One-time admin notice that channel access moved to Required roles (#5649)

public/app.html

@@ -4014,6 +4014,19 @@
     </div>
   </div>
 
+  <!-- TEMPORARY (#5649): one-time admin notice that channel access moved to Required roles. Remove after the 4.8.x cycle. -->
+  <div class="modal-overlay" id="role-gate-notice-modal" style="display:none">
+    <div class="modal" style="width:520px">
+      <h3>🔑 <span data-i18n="modals.role_gate_notice.title">Channel access works differently now</span></h3>
+      <p style="font-size:0.85rem;line-height:1.5" data-i18n="modals.role_gate_notice.p1">Roles no longer carry a list of channels to grant or revoke. Instead, each channel says which roles open it: right-click the channel, Channel Functions, Required roles. Anyone who holds those roles is put in the channel the moment they get them and taken out the moment they lose them.</p>
+      <p style="font-size:0.85rem;line-height:1.5" data-i18n="modals.role_gate_notice.p2">Nothing you had set up was lost. Any channel a role used to grant has been converted into Required roles on that channel, so the same people still get in. People you added to a channel by hand keep their place.</p>
+      <p class="muted-text" style="font-size:0.78rem" data-i18n="modals.role_gate_notice.p3">Only admins see this, and only once.</p>
+      <div class="modal-actions">
+        <button class="btn-sm btn-accent" id="role-gate-notice-ok" data-i18n="modals.role_gate_notice.ok">Got it</button>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+
   <!-- Scheduled send (#5638): right-click Send, or /schedule -->
   <div class="modal-overlay" id="schedule-modal" style="display:none">
     <div class="modal" style="width:480px">

public/js/modules/app-socket.js

@@ -2408,6 +2408,20 @@ _setupSocketListeners() {
     // No GIF provider on this server: the button would only open an empty
     // picker, so it goes (#5654).
     document.documentElement.toggleAttribute('data-no-gif', settings && settings.gif_search_available === 'false');
+    // TEMPORARY (#5649): a one-time notice to admins that channel access moved
+    // from roles to the channel's Required roles. Remove after the 4.8.x cycle.
+    if (settings && settings.role_gate_notice === '1' && !this._roleGateNoticeShown &&
+        (this.user?.isAdmin || this._hasPerm?.('manage_roles') || this._hasPerm?.('manage_server'))) {
+      this._roleGateNoticeShown = true;
+      const modal = document.getElementById('role-gate-notice-modal');
+      if (modal) {
+        modal.style.display = 'flex';
+        document.getElementById('role-gate-notice-ok')?.addEventListener('click', () => {
+          modal.style.display = 'none';
+          this.socket.emit('update-server-setting', { key: 'role_gate_notice', value: '0' });
+        }, { once: true });
+      }
+    }
     this._applyServerSettings();
     this._renderChannelTemplates();
     this._maybeShowSetupWizard();

public/locales/en.json

@@ -2785,6 +2785,13 @@
       "title": "Rename Channel",
       "prompt": "Rename #{{name}}:\nEnter new name:"
     },
+    "role_gate_notice": {
+      "title": "Channel access works differently now",
+      "p1": "Roles no longer carry a list of channels to grant or revoke. Instead, each channel says which roles open it: right-click the channel, Channel Functions, Required roles. Anyone who holds those roles is put in the channel the moment they get them and taken out the moment they lose them.",
+      "p2": "Nothing you had set up was lost. Any channel a role used to grant has been converted into Required roles on that channel, so the same people still get in. People you added to a channel by hand keep their place.",
+      "p3": "Only admins see this, and only once.",
+      "ok": "Got it"
+    },
     "schedule": {
       "title": "Send later",
       "hint": "The message waits on the server and goes out at the time you pick, whether or not you are online. Not available in direct messages.",

src/database.js

@@ -1464,6 +1464,11 @@ function initDatabase() {
       }
       db.prepare('UPDATE roles SET link_channel_access = 0').run();
       db.prepare("INSERT OR REPLACE INTO server_settings (key, value) VALUES ('role_links_migrated', '1')").run();
+      // An existing server gets a one-time notice for admins about the change
+      // in how channel access works. Nothing to explain on a fresh install.
+      // TEMPORARY: remove this flag and the notice modal after the 4.8.x cycle.
+      const existing = db.prepare('SELECT COUNT(*) AS c FROM channels WHERE is_dm = 0').get().c;
+      if (existing) db.prepare("INSERT OR REPLACE INTO server_settings (key, value) VALUES ('role_gate_notice', '1')").run();
       if (converted) console.log(`[migration] Role channel access lists became Required roles on ${converted} channel(s) (#5649)`);
     }
   } catch (err) {

src/socketHandlers/admin.js

@@ -145,6 +145,7 @@ module.exports = function register(socket, ctx) {
       'automod_scan_dms', 'automod_block_ip_urls', 'automod_block_punycode',
       'automod_block_obfuscated', 'automod_preview_allowlist_only', 'automod_escalation',
       'automod_ban_ip', 'automod_log_channel', 'automod_words',
+      'role_gate_notice', // TEMPORARY (#5649): one-time admin notice, remove after the 4.8.x cycle
       'voice_force_relay',
       'media_proxy_enabled', // (v3.43.0) server-side fetch + cache for remote images
       'fcm_enabled', // admin gate for Google FCM mobile push; off = FCM sends skipped (web-push unaffected)
@@ -171,6 +172,7 @@ module.exports = function register(socket, ctx) {
     if (key === 'automod_link_exempt_level') { const n = parseInt(value); if (isNaN(n) || n < 0 || n > 100) return; }
     if (key === 'automod_link_min_account_hours') { const n = parseInt(value); if (isNaN(n) || n < 0 || n > 8760) return; }
     if (key === 'automod_log_channel' && value && !/^[a-f0-9]{8}$/i.test(value)) return;
+    if (key === 'role_gate_notice' && !['0', '1'].includes(value)) return;
     // Word groups (#5614): stored normalised, so a hand-edited or oversized
     // payload never reaches the matcher.
     if (key === 'automod_words') {