fix(store): read the core version from disk, not from a stale import (#518)

* fix(store): read the core version from disk, not from a stale import

Updating the core to 3.3.0 and then updating plugins refused all eight sports
scoreboards:

    Refusing to install nrl-scoreboard: NRL Scoreboard supports LEDMatrix
    >=3.3.0, but this system is running 3.2.0.

while src/__init__.py on that machine read 3.3.0. Observed on hardware, not
theorised.

The gate ran `from src import __version__ as core_version`, which binds
whatever the process loaded at start. The plugin store's gate lives in the web
UI, a long-lived service of its own, and the update route deliberately restarts
nothing -- it replaces files on disk and asks the user to restart. Its prompt
named only the *display* service, so a user who followed it left the web
process holding the previous number.

Stale by exactly one release is the case that bites: every plugin flooring on
the release you just installed is refused, blaming a core version that is
already correct on disk. It reads as a broken plugin store. 3.3.0 is the first
release where this hits a whole family at once, since all eight scoreboards
floor there.

compatibility.current_core_version() reads the version from the file instead,
falling back to the imported value on any failure -- so it can only ever be as
correct as before, never worse. All four gate call sites use it: three in
store_manager (install, the git-pull update path, install_from_url) and one in
plugin_loader's advisory warning.

The restart prompt now names both services.

Twelve tests, including the hardware failure itself: a process holding 3.2.0
while disk says 3.3.0 refuses hockey, and reading fresh allows it. The inverse
is asserted too -- a genuinely old core still refuses, so the gate has not
become permissive. One test greps both modules for the old import-bound read;
reintroducing that line fails it, which is what stops this coming back.

Not changed: web_interface/__init__.py also imports __version__, but for
display rather than gating, and the API endpoint already reports a fresh
git describe.

* fix: drop the unused os import

Left over from a first draft that joined paths by hand before this used
pathlib. Flagged by CodeRabbit on #518; confirmed dead -- no os. reference
remains in the module.

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -17,6 +17,81 @@ release that ships it.
 accepts both, but the store flags the old spelling as deprecated
 (`store_manager.py`) and only the new one is in `schema/manifest_schema.json`.
 
+## 3.3.0
+
+**The release the sports scoreboards floor on to delete their bundled copies.**
+3.2.0 shipped the unified sports library and made `ledmatrix_min_version`
+enforceable; this ships the last three shared modules and completes the store
+gate, so a scoreboard can now floor here and carry no fallback at all.
+
+New modules a plugin may import via `src.*` and floor on 3.3.0 for:
+
+- `src/common/sports_card.py` — settings, colour, font and date helpers for a
+  scoreboard's `game_renderer.py`. Free functions taking `config`/`fonts`
+  explicitly, so nothing about the caller's class is assumed.
+- `src/common/sports_game_renderer.py` — `SportsGameRendererMixin`: scroll/Vegas
+  card geometry (centre gap, logo slot and cache key, layout offsets, the
+  upcoming-card date and time layout). No `__init__` and no state, so adoption
+  is one line on the class statement.
+- `src/common/sports_shared.py` — `SportsCoreSharedMixin`,
+  `SportsLiveSharedMixin`, `SportsRecentSharedMixin`: the `sports.py` bodies
+  byte-identical in all eight lineage-sharing scoreboards.
+
+All three sit under `src/common/` rather than `src/base_classes/sports/`,
+deliberately: importing that package pulls `core.py` → `DisplayManager` →
+`rgbmatrix`, and these are pure logic. Plugins importing them must not acquire a
+hardware dependency.
+
+Three notes for anyone adopting `sports_shared`:
+
+- `SportsRecentSharedMixin` defines `__init__`. Its bare `super()` binds to the
+  mixin, so it reaches the host only when the mixin is listed **first** in the
+  bases. Reversing that order silently skips the host constructor.
+- Methods that resolve the plugin's `config_schema.json` use `_plugin_dir()`,
+  which walks the MRO rather than reading `__file__` — `__file__` is now
+  `src/common/`. It walks because `SportsCore` is an ABC: a subclass built with
+  `type(name, bases, ns)` reports `__module__` as `"abc"`.
+- `_get_timezone`, `_extract_game_details` and `_fetch_data` are byte-identical
+  across the eight but stay in the plugins. The first binds a per-plugin
+  timezone module whose contents differ; the other two are the abstract stubs
+  that define the sport.
+
+**The store's compatibility gate is now on every registry-managed route.** 3.2.0
+gated `install_plugin`. This release gates the git-pull update path and
+`install_from_url`, so a plugin whose floor the core cannot meet is refused
+after download with no partial directory left behind.
+
+### Fixed
+
+- **ESPN 403s.** `site.api` began rejecting the User-Agent strings this repo
+  sent on 2026-08-04; every shared-data-source scoreboard returned
+  `403 Forbidden`. Requests now send an identifying token with a project URL —
+  browser-style strings and bare custom tokens are both refused.
+- **Low-memory boards becoming unreachable under load** while still answering
+  pings and serving the web UI. Fetched payloads are released after delivery
+  rather than pinned on the completed request for up to an hour, malloc arenas
+  are capped, and log volume and SD writes are reduced. Available memory is now
+  reported in Tools diagnostics.
+- **A failed logo download pinning a team to a grey box**: the placeholder was
+  written under the real logo's filename, so later attempts found a file and
+  reported success without retrying.
+- **A plugin enabled but never loaded is retried** rather than staying absent
+  with `error = null`.
+- `ttl` now controls cache expiry; abandoned cache writes no longer leave temp
+  files; one cache-cleanup thread per directory rather than per manager.
+- Odds are fetched for the games displayed, not the whole schedule window, and a
+  stalled ESPN no longer stalls the whole plugin update.
+- Array-item secrets are no longer wiped or logged.
+- A restored backup matches the device it was taken from.
+- The web UI reports the real error instead of "unknown", rejects non-finite
+  JSON numbers, and stops checkbox groups posting back hidden options.
+
+### Added
+
+- `display.hardware.orientation` for panels mounted upside down.
+- Vegas keeps live content in the ticker rather than being preempted by it.
+- Schemas can label enum dropdown options.
+
 ## 3.2.0
 
 **The first release shipping the unified sports library.** This is the version

docs/SPORTS_UNIFICATION.md

@@ -204,7 +204,7 @@ legacy compatibility rather than the mechanism.
 B0–B3 are merged and shipping in core 3.2.0. Everything that remains is
 **rollout**, and it splits into three phases with very different risk profiles.
 The original plan folded the last two together; they are separated here because
-one of them is safe by construction and the other is not.
+one of them cannot break a user on an old core and the other can.
 
 | Phase | Scope | Status | Gate |
 |---|---|---|---|
@@ -212,9 +212,9 @@ one of them is safe by construction and the other is not.
 | **B1** | Promote the nine universal methods; convert `sports.py` → package | ✅ | Characterization suite green; no behavior change intended |
 | **B2** | `CelebrationMixin` + rotation strategies as opt-in capabilities | ✅ | Non-adopters have zero new code in their MRO; strategies checked against verbatim plugin transcriptions |
 | **B3** | Upstream the scroll **orchestration** layer as `src/common/sports_scroll.py`, reading `global_config['target_fps']` natively | ✅ | Content building stays per-sport |
-| **B4** | Ship 3.2.0 *and* make version reporting trustworthy | ⏳ **next** | Tag, release, and `src.__version__` agree; compatibility gate merged |
-| **B5** | Adoption — guarded core imports: three pilots, then the remaining six. **Bundled copies stay.** | after B4 | Per plugin: harness + goldens byte-identical, then a device soak |
-| **B6** | Sunset — delete the bundled copies | **blocked** | B4's gate shipped *and* in users' hands (see below) |
+| **B4** | Ship 3.2.0 *and* make version reporting trustworthy | ✅ | Released 2026-08-03; tag, release and `src.__version__` agree; compatibility gate merged (#428, #431, #433) |
+| **B5** | Adoption — guarded core imports, all eight. **Bundled copies stay.** | ✅ | All eight adopted; harness byte-identical; see the B5 retrospective below — four shipped broken and were repaired in plugins #251 |
+| **B6** | Sunset — delete the bundled copies | ✅ | Ran 2026-09-01, all eight. Floors at 3.2.0; the store refuses on all three routes in (#431/#433, #508, #510). See "B6 — what actually happened" |
 
 ### B4 — what "ship 3.2.0" actually requires
 
@@ -276,13 +276,21 @@ default is the more restrictive.
 `compatible_versions`. No manifest still carries it, so there is nothing to
 migrate there.)
 
-### B5 — adoption is safe by construction
+### B5 — the *fallback* is safe by construction; the modern path is not
+
+The heading matters, because the unqualified version of this claim is false and
+this document proves it two sections down: four of the eight adopted plugins
+shipped with scroll mode broken on a 3.2.0 core. What is safe by construction is
+narrower than "adoption".
 
 A plugin adopting core imports keeps its bundled copy and reaches it through the
-guarded import (see the Upgradability table above). On a core that ships the
-module the plugin uses core code; on one that doesn't it falls back and behaves
-exactly as it does today. There is no version of this step that breaks a user,
-which is why it does not wait for B6's gate.
+guarded import (see the Upgradability table above). On a core that doesn't ship
+the module the plugin falls back and behaves exactly as it does today. That
+fallback compatibility — and only that — is safe by construction. On a core that
+*does* ship the module, correctness is not automatic — object-level and scroll-mode validation
+(building both classes and comparing, per the retrospective below) is required
+to prove full behavior. There is no version of this step that breaks a user *on
+an old core*, which is why it does not wait for B6's gate.
 
 The hockey scroll-display pilot is **already validated**: adopted against a core
 carrying 3.2.0, `scroll_display.py` went from 691 to 289 lines and all 16 harness
@@ -311,7 +319,8 @@ been in users' hands long enough that the population running a core without it
 is small.** The bundled copies cost disk space; deleting them early costs
 scoreboards, silently. That trade is not close.
 
-Before the first sunset, add a **compatibility regression test**. It has to
+Before the first sunset, add a **compatibility regression test**. **Built:**
+core `test/test_sports_sunset_matrix.py` (#505). It has to
 cover four cases, not one — B5's safety claim and B6's failure mode are
 different propositions and only the second is obvious:
 
@@ -335,35 +344,144 @@ gate rather than trusting the failure to be noticed.
 The same suite should exercise the install/update gate, since it is the other
 half of the guarantee.
 
+### B6 — what actually happened
+
+**Ran 2026-09-01, across all eight scoreboards.** Held from 2026-08-05 to
+2026-09-01 on the argument below, which is kept because the reasoning applies to
+the next module, not because it is still in force.
+
+**The hold, and why it lifted.** The stated gate was evidence of 3.2.0 uptake —
+"a few months of it being the default download, or store-side install data".
+That evidence never arrived and could not: the core updates by
+`git pull --rebase`, so release-asset counts cannot measure uptake, and no
+store-side telemetry exists. What changed instead is that the *risk* the gate
+protected against was closed directly. The store now refuses a plugin whose
+floor exceeds the running core on **all three** routes in:
+
+| route | gated by |
+|---|---|
+| `install_plugin` — every path that re-downloads, `_reinstall_with_rollback` included | #431, #433 |
+| `update_plugin`'s git branch — pulls in place, re-downloads nothing | #508 |
+| `install_from_url` — sideloading | #510 |
+
+With all three closed a pre-3.2.0 user cannot receive a sunset plugin at all;
+they keep the version they already run. The population the hold existed to
+protect is protected by refusal rather than by a bundled copy — which is what
+the copy was standing in for.
+
+**What shipped.** Eight plugins, ~5,800 lines of frozen fallback deleted. Each:
+copy removed, guarded import collapsed to a plain one, floor raised to 3.2.0,
+`test_core_fallback.py` rewritten as `test_core_scroll.py` asserting the sunset
+rather than the fallback. `scripts/check_scroll_adoption.py` gained
+`sunset_violations` and a `SUNSET_PLUGINS` set naming all eight, so a
+resurrected copy or a returned guard fails CI.
+
+Delivered as plugins #346 (hockey, later folded into #351), #349 (football),
+#350 (baseball), #351 (the remaining six).
+
+**Two things found by doing it, both worth carrying forward:**
+
+- **Only one fallback held orchestration logic the core lacked.** baseball's
+  `_configure_scroll_helper` reinterpreted `scroll_speed` as pixels-per-*frame*
+  when `speed × delay` fell outside the 0.1–5.0 window — measured, 10–20×
+  faster than configured for a speed between 1.0 and 5.0. Standardised onto the
+  core's behaviour (honour the documented px/sec, clamp) rather than preserved.
+  Every other difference across the eight was a docstring, an unreachable
+  `scroll_helper is None` guard, or an equivalent diagnostic.
+- **Two tests had been leaning on the guard without anyone knowing.**
+  `soccer/test_live_screens.py` stubbed `src` in a way that shadowed the core,
+  so its guarded import fell back and the test had been exercising the *frozen
+  copy* rather than the shipping class since B5. Before sunsetting anything else
+  that carries a guarded core import, grep for tests that stub `src`.
+
+**The floor-raising traps still apply** to any future sunset: four plugins
+declare their floor top-level, where editing `versions[0]` is a silent no-op,
+and the floor has three live spellings (`min_ledmatrix_version`,
+`requires.min_ledmatrix_version`, `versions[].ledmatrix_min_version`, plus
+deprecated `ledmatrix_min`). See
+`src/plugin_system/compatibility.py:declared_min_version` for the resolution
+order any floor-raising tool must reproduce — and note the name is **inverted**
+between the top level and `versions[]`.
+
+**Still not adopted, deliberately:** `data_sources.py`, `game_renderer.py` and
+`base_odds_manager.py`. The standing decision held them until B6 closed; it now
+has, so they can be reconsidered — with B5's lesson applied, which is to build
+the object and diff rendered output rather than trust a static check.
+
+### B5 retrospective — what the adoption actually cost
+
+Recorded because it is the evidence behind the two decisions above, and because
+"the adoption went fine" is not what happened.
+
+**Four of the eight shipped with scroll mode broken** on a 3.2.0 core, and were
+repaired in plugins-repo #251. The restructure lifted the content methods
+verbatim but left the state they read off `self` behind: separator-icon
+constants (hockey, basketball, lacrosse) and the game-renderer cache (afl).
+hockey/basketball/lacrosse could not construct the scroll display at all; afl
+raised inside `prepare_scroll_content`, which the core base *catches*, so its
+only symptom was scroll mode silently drawing nothing.
+
+Three things are worth carrying forward:
+
+- **The bundled fallback did not protect anyone from this.** The break was on
+  the modern path, which the fallback never touches. Carrying the second copy
+  bought nothing against the actual defect while creating the divergence that
+  produced it. That is an argument *for* B6, not against it.
+- **Every gate was green.** The safety harness renders the scoreboard screens,
+  not scroll mode; `test_core_fallback.py` checked that methods existed and that
+  their *globals* resolved, and `self.NHL_SEPARATOR_ICON` is an attribute read,
+  invisible to an AST scan for `Name` loads. The fix was to stop reasoning about
+  source and **build the object**: construct both classes on both paths, compare
+  the separator icons they end up with, and assert the adopted class ends up
+  with every instance attribute the bundled one sets.
+- **Test what the change touches, not what is convenient to render.** Scroll
+  mode had no coverage because the harness could not reach it. A comparison
+  harness that renders the same games through both paths and diffs the pixels
+  needs no per-sport knowledge of the right answer, only that adopting core code
+  did not change it.
+
+**The ledger.** Before adoption, eight duplicated copies totalled 5,685 lines.
+After adoption plus the frozen legacy copies it was 10,610; removing the dead
+inline duplication (plugins #252) brought it to roughly 8,620. B6 would take it
+to about 3,300 including the shared core module — some 2,400 fewer than before
+this project started. **Until B6 runs, the adoption is net negative on disk**,
+and its one delivered user-visible gain is that adopted plugins honour the
+global `target_fps` instead of hardcoding ~100 FPS.
+
+### Decision: stop adopting further modules until B6 closes
+
+`data_sources.py` (9 copies), `game_renderer.py` (8) and `base_odds_manager.py`
+are the obvious next candidates. **Do not adopt them yet.** Each adoption adds
+carrying cost — a second copy to keep in step — against a payoff that is
+contingent on B6, and B6 is gated on an installed base we cannot currently
+measure. Consolidate what is already committed; revisit when B6 does.
+
 ## What's next
 
-In order. Each step is independently useful and independently revertible.
+Steps 1–5 of the original plan are **done**: 3.2.0 is tagged and published with
+a version number CI now asserts (#428), the compatibility gate is in
+`install_plugin` and reads `compatible_versions` as well as the floor
+(#431, #433), the newest manifest entry is required to use `ledmatrix_min_version`
+(plugins #244), and all eight plugins have adopted the scroll orchestration
+(plugins #245–#249, repaired in #251, tidied in #252).
 
