4.4.27: Static Linux builds, memory-aware batching, and build toolchain upgrades

This release includes significant improvements to resource management, build reliability, and portability.

### Memory-Aware Batching (Backward Compatible)
- Added configurable batch size and memory limits to prevent excessive memory usage during large dataset processing.
- Introduced a new `--batch-mem` command-line option (e.g., `128K`, `64M`, `1G`) to enable adaptive batching based on estimated sequence memory footprint.
- Internal batching logic now flushes batches when either size or memory thresholds are exceeded, ensuring predictable behavior.
- Conservative memory estimation and explicit garbage collection after large batch discards improve resource efficiency.

### Linux Build Enhancements
- Enabled static linking for Linux binaries using musl, producing self-contained executables with no external runtime dependencies.
- Refined cross-compilation toolchain to use architecture-specific CGO header paths, improving reliability across target architectures.
- Switched Linux builds to use Docker-based static compilation for consistency and reproducibility.

### Build System & Toolchain Improvements
- Upgraded Go toolchain to 1.26, with updated dependencies including golang.org/x/net v0.38.0.
- Fixed Makefile quoting for LDFLAGS to handle paths containing spaces.
- Enhanced build error handling to display logs before cleanup on failure.
- Improved install script with correct environment variable setup (GOROOT, GOPATH, GOTOOLCHAIN) and added progress indicators for downloads.

Note: All batching behavior remains non-breaking, with default constraints ensuring safe processing of large datasets.

.github/workflows/release.yml

@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Setup Go
         uses: actions/setup-go@v5
         with:
-          go-version: "1.23"
+          go-version: "1.26"
       - name: Checkout obitools4 project
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
       - name: Run tests
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Setup Go
         uses: actions/setup-go@v5
         with:
-          go-version: "1.23"
+          go-version: "1.26"
 
       - name: Extract version from tag
         id: get_version
@@ -62,12 +62,6 @@ jobs:
           TAG=${GITHUB_REF#refs/tags/Release_}
           echo "version=$TAG" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
 
-      - name: Install build tools (Linux)
-        if: runner.os == 'Linux'
-        run: |
-          sudo apt-get update -q
-          sudo apt-get install -y musl-tools zlib1g-dev
-
       - name: Install build tools (macOS)
         if: runner.os == 'macOS'
         run: |
@@ -75,20 +69,30 @@ jobs:
           xcode-select --install 2>/dev/null || true
           xcode-select -p
 
-      - name: Build binaries
+      - name: Build binaries (Linux)
+        if: runner.os == 'Linux'
+        env:
+          VERSION: ${{ steps.get_version.outputs.version }}
+        run: |
+          docker run --rm \
+            -v "$(pwd):/src" \
+            -w /src \
+            -e VERSION="${VERSION}" \
+            golang:1.26-alpine \
+            sh -c "apk add --no-cache gcc musl-dev zlib-dev make && \
+                   make LDFLAGS='-linkmode=external -extldflags=-static' obitools"
+          mkdir -p artifacts
+          tar -czf artifacts/obitools4_${VERSION}_${{ matrix.output_name }}.tar.gz -C build .
+
+      - name: Build binaries (macOS)
+        if: runner.os == 'macOS'
         env:
           GOOS: ${{ matrix.goos }}
           GOARCH: ${{ matrix.goarch }}
           VERSION: ${{ steps.get_version.outputs.version }}
-          CC: ${{ matrix.goos == 'linux' && 'musl-gcc' || '' }}
         run: |
-          if [ "$GOOS" = "linux" ]; then
-            make LDFLAGS='-linkmode=external -extldflags=-static' obitools
-          else
           make obitools
-          fi
           mkdir -p artifacts
-          # Create a single tar.gz with all binaries for this platform
           tar -czf artifacts/obitools4_${VERSION}_${{ matrix.output_name }}.tar.gz -C build .
 
       - name: Upload artifacts

go.work.sum

@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@ golang.org/x/image v0.6.0/go.mod h1:MXLdDR43H7cDJq5GEGXEVeeNhPgi+YYEQ2pC1byI1x0=
 golang.org/x/mod v0.13.0 h1:I/DsJXRlw/8l/0c24sM9yb0T4z9liZTduXvdAWYiysY=
 golang.org/x/mod v0.13.0/go.mod h1:hTbmBsO62+eylJbnUtE2MGJUyE7QWk4xUqPFrRgJ+7c=
 golang.org/x/mod v0.14.0/go.mod h1:hTbmBsO62+eylJbnUtE2MGJUyE7QWk4xUqPFrRgJ+7c=
+golang.org/x/net v0.38.0/go.mod h1:ivrbrMbzFq5J41QOQh0siUuly180yBYtLp+CKbEaFx8=
 golang.org/x/net v0.52.0/go.mod h1:R1MAz7uMZxVMualyPXb+VaqGSa3LIaUqk0eEt3w36Sw=
 golang.org/x/sync v0.0.0-20220722155255-886fb9371eb4 h1:uVc8UZUe6tr40fFVnUP5Oj+veunVezqYl9z7DYw9xzw=
 golang.org/x/text v0.13.0 h1:ablQoSUd0tRdKxZewP80B+BaqeKJuVhuRxj/dkrun3k=

pkg/obioptions/version.go

@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ package obioptions
 // Version is automatically updated by the Makefile from version.txt
 // The patch number (third digit) is incremented on each push to the repository
 
-var _Version = "Release 4.4.24"
+var _Version = "Release 4.4.27"
 
 // Version returns the version of the obitools package.
 //

version.txt

@@ -1 +1 @@
-4.4.24
+4.4.27