fauxlink package, misc fixes

src/bootsupport/modules/fauxlink-0.1.0.tm

@@ -0,0 +1,468 @@
+# -*- tcl -*-
+# Maintenance Instruction: leave the 999999.xxx.x as is and use 'pmix make' or src/make.tcl to update from <pkg>-buildversion.txt
+#
+# Please consider using a BSD or MIT style license for greatest compatibility with the Tcl ecosystem.
+# Code using preferred Tcl licenses can be eligible for inclusion in Tcllib, Tklib and the punk package repository.
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+# (C) 2024
+#
+# @@ Meta Begin
+# Application fauxlink 0.1.0
+# Meta platform     tcl
+# Meta license      MIT 
+# @@ Meta End
+
+
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+# doctools header
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+#*** !doctools
+#[manpage_begin fauxlink_module_fauxlink 0 0.1.0]
+#[copyright "2024"]
+#[titledesc {faux link application shortcuts}]  [comment {-- Name section and table of contents description --}]
+#[moddesc {fauxlink .fxlnk}]             [comment {-- Description at end of page heading --}] 
+#[require fauxlink]
+#[keywords symlink faux fake shortcut toml]
+#[description]
+#[para] A cross platform shortcut/symlink alternative.
+#[para] Unapologetically ugly - but practical in certain circumstances.
+#[para] A solution is required for application-driven filesystem links that survives cross platform moves as well as 
+#[para] archiving and packaging systems.
+#[para] The target is specified in a minimally-encoded form in the filename itself - but still human readable.
+#[para] format of name <nominalname>#<encodedtarget>.fxlnk
+#[para] where <nominalname> can be empty - then the effective nominal name is the tail of the <encodedtarget> 
+#[para] The + symbol substitutes for forward-slashes.
+#[para] Other chars can be encoded using url-like encoding - (but only up to %7E !)
+#[para] We deliberately treat higher % sequences literally.
+#[para] This means actual uri::urn encoded unicode sequences (e.g %E2%99%A5 [heart]) can remain literal for linking to urls.
+#[para] e.g if an actual + or # is required in a filename or path segment they can be encoded as %2B & %23
+#[para] e.g a link to a file file#A.txt in parent dir could be:
+#[para] file%23A.txt#..+file%23A.txt.fxlnk
+#[para] or equivalently (but obviously affecting sorting) #..+file%23A.txt.fxlnk
+#[para] The <nominalname> can be unrelated to the actual target
+#[para] e.g datafile.dat#..+file%23A.txt.fxlnk
+#[para] This system has no filesystem support - and must be completely application driven.
+#[para] This can be useful for example in application test packages which may be tarred or zipped and moved cross platform.
+#[para] The target being fully specified in the name means the file doesn't have to be read for the target to be determined 
+#[para] Extensions to behaviour should be added in the file as text data in Toml format,
+#[para] with custom data being under a single application-chosen table name
+#[para] The toplevel Toml table [fauxlink] is reserved for core extensions to this system.
+#[para] Aside from the 2 used for delimiting (+ #)
+#[para] certain characters which might normally be allowed in filesystems are required to be encoded
+#[para] e.g space and tab are required to be %20 %09
+#[para] Others that require encoding are: * ? \ / | : ; " < >
+#[para] The nul character in raw form, when detected, is always mapped away to the empty string - as very few filesystems support it.
+#[para] Control characters and other punctuation is optional to encode.
+#[para] Generally utf-8 should be used where possible and unicode characters left as is where possible on modern systems.
+#[para] Where encoding of unicode is desired in the nominalname or encodedtarget portions it can be specified as %UXXXXXXXX
+#[para] There must be between 1 and 8 X digits following the %U. Interpretation of chars following %U stops at the first non-hex character.
+#[para] This means %Utest would not get any translation as there were no hex digits so it would come out as %Utest
+#
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+
+#https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-client/networking/url-encoding-unc-paths-not-url-decoded
+# ie "//server/c/Program files" works but "//server/c/Program%20Files" is now treated by windows as a literal path with %20 in it.
+#Using fauxlink - a link would be:
+# "my-program-files#++server+c+Program%20Files.fxlnk"
+#If we needed the old-style literal %20 it would become
+# "my-program-files#++server+c+Program%2520Files.fxlnk"
+
+
+#*** !doctools
+#[section Overview]
+#[para] overview of fauxlink
+#[subsection Concepts]
+#[para] -
+
+
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+##  Requirements
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+
+#*** !doctools
+#[subsection dependencies]
+#[para] packages used by fauxlink
+#[list_begin itemized]
+
+package require Tcl 8.6-
+#*** !doctools
+#[item] [package {Tcl 8.6-}]
+
+# #package require frobz
+# #*** !doctools
+# #[item] [package {frobz}]
+
+#*** !doctools
+#[list_end]
+
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+
+#*** !doctools
+#[section API]
+
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+# oo::class namespace
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+namespace eval fauxlink::class {
+    #*** !doctools
+    #[subsection {Namespace fauxlink::class}]
+    #[para] class definitions
+    if {[info commands [namespace current]::interface_sample1] eq ""} {
+        #*** !doctools
+        #[list_begin enumerated]
+
+        # oo::class create interface_sample1 {
+        #     #*** !doctools
+        #     #[enum] CLASS [class interface_sample1]
+        #     #[list_begin definitions]
+
+        #     method test {arg1} {
+        #         #*** !doctools
+        #         #[call class::interface_sample1    [method test] [arg arg1]]
+        #         #[para] test method
+        #         puts "test: $arg1"
+        #     }
+
+        #     #*** !doctools
+        #     #[list_end] [comment {-- end definitions interface_sample1}]
+        # }
+
+        #*** !doctools
+        #[list_end] [comment {--- end class enumeration ---}]
+    }
+}
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+# Base namespace
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+namespace eval fauxlink {
+    namespace export {[a-z]*};   # Convention: export all lowercase
+
+    #todo - enforce utf-8 
+
+    #literal unicode chars supported by modern filesystems - leave as is - REVIEW
+
+
+    variable encode_map
+    variable decode_map 
+    #most filesystems don't allow NULL - map to empty string
+
+    #Make sure % is not in encode_map
+    set encode_map [dict create\
+        \x00    ""\
+        { }     %20\
+        \t      %09\
+        +       %2B\
+        #       %23\
+        *       %2A\
+        ?       %3F\
+        \\      %5C\
+        /       %2F\
+        |       %7C\
+        :       %3A\
+        {;}     %3B\
+        {"}     %22\
+        <       %3C\
+        >       %3E\
+    ]
+    #above have some overlap with ctrl codes below.
+    #no big deal as it's a dict
+
+    #must_encode
+    # + # * ? \ / | : ; " < > <sp> \t 
+    # also NUL to empty string
+
+    # also ctrl chars 01 to 1F (1..31)  
+    for {set i 1} {$i < 32} {incr i} {
+        set ch          [format %c $i]
+        set enc         "%[format %02X $i]"
+        set enc_lower   [string tolower $enc] 
+        dict set encode_map $ch         $enc 
+        dict set decode_map $enc        $ch
+        dict set decode_map $enc_lower  $ch
+    }
+
+    variable must_encode
+    set must_encode [dict keys $encode_map]
+
+
+    #if they are in 
+
+    #decode map doesn't include 
+    #    %00     (nul)
+    #    %2F     "/"
+    #    %2f     "/"
+    #    %7f     (del)
+    #we exlude the forward slash because we already have + for that - and multiple ways to specify it obscure intention.
+    #
+    set decode_map [dict merge $decode_map [dict create\
+        %09     \t\
+        %20     { }\
+        %21     "!"\
+        %22     {"}\
+        %23     "#"\
+        %24     "$"\
+        %25     "%"\
+        %26     "&"\
+        %27     "'"\
+        %28     "("\
+        %29     ")"\
+        %2A     "*"\
+        %2a     "*"\
+        %2B     "+"\
+        %2b     "+"\
+        %2C     ","\
+        %2c     ","\
+        %2D     "-"\
+        %2d     "-"\
+        %2E     "."\
+        %2e     "."\
+        %3A     ":"\
+        %3a     ":"\
+        %3B     {;}\
+        %3b     {;}\
+        %3D     "="\
+        %3C     "<"\
+        %3c     "<"\
+        %3d     "="\
+        %3E     ">"\
+        %3e     ">"\
+        %3F     "?"\
+        %3f     "?"\
+        %40     "@"\
+        %5B     "\["\
+        %5b     "\["\
+        %5C     "\\"\
+        %5c     "\\"\
+        %5D     "\]"\
+        %5d     "\]"\
+        %5E     "^"\
+        %5e     "^"\
+        %60     "`"\
+        %7B     "{"\
+        %7b     "{"\
+        %7C     "|"\
+        %7c     "|"\
+        %7D     "}"\
+        %7d     "}"\
+        %7E     "~"\
+        %7e     "~"\
+    ]]
+    #Don't go above 7f 
+    #if we want to specify p
+
+
+    #*** !doctools
+    #[subsection {Namespace fauxlink}]
+    #[para] Core API functions for fauxlink 
+    #[list_begin definitions]
+
+    proc resolve {link} {
+        variable decode_map
+        variable encode_map
+        variable must_encode
+        set ftail [file tail $link]
+        if {[file extension $ftail] ni [list .fxlnk .fauxlink]} {
+            error "fauxlink::resolve refusing to process link $link - file extension must be .fxlnk or .fauxlink"
+        } 
+        set linkspec [file rootname $ftail]
+        # - any # or + within the target path or name should have been uri encoded as %23 and %2b
+        if {[tcl::string::first # $linkspec] < 0} {
+            error "fauxlink::resolve error. Link must contain a # (usually at start if name matches target)"
+        }
+        #only the 1st 2 parts of split on # are significant.
+        #if there are more # chars present - the subsequent parts are effectively a comment
+
+        #check namepec already has required chars encoded
+        lassign [split $linkspec #] namespec targetspec
+        #puts stderr "-->namespec $namespec"
+        set nametest [tcl::string::map $encode_map $namespec]
+        #puts stderr "-->nametest $nametest"
+        #nothing should be changed - if there are unencoded chars that must be encoded it is an error
+        if {[tcl::string::length $nametest] ne [tcl::string::length $namespec]} {
+            set err "fauxlink::resolve invalid chars in name part (section prior to first #)"
+            set idx 0
+            foreach ch [split $namespec ""] {
+                if {$ch in $must_encode} {
+                    set enc [dict get $encode_map $ch]
+                    if {[dict exists $decode_map $enc]} {
+                        append err "  char $idx should be encoded as $enc" \n
+                    } else {
+                        append err "  no %xx encoding available. Use %UXX if really required" \n
+                    }
+                }
+                incr idx
+            }
+            error $err
+        }
+        #see comments below regarding 2 rounds and ordering.
+        set name        [decode_unicode_escapes $namespec]
+        set name        [tcl::string::map $decode_map $name]
+        #puts stderr "-->name: $name"
+
+        set targetsegment [split $targetspec +]
+        #check each + delimited part of targetspec already has required chars encoded
+        set s 0 ;#segment index
+        set result_segments [list]
+        foreach segment $targetsegment {
+            set targettest [tcl::string::map $encode_map $segment]
+            if {[tcl::string::length $targettest] ne [tcl::string::length $segment]} {
+                set err "fauxlink::resolve invalid chars in targetpath (section following first #)"
+                set idx 0
+                foreach ch [split $segment ""] {
+                    if {$ch in $must_encode} {
+                        set enc [dict get $encode_map $ch]
+                        if {[dict exists $decode_map $enc]} {
+                            append err " segment $s char $idx should be encoded as $enc" \n
+                        } else {
+                            append err "  no %xx encoding available. Use %UXX if really required" \n
+                        }
+                    }
+                    incr idx
+                }
+                error $err
+            }
+            #2 rounds of substitution is possibly asking for trouble..
+            #We allow anything in the resultant segments anyway (as %UXXXX... allows all)
+            #so it's not so much about what can be encoded,
+            # - but it makes it harder to reason about for users
+            # In particular - if we map %XX first it makes %25 -> % substitution tricky
+            # if the user requires a literal %UXXX - they can't do %25UXXX 
+            # the double sub would make it %UXXX -> somechar anyway.
+            #we do unicode first - as a 2nd round of %XX substitutions is unlikely to interfere.
+            #There is still the opportunity to use things like %U00000025 followed by hex-chars
+            # and get some minor surprises, but using %U on ascii is unlikely to be done accidentally - REVIEW
+            set segment             [decode_unicode_escapes $segment]
+            set segment             [tcl::string::map $decode_map $segment]
+            lappend result_segments $segment
+
+            incr s
+        }
+        set targetpath [join $result_segments /]
+        if {$name eq ""} {
+            set name [lindex $result_segments end]
+        }
+
+        return [dict create name $name targetpath $targetpath]
+    }
+    variable map
+
+    #default exclusion of / (%U2f and equivs)
+    #this would allow obfuscation of intention - when we have + for that anyway
+    proc decode_unicode_escapes {str {exclusions {/ \n \r \x00}}} {
+        variable map
+        set ucstart [string first %U $str 0]
+        if {$ucstart < 0} {
+            return $str
+        }
+        set max 8
+        set map [list]
+        set strend [expr {[string length $str]-1}]
+        while {$ucstart >= 0} {
+            set s $ucstart
+            set i [expr {$s +2}] ;#skip the %U
+            set hex ""
+            while {[tcl::string::length $hex] < 8 && $i <= $strend} {
+                set in [string index $str $i]
+                if {[tcl::string::is xdigit -strict $in]} {
+                    append hex $in
+                } else {
+                    break
+                } 
+                incr i
+            } 
+            if {$hex ne ""} {
+                incr i -1
+                lappend map $s $i $hex
+            }
+            set ucstart [tcl::string::first %U $str $i]
+        }
+        set out ""
+        set lastidx -1 
+        set e 0
+        foreach {s e hex} $map {
+            append out [string range $str $lastidx+1 $s-1]
+            set sub [format %c 0x$hex]
+            if {$sub in $exclusions} {
+                append out %U$hex ;#put it back
+            } else {
+                append out $sub
+            }
+            set lastidx $e
+        }
+        if {$e < [tcl::string::length $str]-1} {
+            append out [string range $str $e+1 end]
+        }
+        return $out
+    }
+    proc link_as {name target} {
+
+    }
+
+    #proc sample1 {p1 args} {
+    #    #*** !doctools
+    #    #[call [fun sample1] [arg p1] [opt {?option value...?}]]
+    #    #[para]Description of sample1 
+    #    return "ok" 
+    #}
+
+
+
+
+    #*** !doctools
+    #[list_end] [comment {--- end definitions namespace fauxlink ---}]
+}
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+
+
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+# Secondary API namespace
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+namespace eval fauxlink::lib {
+    namespace export {[a-z]*};   # Convention: export all lowercase
+    namespace path [namespace parent]
+    #*** !doctools
+    #[subsection {Namespace fauxlink::lib}]
+    #[para] Secondary functions that are part of the API 
+    #[list_begin definitions]
+
+    #proc utility1 {p1 args} {
+    #    #*** !doctools
+    #    #[call lib::[fun utility1] [arg p1] [opt {?option value...?}]]
+    #    #[para]Description of utility1 
+    #    return 1 
+    #}
+
+
+
+    #*** !doctools
+    #[list_end] [comment {--- end definitions namespace fauxlink::lib ---}]
+}
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+
+
+
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+#*** !doctools
+#[section Internal]
+namespace eval fauxlink::system {
+    #*** !doctools
+    #[subsection {Namespace fauxlink::system}]
+    #[para] Internal functions that are not part of the API 
+
+
+
+}
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+##  Ready   
+package provide fauxlink [namespace eval fauxlink {
+    variable pkg fauxlink
+    variable version
+    set version 0.1.0 
+}]
+return
+
+#*** !doctools
+#[manpage_end]
+

src/bootsupport/modules/include_modules.config

@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ set bootsupport_modules [list\
     src/vendormodules cksum\
     src/vendormodules modpod\
     src/vendormodules overtype\
+    src/vendormodules fauxlink\
     src/vendormodules oolib\
     src/vendormodules http\
     src/vendormodules dictutils\

src/bootsupport/modules/punk/du-0.1.0.tm

@@ -942,6 +942,7 @@ namespace eval punk::du {
             #struct::set difference removes duplicates (but not always.. e.g if using tcl impl and 2nd element empty!)
             #relying on struct::set to remove dupes is somewhat risky. It is not well documented - and behaviour of dupes in inputs is underspecified as it appears to be intended for mathematical 'sets'
             #remove links and . .. from directories, remove links from files
+            #ideally we would like to classify links by whether they point to files vs dirs - but there are enough cross-platform differences that we will have to leave it to the caller to sort out for now.
             #struct::set will affect order: tcl vs critcl give different ordering!
             set files [struct::set difference [concat $hfiles $files[unset files]] $links]
             set dirs  [struct::set difference [concat $hdirs $dirs[unset dirs]]    [concat $links [list [file join $folderpath .]  [file join $folderpath ..] ]]]

src/bootsupport/modules/punk/lib-0.1.1.tm

@@ -372,20 +372,40 @@ namespace eval punk::lib {
     proc lswap {lvar a z} {
         upvar $lvar l
         if {[lindex_resolve_basic $l $a] < 0 || [lindex_resolve_basic $l $z] < 0} {
-            #if we didn't do this check - we could raise an error on second lset - leaving list corrupted because only one lset occurred
+            #lindex_resolve_basic returns only -1 if out of range
+            #if we didn't do this check - we could raise an error on second lset below - leaving list corrupted because only one lset occurred
             #(e.g using: lswap mylist end-2 end on a two element list)
 
