🛡️ v4.4 — Cybersecurity Automation

RAT v4.4 introduces Finishr, a new tool for automating cybersecurity-related activities at the end of the build and release process. It helps turn requirements of the EU Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) and other cybersecurity regulations into repeatable parts of the CI/CD workflow. Highlights include:

  • 📋 Generate Declarations of Conformity (DoC)
  • 📦 Generate SBOMs for projects
  • ✍️ Digitally sign binary build artefacts
  • 🔐 Generate cryptographic hashes for build artefacts
  • 🔍 Run cybersecurity-related VI Analyzer tests
  • v4.4.2 (2026-08-25)
  • [IMPROVEMENT][DOCR] add configuration for disabling Asciidoctor SSL verification (issue #344)
  • v4.4.1 (2026-08-21)
  • [IMPROVEMENT][FINISHR] migrate from SHA3-256 to SHA2-256 for Windows compatibility (issue #353)
  • v4.4.0 (2026-08-05)
  • [FEATURE][FINISHR] add Finishr tool (issue #343)
  • [FEATURE][FINISHR] install Finishr resources into ProgramData (issue #346)
  • [FEATURE][FINISHR] run cybersecurity tools (issue #323)
  • [FEATURE][ANALYZR] run cybersecurity-related VI Analyzer tests from an absolute path (issue #342)
  • [FEATURE][FINISHR] generate a Declaration of Conformity (issue #339)
  • [FEATURE][FINISHR] generate an SBOM list for the built project (issue #322)
  • [FEATURE][FINISHR] sign binary build artefacts (issue #280)
  • [FEATURE][FINISHR] generate hashes for build artefacts (issue #189)

⭐ v4.0–v4.3

RAT v4 expanded from release automation to the wider continuous-integration workflow. These releases added Linux support, introduced the flexible key=value call signature, modernised the documentation toolchain and improved compatibility, diagnostics and error handling. What stands out:

