[DesvoSoft]

Roadmap 8c, a timeboxed spike. Result: GO with conditions. The full write-up is in docs/QT-SPIKE.md.

This is exploratory, so it is a draft and not meant to be merged as is. 8d will rebuild these pieces screen by screen.

Criteria (Windows 11, this machine)

Criterion	Target	Qt	Verdict
Dialog open time, flash	< 100 ms, no flash	63–74 ms first open, 26–37 ms warm; close dialog 14–32 ms. No white frame in any capture.	PASS
Exe size	≤ 60 MB	30.9 MiB one-file PyInstaller	PASS
Startup	≤ current + 1 s	1,538 ms median of 5, vs 2,410 ms	PASS
150 % + Spanish	correct	es/en at 100/150 % (QT_SCALE_FACTOR)	PASS*

Baselines and controls:

• Dialog time: CustomTkinter takes ~370 ms for Server Properties and ~120 ms for confirm dialogs.
• Flash: the same probe on a CTkToplevel catches a 100 % white frame every time.
• Exe size: CustomTkinter built the same way is 23.0 MiB.

* 150 % was emulated with QT_SCALE_FACTOR, not by changing the Windows display setting. A real check is one of the conditions.

What's in it

• app/ui_qt/ (~920 lines), launched with py app/launcher.py --ui=qt. CustomTkinter stays the default.
  • Server list and a live status header.
  • Batched console with command input.
  • Close-to-tray choice and the tray icon.
  • The Engine & Version dialog.
  • Dark/light theme built from the AppConfig tokens.
  • QtDispatcher: a queued signal that runs API callbacks on the GUI thread.
• Uses only app/api. tests/test_ui_qt.py enforces that and also tests the dispatcher; those tests are skipped when PySide6 is missing, as in CI.
• Spanish uses the same gettext catalog. 28 new strings, .po and .mo updated.
• Packaging:
  • packaging/qt_spike.spec builds the Qt exe.
  • PySide6 is only in requirements-qt.txt.
  • The release specs now exclude app.ui_qt/PySide6, so the current build is unchanged.
• Measurements: tools/qt_spike_bench.py reproduces every number. Screenshots and raw results are in docs/assets/qt-spike/.
• Docs: ROADMAP 8c status and the ARCHITECTURE dispatcher table are updated.

Conditions for 8d

1. Check real 150 % and mixed-DPI scaling by hand.
2. Port the first-run, setup, uninstall and EULA dialogs (still Tk) before tkinter leaves the exe.
3. Add a Linux Qt one-file build and a Python 3.11 Windows build in CI early.
4. Add the LGPL notices for Qt/PySide6.

Proposed 8d order, about 24 working days: listed in docs/QT-SPIKE.md.

Not done

• Nuitka: it needs MSVC for Python 3.13+, which is not installed.
• Real server start: not run. Console streaming was tested with 2k and 20k line bursts on the real EventBus.