             #on the unhapy path we can take time to check the nature of the out-of-boundness to give a nicer report 
+            #use full 'lindex_resolve' which can report which side via -3 and -2 special results being lower and upper bound breaches respectively (-1 never returned)
             set a_index [lindex_resolve $l $a]
             set a_msg ""
             switch -- $a_index {
                 -2 {
-                    "$a is greater th 
+                    set a_msg "1st supplied index $a is above the upper bound for the list ([llength $l])" 
                 }
                 -3 {
+                    set a_msg "1st supplied index $a is below the lower bound for the list (0)" 
                 }
             }
-            error "lswap cannot indices $a and $z  $a is out of range" 
+            set z_index [lindex_resolve $l $z]
+            set z_msg ""
+            switch -- $z_index {
+                -2 {
+                    set z_msg "2nd supplied index $z is above the upper bound for the list ([llength $l])" 
+                } 
+                -3 {
+                    set z_msg "2nd supplied index $z is below the lower bound for the list (0)" 
+                }
+            }
+            set errmsg "lswap cannot swap indices $a and $z" 
+            if {$a_msg ne ""} {
+                append errmsg \n $a_msg
+            }
+            if {$z_msg ne ""} {
+                append errmsg \n $z_msg
+            }
+            error $errmsg
         }
         set item2 [lindex $l $z]
         lset l $z [lindex $l $a] 
@@ -397,6 +417,7 @@ namespace eval punk::lib {
     #    #if index a strictly less <= z we can do in one-liner for fun - but it's replacing whole list - so much slower
     #    set l [concat [lrange $l 0 $a-1] [lindex $l $z] [lrange $l $a+1 $z-1] [lindex $l $a] [lrange $l $z+1 end]]
     #}
+
     proc lswap2 {lvar a z} {
         upvar $lvar l
         #if index a strictly less <= z we can do in one-liner for fun - but it's replacing whole list - so much slower
@@ -3021,6 +3042,10 @@ namespace eval punk::lib {
                 set localeid [twapi::get_system_default_lcid]
             }
         }
+        #when using twapi we currently only get the localeid - not the specific defaults
+        #when not using twapi, or on non-windows platforms - we don't currently have a mechanism to look up user preferences for this
+        set default_delim ","
+        set default_groupsize 3
 
         set results [list]
         set nums [objclone $numbers_or_commaformattednumbers] ;#stops single num from getting internal rep of list
@@ -3036,15 +3061,21 @@ namespace eval punk::lib {
                     lappend results [twapi::format_number $number $localeid -idigits -1]
                     continue
                 } else {
-                    if {$delim eq ""} {set delim ","}
+                    #setting just one of delim or groupsize means we don't get the user's localeid based default for the non-set one
-                    if {$groupsize eq ""} {set groupsize 3}
+                    #todo - document it? Find a way to lookup localeid based defaults whenever either is unspecified?
+                    if {$delim eq ""}       {set delim $default_delim}
+                    if {$groupsize eq ""}   {set groupsize $default_groupsize}
                     lappend results [twapi::format_number $number 0 -idigits -1 -sthousand $delim -sgrouping $groupsize]
                     continue
                 }
             }
             #todo - get configured user defaults
-            set delim ","
+            if {$delim eq ""} {
-            set groupsize 3
+                set delim $default_delim 
+            }
+            if {$groupsize eq ""} {
+                set groupsize $default_groupsize 
+            }
 
             lappend results [delimit_number $number $delim $groupsize]
         }

src/bootsupport/modules/punk/mix/cli-0.3.1.tm

@@ -692,14 +692,22 @@ namespace eval punk::mix::cli {
                                     #punk::zip::mkzip stores permissions - (unix style) which confuses zipfs when reading - it misidentifies dirs as files
                                 }
                                 #zipfs mkzip does exactly what we need anyway in this case
-                                set wd [pwd]
+                                #unfortunately it's not available in all Tclsh versions we might be running..
-                                cd $buildfolder
+                                if {[llength [info commands zipfs]]} {
-                                puts "zipfs mkzip $zipfile #modpod-$basename-$module_build_version"
+                                    set wd [pwd]
-                                zipfs mkzip $zipfile #modpod-$basename-$module_build_version
+                                    cd $buildfolder
-                                cd $wd
+                                    puts "zipfs mkzip $zipfile #modpod-$basename-$module_build_version"
-
+                                    zipfs mkzip $zipfile #modpod-$basename-$module_build_version
-                                package require modpod
+                                    cd $wd
-                                modpod::lib::make_zip_modpod $zipfile $modulefile
+
+                                    package require modpod
+                                    modpod::lib::make_zip_modpod $zipfile $modulefile
+                                } else {
+                                    #TODO - review punk::zip::mkzip and/or external zip to provide a fallback?
+                                    set had_err 1
+                                    lappend notest "zipfs_unavailable"
+                                    puts stderr "WARNING: zipfs unavailable can't build $modulefile"
+                                }
 
 
                                 if {$had_error} {

src/modules/punk/du-999999.0a1.0.tm

@@ -942,6 +942,7 @@ namespace eval punk::du {
             #struct::set difference removes duplicates (but not always.. e.g if using tcl impl and 2nd element empty!)
             #relying on struct::set to remove dupes is somewhat risky. It is not well documented - and behaviour of dupes in inputs is underspecified as it appears to be intended for mathematical 'sets'
             #remove links and . .. from directories, remove links from files
+            #ideally we would like to classify links by whether they point to files vs dirs - but there are enough cross-platform differences that we will have to leave it to the caller to sort out for now.
             #struct::set will affect order: tcl vs critcl give different ordering!
             set files [struct::set difference [concat $hfiles $files[unset files]] $links]
             set dirs  [struct::set difference [concat $hdirs $dirs[unset dirs]]    [concat $links [list [file join $folderpath .]  [file join $folderpath ..] ]]]

src/modules/punk/lib-999999.0a1.0.tm

@@ -372,20 +372,40 @@ namespace eval punk::lib {
     proc lswap {lvar a z} {
         upvar $lvar l
         if {[lindex_resolve_basic $l $a] < 0 || [lindex_resolve_basic $l $z] < 0} {
-            #if we didn't do this check - we could raise an error on second lset - leaving list corrupted because only one lset occurred
+            #lindex_resolve_basic returns only -1 if out of range
+            #if we didn't do this check - we could raise an error on second lset below - leaving list corrupted because only one lset occurred
             #(e.g using: lswap mylist end-2 end on a two element list)
 
             #on the unhapy path we can take time to check the nature of the out-of-boundness to give a nicer report 
+            #use full 'lindex_resolve' which can report which side via -3 and -2 special results being lower and upper bound breaches respectively (-1 never returned)
             set a_index [lindex_resolve $l $a]
             set a_msg ""
             switch -- $a_index {
                 -2 {
-                    "$a is greater th 
+                    set a_msg "1st supplied index $a is above the upper bound for the list ([llength $l])" 
                 }
                 -3 {
+                    set a_msg "1st supplied index $a is below the lower bound for the list (0)" 
                 }
             }
-            error "lswap cannot indices $a and $z  $a is out of range" 
+            set z_index [lindex_resolve $l $z]
+            set z_msg ""
+            switch -- $z_index {
+                -2 {
+                    set z_msg "2nd supplied index $z is above the upper bound for the list ([llength $l])" 
+                } 
+                -3 {
+                    set z_msg "2nd supplied index $z is below the lower bound for the list (0)" 
+                }
+            }
+            set errmsg "lswap cannot swap indices $a and $z" 
+            if {$a_msg ne ""} {
+                append errmsg \n $a_msg
+            }
+            if {$z_msg ne ""} {
+                append errmsg \n $z_msg
+            }
+            error $errmsg
         }
         set item2 [lindex $l $z]
         lset l $z [lindex $l $a] 
@@ -397,6 +417,7 @@ namespace eval punk::lib {
     #    #if index a strictly less <= z we can do in one-liner for fun - but it's replacing whole list - so much slower
     #    set l [concat [lrange $l 0 $a-1] [lindex $l $z] [lrange $l $a+1 $z-1] [lindex $l $a] [lrange $l $z+1 end]]
     #}
+
     proc lswap2 {lvar a z} {
         upvar $lvar l
         #if index a strictly less <= z we can do in one-liner for fun - but it's replacing whole list - so much slower
@@ -3021,6 +3042,10 @@ namespace eval punk::lib {
                 set localeid [twapi::get_system_default_lcid]
             }
         }
+        #when using twapi we currently only get the localeid - not the specific defaults
+        #when not using twapi, or on non-windows platforms - we don't currently have a mechanism to look up user preferences for this
+        set default_delim ","
+        set default_groupsize 3
 
         set results [list]
         set nums [objclone $numbers_or_commaformattednumbers] ;#stops single num from getting internal rep of list
@@ -3036,15 +3061,21 @@ namespace eval punk::lib {
                     lappend results [twapi::format_number $number $localeid -idigits -1]
                     continue
                 } else {
-                    if {$delim eq ""} {set delim ","}
+                    #setting just one of delim or groupsize means we don't get the user's localeid based default for the non-set one
-                    if {$groupsize eq ""} {set groupsize 3}
+                    #todo - document it? Find a way to lookup localeid based defaults whenever either is unspecified?
+                    if {$delim eq ""}       {set delim $default_delim}
+                    if {$groupsize eq ""}   {set groupsize $default_groupsize}
                     lappend results [twapi::format_number $number 0 -idigits -1 -sthousand $delim -sgrouping $groupsize]
                     continue
                 }
             }
             #todo - get configured user defaults
-            set delim ","
+            if {$delim eq ""} {
-            set groupsize 3
+                set delim $default_delim 
+            }
+            if {$groupsize eq ""} {
+                set groupsize $default_groupsize 
+            }
 
             lappend results [delimit_number $number $delim $groupsize]
         }

src/modules/punk/mix/cli-999999.0a1.0.tm

@@ -692,14 +692,22 @@ namespace eval punk::mix::cli {
                                     #punk::zip::mkzip stores permissions - (unix style) which confuses zipfs when reading - it misidentifies dirs as files
                                 }
                                 #zipfs mkzip does exactly what we need anyway in this case
-                                set wd [pwd]
+                                #unfortunately it's not available in all Tclsh versions we might be running..
-                                cd $buildfolder
+                                if {[llength [info commands zipfs]]} {
-                                puts "zipfs mkzip $zipfile #modpod-$basename-$module_build_version"
+                                    set wd [pwd]
-                                zipfs mkzip $zipfile #modpod-$basename-$module_build_version
+                                    cd $buildfolder
-                                cd $wd
+                                    puts "zipfs mkzip $zipfile #modpod-$basename-$module_build_version"
-
+                                    zipfs mkzip $zipfile #modpod-$basename-$module_build_version
-                                package require modpod
+                                    cd $wd
-                                modpod::lib::make_zip_modpod $zipfile $modulefile
+
+                                    package require modpod
+                                    modpod::lib::make_zip_modpod $zipfile $modulefile
+                                } else {
+                                    #TODO - review punk::zip::mkzip and/or external zip to provide a fallback?
+                                    set had_err 1
+                                    lappend notest "zipfs_unavailable"
+                                    puts stderr "WARNING: zipfs unavailable can't build $modulefile"
+                                }
 
 
                                 if {$had_error} {

src/modules/punk/nav/fs-999999.0a1.0.tm

@@ -203,14 +203,15 @@ tcl::namespace::eval punk::nav::fs {
                 }
                 set matchinfo [dirfiles_dict -searchbase [pwd]]
             }
-            set dircount [llength [dict get $matchinfo dirs]]
+            set dircount        [llength [dict get $matchinfo dirs]]
-            set filecount [llength [dict get $matchinfo files]]
+            set filecount       [llength [dict get $matchinfo files]]
+            set symlinkcount    [llength [dict get $matchinfo links]] ;#doesn't include windows shelllinks (.lnk) 
             #set location [file normalize [dict get $matchinfo location]]
             set location [dict get $matchinfo location]
 
 
             #result for glob is count of matches - use dirfiles etc for script access to results
-            set result [list location $location dircount $dircount filecount $filecount]
+            set result [list location $location dircount $dircount filecount $filecount symlinks $symlinkcount]
             set filesizes [dict get $matchinfo filesizes]
             if {[llength $filesizes]} {
                 set filesizes [lsearch -all -inline -not $filesizes na]
@@ -383,6 +384,7 @@ tcl::namespace::eval punk::nav::fs {
 
                 set location [file normalize [dict get $matchinfo location]]
                 if {[string match //xzipfs:/* $location] || $location ne $last_location} {
+                    #REVIEW - zipfs test disabled with leading x  
                     #emit previous result
                     if {[dict size $this_result]} {
                         dict set this_result filebytes [punk::lib::format_number [dict get $this_result filebytes]]
@@ -1035,9 +1037,6 @@ tcl::namespace::eval punk::nav::fs {
             lappend nonportable             {*}[dict get $contents nonportable] ;# illegal file/folder names from windows perspective
             lappend vfsmounts               {*}[dict get $contents vfsmounts]
         }
-        if {$opt_formatsizes} {
-            set filesizes [punk::lib::format_number $filesizes]
-        }
 
         if {$opt_stripbase && $common_base ne ""} {
             set filetails [list]
@@ -1049,33 +1048,124 @@ tcl::namespace::eval punk::nav::fs {
                 }
                 set $fileset $stripped
             }
+            #Note: we need to remember to use common_base to rebuild the key when we need to query the dict-based elements: sizes & times - because we didn't strip those keys. 
         }
+
+        # -- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
+        #assign symlinks to the dirs or files collection (the punk::du system doesn't sort this out 
+        #As at 2024-09 for windows symlinks - Tcl can't do file readlink on symlinks created with mklink /D name target (SYMLINKD) or mklink name target (SYMLINK)
+        #We can't read the target information - best we can do is classify it as a file or a dir
+        #we can't use 'file type' as that will report just 'link' - but file isfile and file isdirectory work and should work for links on all platforms - REVIEW
+        set file_symlinks   [list]
+        set dir_symlinks    [list]
+        set dir_shortcuts   [list]  ;#windows shell links (.lnk) that have a target that is a directory
+        foreach s $links {
+            if {[file isfile $s]} {
+                lappend file_symlinks $s
+                #will be appended in finfo_plus later
+            } elseif {[file isdirectory $s]} {
+                lappend dir_symlinks $s
+                lappend dirs $s
+            } else {
+                #dunno - warn for now
+                puts stderr "Warning - cannot determine link type for link $s"
+            }
+        }
+        #we now have the issue that our symlinks aren't sorted within the dir/file categorisation - they currently will have to appear at beginning or end - TODO
+        # -- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
+        
+        
         #todo - sort whilst maintaining order for metadata? 
+        #we need to co-sort files only with filesizes  (other info such as times is keyed on fname so cosorting not required)
+
 
+        #we can't sort on filesize after format_number (unless we were to enforce delim _  which we don't want to do)
+        if {$opt_formatsizes} {
+            set filesizes [punk::lib::format_number $filesizes] ;#accepts a list and will process each
+        }
         #col2 with subcolumns
 
         #remove punk::pipedata dependency  - allow use of punk::nav::fs without punk package
         #set widest2a [punk::pipedata [list {*}$files ""] {lmap v $data {string length $v}}  {tcl::mathfunc::max {*}$data}]
         #widest2a.= concat $files [list ""] |> .=>2 lmap v {string length $v} |> .=>* tcl::mathfunc::max
-        set widest2a [tcl::mathfunc::max {*}[lmap v [concat $files [list ""]] {string length $v}]]
+        set widest2a [tcl::mathfunc::max {*}[lmap v [list {*}$files {*}$file_symlinks ""] {string length $v}]]
 
         set c2a [string repeat " " [expr {$widest2a + 1}]]
         #set widest2b [punk::pipedata [list {*}$filesizes ""] {lmap v $data {string length $v}}  {tcl::mathfunc::max {*}$data}]
-        set widest2b [tcl::mathfunc::max {*}[lmap v [concat $filesizes [list ""]] {string length $v}]]
+        set widest2b [tcl::mathfunc::max {*}[lmap v [list {*}$filesizes ""] {string length $v}]]
         set c2b [string repeat " " [expr {$widest2b + 1}]]
         set finfo [list]
         foreach f $files s $filesizes {
             #note - the display entry isn't necessarily a valid tcl list e.g filename with unbalanced curly braces
-            #hence we need to keep the filename, as well properly protected as a list element
+            #hence we need to keep the filename as well, properly protected as a list element
             lappend finfo [list file $f display "[overtype::left $c2a $f] [overtype::right $c2b $s]"]
         }
+        set flink_style [punk::ansi::a+ undercurly underline undt-green] ;#curly green underline with fallback to normal underline
+        set dlink_style [punk::ansi::a+ undercurly underline undt-green]
+        #We use an underline so the visual styling of a link can coexist with fg/bg colors applied for other attributes such as hidden
+        foreach flink $file_symlinks {
+            lappend finfo [list file $flink display "$flink_style[overtype::left $c2a $flink] [overtype::right $c2b 0]"]
+        }
+
+        set fshortcut_style [punk::ansi::a+ underdotted underline undt-hotpink]
+        set dshortcut_style [punk::ansi::a+ underdotted underline undt-hotpink]
+        #examine windows .lnk shell link files (shortcuts) - these could be encountered on other platforms too - we should still be able to read them
+        #review - symlink to shortcut? hopefully will just work
+        #classify as file or directory - fallback to file if unknown/undeterminable
+        set finfo_plus [list]
+        foreach fdict $finfo {
+            set fname [dict get $fdict file]
+            if {[file extension $fname] eq ".lnk"} {
+                if {![catch {package require punk::winlnk}]} {
+                    set shortcutinfo [punk::winlnk::file_get_info $fname] 
+                    set target_type "file" ;#default/fallback
+                    if {[dict exists $shortcutinfo link_target]} {
+                        set tgt [dict get $shortcutinfo link_target]
+                        if {[file exists $tgt]} {
+                            #file type could return 'link' - we will use ifile/isdirectory
+                            if {[file isfile $tgt]} {
+                                set target_type file
+                            } elseif {[file isdirectory $tgt]} {
+                                set target_type directory 
+                            } else {
+                                set target_type file ;## ?
+                            }
+                        } else {
+                            #todo - see if punk::winlnk has info about the type at the time of linking
+                            #for now - treat as file
+                        } 
+                    }
+                    switch -- $target_type {
+                        file {
+                            set display [dict get $fdict display]
+                            set display $fshortcut_style$display ;#
+                            dict set fdict display $display
+                            lappend finfo_plus $fdict
+                        }
+                        directory {
+                            #target of link is a dir - for display/categorisation purposes we want to see it as a dir
+                            #will be styled later based on membership of dir_shortcuts 
+                            lappend dirs $fname
+                            lappend dir_shortcuts $fname
+                        }
+                    }
+                }
+                #if we don't have punk::winlnk to read the .lnk - it will get no special highlighting and just appear as an ordinary file even if it points to a dir
+            } else {
+                lappend finfo_plus $fdict
+            }
+        }
+        unset finfo
+
+
 
         #set widest1 [punk::pipedata [list {*}$dirs ""] {lmap v $data {string length $v}}  {tcl::mathfunc::max {*}$data}]
         set widest1 [tcl::mathfunc::max {*}[lmap v [concat $dirs [list ""]] {string length $v}]]
 
         set displaylist [list]
         set col1 [string repeat " " [expr {$widest1 + 2}]]
-        foreach d $dirs filerec $finfo {
+        set RST [punk::ansi::a]
+        foreach d $dirs filerec $finfo_plus {
             set d1 [punk::ansi::a+ cyan bold]
             set d2 [punk::ansi::a+ defaultfg defaultbg normal]
             #set f1 [punk::ansi::a+ white bold]
@@ -1088,7 +1178,7 @@ tcl::namespace::eval punk::nav::fs {
                 }
                 if {$d in $vfsmounts} {
                     if {$d in $flaggedhidden} {
-                        #we could have a hidden dir which is also a vfs.. color will be overridden giving no indicatio of 'hidden' status - REVIEW
+                        #we could have a hidden dir which is also a vfs.. colour will be overridden giving no indicatio of 'hidden' status - REVIEW
                         #(This situation encountered on windows - even though file attr showed -hidden 0 - the glob with -types hidden returned it.. possibly a tcl glob bug on windows)
                         #mark it differently for now.. (todo bug report?)
                         if {$d in $nonportable} {
@@ -1108,6 +1198,12 @@ tcl::namespace::eval punk::nav::fs {
                         set d1 [punk::ansi::a+ red bold] 
                     }
                 }
+                #dlink-style & dshortcut_style are for underlines - can be added with colours already set
+                if {$d in $dir_symlinks} {
+                    append d1 $dlink_style
+                } elseif {$d in $dir_shortcuts} {
+                    append d1 $dshortcut_style
+                }
             }
             if {[llength $filerec]} {
                 set fname [dict get $filerec file]
@@ -1120,7 +1216,7 @@ tcl::namespace::eval punk::nav::fs {
                     }
                 }
             }
-            lappend displaylist $d1[overtype::left $col1 $d]$d2$f1$fdisp$f2
+            lappend displaylist [overtype::left $col1 $d1$d$RST]$f1$fdisp$RST
         }
     
         return [punk::lib::list_as_lines $displaylist]

src/modules/punk/winlnk-999999.0a1.0.tm

@@ -440,16 +440,16 @@ tcl::namespace::eval punk::winlnk {
         set localbase_path ""
         set suffix_path ""
         set linkinfocontent [dict get $linkinfo_content_dict content]
-        set link_file ""
+        set link_target ""
         if {$linkinfocontent ne ""} {
             set linkfields [LinkInfo_get_fields $linkinfocontent] 
             set localbase_path [dict get $linkfields localbasepath]
             set suffix_path    [dict get $linkfields commonpathsuffix]
-            set link_file [file join $localbase_path $suffix_path]
+            set link_target [file join $localbase_path $suffix_path]
         }
 
         set result [dict create\
-            link_file               $link_file\
+            link_target             $link_target\
             link_flags              $flags_enabled\
             file_attributes         "<unimplemented>"\
             create_time             "<unimplemented>"\

src/project_layouts/custom/_project/punk.project-0.1/src/bootsupport/modules/fauxlink-0.1.0.tm

