Phase 1: Port help_lib + create log_lib skeleton

[djdarcy]

Phase 1 of #65 implementation. Port help_lib (4 files) from modified_datetime_fix to utils/help_lib/. Create log_lib skeleton (6 files) at utils/log_lib/.

[djdarcy]

Phase 1 — Complete

What was done

help_lib — Ported from modified_datetime_fix project, 4 files:

• utils/help_lib/__init__.py — Package exports
• utils/help_lib/core.py — HelpContent, DetailedHelpContent, HelpSection, HelpBuilder (396 lines)
• utils/help_lib/formatters.py — ExampleFormatter, TipFormatter, CompactFormatter, TutorialFormatter (175 lines)
• utils/help_lib/content_registry.py — HELP_CONTENT dict, register_content, get_content_by_id/category/context (90 lines)

Zero modifications from source — pure port for future reuse.

log_lib — New THAC0 verbosity system package, 6 files:

• utils/log_lib/__init__.py — Package exports for all public API
• utils/log_lib/levels.py — THAC0 level constants: DEBUG=3, CONFIG=2, TIMING=1, DEFAULT=0, MINIMAL=-1, WARNING=-2, ERROR=-3, NOTHING=-4
• utils/log_lib/channels.py — KNOWN_CHANNELS (12 channels), CHANNEL_DESCRIPTIONS, OPT_IN_CHANNELS, ChannelConfig dataclass, parse_channel_spec(), format_channel_list()
• utils/log_lib/hints.py — Hint dataclass + global registry extracted from old utils/output.py
• utils/log_lib/trace.py — @trace decorator (routes through OutputManager at level 3, channel 'trace')
• utils/log_lib/manager.py — OutputManager with full THAC0 emit logic

Backward compat — utils/output.py converted to thin shim re-exporting from utils/log_lib/. All existing imports (from utils.output import OutputManager, init_output, get_output, Hint, ...) continue to work unchanged.

Design: THAC0 Model

Single signed integer axis centered at zero:

←── quieter ────────── default ────────── louder ──→
-4    -3     -2     -1     0     1      2      3
wall  errors warnings minimal default timing config debug

Emit rule: message.level <= threshold (the threshold is the channel override or global verbosity).

Channel Spec Syntax

Compact positional format: CHANNEL:LEVEL:DEST:LOCATION:FORMAT

• v0.8.3 implements name and level
• destination, location, format are stubs for future DazzleLib integration
• Windows drive letter detection in parser (e.g., timing:2:file:C:\logs\out.log)

Known Channels (12)

config, parse, eval, iter, progress, timing, algorithm, hint, error, trace, vals, general

Analysis

See 2026-02-13__18-48-22__dev-workflow_issue65-implementation-plan.md for full design rationale.