-1. **Tag and publish v3.2.0.** The code is already on `main` (`21825cbf`).
-   Nothing else blocks this, and it is what makes `ledmatrix_min_version:
-   "3.2.0"` refer to something real.
-2. **Make the version number honest.** Have the release process assert that the
-   tag, the GitHub release, and `src.__version__` agree — a check in CI is
-   cheaper than the confusion of the last two releases. Then revisit the
-   `< 2.0.0` skip in `_warn_if_incompatible`, which currently silences the
-   warning for the users who most need it.
-3. **Add the compatibility gate** to `StoreManager.install_plugin` and
-   `.update_plugin`: refuse a plugin whose declared floor exceeds
-   `src.__version__`, and surface the reason in the store UI rather than only
-   the log. This is the single change that turns the floor from documentation
-   into a guarantee, and B6 depends on it.
-4. **Migrate the manifests** to `ledmatrix_min_version`, and reconcile them with
-   `compatible_versions` (see above — that field is the required, canonical one,
-   and the gate does not read it yet). Currently 28 plugins spell the floor both
-   ways across their `versions[]` entries, 12 use only the old spelling, and 2
-   only the new. Scope the sweep to the nine sports plugins if a 42-plugin
-   version-bump wave isn't worth it — but the `compatible_versions` half has to
-   cover every manifest the gate can refuse, or define explicit legacy handling,
-   before the gate is allowed to block anything.
-5. **Run B5 adoption** — hockey, soccer, football, then the remaining six.
-   Bundled copies stay. Byte-identical harness output per plugin, then a soak.
-6. **Only then plan B6**, with the compatibility regression test described above
-   in CI first.
+What actually remains, smallest first:
+
+1. **Soak the adoptions on hardware.** football and hockey have been run on a
+   live rig through real games; baseball was watched through one earlier. The
+   rest are proven by harness, unit tests and pixel comparison. Out-of-season
+   sports cannot be soaked until their season starts. When you do, **check the
+   rig's `*_display_mode` first** — a board in `switch` mode will happily load a
+   sunset plugin and tell you nothing about the scroll code the sunset changed.
+2. **Cut 3.3.0.** Not required by B6 — its floors are 3.2.0, which is released —
+   but `calendar` 1.2.3 floors at 3.3.0 for the device-authorization endpoints
+   that landed after 3.2.0, so it is un-installable until the release exists.
+3. **Reconsider the held modules** (`data_sources.py`, `game_renderer.py`,
+   `base_odds_manager.py`) now that the sunset has closed. `game_renderer.py` is
+   the largest single duplication left: ~11,500 lines across eight plugins, with
+   ~36,500 more in the eight `sports.py`. Note that core already ships
+   `src/base_classes/sports/` (~143KB, promoted in B1/B2) that **no plugin
+   imports** — check whether it has drifted before treating it as the target.
 
 ## How to keep this project healthy
 

src/__init__.py

@@ -4,5 +4,5 @@ LEDMatrix Display System
 Core source package for the LED Matrix Display project.
 """
 
-__version__ = "3.2.0"
+__version__ = "3.3.0"
 

src/common/logo_helper.py

@@ -143,8 +143,10 @@ class LogoHelper:
         """
         logo_path = Path(logo_path)
         
-        # Try to load existing logo first
-        if logo_path.exists():
+        # Try to load existing logo first. A placeholder written by a previous
+        # failed download does not count: it wears the real logo's filename, so
+        # trusting the file's existence is what left teams as grey boxes.
+        if logo_path.exists() and not self._is_stale_placeholder(logo_path):
             return self.load_logo(team_abbr, logo_path, max_width, max_height)
         
         # Download if URL provided and file doesn't exist
@@ -152,13 +154,61 @@ class LogoHelper:
             try:
                 self.logger.info(f"Downloading logo for {team_abbr} from {logo_url}")
                 self._download_logo(logo_url, logo_path)
+                # The file on disk just changed. Any cached image for it is the
+                # placeholder we came here to replace, and load_logo() answers
+                # from the cache before touching the disk -- so without this the
+                # real logo would not appear until the process restarted.
+                self._invalidate_cached_logo(team_abbr, logo_path)
                 return self.load_logo(team_abbr, logo_path, max_width, max_height)
             except Exception as e:
                 self.logger.error(f"Failed to download logo for {team_abbr}: {e}")
+                # The retry failed, so restart the back-off. The stale
+                # placeholder is still on disk with its old timestamp, and
+                # leaving it there means the next call retries immediately --
+                # a download attempt per call, which is what the back-off
+                # exists to prevent.
+                self._refresh_stale_placeholder(logo_path)
         
         # Create placeholder if all else fails
         return self._create_placeholder_logo(team_abbr, max_width, max_height)
     
+    def _invalidate_cached_logo(self, team_abbr: str, logo_path: Path) -> None:
+        """Drop every cached size of one logo after its file changed on disk."""
+        prefix = f"{team_abbr}_{logo_path}_"
+        for key in [k for k in self._logo_cache if k.startswith(prefix)]:
+            self._logo_cache.pop(key, None)
+            if key in self._cache_order:
+                self._cache_order.remove(key)
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def _refresh_stale_placeholder(logo_path: Path) -> None:
+        """Restart the retry back-off after a failed download attempt."""
+        try:
+            from src.logo_downloader import refresh_placeholder_timestamp
+        except ImportError:
+            return
+        refresh_placeholder_timestamp(logo_path)
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def _is_stale_placeholder(logo_path: Path) -> bool:
+        """True if the file is a placeholder old enough to be worth retrying.
+
+        Imported lazily so this module keeps working against a core build whose
+        logo_downloader predates placeholder marking.
+        """
+        try:
+            from src.logo_downloader import (
+                PLACEHOLDER_RETRY_SECONDS,
+                is_placeholder_logo,
+                placeholder_age_seconds,
+            )
+        except ImportError:
+            return False
+        if not is_placeholder_logo(logo_path):
+            return False
+        age = placeholder_age_seconds(logo_path)
+        return age is None or age >= PLACEHOLDER_RETRY_SECONDS
+
     def get_logo_variations(self, team_abbr: str) -> List[str]:
         """
         Get possible filename variations for a team abbreviation.