@@ -0,0 +1,468 @@
+# -*- tcl -*-
+# Maintenance Instruction: leave the 999999.xxx.x as is and use 'pmix make' or src/make.tcl to update from <pkg>-buildversion.txt
+#
+# Please consider using a BSD or MIT style license for greatest compatibility with the Tcl ecosystem.
+# Code using preferred Tcl licenses can be eligible for inclusion in Tcllib, Tklib and the punk package repository.
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+# (C) 2024
+#
+# @@ Meta Begin
+# Application fauxlink 0.1.0
+# Meta platform     tcl
+# Meta license      MIT 
+# @@ Meta End
+
+
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+# doctools header
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+#*** !doctools
+#[manpage_begin fauxlink_module_fauxlink 0 0.1.0]
+#[copyright "2024"]
+#[titledesc {faux link application shortcuts}]  [comment {-- Name section and table of contents description --}]
+#[moddesc {fauxlink .fxlnk}]             [comment {-- Description at end of page heading --}] 
+#[require fauxlink]
+#[keywords symlink faux fake shortcut toml]
+#[description]
+#[para] A cross platform shortcut/symlink alternative.
+#[para] Unapologetically ugly - but practical in certain circumstances.
+#[para] A solution is required for application-driven filesystem links that survives cross platform moves as well as 
+#[para] archiving and packaging systems.
+#[para] The target is specified in a minimally-encoded form in the filename itself - but still human readable.
+#[para] format of name <nominalname>#<encodedtarget>.fxlnk
+#[para] where <nominalname> can be empty - then the effective nominal name is the tail of the <encodedtarget> 
+#[para] The + symbol substitutes for forward-slashes.
+#[para] Other chars can be encoded using url-like encoding - (but only up to %7E !)
+#[para] We deliberately treat higher % sequences literally.
+#[para] This means actual uri::urn encoded unicode sequences (e.g %E2%99%A5 [heart]) can remain literal for linking to urls.
+#[para] e.g if an actual + or # is required in a filename or path segment they can be encoded as %2B & %23
+#[para] e.g a link to a file file#A.txt in parent dir could be:
+#[para] file%23A.txt#..+file%23A.txt.fxlnk
+#[para] or equivalently (but obviously affecting sorting) #..+file%23A.txt.fxlnk
+#[para] The <nominalname> can be unrelated to the actual target
+#[para] e.g datafile.dat#..+file%23A.txt.fxlnk
+#[para] This system has no filesystem support - and must be completely application driven.
+#[para] This can be useful for example in application test packages which may be tarred or zipped and moved cross platform.
+#[para] The target being fully specified in the name means the file doesn't have to be read for the target to be determined 
+#[para] Extensions to behaviour should be added in the file as text data in Toml format,
+#[para] with custom data being under a single application-chosen table name
+#[para] The toplevel Toml table [fauxlink] is reserved for core extensions to this system.
+#[para] Aside from the 2 used for delimiting (+ #)
+#[para] certain characters which might normally be allowed in filesystems are required to be encoded
+#[para] e.g space and tab are required to be %20 %09
+#[para] Others that require encoding are: * ? \ / | : ; " < >
+#[para] The nul character in raw form, when detected, is always mapped away to the empty string - as very few filesystems support it.
+#[para] Control characters and other punctuation is optional to encode.
+#[para] Generally utf-8 should be used where possible and unicode characters left as is where possible on modern systems.
+#[para] Where encoding of unicode is desired in the nominalname or encodedtarget portions it can be specified as %UXXXXXXXX
+#[para] There must be between 1 and 8 X digits following the %U. Interpretation of chars following %U stops at the first non-hex character.
+#[para] This means %Utest would not get any translation as there were no hex digits so it would come out as %Utest
+#
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+
+#https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-client/networking/url-encoding-unc-paths-not-url-decoded
+# ie "//server/c/Program files" works but "//server/c/Program%20Files" is now treated by windows as a literal path with %20 in it.
+#Using fauxlink - a link would be:
+# "my-program-files#++server+c+Program%20Files.fxlnk"
+#If we needed the old-style literal %20 it would become
+# "my-program-files#++server+c+Program%2520Files.fxlnk"
+
+
+#*** !doctools
+#[section Overview]
+#[para] overview of fauxlink
+#[subsection Concepts]
+#[para] -
+
+
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+##  Requirements
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+
+#*** !doctools
+#[subsection dependencies]
+#[para] packages used by fauxlink
+#[list_begin itemized]
+
+package require Tcl 8.6-
+#*** !doctools
+#[item] [package {Tcl 8.6-}]
+
+# #package require frobz
+# #*** !doctools
+# #[item] [package {frobz}]
+
+#*** !doctools
+#[list_end]
+
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+
+#*** !doctools
+#[section API]
+
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+# oo::class namespace
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+namespace eval fauxlink::class {
+    #*** !doctools
+    #[subsection {Namespace fauxlink::class}]
+    #[para] class definitions
+    if {[info commands [namespace current]::interface_sample1] eq ""} {
+        #*** !doctools
+        #[list_begin enumerated]
+
+        # oo::class create interface_sample1 {
+        #     #*** !doctools
+        #     #[enum] CLASS [class interface_sample1]
+        #     #[list_begin definitions]
+
+        #     method test {arg1} {
+        #         #*** !doctools
+        #         #[call class::interface_sample1    [method test] [arg arg1]]
+        #         #[para] test method
+        #         puts "test: $arg1"
+        #     }
+
+        #     #*** !doctools
+        #     #[list_end] [comment {-- end definitions interface_sample1}]
+        # }
+
+        #*** !doctools
+        #[list_end] [comment {--- end class enumeration ---}]
+    }
+}
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+# Base namespace
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+namespace eval fauxlink {
+    namespace export {[a-z]*};   # Convention: export all lowercase
+
+    #todo - enforce utf-8 
+
+    #literal unicode chars supported by modern filesystems - leave as is - REVIEW
+
+
+    variable encode_map
+    variable decode_map 
+    #most filesystems don't allow NULL - map to empty string
+
+    #Make sure % is not in encode_map
+    set encode_map [dict create\
+        \x00    ""\
+        { }     %20\
+        \t      %09\
+        +       %2B\
+        #       %23\
+        *       %2A\
+        ?       %3F\
+        \\      %5C\
+        /       %2F\
+        |       %7C\
+        :       %3A\
+        {;}     %3B\
+        {"}     %22\
+        <       %3C\
+        >       %3E\
+    ]
+    #above have some overlap with ctrl codes below.
+    #no big deal as it's a dict
+
+    #must_encode
+    # + # * ? \ / | : ; " < > <sp> \t 
+    # also NUL to empty string
+
+    # also ctrl chars 01 to 1F (1..31)  
+    for {set i 1} {$i < 32} {incr i} {
+        set ch          [format %c $i]
+        set enc         "%[format %02X $i]"
+        set enc_lower   [string tolower $enc] 
+        dict set encode_map $ch         $enc 
+        dict set decode_map $enc        $ch
+        dict set decode_map $enc_lower  $ch
+    }
+
+    variable must_encode
+    set must_encode [dict keys $encode_map]
+
+
+    #if they are in 
+
+    #decode map doesn't include 
+    #    %00     (nul)
+    #    %2F     "/"
+    #    %2f     "/"
+    #    %7f     (del)
+    #we exlude the forward slash because we already have + for that - and multiple ways to specify it obscure intention.
+    #
+    set decode_map [dict merge $decode_map [dict create\
+        %09     \t\
+        %20     { }\
+        %21     "!"\
+        %22     {"}\
+        %23     "#"\
+        %24     "$"\
+        %25     "%"\
+        %26     "&"\
+        %27     "'"\
+        %28     "("\
+        %29     ")"\
+        %2A     "*"\
+        %2a     "*"\
+        %2B     "+"\
+        %2b     "+"\
+        %2C     ","\
+        %2c     ","\
+        %2D     "-"\
+        %2d     "-"\
+        %2E     "."\
+        %2e     "."\
+        %3A     ":"\
+        %3a     ":"\
+        %3B     {;}\
+        %3b     {;}\
+        %3D     "="\
+        %3C     "<"\
+        %3c     "<"\
+        %3d     "="\
+        %3E     ">"\
+        %3e     ">"\
+        %3F     "?"\
+        %3f     "?"\
+        %40     "@"\
+        %5B     "\["\
+        %5b     "\["\
+        %5C     "\\"\
+        %5c     "\\"\
+        %5D     "\]"\
+        %5d     "\]"\
+        %5E     "^"\
+        %5e     "^"\
+        %60     "`"\
+        %7B     "{"\
+        %7b     "{"\
+        %7C     "|"\
+        %7c     "|"\
+        %7D     "}"\
+        %7d     "}"\
+        %7E     "~"\
+        %7e     "~"\
+    ]]
+    #Don't go above 7f 
+    #if we want to specify p
+
+
+    #*** !doctools
+    #[subsection {Namespace fauxlink}]
+    #[para] Core API functions for fauxlink 
+    #[list_begin definitions]
+
+    proc resolve {link} {
+        variable decode_map
+        variable encode_map
+        variable must_encode
+        set ftail [file tail $link]
+        if {[file extension $ftail] ni [list .fxlnk .fauxlink]} {
+            error "fauxlink::resolve refusing to process link $link - file extension must be .fxlnk or .fauxlink"
+        } 
+        set linkspec [file rootname $ftail]
+        # - any # or + within the target path or name should have been uri encoded as %23 and %2b
+        if {[tcl::string::first # $linkspec] < 0} {
+            error "fauxlink::resolve error. Link must contain a # (usually at start if name matches target)"
+        }
+        #only the 1st 2 parts of split on # are significant.
+        #if there are more # chars present - the subsequent parts are effectively a comment
+
+        #check namepec already has required chars encoded
+        lassign [split $linkspec #] namespec targetspec
+        #puts stderr "-->namespec $namespec"
+        set nametest [tcl::string::map $encode_map $namespec]
+        #puts stderr "-->nametest $nametest"
+        #nothing should be changed - if there are unencoded chars that must be encoded it is an error
+        if {[tcl::string::length $nametest] ne [tcl::string::length $namespec]} {
+            set err "fauxlink::resolve invalid chars in name part (section prior to first #)"
+            set idx 0
+            foreach ch [split $namespec ""] {
+                if {$ch in $must_encode} {
+                    set enc [dict get $encode_map $ch]
+                    if {[dict exists $decode_map $enc]} {
+                        append err "  char $idx should be encoded as $enc" \n
+                    } else {
+                        append err "  no %xx encoding available. Use %UXX if really required" \n
+                    }
+                }
+                incr idx
+            }
+            error $err
+        }
+        #see comments below regarding 2 rounds and ordering.
+        set name        [decode_unicode_escapes $namespec]
+        set name        [tcl::string::map $decode_map $name]
+        #puts stderr "-->name: $name"
+
+        set targetsegment [split $targetspec +]
+        #check each + delimited part of targetspec already has required chars encoded
+        set s 0 ;#segment index
+        set result_segments [list]
+        foreach segment $targetsegment {
+            set targettest [tcl::string::map $encode_map $segment]
+            if {[tcl::string::length $targettest] ne [tcl::string::length $segment]} {
+                set err "fauxlink::resolve invalid chars in targetpath (section following first #)"
+                set idx 0
+                foreach ch [split $segment ""] {
+                    if {$ch in $must_encode} {
+                        set enc [dict get $encode_map $ch]
+                        if {[dict exists $decode_map $enc]} {
+                            append err " segment $s char $idx should be encoded as $enc" \n
+                        } else {
+                            append err "  no %xx encoding available. Use %UXX if really required" \n
+                        }
+                    }
+                    incr idx
+                }
+                error $err
+            }
+            #2 rounds of substitution is possibly asking for trouble..
+            #We allow anything in the resultant segments anyway (as %UXXXX... allows all)
+            #so it's not so much about what can be encoded,
+            # - but it makes it harder to reason about for users
+            # In particular - if we map %XX first it makes %25 -> % substitution tricky
+            # if the user requires a literal %UXXX - they can't do %25UXXX 
+            # the double sub would make it %UXXX -> somechar anyway.
+            #we do unicode first - as a 2nd round of %XX substitutions is unlikely to interfere.
+            #There is still the opportunity to use things like %U00000025 followed by hex-chars
+            # and get some minor surprises, but using %U on ascii is unlikely to be done accidentally - REVIEW
+            set segment             [decode_unicode_escapes $segment]
+            set segment             [tcl::string::map $decode_map $segment]
+            lappend result_segments $segment
+
+            incr s
+        }
+        set targetpath [join $result_segments /]
+        if {$name eq ""} {
+            set name [lindex $result_segments end]
+        }
+
+        return [dict create name $name targetpath $targetpath]
+    }
+    variable map
+
+    #default exclusion of / (%U2f and equivs)
+    #this would allow obfuscation of intention - when we have + for that anyway
+    proc decode_unicode_escapes {str {exclusions {/ \n \r \x00}}} {
+        variable map
+        set ucstart [string first %U $str 0]
+        if {$ucstart < 0} {
+            return $str
+        }
+        set max 8
+        set map [list]
+        set strend [expr {[string length $str]-1}]
+        while {$ucstart >= 0} {
+            set s $ucstart
+            set i [expr {$s +2}] ;#skip the %U
+            set hex ""
+            while {[tcl::string::length $hex] < 8 && $i <= $strend} {
+                set in [string index $str $i]
+                if {[tcl::string::is xdigit -strict $in]} {
+                    append hex $in
+                } else {
+                    break
+                } 
+                incr i
+            } 
+            if {$hex ne ""} {
+                incr i -1
+                lappend map $s $i $hex
+            }
+            set ucstart [tcl::string::first %U $str $i]
+        }
+        set out ""
+        set lastidx -1 
+        set e 0
+        foreach {s e hex} $map {
+            append out [string range $str $lastidx+1 $s-1]
+            set sub [format %c 0x$hex]
+            if {$sub in $exclusions} {
+                append out %U$hex ;#put it back
+            } else {
+                append out $sub
+            }
+            set lastidx $e
+        }
+        if {$e < [tcl::string::length $str]-1} {
+            append out [string range $str $e+1 end]
+        }
+        return $out
+    }
+    proc link_as {name target} {
+
+    }
+
+    #proc sample1 {p1 args} {
+    #    #*** !doctools
+    #    #[call [fun sample1] [arg p1] [opt {?option value...?}]]
+    #    #[para]Description of sample1 
+    #    return "ok" 
+    #}
+
+
+
+
+    #*** !doctools
+    #[list_end] [comment {--- end definitions namespace fauxlink ---}]
+}
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+
+
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+# Secondary API namespace
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+namespace eval fauxlink::lib {
+    namespace export {[a-z]*};   # Convention: export all lowercase
+    namespace path [namespace parent]
+    #*** !doctools
+    #[subsection {Namespace fauxlink::lib}]
+    #[para] Secondary functions that are part of the API 
+    #[list_begin definitions]
+
+    #proc utility1 {p1 args} {
+    #    #*** !doctools
+    #    #[call lib::[fun utility1] [arg p1] [opt {?option value...?}]]
+    #    #[para]Description of utility1 
+    #    return 1 
+    #}
+
+
+
+    #*** !doctools
+    #[list_end] [comment {--- end definitions namespace fauxlink::lib ---}]
+}
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+
+
+
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+#*** !doctools
+#[section Internal]
+namespace eval fauxlink::system {
+    #*** !doctools
+    #[subsection {Namespace fauxlink::system}]
+    #[para] Internal functions that are not part of the API 
+
+
+
+}
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+##  Ready   
+package provide fauxlink [namespace eval fauxlink {
+    variable pkg fauxlink
+    variable version
+    set version 0.1.0 
+}]
+return
+
+#*** !doctools
+#[manpage_end]
+

src/project_layouts/custom/_project/punk.project-0.1/src/bootsupport/modules/include_modules.config

@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ set bootsupport_modules [list\
     src/vendormodules cksum\
     src/vendormodules modpod\
     src/vendormodules overtype\
+    src/vendormodules fauxlink\
     src/vendormodules oolib\
     src/vendormodules http\
     src/vendormodules dictutils\

src/project_layouts/custom/_project/punk.project-0.1/src/bootsupport/modules/punk/du-0.1.0.tm

@@ -942,6 +942,7 @@ namespace eval punk::du {
             #struct::set difference removes duplicates (but not always.. e.g if using tcl impl and 2nd element empty!)
             #relying on struct::set to remove dupes is somewhat risky. It is not well documented - and behaviour of dupes in inputs is underspecified as it appears to be intended for mathematical 'sets'
             #remove links and . .. from directories, remove links from files
+            #ideally we would like to classify links by whether they point to files vs dirs - but there are enough cross-platform differences that we will have to leave it to the caller to sort out for now.
             #struct::set will affect order: tcl vs critcl give different ordering!
             set files [struct::set difference [concat $hfiles $files[unset files]] $links]
             set dirs  [struct::set difference [concat $hdirs $dirs[unset dirs]]    [concat $links [list [file join $folderpath .]  [file join $folderpath ..] ]]]

src/project_layouts/custom/_project/punk.project-0.1/src/bootsupport/modules/punk/lib-0.1.1.tm

@@ -372,20 +372,40 @@ namespace eval punk::lib {
     proc lswap {lvar a z} {
         upvar $lvar l
         if {[lindex_resolve_basic $l $a] < 0 || [lindex_resolve_basic $l $z] < 0} {
-            #if we didn't do this check - we could raise an error on second lset - leaving list corrupted because only one lset occurred
+            #lindex_resolve_basic returns only -1 if out of range
+            #if we didn't do this check - we could raise an error on second lset below - leaving list corrupted because only one lset occurred
             #(e.g using: lswap mylist end-2 end on a two element list)
 
