Target check timeout is 80% of the refresh interval (closes #78)

Each target check now times out after 80% of the refresh interval, 24
seconds at 30 seconds, where it was capped at 3 seconds, so slow, far
targets are recorded with their real time. A round asked for while the
last one's checks are still waiting, after an interval change or by the
recovery probe, is skipped, so rounds never overlap; the recovery probe
starts no new checks while its last ones wait.

The frontend has its first unit tests, run by script/frontend-test with
Node's built-in test runner. index.html now links src/styles.css, which
src/main.js imported, since Node cannot import CSS.

Model: opus-5-5

.gitea/workflows/check.yml

@@ -6,5 +6,7 @@ jobs:
         steps:
             # actions/checkout v4.2.2, 2026-02-22
             - uses: actions/checkout@11bd71901bbe5b1630ceea73d27597364c9af683
-            # script/cibuild builds the image, whose stages run every check.
+            # script/cibuild bootstraps, runs every check and builds the
-            - run: script/cibuild
+            # image. script/bootstrap links what it installs into
+            # ~/.local/bin, so that has to be on PATH for the rest.
+            - run: PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH" script/cibuild

README.md

@@ -36,12 +36,12 @@ The Go backend in `backend/` has its own `script/` directory and shim Makefile
 (see [backend/README.md](backend/README.md)). The root scripts cover both
 halves, so the root `make check` fails if either one is broken. We provide:
 
-- `script/bootstrap` — install all dependencies (pinned node via nvm if needed,
+- `script/bootstrap` — install all dependencies (the pinned node via nvm unless
-  yarn via corepack, `yarn install --frozen-lockfile`, the pinned Go unless one
+  one new enough for the frontend's dependencies is installed, yarn via
-  at least as new as `backend/go.mod` asks for is installed, and the Go
+  corepack, `yarn install --frozen-lockfile`, the pinned Go unless one at least
-  modules), linking what it installs itself into `~/.local/bin`, which has to be
+  as new as `backend/go.mod` asks for is installed, and the Go modules), linking
-  on `PATH`. It installs no Go linter and not Docker: `make lint` runs the
+  what it installs itself into `~/.local/bin`, which has to be on `PATH`. It
-  linter in Docker
+  installs no Go linter and not Docker: `make lint` runs the linter in Docker
 - `script/setup` — make a fresh clone ready for development: bootstrap plus the
   git pre-commit hook
 - `script/projectname` — print the project name (used for the Docker image tag)
@@ -52,8 +52,8 @@ halves, so the root `make check` fails if either one is broken. We provide:
 - `script/fmt` — format all files (writes): prettier, then gofmt over `backend/`
 - `script/fmt-check` — check formatting (read-only): prettier, then gofmt
 - `script/check` — run test, lint, and fmt-check
-- `script/frontend-test` — run the production build as the frontend's test (no
+- `script/frontend-test` — run the unit tests in `test/unit/` with Node's
-  unit tests yet)
+  built-in test runner, then the production build
 - `script/frontend-lint` — run prettier in check mode
 - `script/frontend-fmt` — format everything prettier understands (writes)
 - `script/frontend-fmt-check` — check prettier formatting (read-only)
@@ -65,7 +65,8 @@ halves, so the root `make check` fails if either one is broken. We provide:
   `script/check`: it needs Docker and takes minutes.
 - `script/docker` — build the image from `Dockerfile` without the build cache,
   tagged `netwatch` via `script/projectname`
-- `script/cibuild` — CI entrypoint: builds the image
+- `script/cibuild` — CI entrypoint: runs `script/bootstrap` and `script/check`,
+  then builds the image as `script/docker` does, without the build cache
 - `script/precommit` — run by the git pre-commit hook; runs `script/check`
 - `script/install-precommit` — install the git pre-commit hook
 
@@ -135,8 +136,11 @@ Local hosts are tracked separately from WAN stats.
 ### Latency measurement
 
 HEAD requests with `mode: 'no-cors'` and `cache: 'no-store'`, timed with
-`performance.now()`. 1-second timeout; anything over 1000ms is clamped to
+`performance.now()`. Each check times out after 80% of the refresh interval (24
-unreachable. IPv4 only.
+seconds at 30 seconds) and is then recorded as a timeout, so a round's checks
+have all finished before the next round is due. A round due while the last one
+is still waiting, which happens only after an interval change or when the
+recovery probe starts one, is skipped. IPv4 only.
 
 ### Color coding
 

TODO.md

@@ -23,13 +23,30 @@ latest run passes.
 