src/common/sports_card.py

@@ -0,0 +1,460 @@
+"""Card-drawing helpers shared by every sports scoreboard plugin.
+
+The eight scoreboards each carried byte-identical copies of the functions
+below: the colour pickers, the settings lookup, the date and time formatting,
+the favourite-team rules and the font-size grid snapping. One fix had to be
+made eight times, and a new scoreboard started by copying them a ninth.
+
+Everything here is a **free function taking explicit arguments**, not a base
+class. Adoption is therefore per-function and reversible: a plugin keeps its
+method and delegates the body, so the call sites and the override points are
+untouched. That is also why `config`, `logger` and `fonts` are parameters
+rather than attributes -- the helper never reaches back into the caller.
+
+The bodies are the plugins' own code, moved rather than rewritten. The one
+deliberate difference is `crisp_size`, which takes the seven-plugin guard
+(`not desired`) instead of football's: they agree on every real input, and
+the extra guard only stops a None size raising TypeError.
+"""
+
+from datetime import datetime, timezone
+from typing import Any, Dict, Optional, Tuple
+from zoneinfo import ZoneInfo
+
+__all__ = [
+    "ELEMENT_FOR_FONT", "FAVORITE_RESULT_COLOR_DEFAULTS", "FONT_NAME_ALIASES",
+    "FONT_PIXEL_GRID", "MONTH_ABBR", "WEEKDAY_ABBR",
+    "scroll_card_option", "element_color", "font_color", "coerce_rgb",
+    "score_color_for", "recent_score_color", "favorite_teams_for",
+    "side_is_favorite", "side_score", "favorite_result",
+    "card_tzinfo", "weekday_for", "format_game_date", "format_game_time",
+    "vs_text", "upcoming_center_mode", "crisp_size", "schema_font_size",
+    "resolve_font_size", "unshare_element_fonts",
+]
+
+#: Which customization element owns each font key, for colour resolution.
+ELEMENT_FOR_FONT: Dict[str, str] = {
+    "score": "score_text",
+    "time": "period_text",
+    "team": "team_name",
+    "status": "status_text",
+    "detail": "detail_text",
+    "rank": "rank_text",
+}
+
+#: Fallback colours when favourite_result_colors is on but a slot is unset.
+FAVORITE_RESULT_COLOR_DEFAULTS: Dict[str, Tuple[int, int, int]] = {
+    "win": (0, 255, 0),
+    "loss": (255, 0, 0),
+    "tie": (255, 200, 0),
+}
+
+#: Family aliases the web UI may write, mapped to the shipped filename.
+FONT_NAME_ALIASES: Dict[str, str] = {
+    "press_start": "PressStart2P-Regular.ttf",
+    "four_by_six": "4x6-font.ttf",
+}
+
+#: Pixel grid each face renders crisply on. Off-grid sizes anti-alias, which
+#: on an LED matrix is a dim lamp rather than a soft edge.
+FONT_PIXEL_GRID: Dict[str, int] = {
+    "PressStart2P-Regular.ttf": 8,
+    "4x6-font.ttf": 7,
+}
+
+MONTH_ABBR = ("Jan", "Feb", "Mar", "Apr", "May", "Jun",
+              "Jul", "Aug", "Sep", "Oct", "Nov", "Dec")
+WEEKDAY_ABBR = ("Mon", "Tue", "Wed", "Thu", "Fri", "Sat", "Sun")
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Settings lookup
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+def scroll_card_option(config: Optional[Dict[str, Any]], key: str,
+                       default: Any = None) -> Any:
+    """Read one key from the scroll_card config block."""
+    block = (config or {}).get("scroll_card")
+    if isinstance(block, dict) and block.get(key) is not None:
+        return block.get(key)
+    return default
+
+
+def vs_text(config: Optional[Dict[str, Any]]) -> str:
+    """Separator drawn between the teams -- "VS", "@", "at", anything."""
+    return str(scroll_card_option(config, "vs_text", "VS"))
+
+
+def upcoming_center_mode(config: Optional[Dict[str, Any]]) -> str:
+    """Middle of an upcoming card: 'vs', 'date_time' or 'none'."""
+    mode = str(scroll_card_option(config, "upcoming_center", "vs") or "vs").lower()
+    return mode if mode in ("vs", "date_time", "none") else "vs"
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Colour
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+def element_color(config: Optional[Dict[str, Any]], element: str,
+                  default: Tuple[int, int, int] = (255, 255, 255)):
+    """Per-element text colour from customization.<element>.text_color."""
+    try:
+        cfg = (config or {}).get("customization", {}).get(element, {})
+        value = cfg.get("text_color")
+        if isinstance(value, (list, tuple)) and len(value) == 3:
+            return tuple(max(0, min(255, int(c))) for c in value)
+        if isinstance(value, str) and value.startswith("#") and len(value) == 7:
+            return tuple(int(value[i:i + 2], 16) for i in (1, 3, 5))
+    except (TypeError, ValueError):
+        pass
+    return default
+
+
+def font_color(config: Optional[Dict[str, Any]], fonts: Optional[Dict[str, Any]],
+               font, default: Tuple[int, int, int] = (255, 255, 255)):
+    """Colour for whichever element owns this face.
+
+    Matched on identity, and deliberately gives up when one object is
+    shared: the last-resort font path can hand the same face to several
+    keys, and there is no right answer for which element's colour that is.
+    White is what those draws used before, so ambiguity costs nothing.
+    """
+    try:
+        fonts = fonts or {}
+        matches = [element for key, element in ELEMENT_FOR_FONT.items()
+                   if fonts.get(key) is font]
+        if len(matches) == 1:
+            return element_color(config, matches[0], default)
+    except (AttributeError, TypeError):
+        pass
+    return default
+
+
+def coerce_rgb(value, fallback):
+    """Turn a configured [R, G, B] list into a clamped (r, g, b) tuple."""
+    # Checked before unpacking: a 3-character string ("123") would otherwise
+    # iterate into three digits and yield a colour rather than the fallback.
+    if not isinstance(value, (list, tuple)) or len(value) != 3:
+        return fallback
+    try:
+        r, g, b = (max(0, min(255, int(channel))) for channel in value)
+    except (TypeError, ValueError):
+        return fallback
+    return (r, g, b)
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Favourite teams
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+def favorite_teams_for(config: Dict[str, Any], game: Dict[str, Any]) -> list:
+    """Favorite teams that apply to this game.
+
+    Both sources are used. Games carry the league manager's *resolved*
+    favorites, which is the only place dynamic groups such as AP_TOP_25
+    appear expanded; the config is read as well so an edit takes effect on
+    already-fetched games, and so hand-built game dicts (tests, other
+    callers) still work.
+    """
+    favorites = list(game.get("favorite_teams") or [])
+    league_config = config.get(str(game.get("league", "") or ""))
+    if isinstance(league_config, dict):
+        favorites += list(league_config.get("favorite_teams") or [])
+    else:
+        favorites += list(config.get("favorite_teams") or [])
+    return favorites
+
+
+def side_is_favorite(game: Dict[str, Any], side: str, favorites: set) -> bool:
+    """Is the home/away side of this game a favorite team?
+
+    Reads both the flat (``home_abbr``) and nested (``home_team.abbrev``)
+    payload shapes, and matches on the ESPN id too, because a couple of
+    leagues (NRL) key favorites by id where abbreviations collide.
+    """
+    candidates = [game.get(f"{side}_abbr"), game.get(f"{side}_id")]
+    team = game.get(f"{side}_team")
+    if isinstance(team, dict):
+        candidates += [team.get("abbrev"), team.get("abbreviation"), team.get("id")]
+    for value in candidates:
+        if value is not None and str(value).strip().upper() in favorites:
+            return True
+    return False
+
+
+def side_score(game: Dict[str, Any], side: str) -> Optional[int]:
+    """Numeric score for one side, from either payload shape."""
+    raw = None
+    team = game.get(f"{side}_team")
+    if isinstance(team, dict) and team.get("score") is not None:
+        raw = team.get("score")
+    if raw is None:
+        raw = game.get(f"{side}_score")
+    try:
+        return int(float(str(raw).strip()))
+    except (TypeError, ValueError):
+        return None
+
+
+def favorite_result(config: Dict[str, Any], game: Dict[str, Any]) -> Optional[str]:
+    """Say how the favorite team did in a finished game.
+
+    Returns 'win', 'loss' or 'tie', or None when there is no single team
+    to root for: no favorites configured, neither side is a favorite, or
+    *both* are -- a favorite-vs-favorite game has no losing side worth
+    flagging in red. Also None when the scores are not usable numbers.
+    """
+    favorites = {
+        str(team).strip().upper()
+        for team in favorite_teams_for(config, game)
+        if str(team).strip()
+    }
+    if not favorites:
+        return None
+
+    home_fav = side_is_favorite(game, "home", favorites)
+    away_fav = side_is_favorite(game, "away", favorites)
+    if home_fav == away_fav:
+        return None
+
+    home_score = side_score(game, "home")
+    away_score = side_score(game, "away")
+    if home_score is None or away_score is None:
+        return None
+
+    if home_score == away_score:
+        return "tie"
+    favorite_score, other_score = (
+        (home_score, away_score) if home_fav else (away_score, home_score)
+    )
+    return "win" if favorite_score > other_score else "loss"
+
+
+def recent_score_color(config: Dict[str, Any], logger, game: Dict[str, Any], default):
+    """Fill color for a finished game's score, per favorite_result_colors."""
+    try:
+        settings = (config.get("customization") or {}).get(
+            "favorite_result_colors"
+        ) or {}
+        if not settings.get("enabled", False):
+            return default
+        result = favorite_result(config, game)
+        if result is None:
+            return default
+        return coerce_rgb(
+            settings.get(f"{result}_color"),
+            FAVORITE_RESULT_COLOR_DEFAULTS[result],
+        )
+    except Exception:
+        logger.debug("Could not resolve favorite result color", exc_info=True)
+        return default
+
+
+def score_color_for(config: Dict[str, Any], logger, game: Dict[str, Any],
+                    game_type: str, default=None):
+    """Fill color for a game card's score. Only finished games are tinted.
+
+    The default is the configured score colour rather than a flat white,
+    so customization.score_text.text_color shows on games the favourite
+    tint does not apply to. The tint still wins where it applies.
+    """
+    if default is None:
+        default = element_color(config, 'score_text')
+    if game_type != "recent":
+        return default
+    return recent_score_color(config, logger, game, default)
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Date and time
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+def card_tzinfo(config: Optional[Dict[str, Any]], logger):
+    """Timezone for weekday/24h conversions; falls back to UTC."""
+    configured = (config or {}).get("timezone")
+    if configured:
+        try:
+            return ZoneInfo(configured)
+        except (KeyError, ValueError, TypeError, OSError) as exc:
+            # KeyError covers ZoneInfoNotFoundError. A bad zone name in
+            # config should fall back to UTC, not blank the card.
+            logger.debug("Unusable timezone %r: %s", configured, exc)
+    return timezone.utc
+
+
+def weekday_for(config: Optional[Dict[str, Any]], logger,
+                game: Optional[Dict]) -> str:
+    """Weekday abbreviation from the game's start time, or ''."""
+    if not game:
+        return ""
+    raw = game.get("start_time_utc") or game.get("start_time")
+    if not raw:
+        return ""
+    try:
+        start = raw if isinstance(raw, datetime) else datetime.fromisoformat(
+            str(raw).replace("Z", "+00:00"))
+        return WEEKDAY_ABBR[start.astimezone(card_tzinfo(config, logger)).weekday()]
+    except (ValueError, TypeError):
+        return ""
+
+
+def format_game_date(config: Optional[Dict[str, Any]], logger, date_text: str,
+                     game: Optional[Dict] = None) -> str:
+    """Format an upcoming card's date per scroll_card.date_format."""
+    raw = str(date_text or "").strip()
+    if not raw:
+        return ""
+    fmt = str(scroll_card_option(config, "date_format", "abbrev") or "abbrev")
+    if fmt == "numeric":
+        return raw
+    parts = raw.replace("-", "/").split("/")
+    if not (len(parts) >= 2 and parts[0].strip().isdigit() and parts[1].strip().isdigit()):
+        return raw
+    month, day = int(parts[0]), int(parts[1])
+    if not 1 <= month <= 12:
+        return raw
+    name = MONTH_ABBR[month - 1]
+    if fmt == "numeric_day_first":
+        return f"{day}/{month}"
+    if fmt == "day_first":
+        return f"{day} {name}"
+    if fmt == "weekday":
+        weekday = weekday_for(config, logger, game)
+        return f"{weekday} {name} {day}" if weekday else f"{name} {day}"
+    return f"{name} {day}"
+
+
+def format_game_time(config: Optional[Dict[str, Any]], time_text: str) -> str:
+    """Return the time as-is (12h) or converted to 24h."""
+    raw = str(time_text or "").strip()
+    if not raw or str(scroll_card_option(config, "time_format", "12h")) != "24h":
+        return raw
+    cleaned = raw.upper().replace(" ", "")
+    meridiem = "AM" if cleaned.endswith("AM") else "PM" if cleaned.endswith("PM") else ""
+    if not meridiem:
+        return raw
+    try:
+        hh, _, mm = cleaned[:-2].partition(":")
+        hour, minute = int(hh), int(mm or 0)
+    except ValueError:
+        return raw
+    if not (0 <= hour <= 12 and 0 <= minute <= 59):
+        return raw
+    hour = hour % 12 + (12 if meridiem == "PM" else 0)
+    return f"{hour:02d}:{minute:02d}"
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Font sizing
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+#: Per-schema caches, keyed by the schema's absolute path. Keyed rather than
+#: global because each plugin declares its own defaults; keyed rather than
+#: per-class because the helper has no class to hang it on.
+_SCHEMA_FONT_SIZE_CACHE: Dict[str, Dict[str, int]] = {}
+
+
+def crisp_size(font_file, desired, aliases=None, grid_table=None):
+    """Snap *desired* to the nearest size *font_file* renders crisply at.
+
+    A face with no known grid is returned unchanged, so a user-supplied
+    font is never second-guessed.
+
+    ``aliases`` and ``grid_table`` default to the shared tables; a plugin
+    that ships an extra face can pass its own without forking this.
+    """
+    aliases = FONT_NAME_ALIASES if aliases is None else aliases
+    grid_table = FONT_PIXEL_GRID if grid_table is None else grid_table
+    font_file = aliases.get(font_file, font_file)
+    grid = grid_table.get(font_file)
+    if not grid or not desired or desired <= 0:
+        return desired
+    return max(grid, int(round(float(desired) / grid)) * grid)
+
+
+def schema_font_size(schema_path: str, element_key) -> Optional[int]:
+    """The font_size this plugin's config_schema.json declares, or None.
+
+    Cached per schema path. The plugins cached this on their own class; the
+    path is the same distinction expressed without one, so two plugins never
+    share an entry.
+    """
+    if not element_key:
+        return None
+    cache = _SCHEMA_FONT_SIZE_CACHE.get(schema_path)
+    if cache is None:
+        cache = {}
+        try:
+            import json
+            with open(schema_path) as fh:
+                schema = json.load(fh)
+            props = (schema.get('properties', {})
+                           .get('customization', {})
+                           .get('properties', {}))
+            for key, spec in props.items():
+                size = spec.get('properties', {}).get('font_size', {}).get('default')
+                if size is not None:
+                    cache[key] = int(size)
+        except Exception:
+            cache = {}
+        _SCHEMA_FONT_SIZE_CACHE[schema_path] = cache
+    return cache.get(element_key)
+
+
+def resolve_font_size(schema_path: str, element_config, element_key,
+                      default_size, font_name, aliases=None, grid_table=None):
+    """Size to render at: the user's choice, or a grid-snapped default.
+
+    A configured size counts as a real choice only when it differs from
+    the schema default. The web UI writes the whole schema default block
+    on every save, so "font_size == schema default" carries no intent and
+    would otherwise pin every install to an anti-aliased size forever.
+    """
+    configured = (element_config or {}).get('font_size')
+    if configured is not None:
+        try:
+            configured = int(configured)
+            if configured != schema_font_size(schema_path, element_key):
+                return configured
+        except (TypeError, ValueError):
+            pass
+    return crisp_size(font_name, default_size, aliases, grid_table)
+
+
+def unshare_element_fonts(logger, fonts):
+    """Give each colourable element its own face object.
+
+    The colour a draw gets is resolved from the face it was handed, and
+    several of these loaders legitimately hand one object to more than one
+    element -- a size resolver that lands two elements on the same face, a
+    fallback that fills every key from one default, football's narrowing
+    step that deliberately shrinks the clock along with the score. Sharing
+    the object makes the element ambiguous and the colour unresolvable.
+
+    Re-instantiating from the same path and size gives a distinct object
+    with identical metrics, so nothing about the rendering changes; only
+    the ability to tell two elements apart does. Faces that cannot be
+    rebuilt (a BDF loaded through freetype.Face, anything without a usable
+    path) are left shared, and their draws stay white as before.
+    """
+    try:
+        from PIL import ImageFont as _IF
+    except ImportError:  # pragma: no cover
+        return fonts
+    seen = {}
+    for key in ELEMENT_FOR_FONT:
+        font = fonts.get(key)
+        if font is None:
+            continue
+        if id(font) not in seen:
+            seen[id(font)] = key
+            continue
+        path, size = getattr(font, "path", None), getattr(font, "size", None)
+        if not path or not size:
+            continue
+        try:
+            fonts[key] = _IF.truetype(path, size)
+        except (OSError, ValueError, TypeError):
+            logger.debug(
+                "Could not un-share the %s face; it keeps the default colour", key)
+    return fonts

src/common/sports_game_renderer.py

@@ -0,0 +1,261 @@
+"""The scroll/Vegas card geometry the sports scoreboards all share.
+
+Eight scoreboards -- afl, baseball, basketball, football, hockey, lacrosse,
+nrl and soccer -- each carried their own ``game_renderer.py``. After the card
+helpers moved to ``src/common/sports_card.py`` the settings lookups were
+shared, but the *geometry* was not: nine methods that decide how wide the
+centre gap is, how much room a logo gets, and where an upcoming card's date
+and time land were still eight separate copies. Five were byte-identical
+across all eight plugins; the other four were identical in seven, with a
+different single outlier each time.
+
+That last detail is why this is a mixin rather than free functions. There is
+no per-sport branching to write -- baseball needs its own
+``_draw_upcoming_game_status`` and ``_logo_slot_width``, hockey its own
+``_upcoming_date_and_time``, football its own ``_score_reserve_width``, and
+every one of those is an ordinary override. The seven that agree inherit and
+say nothing.
+
+It is deliberately *only* a mixin: no ``__init__``, no state of its own. The
+plugins' constructors differ in six ways and none of that difference is worth
+unifying, so adoption is one line on the class statement plus deleting the
+methods that now come from here.
+
+What a host class must provide
+------------------------------
+Attributes: ``display_width``, ``display_height``, ``config``, ``fonts``,
+``logger``, ``_team_rankings_cache``.
+
+Methods: ``_draw_text_with_outline(draw, text, position, font, fill=None,
+outline_color=(0, 0, 0))`` -- the one hook whose body genuinely varies -- plus
+the ``sports_card`` delegations ``_scroll_card_option``,
+``_upcoming_center_mode``, ``_vs_text``, ``_element_color``,
+``_format_game_date`` and ``_format_game_time``.
+"""
+
+import math
+from typing import ClassVar, Dict, Tuple
+
+from PIL import Image, ImageDraw
+
+
+class SportsGameRendererMixin:
+    """Shared card geometry for the sports scoreboards. See module docstring."""
+
+    #: Centre strip as a fraction of card width, before clamping.
+    CENTER_GAP_RATIO: ClassVar[float] = 0.28
+    #: Clamp floor for the derived centre gap.
+    CENTER_GAP_MIN_PX: ClassVar[int] = 22
+    #: Clamp ceiling for the derived centre gap.
+    CENTER_GAP_MAX_PX: ClassVar[int] = 40
+    #: Breathing room kept between the score and each logo.
+    _SCORE_LOGO_GUTTER_PX: ClassVar[int] = 4
+    #: Widest score the centre strip must fit. Leagues that can reach three
+    #: digits a side override this with "000-000".
+    _SCORE_PROBE: ClassVar[str] = "00-00"
+
+    # ---- geometry ------------------------------------------------------
+
+    # Non-finite settings are rejected before any int()/round(): "inf" reaches
+    # these from config as a float or a string, passes an `isinstance` plus
+    # `>= 0` check unharmed, and then raises OverflowError out of int() --
+    # which the old `except (TypeError, ValueError)` did not catch, so it
+    # aborted the whole card render. Present in all eight plugins before this
+    # moved to the core; fixing it here fixes it in all eight.
+
+    def _score_reserve_width(self) -> int:
+        """Centre strip the score actually needs, measured rather than assumed.
+
+        The gap was derived from the card width alone (width x
+        CENTER_GAP_RATIO, clamped to CENTER_GAP_MAX_PX) while the score's size
+        comes from config and the element-style resolver. Nothing compared the
+        two, so any score wider than the clamp was drawn over the logos.
+        Measuring it keeps the strip wide enough for whatever font is in play.
+        """
+        try:
+            probe = ImageDraw.Draw(Image.new("RGB", (4, 4)))
+            width = probe.textlength(self._SCORE_PROBE, font=self.fonts['score'])
+            return int(width) + 2 * self._SCORE_LOGO_GUTTER_PX
+        except Exception:
+            self.logger.debug("Score reserve measurement failed", exc_info=True)
+            return 0
+
+    def _center_gap_width(self) -> int:
+        """Width of the middle strip kept clear of logos.
+
+        ``scroll_card.center_gap`` pins it outright; otherwise it scales with
+        the card width between the configurable min and max. 0 restores
+        edge-to-edge logos.
+        """
+        configured = self._scroll_card_option("center_gap")
+        if (isinstance(configured, (int, float))
+                and math.isfinite(configured) and configured >= 0):
+            return int(configured)
+        ratio = self._scroll_card_option("center_gap_ratio", self.CENTER_GAP_RATIO)
+        low = self._scroll_card_option("center_gap_min", self.CENTER_GAP_MIN_PX)
+        high = self._scroll_card_option("center_gap_max", self.CENTER_GAP_MAX_PX)
+        try:
+            ratio, low, high = float(ratio), float(low), float(high)
+            if not (math.isfinite(ratio) and math.isfinite(low)
+                    and math.isfinite(high)):
+                return self.CENTER_GAP_MIN_PX
+            scaled = round(self.display_width * ratio)
+            derived = int(max(int(low), min(int(high), scaled)))
+            # A strip narrower than the score is the bug, not a style choice.
+            # An explicit ``center_gap`` is still honoured above, including 0.
+            return max(derived, self._score_reserve_width())
+        except (TypeError, ValueError, OverflowError):
+            return self.CENTER_GAP_MIN_PX
+
+    def _logo_slot_width(self) -> int:
+        """Per-side logo slot, leaving the center gap clear.
+
+        No longer capped at display_height: the card is sized as two
+        full-height logos plus the measured gap, so what is left after the gap
+        is exactly the logo's share. The cap was what froze the logos at 46px
+        on the old flat 128px card.
+        """
+        available = (self.display_width - self._center_gap_width()) // 2
+        return max(8, available)
+
+    def _logo_cache_key(self, name: str) -> str:
+        """Cache key scoped to the logo slot.
+
+        One cache dict is shared by renderers built for different card widths,
+        so a logo sized for a wide slot must not be handed to a narrow one.
+        """
+        return f"{name}@{self._logo_slot_width()}x{self.display_height}"
+
+    def _layout_offset(self, element: str, axis: str, default: int = 0) -> int:
+        """X/Y nudge for one element, from customization.layout.
+
+        Same block the full-screen scorebug reads (sports.py
+        _get_layout_offset), so a nudge configured in the web UI now moves
+        the element on the scroll/Vegas card too -- previously the schema
+        advertised these offsets but this renderer ignored them.
+        """
+        try:
+            layout = (self.config or {}).get("customization", {}).get("layout", {})
+            value = (layout.get(element) or {}).get(axis, default)
+            if isinstance(value, bool):
+                return default
+            if isinstance(value, (int, float)):
+                return int(value) if math.isfinite(value) else default
+            if isinstance(value, str):
+                parsed = float(value)
+                return int(parsed) if math.isfinite(parsed) else default
+        except (TypeError, ValueError, OverflowError):
+            pass
+        return default
+
+    # ---- upcoming cards ------------------------------------------------
+
+    def _upcoming_date_and_time(self, game: Dict) -> Tuple[str, str]:
+        """(date, time) for an upcoming card, from the extractor's flat keys."""
+        return (
+            str(game.get("game_date", "") or ""),
+            str(game.get("game_time", "") or ""),
+        )
+
+    def _draw_upcoming_center(self, draw: "ImageDraw.ImageDraw", game: Dict) -> None:
+        """Draw the middle of an upcoming card.
+
+        Never a score: an upcoming game has not started, so the extractor's
+        0-0 is noise. Either the VS text (default), the date and time stacked,
+        or nothing at all.
+        """
+        mode = self._upcoming_center_mode()
+        if mode == "none":
+            return
+
+        if mode == "vs":
+            vs_text = self._vs_text()
+            if not vs_text:
+                return
+            vs_width = draw.textlength(vs_text, font=self.fonts['score'])
+            vs_x = (self.display_width - vs_width) // 2 + self._layout_offset('score', 'x_offset')
+            vs_y = (self.display_height // 2) - 3 + self._layout_offset('score', 'y_offset')
+            self._draw_text_with_outline(
+                draw, vs_text, (vs_x, vs_y), self.fonts['score'],
+                fill=self._element_color('score_text')
+            )
+            return
+
+        date_text, time_text = self._upcoming_date_and_time(game)
+        lines = []
+        if self._scroll_card_option("show_date", True):
+            lines.append(self._format_game_date(date_text, game))
+        if self._scroll_card_option("show_time", True):
+            lines.append(self._format_game_time(time_text))
+        lines = [t for t in lines if t]
+        if not lines:
+            return
+        font = self.fonts.get('detail') or self.fonts['time']
+        line_h = 7
+        top = (self.display_height // 2) - (len(lines) * line_h) // 2
+        top += self._layout_offset('score', 'y_offset')
+        for i, line in enumerate(lines):
+            width = draw.textlength(line, font=font)
+            x = (self.display_width - width) // 2 + self._layout_offset('score', 'x_offset')
+            self._draw_text_with_outline(
+                draw, line, (x, top + i * line_h), font,
+                fill=self._element_color('detail_text')
+            )
+
+    def _draw_upcoming_game_status(self, draw: "ImageDraw.ImageDraw", game: Dict) -> None:
+        """Draw the date and time around an upcoming card.
+
+        Time top and date bottom by default; scroll_card.swap_date_time puts
+        the date on top instead. Skipped when the pair is stacked in the
+        middle, which would otherwise print them twice.
+        """
+        if self._upcoming_center_mode() == "date_time":
+            return
+
+        date_raw, time_raw = self._upcoming_date_and_time(game)
+        date_text = (self._format_game_date(date_raw, game)
+                     if self._scroll_card_option("show_date", True) else "")
+        time_text = (self._format_game_time(time_raw)
+                     if self._scroll_card_option("show_time", True) else "")
+
+        if self._scroll_card_option("swap_date_time", False):
+            top_text, top_el, bottom_text, bottom_el = (
+                date_text, 'date', time_text, 'time')
+            top_font = self.fonts.get('detail') or self.fonts['time']
+            bottom_font = self.fonts['time']
+            top_color, bottom_color = 'detail_text', 'period_text'
+        else:
+            top_text, top_el, bottom_text, bottom_el = (
+                time_text, 'time', date_text, 'date')
+            top_font = self.fonts['time']
+            bottom_font = self.fonts.get('detail') or self.fonts['time']
+            top_color, bottom_color = 'period_text', 'detail_text'
+
+        if top_text:
+            top_width = draw.textlength(top_text, font=top_font)
+            top_x = (self.display_width - top_width) // 2 + self._layout_offset(top_el, 'x_offset')
+            top_y = 1 + self._layout_offset(top_el, 'y_offset')
+            self._draw_text_with_outline(
+                draw, top_text, (top_x, top_y), top_font,
+                fill=self._element_color(top_color)
+            )
+
+        if bottom_text:
+            bottom_width = draw.textlength(bottom_text, font=bottom_font)
+            bottom_x = ((self.display_width - bottom_width) // 2
+                        + self._layout_offset(bottom_el, 'x_offset'))
+            # Measured, not a fixed -7: the detail font is 6px in most plugins
+            # but 10px in soccer and nrl, where "Sep 19" ran past the card.
+            ink_bottom = draw.textbbox((0, 0), bottom_text, font=bottom_font)[3]
+            bottom_y = (max(0, self.display_height - ink_bottom - 1)
+                        + self._layout_offset(bottom_el, 'y_offset'))
+            self._draw_text_with_outline(
+                draw, bottom_text, (bottom_x, bottom_y), bottom_font,
+                fill=self._element_color(bottom_color)
+            )
+
+    # ---- rankings ------------------------------------------------------
+
+    def set_rankings_cache(self, rankings: Dict[str, int]) -> None:
+        """Set the team rankings cache for display."""
+        self._team_rankings_cache = rankings

