Rama 0.3.0-alpha.3 - making Rama easier to run everywhere
The third 0.3 alpha is about reach and polish.
It is one thing for a framework to work well on the machine of its maintainers. It is another thing for people to be able to install it, run it, test it and trust it across the environments they actually have. With this release, Windows becomes a first-class target for Rama.
The full release and changelog are here: https://github.com/plabayo/rama/releases/tag/rama-0.3.0-alpha.3.
What changed
Rama now ships prebuilt Windows binaries, signed releases through SignPath, and a winget package under Plabayo.Rama.Preview. The stable Plabayo.Rama package is planned once Rama reaches 0.3.0.
macOS CLI binaries are now signed as well. This kind of release work is easy to underestimate, but it matters. If a tool asks users to build serious systems, the tool itself should be distributed with care.
WebSocket support also became more complete. This release adds per-message deflate, typed WebSocket headers, improved extension handling and header byte-size tracking for both HTTP/1 and HTTP/2.
Proxy support was cleaned up with a unified connector for HTTP and SOCKS5(h), a default HTTP proxy connector when no protocol is set, and cleaner internal connection wrappers through MaybeProxiedConnection. Some of that work also improves Rust tooling timings, which is one of those small joys that compounds over a long project.
On the utility side, include_dir is integrated into rama-utils with cross-platform support, an embedded directory serving example was added, the Datastar hello example gained development hot reload, and a new tokio-turmoil HTTP/1 client-server test was introduced.
Observability received OTLP HTTP metrics improvements and fixes for tracing across multiple layers.
Intent
This release does not change the soul of Rama. It makes the existing direction easier to use.
Good software is not only about the abstractions inside the code. It is also about the release artifacts, the examples, the tests, the package managers and the small integrations that reduce friction for the next person. Those things are part of the craft as well.
For the community, Windows support is especially important. Rama should not feel like a Linux-only idea. Network tooling is used by teams with mixed machines, mixed CI, and mixed deployment stories. Meeting them there is part of making Rama useful.
Looking ahead
The 0.3 cycle continues with more design work still ahead, especially around the service model and the larger cleanup planned for the final 0.3 release.
The alpha label remains intentional. Use it, test it, but expect the project to keep improving under your feet for a little while longer.
Community and support
Please try the binaries, the winget package, the WebSocket pieces and the proxy connector changes. The best feedback is still practical feedback: what failed, what surprised you, and what you tried to build.
You can help by opening issues, contributing fixes, improving examples, sponsoring the project, or contacting partner@ramaproxy.org for commercial support and custom work.
Be empowered. Be the change.