  • 🌎 Support for Linux, including Desktop and Real-Time.
  • 🔄 A flexible key=value call signature.
  • 📄 Improved documentation generation with Antidoc, Asciidoctor and Kroki.
  • 🧰 Expanded support for LabVIEW versions, bitnesses and package formats.
  • 🚑 Numerous improvements to diagnostics, compatibility and error handling.
  • v4.3.1 (2026-05-04)
  • [FIX][BUILDR] allow PROJECT_SRCDIR to point to the repository root (issue #334)
  • v4.3.0 (2026-04-16)
  • [FIX][COMMON] rework archive extraction (issue #326)
  • [FIX][INIT] fix broken cloning of dependencies (issue #291)
  • [FIX][ANALYZR] add pipeline for LabVIEW 2024 Q3 64-bit
  • [FIX][ANALYZR] do not select all tests from the configuration file
  • [FIX][ANALYZR] add VI Analyzer compatibility patches to the VIPC
  • [FIX][ANALYZR] add the custom VI Analyzer Run VI to the project
  • [FIX][DOCR] update Antidoc and fix the architecture overview (issue #312)
  • [FEATURE][COMMON] add extended diagnostics for sending e-mails via SMTP
  • [FEATURE][COMMON] allow sending e-mails without TLS (issue #292)
  • [IMPROVEMENT][COMMON] improve CLI output
  • [IMPROVEMENT][COMMON] enforce single-line version information in constant VIs (issue #320)
  • [IMPROVEMENT][COMMON] fix the VIP icon
  • [IMPROVEMENT][COMMON] improve error reporting for .lvproj targets (issue #318)
  • [IMPROVEMENT][DOCR] configure Documentr to use a local Kroki server
  • [IMPROVEMENT][DOCR] use Wovalab’s Asciidoctor toolchain (issue #305)
  • [IMPROVEMENT][DOCR] upgrade to Antidoc 3.2 and DQMH 7.1.2 (issue #319)
  • v4.2.2 (2025-05-06)
  • [FIX] revert Asciidoc back to v2
  • v4.2.1 (2025-05-06)
  • [FIX] fix broken installation on LabVIEW 2024
  • v4.2.0 (2025-05-06)
  • [FIX][ALL] allow rat.yml prefixes with lowercase characters (issue #270)
  • [FIX][ALL] perform git fetch –unshallow (issue #272)
  • [FIX][ANALYZR] load VI Analyzer tests from the new location for LabVIEW 2024 (issue #298)
  • v4.1.1 (2024-01-12)
  • [FIX][ALL] ignore empty parameters such as “DPLR_DESTINATION=”
  • v4.1.0 (2024-01-11)
  • [IMPROVEMENT][ALL] don’t throw an error when e-mail variables cannot be read (issue #213)
  • [FEATURE][ANALYZR] ignore VIs based on bookmarks (issue #247)
  • [FEATURE][ANALYZR] ignore VIs based on user tags (issue #248)
  • [FIX][ANALYZR] make finding changed files more robust (issue #259)
  • [FIX][ALL] fix reading GITLAB_USER_EMAIL as a fallback (issue #262)
  • [IMPROVEMENT][ALL] add OS-specific calls for reading environment variables (issue #262)
  • v4.0.4 (2023-09-07)
  • [FIX][DOCR] allow future LabVIEW versions to load the Documentr PPL
  • v4.0.3 (2023-09-01)
  • [FIX][ANALYZR] update the Git API to handle backslashes in relative paths
  • v4.0.2 (2023-09-01)
  • [FIX][ALL] fix the release pipelines
  • v4.0.1 (2023-08-31)
  • [FIX][ALL] apply Sanitize OS-Specific Path Separator.vi to all relative path parameters (issue #241)
  • v4.0.0 (2023-08-31)
  • [FEATURE][VIPBUILDR] update version information in VIs before building (issue #128)
  • [IMPROVEMENT][ALL] read RAT_EMAIL_RECEIVER in addition to GITLAB_USER_EMAIL (issue #173)
  • [IMPROVEMENT][DOCR] move the documentation template into a separate repository (issue #201)
  • [IMPROVEMENT][ALL] write failures to read e-mail credentials to the console instead of throwing an error (issue #213)
  • [FEATURE][ALL] add support for Linux (issue #215)
  • [FEATURE][DOCR] add the option to render diagrams with Kroki instead of Java and Graphviz (issue #226)
  • [FIX][ALL] read the correct build number (issue #229)
  • [FIX][ALL] return the original error when checking the licence file (issue #232)
  • [FEATURE][ALL] allow tools to run without a commit tag (issue #235)
  • [IMPROVEMENT][TESTR] make Testr independent of the four common YAML variables (issue #236)
  • [FEATURE][DEPLOYR] remove the dependency on PROJECT (issue #238)
  • [FEATURE][VIPBUILDR] build VI packages without a LabVIEW project
  • [IMPROVEMENT][ALL] change the call signature to key=value parameters (issue #228)
  • [FIX][ALL] remove the product-name output when it is empty (issue #212)

v3.22 – v3.25

We’ve been super busy reworking some of the basic architecture of our tools in preparation for new use cases and new features. We’ve also added lots of fixes and small improvements in the process. Finally, we dropped support for LabVIEW 2016 and migrated our Release Automation Tools to LabVIEW 2020!

  • v3.25.0 (2023-07-06)
  • [IMPROVEMENT][ALL] search for licence file in ProgramData folder (#86)
  • [IMPROVEMENT][DOCUMENTR] adjust documentr VIs to Antidoc v2 (issue #136)
  • [FIX][DOC] list-item bullet points broken (issue #202)
  • [FIX][BUILDR] call NI AB API dynamically (issue #223)
  • [FIX][VIP] remove unneeded zips from source distribution (issue #227)
  • v3.24.0 (2023-06-30)
  • [FIX] hand over application reference to project parser (issue #221)
  • [FEATURE][ALL] release RAT for LV x64 on windows (issue #225)
  • v3.22.0 (2023-03-27)
  • [IMPROVEMENT][PACKAGR] add OS to filename (issue #209)
  • [IMPROVEMENT][ALL] use PPLs of licence-library and state machine parser (issue #210)
  • [IMPROVEMENT][ALL] build RAT as packed project libraries, reduce VIP dependencies (issues #211, #163)
  • [IMPROVEMENT][ALL] upgrade to LV2020 (issue #163)

v3.17 – v3.20

These are the last service releases before dropping support for LabVIEW 2016 and elevating our tools to LabVIEW 2020.

