Merge pull request 'The node-engine moves a running daemon's build aside instead of deleting it (issue 734)' (#147) from fix/daemon-dir-kept into main

internal/apply/process.go

@@ -121,7 +121,12 @@ func applyProcess(ctx context.Context, r *declaration.Process, run Runner,
 		}
 		// Replaced rather than merged: the bundle is the whole of what it runs, and files left from a
 		// previous version would be loaded by a runtime that walks a directory.
-		if err := os.RemoveAll(at); err != nil {
+		// **Retired, never deleted under its process** (novox/hq issue 734): the old process runs until
+		// the restart below, from this directory and in it. Deleted here, every command it started
+		// before the restart failed with "getwd: no such file or directory" — a builder's toolchain probe
+		// refused three checks on 2026-10-26. Renamed aside, its process keeps a directory that exists,
+		// and the build is deleted once nothing runs from it, as a judged build's is.
+		if err := witness.Retire(daemonRoot, r.Name, at, time.Now()); err != nil {
 			return out, err
 		}
 	} else {

internal/apply/process_test.go

@@ -21,10 +21,16 @@ func aProcess() *declaration.Process {
 	}
 }
 
-// The unit the mesh writes says what it runs, where, and that it comes back.
+// The unit the mesh writes says what it runs, where, and that it comes back — and that it is the
+// mesh's: **generated whole and saying so**, because an edit that survives until the next declaration
+// and then vanishes is worse than one that is refused. The long-running mode stays up and is not a step.
 func TestTheUnitRunsWhatTheDaemonSaid(t *testing.T) {
 	unit := unitFor(aProcess())
+	if !strings.HasPrefix(unit, "#") {
+		t.Fatalf("the unit does not open saying it is generated:\n%s", unit)
+	}
 	for _, want := range []string{
+		"Do not edit",
 		"ExecStart=node index.js",
 		"WorkingDirectory=/var/lib/mesh/daemons/greeter",
 		"Restart=always",
@@ -34,14 +40,8 @@ func TestTheUnitRunsWhatTheDaemonSaid(t *testing.T) {
 			t.Fatalf("the unit does not say %q:\n%s", want, unit)
 		}
 	}
-}
+	if strings.Contains(unit, "Type=oneshot") {
-
+		t.Fatalf("a process that should stay up is declared a step:\n%s", unit)
-// **Generated whole and saying so.** Every managed file on a machine carries this, because an edit
-// that survives until the next declaration and then vanishes is worse than one that is refused.
-func TestTheUnitSaysItIsTheMeshs(t *testing.T) {
-	unit := unitFor(aProcess())
-	if !strings.HasPrefix(unit, "#") || !strings.Contains(unit, "Do not edit") {
-		t.Fatalf("the unit does not say it is generated:\n%s", unit)
 	}
 }
 
@@ -124,17 +124,6 @@ func TestACronBecomesATimersCalendar(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-// And the long-running mode is unchanged by any of it: it stays up and comes back.
-func TestAProcessThatStaysUpIsStillRestartedWhenItExits(t *testing.T) {
-	unit := unitFor(aProcess())
-	if !strings.Contains(unit, "Restart=always") {
-		t.Fatalf("a process that should stay up is not restarted when it exits:\n%s", unit)
-	}
-	if strings.Contains(unit, "Type=oneshot") {
-		t.Fatalf("a process that should stay up is declared a step:\n%s", unit)
-	}
-}
-
 // **A unit file reinterprets a value in three ways nothing else does**, and a module's environment
 // routinely contains all three — a generated password is arbitrary bytes.
 func TestAnEnvironmentValueMeansWhatTheDeclarationSaid(t *testing.T) {