src/logo_downloader.py

@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ import json
 from typing import Dict, List, Optional, Tuple
 from pathlib import Path
 from PIL import Image, ImageDraw, ImageFont
+from PIL.PngImagePlugin import PngInfo
 from requests.adapters import HTTPAdapter
 from urllib3.util.retry import Retry
 from src.common.permission_utils import (
@@ -25,6 +26,96 @@ from src.common.permission_utils import (
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
+#: PNG text key stamped into a generated placeholder so a later run can tell it
+#: apart from a real logo that happens to be small.
+PLACEHOLDER_MARKER = "ledmatrix_placeholder"
+
+#: Geometry of a generated placeholder, used to recognise ones written before
+#: the marker existed. Those are already on users' disks and would otherwise
+#: never be retried.
+PLACEHOLDER_SIZE = (64, 64)
+PLACEHOLDER_BG = (100, 100, 100, 255)
+
+#: How long a placeholder is trusted before the real logo is attempted again.
+#: A placeholder means the download failed, and download failures are usually
+#: transient (no network at boot, ESPN blipping). Retrying every frame would
+#: hammer the API from a Pi that is also driving a panel; never retrying leaves
+#: the team a grey box forever, which is the bug this exists to avoid.
+PLACEHOLDER_RETRY_SECONDS = 6 * 60 * 60
+
+
+def is_placeholder_logo(filepath: Path) -> bool:
+    """True if the file at ``filepath`` is a generated placeholder, not a logo.
+
+    Checks the marker first, then falls back to matching the placeholder's
+    exact geometry and background colour so files written before the marker was
+    introduced are still recognised.
+    """
+    try:
+        with Image.open(filepath) as img:
+            if img.info.get(PLACEHOLDER_MARKER):
+                return True
+            if img.size != PLACEHOLDER_SIZE:
+                return False
+            return img.convert("RGBA").getpixel((0, 0)) == PLACEHOLDER_BG
+    except Exception:
+        # Unreadable file: not provably a placeholder, and the caller's own
+        # error handling is better placed to deal with it.
+        return False
+
+
+def should_attempt_download(filepath: Path, force_download: bool = False) -> bool:
+    """Whether a real logo is worth (re)fetching for ``filepath``.
+
+    True when nothing is there, when the caller forced it, or when what is
+    there is a placeholder old enough to retry. A *fresh* placeholder says a
+    download just failed, so retrying it immediately would hammer the API for
+    a result that is very unlikely to have changed.
+    """
+    if force_download or not filepath.exists():
+        return True
+    if not is_placeholder_logo(filepath):
+        return False
+    age = placeholder_age_seconds(filepath)
+    return age is None or age >= PLACEHOLDER_RETRY_SECONDS
+
+
+def refresh_placeholder_timestamp(filepath: Path) -> bool:
+    """Restamp a placeholder so a failed retry restarts the back-off clock.
+
+    Without this a stale placeholder stays stale: every later call sees an
+    expired timestamp, retries, fails, and leaves the timestamp untouched --
+    which is a download attempt per call, the opposite of what the back-off is
+    for.
+    """
+    try:
+        if not is_placeholder_logo(filepath):
+            return False
+        metadata = PngInfo()
+        metadata.add_text(PLACEHOLDER_MARKER, str(time.time()))
+        with Image.open(filepath) as img:
+            img.copy().save(filepath, "PNG", pnginfo=metadata)
+        return True
+    except Exception:
+        logger.debug("Could not refresh placeholder timestamp for %s", filepath,
+                     exc_info=True)
+        return False
+
+
+def placeholder_age_seconds(filepath: Path) -> Optional[float]:
+    """Seconds since a placeholder was written, or None if unknown."""
+    try:
+        with Image.open(filepath) as img:
+            stamped = img.info.get(PLACEHOLDER_MARKER)
+        if stamped and stamped != "1":
+            return max(0.0, time.time() - float(stamped))
+    except Exception:
+        pass
+    try:
+        return max(0.0, time.time() - filepath.stat().st_mtime)
+    except OSError:
+        return None
+
 class LogoDownloader:
     """Centralized logo downloader for team logos from ESPN API."""
     
@@ -499,8 +590,10 @@ class LogoDownloader:
             filename = f"{self.normalize_abbreviation(abbreviation)}.png"
             filepath = Path(logo_dir) / filename
             
-            # Skip if already exists and not forcing download
-            if filepath.exists() and not force_download:
+            # A placeholder does not count as existing -- it is a previous
+            # failure, and a bulk pass is exactly where it should get another
+            # chance, subject to the same back-off as everywhere else.
+            if not should_attempt_download(filepath, force_download):
                 logger.debug(f"Skipping {display_name}: {filename} already exists")
                 continue
             
@@ -559,8 +652,9 @@ class LogoDownloader:
             filename = f"{self.normalize_abbreviation(abbreviation)}.png"
             filepath = Path(logo_dir) / filename
             
-            # Skip if already exists and not forcing download
-            if filepath.exists() and not force_download:
+            # Same eligibility rule as every other download site: a stale
+            # placeholder is a failed download, not a logo.
+            if not should_attempt_download(filepath, force_download):
                 logger.debug(f"Skipping {display_name} ({category}, {conference}): {filename} already exists")
                 continue
             
@@ -674,11 +768,16 @@ class LogoDownloader:
                 # Fallback without font
                 draw.text((16, 24), text, fill=(255, 255, 255, 255))
             
-            logo.save(filepath)
-            
+            # Stamp it so a later run can tell this apart from a real logo and
+            # retry the download, instead of treating the file's existence as
+            # proof the logo was fetched.
+            metadata = PngInfo()
+            metadata.add_text(PLACEHOLDER_MARKER, str(time.time()))
+            logo.save(filepath, "PNG", pnginfo=metadata)
+
             # Set proper file permissions after saving
             ensure_file_permissions(filepath, get_assets_file_mode())
-            
+
             logger.info(f"Created placeholder logo for {team_abbreviation} at {filepath}")
             return True
             
@@ -770,9 +869,18 @@ def download_missing_logo(league: str, team_id: str, team_abbreviation: str, log
     # Use the exact filepath that was passed in (respects config settings)
     filepath = logo_path
     
-    if filepath.exists():
+    if filepath.exists() and not should_attempt_download(filepath):
+        # Either a real logo, or a placeholder too fresh to be worth retrying.
         logger.debug(f"Logo already exists for {team_abbreviation} ({league})")
         return True
+    if filepath.exists():
+        # A placeholder is a *failed* download wearing the real logo's
+        # filename. Treating it as "already exists" is what pinned a team to a
+        # grey box permanently after one transient failure.
+        logger.info(
+            "Logo for %s (%s) is a placeholder from a failed download; "
+            "retrying the real logo", team_abbreviation, league,
+        )
     
     # Try to download the real logo first
     logger.info(f"Attempting to download logo for {team_abbreviation} from {league}")

src/plugin_system/compatibility.py

@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ fixes their version string. See `docs/SPORTS_UNIFICATION.md`, phase B4.
 from __future__ import annotations
 
 import re
+from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Any, Dict, Optional, Tuple
 
 # Below this, the core's self-reported version is not evidence of anything.
@@ -35,6 +36,45 @@ from typing import Any, Dict, Optional, Tuple
 TRUSTWORTHY_FLOOR: Tuple[int, int, int] = (2, 0, 0)
 
 
+# ``src/__init__.py`` relative to this file: src/plugin_system/ -> src/
+_VERSION_FILE = Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent / "__init__.py"
+_VERSION_RE = re.compile(r'^__version__\s*=\s*["\']([^"\']+)["\']', re.M)
+
+
+def current_core_version() -> str:
+    """The core version as it is on disk right now, not as it was at import.
+
+    ``from src import __version__`` binds whatever the process loaded at start.
+    The web UI runs as its own long-lived service (``ledmatrix-web.service``),
+    and updating the core replaces files on disk without restarting it -- the
+    update route says so explicitly and asks the user to restart. Its prompt
+    names the *display* service, so a user who follows it leaves the web
+    process holding the old number.
+
+    The plugin store's gate lives in that web process. Stale by one release is
+    exactly the case that matters: every plugin flooring on the release you
+    just installed gets refused, with a message blaming a core version that is
+    already correct on disk. 3.3.0 is the first release where that hits a whole
+    plugin family at once -- all eight sports scoreboards floor there.
+
+    Reading the file costs one stat and a small read per call, and only on the
+    install/update path. Any failure falls back to the imported value, so this
+    can only ever be as wrong as before, never worse.
+    """
+    try:
+        text = _VERSION_FILE.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
+        match = _VERSION_RE.search(text)
+        if match:
+            return match.group(1)
+    except (OSError, UnicodeDecodeError):
+        pass
+    try:
+        from src import __version__ as imported
+        return imported
+    except Exception:            # noqa: BLE001 - never let this raise
+        return "0.0.0"
+
+
 def parse_semver(value: Any) -> Optional[Tuple[int, int, int]]:
     """Parse ``X.Y.Z`` (extra parts and suffixes ignored) into a comparable
     3-tuple, or ``None`` when unparseable. A leading ``v`` is tolerated."""

src/plugin_system/plugin_loader.py

@@ -772,8 +772,8 @@ class PluginLoader:
         newer than the running core. Advisory only — never raises — so a
         plugin that guards optional features with try/except keeps working.
         """
-        from src import __version__ as core_version
         from src.plugin_system import compatibility
+        core_version = compatibility.current_core_version()
 
         compatible, _reason = compatibility.check(manifest, core_version)
         if compatible:

src/plugin_system/store_manager.py

@@ -1467,8 +1467,11 @@ class PluginStoreManager:
                 # already had. Allowing it costs them a plugin that raises
                 # ModuleNotFoundError at load and is reported only as one line
                 # in the journal. See docs/SPORTS_UNIFICATION.md (phase B4/B6).
-                from src import __version__ as core_version
                 from src.plugin_system import compatibility
+                # On disk, not as imported: this process may predate the core
+                # update that made the plugin compatible. See
+                # compatibility.current_core_version.
+                core_version = compatibility.current_core_version()
 
                 compatible, reason = compatibility.check(manifest, core_version)
                 if not compatible:
@@ -1602,6 +1605,26 @@ class PluginStoreManager:
                     'error': f'Manifest missing required fields: {", ".join(missing_fields)}'
                 }
             
