Playwright must own the spawn (it needs the inspection pipe), but
hermes desktop is not just build+launch - stamp checks, integrity
gates, sandbox fixups, and a constructed child environment. So the
driver intercepts the product's own launch: a sitecustomize.py on
PYTHONPATH (opt-in via HERMES_E2E_CAPTURE_LAUNCH) wraps subprocess.run,
captures argv/cwd/env at the spawn site, and fakes success instead of
spawning; launch-from-spec.mjs then _electron.launch-es exactly that
spec and clicks Settings -> About -> Update now. Completion is product
state, not a Playwright event: the handoff result file or the checkout
reaching the expected sha (source installs write no result file).
Ships with the driver, so it works unchanged on every sampled OLD ref
- no product flag, no pre-flag fallback split. Both launch shapes are
matched (npm exec electron / packaged exe under apps/desktop/release);
npm BUILD calls pass through untouched. Exit 0 without a capture fails
the leg: a version that never reached its launch must not pass.
Probe-the-probe: scripts/launch_capture_probe.sh runs control rows
(no opt-in, non-launch argv) and both treatment shapes - all green
locally. Gate flips on the shared run workflow for linux/macos;
windows adopts the same path with the driver restructuring.
The composite action .github/actions/e2e-screen-record owns setup and
lifecycle on all three OSes: ffmpeg via apt/brew-verify/winget+cache,
capture via x11grab/gdigrab/avfoundation, mkv at 15fps stopped by 'q'
on live stdin with kill fallback. Linux runners have no display, so
start brings up a dedicated Xvfb :99 and exports DISPLAY - one display
serves both the recorder and any app a later step launches.
Recording moves out of the GUI driver into workflow infrastructure -
that is what makes it uniform - and a missing ffmpeg or a zero-frame
file now FAILS the leg instead of skipping silently: the graceful-skip
path is how the windows leg shipped no recording.mkv while green.
Lifecycle proven locally: start against lavfi testsrc, q-stop, ffprobe
duration check (record-start.sh/record-stop.sh under nix ffmpeg).
The one-liner with its desktop stage opted in (--include-desktop /
-IncludeDesktop) is a real install kind, distinct on both sides:
on windows the stage builds Hermes.exe AND registers Start Menu /
Desktop shortcuts - a second path to a hand-launchable app - while
on linux/macos it builds into the checkout and registers no OS
entry point.
Declared on every OS and driven by both script drivers: the drivers
pass the flag through (hard failure if the ref predates it - the
tag-has-desktop gate already skips pre-desktop tags upstream) and
assert the built app exists under apps/desktop/release afterwards.
The run-workflow gates run +desktop pairs only on desktop-bearing
tags; app-update pairs from +desktop installs stay declared TODOs.
The desktop app has two launch paths, so app-update becomes two
methods. open-app-update starts the app from the OS entry point the
desktop installer created (the installed exe / the .app), so it exists
only where a desktop installer does. hermes-desktop-app-update starts
the app via hermes desktop, which every install method provides on
every OS that ships the desktop app - on linux it is the only app
surface, since no desktop installer or packaged artifact exists there.
Both variants are desktop-surface methods on every OS, so the
tag_has_desktop annotation moves from windows-only to every matrix
entry, install-e2e-run.yml grows the input, and the plan chart marks
pre-desktop cells on all OSes.
The windows GUI arm's implemented pair renames to open-app-update;
every other new combination is a declared TODO that natively skips.
Each script-driver leg now proves the installed CLI can build the
desktop app, after the install phase and again after the update.
--build-only runs the full desktop pipeline and stops before the
launch - the same call hermes update makes. Old releases that predate
the flag skip the phase after a --help probe of the installed binary.
Actually launching the app is a TODO: it needs the spawn-interception
launcher and, on linux runners, a virtual display.
Also adds tests/install/README.md describing how the test family
works: the four layers, the git-redirect isolation, the phases, the
probe-do-not-assume rule for old versions, skips, triggers, artifacts.
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