meshbay.git/packaging/win, branch main

docs: drop the references to design notes that live outside the repo

2026-09-18T23:15:53Z

Seventeen comments across the Windows packaging targets pointed at C:\Users\admin\devel\light-client.md and msix-installer.md -- absolute paths on one developer's machine, unreadable to anyone else who clones this repository and unverifiable by any test here. The surrounding prose already carried the substance in every case, so these are removals, not rewrites, with two exceptions where the pointer was doing real work: electron-builder.msix.yml's header told the reader to go read §4 and §8 first. It now states the fact directly (an AppX/MSIX install never elevates, by design, so the package carries none of installer.nsh's elevation logic) and says the open items are called out at each declaration below -- which they already were, at `capabilities` and `customExtensionsPath`. The two "msix-installer.md §8" citations become "an open item" / "the other open item", beside the description of the item that was already there. Paragraphs the removals left ragged are re-wrapped. Verified: node suite 1403 pass / 4 skip (71 of them test_packaging_win.py), both electron-builder configs still parse as YAML, node --check on main.js. The .ps1 edits are inside <# #> comment headers plus one deleted Write-Host in a block that keeps two others; no pwsh on this machine to parse them. Not touched, and much larger: ~230 comments elsewhere in the codebase cite per-feature design notes (musicbay.md, mediacenter.md, auth-confirm.md and twenty more) that were merged into docs/MESHBAY_DESIGN.md. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5

feat: decode and re-encode video on the GPU where there is one

2026-09-18T12:37:08Z

A 1080p film is decoded by whoever watches it and re-encoded by the node when no browser can decode the source. Both were on the CPU, and on an Atom or Celeron mini-PC neither reaches real time — which is what `transcode_incompatible_video` exists to refuse. This adds the mechanism that makes refusing it unnecessary. Node — `hwaccel.py`: VA-API on Linux, Quick Sync or NVENC on Windows, established by encoding 1080p and reading the file back with ffprobe. Nothing is accepted that does not produce the exact profile and level `stream_init` announces, since the client checks that string before it trusts a byte: an encoder that wrote another level would make the node's own codec string a lie, and ffmpeg takes `-level 4.1` and `-level 41` from h264_qsv without saying which it understood. Three modes per stream — hardware decode and encode, hardware encode alone, libx264 — demoted per source codec, because a GPU that decodes HEVC may have no decoder for MPEG-4 Part 2 and only asking it finds out. A mode that fails is detected on an empty stdout before `stream_init` goes out, so the viewer sees one working stream and never an error. Client — Chromium ships VA-API off on Linux. It is enabled where a render node and a driver are present, then verified through `navigator.mediaCapabilities`: a no moves to the next GL backend on the next launch and an exhausted list drops the switches, so a renamed feature cannot pass for a feature that is on and `--ignore-gpu-blocklist` cannot survive on a machine it did not help. Feature lists now merge rather than overwrite — `appendSwitch` replaces the value, and a second caller would have silently cancelled the mDNS switch aiortc depends on. Packaging — the drivers are weak dependencies on all four formats, so a machine without a GPU installs exactly as before. `dpkg -i` and `rpm -ivh` ignore weak deps; `packaging/README.md` now says so. Windows needs no driver: the bundled ffmpeg already carries h264_qsv and h264_nvenc, and a re-pin that dropped them would cost every low-power Windows node its hardware encoding silently. AMD on Windows (AMF) and macOS (VideoToolbox) are named gaps, not oversights: neither could be tried anywhere in this project, and both re-encode in software as before. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5

fix(win): a service-mode daemon can be replaced, and the Node page can link one

2026-09-14T21:51:36Z

Two live-reproduced bugs in Windows node start/stop, found sideloading the 0.14.0 build: - node:start's crash-recovery step killed a service-mode daemon with taskkill/CTRL_BREAK, both of which fail with "Access is denied" against a process running under the Scheduled Task's own S4U logon session (a different session from the Electron app's). The daemon it was meant to replace just kept running, unreplaced, and schtasks /run on a task Windows still considered Running was then a silent no-op too. Route through winServiceTaskEnd() (schtasks /end) first, the way nodeServiceStop/ nodeServiceRestart already correctly do. service-mode.ps1 also now starts the task right after registering it -- Register-ScheduledTask's own AtStartup trigger does not run it immediately, so nothing was listening until the next reboot. - The Node page's Start button called node.start() with no arguments, so an unlinked node (a fresh install, or one whose hub-side link was lost) could never link on Start alone -- only create-group-page.js's own call passed {hubUrl, username, token}. Reproduced on a fresh non-service install signed in to the real hub: Start hung for ~105s and failed with "could not link", pointing at a "Link Node" control that lives on Settings, not the Node page (that message is fixed too). Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5