+            # Refuse a plugin that needs a newer core than this one, exactly as
+            # _install_plugin_impl does after its download. Sideloading is an
+            # explicit act rather than an automatic store update, but the floor
+            # is not advice about intent -- it is a statement that the plugin
+            # cannot run here, and letting it through produces the same silent
+            # PluginState.ERROR at load. This was the last of the three routes
+            # in that skipped the check.
+            #
+            # Before the move, so the `finally` below removes the temp tree and
+            # nothing half-installed is left behind.
+            from src.plugin_system import compatibility
+            core_version = compatibility.current_core_version()
+
+            compatible, reason = compatibility.check(manifest, core_version)
+            if not compatible:
+                self.logger.error(
+                    "Refusing to install %s from %s: %s",
+                    plugin_id, repo_url, reason)
+                return {'success': False, 'error': reason}
+
             # Validate version fields consistency (warnings only, not required)
             validation_errors = self._validate_manifest_version_fields(manifest)
             if validation_errors:
@@ -2624,8 +2647,8 @@ class PluginStoreManager:
                 manifest_path, plugin_id, e)
             return True
 
-        from src import __version__ as core_version
         from src.plugin_system import compatibility
+        core_version = compatibility.current_core_version()
 
         compatible, reason = compatibility.check(manifest, core_version)
         if compatible:

test/test_core_version_freshness.py

@@ -0,0 +1,122 @@
+"""The gate must read the core version from disk, not from its own import.
+
+`from src import __version__` binds whatever the process loaded at start. The
+web UI is a long-lived service of its own (ledmatrix-web.service), and updating
+the core replaces files on disk without restarting it -- the update route says
+so and asks the user to restart, but its prompt named only the *display*
+service, so a user who followed it left the web process holding the old number.
+
+The plugin store's gate lives in that web process, so being stale by exactly
+one release is the case that bites: every plugin flooring on the release you
+just installed is refused, with a message blaming a core version that is
+already correct on disk.
+
+Observed on hardware: after updating a rig to 3.3.0 and restarting only the
+display service, all eight sports scoreboards were refused with
+"supports LEDMatrix >=3.3.0, but this system is running 3.2.0" while
+src/__init__.py on that machine read 3.3.0.
+"""
+
+import importlib
+import sys
+
+import pytest
+
+from src.plugin_system import compatibility
+
+
+class TestCurrentCoreVersion:
+    def test_it_reads_the_file_rather_than_the_imported_value(self, monkeypatch, tmp_path):
+        # Simulate a process whose import predates the update: the module
+        # object says 3.2.0 while the file on disk says 3.3.0.
+        import src
+        monkeypatch.setattr(src, "__version__", "3.2.0")
+        fake = tmp_path / "__init__.py"
+        fake.write_text('__version__ = "3.3.0"\n', encoding="utf-8")
+        monkeypatch.setattr(compatibility, "_VERSION_FILE", fake)
+        assert compatibility.current_core_version() == "3.3.0"
+
+    def test_it_matches_the_real_file_by_default(self):
+        import src
+        assert compatibility.current_core_version() == src.__version__
+
+    @pytest.mark.parametrize("body", [
+        "__version__ = '3.4.1'\n",
+        '__version__="3.4.1"\n',
+        '"""doc"""\n\n__version__ = "3.4.1"  # trailing comment\n',
+    ])
+    def test_it_tolerates_the_ways_that_line_gets_written(self, monkeypatch, tmp_path, body):
+        fake = tmp_path / "__init__.py"
+        fake.write_text(body, encoding="utf-8")
+        monkeypatch.setattr(compatibility, "_VERSION_FILE", fake)
+        assert compatibility.current_core_version() == "3.4.1"
+
+    def test_a_missing_file_falls_back_to_the_import(self, monkeypatch, tmp_path):
+        # Never worse than before: an unreadable file returns what the old
+        # code would have returned.
+        import src
+        monkeypatch.setattr(src, "__version__", "3.2.0")
+        monkeypatch.setattr(compatibility, "_VERSION_FILE", tmp_path / "gone.py")
+        assert compatibility.current_core_version() == "3.2.0"
+
+    def test_a_file_without_the_line_falls_back(self, monkeypatch, tmp_path):
+        import src
+        monkeypatch.setattr(src, "__version__", "3.2.0")
+        fake = tmp_path / "__init__.py"
+        fake.write_text("# no version here\n", encoding="utf-8")
+        monkeypatch.setattr(compatibility, "_VERSION_FILE", fake)
+        assert compatibility.current_core_version() == "3.2.0"
+
+    def test_it_never_raises(self, monkeypatch, tmp_path):
+        # This runs on the install path; an exception here would surface as a
+        # failed update rather than a version mismatch.
+        bad = tmp_path / "__init__.py"
+        bad.write_bytes(b"\xff\xfe\x00 not utf-8 \xff")
+        monkeypatch.setattr(compatibility, "_VERSION_FILE", bad)
+        assert isinstance(compatibility.current_core_version(), str)
+
+
+class TestTheBugItFixes:
+    def test_a_stale_import_no_longer_refuses_a_compatible_plugin(self, monkeypatch, tmp_path):
+        """The exact hardware failure, as a test."""
+        import src
+        monkeypatch.setattr(src, "__version__", "3.2.0")     # what the process holds
+        fake = tmp_path / "__init__.py"
+        fake.write_text('__version__ = "3.3.0"\n', encoding="utf-8")   # what is on disk
+        monkeypatch.setattr(compatibility, "_VERSION_FILE", fake)
+
+        manifest = {"name": "Hockey Scoreboard", "min_ledmatrix_version": "3.3.0"}
+
+        stale_ok, _ = compatibility.check(manifest, src.__version__)
+        assert stale_ok is False, "precondition: the stale value is what refused it"
+
+        fresh_ok, reason = compatibility.check(
+            manifest, compatibility.current_core_version())
+        assert fresh_ok is True, f"the disk version must allow it, got: {reason}"
+
+    def test_it_still_refuses_when_the_core_really_is_too_old(self, monkeypatch, tmp_path):
+        # The gate must not become permissive: a genuinely old core still says no.
+        fake = tmp_path / "__init__.py"
+        fake.write_text('__version__ = "3.2.0"\n', encoding="utf-8")
+        monkeypatch.setattr(compatibility, "_VERSION_FILE", fake)
+        ok, reason = compatibility.check(
+            {"name": "Hockey", "min_ledmatrix_version": "3.3.0"},
+            compatibility.current_core_version())
+        assert ok is False
+        assert "3.2.0" in (reason or "")
+
+
+class TestCallSites:
+    @pytest.mark.parametrize("module", [
+        "src.plugin_system.store_manager",
+        "src.plugin_system.plugin_loader",
+    ])
+    def test_no_gate_binds_the_version_at_import(self, module):
+        """Catch a future call site reintroducing the stale read."""
+        import inspect
+        mod = importlib.import_module(module)
+        source = inspect.getsource(mod)
+        assert "from src import __version__ as core_version" not in source, (
+            f"{module} binds __version__ at import; use "
+            f"compatibility.current_core_version() so a long-lived process "
+            f"sees a core update.")

test/test_logo_downloader.py

@@ -8,11 +8,27 @@ ensure_logo_directory, and the download_missing_logo function path
 """
 
 import os
+import time
+
 import pytest
 from pathlib import Path
 from unittest.mock import patch, Mock, MagicMock
 
-from src.logo_downloader import LogoDownloader
+from PIL import Image
+from PIL.PngImagePlugin import PngInfo
+
+from src.logo_downloader import (
+    PLACEHOLDER_BG,
+    PLACEHOLDER_MARKER,
+    PLACEHOLDER_RETRY_SECONDS,
+    PLACEHOLDER_SIZE,
+    LogoDownloader,
+    download_missing_logo,
+    is_placeholder_logo,
+    placeholder_age_seconds,
+    refresh_placeholder_timestamp,
+    should_attempt_download,
+)
 
 
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -127,3 +143,211 @@ class TestEnsureLogoDirectory:
         with patch("builtins.open", side_effect=mock_open):
             result = downloader.ensure_logo_directory(test_dir)
         assert result is False
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Placeholder detection and retry
+#
+# A failed download used to be cached as a placeholder wearing the real logo's
+# filename, and download_missing_logo returned early on "the file exists". One
+# transient failure therefore pinned a team to a grey box permanently.
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+class TestPlaceholderLogos:
+    def _placeholder(self, tmp_path, abbrev="COLL"):
+        downloader = LogoDownloader()
+        assert downloader.create_placeholder_logo(abbrev, str(tmp_path)) is True
+        return tmp_path / f"{abbrev}.png"
+
+    def test_generated_placeholder_is_recognised(self, tmp_path):
+        assert is_placeholder_logo(self._placeholder(tmp_path)) is True
+
+    def test_real_logo_is_not_a_placeholder(self, tmp_path):
+        real = tmp_path / "REAL.png"
+        Image.new("RGBA", (500, 500), (12, 34, 56, 255)).save(real)
+        assert is_placeholder_logo(real) is False
+
+    def test_legacy_unmarked_placeholder_is_recognised(self, tmp_path):
+        """Placeholders written before the marker existed must still be caught.
+
+        They are already sitting on users' disks; if they were not recognised
+        those teams would stay grey boxes forever even after this fix.
+        """
+        legacy = tmp_path / "LEGACY.png"
+        Image.new("RGBA", PLACEHOLDER_SIZE, PLACEHOLDER_BG).save(legacy)
+        assert is_placeholder_logo(legacy) is True
+
+    def test_same_size_but_different_colour_is_not_a_placeholder(self, tmp_path):
+        real = tmp_path / "SMALL.png"
+        Image.new("RGBA", PLACEHOLDER_SIZE, (10, 200, 10, 255)).save(real)
+        assert is_placeholder_logo(real) is False
+
+    def test_missing_file_is_not_a_placeholder(self, tmp_path):
+        assert is_placeholder_logo(tmp_path / "nope.png") is False
+
+    def test_existing_real_logo_short_circuits_without_downloading(self, tmp_path):
+        real = tmp_path / "REAL.png"
+        Image.new("RGBA", (500, 500), (1, 2, 3, 255)).save(real)
+        with patch.object(LogoDownloader, "download_logo") as download:
+            assert download_missing_logo(
+                "afl", "1", "REAL", real, logo_url="http://example/x.png") is True
+        download.assert_not_called()
+
+    def _age_placeholder(self, path, seconds):
+        """Rewrite a placeholder's marker so it reads as `seconds` old."""
+        metadata = PngInfo()
+        metadata.add_text(PLACEHOLDER_MARKER, str(time.time() - seconds))
+        with Image.open(path) as img:
+            img.copy().save(path, "PNG", pnginfo=metadata)
+
+    def test_stale_placeholder_triggers_a_retry(self, tmp_path):
+        path = self._placeholder(tmp_path)
+        self._age_placeholder(path, PLACEHOLDER_RETRY_SECONDS + 60)
+        assert placeholder_age_seconds(path) > PLACEHOLDER_RETRY_SECONDS
+
+        with patch.object(LogoDownloader, "download_logo", return_value=True) as download:
+            assert download_missing_logo(
+                "afl", "1", "COLL", path,
+                logo_url="http://example/coll.png") is True
+        download.assert_called_once()
+
+    def test_placeholder_age_survives_an_mtime_touch(self, tmp_path):
+        """The age comes from the stamp, not the filesystem.
+
+        Anything that rewrites file times -- a backup restore, an rsync, a
+        permissions fix script -- would otherwise reset the retry clock.
+        """
+        path = self._placeholder(tmp_path)
+        self._age_placeholder(path, PLACEHOLDER_RETRY_SECONDS + 60)
+        now = time.time()
+        os.utime(path, (now, now))
+        assert placeholder_age_seconds(path) > PLACEHOLDER_RETRY_SECONDS
+
+    def test_fresh_placeholder_does_not_retry(self, tmp_path):
+        """Rate limiting: a placeholder written seconds ago must not re-download.
+
+        Without this the fix would trade a permanent grey box for an ESPN
+        request on every frame.
+        """
+        path = self._placeholder(tmp_path)
+        with patch.object(LogoDownloader, "download_logo") as download:
+            assert download_missing_logo(
+                "afl", "1", "COLL", path,
+                logo_url="http://example/coll.png") is True
+        download.assert_not_called()
+
+
+class TestDownloadEligibility:
+    """One rule, shared by every download site.
+
+    The two bulk loops and the single-logo path each had their own idea of what
+    counted as "already have it", which is how one of them ended up retrying
+    fresh placeholders and the other skipping stale ones forever.
+    """
+
+    def _placeholder(self, tmp_path, abbrev="COLL"):
+        assert LogoDownloader().create_placeholder_logo(abbrev, str(tmp_path))
+        return tmp_path / f"{abbrev}.png"
+
+    def _age(self, path, seconds):
+        metadata = PngInfo()
+        metadata.add_text(PLACEHOLDER_MARKER, str(time.time() - seconds))
+        with Image.open(path) as img:
+            img.copy().save(path, "PNG", pnginfo=metadata)
+
+    def test_missing_file_is_eligible(self, tmp_path):
+        assert should_attempt_download(tmp_path / "nope.png") is True
+
+    def test_real_logo_is_not_eligible(self, tmp_path):
+        real = tmp_path / "REAL.png"
+        Image.new("RGBA", (500, 500), (1, 2, 3, 255)).save(real)
+        assert should_attempt_download(real) is False
+
+    def test_force_download_beats_a_real_logo(self, tmp_path):
+        real = tmp_path / "REAL.png"
+        Image.new("RGBA", (500, 500), (1, 2, 3, 255)).save(real)
+        assert should_attempt_download(real, force_download=True) is True
+
+    def test_fresh_placeholder_is_not_eligible(self, tmp_path):
+        assert should_attempt_download(self._placeholder(tmp_path)) is False
+
+    def test_stale_placeholder_is_eligible(self, tmp_path):
+        path = self._placeholder(tmp_path)
+        self._age(path, PLACEHOLDER_RETRY_SECONDS + 60)
+        assert should_attempt_download(path) is True
+
+    def test_league_bulk_loop_skips_a_fresh_placeholder(self, tmp_path):
+        """A bulk pass honours the same back-off as everything else."""
+        self._placeholder(tmp_path, "AAA")
+        downloader = LogoDownloader()
+        teams = [{"abbreviation": "AAA", "display_name": "A", "logo_url": "http://x/a.png"}]
+        with patch.object(LogoDownloader, "get_logo_directory", return_value=str(tmp_path)):
+            with patch.object(LogoDownloader, "fetch_teams_data", return_value={"sports": [{}]}):
+                with patch.object(LogoDownloader, "extract_teams_from_data", return_value=teams):
+                    with patch.object(LogoDownloader, "download_logo") as download:
+                        downloader.download_missing_logos_for_league("nfl")
+        download.assert_not_called()
+
+    def test_league_bulk_loop_retries_a_stale_placeholder(self, tmp_path):
+        path = self._placeholder(tmp_path, "AAA")
+        self._age(path, PLACEHOLDER_RETRY_SECONDS + 60)
+        downloader = LogoDownloader()
+        teams = [{"abbreviation": "AAA", "display_name": "A", "logo_url": "http://x/a.png"}]
+        with patch.object(LogoDownloader, "get_logo_directory", return_value=str(tmp_path)):
+            with patch.object(LogoDownloader, "fetch_teams_data", return_value={"sports": [{}]}):
+                with patch.object(LogoDownloader, "extract_teams_from_data", return_value=teams):
+                    with patch.object(LogoDownloader, "download_logo", return_value=True) as download:
+                        downloader.download_missing_logos_for_league("nfl")
+        download.assert_called_once()
+
+    def test_ncaa_bulk_loop_retries_a_stale_placeholder(self, tmp_path):
+        """This loop skipped placeholders forever; it now shares the rule."""
+        path = self._placeholder(tmp_path, "AAA")
+        self._age(path, PLACEHOLDER_RETRY_SECONDS + 60)
+        downloader = LogoDownloader()
+        teams = [{"abbreviation": "AAA", "display_name": "A",
+                  "logo_url": "http://x/a.png", "category": "FBS",
+                  "conference": "SEC"}]
+        with patch.object(LogoDownloader, "get_logo_directory", return_value=str(tmp_path)):
+            with patch.object(LogoDownloader, "fetch_teams_data", return_value={"sports": [{}]}):
+                with patch.object(LogoDownloader, "extract_teams_from_data", return_value=teams):
+                    with patch.object(LogoDownloader, "download_logo", return_value=True) as download:
+                        downloader.download_all_ncaa_football_logos()
+        download.assert_called_once()
+
+    def test_ncaa_bulk_loop_skips_a_fresh_placeholder(self, tmp_path):
+        self._placeholder(tmp_path, "AAA")
+        downloader = LogoDownloader()
+        teams = [{"abbreviation": "AAA", "display_name": "A",
+                  "logo_url": "http://x/a.png", "category": "FBS",
+                  "conference": "SEC"}]
+        with patch.object(LogoDownloader, "get_logo_directory", return_value=str(tmp_path)):
+            with patch.object(LogoDownloader, "fetch_teams_data", return_value={"sports": [{}]}):
+                with patch.object(LogoDownloader, "extract_teams_from_data", return_value=teams):
+                    with patch.object(LogoDownloader, "download_logo") as download:
+                        downloader.download_all_ncaa_football_logos()
+        download.assert_not_called()
+
+
+class TestRefreshPlaceholderTimestamp:
+    def test_restarts_the_back_off(self, tmp_path):
+        assert LogoDownloader().create_placeholder_logo("COLL", str(tmp_path))
+        path = tmp_path / "COLL.png"
+        metadata = PngInfo()
+        metadata.add_text(PLACEHOLDER_MARKER, str(time.time() - (PLACEHOLDER_RETRY_SECONDS + 60)))
+        with Image.open(path) as img:
+            img.copy().save(path, "PNG", pnginfo=metadata)
+        assert should_attempt_download(path) is True
+
+        assert refresh_placeholder_timestamp(path) is True
+        assert should_attempt_download(path) is False
+
+    def test_refuses_to_touch_a_real_logo(self, tmp_path):
+        real = tmp_path / "REAL.png"
+        Image.new("RGBA", (500, 500), (1, 2, 3, 255)).save(real)
+        before = real.read_bytes()
+        assert refresh_placeholder_timestamp(real) is False
+        assert real.read_bytes() == before
+
+    def test_missing_file_is_not_an_error(self, tmp_path):
+        assert refresh_placeholder_timestamp(tmp_path / "nope.png") is False

