fix(updater): stop false-positive "update available" loop when commit is unknown

Dockerfile never received DASHCADDY_COMMIT at build, so /app/VERSION held
'unknown'. _isNewer then treated same-version-different-commit as newer,
making the auto-updater rebuild the container indefinitely (each rebuild
still produced commit='unknown').

- self-updater._isNewer: normalize commits; treat unknown/null/empty as no
  commit info and fall back to pure version comparison
- self-updater._autoCheckAndApply + routes/updates: refuse to apply when
  local version >= remote version (belt-and-suspenders)
- update-management.js: hide '(unknown)' from version label
- Dockerfile: COPY VERSION instead of writing from build arg
- VERSION: committed placeholder ('dev'); scripts/release.sh now writes
  the real short SHA into the tarball's VERSION before tar-ing, so every
  published release ships with an accurate commit

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

dashcaddy-api/Dockerfile

@@ -13,8 +13,10 @@ COPY src/ ./src/
 COPY routes/ ./routes/
 COPY openapi.yaml ./
 
-ARG DASHCADDY_COMMIT=unknown
+# VERSION file holds the short git SHA the image was built from. Committed as
-RUN echo "${DASHCADDY_COMMIT}" > VERSION
+# 'dev' for source builds; the release script (scripts/release.sh) overwrites it
+# with the actual commit hash before tarballing each release.
+COPY VERSION ./
 
 # Note: Running as root because container needs Docker socket access
 # (which is root-equivalent anyway). Socket access required for container management.

dashcaddy-api/VERSION

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+dev

dashcaddy-api/routes/updates.js

@@ -95,6 +95,15 @@ module.exports = function({ updateManager, selfUpdater, asyncHandler, logError }
     if (!check.available) {
       return res.json({ success: true, message: 'Already up to date' });
     }
+    // Refuse same-version applies. The check.available flag can theoretically be
+    // true with equal versions (commit-mismatch path); applying anyway just
+    // rebuilds the container without changing anything user-visible and pollutes
+    // history with v1.4.0 → v1.4.0 entries.
+    const localV = check.local && check.local.version;
+    const remoteV = check.remote && check.remote.version;
+    if (localV && remoteV && localV === remoteV) {
+      return res.json({ success: true, message: 'Already up to date', version: localV });
+    }
     // Start async — container may restart
     selfUpdater.applyUpdate(check.remote).catch(err => {
       logError('self-update', err);
@@ -102,8 +111,8 @@ module.exports = function({ updateManager, selfUpdater, asyncHandler, logError }
     res.json({
       success: true,
       message: 'Update initiated',
-      fromVersion: check.local.version,
+      fromVersion: localV,
-      toVersion: check.remote.version,
+      toVersion: remoteV,
     });
   }, 'system-update-apply'));
 

dashcaddy-api/self-updater.js

@@ -400,10 +400,17 @@ class SelfUpdater extends EventEmitter {
   async _autoCheckAndApply() {
     try {
       const result = await this.checkForUpdate();
-      if (result.available && result.remote) {
+      if (!result.available || !result.remote) return;
-        console.log('[SelfUpdater] Update available: %s → %s', result.local.version, result.remote.version);
+      // Belt-and-suspenders: never auto-apply a same-version update. A bug here
-        await this.applyUpdate(result.remote);
+      // creates an infinite rebuild loop (each fresh container has commit='unknown'
+      // so it keeps comparing as different from remote forever).
+      if (this._compareVersions(result.local.version, result.remote.version) >= 0) {
+        console.log('[SelfUpdater] Skipping auto-apply: local %s is not older than remote %s',
+          result.local.version, result.remote.version);
+        return;
       }
+      console.log('[SelfUpdater] Update available: %s → %s', result.local.version, result.remote.version);
+      await this.applyUpdate(result.remote);
     } catch (e) {
       console.error('[SelfUpdater] Auto-update error:', e.message);
     }
@@ -496,11 +503,24 @@ class SelfUpdater extends EventEmitter {
     const versionCompare = this._compareVersions(local.version || '0.0.0', remote.version);
     if (versionCompare < 0) return true;
     if (versionCompare > 0) return false;
-    // Same version — check commit hash
+    // Same version — only flag as newer if BOTH commits are known and differ.
-    if (remote.commit && local.commit && remote.commit !== local.commit) return true;
+    // If local.commit is missing or 'unknown' (Dockerfile default when no build arg
+    // is passed), we can't distinguish builds, so trust the version number and
+    // treat them as equivalent. Otherwise the updater loops forever applying
+    // the same version because every fresh container build has commit='unknown'.
+    const localCommit = this._normalizeCommit(local.commit);
+    const remoteCommit = this._normalizeCommit(remote.commit);
+    if (localCommit && remoteCommit && localCommit !== remoteCommit) return true;
     return false;
   }
 
+  _normalizeCommit(value) {
+    if (!value) return null;
+    const str = String(value).trim().toLowerCase();
+    if (!str || str === 'unknown' || str === 'null' || str === 'undefined') return null;
+    return str;
+  }
+
   _compareVersions(a, b) {
     const av = String(a || '0.0.0').split('.').map(part => parseInt(part, 10) || 0);
     const bv = String(b || '0.0.0').split('.').map(part => parseInt(part, 10) || 0);

scripts/release.sh

@@ -84,6 +84,9 @@ ssh "$RELEASE_HOST" "set -e
   fi
   rm -rf .git
   find . -type d -name node_modules -exec rm -rf {} + 2>/dev/null || true
+  # Bake the actual commit SHA into the api VERSION file so containers built
+  # from this tarball report a real commit (not the 'dev' placeholder).
+  echo \"$COMMIT\" > dashcaddy-api/VERSION
   cd /tmp/dashcaddy-build
   tar zcf dashcaddy-$VERSION.tar.gz dashcaddy/
 "

status/js/update-management.js

@@ -335,7 +335,8 @@
       const res = await fetch('/api/v1/system/version');
       const data = await res.json();
       if (data.success) {
-        dcVersionInfo.textContent = 'v' + data.version + (data.commit ? ' (' + data.commit.substring(0, 7) + ')' : '');
+        const commit = data.commit && data.commit !== 'unknown' ? data.commit : null;
+        dcVersionInfo.textContent = 'v' + data.version + (commit ? ' (' + commit.substring(0, 7) + ')' : '');
       }
     } catch (_) {
       dcVersionInfo.textContent = 'Unable to fetch version';