README.md

@@ -538,6 +538,12 @@ its Argon2id hash. There is no second account and no forgot-password
 flow, so the banner and the reset command below are the only two ways
 in.
 
+A start that finds no `webhooker.db` in `DATA_DIR` also logs
+`created a new, empty database` at `WARN`, with the file's path,
+shortly before the banner. On a deployment that has run before, that
+line means `DATA_DIR` was empty, most often because its volume is not
+mounted.
+
 #### Recovering a lost admin password
 
 `webhooker resetpw` sets an existing account's password from the

internal/database/bootstrap_banner_test.go

@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ package database_test
 import (
 	"bytes"
 	"context"
+	"log/slog"
+	"path/filepath"
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
 
@@ -83,3 +85,37 @@ func TestFirstBoot_PrintsTheAdminPasswordAsABanner(t *testing.T) {
 		t, ok, "the printed password must open the seeded account",
 	)
 }
+
+// TestNewDatabase_IsLoggedWithItsPath is the log half of
+// https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/webhooker/issues/359. A DATA_DIR that is
+// unexpectedly empty boots exactly like a first start, so the start
+// that creates the database must say so, and where. Opening that
+// database again must not.
+func TestNewDatabase_IsLoggedWithItsPath(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+
+	open := func() string {
+		var out bytes.Buffer
+
+		db, err := database.Open(dir, slog.New(slog.NewTextHandler(&out, nil)))
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+		require.NoError(t, db.Close())
+
+		return out.String()
+	}
+
+	const created = `level=WARN msg="created a new, empty database"`
+
+	first := open()
+	second := open()
+
+	assert.Contains(
+		t, first,
+		created+" path="+filepath.Join(dir, database.MainDBFileName),
+	)
+	assert.NotContains(
+		t, second, created, "an existing database is not new",
+	)
+}

internal/database/database.go

@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import (
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
+	"io/fs"
 	"log/slog"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
@@ -199,6 +200,12 @@ func (d *Database) connectTo(dataDir string) error {
 	// Construct the main application database path inside DATA_DIR.
 	dbPath := filepath.Join(dataDir, MainDBFileName)
 
+	// Checked before opening, which creates the file. A DATA_DIR that
+	// is unexpectedly empty -- its volume not mounted, say -- looks
+	// exactly like a first start, so a new database is a warning.
+	_, statErr := os.Stat(dbPath)
+	created := errors.Is(statErr, fs.ErrNotExist)
+
 	// Opened through OpenSQLite so this handle carries the same WAL
 	// journaling, busy timeout, immediate-transaction locking, and pool
 	// bounds as every other database file. See sqlite_open.go.
@@ -229,7 +236,12 @@ func (d *Database) connectTo(dataDir string) error {
 	}
 
 	d.db = db
+
+	if created {
+		d.log.Warn("created a new, empty database", "path", dbPath)
+	} else {
 		d.log.Info("connected to database", "path", dbPath)
+	}
 
 	// Run migrations
 	return d.migrate()

internal/server/routes_test.go

@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import (
 	"net/http/httptest"
 	"net/url"
 	"regexp"
+	"slices"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
@@ -220,9 +221,21 @@ func (e *testEnv) csrfFrom(
 	// out of the markup has to be unescaped before it is submitted.
 	token := html.UnescapeString(match[1])
 
-	combined := make([]*http.Cookie, 0, len(cookies))
-	combined = append(combined, cookies...)
-	combined = append(combined, w.Result().Cookies()...)
+	// A cookie the page sets replaces the one of the same name, as in
+	// a browser. Sent both, the server would read the first, older one.
+	set := w.Result().Cookies()
+	combined := make([]*http.Cookie, 0, len(cookies)+len(set))
+
+	for _, c := range cookies {
+		replaced := slices.ContainsFunc(set, func(n *http.Cookie) bool {
+			return n.Name == c.Name
+		})
+		if !replaced {
+			combined = append(combined, c)
+		}
+	}
+
+	combined = append(combined, set...)
 
 	return token, combined
 }
@@ -614,6 +627,59 @@ func TestPagesLogin_CorrectPasswordSurvivesASpentBudget(
 	)
 }
 