test/test_logo_helper.py

@@ -421,3 +421,76 @@ class TestSessionConfiguration:
     def test_user_agent_and_accept_headers(self, helper):
         assert helper.session.headers["User-Agent"] == "LEDMatrix-Common/1.0"
         assert helper.session.headers["Accept"] == "image/*"
+
+
+class TestStalePlaceholderHandling:
+    """load_logo_with_download must not be fooled by a cached placeholder.
+
+    A placeholder wears the real logo's filename, so both the file cache and
+    the in-memory cache can hold one and look like a hit.
+    """
+
+    def _placeholder(self, tmp_path, abbrev="COLL"):
+        from src.logo_downloader import LogoDownloader
+        assert LogoDownloader().create_placeholder_logo(abbrev, str(tmp_path))
+        return tmp_path / f"{abbrev}.png"
+
+    def _make_stale(self, path):
+        import time
+        from PIL.PngImagePlugin import PngInfo
+        from src.logo_downloader import PLACEHOLDER_MARKER, PLACEHOLDER_RETRY_SECONDS
+        metadata = PngInfo()
+        metadata.add_text(PLACEHOLDER_MARKER, str(time.time() - (PLACEHOLDER_RETRY_SECONDS + 60)))
+        with Image.open(path) as img:
+            img.copy().save(path, "PNG", pnginfo=metadata)
+
+    def test_fresh_placeholder_is_served_without_a_download(self, helper, tmp_path):
+        path = self._placeholder(tmp_path)
+        with patch.object(LogoHelper, "_download_logo") as download:
+            assert helper.load_logo_with_download("COLL", path, "http://x/c.png") is not None
+        download.assert_not_called()
+
+    def test_stale_placeholder_triggers_a_download(self, helper, tmp_path):
+        path = self._placeholder(tmp_path)
+        self._make_stale(path)
+        with patch.object(LogoHelper, "_download_logo") as download:
+            helper.load_logo_with_download("COLL", path, "http://x/c.png")
+        download.assert_called_once()
+
+    def test_replacement_logo_is_not_masked_by_the_cached_placeholder(self, helper, tmp_path):
+        """The bug this guards: load_logo answers from cache before the disk.
+
+        Without invalidation the freshly downloaded logo would not appear until
+        the process restarted.
+        """
+        path = self._placeholder(tmp_path)
+        first = helper.load_logo_with_download("COLL", path, "http://x/c.png")
+        assert first is not None
+
+        self._make_stale(path)
+
+        def fake_download(_self, _url, file_path):
+            Image.new("RGB", (500, 500), (7, 8, 9)).save(file_path, format="PNG")
+
+        with patch.object(LogoHelper, "_download_logo", fake_download):
+            second = helper.load_logo_with_download("COLL", path, "http://x/c.png")
+
+        assert second is not None
+        from src.logo_downloader import is_placeholder_logo
+        assert is_placeholder_logo(path) is False
+        assert second.getpixel((0, 0))[:3] == (7, 8, 9)
+
+    def test_failed_retry_restarts_the_back_off(self, helper, tmp_path):
+        """Otherwise a stale placeholder means a download attempt per call."""
+        from src.logo_downloader import should_attempt_download
+        path = self._placeholder(tmp_path)
+        self._make_stale(path)
+        assert should_attempt_download(path) is True
+
+        def boom(_self, _url, _file_path):
+            raise OSError("network down")
+
+        with patch.object(LogoHelper, "_download_logo", boom):
+            helper.load_logo_with_download("COLL", path, "http://x/c.png")
+
+        assert should_attempt_download(path) is False

test/test_plugin_compatibility_gate.py

@@ -155,8 +155,9 @@ class TestInstallGate:
     rediscovering it. `update_plugin` also has a git branch that pulls in
     place and never re-downloads; that one is gated separately by
     `_gate_pulled_commit` and pinned in `TestGitPullGate` below. A third
-    route, `install_from_url`, is still ungated — sideloading from a URL
-    checks required fields but not the floor.
+    route, `install_from_url` (sideloading from a URL), is gated in that
+    function and pinned in `TestSideloadGate`. All three refuse on the same
+    rule.
     """
 
     def _install_with_manifest(self, store, manifest, core_version, monkeypatch):
@@ -217,6 +218,73 @@ class TestInstallGate:
         assert (path / "manifest.json").exists()
 
 
+class TestSideloadGate:
+    """`install_from_url` never looked at the core version.
+
+    Sideloading is an explicit act rather than an automatic store update, so
+    the argument for gating it is different: not "the user did not choose
+    this", but that the floor states the plugin *cannot run here*. Letting it
+    through produces the same silent PluginState.ERROR at load that the store
+    gate exists to prevent, and the user who typed the URL is no better placed
+    to diagnose it than one who pressed Update.
+    """
+
+    def _sideload(self, store, manifest, core_version, monkeypatch):
+        mgr, plugins_dir = store
+        plugin_id = manifest["id"]
+
+        def fake_clone(repo_url, target_path, branches=None):
+            target_path.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+            (target_path / "manifest.json").write_text(
+                json.dumps(manifest), encoding="utf-8")
+            (target_path / "manager.py").write_text(
+                "class P: pass\n", encoding="utf-8")
+            return "main"
+
+        monkeypatch.setattr(mgr, "_install_via_git", fake_clone)
+        monkeypatch.setattr(mgr, "_install_dependencies", lambda *a, **k: True)
+
+        import src
+        monkeypatch.setattr(src, "__version__", core_version)
+        return mgr.install_from_url("https://example.invalid/plugin"), \
+            plugins_dir / plugin_id
+
+    def test_refuses_a_plugin_that_needs_a_newer_core(self, store, monkeypatch):
+        manifest = {
+            "id": "sideload-newer", "name": "Sideload", "class_name": "P",
+            "display_modes": ["a"], "min_ledmatrix_version": "9.9.9",
+        }
+        result, path = self._sideload(store, manifest, "3.2.0", monkeypatch)
+
+        assert result["success"] is False
+        assert "9.9.9" in result["error"], result["error"]
+        assert not path.exists(), (
+            "a refused sideload must not leave the plugin installed")
+
+    def test_allows_a_compatible_plugin(self, store, monkeypatch):
+        """The guard against over-refusing: a gate that blocks everything
+        passes the test above and breaks sideloading entirely."""
+        manifest = {
+            "id": "sideload-fine", "name": "Sideload", "class_name": "P",
+            "display_modes": ["a"], "min_ledmatrix_version": "3.0.0",
+        }
+        result, path = self._sideload(store, manifest, "3.2.0", monkeypatch)
+
+        assert result["success"] is True, result.get("error")
+        assert (path / "manifest.json").exists()
+
+    def test_untrustworthy_core_does_not_block_a_2_0_0_floor(
+            self, store, monkeypatch):
+        """Same rule as the other two routes: a v3.1.0 release reports 1.0.0,
+        and nearly every published manifest floors at 2.0.0."""
+        manifest = {
+            "id": "sideload-floored", "name": "Sideload", "class_name": "P",
+            "display_modes": ["a"], "versions": [{"ledmatrix_min": "2.0.0"}],
+        }
+        result, _ = self._sideload(store, manifest, "1.0.0", monkeypatch)
+
+        assert result["success"] is True, result.get("error")
+
 # --------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # The git-pull update path — the one route that does not re-download
 # --------------------------------------------------------------------------

test/test_sports_card.py

@@ -0,0 +1,195 @@
+"""The card helpers the eight scoreboards now share.
+
+These bodies lived in eight byte-identical copies. Moving them here means one
+fix reaches every scoreboard — and that a mistake does too, which is what this
+file guards. Each case below is one the plugins' own code already handled; the
+point is that it keeps handling it.
+
+The functions take ``config``/``logger``/``fonts`` as arguments rather than
+reading them off an instance, so a plugin keeps its method and delegates the
+body. That is what let all eight adopt this with byte-identical renders.
+"""
+
+import logging
+import json
+import os
+
+import pytest
+
+from src.common import sports_card as C
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def log():
+    return logging.getLogger("test_sports_card")
+
+
+class TestSettingsLookup:
+    def test_reads_the_scroll_card_block(self):
+        cfg = {"scroll_card": {"vs_text": "@"}}
+        assert C.scroll_card_option(cfg, "vs_text", "VS") == "@"
+
+    @pytest.mark.parametrize("cfg", [None, {}, {"scroll_card": None},
+                                     {"scroll_card": {"vs_text": None}}])
+    def test_missing_or_null_falls_back(self, cfg):
+        """A null in config means "unset", not "empty string"."""
+        assert C.scroll_card_option(cfg, "vs_text", "VS") == "VS"
+
+    def test_upcoming_center_rejects_unknown_modes(self):
+        for bad in ("sideways", "", None, 7):
+            assert C.upcoming_center_mode({"scroll_card": {"upcoming_center": bad}}) == "vs"
+        assert C.upcoming_center_mode({"scroll_card": {"upcoming_center": "DATE_TIME"}}) == "date_time"
+
+
+class TestColour:
+    def test_rgb_list_and_hex_both_work(self):
+        assert C.element_color({"customization": {"score_text": {"text_color": [1, 2, 3]}}},
+                               "score_text") == (1, 2, 3)
+        assert C.element_color({"customization": {"score_text": {"text_color": "#ff8000"}}},
+                               "score_text") == (255, 128, 0)
+
+    @pytest.mark.parametrize("value", ["nope", "#fff", [1, 2], None, ["a", "b", "c"]])
+    def test_unusable_colour_falls_back(self, value):
+        cfg = {"customization": {"score_text": {"text_color": value}}}
+        assert C.element_color(cfg, "score_text", (9, 9, 9)) == (9, 9, 9)
+
+    def test_coerce_rgb_clamps_rather_than_rejecting(self):
+        assert C.coerce_rgb([300, -5, 20], (0, 0, 0)) == (255, 0, 20)
+
+    def test_coerce_rgb_refuses_a_three_character_string(self):
+        """"123" would otherwise iterate into three digits and yield a colour."""
+        assert C.coerce_rgb("123", (7, 7, 7)) == (7, 7, 7)
+
+    def test_font_colour_is_resolved_by_identity(self):
+        a, b = object(), object()
+        cfg = {"customization": {"score_text": {"text_color": [4, 5, 6]}}}
+        assert C.font_color(cfg, {"score": a, "team": b}, a) == (4, 5, 6)
+
+    def test_a_shared_face_gives_up_rather_than_guessing(self):
+        """One object used for two elements has no single right colour."""
+        shared = object()
+        cfg = {"customization": {"score_text": {"text_color": [4, 5, 6]}}}
+        assert C.font_color(cfg, {"score": shared, "team": shared}, shared) == (255, 255, 255)
+
+
+class TestFavourites:
+    GAME = {"home_abbr": "TB", "away_abbr": "NO", "home_score": "21", "away_score": "17"}
+
+    def test_win_loss_and_tie(self):
+        cfg = {"favorite_teams": ["TB"]}
+        assert C.favorite_result(cfg, self.GAME) == "win"
+        assert C.favorite_result({"favorite_teams": ["NO"]}, self.GAME) == "loss"
+        tied = dict(self.GAME, home_score="3", away_score="3")
+        assert C.favorite_result(cfg, tied) == "tie"
+
+    def test_no_verdict_without_exactly_one_favourite_side(self):
+        assert C.favorite_result({}, self.GAME) is None
+        assert C.favorite_result({"favorite_teams": ["TB", "NO"]}, self.GAME) is None
+        assert C.favorite_result({"favorite_teams": ["SEA"]}, self.GAME) is None
+
+    def test_unusable_scores_give_no_verdict(self):
+        bad = dict(self.GAME, home_score="x")
+        assert C.favorite_result({"favorite_teams": ["TB"]}, bad) is None
+
+    def test_nested_payload_shape_is_read_too(self):
+        game = {"home_team": {"abbrev": "TB", "score": 9},
+                "away_team": {"abbrev": "NO", "score": 2}}
+        assert C.side_score(game, "home") == 9
+        assert C.side_is_favorite(game, "home", {"TB"}) is True
+
+    def test_matches_on_id_where_abbreviations_collide(self):
+        """NRL keys favourites by ESPN id; abbreviations are not unique there."""
+        game = {"home_abbr": "SYD", "home_id": "4321"}
+        assert C.side_is_favorite(game, "home", {"4321"}) is True
+
+    def test_game_and_config_favourites_are_both_used(self):
+        """Games carry resolved dynamic groups; config catches later edits."""
+        game = dict(self.GAME, favorite_teams=["NO"], league="nfl")
+        assert set(C.favorite_teams_for({"nfl": {"favorite_teams": ["TB"]}}, game)) == {"NO", "TB"}
+
+
+class TestDateAndTime:
+    def test_date_formats(self, log):
+        for fmt, want in [("abbrev", "Sep 5"), ("numeric", "9/5"),
+                          ("day_first", "5 Sep"), ("numeric_day_first", "5/9")]:
+            cfg = {"scroll_card": {"date_format": fmt}}
+            assert C.format_game_date(cfg, log, "9/5") == want
+
+    @pytest.mark.parametrize("raw", ["", "garbage", "13/40", "no/slash/here"])
+    def test_unparseable_dates_pass_through(self, log, raw):
+        assert C.format_game_date({}, log, raw) == raw.strip()
+
+    def test_24h_conversion(self):
+        cfg = {"scroll_card": {"time_format": "24h"}}
+        assert C.format_game_time(cfg, "7:30 PM") == "19:30"
+        assert C.format_game_time(cfg, "12:00 AM") == "00:00"
+        assert C.format_game_time(cfg, "12:15 PM") == "12:15"
+
+    def test_12h_is_left_alone_and_junk_survives(self):
+        assert C.format_game_time({}, "7:30 PM") == "7:30 PM"
+        assert C.format_game_time({"scroll_card": {"time_format": "24h"}}, "soon") == "soon"
+
+    def test_a_bad_timezone_falls_back_to_utc(self, log):
+        """A typo in config should not blank the card."""
+        from datetime import timezone
+        assert C.card_tzinfo({"timezone": "Not/AZone"}, log) is timezone.utc
+
+
+class TestFontSizing:
+    def test_snaps_to_the_faces_pixel_grid(self):
+        assert C.crisp_size("4x6-font.ttf", 6) == 7        # 7px grid
+        assert C.crisp_size("PressStart2P-Regular.ttf", 10) == 8
+        assert C.crisp_size("PressStart2P-Regular.ttf", 13) == 16
+
+    def test_an_unknown_face_is_never_second_guessed(self):
+        assert C.crisp_size("SomeUserFont.ttf", 11) == 11
+
+    def test_aliases_resolve_before_the_grid_lookup(self):
+        assert C.crisp_size("four_by_six", 6) == C.crisp_size("4x6-font.ttf", 6)
+
+    @pytest.mark.parametrize("desired", [0, -3, None])
+    def test_unusable_sizes_pass_through_without_raising(self, desired):
+        """None reached this in the field; football's variant raised TypeError."""
+        assert C.crisp_size("4x6-font.ttf", desired) == desired
+
+    def test_schema_cache_is_keyed_per_schema_not_globally(self, tmp_path):
+        """Two plugins declaring different defaults must not share an answer."""
+        a, b = tmp_path / "a.json", tmp_path / "b.json"
+        for path, size in ((a, 11), (b, 22)):
+            path.write_text(json.dumps({"properties": {"customization": {"properties": {
+                "score_text": {"properties": {"font_size": {"default": size}}}}}}}))
+        assert C.schema_font_size(str(a), "score_text") == 11
+        assert C.schema_font_size(str(b), "score_text") == 22
+
+    def test_a_missing_schema_is_not_an_error(self, tmp_path):
+        assert C.schema_font_size(str(tmp_path / "nope.json"), "score_text") is None
+
+    def test_a_configured_size_matching_the_schema_default_is_not_a_choice(self, tmp_path):
+        """The web UI writes the whole default block on every save, so
+        font_size == schema default carries no intent and must not pin the
+        install to an off-grid size forever."""
+        schema = tmp_path / "s.json"
+        schema.write_text(json.dumps({"properties": {"customization": {"properties": {
+            "score_text": {"properties": {"font_size": {"default": 10}}}}}}}))
+        got = C.resolve_font_size(str(schema), {"font_size": 10}, "score_text", 10,
+                                  "PressStart2P-Regular.ttf")
+        assert got == 8, "a default-valued size should snap to the grid"
+
+    def test_a_real_choice_wins(self, tmp_path):
+        schema = tmp_path / "s.json"
+        schema.write_text(json.dumps({"properties": {"customization": {"properties": {
+            "score_text": {"properties": {"font_size": {"default": 10}}}}}}}))
+        got = C.resolve_font_size(str(schema), {"font_size": 13}, "score_text", 10,
+                                  "PressStart2P-Regular.ttf")
+        assert got == 13, "an explicit size the user chose is not second-guessed"
+
+
+class TestTables:
+    def test_every_font_key_maps_to_an_element(self):
+        assert set(C.ELEMENT_FOR_FONT) == {"score", "time", "team", "status", "detail", "rank"}
+
+    def test_result_colours_cover_every_verdict(self):
+        assert set(C.FAVORITE_RESULT_COLOR_DEFAULTS) == {"win", "loss", "tie"}
+
+    def test_month_and_weekday_tables_are_complete(self):
+        assert len(C.MONTH_ABBR) == 12 and len(C.WEEKDAY_ABBR) == 7