fix(packaging): three MSIX first-run regressions found by a real sideload

2026-09-12T13:48:22Z

A second-machine sideload of the MSIX target surfaced three things the earlier verification round (which only proved the package installs and runs) had missed: 1. meshbay-node missing from PATH. installer.nsh's customInstall adds node-runtime\ to HKCU\Environment at install time -- an unelevated per-user write, never blocked by MSIX's no-elevation rule, only by the more basic fact that an AppX/MSIX install runs no custom code at all. packaging/win/ensure-node-path.ps1 (idempotent, no admin verb) plus main.js's winEnsureNodeOnPath() do it from the app itself instead, once per launch, shipped to Full and MSIX (not Light, nothing to add there). Verified live via the Node inspector protocol: the entry was in HKCU\Environment\Path after a launch, absent before. 2. A daemon that crashes on startup failed silently. spawnNodeDetached() used stdio: 'ignore', so a real crash reproduced live (a second instance colliding with the first on 127.0.0.1:18000) left waitForNode()'s generic 60s timeout as the only failure ever shown. spawnNodeDetachedWatched() pipes stdio and watches ~2.5s, rejecting immediately with the daemon's own stderr on an early exit; a survivor has its streams released and runs fully detached exactly as before. First version bounded the captured text by line count and a live test showed that cut the actual OSError line -- two uvicorn/asyncio tracebacks followed it in the real capture -- so it is bounded by characters instead. 3. No hint that a startup-mode choice exists. The install-time radio page was the only place this was ever offered, and nothing replaces it now that no install-time page can exist at all. SetupWelcome (the existing first-run banner) grew a conditional hint, shown only while a bundled node is present and neither autostart nor service mode is configured yet. Considered and rejected: linking straight to the Node page -- its route is gated on a linked hub node key, false on the exact fresh-install screen this hint targets, so the link would have been dead on arrival. New key setup.node_startup_hint, added to all ten locale catalogues. test_packaging_win.py gained six tests pinning all three (69 total). Full plan and verification detail: C:\Users\admin\devel\msix-installer.md section 13 (out of repo). Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5

feat(packaging): an MSIX target for Microsoft Store submission

2026-09-11T15:51:51Z

Store certification of the NSIS "MSI/EXE" submission failed on three checks (silent-install verification, Add/Remove Programs entry, bundleware check) -- traced and reproduced live to one cause: SmartScreen blocks an unsigned, internet-downloaded installer at the shell layer before Microsoft's own unattended validation bot ever gets to run it. MSIX sidesteps this class of failure entirely: submitted through the Store's native pipeline, there is no browser-download-then-launch step for SmartScreen to intercept, and Microsoft signs the package itself at publish time -- free, and specific to this submission type (Trusted Signing remains a paid service for the MSI/EXE path). Full plan and findings: C:\Users\admin\devel\msix-installer.md (out of repo). electron-builder.msix.yml carries the same bundle as Full (node runtime, ffmpeg, both service scripts) -- an AppX/MSIX install never elevates, by design, but that changes only *when* the two elevated operations can run, not whether the daemon ships. No main.js changes were needed: the on-demand elevation path for service-mode (winElevateServiceMode(), driven from the Node page) already existed for a different reason and depends only on service-mode.ps1 being present as an extraResource, true for any packaged Windows target. identityName/publisher/publisherDisplayName are the real values from Partner Center's app-identity reservation, not placeholders. build-win-msix.ps1 points electron-builder at the system Windows 10 SDK (auto-detected) instead of letting it download its own bundled copy -- that download's 7z extraction creates symlinks this target never uses and fails without SeCreateSymbolicLinkPrivilege, reproduced on this machine. build/appx/ carries the four tile images the AppX target requires regardless of showNameOnTiles, generated once from the existing app icon (see that directory's README) since the system-SDK redirect has no vendor samples to fall back to. build/appx-extensions.xml declares windows.startupTask by hand rather than via electron-builder's addAutoLaunchExtension, which always targets the Electron shell -- this points at the bundled node binary instead, matching what "starts at sign in" already means for Full. Verified live via a signed sideload install (self-signed test cert, cleaned up after): the package installs and the app runs correctly. One finding worth carrying forward -- the declared network capabilities (internetClientServer, privateNetworkClientServer) do not create any firewall exemption for this app, most likely because automatic capability-based exemption is an AppContainer-sandbox property and this app deliberately runs full-trust, outside any sandbox. Not a regression: no install-time elevation was possible either way, so the cost is the same one-time OS firewall prompt firewall.ps1's own header already documents as its fallback today. Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5