             #on the unhapy path we can take time to check the nature of the out-of-boundness to give a nicer report 
+            #use full 'lindex_resolve' which can report which side via -3 and -2 special results being lower and upper bound breaches respectively (-1 never returned)
             set a_index [lindex_resolve $l $a]
             set a_msg ""
             switch -- $a_index {
                 -2 {
-                    "$a is greater th 
+                    set a_msg "1st supplied index $a is above the upper bound for the list ([llength $l])" 
                 }
                 -3 {
+                    set a_msg "1st supplied index $a is below the lower bound for the list (0)" 
                 }
             }
-            error "lswap cannot indices $a and $z  $a is out of range" 
+            set z_index [lindex_resolve $l $z]
+            set z_msg ""
+            switch -- $z_index {
+                -2 {
+                    set z_msg "2nd supplied index $z is above the upper bound for the list ([llength $l])" 
+                } 
+                -3 {
+                    set z_msg "2nd supplied index $z is below the lower bound for the list (0)" 
+                }
+            }
+            set errmsg "lswap cannot swap indices $a and $z" 
+            if {$a_msg ne ""} {
+                append errmsg \n $a_msg
+            }
+            if {$z_msg ne ""} {
+                append errmsg \n $z_msg
+            }
+            error $errmsg
         }
         set item2 [lindex $l $z]
         lset l $z [lindex $l $a] 
@@ -397,6 +417,7 @@ namespace eval punk::lib {
     #    #if index a strictly less <= z we can do in one-liner for fun - but it's replacing whole list - so much slower
     #    set l [concat [lrange $l 0 $a-1] [lindex $l $z] [lrange $l $a+1 $z-1] [lindex $l $a] [lrange $l $z+1 end]]
     #}
+
     proc lswap2 {lvar a z} {
         upvar $lvar l
         #if index a strictly less <= z we can do in one-liner for fun - but it's replacing whole list - so much slower
@@ -3021,6 +3042,10 @@ namespace eval punk::lib {
                 set localeid [twapi::get_system_default_lcid]
             }
         }
+        #when using twapi we currently only get the localeid - not the specific defaults
+        #when not using twapi, or on non-windows platforms - we don't currently have a mechanism to look up user preferences for this
+        set default_delim ","
+        set default_groupsize 3
 
         set results [list]
         set nums [objclone $numbers_or_commaformattednumbers] ;#stops single num from getting internal rep of list
@@ -3036,15 +3061,21 @@ namespace eval punk::lib {
                     lappend results [twapi::format_number $number $localeid -idigits -1]
                     continue
                 } else {
-                    if {$delim eq ""} {set delim ","}
+                    #setting just one of delim or groupsize means we don't get the user's localeid based default for the non-set one
-                    if {$groupsize eq ""} {set groupsize 3}
+                    #todo - document it? Find a way to lookup localeid based defaults whenever either is unspecified?
+                    if {$delim eq ""}       {set delim $default_delim}
+                    if {$groupsize eq ""}   {set groupsize $default_groupsize}
                     lappend results [twapi::format_number $number 0 -idigits -1 -sthousand $delim -sgrouping $groupsize]
                     continue
                 }
             }
             #todo - get configured user defaults
-            set delim ","
+            if {$delim eq ""} {
-            set groupsize 3
+                set delim $default_delim 
+            }
+            if {$groupsize eq ""} {
+                set groupsize $default_groupsize 
+            }
 
             lappend results [delimit_number $number $delim $groupsize]
         }

src/project_layouts/custom/_project/punk.project-0.1/src/bootsupport/modules/punk/mix/cli-0.3.1.tm

@@ -692,14 +692,22 @@ namespace eval punk::mix::cli {
                                     #punk::zip::mkzip stores permissions - (unix style) which confuses zipfs when reading - it misidentifies dirs as files
                                 }
                                 #zipfs mkzip does exactly what we need anyway in this case
-                                set wd [pwd]
+                                #unfortunately it's not available in all Tclsh versions we might be running..
-                                cd $buildfolder
+                                if {[llength [info commands zipfs]]} {
-                                puts "zipfs mkzip $zipfile #modpod-$basename-$module_build_version"
+                                    set wd [pwd]
-                                zipfs mkzip $zipfile #modpod-$basename-$module_build_version
+                                    cd $buildfolder
-                                cd $wd
+                                    puts "zipfs mkzip $zipfile #modpod-$basename-$module_build_version"
-
+                                    zipfs mkzip $zipfile #modpod-$basename-$module_build_version
-                                package require modpod
+                                    cd $wd
-                                modpod::lib::make_zip_modpod $zipfile $modulefile
+
+                                    package require modpod
+                                    modpod::lib::make_zip_modpod $zipfile $modulefile
+                                } else {
+                                    #TODO - review punk::zip::mkzip and/or external zip to provide a fallback?
+                                    set had_err 1
+                                    lappend notest "zipfs_unavailable"
+                                    puts stderr "WARNING: zipfs unavailable can't build $modulefile"
+                                }
 
 
                                 if {$had_error} {

src/project_layouts/custom/_project/punk.shell-0.1/src/bootsupport/modules/fauxlink-0.1.0.tm

@@ -0,0 +1,468 @@
+# -*- tcl -*-
+# Maintenance Instruction: leave the 999999.xxx.x as is and use 'pmix make' or src/make.tcl to update from <pkg>-buildversion.txt
+#
+# Please consider using a BSD or MIT style license for greatest compatibility with the Tcl ecosystem.
+# Code using preferred Tcl licenses can be eligible for inclusion in Tcllib, Tklib and the punk package repository.
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+# (C) 2024
+#
+# @@ Meta Begin
+# Application fauxlink 0.1.0
+# Meta platform     tcl
+# Meta license      MIT 
+# @@ Meta End
+
+
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+# doctools header
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+#*** !doctools
+#[manpage_begin fauxlink_module_fauxlink 0 0.1.0]
+#[copyright "2024"]
+#[titledesc {faux link application shortcuts}]  [comment {-- Name section and table of contents description --}]
+#[moddesc {fauxlink .fxlnk}]             [comment {-- Description at end of page heading --}] 
+#[require fauxlink]
+#[keywords symlink faux fake shortcut toml]
+#[description]
+#[para] A cross platform shortcut/symlink alternative.
+#[para] Unapologetically ugly - but practical in certain circumstances.
+#[para] A solution is required for application-driven filesystem links that survives cross platform moves as well as 
+#[para] archiving and packaging systems.
+#[para] The target is specified in a minimally-encoded form in the filename itself - but still human readable.
+#[para] format of name <nominalname>#<encodedtarget>.fxlnk
+#[para] where <nominalname> can be empty - then the effective nominal name is the tail of the <encodedtarget> 
+#[para] The + symbol substitutes for forward-slashes.
+#[para] Other chars can be encoded using url-like encoding - (but only up to %7E !)
+#[para] We deliberately treat higher % sequences literally.
+#[para] This means actual uri::urn encoded unicode sequences (e.g %E2%99%A5 [heart]) can remain literal for linking to urls.
+#[para] e.g if an actual + or # is required in a filename or path segment they can be encoded as %2B & %23
+#[para] e.g a link to a file file#A.txt in parent dir could be:
+#[para] file%23A.txt#..+file%23A.txt.fxlnk
+#[para] or equivalently (but obviously affecting sorting) #..+file%23A.txt.fxlnk
+#[para] The <nominalname> can be unrelated to the actual target
+#[para] e.g datafile.dat#..+file%23A.txt.fxlnk
+#[para] This system has no filesystem support - and must be completely application driven.
+#[para] This can be useful for example in application test packages which may be tarred or zipped and moved cross platform.
+#[para] The target being fully specified in the name means the file doesn't have to be read for the target to be determined 
+#[para] Extensions to behaviour should be added in the file as text data in Toml format,
+#[para] with custom data being under a single application-chosen table name
+#[para] The toplevel Toml table [fauxlink] is reserved for core extensions to this system.
+#[para] Aside from the 2 used for delimiting (+ #)
+#[para] certain characters which might normally be allowed in filesystems are required to be encoded
+#[para] e.g space and tab are required to be %20 %09
+#[para] Others that require encoding are: * ? \ / | : ; " < >
+#[para] The nul character in raw form, when detected, is always mapped away to the empty string - as very few filesystems support it.
+#[para] Control characters and other punctuation is optional to encode.
+#[para] Generally utf-8 should be used where possible and unicode characters left as is where possible on modern systems.
+#[para] Where encoding of unicode is desired in the nominalname or encodedtarget portions it can be specified as %UXXXXXXXX
+#[para] There must be between 1 and 8 X digits following the %U. Interpretation of chars following %U stops at the first non-hex character.
+#[para] This means %Utest would not get any translation as there were no hex digits so it would come out as %Utest
+#
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+
+#https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-client/networking/url-encoding-unc-paths-not-url-decoded
+# ie "//server/c/Program files" works but "//server/c/Program%20Files" is now treated by windows as a literal path with %20 in it.
+#Using fauxlink - a link would be:
+# "my-program-files#++server+c+Program%20Files.fxlnk"
+#If we needed the old-style literal %20 it would become
+# "my-program-files#++server+c+Program%2520Files.fxlnk"
+
+
+#*** !doctools
+#[section Overview]
+#[para] overview of fauxlink
+#[subsection Concepts]
+#[para] -
+
+
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+##  Requirements
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+
+#*** !doctools
+#[subsection dependencies]
+#[para] packages used by fauxlink
+#[list_begin itemized]
+
+package require Tcl 8.6-
+#*** !doctools
+#[item] [package {Tcl 8.6-}]
+
+# #package require frobz
+# #*** !doctools
+# #[item] [package {frobz}]
+
+#*** !doctools
+#[list_end]
+
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+
+#*** !doctools
+#[section API]
+
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+# oo::class namespace
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+namespace eval fauxlink::class {
+    #*** !doctools
+    #[subsection {Namespace fauxlink::class}]
+    #[para] class definitions
+    if {[info commands [namespace current]::interface_sample1] eq ""} {
+        #*** !doctools
+        #[list_begin enumerated]
+
+        # oo::class create interface_sample1 {
+        #     #*** !doctools
+        #     #[enum] CLASS [class interface_sample1]
+        #     #[list_begin definitions]
+
+        #     method test {arg1} {
+        #         #*** !doctools
+        #         #[call class::interface_sample1    [method test] [arg arg1]]
+        #         #[para] test method
+        #         puts "test: $arg1"
+        #     }
+
+        #     #*** !doctools
+        #     #[list_end] [comment {-- end definitions interface_sample1}]
+        # }
+
+        #*** !doctools
+        #[list_end] [comment {--- end class enumeration ---}]
+    }
+}
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+# Base namespace
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+namespace eval fauxlink {
+    namespace export {[a-z]*};   # Convention: export all lowercase
+
+    #todo - enforce utf-8 
+
+    #literal unicode chars supported by modern filesystems - leave as is - REVIEW
+
+
+    variable encode_map
+    variable decode_map 
+    #most filesystems don't allow NULL - map to empty string
+
+    #Make sure % is not in encode_map
+    set encode_map [dict create\
+        \x00    ""\
+        { }     %20\
+        \t      %09\
+        +       %2B\
+        #       %23\
+        *       %2A\
+        ?       %3F\
+        \\      %5C\
+        /       %2F\
+        |       %7C\
+        :       %3A\
+        {;}     %3B\
+        {"}     %22\
+        <       %3C\
+        >       %3E\
+    ]
+    #above have some overlap with ctrl codes below.
+    #no big deal as it's a dict
+
+    #must_encode
+    # + # * ? \ / | : ; " < > <sp> \t 
+    # also NUL to empty string
+
+    # also ctrl chars 01 to 1F (1..31)  
+    for {set i 1} {$i < 32} {incr i} {
+        set ch          [format %c $i]
+        set enc         "%[format %02X $i]"
+        set enc_lower   [string tolower $enc] 
+        dict set encode_map $ch         $enc 
+        dict set decode_map $enc        $ch
+        dict set decode_map $enc_lower  $ch
+    }
+
+    variable must_encode
+    set must_encode [dict keys $encode_map]
+
+
+    #if they are in 
+
+    #decode map doesn't include 
+    #    %00     (nul)
+    #    %2F     "/"
+    #    %2f     "/"
+    #    %7f     (del)
+    #we exlude the forward slash because we already have + for that - and multiple ways to specify it obscure intention.
+    #
+    set decode_map [dict merge $decode_map [dict create\
+        %09     \t\
+        %20     { }\
+        %21     "!"\
+        %22     {"}\
+        %23     "#"\
+        %24     "$"\
+        %25     "%"\
+        %26     "&"\
+        %27     "'"\
+        %28     "("\
+        %29     ")"\
+        %2A     "*"\
+        %2a     "*"\
+        %2B     "+"\
+        %2b     "+"\
+        %2C     ","\
+        %2c     ","\
+        %2D     "-"\
+        %2d     "-"\
+        %2E     "."\
+        %2e     "."\
+        %3A     ":"\
+        %3a     ":"\
+        %3B     {;}\
+        %3b     {;}\
+        %3D     "="\
+        %3C     "<"\
+        %3c     "<"\
+        %3d     "="\
+        %3E     ">"\
+        %3e     ">"\
+        %3F     "?"\
+        %3f     "?"\
+        %40     "@"\
+        %5B     "\["\
+        %5b     "\["\
+        %5C     "\\"\
+        %5c     "\\"\
+        %5D     "\]"\
+        %5d     "\]"\
+        %5E     "^"\
+        %5e     "^"\
+        %60     "`"\
+        %7B     "{"\
+        %7b     "{"\
+        %7C     "|"\
+        %7c     "|"\
+        %7D     "}"\
+        %7d     "}"\
+        %7E     "~"\
+        %7e     "~"\
+    ]]
+    #Don't go above 7f 
+    #if we want to specify p
+
+
+    #*** !doctools
+    #[subsection {Namespace fauxlink}]
+    #[para] Core API functions for fauxlink 
+    #[list_begin definitions]
+
+    proc resolve {link} {
+        variable decode_map
+        variable encode_map
+        variable must_encode
+        set ftail [file tail $link]
+        if {[file extension $ftail] ni [list .fxlnk .fauxlink]} {
+            error "fauxlink::resolve refusing to process link $link - file extension must be .fxlnk or .fauxlink"
+        } 
+        set linkspec [file rootname $ftail]
+        # - any # or + within the target path or name should have been uri encoded as %23 and %2b
+        if {[tcl::string::first # $linkspec] < 0} {
+            error "fauxlink::resolve error. Link must contain a # (usually at start if name matches target)"
+        }
+        #only the 1st 2 parts of split on # are significant.
+        #if there are more # chars present - the subsequent parts are effectively a comment
+
+        #check namepec already has required chars encoded
+        lassign [split $linkspec #] namespec targetspec
+        #puts stderr "-->namespec $namespec"
+        set nametest [tcl::string::map $encode_map $namespec]
+        #puts stderr "-->nametest $nametest"
+        #nothing should be changed - if there are unencoded chars that must be encoded it is an error
+        if {[tcl::string::length $nametest] ne [tcl::string::length $namespec]} {
+            set err "fauxlink::resolve invalid chars in name part (section prior to first #)"
+            set idx 0
+            foreach ch [split $namespec ""] {
+                if {$ch in $must_encode} {
+                    set enc [dict get $encode_map $ch]
+                    if {[dict exists $decode_map $enc]} {
+                        append err "  char $idx should be encoded as $enc" \n
+                    } else {
+                        append err "  no %xx encoding available. Use %UXX if really required" \n
+                    }
+                }
+                incr idx
+            }
+            error $err
+        }
+        #see comments below regarding 2 rounds and ordering.
+        set name        [decode_unicode_escapes $namespec]
+        set name        [tcl::string::map $decode_map $name]
+        #puts stderr "-->name: $name"
+
+        set targetsegment [split $targetspec +]
+        #check each + delimited part of targetspec already has required chars encoded
+        set s 0 ;#segment index
+        set result_segments [list]
+        foreach segment $targetsegment {
+            set targettest [tcl::string::map $encode_map $segment]
+            if {[tcl::string::length $targettest] ne [tcl::string::length $segment]} {
+                set err "fauxlink::resolve invalid chars in targetpath (section following first #)"
+                set idx 0
+                foreach ch [split $segment ""] {
+                    if {$ch in $must_encode} {
+                        set enc [dict get $encode_map $ch]
+                        if {[dict exists $decode_map $enc]} {
+                            append err " segment $s char $idx should be encoded as $enc" \n
+                        } else {
+                            append err "  no %xx encoding available. Use %UXX if really required" \n
+                        }
+                    }
+                    incr idx
+                }
+                error $err
+            }
+            #2 rounds of substitution is possibly asking for trouble..
+            #We allow anything in the resultant segments anyway (as %UXXXX... allows all)
+            #so it's not so much about what can be encoded,
+            # - but it makes it harder to reason about for users
+            # In particular - if we map %XX first it makes %25 -> % substitution tricky
+            # if the user requires a literal %UXXX - they can't do %25UXXX 
+            # the double sub would make it %UXXX -> somechar anyway.
+            #we do unicode first - as a 2nd round of %XX substitutions is unlikely to interfere.
+            #There is still the opportunity to use things like %U00000025 followed by hex-chars
+            # and get some minor surprises, but using %U on ascii is unlikely to be done accidentally - REVIEW
+            set segment             [decode_unicode_escapes $segment]
+            set segment             [tcl::string::map $decode_map $segment]
+            lappend result_segments $segment
+
+            incr s
+        }
+        set targetpath [join $result_segments /]
+        if {$name eq ""} {
+            set name [lindex $result_segments end]
+        }
+
+        return [dict create name $name targetpath $targetpath]
+    }
+    variable map
+
+    #default exclusion of / (%U2f and equivs)
+    #this would allow obfuscation of intention - when we have + for that anyway
+    proc decode_unicode_escapes {str {exclusions {/ \n \r \x00}}} {
+        variable map
+        set ucstart [string first %U $str 0]
+        if {$ucstart < 0} {
+            return $str
+        }
+        set max 8
+        set map [list]
+        set strend [expr {[string length $str]-1}]
+        while {$ucstart >= 0} {
+            set s $ucstart
+            set i [expr {$s +2}] ;#skip the %U
+            set hex ""
+            while {[tcl::string::length $hex] < 8 && $i <= $strend} {
+                set in [string index $str $i]
+                if {[tcl::string::is xdigit -strict $in]} {
+                    append hex $in
+                } else {
+                    break
+                } 
+                incr i
+            } 
+            if {$hex ne ""} {
+                incr i -1
+                lappend map $s $i $hex
+            }
+            set ucstart [tcl::string::first %U $str $i]
+        }
+        set out ""
+        set lastidx -1 
+        set e 0
+        foreach {s e hex} $map {
+            append out [string range $str $lastidx+1 $s-1]
+            set sub [format %c 0x$hex]
+            if {$sub in $exclusions} {
+                append out %U$hex ;#put it back
+            } else {
+                append out $sub
+            }
+            set lastidx $e
+        }
+        if {$e < [tcl::string::length $str]-1} {
+            append out [string range $str $e+1 end]
+        }
+        return $out
+    }
+    proc link_as {name target} {
+
+    }
+
+    #proc sample1 {p1 args} {
+    #    #*** !doctools
+    #    #[call [fun sample1] [arg p1] [opt {?option value...?}]]
+    #    #[para]Description of sample1 
+    #    return "ok" 
+    #}
+
+
+
+
+    #*** !doctools
+    #[list_end] [comment {--- end definitions namespace fauxlink ---}]
+}
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+
+
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+# Secondary API namespace
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+namespace eval fauxlink::lib {
+    namespace export {[a-z]*};   # Convention: export all lowercase
+    namespace path [namespace parent]
+    #*** !doctools
+    #[subsection {Namespace fauxlink::lib}]
+    #[para] Secondary functions that are part of the API 
+    #[list_begin definitions]
+
+    #proc utility1 {p1 args} {
+    #    #*** !doctools
+    #    #[call lib::[fun utility1] [arg p1] [opt {?option value...?}]]
+    #    #[para]Description of utility1 
+    #    return 1 
+    #}
+
+
+
+    #*** !doctools
+    #[list_end] [comment {--- end definitions namespace fauxlink::lib ---}]
+}
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+
+
+
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+#*** !doctools
+#[section Internal]
+namespace eval fauxlink::system {
+    #*** !doctools
+    #[subsection {Namespace fauxlink::system}]
+    #[para] Internal functions that are not part of the API 
+
+
+
+}
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+##  Ready   
+package provide fauxlink [namespace eval fauxlink {
+    variable pkg fauxlink
+    variable version
+    set version 0.1.0 
+}]
+return
+
+#*** !doctools
+#[manpage_end]
+

src/project_layouts/custom/_project/punk.shell-0.1/src/bootsupport/modules/include_modules.config