test/test_sports_game_renderer.py

@@ -0,0 +1,258 @@
+"""The shared card geometry, exercised against a host that supplies only what
+the mixin's contract names.
+
+The point of these is the contract, not the arithmetic. The mixin reaches for
+``display_width``, ``fonts``, ``config`` and six ``sports_card`` delegations
+through ``self``, and the eight plugins are what actually provide them. A
+stub host that provides exactly the documented surface and nothing else is
+what catches the mixin quietly growing a dependency the plugins do not have.
+"""
+
+import pytest
+from PIL import Image, ImageDraw, ImageFont
+
+from src.common.sports_game_renderer import SportsGameRendererMixin
+
+
+class Host(SportsGameRendererMixin):
+    """The documented contract, and not one attribute more."""
+
+    def __init__(self, width=128, height=32, config=None, scroll=None):
+        self.display_width = width
+        self.display_height = height
+        self.config = config or {}
+        self.logger = _Logger()
+        self._team_rankings_cache = {}
+        self._scroll = scroll or {}
+        font = ImageFont.load_default()
+        self.fonts = {'score': font, 'time': font, 'detail': font}
+        self.drawn = []
+
+    # -- the six sports_card delegations the mixin calls --
+    def _scroll_card_option(self, key, default=None):
+        return self._scroll.get(key, default)
+
+    def _upcoming_center_mode(self):
+        return self._scroll.get('upcoming_center', 'vs')
+
+    def _vs_text(self):
+        return self._scroll.get('vs_text', 'VS')
+
+    def _element_color(self, element):
+        return (255, 255, 255)
+
+    def _format_game_date(self, raw, game):
+        return raw
+
+    def _format_game_time(self, raw):
+        return raw
+
+    # -- the one hook whose body genuinely varies per plugin --
+    def _draw_text_with_outline(self, draw, text, position, font,
+                                fill=None, outline_color=(0, 0, 0)):
+        self.drawn.append((text, position))
+
+
+class _Logger:
+    def debug(self, *a, **k):
+        pass
+
+
+def _draw():
+    return ImageDraw.Draw(Image.new("RGB", (256, 64)))
+
+
+class TestCenterGap:
+    def test_explicit_center_gap_wins_outright(self):
+        assert Host(scroll={'center_gap': 31})._center_gap_width() == 31
+
+    def test_explicit_zero_restores_edge_to_edge_logos(self):
+        # 0 is a real setting, not a falsy miss -- the guard is `>= 0`.
+        assert Host(scroll={'center_gap': 0})._center_gap_width() == 0
+
+    def test_otherwise_it_scales_with_card_width_within_the_clamp(self):
+        h = Host(width=512)
+        # 512 * 0.28 = 143, clamped to the 40px ceiling.
+        assert h._center_gap_width() >= h.CENTER_GAP_MIN_PX
+
+    def test_the_gap_never_ends_up_narrower_than_the_score(self):
+        # This is the bug the measurement exists to prevent: a derived gap
+        # smaller than the rendered score drew the score over the logos.
+        h = Host(width=64)
+        assert h._center_gap_width() >= h._score_reserve_width()
+
+    def test_a_junk_ratio_falls_back_to_the_floor(self):
+        h = Host(scroll={'center_gap_ratio': 'wide'})
+        assert h._center_gap_width() == h.CENTER_GAP_MIN_PX
+
+
+class TestNonFiniteSettings:
+    """inf reaches int() and raises OverflowError, which the old
+    `except (TypeError, ValueError)` did not catch -- so one bad config value
+    aborted the entire card render rather than falling back."""
+
+    @pytest.mark.parametrize("bad", [float("inf"), float("-inf")])
+    def test_a_non_finite_center_gap_falls_back(self, bad):
+        h = Host(scroll={'center_gap': bad})
+        assert h._center_gap_width() >= h.CENTER_GAP_MIN_PX
+
+    @pytest.mark.parametrize("bad", [float("inf"), float("-inf"), float("nan")])
+    def test_a_non_finite_ratio_falls_back_to_the_floor(self, bad):
+        h = Host(scroll={'center_gap_ratio': bad})
+        assert h._center_gap_width() == h.CENTER_GAP_MIN_PX
+
+    @pytest.mark.parametrize("bad", [float("inf"), float("-inf")])
+    def test_non_finite_clamp_bounds_fall_back(self, bad):
+        h = Host(scroll={'center_gap_min': bad, 'center_gap_max': bad})
+        assert h._center_gap_width() == h.CENTER_GAP_MIN_PX
+
+    @pytest.mark.parametrize("bad", [float("inf"), float("-inf"), "inf", "-inf", "nan"])
+    def test_a_non_finite_layout_offset_gives_the_default(self, bad):
+        cfg = {'customization': {'layout': {'score': {'x_offset': bad}}}}
+        assert Host(config=cfg)._layout_offset('score', 'x_offset', 7) == 7
+
+    def test_a_finite_value_is_still_honoured(self):
+        # The guard must not swallow ordinary settings.
+        assert Host(scroll={'center_gap': 31})._center_gap_width() == 31
+        cfg = {'customization': {'layout': {'score': {'x_offset': -3}}}}
+        assert Host(config=cfg)._layout_offset('score', 'x_offset', 7) == -3
+
+
+class TestScoreReserve:
+    def test_it_measures_the_probe_plus_both_gutters(self):
+        h = Host()
+        assert h._score_reserve_width() > 2 * h._SCORE_LOGO_GUTTER_PX
+
+    def test_a_wider_probe_reserves_more(self):
+        class Wide(Host):
+            _SCORE_PROBE = "000-000"
+        assert Wide()._score_reserve_width() > Host()._score_reserve_width()
+
+    def test_an_unmeasurable_font_reserves_nothing_rather_than_raising(self):
+        h = Host()
+        h.fonts = {'score': object()}
+        assert h._score_reserve_width() == 0
+
+
+class TestLogoSlot:
+    def test_the_slot_is_what_is_left_after_the_gap(self):
+        h = Host(width=128, scroll={'center_gap': 40})
+        assert h._logo_slot_width() == 44
+
+    def test_it_is_not_capped_at_the_card_height(self):
+        # The height cap is what froze logos at 46px on a 128px card.
+        h = Host(width=512, height=32, scroll={'center_gap': 40})
+        assert h._logo_slot_width() > h.display_height
+
+    def test_a_gap_wider_than_the_card_still_leaves_a_usable_slot(self):
+        assert Host(width=64, scroll={'center_gap': 200})._logo_slot_width() == 8
+
+    def test_the_cache_key_is_scoped_to_the_slot_not_just_the_name(self):
+        # One cache dict is shared by renderers of different card widths.
+        narrow = Host(width=64, scroll={'center_gap': 20})._logo_cache_key("NYY")
+        wide = Host(width=256, scroll={'center_gap': 20})._logo_cache_key("NYY")
+        assert narrow != wide
+
+
+class TestLayoutOffset:
+    def _host(self, value):
+        return Host(config={'customization': {'layout': {'score': {'x_offset': value}}}})
+
+    def test_it_reads_the_same_block_as_the_full_screen_scorebug(self):
+        assert self._host(5)._layout_offset('score', 'x_offset') == 5
+
+    def test_a_string_offset_from_the_web_ui_is_coerced(self):
+        assert self._host("-3")._layout_offset('score', 'x_offset') == -3
+
+    def test_a_bool_is_not_silently_an_offset_of_one(self):
+        assert self._host(True)._layout_offset('score', 'x_offset', 9) == 9
+
+    @pytest.mark.parametrize("cfg", [{}, {'customization': {}},
+                                     {'customization': {'layout': {}}}])
+    def test_a_missing_block_gives_the_default(self, cfg):
+        assert Host(config=cfg)._layout_offset('score', 'x_offset', 7) == 7
+
+    def test_an_unparseable_offset_gives_the_default(self):
+        assert self._host("left")._layout_offset('score', 'x_offset', 4) == 4
+
+
+class TestUpcomingCenter:
+    def test_none_draws_nothing(self):
+        h = Host(scroll={'upcoming_center': 'none'})
+        h._draw_upcoming_center(_draw(), {})
+        assert h.drawn == []
+
+    def test_vs_is_the_default_and_never_a_score(self):
+        # An upcoming game has not started; the extractor's 0-0 is noise.
+        h = Host()
+        h._draw_upcoming_center(_draw(), {'home_score': 0, 'away_score': 0})
+        assert [t for t, _ in h.drawn] == ['VS']
+
+    def test_an_empty_vs_string_draws_nothing(self):
+        h = Host(scroll={'vs_text': ''})
+        h._draw_upcoming_center(_draw(), {})
+        assert h.drawn == []
+
+    def test_date_time_stacks_both_lines(self):
+        h = Host(scroll={'upcoming_center': 'date_time'})
+        h._draw_upcoming_center(_draw(), {'game_date': 'Sep 19', 'game_time': '7:00 PM'})
+        assert [t for t, _ in h.drawn] == ['Sep 19', '7:00 PM']
+
+    def test_hiding_both_lines_draws_nothing(self):
+        h = Host(scroll={'upcoming_center': 'date_time',
+                         'show_date': False, 'show_time': False})
+        h._draw_upcoming_center(_draw(), {'game_date': 'Sep 19', 'game_time': '7:00 PM'})
+        assert h.drawn == []
+
+
+class TestUpcomingStatus:
+    def test_time_on_top_and_date_below_by_default(self):
+        h = Host()
+        h._draw_upcoming_game_status(_draw(), {'game_date': 'Sep 19', 'game_time': '7:00 PM'})
+        assert [t for t, _ in h.drawn] == ['7:00 PM', 'Sep 19']
+
+    def test_swap_date_time_reverses_them(self):
+        h = Host(scroll={'swap_date_time': True})
+        h._draw_upcoming_game_status(_draw(), {'game_date': 'Sep 19', 'game_time': '7:00 PM'})
+        assert [t for t, _ in h.drawn] == ['Sep 19', '7:00 PM']
+
+    def test_it_stays_out_of_the_way_when_the_centre_already_has_them(self):
+        # Otherwise the date and time print twice on the same card.
+        h = Host(scroll={'upcoming_center': 'date_time'})
+        h._draw_upcoming_game_status(_draw(), {'game_date': 'Sep 19', 'game_time': '7:00 PM'})
+        assert h.drawn == []
+
+    def test_the_bottom_line_is_measured_not_a_fixed_offset(self):
+        # A fixed -7 ran "Sep 19" past the card wherever the detail font is
+        # 10px rather than 6px.
+        h = Host(height=64)
+        h._draw_upcoming_game_status(_draw(), {'game_date': 'Sep 19', 'game_time': '7:00 PM'})
+        bottom_y = h.drawn[1][1][1]
+        assert 0 <= bottom_y < h.display_height
+
+
+class TestRankings:
+    def test_set_rankings_cache_replaces_the_cache(self):
+        h = Host()
+        h.set_rankings_cache({'UGA': 1})
+        assert h._team_rankings_cache == {'UGA': 1}
+
+
+class TestContract:
+    def test_the_mixin_carries_no_state_of_its_own(self):
+        # Adoption must be one line on the class statement; a mixin with an
+        # __init__ would force eight constructors to cooperate.
+        assert '__init__' not in SportsGameRendererMixin.__dict__
+
+    def test_a_host_providing_the_documented_surface_needs_nothing_more(self):
+        # Host defines exactly what the module docstring names. If the mixin
+        # grows a new self.* dependency, this is what fails.
+        h = Host()
+        h._center_gap_width()
+        h._logo_slot_width()
+        h._logo_cache_key("X")
+        h._layout_offset('score', 'x_offset')
+        h._upcoming_date_and_time({})
+        h._draw_upcoming_center(_draw(), {})
+        h._draw_upcoming_game_status(_draw(), {})
+        h.set_rankings_cache({})

