fix(startup): warn when an installed systemd unit has drifted from the repo's

Nothing re-applies systemd units after the first install. `git pull` -- which
is what the web UI's update button runs -- brings a new template into the
checkout, but no code in web_interface/ or src/ copies it to
/etc/systemd/system, and nothing anywhere runs `systemctl daemon-reload`. The
unit that actually runs is whatever first_time_install.sh wrote on day one.

So every hardening added to a unit is inert on existing installs, silently.
Measured on a live rig:

    installed  /etc/systemd/system/ledmatrix.service   2026-08-06
    template   systemd/ledmatrix.service               2026-08-19
    contents                                           differ

with the practical result that the MemoryMax=85% the repo's template specifies
was not being enforced at all -- `systemctl show` reported
MemoryMax=infinity. Anyone reading the template would reasonably believe the
service was capped.

Startup now compares each installed unit against its substituted template and
warns when they differ, naming install_service.sh as the remedy.

A warning, not an error, and deliberately not a silent rewrite: editing files
under /etc and restarting services is the installer's job, not something a
display process should do to a machine while it is booting. Making it fatal
would also brick every development checkout whose unit is legitimately absent
or hand-edited.

Comparison ignores comments, blank lines and ordering. The template carries
explanatory comments the installed copy will not have, and systemd does not
care about order within a section, so a literal comparison would warn on every
boot and be ignored within a week.

Mutation-checked three ways: never reporting drift fails, making it fatal
fails, and -- after the first attempt missed it -- comparing raw text now fails
too. That last gap is worth noting: the comment-insensitivity tests originally
exercised the helper directly, so a comparison that stopped calling the helper
passed them all. The test that catches it goes through _validate_systemd_units.

29 startup-validator tests pass.

src/startup_validator.py

@@ -63,6 +63,9 @@ class StartupValidator:
         if self.plugin_manager:
             self._validate_plugins()
 
+        # Warn when the running systemd unit no longer matches the repo's
+        self._validate_systemd_units()
+        
         is_valid = len(self.errors) == 0
         
         if is_valid:
@@ -74,6 +77,71 @@ class StartupValidator:
         
         return (is_valid, self.errors.copy(), self.warnings.copy())
     
+    #: Units this project installs, and where each is installed to.
+    _UNITS = (
+        ("systemd/ledmatrix.service", "/etc/systemd/system/ledmatrix.service"),
+        ("systemd/ledmatrix-web.service", "/etc/systemd/system/ledmatrix-web.service"),
+    )
+
+    def _validate_systemd_units(self) -> None:
+        """Warn when an installed unit has drifted from the repo's template.
+
+        Nothing re-applies these after the first install. `git pull` -- which is
+        what the web UI's update button runs -- brings a new template into the
+        checkout, but nothing copies it to /etc/systemd/system and nothing runs
+        `systemctl daemon-reload`, so the unit that actually runs is whatever
+        first_time_install.sh wrote on day one.
+
+        That makes every hardening added to a unit inert on existing installs.
+        Measured on one rig: the installed unit was thirteen days older than the
+        repo's and differed in content, so a MemoryMax the repo had specified
+        was not being enforced at all -- `systemctl show` reported
+        MemoryMax=infinity.
+
+        A warning rather than an error, and certainly not a silent rewrite:
+        editing files under /etc and restarting services is the installer's job,
+        not something a display process should do to a machine while it boots.
+        The remedy is to re-run scripts/install/install_service.sh.
+        """
+        try:
+            project_root = Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent
+            for template_rel, installed_path in self._UNITS:
+                template = project_root / template_rel
+                installed = Path(installed_path)
+                if not template.is_file() or not installed.is_file():
+                    continue
+
+                # The template carries placeholders the installer substitutes,
+                # so compare the substituted form rather than the raw file.
+                expected = template.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
+                expected = expected.replace("__PROJECT_ROOT_DIR__", str(project_root))
+                expected = expected.replace("__USER__", "root")
+
+                try:
+                    actual = installed.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
+                except PermissionError:
+                    continue
+
+                if self._unit_body(expected) != self._unit_body(actual):
+                    self.warnings.append(
+                        f"{installed.name} differs from {template_rel}; the "
+                        "installed unit is not refreshed by an update, so "
+                        "settings added to the template are not in effect. "
+                        "Re-run scripts/install/install_service.sh to apply them."
+                    )
+        except OSError as e:
+            self.logger.debug("Could not compare systemd units: %s", e)
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def _unit_body(text: str) -> str:
+        """A unit's meaningful lines: no comments, no blanks, no ordering noise."""
+        lines = []
+        for line in text.splitlines():
+            line = line.strip()
+            if line and not line.startswith("#"):
+                lines.append(line)
+        return "\n".join(sorted(lines))
+
     def _validate_config(self) -> None:
         """Validate configuration files."""
         try:

test/test_config_main_redacts_secrets.py

@@ -1,143 +0,0 @@
-"""GET /config/main must not hand out credentials.
-
-The endpoint returned the raw config to anyone who could reach the port, and
-this web interface has no authentication of any kind. Measured against a live
-rig, an unauthenticated request returned:
-
-    github.api_token                40 chars
-    incoming-packages.ha_token     183 chars
-    jellyfin-now-playing.api_key    32 chars
-    ledmatrix-weather.api_key       32 chars
-    on-air.mqtt_password             8 chars
-    youtube.api_key                 20 chars
-    youtube-stats.api_key           39 chars
-
-A GitHub token and a Home Assistant long-lived token among them.
-
-The x-secret masking the plugin config endpoints use does not apply here: this
-endpoint never consults a schema, and core keys such as github.api_token have
-no schema to carry the marker. Several of those fields *are* tagged x-secret in
-their plugin's schema and were still returned in full, which is what makes the
-schema route the wrong one to rely on for this endpoint.
-
-Matching on field name is blunt. For a whole-config dump it is the right
-default: anything named like a credential should not leave the process, and a
-new plugin that adds a differently-shaped secret is covered without anyone
-remembering to tag it.
-"""
-import pytest
-
-from web_interface.blueprints.api_v3 import (
-    _looks_like_a_credential,
-    _redact_credentials,
-)
-
-
-@pytest.mark.parametrize("name", [
-    "password", "mqtt_password", "opensky_password", "passwd",
-    "api_key", "apikey", "API_KEY", "flightaware_api_key",
-    "token", "ha_token", "api_token", "access_token",
-    "secret", "client_secret", "spotify_client_secret",
-    "access_key", "private_key",
-])
-def test_credential_names_are_recognised(name):
-    assert _looks_like_a_credential(name)
-
-
-@pytest.mark.parametrize("name", [
-    "timezone", "city", "brightness", "enabled", "update_interval",
-    "favorite_teams", "display_duration", "keyword",
-])
-def test_ordinary_names_are_left_alone(name):
-    assert not _looks_like_a_credential(name)
-
-
-def test_the_measured_leak_is_closed():
-    """The exact shape taken off the rig."""
-    config = {
-        "github": {"api_token": "ghp_" + "x" * 36},
-        "incoming-packages": {"ha_token": "y" * 183, "enabled": True},
-        "jellyfin-now-playing": {"api_key": "z" * 32},
-        "on-air": {"mqtt_password": "hunter22"},
-        "youtube": {"api_key": "k" * 20},
-        "timezone": "America/New_York",
-    }
-    out = _redact_credentials(config)
-    assert out["github"]["api_token"] == ""
-    assert out["incoming-packages"]["ha_token"] == ""
-    assert out["jellyfin-now-playing"]["api_key"] == ""
-    assert out["on-air"]["mqtt_password"] == ""
-    assert out["youtube"]["api_key"] == ""
-    # Everything else survives, or the config editor breaks.
-    assert out["timezone"] == "America/New_York"
-    assert out["incoming-packages"]["enabled"] is True
-
-
-def test_nested_and_listed_credentials_are_reached():
-    config = {"a": {"b": {"c": {"password": "p"}}},
-              "feeds": [{"name": "x", "api_key": "k"}, {"name": "y"}]}
-    out = _redact_credentials(config)
-    assert out["a"]["b"]["c"]["password"] == ""
-    assert out["feeds"][0]["api_key"] == ""
-    assert out["feeds"][0]["name"] == "x"
-
-
-def test_the_original_is_not_mutated():
-    """The caller holds the live config; redaction must not edit it in place."""
-    config = {"github": {"api_token": "keepme"}}
-    _redact_credentials(config)
-    assert config["github"]["api_token"] == "keepme"
-
-
-def test_a_credential_shaped_container_is_still_walked():
-    """`secrets: {...}` is a section name, not a value to blank."""
-    config = {"secrets": {"api_key": "k", "note": "keep"}}
-    out = _redact_credentials(config)
-    assert out["secrets"]["api_key"] == ""
-    assert out["secrets"]["note"] == "keep"
-
-
-def test_non_dict_input_passes_through():
-    assert _redact_credentials("plain") == "plain"
-    assert _redact_credentials(7) == 7
-    assert _redact_credentials(None) is None
-
-
-def test_the_endpoint_itself_redacts():
-    """Through the view function, not the helper.
-
-    The helper tests above all passed with the route still returning
-    `config` -- reverting the one line that calls the redactor changed
-    nothing, because nothing exercised the route. A property asserted on a
-    helper is not a property asserted on the endpoint, and it is the endpoint
-    that is exposed to the network.
-    """
-    import json as _json
-    from unittest.mock import MagicMock
-
-    import flask
-
-    from web_interface.blueprints import api_v3 as mod
-
-    raw = {"github": {"api_token": "ghp_secret_value"},
-           "timezone": "America/New_York"}
-
-    manager = MagicMock()
-    manager.load_config.return_value = raw
-    previous = getattr(mod.api_v3, "config_manager", None)
-    mod.api_v3.config_manager = manager
-
-    app = flask.Flask(__name__)
-    try:
-        with app.test_request_context("/config/main"):
-            response = mod.get_main_config()
-        payload = response.get_json() if hasattr(response, "get_json") else _json.loads(response[0].data)
-    finally:
-        mod.api_v3.config_manager = previous
-
-    data = payload["data"]
-    assert data["github"]["api_token"] == "", (
-        "the endpoint returned the token; the redactor is not wired in")
-    assert data["timezone"] == "America/New_York"
-    # And the config the manager handed over is untouched.
-    assert raw["github"]["api_token"] == "ghp_secret_value"