internal/apply/process_witness_test.go

@@ -3,7 +3,9 @@ package apply
 import (
 	"context"
 	"os"
+	"os/exec"
 	"path/filepath"
+	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
 	"time"
@@ -103,3 +105,79 @@ func TestARolledBackBuildIsNotPlacedAgain(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("the apply does not say why it kept the build before: %+v", o)
 	}
 }
+
+// **A process nobody judges keeps the directory it works in until its restart** (novox/hq issue 734).
+// On 2026-10-26 three checks on one builder were refused in the second a new build of it arrived: the
+// applier deleted the running build's directory before the restart, and the `go version` the old
+// process started in it failed with "getwd: no such file or directory". Here a process works in the
+// build's directory without running from it, as that `go version` did: the apply of a new build leaves
+// its directory in place, and the retired build goes once nothing works in it.
+func TestAProcessNobodyJudgesKeepsItsDirectoryUntilItsRestart(t *testing.T) {
+	if _, err := os.Stat("/proc/self/cwd"); err != nil {
+		t.Skip("which process works in a build is read from /proc")
+	}
+	units, bundles := t.TempDir(), t.TempDir()
+	wasUnits, wasBundles := unitDir, daemonRoot
+	unitDir, daemonRoot = units, bundles
+	t.Cleanup(func() { unitDir, daemonRoot = wasUnits, wasBundles })
+	run := func(ctx context.Context, name string, args ...string) (string, error) { return "", nil }
+
+	oldBody, oldDigest := anArchive(t, map[string]string{"mesh-build-go": "old\n"})
+	newBody, newDigest := anArchive(t, map[string]string{"mesh-build-go": "new\n"})
+	builder := func(body []byte, digest string) string {
+		return `{"id":"mesh-build-go.builder","type":"process","name":"mesh-build-go","source":"` + serving(t, body) +
+			`","digest":"` + digest + `","run":["./mesh-build-go"]}`
+	}
+	_, state, err := Apply(context.Background(), archHost(t), declare(t, builder(oldBody, oldDigest)), store.State{},
+		store.OriginDeclared, run, nil, nil)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	sleep, err := exec.LookPath("sleep")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Skip("no sleep to run")
+	}
+	working := exec.Command(sleep, "60")
+	working.Dir = filepath.Join(bundles, "mesh-build-go")
+	if err := working.Start(); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	t.Cleanup(func() { _ = working.Process.Kill(); _ = working.Wait() })
+	cwd := filepath.Join("/proc", strconv.Itoa(working.Process.Pid), "cwd")
+	for deadline := time.Now().Add(5 * time.Second); ; {
+		if at, err := os.Readlink(cwd); err == nil && at == working.Dir {
+			break
+		}
+		if time.Now().After(deadline) {
+			t.Fatalf("PID %d does not work in %s within 5s", working.Process.Pid, working.Dir)
+		}
+		time.Sleep(10 * time.Millisecond)
+	}
+
+	if _, _, err := Apply(context.Background(), archHost(t), declare(t, builder(newBody, newDigest)), state,
+		store.OriginDeclared, run, nil, nil); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if got, _ := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(bundles, "mesh-build-go", "mesh-build-go")); string(got) != "new\n" {
+		t.Fatalf("the new build is not where the unit runs it from: %q", got)
+	}
+	at, err := os.Readlink(cwd)
+	if err != nil || strings.HasSuffix(at, " (deleted)") {
+		t.Fatalf("the directory a running process works in was deleted before its restart: %q (%v)", at, err)
+	}
+	if got, _ := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(at, "mesh-build-go")); string(got) != "old\n" {
+		t.Fatalf("the process's directory no longer holds its own build: %q", got)
+	}
+	if len(witness.Trials(bundles)) != 0 {
+		t.Fatal("a process nobody judges went on trial")
+	}
+
+	// Its process gone, the next look deletes the retired build and keeps nothing about the process.
+	_ = working.Process.Kill()
+	_ = working.Wait()
+	witness.SweepAll(bundles)
+	if _, err := os.Stat(witness.Dir(bundles, "mesh-build-go")); !os.IsNotExist(err) {
+		t.Fatalf("a retired build nothing works in was kept: %v", err)
+	}
+}

internal/witness/draining.go

@@ -49,6 +49,13 @@ func keep(root, name string) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
+// Retire takes a process's build out of the way before another is unpacked where it was: renamed under
+// retired/, and deleted at once if nothing runs from it, else at a later sweep. A process nobody judges
+// is replaced through it as a judged one is (novox/hq issue 734): deleting the running build before the
+// restart deleted the working directory of the process still running from it, and every command it
+// started until the restart failed with "getwd: no such file or directory".
+func Retire(root, name, dir string, now time.Time) error { return retire(root, name, dir, now) }
+
 // retire takes a build that has no reader any more out of the way: renamed under retired/, and deleted
 // at once if nothing runs from it, else at a later sweep. A path that is not there is nothing to do.
 func retire(root, name, dir string, now time.Time) error {
@@ -98,8 +105,11 @@ func Sweep(root, name string) ([]string, error) {
 	return draining, nil
 }
 
