMPATIBLE** canvas states.

Show the active profile's off-the-record or named status in Settings.

Retain cached filter downloads, concurrent refreshes, direct matching for simple rules and regex compilation for complex patterns.

Skip unsupported cookie, scriptlet and page-action rules rather than treating them as network blockers.

Retain embedded Darkelf site-boundary rules without a separate `.dat` file.

Provide optional diagnostics through `DARKELF_DIAGNOSTICS=1`.

Earlier developer measurements reduced filter initialization from approximately **38 seconds to 6 seconds** with about 417,000 network rules. This measures filter loading and indexing, not total application startup; results vary by system and cache state.

CNN10 playback was confirmed in developer testing after the earlier parser correction. Site-boundary coverage remains curated rather than worldwide.

Automatic verification compatibility remains enabled. Console-based verification signals can be imitated by website scripts; TRUSTED status is not proof of completed human verification.

Authentication and media

The custom macOS ARM64 Qt WebEngine **6.11.2** retains native WebAuthn integration, H.264/AVC support, native WebGL modifications and disabled WebRTC.

Passkey compatibility depends on signing, keychain entitlements, provisioning, applicable Apple authorization, platform and website behavior.

**7.0.16 does not claim to resolve the pending Apple entitlement dependency.**

H.264 support does not provide DRM support. Widevine is not bundled. Custom engine patches are not included in standard PyPI dependencies.

Validation and release verification

Updated Find bar, Inspector and About files passed syntax checks.

Targeted Ruff checks passed for the Find bar and Inspector changes.

Developer testing confirmed the corrected Find bar alignment.

The Find bar update preserved shutdown and cleanup methods unchanged.

Retain framework structure checks, final signing and ZIP verification before notarization.

Retain Developer ID signing, hardened runtime, notarization, stapling and embedded licensing notices.

These checks do not constitute an independent professional security audit.

Verify the DMG beside its matching checksum file:

```bash

shasum -a 256 -c Darkelf-Shadow-7.0.16.dmg.sha256

```

Acknowledgments

Thanks to the **Mecha Comet Team**, **Tim Burns**, and everyone testing and supporting Darkelf Shadow.

**Dr. Kevin Moore · Darkelf Project — Shadow Edition**