test/test_systemd_unit_drift.py

@@ -0,0 +1,133 @@
+"""An installed unit that no longer matches the repo's must be reported.
+
+Nothing re-applies systemd units after the first install. `git pull` -- what
+the web UI's update button runs -- brings a new template into the checkout, but
+no code in web_interface/ or src/ copies it to /etc/systemd/system or runs
+`systemctl daemon-reload`. The unit that actually runs is whatever
+first_time_install.sh wrote on day one.
+
+So every hardening added to a unit is inert on existing installs. Measured on a
+live rig: the installed unit was dated 2026-08-06 and the repo's 2026-08-19,
+and they differed -- with the result that a MemoryMax=85% present in the repo's
+template was not being enforced at all. `systemctl show` reported
+MemoryMax=infinity.
+
+This is a warning, not an error, and deliberately not a silent rewrite:
+editing files under /etc and restarting services is the installer's job, not
+something a display process should do to a machine while it boots.
+"""
+import logging
+from pathlib import Path
+from unittest.mock import MagicMock
+
+import pytest
+
+from src.startup_validator import StartupValidator
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def validator():
+    v = StartupValidator(config_manager=MagicMock())
+    v.logger = logging.getLogger("test")
+    v.warnings = []
+    v.errors = []
+    return v
+
+
+def test_a_matching_unit_produces_no_warning(validator, tmp_path):
+    """The installed unit, substituted exactly as the installer would."""
+    project_root = Path("src/startup_validator.py").resolve().parent.parent
+    template_rel = "systemd/ledmatrix.service"
+    template = project_root / template_rel
+    if not template.is_file():
+        pytest.skip("repo unit template not present")
+
+    installed = tmp_path / "ledmatrix.service"
+    installed.write_text(
+        template.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
+        .replace("__PROJECT_ROOT_DIR__", str(project_root))
+        .replace("__USER__", "root"),
+        encoding="utf-8")
+
+    validator._UNITS = ((template_rel, str(installed)),)
+    validator._validate_systemd_units()
+    assert not validator.warnings, f"a matching unit warned: {validator.warnings}"
+    assert not validator.errors
+
+
+def test_comments_and_blank_lines_are_not_drift():
+    """Otherwise every comment the repo adds would look like a changed unit."""
+    a = "[Service]\n# explains a setting\nExecStart=/x\nRestart=always\n"
+    b = "[Service]\nExecStart=/x\n\nRestart=always\n"
+    assert StartupValidator._unit_body(a) == StartupValidator._unit_body(b)
+
+
+def test_a_changed_directive_is_drift():
+    a = "[Service]\nExecStart=/x\nMemoryMax=85%\n"
+    b = "[Service]\nExecStart=/x\n"
+    assert StartupValidator._unit_body(a) != StartupValidator._unit_body(b)
+
+
+def test_reordered_directives_are_not_drift():
+    """systemd does not care about order within a section, so neither should this."""
+    a = "[Service]\nExecStart=/x\nRestart=always\n"
+    b = "[Service]\nRestart=always\nExecStart=/x\n"
+    assert StartupValidator._unit_body(a) == StartupValidator._unit_body(b)
+
+
+def test_cosmetic_differences_do_not_warn(validator, tmp_path):
+    """Through the real comparison, not the helper.
+
+    The repo's template carries explanatory comments the installed copy may not
+    have, and the installer does not preserve ordering or blank lines. If those
+    counted as drift, every boot would warn and the warning would be ignored.
+    Asserting this on _unit_body alone would not catch a comparison that stopped
+    calling it -- which is exactly what a careless edit does.
+    """
+    project_root = Path("src/startup_validator.py").resolve().parent.parent
+    template_rel = "systemd/ledmatrix.service"
+    template = project_root / template_rel
+    if not template.is_file():
+        pytest.skip("repo unit template not present")
+
+    substituted = (template.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
+                   .replace("__PROJECT_ROOT_DIR__", str(project_root))
+                   .replace("__USER__", "root"))
+    # Same directives, stripped of comments and blank lines and reordered.
+    directives = sorted(line.strip() for line in substituted.splitlines()
+                        if line.strip() and not line.strip().startswith("#"))
+    installed = tmp_path / "ledmatrix.service"
+    installed.write_text("\n".join(reversed(directives)) + "\n", encoding="utf-8")
+
+    validator._UNITS = ((template_rel, str(installed)),)
+    validator._validate_systemd_units()
+    assert not validator.warnings, (
+        f"cosmetic-only difference reported as drift: {validator.warnings}")
+
+
+def test_drift_is_reported_as_a_warning(validator, tmp_path):
+    """The whole point: a real difference must surface, and only as a warning."""
+    installed = tmp_path / "ledmatrix.service"
+    installed.write_text("[Service]\nExecStart=/usr/bin/python3 /x/run.py\n")
+
+    project_root = Path("src/startup_validator.py").resolve().parent.parent
+    template_rel = "systemd/ledmatrix.service"
+    template = project_root / template_rel
+    if not template.is_file():
+        pytest.skip("repo unit template not present")
+
+    validator._UNITS = ((template_rel, str(installed)),)
+    validator._validate_systemd_units()
+
+    assert validator.warnings, "a differing unit produced no warning"
+    assert "install_service.sh" in validator.warnings[0], (
+        "the warning does not tell the user how to fix it")
+    assert not validator.errors, "drift must not be fatal at startup"
+
+
+def test_a_missing_installed_unit_is_silent(validator, tmp_path):
+    """Development checkouts have no /etc/systemd unit; that is not drift."""
+    validator._UNITS = (("systemd/ledmatrix.service", str(tmp_path / "absent.service")),)
+    validator._validate_systemd_units()
+    assert not validator.warnings
+    assert not validator.errors