@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ set bootsupport_modules [list\
     src/vendormodules cksum\
     src/vendormodules modpod\
     src/vendormodules overtype\
+    src/vendormodules fauxlink\
     src/vendormodules oolib\
     src/vendormodules http\
     src/vendormodules dictutils\

src/project_layouts/custom/_project/punk.shell-0.1/src/bootsupport/modules/punk/du-0.1.0.tm

@@ -942,6 +942,7 @@ namespace eval punk::du {
             #struct::set difference removes duplicates (but not always.. e.g if using tcl impl and 2nd element empty!)
             #relying on struct::set to remove dupes is somewhat risky. It is not well documented - and behaviour of dupes in inputs is underspecified as it appears to be intended for mathematical 'sets'
             #remove links and . .. from directories, remove links from files
+            #ideally we would like to classify links by whether they point to files vs dirs - but there are enough cross-platform differences that we will have to leave it to the caller to sort out for now.
             #struct::set will affect order: tcl vs critcl give different ordering!
             set files [struct::set difference [concat $hfiles $files[unset files]] $links]
             set dirs  [struct::set difference [concat $hdirs $dirs[unset dirs]]    [concat $links [list [file join $folderpath .]  [file join $folderpath ..] ]]]

src/project_layouts/custom/_project/punk.shell-0.1/src/bootsupport/modules/punk/lib-0.1.1.tm

@@ -372,20 +372,40 @@ namespace eval punk::lib {
     proc lswap {lvar a z} {
         upvar $lvar l
         if {[lindex_resolve_basic $l $a] < 0 || [lindex_resolve_basic $l $z] < 0} {
-            #if we didn't do this check - we could raise an error on second lset - leaving list corrupted because only one lset occurred
+            #lindex_resolve_basic returns only -1 if out of range
+            #if we didn't do this check - we could raise an error on second lset below - leaving list corrupted because only one lset occurred
             #(e.g using: lswap mylist end-2 end on a two element list)
 
             #on the unhapy path we can take time to check the nature of the out-of-boundness to give a nicer report 
+            #use full 'lindex_resolve' which can report which side via -3 and -2 special results being lower and upper bound breaches respectively (-1 never returned)
             set a_index [lindex_resolve $l $a]
             set a_msg ""
             switch -- $a_index {
                 -2 {
-                    "$a is greater th 
+                    set a_msg "1st supplied index $a is above the upper bound for the list ([llength $l])" 
                 }
                 -3 {
+                    set a_msg "1st supplied index $a is below the lower bound for the list (0)" 
                 }
             }
-            error "lswap cannot indices $a and $z  $a is out of range" 
+            set z_index [lindex_resolve $l $z]
+            set z_msg ""
+            switch -- $z_index {
+                -2 {
+                    set z_msg "2nd supplied index $z is above the upper bound for the list ([llength $l])" 
+                } 
+                -3 {
+                    set z_msg "2nd supplied index $z is below the lower bound for the list (0)" 
+                }
+            }
+            set errmsg "lswap cannot swap indices $a and $z" 
+            if {$a_msg ne ""} {
+                append errmsg \n $a_msg
+            }
+            if {$z_msg ne ""} {
+                append errmsg \n $z_msg
+            }
+            error $errmsg
         }
         set item2 [lindex $l $z]
         lset l $z [lindex $l $a] 
@@ -397,6 +417,7 @@ namespace eval punk::lib {
     #    #if index a strictly less <= z we can do in one-liner for fun - but it's replacing whole list - so much slower
     #    set l [concat [lrange $l 0 $a-1] [lindex $l $z] [lrange $l $a+1 $z-1] [lindex $l $a] [lrange $l $z+1 end]]
     #}
+
     proc lswap2 {lvar a z} {
         upvar $lvar l
         #if index a strictly less <= z we can do in one-liner for fun - but it's replacing whole list - so much slower
@@ -3021,6 +3042,10 @@ namespace eval punk::lib {
                 set localeid [twapi::get_system_default_lcid]
             }
         }
+        #when using twapi we currently only get the localeid - not the specific defaults
+        #when not using twapi, or on non-windows platforms - we don't currently have a mechanism to look up user preferences for this
+        set default_delim ","
+        set default_groupsize 3
 
         set results [list]
         set nums [objclone $numbers_or_commaformattednumbers] ;#stops single num from getting internal rep of list
@@ -3036,15 +3061,21 @@ namespace eval punk::lib {
                     lappend results [twapi::format_number $number $localeid -idigits -1]
                     continue
                 } else {
-                    if {$delim eq ""} {set delim ","}
+                    #setting just one of delim or groupsize means we don't get the user's localeid based default for the non-set one
-                    if {$groupsize eq ""} {set groupsize 3}
+                    #todo - document it? Find a way to lookup localeid based defaults whenever either is unspecified?
+                    if {$delim eq ""}       {set delim $default_delim}
+                    if {$groupsize eq ""}   {set groupsize $default_groupsize}
                     lappend results [twapi::format_number $number 0 -idigits -1 -sthousand $delim -sgrouping $groupsize]
                     continue
                 }
             }
             #todo - get configured user defaults
-            set delim ","
+            if {$delim eq ""} {
-            set groupsize 3
+                set delim $default_delim 
+            }
+            if {$groupsize eq ""} {
+                set groupsize $default_groupsize 
+            }
 
             lappend results [delimit_number $number $delim $groupsize]
         }

src/project_layouts/custom/_project/punk.shell-0.1/src/bootsupport/modules/punk/mix/cli-0.3.1.tm

@@ -692,14 +692,22 @@ namespace eval punk::mix::cli {
                                     #punk::zip::mkzip stores permissions - (unix style) which confuses zipfs when reading - it misidentifies dirs as files
                                 }
                                 #zipfs mkzip does exactly what we need anyway in this case
-                                set wd [pwd]
+                                #unfortunately it's not available in all Tclsh versions we might be running..
-                                cd $buildfolder
+                                if {[llength [info commands zipfs]]} {
-                                puts "zipfs mkzip $zipfile #modpod-$basename-$module_build_version"
+                                    set wd [pwd]
-                                zipfs mkzip $zipfile #modpod-$basename-$module_build_version
+                                    cd $buildfolder
-                                cd $wd
+                                    puts "zipfs mkzip $zipfile #modpod-$basename-$module_build_version"
-
+                                    zipfs mkzip $zipfile #modpod-$basename-$module_build_version
-                                package require modpod
+                                    cd $wd
-                                modpod::lib::make_zip_modpod $zipfile $modulefile
+
+                                    package require modpod
+                                    modpod::lib::make_zip_modpod $zipfile $modulefile
+                                } else {
+                                    #TODO - review punk::zip::mkzip and/or external zip to provide a fallback?
+                                    set had_err 1
+                                    lappend notest "zipfs_unavailable"
+                                    puts stderr "WARNING: zipfs unavailable can't build $modulefile"
+                                }
 
 
                                 if {$had_error} {

src/vendormodules/fauxlink-0.1.0.tm

@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 # @@ Meta Begin
 # Application fauxlink 0.1.0
 # Meta platform     tcl
-# Meta license      <unspecified>
+# Meta license      MIT 
 # @@ Meta End
 
 
@@ -19,15 +19,55 @@
 #*** !doctools
 #[manpage_begin fauxlink_module_fauxlink 0 0.1.0]
 #[copyright "2024"]
-#[titledesc {Module API}]  [comment {-- Name section and table of contents description --}]
+#[titledesc {faux link application shortcuts}]  [comment {-- Name section and table of contents description --}]
-#[moddesc {-}]             [comment {-- Description at end of page heading --}] 
+#[moddesc {fauxlink .fxlnk}]             [comment {-- Description at end of page heading --}] 
 #[require fauxlink]
-#[keywords module]
+#[keywords symlink faux fake shortcut toml]
 #[description]
-#[para] -
+#[para] A cross platform shortcut/symlink alternative.
-
+#[para] Unapologetically ugly - but practical in certain circumstances.
+#[para] A solution is required for application-driven filesystem links that survives cross platform moves as well as 
+#[para] archiving and packaging systems.
+#[para] The target is specified in a minimally-encoded form in the filename itself - but still human readable.
+#[para] format of name <nominalname>#<encodedtarget>.fxlnk
+#[para] where <nominalname> can be empty - then the effective nominal name is the tail of the <encodedtarget> 
+#[para] The + symbol substitutes for forward-slashes.
+#[para] Other chars can be encoded using url-like encoding - (but only up to %7E !)
+#[para] We deliberately treat higher % sequences literally.
+#[para] This means actual uri::urn encoded unicode sequences (e.g %E2%99%A5 [heart]) can remain literal for linking to urls.
+#[para] e.g if an actual + or # is required in a filename or path segment they can be encoded as %2B & %23
+#[para] e.g a link to a file file#A.txt in parent dir could be:
+#[para] file%23A.txt#..+file%23A.txt.fxlnk
+#[para] or equivalently (but obviously affecting sorting) #..+file%23A.txt.fxlnk
+#[para] The <nominalname> can be unrelated to the actual target
+#[para] e.g datafile.dat#..+file%23A.txt.fxlnk
+#[para] This system has no filesystem support - and must be completely application driven.
+#[para] This can be useful for example in application test packages which may be tarred or zipped and moved cross platform.
+#[para] The target being fully specified in the name means the file doesn't have to be read for the target to be determined 
+#[para] Extensions to behaviour should be added in the file as text data in Toml format,
+#[para] with custom data being under a single application-chosen table name
+#[para] The toplevel Toml table [fauxlink] is reserved for core extensions to this system.
+#[para] Aside from the 2 used for delimiting (+ #)
+#[para] certain characters which might normally be allowed in filesystems are required to be encoded
+#[para] e.g space and tab are required to be %20 %09
+#[para] Others that require encoding are: * ? \ / | : ; " < >
+#[para] The nul character in raw form, when detected, is always mapped away to the empty string - as very few filesystems support it.
+#[para] Control characters and other punctuation is optional to encode.
+#[para] Generally utf-8 should be used where possible and unicode characters left as is where possible on modern systems.
+#[para] Where encoding of unicode is desired in the nominalname or encodedtarget portions it can be specified as %UXXXXXXXX
+#[para] There must be between 1 and 8 X digits following the %U. Interpretation of chars following %U stops at the first non-hex character.
+#[para] This means %Utest would not get any translation as there were no hex digits so it would come out as %Utest
+#
 # ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
 
+#https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-client/networking/url-encoding-unc-paths-not-url-decoded
+# ie "//server/c/Program files" works but "//server/c/Program%20Files" is now treated by windows as a literal path with %20 in it.
+#Using fauxlink - a link would be:
+# "my-program-files#++server+c+Program%20Files.fxlnk"
+#If we needed the old-style literal %20 it would become
+# "my-program-files#++server+c+Program%2520Files.fxlnk"
+
+
 #*** !doctools
 #[section Overview]
 #[para] overview of fauxlink
@@ -126,9 +166,13 @@ namespace eval fauxlink {
         <       %3C\
         >       %3E\
     ]
+    #above have some overlap with ctrl codes below.
+    #no big deal as it's a dict
+
     #must_encode
     # + # * ? \ / | : ; " < > <sp> \t 
     # also NUL to empty string
+
     # also ctrl chars 01 to 1F (1..31)  
     for {set i 1} {$i < 32} {incr i} {
         set ch          [format %c $i]
@@ -143,7 +187,17 @@ namespace eval fauxlink {
     set must_encode [dict keys $encode_map]
 
 
-    set decode_map [dict create\
+    #if they are in 
+
+    #decode map doesn't include 
+    #    %00     (nul)
+    #    %2F     "/"
+    #    %2f     "/"
+    #    %7f     (del)
+    #we exlude the forward slash because we already have + for that - and multiple ways to specify it obscure intention.
+    #
+    set decode_map [dict merge $decode_map [dict create\
+        %09     \t\
         %20     { }\
         %21     "!"\
         %22     {"}\
@@ -160,8 +214,10 @@ namespace eval fauxlink {
         %2b     "+"\
         %2C     ","\
         %2c     ","\
-        %2F     "/"\
+        %2D     "-"\
-        %2f     "/"\
+        %2d     "-"\
+        %2E     "."\
+        %2e     "."\
         %3A     ":"\
         %3a     ":"\
         %3B     {;}\
@@ -192,8 +248,9 @@ namespace eval fauxlink {
         %7d     "}"\
         %7E     "~"\
         %7e     "~"\
-    ]
+    ]]
-
+    #Don't go above 7f 
+    #if we want to specify p
 
 
     #*** !doctools
@@ -206,8 +263,8 @@ namespace eval fauxlink {
         variable encode_map
         variable must_encode
         set ftail [file tail $link]
-        if {[file extension $ftail] ne ".fauxlink"} {
+        if {[file extension $ftail] ni [list .fxlnk .fauxlink]} {
-            error "fauxlink::resolve refusing to process link $link - file extension must be .fauxlink"
+            error "fauxlink::resolve refusing to process link $link - file extension must be .fxlnk or .fauxlink"
         } 
         set linkspec [file rootname $ftail]
         # - any # or + within the target path or name should have been uri encoded as %23 and %2b
@@ -229,13 +286,19 @@ namespace eval fauxlink {
             foreach ch [split $namespec ""] {
                 if {$ch in $must_encode} {
                     set enc [dict get $encode_map $ch]
-                    append err "  char $idx should be encoded as $enc" \n
+                    if {[dict exists $decode_map $enc]} {
+                        append err "  char $idx should be encoded as $enc" \n
+                    } else {
+                        append err "  no %xx encoding available. Use %UXX if really required" \n
+                    }
                 }
                 incr idx
             }
             error $err
         }
-        set name        [tcl::string::map $decode_map $namespec]
+        #see comments below regarding 2 rounds and ordering.
+        set name        [decode_unicode_escapes $namespec]
+        set name        [tcl::string::map $decode_map $name]
         #puts stderr "-->name: $name"
 
         set targetsegment [split $targetspec +]
@@ -250,20 +313,89 @@ namespace eval fauxlink {
                 foreach ch [split $segment ""] {
                     if {$ch in $must_encode} {
                         set enc [dict get $encode_map $ch]
-                        append err " segment $s char $idx should be encoded as $enc" \n
+                        if {[dict exists $decode_map $enc]} {
+                            append err " segment $s char $idx should be encoded as $enc" \n
+                        } else {
+                            append err "  no %xx encoding available. Use %UXX if really required" \n
+                        }
                     }
                     incr idx
                 }
                 error $err
             }
-            lappend result_segments [tcl::string::map $decode_map $segment]
+            #2 rounds of substitution is possibly asking for trouble..
+            #We allow anything in the resultant segments anyway (as %UXXXX... allows all)
+            #so it's not so much about what can be encoded,
+            # - but it makes it harder to reason about for users
+            # In particular - if we map %XX first it makes %25 -> % substitution tricky
+            # if the user requires a literal %UXXX - they can't do %25UXXX 
+            # the double sub would make it %UXXX -> somechar anyway.
+            #we do unicode first - as a 2nd round of %XX substitutions is unlikely to interfere.
+            #There is still the opportunity to use things like %U00000025 followed by hex-chars
+            # and get some minor surprises, but using %U on ascii is unlikely to be done accidentally - REVIEW
+            set segment             [decode_unicode_escapes $segment]
+            set segment             [tcl::string::map $decode_map $segment]
+            lappend result_segments $segment
+
             incr s
         }
         set targetpath [join $result_segments /]
+        if {$name eq ""} {
+            set name [lindex $result_segments end]
+        }
 
         return [dict create name $name targetpath $targetpath]
     }
-
+    variable map
+
+    #default exclusion of / (%U2f and equivs)
+    #this would allow obfuscation of intention - when we have + for that anyway
+    proc decode_unicode_escapes {str {exclusions {/ \n \r \x00}}} {
+        variable map
+        set ucstart [string first %U $str 0]
+        if {$ucstart < 0} {
+            return $str
+        }
+        set max 8
+        set map [list]
+        set strend [expr {[string length $str]-1}]
+        while {$ucstart >= 0} {
+            set s $ucstart
+            set i [expr {$s +2}] ;#skip the %U
+            set hex ""
+            while {[tcl::string::length $hex] < 8 && $i <= $strend} {
+                set in [string index $str $i]
+                if {[tcl::string::is xdigit -strict $in]} {
+                    append hex $in
+                } else {
+                    break
+                } 
+                incr i
+            } 
+            if {$hex ne ""} {
+                incr i -1
+                lappend map $s $i $hex
+            }
+            set ucstart [tcl::string::first %U $str $i]
+        }
+        set out ""
+        set lastidx -1 
+        set e 0
+        foreach {s e hex} $map {
+            append out [string range $str $lastidx+1 $s-1]
+            set sub [format %c 0x$hex]
+            if {$sub in $exclusions} {
+                append out %U$hex ;#put it back
+            } else {
+                append out $sub
+            }
+            set lastidx $e
+        }
+        if {$e < [tcl::string::length $str]-1} {
+            append out [string range $str $e+1 end]
+        }
+        return $out
+    }
     proc link_as {name target} {
 