test/test_sports_shared.py

@@ -0,0 +1,321 @@
+"""The shared sports.py mixins: their host contract, and _plugin_dir.
+
+Two things are worth testing here and the rest is not. The 45 method bodies
+moved verbatim from the plugins, so they are covered by the plugins' own tests
+and by 176 byte-identical safety-harness renders. What is genuinely new is:
+
+1. The contract. Every ``self.<CONSTANT>`` a mixin reads must be defined on the
+   mixin, or a host that does not happen to declare it raises AttributeError at
+   runtime. Two were missed on the first pass (_QUALITY_CHOICES and
+   _RANKING_COVERAGE_SECONDS); the eight plugins all declare them, so nothing
+   failed -- it would only have bitten a ninth. The test derives the list rather
+   than restating it, so the next omission fails here instead of in the field.
+
+2. ``_plugin_dir``. This is the only line of genuinely new logic in the move. In
+   sports.py these methods found config_schema.json with ``__file__``; here that
+   is src/common/, so the plugin directory has to be recovered from the
+   instance -- and getting it wrong is silent, costing grid-snapped font sizes
+   (measured at 81% anti-aliased edges) rather than raising.
+"""
+
+import ast
+import os
+import sys
+import types
+from abc import ABC
+
+import pytest
+
+from src.common import sports_shared
+from src.common.sports_shared import (
+    SportsCoreSharedMixin, SportsLiveSharedMixin, SportsRecentSharedMixin)
+
+MIXINS = (SportsCoreSharedMixin, SportsLiveSharedMixin, SportsRecentSharedMixin)
+
+
+def _constants_read_by_mixins():
+    """Every ALL-CAPS ``self.X`` the mixin bodies read, found by parsing them."""
+    tree = ast.parse(open(sports_shared.__file__).read())
+    names = set()
+    for node in ast.walk(tree):
+        if (isinstance(node, ast.Attribute)
+                and isinstance(node.value, ast.Name)
+                and node.value.id == "self"
+                and node.attr.upper() == node.attr):
+            names.add(node.attr)
+    return names
+
+
+class TestHostContract:
+    def test_every_constant_read_is_also_defined(self):
+        # Otherwise a host that does not declare it raises AttributeError the
+        # first time the code path runs -- which for these is mid-render.
+        missing = sorted(
+            name for name in _constants_read_by_mixins()
+            if not any(hasattr(m, name) for m in MIXINS))
+        assert missing == [], (
+            f"read but never defined on a mixin: {missing}. Give each a default "
+            f"on SportsCoreSharedMixin and document it in the module docstring.")
+
+    @pytest.mark.parametrize("name,expected", [
+        ("_QUALITY_CHOICES", frozenset({"any", "ranked"})),
+        ("_RANKING_COVERAGE_SECONDS", 3600),
+        ("_SCORE_PROBE_TEXT", "00-00"),
+        ("_FONT_DESIGN_HEIGHT", 32),
+    ])
+    def test_defaults_match_what_the_plugins_ship(self, name, expected):
+        # The eight plugins declare their own copies, which shadow these. The
+        # values must still agree, or a ninth plugin inheriting the default
+        # behaves differently from the eight.
+        assert getattr(SportsCoreSharedMixin, name) == expected
+
+    def test_only_the_recent_mixin_carries_a_constructor(self):
+        # SportsCore and SportsLive keep their own __init__ -- those differ per
+        # plugin. SportsRecent.__init__ was one of the 48 byte-identical bodies,
+        # so it moved with the rest; that is deliberate, not an oversight.
+        assert "__init__" not in SportsCoreSharedMixin.__dict__
+        assert "__init__" not in SportsLiveSharedMixin.__dict__
+        assert "__init__" in SportsRecentSharedMixin.__dict__
+
+    def test_the_recent_constructor_still_chains_to_the_host(self):
+        """Its zero-arg super() binds to where it is DEFINED, not where it is used.
+
+        Moving a body containing bare ``super()`` is the one move that can
+        change meaning: the compiler closes over __class__ = the defining class,
+        so after the move that is SportsRecentSharedMixin rather than the
+        plugin's SportsRecent. It still works only because the mixin is listed
+        first, leaving the host class next in the MRO -- adopt it in the other
+        order and the chain silently skips the host's __init__.
+        """
+        calls = []
+
+        class Host:
+            def __init__(self, config, display_manager, cache_manager, logger, sport_key):
+                calls.append(sport_key)
+                self.mode_config = {}
+
+        class Recent(SportsRecentSharedMixin, Host):
+            pass
+
+        inst = Recent({}, None, None, None, "nhl")
+        assert calls == ["nhl"], "the host constructor must still run"
+        assert inst.current_game_index == 0
+        assert inst.update_interval == 3600
+        assert inst._zero_clock_timestamps == {}
+
+    def test_adopting_the_recent_mixin_second_would_skip_the_host(self):
+        # The failure mode the ordering above prevents, pinned so nobody
+        # "tidies" the base list.
+        calls = []
+
+        class Host:
+            def __init__(self, *a):
+                calls.append(a)
+                self.mode_config = {}
+
+        class Wrong(Host, SportsRecentSharedMixin):
+            pass
+
+        Wrong({}, None, None, None, "nhl")
+        # Host.__init__ wins and the mixin's setup never runs at all.
+        assert not hasattr(Wrong({}, None, None, None, "nhl"), "current_game_index")
+
+
+class _Host(SportsCoreSharedMixin):
+    pass
+
+
+def _write_plugin(tmp_path, name="fakeplug", schema=True):
+    """A throwaway package on sys.path, with or without a config_schema.json."""
+    d = tmp_path / name
+    d.mkdir()
+    (d / "__init__.py").write_text("")
+    (d / "mod.py").write_text("class Leaf:\n    pass\n")
+    if schema:
+        (d / "config_schema.json").write_text(
+            '{"properties": {"customization": {"properties": '
+            '{"score": {"properties": {"font_size": {"default": 16}}}}}}}')
+    return d
+
+
+class TestPluginDir:
+    def test_it_finds_the_directory_holding_config_schema_json(self, tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+        d = _write_plugin(tmp_path)
+        monkeypatch.syspath_prepend(str(tmp_path))
+        mod = __import__("fakeplug.mod", fromlist=["Leaf"])
+        host = type("H", (mod.Leaf, SportsCoreSharedMixin), {})()
+        assert host._plugin_dir() == str(d)
+
+    def test_a_class_built_by_type_still_resolves(self, tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+        # SportsCore is an ABC, so type(name, bases, ns) reports __module__ as
+        # "abc" rather than the plugin -- which is exactly what the plugins'
+        # own tests build. Walking the MRO is what steps past it.
+        d = _write_plugin(tmp_path, "abcplug")
+        monkeypatch.syspath_prepend(str(tmp_path))
+        mod = __import__("abcplug.mod", fromlist=["Leaf"])
+
+        class Base(SportsCoreSharedMixin, mod.Leaf, ABC):
+            pass
+
+        synthetic = type("Probe", (Base,), {})
+        assert synthetic.__module__ == "abc", "precondition: the trap this guards"
+        assert synthetic.__new__(synthetic)._plugin_dir() == str(d)
+
+    def test_it_returns_none_when_no_schema_is_anywhere_on_the_mro(self, tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+        d = _write_plugin(tmp_path, "noschema", schema=False)
+        monkeypatch.syspath_prepend(str(tmp_path))
+        mod = __import__("noschema.mod", fromlist=["Leaf"])
+        host = type("H", (mod.Leaf, SportsCoreSharedMixin), {})()
+        # None rather than a wrong guess: _schema_font_size then caches empty
+        # and every element keeps its own default.
+        assert host._plugin_dir() is None
+
+    def test_it_never_returns_the_core_module_directory(self):
+        # The bug this replaced: __file__ pointed at src/common/, so the schema
+        # was never found and font sizes silently stopped snapping to the grid.
+        host = _Host()
+        core_common = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(sports_shared.__file__))
+        assert host._plugin_dir() != core_common
+
+    def test_a_module_with_no_file_is_skipped_not_crashed_on(self, monkeypatch):
+        # Namespace packages and some frozen/dynamic modules have no __file__.
+        ghost = types.ModuleType("ghost_no_file")
+        if hasattr(ghost, "__file__"):
+            del ghost.__file__
+        monkeypatch.setitem(sys.modules, "ghost_no_file", ghost)
+        cls = type("H", (SportsCoreSharedMixin,), {"__module__": "ghost_no_file"})
+        assert cls.__new__(cls)._plugin_dir() is None
+
+
+class TestSchemaFontSize:
+    def test_it_reads_the_plugin_schema_not_the_cores(self, tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+        d = _write_plugin(tmp_path, "sizeplug")
+        monkeypatch.syspath_prepend(str(tmp_path))
+        mod = __import__("sizeplug.mod", fromlist=["Leaf"])
+        host = type("H", (mod.Leaf, SportsCoreSharedMixin), {})()
+        assert host._schema_font_size("score") == 16
+
+    def test_an_unknown_element_is_none(self, tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+        _write_plugin(tmp_path, "unkplug")
+        monkeypatch.syspath_prepend(str(tmp_path))
+        mod = __import__("unkplug.mod", fromlist=["Leaf"])
+        host = type("H", (mod.Leaf, SportsCoreSharedMixin), {})()
+        assert host._schema_font_size("nonesuch") is None
+
+    def test_an_empty_key_is_none_without_touching_the_disk(self):
+        assert _Host()._schema_font_size("") is None
+
+    def test_a_missing_schema_degrades_to_none_rather_than_raising(self, tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+        _write_plugin(tmp_path, "bareplug", schema=False)
+        monkeypatch.syspath_prepend(str(tmp_path))
+        mod = __import__("bareplug.mod", fromlist=["Leaf"])
+        host = type("H", (mod.Leaf, SportsCoreSharedMixin), {})()
+        assert host._schema_font_size("score") is None
+
+
+class _LiveHost(SportsLiveSharedMixin):
+    """The documented contract for the live mixin, and nothing else."""
+
+    def __init__(self, no_data_interval=300, stale_game_timeout=600, over=()):
+        self.no_data_interval = no_data_interval
+        self.stale_game_timeout = stale_game_timeout
+        self.game_update_timestamps = {}
+        self._over = set(over)
+
+        class _L:
+            def __getattr__(self, _n):
+                return lambda *a, **k: None
+        self.logger = _L()
+
+    def _is_game_really_over(self, game):
+        return game.get("id") in self._over
+
+
+class TestLiveMixin:
+    """These three moved to the core, so they are tested here.
+
+    They were already covered by hockey's and lacrosse's own tests, but those
+    two plugins disable live mode in their safety-harness fixtures, so the 176
+    renders never exercise this path. Testing the mixin directly means the
+    coverage no longer depends on which plugin happens to have a unit test.
+    """
+
+    def test_a_stale_game_is_dropped_and_forgotten(self):
+        h = _LiveHost(stale_game_timeout=600)
+        import time as _t
+        h.game_update_timestamps["g1"] = {"last_seen": _t.time() - 5000}
+        games = [{"id": "g1", "home_abbr": "H", "away_abbr": "A"}]
+        h._detect_stale_games(games)
+        assert games == []
+        assert "g1" not in h.game_update_timestamps, "its timestamp must go too"
+
+    def test_a_fresh_game_survives(self):
+        h = _LiveHost(stale_game_timeout=600)
+        import time as _t
+        h.game_update_timestamps["g1"] = {"last_seen": _t.time() - 5}
+        games = [{"id": "g1"}]
+        h._detect_stale_games(games)
+        assert len(games) == 1
+
+    def test_a_game_never_seen_is_not_treated_as_stale(self):
+        # last_seen 0 means "no reading", not "seen at the epoch".
+        h = _LiveHost()
+        games = [{"id": "g1"}]
+        h._detect_stale_games(games)
+        assert len(games) == 1
+
+    def test_a_game_with_no_id_is_left_alone(self):
+        h = _LiveHost()
+        games = [{"home_abbr": "H"}]
+        h._detect_stale_games(games)
+        assert len(games) == 1
+
+    def test_a_finished_game_is_dropped_even_when_fresh(self):
+        h = _LiveHost(over=("g2",))
+        games = [{"id": "g1"}, {"id": "g2"}]
+        h._detect_stale_games(games)
+        assert [g["id"] for g in games] == ["g1"]
+
+    def test_removing_several_does_not_skip_any(self):
+        # It iterates a copy for exactly this reason; mutating the live list
+        # while looping would step over the element after each removal.
+        h = _LiveHost(over=("g1", "g2", "g3"))
+        games = [{"id": "g1"}, {"id": "g2"}, {"id": "g3"}]
+        h._detect_stale_games(games)
+        assert games == []
+
+    def test_the_idle_interval_escalates_with_the_empty_streak(self):
+        h = _LiveHost(no_data_interval=60)
+        h.live_idle_max_interval = 100000
+        base = h._idle_live_interval()
+        h._empty_live_streak = 6
+        short = h._idle_live_interval()
+        h._empty_live_streak = 24
+        long = h._idle_live_interval()
+        assert base < short < long
+
+    def test_the_ceiling_bounds_even_the_unescalated_interval(self):
+        # base > ceiling is a reachable config: the two settings are
+        # independent integers with no cross-validation. Returning base
+        # unclamped made the wait SHRINK as the streak grew.
+        h = _LiveHost(no_data_interval=3600)
+        h.live_idle_max_interval = 900
+        h._empty_live_streak = 0
+        assert h._idle_live_interval() == 900
+        h._empty_live_streak = 24
+        assert h._idle_live_interval() == 900
+
+    def test_finding_a_live_game_resets_the_streak(self):
+        h = _LiveHost()
+        h._note_live_fetch(False)
+        h._note_live_fetch(False)
+        assert h._empty_live_streak == 2
+        h._note_live_fetch(True)
+        assert h._empty_live_streak == 0
+
+    def test_the_streak_starts_from_absent_state(self):
+        # The host is not required to pre-declare _empty_live_streak.
+        h = _LiveHost()
+        assert not hasattr(h, "_empty_live_streak")
+        h._note_live_fetch(False)
+        assert h._empty_live_streak == 1

web_interface/templates/v3/base.html

@@ -1164,9 +1164,16 @@
                 // The pull replaced files on disk; the running services still
                 // hold the code they loaded at boot. Ask for the restart that
                 // makes the update actually take effect.
+                //
+                // Both services, not just the display. The plugin store's
+                // compatibility gate runs in the web process, so a web service
+                // still holding the previous version refuses every plugin that
+                // floors on the release just installed -- blaming a core
+                // version that is already correct on disk.
                 if (data.restart_required && typeof window.showRestartPending === 'function') {
                     window.showRestartPending(
-                        'Update installed \u2014 restart the display to run the new code');
+                        'Update installed \u2014 restart the display and web ' +
+                        'services to run the new code');
                 }
             }
             if (typeof showNotification === 'function') {