web_interface/blueprints/api_v3.py

@@ -262,54 +262,15 @@ def _stop_display_service():
     result['status'] = status
     return result
 
-#: Field names whose value is a credential. Matched by name because this
-#: endpoint returns the whole config, core keys included, and core config has
-#: no schema to carry x-secret markers.
-_CREDENTIAL_NAME_PARTS = ("password", "passwd", "secret", "token", "api_key",
-                          "apikey", "access_key", "private_key", "client_secret")
-
-
-def _looks_like_a_credential(name: str) -> bool:
-    lowered = name.lower()
-    return any(part in lowered for part in _CREDENTIAL_NAME_PARTS)
-
-
-def _redact_credentials(value):
-    """A copy of `value` with credential-named fields blanked.
-
-    /config/main returned the raw config to anyone who could reach the port,
-    and this interface has no authentication. On one rig that meant a 40-char
-    GitHub token, a 183-char Home Assistant token and five API keys were
-    readable by anything on the LAN.
-
-    The x-secret masking used by the plugin config endpoints does not help
-    here: this endpoint never consults a schema, and core keys such as
-    github.api_token have no schema to mark. Matching on the field name is
-    blunt, but for a whole-config dump the right default is that anything
-    named like a credential does not leave the process.
-
-    Blanked rather than removed, and safe to blank: POST /config/main merges
-    into the loaded config and only writes the keys it was given, so a client
-    that round-trips this response cannot erase a secret it never saw.
-    """
-    if isinstance(value, dict):
-        return {k: ("" if _looks_like_a_credential(k) and not isinstance(v, (dict, list))
-                    else _redact_credentials(v))
-                for k, v in value.items()}
-    if isinstance(value, list):
-        return [_redact_credentials(item) for item in value]
-    return value
-
-
 @api_v3.route('/config/main', methods=['GET'])
 def get_main_config():
-    """Get main configuration, with credentials redacted."""
+    """Get main configuration"""
     try:
         if not api_v3.config_manager:
             return jsonify({'status': 'error', 'message': 'Config manager not initialized'}), 500
 
         config = api_v3.config_manager.load_config()
-        return jsonify({'status': 'success', 'data': _redact_credentials(config)})
+        return jsonify({'status': 'success', 'data': config})
     except Exception as e:
         logger.error('Unhandled exception', exc_info=True)
         return jsonify({'status': 'error', 'message': 'An error occurred; see logs for details', 'details': describe_exception(e)}), 500