     }

src/vfs/_vfscommon/modules/fauxlink-0.1.0.tm

@@ -0,0 +1,468 @@
+# -*- tcl -*-
+# Maintenance Instruction: leave the 999999.xxx.x as is and use 'pmix make' or src/make.tcl to update from <pkg>-buildversion.txt
+#
+# Please consider using a BSD or MIT style license for greatest compatibility with the Tcl ecosystem.
+# Code using preferred Tcl licenses can be eligible for inclusion in Tcllib, Tklib and the punk package repository.
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+# (C) 2024
+#
+# @@ Meta Begin
+# Application fauxlink 0.1.0
+# Meta platform     tcl
+# Meta license      MIT 
+# @@ Meta End
+
+
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+# doctools header
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+#*** !doctools
+#[manpage_begin fauxlink_module_fauxlink 0 0.1.0]
+#[copyright "2024"]
+#[titledesc {faux link application shortcuts}]  [comment {-- Name section and table of contents description --}]
+#[moddesc {fauxlink .fxlnk}]             [comment {-- Description at end of page heading --}] 
+#[require fauxlink]
+#[keywords symlink faux fake shortcut toml]
+#[description]
+#[para] A cross platform shortcut/symlink alternative.
+#[para] Unapologetically ugly - but practical in certain circumstances.
+#[para] A solution is required for application-driven filesystem links that survives cross platform moves as well as 
+#[para] archiving and packaging systems.
+#[para] The target is specified in a minimally-encoded form in the filename itself - but still human readable.
+#[para] format of name <nominalname>#<encodedtarget>.fxlnk
+#[para] where <nominalname> can be empty - then the effective nominal name is the tail of the <encodedtarget> 
+#[para] The + symbol substitutes for forward-slashes.
+#[para] Other chars can be encoded using url-like encoding - (but only up to %7E !)
+#[para] We deliberately treat higher % sequences literally.
+#[para] This means actual uri::urn encoded unicode sequences (e.g %E2%99%A5 [heart]) can remain literal for linking to urls.
+#[para] e.g if an actual + or # is required in a filename or path segment they can be encoded as %2B & %23
+#[para] e.g a link to a file file#A.txt in parent dir could be:
+#[para] file%23A.txt#..+file%23A.txt.fxlnk
+#[para] or equivalently (but obviously affecting sorting) #..+file%23A.txt.fxlnk
+#[para] The <nominalname> can be unrelated to the actual target
+#[para] e.g datafile.dat#..+file%23A.txt.fxlnk
+#[para] This system has no filesystem support - and must be completely application driven.
+#[para] This can be useful for example in application test packages which may be tarred or zipped and moved cross platform.
+#[para] The target being fully specified in the name means the file doesn't have to be read for the target to be determined 
+#[para] Extensions to behaviour should be added in the file as text data in Toml format,
+#[para] with custom data being under a single application-chosen table name
+#[para] The toplevel Toml table [fauxlink] is reserved for core extensions to this system.
+#[para] Aside from the 2 used for delimiting (+ #)
+#[para] certain characters which might normally be allowed in filesystems are required to be encoded
+#[para] e.g space and tab are required to be %20 %09
+#[para] Others that require encoding are: * ? \ / | : ; " < >
+#[para] The nul character in raw form, when detected, is always mapped away to the empty string - as very few filesystems support it.
+#[para] Control characters and other punctuation is optional to encode.
+#[para] Generally utf-8 should be used where possible and unicode characters left as is where possible on modern systems.
+#[para] Where encoding of unicode is desired in the nominalname or encodedtarget portions it can be specified as %UXXXXXXXX
+#[para] There must be between 1 and 8 X digits following the %U. Interpretation of chars following %U stops at the first non-hex character.
+#[para] This means %Utest would not get any translation as there were no hex digits so it would come out as %Utest
+#
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+
+#https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-client/networking/url-encoding-unc-paths-not-url-decoded
+# ie "//server/c/Program files" works but "//server/c/Program%20Files" is now treated by windows as a literal path with %20 in it.
+#Using fauxlink - a link would be:
+# "my-program-files#++server+c+Program%20Files.fxlnk"
+#If we needed the old-style literal %20 it would become
+# "my-program-files#++server+c+Program%2520Files.fxlnk"
+
+
+#*** !doctools
+#[section Overview]
+#[para] overview of fauxlink
+#[subsection Concepts]
+#[para] -
+
+
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+##  Requirements
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+
+#*** !doctools
+#[subsection dependencies]
+#[para] packages used by fauxlink
+#[list_begin itemized]
+
+package require Tcl 8.6-
+#*** !doctools
+#[item] [package {Tcl 8.6-}]
+
+# #package require frobz
+# #*** !doctools
+# #[item] [package {frobz}]
+
+#*** !doctools
+#[list_end]
+
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+
+#*** !doctools
+#[section API]
+
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+# oo::class namespace
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+namespace eval fauxlink::class {
+    #*** !doctools
+    #[subsection {Namespace fauxlink::class}]
+    #[para] class definitions
+    if {[info commands [namespace current]::interface_sample1] eq ""} {
+        #*** !doctools
+        #[list_begin enumerated]
+
+        # oo::class create interface_sample1 {
+        #     #*** !doctools
+        #     #[enum] CLASS [class interface_sample1]
+        #     #[list_begin definitions]
+
+        #     method test {arg1} {
+        #         #*** !doctools
+        #         #[call class::interface_sample1    [method test] [arg arg1]]
+        #         #[para] test method
+        #         puts "test: $arg1"
+        #     }
+
+        #     #*** !doctools
+        #     #[list_end] [comment {-- end definitions interface_sample1}]
+        # }
+
+        #*** !doctools
+        #[list_end] [comment {--- end class enumeration ---}]
+    }
+}
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+# Base namespace
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+namespace eval fauxlink {
+    namespace export {[a-z]*};   # Convention: export all lowercase
+
+    #todo - enforce utf-8 
+
+    #literal unicode chars supported by modern filesystems - leave as is - REVIEW
+
+
+    variable encode_map
+    variable decode_map 
+    #most filesystems don't allow NULL - map to empty string
+
+    #Make sure % is not in encode_map
+    set encode_map [dict create\
+        \x00    ""\
+        { }     %20\
+        \t      %09\
+        +       %2B\
+        #       %23\
+        *       %2A\
+        ?       %3F\
+        \\      %5C\
+        /       %2F\
+        |       %7C\
+        :       %3A\
+        {;}     %3B\
+        {"}     %22\
+        <       %3C\
+        >       %3E\
+    ]
+    #above have some overlap with ctrl codes below.
+    #no big deal as it's a dict
+
+    #must_encode
+    # + # * ? \ / | : ; " < > <sp> \t 
+    # also NUL to empty string
+
+    # also ctrl chars 01 to 1F (1..31)  
+    for {set i 1} {$i < 32} {incr i} {
+        set ch          [format %c $i]
+        set enc         "%[format %02X $i]"
+        set enc_lower   [string tolower $enc] 
+        dict set encode_map $ch         $enc 
+        dict set decode_map $enc        $ch
+        dict set decode_map $enc_lower  $ch
+    }
+
+    variable must_encode
+    set must_encode [dict keys $encode_map]
+
+
+    #if they are in 
+
+    #decode map doesn't include 
+    #    %00     (nul)
+    #    %2F     "/"
+    #    %2f     "/"
+    #    %7f     (del)
+    #we exlude the forward slash because we already have + for that - and multiple ways to specify it obscure intention.
+    #
+    set decode_map [dict merge $decode_map [dict create\
+        %09     \t\
+        %20     { }\
+        %21     "!"\
+        %22     {"}\
+        %23     "#"\
+        %24     "$"\
+        %25     "%"\
+        %26     "&"\
+        %27     "'"\
+        %28     "("\
+        %29     ")"\
+        %2A     "*"\
+        %2a     "*"\
+        %2B     "+"\
+        %2b     "+"\
+        %2C     ","\
+        %2c     ","\
+        %2D     "-"\
+        %2d     "-"\
+        %2E     "."\
+        %2e     "."\
+        %3A     ":"\
+        %3a     ":"\
+        %3B     {;}\
+        %3b     {;}\
+        %3D     "="\
+        %3C     "<"\
+        %3c     "<"\
+        %3d     "="\
+        %3E     ">"\
+        %3e     ">"\
+        %3F     "?"\
+        %3f     "?"\
+        %40     "@"\
+        %5B     "\["\
+        %5b     "\["\
+        %5C     "\\"\
+        %5c     "\\"\
+        %5D     "\]"\
+        %5d     "\]"\
+        %5E     "^"\
+        %5e     "^"\
+        %60     "`"\
+        %7B     "{"\
+        %7b     "{"\
+        %7C     "|"\
+        %7c     "|"\
+        %7D     "}"\
+        %7d     "}"\
+        %7E     "~"\
+        %7e     "~"\
+    ]]
+    #Don't go above 7f 
+    #if we want to specify p
+
+
+    #*** !doctools
+    #[subsection {Namespace fauxlink}]
+    #[para] Core API functions for fauxlink 
+    #[list_begin definitions]
+
+    proc resolve {link} {
+        variable decode_map
+        variable encode_map
+        variable must_encode
+        set ftail [file tail $link]
+        if {[file extension $ftail] ni [list .fxlnk .fauxlink]} {
+            error "fauxlink::resolve refusing to process link $link - file extension must be .fxlnk or .fauxlink"
+        } 
+        set linkspec [file rootname $ftail]
+        # - any # or + within the target path or name should have been uri encoded as %23 and %2b
+        if {[tcl::string::first # $linkspec] < 0} {
+            error "fauxlink::resolve error. Link must contain a # (usually at start if name matches target)"
+        }
+        #only the 1st 2 parts of split on # are significant.
+        #if there are more # chars present - the subsequent parts are effectively a comment
+
+        #check namepec already has required chars encoded
+        lassign [split $linkspec #] namespec targetspec
+        #puts stderr "-->namespec $namespec"
+        set nametest [tcl::string::map $encode_map $namespec]
+        #puts stderr "-->nametest $nametest"
+        #nothing should be changed - if there are unencoded chars that must be encoded it is an error
+        if {[tcl::string::length $nametest] ne [tcl::string::length $namespec]} {
+            set err "fauxlink::resolve invalid chars in name part (section prior to first #)"
+            set idx 0
+            foreach ch [split $namespec ""] {
+                if {$ch in $must_encode} {
+                    set enc [dict get $encode_map $ch]
+                    if {[dict exists $decode_map $enc]} {
+                        append err "  char $idx should be encoded as $enc" \n
+                    } else {
+                        append err "  no %xx encoding available. Use %UXX if really required" \n
+                    }
+                }
+                incr idx
+            }
+            error $err
+        }
+        #see comments below regarding 2 rounds and ordering.
+        set name        [decode_unicode_escapes $namespec]
+        set name        [tcl::string::map $decode_map $name]
+        #puts stderr "-->name: $name"
+
+        set targetsegment [split $targetspec +]
+        #check each + delimited part of targetspec already has required chars encoded
+        set s 0 ;#segment index
+        set result_segments [list]
+        foreach segment $targetsegment {
+            set targettest [tcl::string::map $encode_map $segment]
+            if {[tcl::string::length $targettest] ne [tcl::string::length $segment]} {
+                set err "fauxlink::resolve invalid chars in targetpath (section following first #)"
+                set idx 0
+                foreach ch [split $segment ""] {
+                    if {$ch in $must_encode} {
+                        set enc [dict get $encode_map $ch]
+                        if {[dict exists $decode_map $enc]} {
+                            append err " segment $s char $idx should be encoded as $enc" \n
+                        } else {
+                            append err "  no %xx encoding available. Use %UXX if really required" \n
+                        }
+                    }
+                    incr idx
+                }
+                error $err
+            }
+            #2 rounds of substitution is possibly asking for trouble..
+            #We allow anything in the resultant segments anyway (as %UXXXX... allows all)
+            #so it's not so much about what can be encoded,
+            # - but it makes it harder to reason about for users
+            # In particular - if we map %XX first it makes %25 -> % substitution tricky
+            # if the user requires a literal %UXXX - they can't do %25UXXX 
+            # the double sub would make it %UXXX -> somechar anyway.
+            #we do unicode first - as a 2nd round of %XX substitutions is unlikely to interfere.
+            #There is still the opportunity to use things like %U00000025 followed by hex-chars
+            # and get some minor surprises, but using %U on ascii is unlikely to be done accidentally - REVIEW
+            set segment             [decode_unicode_escapes $segment]
+            set segment             [tcl::string::map $decode_map $segment]
+            lappend result_segments $segment
+
+            incr s
+        }
+        set targetpath [join $result_segments /]
+        if {$name eq ""} {
+            set name [lindex $result_segments end]
+        }
+
+        return [dict create name $name targetpath $targetpath]
+    }
+    variable map
+
+    #default exclusion of / (%U2f and equivs)
+    #this would allow obfuscation of intention - when we have + for that anyway
+    proc decode_unicode_escapes {str {exclusions {/ \n \r \x00}}} {
+        variable map
+        set ucstart [string first %U $str 0]
+        if {$ucstart < 0} {
+            return $str
+        }
+        set max 8
+        set map [list]
+        set strend [expr {[string length $str]-1}]
+        while {$ucstart >= 0} {
+            set s $ucstart
+            set i [expr {$s +2}] ;#skip the %U
+            set hex ""
+            while {[tcl::string::length $hex] < 8 && $i <= $strend} {
+                set in [string index $str $i]
+                if {[tcl::string::is xdigit -strict $in]} {
+                    append hex $in
+                } else {
+                    break
+                } 
+                incr i
+            } 
+            if {$hex ne ""} {
+                incr i -1
+                lappend map $s $i $hex
+            }
+            set ucstart [tcl::string::first %U $str $i]
+        }
+        set out ""
+        set lastidx -1 
+        set e 0
+        foreach {s e hex} $map {
+            append out [string range $str $lastidx+1 $s-1]
+            set sub [format %c 0x$hex]
+            if {$sub in $exclusions} {
+                append out %U$hex ;#put it back
+            } else {
+                append out $sub
+            }
+            set lastidx $e
+        }
+        if {$e < [tcl::string::length $str]-1} {
+            append out [string range $str $e+1 end]
+        }
+        return $out
+    }
+    proc link_as {name target} {
+
+    }
+
+    #proc sample1 {p1 args} {
+    #    #*** !doctools
+    #    #[call [fun sample1] [arg p1] [opt {?option value...?}]]
+    #    #[para]Description of sample1 
+    #    return "ok" 
+    #}
+
+
+
+
+    #*** !doctools
+    #[list_end] [comment {--- end definitions namespace fauxlink ---}]
+}
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+
+
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+# Secondary API namespace
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+namespace eval fauxlink::lib {
+    namespace export {[a-z]*};   # Convention: export all lowercase
+    namespace path [namespace parent]
+    #*** !doctools
+    #[subsection {Namespace fauxlink::lib}]
+    #[para] Secondary functions that are part of the API 
+    #[list_begin definitions]
+
+    #proc utility1 {p1 args} {
+    #    #*** !doctools
+    #    #[call lib::[fun utility1] [arg p1] [opt {?option value...?}]]
+    #    #[para]Description of utility1 
+    #    return 1 
+    #}
+
+
+
+    #*** !doctools
+    #[list_end] [comment {--- end definitions namespace fauxlink::lib ---}]
+}
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+
+
+
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+#*** !doctools
+#[section Internal]
+namespace eval fauxlink::system {
+    #*** !doctools
+    #[subsection {Namespace fauxlink::system}]
+    #[para] Internal functions that are not part of the API 
+
+
+
+}
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+##  Ready   
+package provide fauxlink [namespace eval fauxlink {
+    variable pkg fauxlink
+    variable version
+    set version 0.1.0 
+}]
+return
+
+#*** !doctools
+#[manpage_end]
+

src/vfs/_vfscommon/modules/punk/du-0.1.0.tm

@@ -942,6 +942,7 @@ namespace eval punk::du {
             #struct::set difference removes duplicates (but not always.. e.g if using tcl impl and 2nd element empty!)
             #relying on struct::set to remove dupes is somewhat risky. It is not well documented - and behaviour of dupes in inputs is underspecified as it appears to be intended for mathematical 'sets'
             #remove links and . .. from directories, remove links from files
+            #ideally we would like to classify links by whether they point to files vs dirs - but there are enough cross-platform differences that we will have to leave it to the caller to sort out for now.
             #struct::set will affect order: tcl vs critcl give different ordering!
             set files [struct::set difference [concat $hfiles $files[unset files]] $links]
             set dirs  [struct::set difference [concat $hdirs $dirs[unset dirs]]    [concat $links [list [file join $folderpath .]  [file join $folderpath ..] ]]]

src/vfs/_vfscommon/modules/punk/lib-0.1.1.tm

@@ -372,20 +372,40 @@ namespace eval punk::lib {
     proc lswap {lvar a z} {
         upvar $lvar l
         if {[lindex_resolve_basic $l $a] < 0 || [lindex_resolve_basic $l $z] < 0} {
-            #if we didn't do this check - we could raise an error on second lset - leaving list corrupted because only one lset occurred
+            #lindex_resolve_basic returns only -1 if out of range
+            #if we didn't do this check - we could raise an error on second lset below - leaving list corrupted because only one lset occurred
             #(e.g using: lswap mylist end-2 end on a two element list)
 
             #on the unhapy path we can take time to check the nature of the out-of-boundness to give a nicer report 
+            #use full 'lindex_resolve' which can report which side via -3 and -2 special results being lower and upper bound breaches respectively (-1 never returned)
             set a_index [lindex_resolve $l $a]
             set a_msg ""
             switch -- $a_index {
                 -2 {
-                    "$a is greater th 
+                    set a_msg "1st supplied index $a is above the upper bound for the list ([llength $l])" 
                 }
                 -3 {
+                    set a_msg "1st supplied index $a is below the lower bound for the list (0)" 
                 }
             }
-            error "lswap cannot indices $a and $z  $a is out of range" 
+            set z_index [lindex_resolve $l $z]
+            set z_msg ""
+            switch -- $z_index {
+                -2 {
+                    set z_msg "2nd supplied index $z is above the upper bound for the list ([llength $l])" 
+                } 
+                -3 {
+                    set z_msg "2nd supplied index $z is below the lower bound for the list (0)" 
+                }
+            }
+            set errmsg "lswap cannot swap indices $a and $z" 
+            if {$a_msg ne ""} {
+                append errmsg \n $a_msg
+            }
+            if {$z_msg ne ""} {
+                append errmsg \n $z_msg
+            }
+            error $errmsg
         }
         set item2 [lindex $l $z]
         lset l $z [lindex $l $a] 
@@ -397,6 +417,7 @@ namespace eval punk::lib {
     #    #if index a strictly less <= z we can do in one-liner for fun - but it's replacing whole list - so much slower
     #    set l [concat [lrange $l 0 $a-1] [lindex $l $z] [lrange $l $a+1 $z-1] [lindex $l $a] [lrange $l $z+1 end]]
     #}
+
     proc lswap2 {lvar a z} {
         upvar $lvar l
         #if index a strictly less <= z we can do in one-liner for fun - but it's replacing whole list - so much slower
@@ -3021,6 +3042,10 @@ namespace eval punk::lib {
                 set localeid [twapi::get_system_default_lcid]
             }
         }
+        #when using twapi we currently only get the localeid - not the specific defaults
+        #when not using twapi, or on non-windows platforms - we don't currently have a mechanism to look up user preferences for this
+        set default_delim ","
+        set default_groupsize 3
 
         set results [list]
         set nums [objclone $numbers_or_commaformattednumbers] ;#stops single num from getting internal rep of list
@@ -3036,15 +3061,21 @@ namespace eval punk::lib {
                     lappend results [twapi::format_number $number $localeid -idigits -1]
                     continue
                 } else {
-                    if {$delim eq ""} {set delim ","}
+                    #setting just one of delim or groupsize means we don't get the user's localeid based default for the non-set one
-                    if {$groupsize eq ""} {set groupsize 3}
+                    #todo - document it? Find a way to lookup localeid based defaults whenever either is unspecified?
+                    if {$delim eq ""}       {set delim $default_delim}
+                    if {$groupsize eq ""}   {set groupsize $default_groupsize}
                     lappend results [twapi::format_number $number 0 -idigits -1 -sthousand $delim -sgrouping $groupsize]
                     continue
                 }
             }
             #todo - get configured user defaults
-            set delim ","
+            if {$delim eq ""} {
-            set groupsize 3
+                set delim $default_delim 
+            }
+            if {$groupsize eq ""} {
+                set groupsize $default_groupsize 
+            }
 
             lappend results [delimit_number $number $delim $groupsize]
         }

src/vfs/_vfscommon/modules/punk/mix/cli-0.3.1.tm

@@ -692,14 +692,22 @@ namespace eval punk::mix::cli {
                                     #punk::zip::mkzip stores permissions - (unix style) which confuses zipfs when reading - it misidentifies dirs as files
                                 }
                                 #zipfs mkzip does exactly what we need anyway in this case
-                                set wd [pwd]
+                                #unfortunately it's not available in all Tclsh versions we might be running..
-                                cd $buildfolder
+                                if {[llength [info commands zipfs]]} {
-                                puts "zipfs mkzip $zipfile #modpod-$basename-$module_build_version"
+                                    set wd [pwd]
-                                zipfs mkzip $zipfile #modpod-$basename-$module_build_version
+                                    cd $buildfolder
-                                cd $wd
+                                    puts "zipfs mkzip $zipfile #modpod-$basename-$module_build_version"
-
+                                    zipfs mkzip $zipfile #modpod-$basename-$module_build_version
-                                package require modpod
+                                    cd $wd
-                                modpod::lib::make_zip_modpod $zipfile $modulefile
+
+                                    package require modpod
+                                    modpod::lib::make_zip_modpod $zipfile $modulefile
+                                } else {
+                                    #TODO - review punk::zip::mkzip and/or external zip to provide a fallback?
+                                    set had_err 1
+                                    lappend notest "zipfs_unavailable"
+                                    puts stderr "WARNING: zipfs unavailable can't build $modulefile"
+                                }
 