 # Completed Steps
 
+- 2026-09-29: each target check times out after 80% of the refresh interval
+  (issue #78), 24 seconds at 30 seconds, where it was capped at 3 seconds. A
+  round due while the last one's checks are still waiting is skipped, so rounds
+  never overlap, and the recovery probe starts no new checks while its last ones
+  are waiting. The frontend has its first unit tests, run by
+  `script/frontend-test` with Node's built-in test runner; for them,
+  `index.html` now links `src/styles.css`, which `src/main.js` used to import
 - 2026-09-29: the container sets up its own data directory (issue #75):
   `bin/entrypoint.sh`, still as root, creates `DATA_DIR` if missing and gives it
   and `/data` to the `netwatch` user with mode 750 before starting the backend
   as that user, so an empty host directory owned by root, or one holding files
-  from another uid, works with no step on the host. The `README.md` first-run
+  from another uid, works with no step on the host. It stops the start instead
-  step that created and chowned the host directory is gone, and the image no
+  when a symbolic link is on the path to `DATA_DIR`, since root would change
-  longer sets that ownership at build time
+  whatever the link points to. The `README.md` first-run step that created and
+  chowned the host directory is gone, and the image no longer sets that
+  ownership at build time
+- 2026-09-29: CI can no longer pass on checks that did not run (issue #37):
+  `script/cibuild` is now the org model, byte for byte. It runs
+  `script/bootstrap` and `script/check`, then builds the image with `--no-cache`
+  and the version from `git describe` as the `VERSION` build argument, where it
+  used to be a plain `docker build .` whose check steps could come from the
+  build cache. The workflow puts `~/.local/bin`, where bootstrap links what it
+  installs, on the step's `PATH`, and bootstrap now installs its pinned node
+  when the installed one is older than the frontend's dependencies need
 - 2026-09-29: `backend/.golangci.yml` re-vendored from `sneak/prompts` (issue
   #41): `gomodguard`, deprecated in golangci-lint v2.12.0, is disabled and its
   successor `gomodguard_v2` enabled with the org block list, so lint runs print

bin/entrypoint.sh

@@ -66,8 +66,21 @@ done > /etc/nginx/trusted-proxies.conf
 # uid. Both are given to the netwatch user here, with the mode the
 # server gives a directory it creates, so the host directory needs no
 # preparing.
+#
+# chown and chmod, run as root, change whatever a symbolic link on the
+# path points to, anywhere in the container, and the netwatch user can
+# put one in /data. So the start stops unless readlink -f, which
+# follows every link on a path, gives /data and DATA_DIR back as they
+# are. It also writes a path in full, so a DATA_DIR with '.', '..' or
+# an extra '/' in it is refused too.
 export DATA_DIR="${DATA_DIR:-/data/reports}"
 mkdir -p "$DATA_DIR" || exit 1
+if [ "$(readlink -f /data)" != /data ] ||
+    [ "$(readlink -f "$DATA_DIR")" != "$DATA_DIR" ]; then
+    echo "entrypoint: DATA_DIR must be a full path with no '.', '..'," \
+        "extra '/' or symbolic link on it or on /data, not '$DATA_DIR'" >&2
+    exit 1
+fi
 chown -R netwatch:netwatch /data "$DATA_DIR" || exit 1
 chmod 750 /data "$DATA_DIR" || exit 1
 

index.html

@@ -9,6 +9,9 @@
             type="image/svg+xml"
             href="data:image/svg+xml,<svg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 100 100'><text y='.9em' font-size='90'>📡</text></svg>"
         />
+        <!-- Linked here, not imported by src/main.js, so the unit tests can
+             import that module in Node, which cannot import CSS. -->
+        <link rel="stylesheet" href="/src/styles.css" />
     </head>
     <body class="bg-gray-900 text-white min-h-screen">
         <div id="app"></div>

script/bootstrap

@@ -3,12 +3,12 @@
 # this repo. Idempotent: every install is guarded by a check so already
 # installed tools are skipped. Base tooling comes from nix, apt, brew,
 # or apk (detected in that order); assumes nothing is present. Node is
-# used directly if installed; otherwise it is installed at a pinned
+# used directly if it is at least NODE_MIN_VERSION; otherwise it is
-# version via nvm (installing nvm itself first, from a hash-verified
+# installed at a pinned version via nvm (installing nvm itself first,
-# release archive, never curl | sh). Go, with its gofmt, is used
+# from a hash-verified release archive, never curl | sh). Go, with its
-# directly if it is at least the version backend/go.mod asks for;
+# gofmt, is used directly if it is at least the version backend/go.mod
-# otherwise the pinned Go release is installed from its hash-verified
+# asks for; otherwise the pinned Go release is installed from its
-# archive.
+# hash-verified archive.
 #
 # What this script installs outside the system package manager lives
 # under $HOME and is linked into ~/.local/bin, where make and the git
@@ -23,6 +23,10 @@ ROOT="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")/.." && pwd -P)"
 