-// RunningFrom is every process whose executable is a file under dir — renamed there, or deleted from
+// RunningFrom is every process whose executable is a file under dir, or whose working directory is in
-// there since it started. A variable so a test can name the machine's processes.
+// it — renamed there, or deleted from there since it started. A working directory counts as much as an
+// image: a process started by the one that runs from a build (a `go version` a builder asks) works in
+// the build's directory and runs nothing from it (novox/hq issue 734). A variable so a test can name the
+// machine's processes.
 var RunningFrom = func(dir string) []int {
 	return runningFromProc("/proc", dir)
 }
@@ -116,14 +126,17 @@ func runningFromProc(proc, dir string) []int {
 		if err != nil {
 			continue
 		}
-		exe, err := os.Readlink(filepath.Join(proc, e.Name(), "exe"))
+		for _, link := range []string{"exe", "cwd"} {
-		if err != nil {
+			at, err := os.Readlink(filepath.Join(proc, e.Name(), link))
-			// Gone between the listing and the read, a kernel thread, or another user's process this
+			if err != nil {
-			// engine may not read — it runs as root, so in practice the first two.
+				// Gone between the listing and the read, a kernel thread, or another user's process this
-			continue
+				// engine may not read — it runs as root, so in practice the first two.
-		}
+				continue
-		if strings.HasPrefix(strings.TrimSuffix(exe, " (deleted)"), dir) {
+			}
-			pids = append(pids, pid)
+			if strings.HasPrefix(strings.TrimSuffix(at, " (deleted)")+string(filepath.Separator), dir) {
+				pids = append(pids, pid)
+				break
+			}
 		}
 	}
 	sort.Ints(pids)
@@ -140,14 +153,30 @@ func joinPIDs(pids []int) string {
 
 // SweepAll is Sweep for every process the engine keeps anything about: what the witness does on every
 // look, so a build retired while its process drained goes once the process has.
+//
+// Every process the engine keeps a directory for, not only those it judges: a process nobody judges keeps
+// nothing but the builds it retired, and those drain the same way (novox/hq issue 734).
 func SweepAll(root string) []string {
+	entries, err := os.ReadDir(filepath.Join(root, ".witness"))
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil
+	}
 	var draining []string
-	for _, s := range all(root) {
+	for _, e := range entries {
-		kept, err := Sweep(root, s.Process)
+		if !e.IsDir() {
+			continue
+		}
+		name := e.Name()
+		kept, err := Sweep(root, name)
 		if err != nil {
-			draining = append(draining, fmt.Sprintf("%s: %v", s.Process, err))
+			draining = append(draining, fmt.Sprintf("%s: %v", name, err))
 		}
 		draining = append(draining, kept...)
+		// A process nobody judges whose last retired build has drained leaves nothing to keep.
+		if s, err := Load(root, name); err == nil && s.Process == "" && len(kept) == 0 {
+			_ = os.Remove(retiredDir(root, name))
+			_ = os.Remove(Dir(root, name))
+		}
 	}
 	return draining
 }

internal/witness/kept.go

@@ -126,8 +126,26 @@ func Save(root string, s State) error {
 	return os.Rename(tmp.Name(), statePath(root, s.Process))
 }
 
-// Forget is a witnessed process no longer declared: everything kept about it goes with it.
+// Forget is a process no longer witnessed, or no longer declared: everything kept about it goes with it,
-func Forget(root, name string) error { return os.RemoveAll(Dir(root, name)) }
+// but for a build a process still runs from. That one is retired and deleted once nothing runs from it
+// (draining.go): a process whose witness was taken away, or which never had one, is still running from
+// whatever was retired for it until its unit restarts (novox/hq issue 734).
+func Forget(root, name string) error {
+	dir := Dir(root, name)
+	if _, err := os.Lstat(dir); os.IsNotExist(err) {
+		return nil
+	}
+	if err := retire(root, name, previousDir(root, name), time.Now()); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if err := os.Remove(statePath(root, name)); err != nil && !errors.Is(err, os.ErrNotExist) {
+		return err
+	}
+	if draining, err := Sweep(root, name); err != nil || len(draining) > 0 {
+		return err
+	}
+	return os.RemoveAll(dir)
+}
 
 // Placing is what the applier is to do with a declared build of a witnessed process.
 type Placing struct {