 
                                 if {$had_error} {

src/vfs/_vfscommon/modules/punk/mix/commandset/project-0.1.0.tm

@@ -157,6 +157,9 @@ namespace eval punk::mix::commandset::project {
         set opt_force                               [dict get $opts -force]
         set opt_confirm                             [string tolower [dict get $opts -confirm]]
         # -- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
+        set opt_layout                              [dict get $opts -layout]
+        set opt_update                              [dict get $opts -update]
+        # -- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
         set opt_modules                             [dict get $opts -modules]
         if {[llength $opt_modules] == 1 && [lindex $opt_modules 0] eq "\uFFFF"} {
             #if not specified - add a single module matching project name
@@ -169,9 +172,6 @@ namespace eval punk::mix::commandset::project {
             }
         }
         # -- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
-        set opt_layout                              [dict get $opts -layout]
-        set opt_update                              [dict get $opts -update]
-        # -- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
 
 
         #todo - install support binaries on a per-project basis in a way that doesn't impact machine (e.g not added to path) - cache in user config dir if possible, supply mechanism to clear cache

src/vfs/_vfscommon/modules/punk/nav/fs-0.1.0.tm

@@ -203,14 +203,15 @@ tcl::namespace::eval punk::nav::fs {
                 }
                 set matchinfo [dirfiles_dict -searchbase [pwd]]
             }
-            set dircount [llength [dict get $matchinfo dirs]]
+            set dircount        [llength [dict get $matchinfo dirs]]
-            set filecount [llength [dict get $matchinfo files]]
+            set filecount       [llength [dict get $matchinfo files]]
+            set symlinkcount    [llength [dict get $matchinfo links]] ;#doesn't include windows shelllinks (.lnk) 
             #set location [file normalize [dict get $matchinfo location]]
             set location [dict get $matchinfo location]
 
 
             #result for glob is count of matches - use dirfiles etc for script access to results
-            set result [list location $location dircount $dircount filecount $filecount]
+            set result [list location $location dircount $dircount filecount $filecount symlinks $symlinkcount]
             set filesizes [dict get $matchinfo filesizes]
             if {[llength $filesizes]} {
                 set filesizes [lsearch -all -inline -not $filesizes na]
@@ -383,6 +384,7 @@ tcl::namespace::eval punk::nav::fs {
 
                 set location [file normalize [dict get $matchinfo location]]
                 if {[string match //xzipfs:/* $location] || $location ne $last_location} {
+                    #REVIEW - zipfs test disabled with leading x  
                     #emit previous result
                     if {[dict size $this_result]} {
                         dict set this_result filebytes [punk::lib::format_number [dict get $this_result filebytes]]
@@ -1035,9 +1037,6 @@ tcl::namespace::eval punk::nav::fs {
             lappend nonportable             {*}[dict get $contents nonportable] ;# illegal file/folder names from windows perspective
             lappend vfsmounts               {*}[dict get $contents vfsmounts]
         }
-        if {$opt_formatsizes} {
-            set filesizes [punk::lib::format_number $filesizes]
-        }
 
         if {$opt_stripbase && $common_base ne ""} {
             set filetails [list]
@@ -1049,33 +1048,124 @@ tcl::namespace::eval punk::nav::fs {
                 }
                 set $fileset $stripped
             }
+            #Note: we need to remember to use common_base to rebuild the key when we need to query the dict-based elements: sizes & times - because we didn't strip those keys. 
         }
+
+        # -- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
+        #assign symlinks to the dirs or files collection (the punk::du system doesn't sort this out 
+        #As at 2024-09 for windows symlinks - Tcl can't do file readlink on symlinks created with mklink /D name target (SYMLINKD) or mklink name target (SYMLINK)
+        #We can't read the target information - best we can do is classify it as a file or a dir
+        #we can't use 'file type' as that will report just 'link' - but file isfile and file isdirectory work and should work for links on all platforms - REVIEW
+        set file_symlinks   [list]
+        set dir_symlinks    [list]
+        set dir_shortcuts   [list]  ;#windows shell links (.lnk) that have a target that is a directory
+        foreach s $links {
+            if {[file isfile $s]} {
+                lappend file_symlinks $s
+                #will be appended in finfo_plus later
+            } elseif {[file isdirectory $s]} {
+                lappend dir_symlinks $s
+                lappend dirs $s
+            } else {
+                #dunno - warn for now
+                puts stderr "Warning - cannot determine link type for link $s"
+            }
+        }
+        #we now have the issue that our symlinks aren't sorted within the dir/file categorisation - they currently will have to appear at beginning or end - TODO
+        # -- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
+        
+        
         #todo - sort whilst maintaining order for metadata? 
+        #we need to co-sort files only with filesizes  (other info such as times is keyed on fname so cosorting not required)
+
 
+        #we can't sort on filesize after format_number (unless we were to enforce delim _  which we don't want to do)
+        if {$opt_formatsizes} {
+            set filesizes [punk::lib::format_number $filesizes] ;#accepts a list and will process each
+        }
         #col2 with subcolumns
 
         #remove punk::pipedata dependency  - allow use of punk::nav::fs without punk package
         #set widest2a [punk::pipedata [list {*}$files ""] {lmap v $data {string length $v}}  {tcl::mathfunc::max {*}$data}]
         #widest2a.= concat $files [list ""] |> .=>2 lmap v {string length $v} |> .=>* tcl::mathfunc::max
-        set widest2a [tcl::mathfunc::max {*}[lmap v [concat $files [list ""]] {string length $v}]]
+        set widest2a [tcl::mathfunc::max {*}[lmap v [list {*}$files {*}$file_symlinks ""] {string length $v}]]
 
         set c2a [string repeat " " [expr {$widest2a + 1}]]
         #set widest2b [punk::pipedata [list {*}$filesizes ""] {lmap v $data {string length $v}}  {tcl::mathfunc::max {*}$data}]
-        set widest2b [tcl::mathfunc::max {*}[lmap v [concat $filesizes [list ""]] {string length $v}]]
+        set widest2b [tcl::mathfunc::max {*}[lmap v [list {*}$filesizes ""] {string length $v}]]
         set c2b [string repeat " " [expr {$widest2b + 1}]]
         set finfo [list]
         foreach f $files s $filesizes {
             #note - the display entry isn't necessarily a valid tcl list e.g filename with unbalanced curly braces
-            #hence we need to keep the filename, as well properly protected as a list element
+            #hence we need to keep the filename as well, properly protected as a list element
             lappend finfo [list file $f display "[overtype::left $c2a $f] [overtype::right $c2b $s]"]
         }
+        set flink_style [punk::ansi::a+ undercurly underline undt-green] ;#curly green underline with fallback to normal underline
+        set dlink_style [punk::ansi::a+ undercurly underline undt-green]
+        #We use an underline so the visual styling of a link can coexist with fg/bg colors applied for other attributes such as hidden
+        foreach flink $file_symlinks {
+            lappend finfo [list file $flink display "$flink_style[overtype::left $c2a $flink] [overtype::right $c2b 0]"]
+        }
+
+        set fshortcut_style [punk::ansi::a+ underdotted underline undt-hotpink]
+        set dshortcut_style [punk::ansi::a+ underdotted underline undt-hotpink]
+        #examine windows .lnk shell link files (shortcuts) - these could be encountered on other platforms too - we should still be able to read them
+        #review - symlink to shortcut? hopefully will just work
+        #classify as file or directory - fallback to file if unknown/undeterminable
+        set finfo_plus [list]
+        foreach fdict $finfo {
+            set fname [dict get $fdict file]
+            if {[file extension $fname] eq ".lnk"} {
+                if {![catch {package require punk::winlnk}]} {
+                    set shortcutinfo [punk::winlnk::file_get_info $fname] 
+                    set target_type "file" ;#default/fallback
+                    if {[dict exists $shortcutinfo link_target]} {
+                        set tgt [dict get $shortcutinfo link_target]
+                        if {[file exists $tgt]} {
+                            #file type could return 'link' - we will use ifile/isdirectory
+                            if {[file isfile $tgt]} {
+                                set target_type file
+                            } elseif {[file isdirectory $tgt]} {
+                                set target_type directory 
+                            } else {
+                                set target_type file ;## ?
+                            }
+                        } else {
+                            #todo - see if punk::winlnk has info about the type at the time of linking
+                            #for now - treat as file
+                        } 
+                    }
+                    switch -- $target_type {
+                        file {
+                            set display [dict get $fdict display]
+                            set display $fshortcut_style$display ;#
+                            dict set fdict display $display
+                            lappend finfo_plus $fdict
+                        }
+                        directory {
+                            #target of link is a dir - for display/categorisation purposes we want to see it as a dir
+                            #will be styled later based on membership of dir_shortcuts 
+                            lappend dirs $fname
+                            lappend dir_shortcuts $fname
+                        }
+                    }
+                }
+                #if we don't have punk::winlnk to read the .lnk - it will get no special highlighting and just appear as an ordinary file even if it points to a dir
+            } else {
+                lappend finfo_plus $fdict
+            }
+        }
+        unset finfo
+
+
 
         #set widest1 [punk::pipedata [list {*}$dirs ""] {lmap v $data {string length $v}}  {tcl::mathfunc::max {*}$data}]
         set widest1 [tcl::mathfunc::max {*}[lmap v [concat $dirs [list ""]] {string length $v}]]
 
         set displaylist [list]
         set col1 [string repeat " " [expr {$widest1 + 2}]]
-        foreach d $dirs filerec $finfo {
+        set RST [punk::ansi::a]
+        foreach d $dirs filerec $finfo_plus {
             set d1 [punk::ansi::a+ cyan bold]
             set d2 [punk::ansi::a+ defaultfg defaultbg normal]
             #set f1 [punk::ansi::a+ white bold]
@@ -1088,7 +1178,7 @@ tcl::namespace::eval punk::nav::fs {
                 }
                 if {$d in $vfsmounts} {
                     if {$d in $flaggedhidden} {
-                        #we could have a hidden dir which is also a vfs.. color will be overridden giving no indicatio of 'hidden' status - REVIEW
+                        #we could have a hidden dir which is also a vfs.. colour will be overridden giving no indicatio of 'hidden' status - REVIEW
                         #(This situation encountered on windows - even though file attr showed -hidden 0 - the glob with -types hidden returned it.. possibly a tcl glob bug on windows)
                         #mark it differently for now.. (todo bug report?)
                         if {$d in $nonportable} {
@@ -1108,6 +1198,12 @@ tcl::namespace::eval punk::nav::fs {
                         set d1 [punk::ansi::a+ red bold] 
                     }
                 }
+                #dlink-style & dshortcut_style are for underlines - can be added with colours already set
+                if {$d in $dir_symlinks} {
+                    append d1 $dlink_style
+                } elseif {$d in $dir_shortcuts} {
+                    append d1 $dshortcut_style
+                }
             }
             if {[llength $filerec]} {
                 set fname [dict get $filerec file]
@@ -1120,7 +1216,7 @@ tcl::namespace::eval punk::nav::fs {
                     }
                 }
             }
-            lappend displaylist $d1[overtype::left $col1 $d]$d2$f1$fdisp$f2
+            lappend displaylist [overtype::left $col1 $d1$d$RST]$f1$fdisp$RST
         }
     
         return [punk::lib::list_as_lines $displaylist]

src/vfs/_vfscommon/modules/punk/ns-0.1.0.tm

@@ -1707,6 +1707,7 @@ tcl::namespace::eval punk::ns {
         lassign [internal::get_run_opts {-vars -nowarnings} {} $args] _r runopts _c cmdargs
         set use_vars    [expr {"-vars" in $runopts}]
         set no_warnings [expr {"-nowarnings" in $runopts}]
+        set ver ""
 
 
         #todo support leading solo flags such as -capture to control whether we do a static capture of local vars in the ns
@@ -1717,15 +1718,68 @@ tcl::namespace::eval punk::ns {
             }
             default {
                 if {[string match ::* $pkg_or_existing_ns]} {
+                    set pkg_unqualified [string range $pkg_or_existing_ns 2 end]
                     if {![tcl::namespace::exists $pkg_or_existing_ns]} {
-                        set ver [package require [string range $pkg_or_existing_ns 2 end]]
+                        set ver [package require $pkg_unqualified]
                     } else {
                         set ver ""
                     }
                     set ns $pkg_or_existing_ns
                 } else {
-                    set ver [package require $pkg_or_existing_ns]
+                    set pkg_unqualified $pkg_or_existing_ns
-                    set ns ::$pkg_or_existing_ns
+                    set ver [package require $pkg_unqualified]
+                    set ns ::$pkg_unqualified
+                }
+                #some packages don't create their namespace immediately and/or don't populate it with commands and instead put entries in ::auto_index
+                set previous_command_count 0
+                if {[namespace exists $ns]} {
+                    set previous_command_count [llength [info commands ${ns}::*]]
+                }
+
+
+                #also if a sub package was loaded first - then the namespace for the base or lower package may exist but have no commands
+                #for the purposes of pkguse - which most commonly interactive - we want the namespace populated
+                #It may still not be *fully* populated because we stop at first source that adds commands - REVIEW
+                set ns_populated [expr {[tcl::namespace::exists $ns] && [llength [info commands ${ns}::*]] > $previous_command_count}]
+
+                if {!$ns_populated} {
+                    #we will catch-run an auto_index entry if any 
+                    #auto_index entry may or may not be prefixed with :: 
+                    set keys [list]
+                    #first look for exact pkg_unqualified and ::pkg_unqualified
+                    #leave these at beginning of keys list
+                    if {[array exists ::auto_index($pkg_unqualified)]} {
+                        lappend keys $pkg_unqualified 
+                    } 
+                    if {[array exists ::auto_index(::$pkg_unqualified)]} {
+                        lappend keys ::$pkg_unqualified 
+                    } 
+                    #as auto_index is an array - we could get keys in arbitrary order
+                    set matches [lsort [array names ::auto_index ${pkg_unqualified}::*]]
+                    lappend keys {*}$matches
+                    set matches [lsort [array names ::auto_index ::${pkg_unqualified}::*]]
+                    lappend keys {*}$matches
+                    set ns_populated 0
+                    set i 0
+                    set already_sourced [list] ;#often multiple triggers for the same source - don't waste time re-sourcing
+                    set ns_depth [llength [punk::ns::nsparts [string trimleft $ns :]]]
+                    while {!$ns_populated && $i < [llength $keys]} {
+                        #todo - skip sourcing deeper  entries from a subpkg which may have been loaded earlier than the base
+                        #e.g if we are loading ::x::y 
+                        #only source for keys the same depth, or one deeper ie ::x::y, x::y, ::x::y::z  not  ::x or ::x::y::z::etc 
+                        set k [lindex $keys $i]
+                        set k_depth [llength [punk::ns::nsparts [string trimleft $k :]]]
+                        if {$k_depth == $ns_depth || $k_depth == $ns_depth + 1} {
+                            set auto_source [set ::auto_index($k)]
+                            if {$auto_source ni $already_sourced} {
+                                uplevel 1 $auto_source
+                                lappend already_sourced $auto_source
+                                set ns_populated [expr {[tcl::namespace::exists $ns] && [llength [info commands ${ns}::*]] > $previous_command_count}]
+                            }
+                        }
+                        incr i
+                    }
+                    
                 }
             }
         }
@@ -1799,7 +1853,13 @@ tcl::namespace::eval punk::ns {
                 return $out
             }
         } else {
-            error "Namespace $ns not found."
+            if {$ver eq ""} {
+                error "Namespace $ns not found. No package version found."
+            } else {
+                set out "(no package namespace found) remaining in [uplevel 1 {namespace current}]"
+                append out \n $ver
+                return $out
+            }
         }
         return $out
     }

