Expand systemd specifiers before calling a unit foreign

The first real `deploy.sh` run on blankpad printed:

    SKIP   live-sync.service (ExecStart '%h/.omp/scripts/live-sync.sh' absent on this host)

while `/home/blank/.omp/scripts/live-sync.sh` sits right there. `%h` is expanded by systemd,
never by the shell, so the literal string was handed to `command -v`, failed, and the unit was
declared to belong to another machine — through the same code path whose whole purpose is to
keep a *foreign* unit inert, and silently. The victim was this repo's own heartbeat, and the
verdict was the same on every box that ever deployed it, because `%h` is exactly where the
checkout lives.

Nothing broke tonight only by luck of install state: `live-sync.service` is `linked`, driven
by its timer, so the heartbeat kept running while the deploy lied about it. A unit whose only
install route was this loop would simply never have been enabled anywhere.

`%h`, `%u` and `%U` are now expanded before resolution; an unrecognised specifier is left
alone so it fails loudly rather than being guessed at. Pinned by a test that writes a
`%h/.local/bin/helper` unit into the scratch home — red before (`SKIP`), green after
(`already linked; not started`), which also keeps the #45 rule intact: resolving a unit is not
licence to start it. Refs #44.

Verification: `bats tests/` 71/71, `kb-lint.sh omp-docs` 0 violations, `kb-coverage.py` 0
issues, `bash -n` clean.
This commit is contained in:
Frank committed 2026-10-20 17:19:49 -07:00
1 parent c05f5ad451
commit e278e4b863
3 files changed
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@@ -123,6 +123,14 @@ if [ "$MODE" != "check" ] && [ -d "$PKGS_DIR/systemd-user/.config/systemd/user"
for unit in "$PKGS_DIR"/systemd-user/.config/systemd/user/*.service; do
[ -e "$unit" ] || continue
bin="$(sed -n 's/^ExecStart=\([^ ]*\).*/\1/p' "$unit" | head -1)"
# systemd expands specifiers inside ExecStart; this shell does not. Matching the literal
# `%h/…` makes a unit of THIS box look foreign and skips it in silence — which is exactly
# how live-sync.service, the repo's own heartbeat, has been reported "absent on this
# host" on every machine that deployed it. Expand what a user unit can carry; leave any
# other specifier unmatched rather than guess at it. Refs #44.
bin="${bin//%h/$HOME}"
bin="${bin//%u/$(id -un)}"
bin="${bin//%U/$(id -u)}"
if [ -n "$bin" ] && command -v "$bin" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
name="$(basename "$unit")"
# Read the state, not the exit status: `is-enabled` exits 1 for a `linked` unit exactly