  • v3.20.0 (2023-03-16)
  • [FEATURE][BUILDR] allow custom VI to be called in setup macro (issue #206)
  • v3.19.0 (2023-03-14)
  • [IMPROVEMENT][PACKAGR] add bitness to filename (issue #203)
  • [FEATURE] copy build results into collect destination (issue #207)
  • v3.18.0 (2023-03-10)
  • [FEATURE][INIT] allow custom VI to be called for initialization (issue #206)
  • v3.17.0 (2022-10-14)
  • [FEATURE][TESTR] Execute UT_Main.vi in LV project context (#186)

v3.16

Version 3.16 focuses again on the robustness of our tools. This release also adds features to our Documentr tool.

  • v3.16.0 (2022-09-06)
  • [IMPROVEMENT][DOCUMENTR] adjust documentr VIs to Antidoc v2 (issue #136)
  • [FEATURE][VIPBUILDER] use same logic for buildnumer from buildr in vipbuilder (issue #144)
  • [FIX][BUILDR] fix output, if source directory doesn’t exist (issue #170)
  • [FIX][BUILDR] show commit hash in version file (issue #172)
  • [FIX][BUILDR] fix error 8 in create or clear directory (issue #176)
  • [IMPROVEMENT][DOCUMENTR] Add custom error code VIs to document (issue #178)
  • [IMPROVEMENT][DOCUMENTR] autocreate main .adoc file, use new theme location (issue #180)
  • [IMPROVEMENT][DOCUMENTR] improve the output when no state machines were found in the project (issue #180)
  • [IMPROVEMENT][DOCUMENTR] install documentr theme with RAT (issue #181)
  • [IMPROVEMENT][COMMON] handle build spec name case-insensitive (issue #182)

v3.15

Version 3.15 focuses on the robustness of our tools and the user experience when working with them. This release is packed with fixes and improvements – and we also added a few new features.

  • v3.15.0 (2022-05-25)
  • [FEATURE] [BUILDR] use dynamic buildnumber or preserve it (issue #166)
  • [FEATURE] [VALIDATR] use the DQMH headless validator’s report event to display progress (issue #151)
  • [IMPROVEMENT] [Analyzr] shorten the output (issue #81)
  • [IMPROVEMENT] [DEPLOYR] only deploy .vipc in case of source distribution (issue #124)
  • [IMPROVEMENT] [ALL] improve artifacts email subject and body (issue #148)
  • [IMPROVEMENT] [ALL] add 4th call parameter to GUI parameters (issue #149)
  • [IMPROVEMENT] [ALL] Update to Git API v2.0.2 (issue #150)
  • [IMPROVEMENT] [ALL] make parsing of project parameters more robust (issue #164)
  • [FIX] [ALL] correct file name with seconds in format string (issue #107)
  • [FIX] [ANALYZR] add severity to JSON (issue #154)
  • [FIX] [BUILDR] output correct number of updated VIs (issue #157)
  • [FIX] [BUILDR] skip processing of include vis if directory does not exist (issue #159)
  • [FIX] [DOCUMENTR] output and clear error from AntiDoc (issue #165)

v3.14

Version 3.14 adds support for building NI Packages to RAT. Another package format we support! On top of that, we implemented a few minor fixes.