+// TestPagesLogin_CookiesFromAnEarlierDatabase is
+// https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/webhooker/issues/359. A new database
+// brings a new session key, and the operator's browser still holds
+// the session and CSRF cookies signed with the old one. Logging in
+// must work as from a fresh browser and leave cookies the new key
+// accepts.
+func TestPagesLogin_CookiesFromAnEarlierDatabase(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+
+	const (
+		username = "operator"
+		password = "correct-horse-battery-staple"
+	)
+
+	earlier := newTestEnv(t)
+	earlierID, _ := earlier.seedUser(t, username, password)
+	_, stale := earlier.csrfFrom(t, "/pages/login", nil)
+	stale = append(stale, earlier.authCookies(t, earlierID, username)...)
+
+	env := newTestEnv(t)
+	env.seedUser(t, username, password)
+
+	token, cookies := env.csrfFrom(t, "/pages/login", stale)
+
+	form := url.Values{}
+	form.Set("csrf_token", token)
+	form.Set("username", username)
+	form.Set("password", password)
+
+	w := env.post("/pages/login", form, cookies)
+	require.Equal(
+		t, http.StatusSeeOther, w.Code,
+		"a session cookie from another key must not fail the login",
+	)
+
+	// The response deletes the old session cookie and then sets the
+	// new one; a browser keeps the last.
+	var fresh *http.Cookie
+
+	for _, c := range w.Result().Cookies() {
+		if c.Name == session.SessionName {
+			fresh = c
+		}
+	}
+
+	require.NotNil(t, fresh, "login must set a session cookie")
+	assert.Equal(
+		t, "/sources",
+		env.get("/", []*http.Cookie{fresh}).Header().Get("Location"),
+		"the new session cookie must authenticate",
+	)
+}
+
 // --- /user/{username} group ---
 
 // TestPasswordChange_OversizeBody_RejectedAndPasswordUnchanged

internal/session/codec_test.go

@@ -19,8 +19,8 @@ import (
 )
 
 // The tests below exercise the securecookie codecs underneath the
-// store and nothing else: Session.Get only decodes, so no server-side
-// expiry check takes part in the result. They exist because
+// store and nothing else: they decode through the store itself, so no
+// server-side expiry check takes part in the result. They exist because
 // NewCookieStore gives its codecs a 30-day max age that assigning
 // store.Options does not override, which would let the codec accept a
 // cookie weeks past the cap the cookie attribute advertises.
@@ -75,10 +75,11 @@ func restamp(
 	return base64.URLEncoding.EncodeToString(payload)
 }
 
-// decodeCookie feeds value back through the store's decode path.
+// decodeCookie feeds value back through the store's decode path. It
+// asks the store rather than Session.Get, which treats a cookie that
+// does not decode as absent and so hides the codec's reason.
 func decodeCookie(
 	t *testing.T,
-	s *session.Session,
 	value string,
 ) (*sessions.Session, error) {
 	t.Helper()
@@ -94,7 +95,7 @@ func decodeCookie(
 		SameSite: http.SameSiteLaxMode,
 	})
 
-	sess, err := s.Get(req)
+	sess, err := session.NewStore(testKey()).Get(req, session.SessionName)
 	require.NotNil(t, sess)
 
 	return sess, err
@@ -105,7 +106,7 @@ func TestCodec_AcceptsCookieInsideAbsoluteCap(t *testing.T) {
 
 	s := testSession(t)
 
-	sess, err := decodeCookie(t, s, restamp(
+	sess, err := decodeCookie(t, restamp(
 		t,
 		issuedCookie(t, s),
 		time.Now().Add(-(testAbsoluteMaxAge-time.Hour)),
@@ -126,7 +127,7 @@ func TestCodec_RejectsCookiePastAbsoluteCap(t *testing.T) {
 
 	s := testSession(t)
 
-	sess, err := decodeCookie(t, s, restamp(
+	sess, err := decodeCookie(t, restamp(
 		t,
 		issuedCookie(t, s),
 		time.Now().Add(-(testAbsoluteMaxAge+time.Hour)),

internal/session/session.go

@@ -224,10 +224,22 @@ func New(
 }
 
 // Get retrieves a session for the request.
+//
+// A session cookie that does not decode -- one signed with an earlier
+// session key, say, because the database was made anew -- is treated
+// as absent: the caller gets a new, empty session and no error, and
+// the next save replaces the cookie.
 func (s *Session) Get(
 	r *http.Request,
 ) (*sessions.Session, error) {
-	return s.store.Get(r, SessionName)
+	sess, err := s.store.Get(r, SessionName)
+	if sess == nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	// For a cookie that does not decode, gorilla/sessions returns a
+	// new, empty session alongside the error that is dropped here.
+	return sess, nil
 }
 
 // GetKey returns the raw 32-byte authentication key used for