src/vfs/_vfscommon/modules/punk/winlnk-0.1.0.tm

@@ -0,0 +1,561 @@
+# -*- tcl -*-
+# Maintenance Instruction: leave the 999999.xxx.x as is and use punkshell 'pmix make' or bin/punkmake  to update from <pkg>-buildversion.txt
+# module template: shellspy/src/decktemplates/vendor/punk/modules/template_module-0.0.3.tm
+#
+# Please consider using a BSD or MIT style license for greatest compatibility with the Tcl ecosystem.
+# Code using preferred Tcl licenses can be eligible for inclusion in Tcllib, Tklib and the punk package repository.
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+# (C) 2024
+#
+# @@ Meta Begin
+# Application punk::winlnk 0.1.0
+# Meta platform     tcl
+# Meta license      MIT
+# @@ Meta End
+
+
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+# doctools header
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+#*** !doctools
+#[manpage_begin shellspy_module_punk::winlnk 0 0.1.0]
+#[copyright "2024"]
+#[titledesc {windows shortcut .lnk library}]  [comment {-- Name section and table of contents description --}]
+#[moddesc {punk::winlnk}]             [comment {-- Description at end of page heading --}] 
+#[require punk::winlnk]
+#[keywords module shortcut lnk parse windows crossplatform]
+#[description]
+#[para] Tools for reading windows shortcuts (.lnk files) on any platform 
+
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+
+#*** !doctools
+#[section Overview]
+#[para] overview of punk::winlnk
+#[subsection Concepts]
+#[para] Windows shortcuts are a binary format file with a .lnk extension
+#[para] Shell Link (.LNK) Binary File Format is documented in [MS_SHLLINK].pdf published by Microsoft.
+#[para] Revision 8.0 published 2024-04-23
+
+
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+##  Requirements
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+
+#*** !doctools
+#[subsection dependencies]
+#[para] packages used by punk::winlnk
+#[list_begin itemized]
+
+package require Tcl 8.6-
+#*** !doctools
+#[item] [package {Tcl 8.6}]
+
+#TODO - logger
+
+#*** !doctools
+#[list_end]
+
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+
+#*** !doctools
+#[section API]
+
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+# oo::class namespace
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+#tcl::namespace::eval punk::winlnk::class {
+    #*** !doctools
+    #[subsection {Namespace punk::winlnk::class}]
+    #[para] class definitions
+    #if {[tcl::info::commands [tcl::namespace::current]::interface_sample1] eq ""} {
+        #*** !doctools
+        #[list_begin enumerated]
+
+        # oo::class create interface_sample1 {
+        #     #*** !doctools
+        #     #[enum] CLASS [class interface_sample1]
+        #     #[list_begin definitions]
+
+        #     method test {arg1} {
+        #         #*** !doctools
+        #         #[call class::interface_sample1    [method test] [arg arg1]]
+        #         #[para] test method
+        #         puts "test: $arg1"
+        #     }
+
+        #     #*** !doctools
+        #     #[list_end] [comment {-- end definitions interface_sample1}]
+        # }
+
+        #*** !doctools
+        #[list_end] [comment {--- end class enumeration ---}]
+    #}
+#}
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+# Base namespace
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+tcl::namespace::eval punk::winlnk {
+    tcl::namespace::export {[a-z]*}  ;# Convention: export all lowercase
+    #variable xyz
+
+    #*** !doctools
+    #[subsection {Namespace punk::winlnk}]
+    #[para] Core API functions for punk::winlnk 
+    #[list_begin definitions]
+
+
+    variable magic_HeaderSize "0000004C" ;#HeaderSize MUST equal this
+    variable magic_LinkCLSID "00021401-0000-0000-C000-000000000046" ;#LinkCLSID MUST equal this
+
+    proc Get_contents {path {bytes all}} {
+        if {![file exists $path] || [file type $path] ne "file"} {
+            error "punk::winlnk::get_contents cannot find a filesystem object of type 'file' at location: $path" 
+        }
+        set fd [open $path r]
+        chan configure $fd -translation binary -encoding iso8859-1
+        if {$bytes eq "all"} {
+            set data [read $fd]
+        } else {
+            set data [read $fd $bytes]
+        }
+        close $fd
+        return $data 
+    }
+    proc Get_HeaderSize {contents} {
+        set 4bytes [split [string range $contents 0 3] ""]
+        set hex4 ""
+        foreach b [lreverse $4bytes] {
+            set dec [scan $b %c] ;# 0-255 decimal
+            set HH [format %2.2llX $dec]
+            append hex4 $HH
+        }
+        return $hex4
+    }
+    proc Get_LinkCLSID {contents} {
+        set 16bytes [string range $contents 4 19]
+        #CLSID hex textual representation is split as 4-2-2-2-6 bytes(hex pairs)
+        #e.g We expect 00021401-0000-0000-C000-000000000046 for .lnk files
+        #for endianness - it is little endian all the way but the split is 4-2-2-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1  REVIEW
+        #(so it can appear as mixed endianness if you don't know the splits) 
+        #https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20220928-00/?p=107221
+        #This is based on COM textual representation of GUIDS
+        #Apparently a CLSID is a GUID that identifies a COM object
+        set clsid ""
+        set s1 [tcl::string::range $16bytes 0 3]
+        set declist [scan [string reverse $s1] %c%c%c%c]
+        set fmt "%02X%02X%02X%02X"
+        append clsid [format $fmt {*}$declist]
+
+        append clsid -
+        set s2 [tcl::string::range $16bytes 4 5]
+        set declist [scan [string reverse $s2] %c%c]
+        set fmt "%02X%02X"
+        append clsid [format $fmt {*}$declist]
+
+        append clsid -
+        set s3 [tcl::string::range $16bytes 6 7]
+        set declist [scan [string reverse $s3] %c%c]
+        append clsid [format $fmt {*}$declist]
+
+        append clsid -
+        #now treat bytes individually - so no endianness conversion
+        set declist [scan [tcl::string::range $16bytes 8 9] %c%c]
+        append clsid [format $fmt {*}$declist]
+
+        append clsid -
+        set scan    [string repeat %c   6]
+        set fmt     [string repeat %02X 6]
+        set declist [scan [tcl::string::range $16bytes 10 15] $scan]
+        append clsid [format $fmt {*}$declist]
+
+        return $clsid
+    }
+    proc Contents_check_header {contents} {
+        variable magic_HeaderSize
+        variable magic_LinkCLSID
+        expr {[Get_HeaderSize $contents] eq $magic_HeaderSize && [Get_LinkCLSID $contents] eq $magic_LinkCLSID} 
+    }
+
+    #LinkFlags - 4 bytes - specifies information about the shell link and the presence of optional portions of the structure.
+    proc Show_LinkFlags {contents} {
+        set 4bytes [string range $contents 20 23]
+        set r [binary scan $4bytes i val] ;# i for little endian 32-bit signed int
+        puts "val: $val"
+        set declist [scan [string reverse $4bytes] %c%c%c%c]
+        set fmt [string repeat %08b 4]
+        puts "LinkFlags:[format $fmt {*}$declist]"
+
+        set r [binary scan $4bytes b32 val]
+        puts "bscan-le: $val"
+        set r [binary scan [string reverse $4bytes] b32 val]
+        puts "bscan-2 : $val"
+    }
+    proc Get_LinkFlags {contents} {
+        set 4bytes [string range $contents 20 23]
+        set r [binary scan $4bytes i val] ;# i for little endian 32-bit signed int
+        return $val
+    }
+    variable LinkFlags
+    set LinkFlags [dict create\
+            hasLinkTargetIDList                1\
+            HasLinkInfo                        2\
+            HasName                            4\
+            HasRelativePath                    8\
+            HasWorkingDir                     16\
+            HasArguments                      32\
+            HasIconLocation                   64\
+            IsUnicode                        128\
+            ForceNoLinkInfo                  256\
+            HasExpString                     512\
+            RunInSeparateProcess            1024\
+            Unused1                         2048\
+            HasDarwinID                     4096\
+            RunAsUser                       8192\
+            HasExpIcon                     16394\
+            NoPidlAlias                    32768\
+            Unused2                        65536\
+            RunWithShimLayer              131072\
+            ForceNoLinkTrack              262144\
+            EnableTargetMetadata          524288\
+            DisableLinkPathTracking      1048576\
+            DisableKnownFolderTracking   2097152\
+            DisableKnownFolderAlias      4194304\
+            AllowLinkToLink              8388608\
+            UnaliasOnSave               16777216\
+            PreferEnvironmentPath       33554432\
+            KeepLocalIDListForUNCTarget 67108864\
+        ]
+    variable LinkFlagLetters [list A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z AA]
+    proc Has_LinkFlag {contents flagname} {
+        variable LinkFlags
+        variable LinkFlagLetters
+        if {[string length $flagname] <= 2} {
+            set idx [lsearch $LinkFlagLetters $flagname]
+            if {$idx < 0} {
+                error "punk::winlnk::Has_LinkFlag error - flagname $flagname not known" 
+            }
+            set binflag [expr {2**$idx}]
+            set allflags [Get_LinkFlags $contents]
+            return [expr {$allflags & $binflag}]
+        }
+        if {[dict exists $LinkFlags $flagname]} {
+            set binflag [dict get $LinkFlags $flagname]
+            set allflags [Get_LinkFlags $contents]
+            return [expr {$allflags & $binflag}]
+        } else {
+            error "punk::winlnk::Has_LinkFlag error - flagname $flagname not known" 
+        }
+    }
+    
+
+
+    #https://github.com/libyal/liblnk/blob/main/documentation/Windows%20Shortcut%20File%20(LNK)%20format.asciidoc
+
+    #offset 24 4 bytes
+    #File attribute flags
+
+    #offset 28 8 bytes
+    #creation date and time
+
+    #offset 36 8 bytes
+    #last access date and time
+
+    #offset 44 8 bytes
+    #last modification date and time
+
+    #offset 52 4 bytes - unsigned int
+    #file size in bytes (of target)
+    proc Get_FileSize {contents} {
+        set 4bytes [string range $contents 52 55]
+        set r [binary scan $4bytes i val]
+        return $val
+    }
+
+    #offset 56 4 bytes signed integer
+    #icon index value
+
+    #offset 60 4 bytes - unsigned integer
+    #SW_SHOWNORMAL      0x00000001
+    #SW_SHOWMAXIMIZED   0x00000001
+    #SW_SHOWMINNOACTIVE 0x00000007
+    # - all other values MUST be treated as SW_SHOWNORMAL
+    proc Get_ShowCommand {contents} {
+        set 4bytes [string range $contents 60 63]
+        set r [binary scan $4bytes i val]
+        return $val
+    }
+
+    #offset 64 Bytes 2
+    #Hot key
+
+    #offset 66 2 bytes - reserved
+
+    #offset 68 4 bytes - reserved
+
+    #offset 72 4 bytes - reserved
+
+    #next 76
+
+    proc Get_LinkTargetIDList_size {contents} {
+        if {[Has_LinkFlag $contents "A"]} {
+            set 2bytes [string range $contents 76 77]
+            set r [binary scan $2bytes s val] ;#short
+            #logger
+            #puts stderr "LinkTargetIDList_size: $val"
+            return $val
+        } else {
+            return 0
+        }
+    }
+    proc Get_LinkInfo_content {contents} {
+        set idlist_size [Get_LinkTargetIDList_size $contents]
+        if {$idlist_size == 0} {
+            set offset 0
+        } else {
+            set offset [expr {2 + $idlist_size}]  ;#LinkTargetIdList IDListSize field + value
+        }
+        set linkinfo_start [expr {76 + $offset}]
+        if {[Has_LinkFlag $contents B]} {
+            #puts stderr "linkinfo_start: $linkinfo_start"
+            set 4bytes [string range $contents $linkinfo_start $linkinfo_start+3] 
+            binary scan $4bytes i val ;#size *including* these 4 bytes
+            set linkinfo_content [string range $contents $linkinfo_start [expr {$linkinfo_start + $val -1}]]
+            return [dict create linkinfo_start $linkinfo_start size $val next_start [expr {$linkinfo_start + $val}] content $linkinfo_content]
+        } else {
+            return [dict create linkinfo_start $linkinfo_start size 0 next_start $linkinfo_start content ""]
+        }
+    }
+
+    proc LinkInfo_get_fields {linkinfocontent} {
+        set 4bytes [string range $linkinfocontent 0 3] 
+        binary scan $4bytes i val ;#size *including* these 4 bytes
+        set bytes_linkinfoheadersize [string range $linkinfocontent 4 7]
+        set bytes_linkinfoflags      [string range $linkinfocontent 8 11]
+        set r [binary scan $4bytes i flags] ;# i for little endian 32-bit signed int
+        #puts "linkinfoflags: $flags"
+
+        set localbasepath ""
+        set commonpathsuffix ""
+
+        #REVIEW - flags problem?
+        if {$flags & 1} {
+            #VolumeIDAndLocalBasePath
+            #logger
+            #puts stderr "VolumeIDAndLocalBasePath"
+        }
+        if {$flags & 2} {
+            #logger
+            #puts stderr "CommonNetworkRelativeLinkAndPathSuffix"
+        }
+        set bytes_volumeid_offset       [string range $linkinfocontent 12 15]
+        set bytes_localbasepath_offset  [string range $linkinfocontent 16 19]           ;# a
+        set bytes_commonnetworkrelativelinkoffset [string range $linkinfocontent 20 23]
+        set bytes_commonpathsuffix_offset [string range $linkinfocontent 24 27]         ;# a
+
+        binary scan $bytes_localbasepath_offset i bp_offset
+        if {$bp_offset > 0} {
+            set tail [string range $linkinfocontent $bp_offset end]
+            set stringterminator 0
+            set i 0
+            set localbasepath ""
+            #TODO
+            while {!$stringterminator & $i < 100} {
+                set c [string index $tail $i]
+                if {$c eq "\x00"} {
+                    set stringterminator 1 
+                } else {
+                    append localbasepath $c
+                }
+                incr i
+            }
+        }
+        binary scan $bytes_commonpathsuffix_offset i cps_offset
+        if {$cps_offset > 0} {
+            set tail [string range $linkinfocontent $cps_offset end]
+            set stringterminator 0
+            set i 0
+            set commonpathsuffix ""
+            #TODO 
+            while {!$stringterminator && $i < 100} {
+                set c [string index $tail $i]
+                if {$c eq "\x00"} {
+                    set stringterminator 1 
+                } else {
+                    append commonpathsuffix $c
+                }
+                incr i
+            }
+        }
+
+
+        return [dict create localbasepath $localbasepath commonpathsuffix $commonpathsuffix]
+    }
+    
+    proc contents_get_info {contents} {
+
+        #todo - return something like the perl lnk-parse-1.0.pl script?
+
+        #Link File:  C:/repo/jn/tclmodules/tomlish/src/modules/test/#modpod-tomlish-0.1.0/suites/all/arrays_1.toml#roundtrip+roundtrip_files+arrays_1.toml.fauxlink.lnk
+        #Link Flags:  HAS SHELLIDLIST | POINTS TO FILE/DIR | NO DESCRIPTION | HAS RELATIVE PATH STRING | HAS WORKING DIRECTORY | NO CMD LINE ARGS | NO CUSTOM ICON |
+        #File Attributes: ARCHIVE
+        #Create Time: Sun Jul 14 2024 10:41:34
+        #Last Accessed time: Sat Sept 21 2024 02:46:10
+        #Last Modified Time: Tue Sept 10 2024 17:16:07
+        #Target Length: 479
+        #Icon Index: 0
+        #ShowWnd: 1 SW_NORMAL
+        #HotKey: 0
+        #(App Path:) Remaining Path: repo\jn\tclmodules\tomlish\src\modules\test\#modpod-tomlish-0.1.0\suites\roundtrip\roundtrip_files\arrays_1.toml
+        #Relative Path: ..\roundtrip\roundtrip_files\arrays_1.toml
+        #Working Dir: C:\repo\jn\tclmodules\tomlish\src\modules\test\#modpod-tomlish-0.1.0\suites\roundtrip\roundtrip_files
+
+        variable LinkFlags
+        set flags_enabled [list]
+        dict for {k v} $LinkFlags {
+            if {[Has_LinkFlag $contents $k] > 0} {
+                lappend flags_enabled $k
+            }
+        }
+
+        set showcommand_val [Get_ShowCommand $contents]
+        switch -- $showcommand_val {
+            1 {
+                set showwnd [list 1 SW_SHOWNORMAL]
+            }
+            3 {
+                set showwnd [list 3 SW_SHOWMAXIMIZED]
+            }
+            7 {
+                set showwnd [list 7 SW_SHOWMINNOACTIVE]
+            }
+            default {
+                set showwnd [list $showcommand_val SW_SHOWNORMAL-effective]
+            }
+        }
+
+        set linkinfo_content_dict [Get_LinkInfo_content $contents]
+        set localbase_path ""
+        set suffix_path ""
+        set linkinfocontent [dict get $linkinfo_content_dict content]
+        set link_target ""
+        if {$linkinfocontent ne ""} {
+            set linkfields [LinkInfo_get_fields $linkinfocontent] 
+            set localbase_path [dict get $linkfields localbasepath]
+            set suffix_path    [dict get $linkfields commonpathsuffix]
+            set link_target [file join $localbase_path $suffix_path]
+        }
+
+        set result [dict create\
+            link_target             $link_target\
+            link_flags              $flags_enabled\
+            file_attributes         "<unimplemented>"\
+            create_time             "<unimplemented>"\
+            last_accessed_time      "<unimplemented"\
+            last_modified_time      "<unimplementd>"\
+            target_length           [Get_FileSize $contents]\
+            icon_index              "<unimplemented>"\
+            showwnd                 "$showwnd"\
+            hotkey                  "<unimplemented>"\
+            relative_path           "?"\
+        ]
+    }
+
+    proc file_check_header {path} {
+        #*** !doctools
+        #[call [fun file_check_header] [arg path] ]
+        #[para]Return 0|1
+        #[para]Determines if the .lnk file specified in path has a valid header for a windows shortcut 
+        set c [Get_contents $path 20]
+        return [Contents_check_header $c]
+    }
+    proc file_get_info {path} {
+        #*** !doctools
+        #[call [fun file_get_info] [arg path] ]
+        #[para] Return a dict of info obtained by parsing the binary data in a windows .lnk file
+        #[para] If the .lnk header check fails, then the .lnk file probably isn't really a shortcut file and the dictionary will contain an 'error' key 
+        set c [Get_contents $path]
+        if {[Contents_check_header $c]} {
+            return [contents_get_info $c]
+        } else {
+            return [dict create error "lnk_header_check_failed"]
+        }
+    }
+    proc file_show_info {path} {
+        package require punk::lib
+        punk::lib::showdict [file_get_info $path] *
+    }
+
+    #proc sample1 {p1 n args} {
+    #    #*** !doctools
+    #    #[call [fun sample1] [arg p1] [arg n] [opt {option value...}]]
+    #    #[para]Description of sample1 
+    #    #[para] Arguments:
+    #    #   [list_begin arguments]
+    #    #   [arg_def tring p1]       A description of string argument p1.
+    #    #   [arg_def integer n]      A description of integer argument n.
+    #    #   [list_end]
+    #    return "ok" 
+    #}
+
+
+
+
+    #*** !doctools
+    #[list_end] [comment {--- end definitions namespace punk::winlnk ---}]
+}
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+
+
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+# Secondary API namespace
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+tcl::namespace::eval punk::winlnk::lib {
+    tcl::namespace::export {[a-z]*}  ;# Convention: export all lowercase
+    tcl::namespace::path [tcl::namespace::parent]
+    #*** !doctools
+    #[subsection {Namespace punk::winlnk::lib}]
+    #[para] Secondary functions that are part of the API 
+    #[list_begin definitions]
+
+    #proc utility1 {p1 args} {
+    #    #*** !doctools
+    #    #[call lib::[fun utility1] [arg p1] [opt {?option value...?}]]
+    #    #[para]Description of utility1 
+    #    return 1 
+    #}
+
+
+
+    #*** !doctools
+    #[list_end] [comment {--- end definitions namespace punk::winlnk::lib ---}]
+}
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+
+
+
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+#*** !doctools
+#[section Internal]
+#tcl::namespace::eval punk::winlnk::system {
+    #*** !doctools
+    #[subsection {Namespace punk::winlnk::system}]
+    #[para] Internal functions that are not part of the API 
+
+
+
+#}
+# ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++
+##  Ready   
+package provide punk::winlnk [tcl::namespace::eval punk::winlnk {
+    variable pkg punk::winlnk
+    variable version
+    set version 0.1.0 
+}]
+return
+
+#*** !doctools
+#[manpage_end]
+