  • v3.14.10 (2022-02-03)
  • Maintenance Release
  • v3.14.9 (2021-12-09)
  • [FIX] disable show results windows (issue #147)
  • v3.14.8 (2021-12-07)
  • [FEATURE] run VI analyzer with correct target (issue #143)
  • v3.14.7 (2021-12-07)
  • [IMPROVEMENT] use Git API v1.0.0
  • [FEATURE] add support for building PPLs into buildr (issue #137)
  • [FEATURE] add optional path where dependencies should be cloned (issue #140)
  • v3.14.6 (2021-11-12)
  • [FEATURE] update NI Package Number during build (issues #132, #134)
  • [IMPROVEMENT] migrate to new GIT API toolkit (issue #133)
  • v3.14.5 (2021-07-27)
  • [FEATURE] deploy PDF to documentr path (issue #120)
  • [IMPROVEMENT] duplicate version output (issue #122)
  • [FEATURE] deploy .vipc files (issue #123)
  • [IMPROVEMENT] add support for Linux NI Packages (issue #130)
  • + move various libraries to vi.lib
  • v3.14.4 (2021-06-02)
  • [FEATURE] make template path for documentr overwriteable (issue #99)
  • [IMPROVEMENT] use fix build number “1” for created VIP (issue #102)
  • [FEATURE] make destination path for documentr overwritable (issue #106)
  • [IMPROVEMENT] output version before anything else (issue #109)
  • [IMPROVEMENT] output project details, even in error case (issue #110)
  • [IMPROVEMENT] output debug message if copy lvproj fails when building source distribution (issue #112)
  • [FIX] rework include vi parsing to only open and update VIs when needed (issue #113)
  • [FIX] start VIPM only if .vipc file(s) supplied (issue #114)
  • [IMPROVEMENT] use git repository basename from origin url instead of local directory for deployr (issue #117)
  • [IMPROVEMENT] add output for the read yaml variables in all tools (issue #118)
  • [FEATURE] make unit test directory for testr overwriteable (issue #119)
  • v3.14.3 (2021-05-04)
  • [FIX] open only references to VIs defined in the xxx_PROJECT_SRCDIR yaml variable (issue #108)
  • v3.14.2 (2021-04-26)
  • [FEATURE] speed up updating VI descriptions (issue #105)
  • [FEATURE] optimize display output (issue #104)
  • [FEATURE] allow deployr to move the results from multiple builds in one single run (issue #100)
  • [FEATURE] stop building in temp directory (issues #98, #101)
  • [FIX] don’t create zip file, if no files were found (issues #103, #64)
  • v3.14.1 (2021-03-04)
  • [FEATURE] upgrade HSE State Machine Parser (issue #89)
  • [FEATURE] upgrade VIPM API (issue #90)
  • [FIX] bug with latest-but-one tag (issue #87)
  • v3.14.0 (2021-03-02)
  • [FEATURE] Support NI Package building (issue #82)
  • [FIX] allow spaces in filenames for documentr (issue #83)
  • [FIX] fix parsing/usage of 4th CLI parameter as commit tag (issue #85)

v3.13

Version 3.13 brings VI Package building to RAT – finally! We’ve been wanting to implement this for a long time. It also comes with an improved documentation and, as always, a few fixes.

  • v3.13.1 (2021-02-23)
  • [FEATURE] Improve state machine parsing (issue #77)
  • [FEATURE] Upgrade to Antidoc v1.2.1.59 (issue #79)
  • [FIX] Release tag parsing (issue #78)
  • [FIX] CLI output for RT executables (issue #80)
  • v3.13.0 (2021-02-13)
  • [FEATURE] Support building of VI packages (issue #44)
  • [FEATURE] Reset git repository during initialization (issue #61)
  • [FEATURE] Support for Antidoc v1.2.1 (issue #70)
  • [FEATURE] Improve error handling for .vipc (issue #71)
  • [FEATURE] Improve output when building installers (issue #76)

v3.12

Version 3.12 is all about improving support for various release tag formats. It also comes with some other handy features like installing .vipc files automatically, clearing out caches and other small fixes.

  • v3.12.1 (2020-12-16)
  • [FIX] use the supplied or derived release tag prefix for finding current and previous git tags
  • v3.12.0 (2020-12-10)
  • [FEATURE] Install .vipc files before building (#45)
  • [FEATURE] Overwrite instead of add outputs to CLI (#54)
  • [FEATURE] Create CodeClimate Code Quality reports (#56)
  • [FEATURE] Clear Object Cache before building (#57)
  • [FEATURE] Allow Extended Commit Tags as RAT YAML prefix (see our Dokuwiki) (#66)
  • [FEATURE] Optionally provide both YAML prefix and Commit Tag via CLI (#68)
  • [FEATURE] Improve parsing of YAML variables
  • [FIX] Use Build Spec name instead of RAT YAML prefix for package file names to make them unique (#65)
  • [FIX] Output status and errors when calling asciidoctor binary from LabVIEW (#63)
  • [FIX] Various small bug fixes