DOSBox‑X Git receives March 4 updates; Retro‑Replay posts Staging build

Verify whether your DOSBox installation is tracking DOSBox‑X or the DOSBox‑Staging snapshot before pulling compiled builds, because a March 4, 2026 development update tied to DOSBox‑X and a Retro‑Replay post for a DOSBox‑Staging Git snapshot (2026/02/17) both surfaced the same day. The Original Report states that "On March 4, 2026 the DOSBox‑X project’s development tree received additional Git‑level updates and compiled development builds, with reporting and a short summary posted the same day by Retro‑Replay and mirrored in other emulation trackers. The changes were commi…" which stops mid‑sentence and leaves the scope ambiguous.

Retro‑Replay’s post, authored by "dadmin" under the site’s "Emulator News 📰" section, is explicit about the DOSBox‑Staging snapshot labeled 2026/02/17 and includes a downloadable entry shown as "Download: DOSBox‑Staging Git (2026/02/17) x64" plus the line "Source: Here". The Retro‑Replay page also carries the one‑line description: "The DOSBox‑Staging Git (2026/02/17) repository aims to modernize the DOSBox project by adopting current development practices, fixing issues, and enhancing system compatibility." Tags on the post read "Dev_Build DOSBox‑Staging Others PC", and related articles listed on the page include other March 4 entries such as "Xenia Git Update (March 4, 2026)" and "RPCS3 Git Update (March 4, 2026)".

Retro‑Replay included a changelog block headed "DOSBox‑Staging Git Changelog:" that lists multiple technical changes. The changelog lines reproduced on the page are: \ Updated copyright year \ Enhanced copyright year updater script \ Introduced assertions to the deinterlacer \ Eliminated `misc/fixvideo.glsl` shader in favor of the deinterlacer \ Implemented background color detection heuristics for the deinterlacer \ Made `deinterlacer.h` private \ Added support for “dot deinterlacing” \ style: Code cleanup \ Enabled deinterlaced capture for non‑BGRX32 pixel formats \ Relocated `ImageDecoder` to `misc/image_decoder.cpp|h` \ Refactored image decoder to utilize a row‑based approach \ Introduced FMV video deinterlacer with basic capture functionality \ Removed unnecessary width/height doubling setting \ Moved `write_upscaled_png()` into `SaveUpscaledImage()`

Key discrepancies remain between the sources and must be resolved before treating either build as authoritative. The Original Report explicitly names DOSBox‑X for March 4 updates while Retro‑Replay documents a DOSBox‑Staging snapshot dated 2026/02/17; the sources do not state that DOSBox‑Staging commits merged into DOSBox‑X. The Original Report text ends with "The changes were commi…" leaving whether commits were applied, merged, or compiled unspecified. Retro‑Replay shows a downloadable x64 build but the download URL and commit hashes are not present in the supplied material.

The changelog lines indicate functional work on a deinterlacer, FMV video deinterlacer support, support for non‑BGRX32 capture, and housekeeping such as copyright year updates and code cleanup, but there is no explicit mention in the supplied texts of macOS fixes or METAL rendering corrections. Before deploying a build, confirm the exact commit IDs, the download URL behind "DOSBox‑Staging Git (2026/02/17) x64", and whether the March 4 compiled builds referenced for DOSBox‑X are the same tree as the DOSBox‑Staging snapshot. Pending those confirmations, treat the Retro‑Replay staging build and the March 4 DOSBox‑X updates as related but distinct items and exercise caution when switching production or archival setups.