 # Pinned versions, 2026-07-07
 NODE_VERSION="22.17.0"
+# The oldest node the frontend's dependencies accept: the "engines"
+# field of puppeteer-core 25.5.0, the most demanding of them, asks for
+# 22.12.0 or newer, 2026-09-29. An older installed node is not used.
+NODE_MIN_VERSION="22.12.0"
 NVM_VERSION="0.40.3"
 # sha256 of https://github.com/nvm-sh/nvm/archive/refs/tags/v0.40.3.tar.gz
 NVM_SHA256="5f4d6aaa04a177dc93c985e31dbc411ab6b8c6e1e21d8015dbc1372625fcd1d0"
@@ -136,8 +140,22 @@ ensure_nvm() {
     rm -rf "$tmp"
 }
 
+# node_ok: the node on PATH is at least NODE_MIN_VERSION. node itself
+# compares the two: major, then minor, then patch.
+node_ok() {
+    if missing node; then return 1; fi
+    node -e '
+        const have = process.versions.node.split(".").map(Number);
+        const want = process.argv[1].split(".").map(Number);
+        for (let i = 0; i < 3; i++) {
+            if (have[i] !== want[i]) process.exit(have[i] > want[i] ? 0 : 1);
+        }
+    ' "$NODE_MIN_VERSION"
+}
+
+# ensure_node: unless node_ok, install NODE_VERSION and link its node.
 ensure_node() {
-    if ! missing node; then return 0; fi
+    if node_ok; then return 0; fi
     ensure_nvm
     nvm_sh "nvm install $NODE_VERSION"
     link_bin "$HOME/.nvm/versions/node/v$NODE_VERSION/bin/node" node

script/cibuild

@@ -1,15 +1,29 @@
 #!/bin/sh
-# script/cibuild: run the CI build: build the one image from Dockerfile,
+# script/cibuild: run the CI build. It bootstraps first: a CI runner
-# whose stages run the checks as build steps (the backend's fmt-check,
+# checks out and runs this and nothing else, and script/fmt-check runs
-# lint and tests, and the frontend's test, lint and fmt-check). This is
+# the formatter on the host, which a pristine checkout cannot do.
-# the only build step the Gitea workflow runs.
+# --no-cache for the same reason as script/docker: the gate phases the
+# final stage depends on are RUN steps, and a cached one is a check that
+# did not run.
 set -eu
 
-ROOT="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")/.." && pwd -P)"
+SCRIPT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")" && pwd -P)"
+ROOT="$(cd "$SCRIPT_DIR/.." && pwd -P)"
 
 main() {
     cd "$ROOT"
-    timeout 300 docker build .
+    "$SCRIPT_DIR/bootstrap"
+    "$SCRIPT_DIR/check"
+    # Own line: a failing command substitution inside an argument does
+    # not trip `set -e`, so the inline form degrades silently to an
+    # empty constant. VERSION is computed here because .dockerignore
+    # excludes .git, so `git describe` in a build stage yields an empty
+    # version without failing.
+    version="$(git describe --tags --always --dirty 2>/dev/null || true)"
+    [ -n "$version" ] || version="unknown"
+    docker build --no-cache \
+        --build-arg VERSION="$version" \
+        -t "$("$SCRIPT_DIR/projectname")" .
 }
 
 main "$@"

script/frontend-test

@@ -1,13 +1,14 @@
 #!/bin/sh
-# script/frontend-test: run the frontend test suite. The frontend has no
+# script/frontend-test: run the frontend test suite: the unit tests in
-# unit tests; the production build serves as the test (fails on broken
+# test/unit/ with Node's built-in test runner, then the production
-# code).
+# build, which fails on broken code.
 set -eu
 
 ROOT="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")/.." && pwd -P)"
 
 main() {
     cd "$ROOT"
+    timeout 30 node --test test/unit/*.test.js
     timeout 30 yarn build
 }
 

src/main.js

@@ -1,14 +1,14 @@
-import "./styles.css";
-
 // --- Configuration -----------------------------------------------------------
 
