esp8266-weather-clock-opensource/CHANGELOG.md

Changelog

All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.

The format is based on Keep a Changelog, and this project adheres to Semantic Versioning.

[1.9.10] - 2026-09-20

Fixed

• WiFi password lost after captive-portal setup, no reconnect after reboot (#12): after a successful connect via SDK-cached credentials (Try 1) or the WiFiManager portal, only the SSID was written to EEPROM. On the next boot config.password was empty, so setupWiFi() and the reconnect loop called WiFi.begin(ssid) as if the network were open and failed with WL_WRONG_PASSWORD. v1.9.6 masked this through the bare WiFi.begin() fallback in the retry loop, which 02834ba (v1.9.7) replaced with WiFi.begin(config.ssid). Now the password is read back with WiFi.psk() and saved next to the SSID in all three places that sync the SSID. Devices already stuck recover by entering the password once in the web UI.

[1.9.9] - 2026-05-19

Fixed

• Factory reset atomicity: cleared WiFi credentials are now committed BEFORE the reset counter is zeroed. If power fails between the two writes, the device still boots into WiFiManager AP on next start (cleared creds win over stale counter) instead of being stuck in an inconsistent state
• isValidSSID rejected single-char SSIDs: length-1 networks like "A" were incorrectly flagged as all-same garbage. Now allowed (per 802.11 spec)
• ntp_interval config changes ignored until reboot: NTPClient is constructed in setup() with this value and never re-initialized. Now triggers needsRestart when the interval actually changes
• Open WiFi (no password) failed to connect at setup (M2): Try-2 block in setupWiFi() required both ssid and password; now falls back to WiFi.begin(ssid) when password is empty
• Unseeded PRNG, identical dissolve pattern every boot (M4): randomSeed() now called with ESP.getChipId() ^ micros() — varies between devices and boots

Removed

• Dead NTPState enum values (M3): NTP_WAITING, NTP_SUCCESS, NTP_FAILED were defined but never assigned. Removed to reduce code surface area

[1.9.8] - 2026-05-19

Fixed

• handleConfigSave always rebooted device on save: only reboots now if WiFi/network fields changed (ssid, password, hostname, ntp_server). Other settings (brightness, timezone, intervals, coordinates, display options) apply live without restart. Eliminates reboot cascades during config tweaks and makes the test suite safe to run repeatedly.

[1.9.7] - 2026-05-19

Fixed

• Config endpoint accepted garbage values, bricking device (M1): /config form handler now validates all inputs. SSID rejected if empty, >31 chars, non-printable, or all-same-char (fuzz garbage like "AAAA..."). Numeric fields are constrain()-ed to safe ranges (ntp_interval/weather_interval: 60–86400, brightness: 0–7, timezone: ±12h, latitude/longitude: physical ranges, display_orientation: 0–3). Invalid input returns HTTP 400 instead of silently saving and rebooting.

[1.9.6] - 2026-05-18

Fixed

• Weather hangs permanently after TCP timeout (C1): WEATHER_REQUESTING state now has a 15-second watchdog — if the HTTP callback never fires (NAT timeout, server half-close), state resets to IDLE and retry logic resumes
• All retry timers freeze at ~49 days (C2): Replaced unsafe millis() >= nextRetryTime with subtraction-safe (millis() - nextRetryTime) < 0x80000000UL in RetryConfig and WiFiRetryConfig; fixed boot guard with static flag
• DST switches on wrong day (H1): Last-Sunday formula was using year-only heuristic; now computes weekday of the 31st from current tm_wday: verified correct for 2026–2030
• Heap fragmentation from web API polling (H2): Replaced String+= concatenation with snprintf+sendContent in handleAPITime, handleAPIStatus, handleAPIDebug, handleAPIWeather — eliminates permanent heap fragmentation from 1s JS polling
• Race condition on shared state (H3): Added volatile to weatherState and ntpState — prevents compiler from caching stale values across ESPAsyncTCP callback boundaries
• Malformed JSON on long error messages: lastError clamped to 79 chars before snprintf

Changed

• RAM usage: 37,268 bytes (46%) — down from 37,560 due to String elimination in API handlers

[1.9.5] - 2026-05-18

Fixed

• Temperature disappears permanently (#9): After 3 consecutive API failures, the weather state machine was permanently locked — weatherState stayed WEATHER_FAILED and no new requests were ever made even after the API recovered. Fix: reset retry counter and state after max retries so periodic refresh resumes after next interval (30 min).

[1.9.4] - 2026-05-14

Fixed

• Date timezone (#5): Date string now uses local time, so date rolls over at local midnight instead of UTC midnight
• Weather periodic refresh (#7): Removed WEATHER_SUCCESS state that permanently blocked periodic weather updates after first fetch; also fixed "Last update" counter showing raw timestamp instead of elapsed seconds
• WiFi connects to wrong network (#3): WiFi.begin() without params is now skipped when a saved SSID exists, preventing connection to SDK-cached open hotspots and config corruption

Changed

• WiFi startup: SDK-cached credentials only attempted on first boot (no saved SSID); subsequent boots go directly to saved credentials
• ArduinoJson: StaticJsonDocument → JsonDocument for compatibility with ArduinoJson v7

Removed

• Unused weekday variable in NTP DST calculation (compiler warning)

Internal

• Split clock_ntp_ota_v1.9/ directory renamed to weather_clock/ — version no longer baked into path
• Removed internal development documents from repository