feat(packaging): a Light installer target with no bundled node runtime

2026-09-11T15:51:51Z

MeshBay Light ships the Electron client + UI only -- no PyInstaller node freeze, no ffmpeg, no service install/autostart. Two standalone electron-builder configs (Full via package.json's build field, Light via electron-builder.light.yml passed with --config, which reads only that file -- confirmed against app-builder-lib's own config loader) rather than one config branching on a flag. build-win-common.ps1 holds the steps both orchestrators share (Node check, npm ci, Electron bump, sync-ui) so build-win.ps1 (Full) and the new build-win-light.ps1 cannot drift apart; build-win.ps1 is refactored to dot-source it with no behavior change (rebuilt and diffed byte-identical output). installer-light.nsh keeps the one thing Light still needs -- an unconditional firewall rule, since the client listens too -- and none of the service-mode/autostart machinery installer.nsh carries, which has nothing to gate without a bundled node. dist-light/ (Light's own electron-builder output dir) gets its own .gitignore line since the bare dist/ rule does not match it. Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5

fix(win): finish the desktop setup flow — node-key link + service task

2026-09-05T17:48:10Z

Two independent breaks in the Windows first-run path: - node:start's win32 branch never linked the node's Ed25519 key to the hub account, so the daemon sat at waiting_for_account and the Create Group wizard span on "Detecting local node…" for ever — the only way through was pasting the key by hand on the Profile page. The Linux branch has always done this inline; factor it into linkNodeKeyAndAwaitRunning() and call it from win32 too. PUT /v1/users/me/node_key overwrites, so this also recovers an account still carrying a previous machine's node key. - service.ps1's install branch did `$action = New-ScheduledTaskAction`, shadowing its own [ValidateSet(...)][string]$Action parameter (PowerShell variable names are case-insensitive). The CimInstance was coerced to the string "MSFT_TaskExecAction", Register-ScheduledTask -Action rejected it, and "background service" mode never created the task — reproduced live. Rename the locals to $taskAction / $bootTrigger / $taskPrincipal. Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5

fix(node): register the service-mode task with Register-ScheduledTask -LogonType S4U

2026-09-05T12:48:08Z

schtasks.exe has no flag naming the logon type directly -- it only infers S4U vs Interactive from whether /rp is present, and both readings broke live on a blank-password account: /rp "" fails schtasks' own credential validation, and omitting /rp registers "Interactive only", which never launches the process at boot or on demand despite installing cleanly. Register-ScheduledTask -LogonType S4U names the logon type explicitly, no inference. Confirmed live: install, manual start, and unattended boot-time start all now work. Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5

