nethack: preserve playable curses and persistent saves

[brandonpayton]

Purpose

Migrate NetHack 3.6.7 from the registry into a first-class Homebrew Formula without reducing it to a noninteractive demo. Build upstream game/data from source, link tap ncurses, and preserve real curses play, scores, fork instrumentation, and persistent save state.

Source and build

• Official source: https://www.nethack.org/download/3.6.7/nethack-367-src.tgz
• Source SHA-256: 98cf67df6debf9668a61745aa84c09bcab362e5d33f5b944ec5155d44d2aacb2
• Direct target dependency: full-name tap ncurses
• Native data generators run through declared host tooling
• Final target executable is optimized, fork-instrumented, and validated before installation
• Generated nhdat, symbols, license, and manpage are installed

The port fixes upstream host/wasm serialization-width assumptions and terminal fallback at source level; no runtime wrapper is introduced.

Persistent state

Stable guest paths:

• data: /home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/opt/nethack/share/nethack
• mutable state: /home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/var/nethack

post_install creates state files and save/ without overwriting existing data. Formula tests use an isolated writable mount rather than mutating the installed prefix or assuming a writable root image.

Exact source head

Base: c5705667a90b05754d2244a362f3f7fc95d2f9c3

Head: c267f37fa6657395e6595204445d024418bf6aeb

Two-commit shape:

1. 21db9ca57555479db69411fece19e5baca8bd824 preserves the accepted functional Formula byte-for-byte; README context is the only restack difference.
2. c267f37fa6657395e6595204445d024418bf6aeb adds Binaryen/WABT, validates final post-instrumentation bytes with shared fork: :required, and removes weaker duplicate test-time generic guards.

Accepted functional Formula SHA-256: 55628b33acda6680cbd5b738aa79bfa24b9d0867b04454b6483e0a1a2447ad47

Final Formula SHA-256: c4f7814effcb0bc4355d50672c49aa771008e2f0091c7d306ef38a03504480ed

Exact syntax, diff, ancestry, clean-worktree, and static contract checks pass; shared support passes 37 runs / 279 assertions. A fresh final-head source build/test was not run.

Historical functional evidence

The accepted implementation previously established on ABI 18:

• two clean builds: NetHack 293cb574de1e1a02cfa6c17efe3b01c99068aacabd54ae638095e17ec7ea97d8; nhdat 57f30deb73838e091bdb9e41c9bca9b85b710f82e0b27beaa12350f26441f97c
• registered install, post_install, and reinstall state preservation
• version, paths, data, score, and two-run Node PTY save/restore
• 5,412,101-byte artifact reports ABI 18, real fork import, complete continuation exports, no Asyncify, and no host paths under exact #882 inspection

The first run saved a supported character and the second printed Restoring save file...; both exercised alternate-screen lifecycle.

These are historical functional results, not current-head source-build, ABI 39 bottle, or Chromium evidence. Do not cite the earlier 202895... false-positive artifact.

Gates

Final platform baseline is exact #907 / ABI 39. Source/artifact gates are #873, #882, and deterministic #888-on-#889. #903 is unnecessary because the exact 5.4 MB artifact passes #882 inspection. #905/#892/#895 are unrelated to the Formula's direct fork/persistence test.

Publication stack is #881 -> #887 -> #890 -> #885 plus tap #22 and #900. #887 covers Binaryen/WABT; #890/#900 prove the recursive same-tap dependency closure.

Final dependency order is libcxx -> ncurses -> NetHack. Publish/pour exact ABI 39 libcxx and ncurses first, build NetHack from those poured bottles, then run a naturally passing literal Node Formula test and stock Chromium character selection, save, relaunch, and restore with persistent state.

#907's registry NetHack/browser-bundle matrix and existing browser nethack -s smoke are platform setup evidence only; they do not prove a Homebrew bottle pour or gameplay persistence.

No bottle block, binary artifact, platform change, or ABI change is included.

[brandonpayton]

Independent exact-head review completed for c267f37fa6657395e6595204445d024418bf6aeb: ACCEPT for source review; not merge/publish ready.

• Functional recipe bytes are preserved; the contract commit adds Binaryen/WABT and shared pre-install fork-required validation while removing only duplicate generic guards.
• Exact ncurses/tinfo closure and stable state paths are coherent; package-specific install/path/persistence tests remain.
• Support 37/279 and static checks pass. Historical ABI 18 Node save/restore evidence is functional evidence only; no fresh final-head build or bottle is claimed.
• Source gates are #873/#882/#888-on-#889 with exact #907/ABI39 final baseline. #903/#905/#892/#895 do not gate current claims.
• Publication requires #900 dependency provenance in order libcxx -> ncurses -> NetHack, trusted bottle publication, a literal Node test, and real Chromium character selection/save/relaunch/restore.

No Formula blocker was found. Registry/browser-smoke artifacts are not Homebrew bottle evidence.