Install and Test Komms 0.4 Beta

Komms 0.4.2 Beta is a public prerelease for careful hands-on testing. It is an explicitly unsigned, pre-production test release—not a stable release, an independently audited build, or software for emergency, safety-critical, or production communication. Back up disposable test data before an upgrade and retain every recovery file and phrase separately.

The source and application version is 0.4.2; beta is the release channel. The release source is tag v0.4.2 at commit 5a09190cfef9cfef92703672517bc008b6e8cc1f. A branch name, workflow artifact, or container alias is not that public release identity.

1. Obtain an eligible package

Obtain the public test release only from the v0.4.2 release page. Choose the exact asset for the test environment:

The Android files containing release-unsigned and the Play AAB are retained validation artifacts, not ordinary install packages. There is no public physical-device iOS IPA. Do not substitute a third-party binary.

2. Verify the exact release

Download UNSIGNED-TEST-SHA256SUMS and the package from the same release. On Linux or macOS, verify the files present in the directory with:

shasum -a 256 -c UNSIGNED-TEST-SHA256SUMS

On Windows PowerShell, calculate the selected package digest and compare it to the matching line in UNSIGNED-TEST-SHA256SUMS:

Get-FileHash .\Komms-0.4.2-PLATFORM-ASSET -Algorithm SHA256

The public checksum manifest itself has SHA-256 48ba6a499bdfcb03d10fb79e7ef1000996658b916a722ff4775cfbaf3705c1f4. Stop if the filename, version, source revision, or digest disagrees.

The attached Komms-0.4.2-validation-evidence.tar.gz has SHA-256 b639a1ad81210a17f4dc8bc5d47d981ab0011aa45357b99638350e4d9d99e58f. It and VALIDATION-SHA256SUMS preserve the original hosted validation set. The archive is validation evidence, not a completed production evidence bundle or offline release signature. Its records correctly say:

• production_signed: false;
• qualified_for_stable: false; and
• independently_reproduced: false.

For Android, the test certificate SHA-256 is ec07a2d6a873d4b921c03c63a4c38888db582ee8b9e00517c124b4e395083cb7. The test-signed Google-free APK has the same normalized unsigned payload as the hosted Google-free validation APK; only its test signature differs. Uninstall it before a future production-signed build because an authenticated in-place upgrade from this certificate is not promised.

The 0.4.2 release record binds the hosted workflow, artifact checksums, one-version exception, and open gates. Follow Release Evidence Bundles when inspecting the attached archive, but do not reinterpret its validation channel as a signed release channel.

3. Upgrade carefully from 0.3 Alpha

The 0.4 trust model intentionally does not continue copied account-root authority as normal live state.

• A profile that never copied its account root may offer an explicit safe in-place authority migration.
• Any evidence that the root was copied requires the visible new-identity reset. Komms may retain only accurately labelled eligible local history, notes, organization, and petnames; every contact must verify the new safety number.
• Legacy KKR1–KKR7 backups are decode-only migration inputs and never resume their former identity. Root-free KKR8–KKR10 restore requires the separate offline recovery authority where applicable and creates one fresh recovery device.
• Android and desktop operating systems may reject an in-place package update when the signing identity differs. Preserve an encrypted export before uninstalling a disposable test build.

Never weaken the reset prompt or copy a root/recovery secret into ordinary app storage to make an upgrade appear seamless.

4. Run the Beta acceptance walk-through

Use two fresh test identities on separate test devices when possible:

1. Create, lock, restart, and unlock both profiles. Store the offline recovery authority, backup, and their different phrases separately.
2. Exchange kc2 Connect codes. Confirm the first sender appears only as a Message Request, then exercise Accept, Delete, and Block with disposable identities.
3. Compare the 30-digit safety number through a separate trusted channel, or scan the full-value verification QR.
4. Send text and an attachment in both directions. Confirm that queued means local custody, sent means bounded next-hop custody, and only an authenticated end-to-end receipt produces delivered.
5. Create a group, wait for its recipient-authentication upgrade, then exercise text, an edit, a poll vote, a role change, and member/device removal. Old legacy history must keep its weaker security label.
6. Link another owned device through scan/compare/confirm, revoke it, and check that the remaining authority set converges. Treat a visible fork or recovery conflict as a hard stop.
7. Test offline mailbox delivery only against an operator whose exact source, role, retention, and limits you understand. A mailbox acceptance is not an end-to-end receipt.
8. Switch among Standard, Private, and Sovereign and confirm that identity and message history stay unchanged. Optional-service failure must leave ordinary direct, mailbox, local, mesh, and file fallbacks intact where configured.
9. Create a current backup, restore it on a clean disposable profile with the required separate authority, and re-verify the resulting device and contact state.

Audio calls require a fresh direct QUIC route and never fall back through TCP, relay, mailbox, radio, or sneakernet. Native wake is a content-free hint only; it never marks a message sent or delivered and is subject to platform background limits.

5. Report evidence without secrets

For a product defect, open a GitHub issue with the exact asset name and digest, source revision, device/OS, network conditions, concise steps, timings, expected result, and observed result. Remove identities, Connect codes, safety numbers, capabilities, message content, social labels, file paths, push tokens, and private network addresses from logs.

Report vulnerabilities privately through SECURITY.md. Simulator or host results must remain labelled as such; they are not physical-device, real-network, operator, accessibility, radio, independent interoperability, or independent security-review evidence.

6. Optional self-hosting

The prepared immutable node image is ghcr.io/andrigitdev/komms-kultd:0.4.2; 0.4-beta and beta are moving Beta aliases only when the separately authorized container publication has occurred. There is no latest alias. Dedicated reference, mailbox, wake, and OHTTP roles have separate images and runbooks and must not be collapsed into one identity-bearing service.

Read Self-hosting and the relevant operator runbook before exposing a port. No current project default is qualified merely because an image builds or is available in a registry.

7. Build from source

The desktop, Android, and iOS guides cover each shell. The complete non-publishing candidate gate is:

KOMMS_REQUIRE_ANDROID_APP=1 \
KOMMS_REQUIRE_IOS_APP=1 \
scripts/local-release-matrix.sh

Record every deferral. Passing local tests authorizes neither a tag nor a public release.