feat(packaging): bundle ffmpeg in the Windows installer by default

2026-09-05T06:43:11Z

winget install ffmpeg was considered and rejected as the mechanism: it needs network access and winget/App Installer present at the exact moment setup runs, and its failure mode is silent -- video just does not stream, with nothing pointing back at ffmpeg. Not viable for a non-technical install. MeshBay transcodes browser-incompatible video to H.264 (-c:v libx264, webrtc_server.py) -- a real encode, not remux -- so this needs a genuine GPL ffmpeg build; no LGPL-only build includes an H.264 encoder, since libx264 itself is GPL. packaging/win/fetch-ffmpeg.ps1 (new) Downloads, checksum-verifies and stages ffmpeg for the build. Source: BtbN/FFmpeg-Builds' Windows x86_64 gpl-shared preset -- shared DLLs rather than two independent static binaries, which is what nearly tripled this: the "full" static build many devs already have via winget is ~220 MB *per executable*. Pinned to one dated release tag (immutable once published) and its own sha256, not the "latest" alias BtbN repoints on every auto-build -- verified by hand first (downloaded, hash matched, ran a real encode+probe with libx264) before pinning. ffplay.exe (an SDL2 player, ~17 MB) is dropped; MeshBay never invokes it. Cached after the first build. Runs its own smoke test (encode + probe a real clip) so a broken fetch fails at build time, not for the first user who tries to watch something. packaging/win/LICENSE-ffmpeg.txt (new) GPLv3 notice + where the corresponding source is, required because this redistributes a GPL binary even though it is unmodified and only ever invoked as a subprocess. Ships alongside ffmpeg.exe in the installer. build-node-runtime.ps1 / build-win.ps1 Bundling is now the DEFAULT, replacing the old opt-in -FfmpegDir (which copied from a local directory and left most builds without ffmpeg at all). -SkipFfmpeg opts out for a smaller, streaming-less local-iteration build. Also fixes a real bug the ffmpeg change exposed rather than caused: the final `--help` smoke test did `$help -notmatch "meshbay-node"` against $help captured as a PowerShell ARRAY (one element per line) -- -notmatch on a collection is a FILTER, not a boolean test, and returns the non-matching elements; any non-empty array is truthy in if() regardless of content. Once --help wrapped past one line (it now does, with autostart/service in the verb list) this threw unconditionally. Fixed by joining to one string before matching, and pinned by a new test so a future edit cannot silently reintroduce the collection-vs-scalar trap. Verified: downloaded and hashed the pinned release by hand (matches), ran a real libx264 encode + ffprobe against the extracted build, fetch-ffmpeg.ps1 end to end (161 MB staged), a full build-node-runtime.ps1 run (308 MB node-runtime/) and a full installer build (MeshBay-Setup- 1.0.0.exe, 210.8 MB with ffmpeg bundled). Node suite 850 pass / 25 skip. Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5

feat: opt-in Windows service mode (boot-time, one elevation) + v1.0.0

2026-09-04T15:29:24Z

The per-user Startup-folder launcher (W3) only ever runs after this user signs in. A real Windows Service would start earlier, but under LocalSystem/NetworkService -- accounts with no normal profile, so %LOCALAPPDATA%\meshbay\ (config, keystore, data) would not exist for it. Relocating storage to make that work is real surgery, deliberately not done here. Instead: a Scheduled Task, created once with admin rights, that runs AS THIS USER at boot without needing them to sign in first. `schtasks /create ... /ru /rp ""` with no `/it` registers an S4U (Service For User) logon -- no password stored anywhere, and unlike LocalSystem it loads this account's own profile, so config_dir()/ data_dir() need zero changes. The cost: S4U carries no network credential, which the node never needed -- everything it touches is local disk plus outbound internet. Creating the task needs admin (a boot trigger touches system-wide scheduler state, the same reason /sc onlogon needed it); querying/starting/stopping an existing one does not -- Task Scheduler grants the owning user that much itself, which is what lets the Node page's Start/Stop/Restart drive it with no further UAC prompts. meshbay_node/platform.py service_install/_remove/_status/_run/_end -- mirrors autostart_* but for the Scheduled Task; TASK_NAME moved here (was decorative before) meshbay_node/daemon.py new `service install|remove|start|stop|status` verb; restart-daemon and reset now check for the service task too packaging/win/service.ps1 the installer-side equivalent (extraResource); status/run/end never self-elevate -- only install/remove do, exactly matching what Task Scheduler itself requires packaging/win/service-mode.ps1 ONE elevated helper running service.ps1 + firewall.ps1 together, so choosing service mode costs exactly one UAC prompt, not two build/installer.nsh the install-time choice: "run as a background service?" (one elevation, both jobs) vs the existing per-user + separate firewall question. Checked first, unelevated, so re-running setup with everything already configured asks nothing. Uninstall offers the matching one-elevation cleanup, default No. src/main.js winServiceTaskStatus/Run/End, wired into node:installed, node:service-status/-stop/-restart and node:start: when the Scheduled Task exists, drive it; otherwise fall back to the existing per-user spawn/kill path. This is the hard requirement -- Start/Stop/Restart from the Node page must work in either mode. node-page.js / locales a hint explaining why the per-user autostart toggle is absent when service mode is active (info.mode from the backend, no new field to gate on -- it just isn't sent in that case) package.json: 0.1.0 -> 1.0.0. Verified: electron-builder compiles the new NSIS choice logic and ships all three scripts; service.ps1's S4U install fails cleanly (Access denied) when run unelevated, and its status/run/end never touch "runas". Cannot verify the elevated success path myself (no admin in this session) -- that needs a real UAC click. Node suite 843 pass / 25 skip; test_packaging_win.py pins the one-elevation property, the S4U flags, and that main.js actually checks the service task in all three handlers. Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5