[1.9.3] - 2026-01-06

Changed

• Refactored monolithic 2,100-line .ino into modular structure: display.cpp, ntp_client.cpp, weather.cpp, web_server.cpp, wifi_manager.cpp

[1.9.2] - 2026-01-06

Fixed

• CRITICAL: WiFi credentials no longer cleared on connection failure
  • Previous behavior erased SSID/password after failed connection attempts
  • Now credentials persist indefinitely through WiFi outages
• OTA update credential loss issue (SDK credentials now tried first, then EEPROM)

Added

• WiFi Resilience: Infinite retry with exponential backoff (5s → 10s → 20s → ... → 5min max)
• Fallback AP: "TJ56654-Setup" enabled after ~5 min of failed attempts
  • Device continues retry attempts while AP is active (dual STA+AP mode)
  • AP automatically disabled when WiFi reconnects
• "No WiFi" display: Shows retry countdown instead of numeric counter
• "!" indicator: Shown in date line when WiFi is disconnected
• SDK credentials support: Tries WiFiManager-stored credentials first

Changed

• Clock continues running with last synced time during WiFi outages
• Improved user experience during network failures
• Removed aggressive credential clearing behavior

Network Activity

• NTP sync: 1 hour interval (pool.ntp.org:123 UDP)
• Weather fetch: 30 min interval (api.open-meteo.com HTTP)
• mDNS: continuous (224.0.0.251 UDP multicast)
• ~50 requests/day total

[1.9.1] - 2026-01-03

Fixed

• CRITICAL: WiFi startup sequence - synchronous connection in setup() to ensure proper initialization order
• Display blank screen for 10+ seconds on boot (now shows time after ~15 seconds)
• "DNS resolution failed" errors during startup
• Sunrise/sunset labels cut off on 128px screen (removed labels, arrows are self-explanatory)

Changed

• Hybrid WiFi model: synchronous in setup(), async reconnect in loop()
• Display formatting: superscript degree symbol and lowercase 'c' for temperature
• Sunrise/sunset screen now shows daylight duration (e.g., "Day 9h 41m") instead of static "Sun Times" text

Documentation

• Added detailed v1.9.1_HYBRID_FIX.md explaining startup sequence problem and solution

[1.9.0] - 2026-01-02

Added

• Fully async architecture (zero blocking operations in loop)
• Custom async NTP implementation (manual UDP packet handling)
• Async HTTP weather fetch (AsyncHTTPRequest library)
• Exponential backoff retry logic for network failures
• Independent epoch tracking for accurate time between NTP syncs

Changed

• Replaced blocking NTPClient with custom async UDP implementation
• Replaced blocking HTTP weather with AsyncHTTPRequest
• Removed all delay() calls from loop()
• WiFi connection now async (later fixed in v1.9.1)

Performance

• Loop time: 10ms → <1ms (10x improvement)
• Weather fetch: 1-10s blocking → 0ms
• NTP sync: 5-20s blocking → 0ms
• WiFi reconnect: 15s blocking → 0ms
• OTA updates now work during active weather fetching

Technical

• RAM usage: +536 bytes (36,980 → 37,516)
• Flash usage: +1040 bytes (407,500 → 408,540)
• IRAM: 61,987 bytes (94% - stable)

[1.8.0] - 2026-01-01

Security

• CRITICAL: Removed hardcoded WiFi credentials
• Integrated WiFiManager for secure captive portal setup
• Added config validation (magic number check)
• Input sanitization to prevent buffer overflows

Fixed

• IRAM overflow crisis (94% → 70% via ICACHE_FLASH_ATTR)
• NTP interval bug (config value was ignored, always used hardcoded 1 hour)
• Boolean parsing errors in JSON config import/export
• Infinite loop protection in display mode rotation
• Memory leaks from String concatenation in web handlers

Changed

• Web responses now use chunked transfer (eliminated 140+ String concatenations)
• Applied ICACHE_FLASH_ATTR to 26 functions (moved code from IRAM to Flash)
• Improved error handling throughout codebase

Performance

• Peak heap usage reduced by ~8KB
• EEPROM validation prevents loading corrupted config

[1.7.0] - 2025-12-31

Added

• Initial working firmware with correct display support
• NTP time synchronization
• Weather data from Open-Meteo API (free, no API key required)
• OTA update support (web-based and ArduinoOTA)
• Web interface (/, /config, /debug, /update)
• REST API (time, status, weather, config export/import)
• Display rotation (time, weather, sunrise/sunset modes)
• Timezone support with manual DST configuration
• EEPROM configuration persistence

Hardware Discovery

• Identified display as GM009605v4.3 (not TM1637 or TM1650)
• Discovered swapped I2C pins: SDA=GPIO0, SCL=GPIO2
• Switched to Adafruit_SSD1306 library

Replaced

• QWeather API → Open-Meteo (no registration required)
• Proprietary firmware → Open source custom firmware
• Insecure WiFi handling → WiFiManager with timeout

[1.6.0] - 2025-12-30 (unreleased)

Attempted

• TM1650 LED driver support (incorrect - device has OLED)

[1.5.0] - 2025-12-29 (unreleased)

Attempted

• TM1637 7-segment display support (incorrect - device has OLED)

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Version Numbering

• Major version (X.0.0): Breaking changes, incompatible config format
• Minor version (1.X.0): New features, backward-compatible
• Patch version (1.9.X): Bug fixes, no new features

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Status: v1.9.3 is production-ready and actively used 24/7.