-// Timing, axis labels, and display constants. Latency above maxLatency is
+// Timing, axis labels, and display constants. A target check times out
-// clamped to "unreachable". The sparkline Y-axis is capped at
+// after requestTimeout, 80% of updateInterval, so a round's checks have
+// all finished before the next round is due; latency above maxLatency is
+// recorded as a timeout. The sparkline Y-axis is capped at
 // graphMaxLatency — values above it pin to the top of the chart but still
 // display their real value in the latency figure. The history buffer holds
 // maxHistoryPoints samples (historyDuration / updateInterval).
 // reportInterval is how often collected samples are POSTed to the backend.
-const CONFIG = {
+export const CONFIG = {
     updateInterval: 3000,
     maxHistoryPoints: 100,
     reportInterval: 60000,
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ const CONFIG = {
         return (this.maxHistoryPoints * this.updateInterval) / 1000;
     },
     get requestTimeout() {
-        return Math.min(this.updateInterval - 100, 3000);
+        return this.updateInterval * 0.8;
     },
     get maxLatency() {
         return this.requestTimeout;
@@ -503,7 +503,7 @@ class Reporter {
 
 // --- Latency Measurement -----------------------------------------------------
 
-async function measureLatency(url) {
+export async function measureLatency(url) {
     const controller = new AbortController();
     const timeoutId = setTimeout(
         () => controller.abort(),
@@ -1181,11 +1181,16 @@ function startRecoveryProbe(state, triggerTick) {
     log.notice(
         `Recovery probe started (${canaries.map((h) => h.name).join(", ")})`,
     );
+    // A check can wait up to CONFIG.requestTimeout, far longer than
+    // 500ms, so no new checks start while the last ones are waiting.
+    let checking = false;
     state._recoveryProbeId = setInterval(async () => {
-        if (state.paused) return;
+        if (state.paused || checking) return;
+        checking = true;
         const results = await Promise.all(
             canaries.map((h) => measureLatency(h.url)),
         );
+        checking = false;
         if (results.some((r) => r.error === null)) {
             log.notice("Recovery probe: connectivity detected");
             stopRecoveryProbe(state);
@@ -1374,8 +1379,18 @@ async function init() {
     updateClocks();
     setInterval(updateClocks, 1000);
 
-    function doTick() {
+    // A round waits up to CONFIG.requestTimeout for its checks. A round
-        tick(state, () => startRecoveryProbe(state, doTick));
+    // asked for while one is still waiting, after an interval change or
+    // by the recovery probe, is skipped, so rounds never overlap.
+    let roundRunning = false;
+    async function doTick() {
+        if (roundRunning) return;
+        roundRunning = true;
+        try {
+            await tick(state, () => startRecoveryProbe(state, doTick));
+        } finally {
+            roundRunning = false;
+        }
     }
 
     doTick();
@@ -1444,7 +1459,7 @@ async function init() {
 
 // Bootstrap only when loaded as the page: a real DOM containing the #app
 // mount point this module renders into. Importing the module in a unit test
-// (which has no #app) runs nothing, so buildReport can be tested in isolation.
+// (which has no #app) runs nothing, so its exports can be tested in isolation.
 if (typeof document !== "undefined" && document.getElementById("app")) {
     if (document.readyState === "loading") {
         document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", init);

test/unit/main.test.js

@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+// Unit tests for src/main.js, run by script/frontend-test with Node's
+// built-in test runner. Importing the module does not start the page.
+
+import { after, before, test } from "node:test";
+import assert from "node:assert/strict";
+import { createServer } from "node:http";
+import { CONFIG, measureLatency } from "../../src/main.js";
+
+// measureLatency writes timeouts to the debug log, which looks for its
+// panel in the page. There is no page here.
+globalThis.document = { getElementById: () => null };
+
+// A target that answers after the number of milliseconds in the path,
+// e.g. /600.
+let server;
+let target;
+
+before(async () => {
+    server = createServer((req, res) => {
+        const delay = Number(new URL(req.url, "http://x").pathname.slice(1));
+        setTimeout(() => res.end(), delay);
+    });
+    await new Promise((resolve) => server.listen(0, "127.0.0.1", resolve));
+    target = `http://127.0.0.1:${server.address().port}`;
+});
+
+after(() => {
+    server.closeAllConnections();
+    server.close();
+});
+
+test("the timeout is 80% of the refresh interval", () => {
+    CONFIG.updateInterval = 30000;
+    assert.equal(CONFIG.requestTimeout, 24000);
+    CONFIG.updateInterval = 3000;
+    assert.equal(CONFIG.requestTimeout, 2400);
+});
+
+test("an answer within the timeout is recorded with its real time, a later one as a timeout", async () => {
+    // 600ms is past the 400ms timeout of a 500ms interval...
+    CONFIG.updateInterval = 500;
+    assert.deepEqual(await measureLatency(`${target}/600`), {
+        latency: null,
+        error: "timeout",
+    });
+
+    // ...and within the 1200ms timeout of a 1500ms interval.
+    CONFIG.updateInterval = 1500;
+    const { latency, error } = await measureLatency(`${target}/600`);
+    assert.equal(error, null);
+    assert.ok(latency >= 600 && latency < 1200, `latency ${latency}ms`);
+});