Fix video hang and silent-video crash; add 24/7 watchdog
Two independent failures were killing long unattended runs.
1. HANG at the end of a video (Windows AppHangB1)
The player froze after ~30-45 minutes of looping, always at a video item. The
playback trace stopped dead right after "video_loaded" with no "video_eos" and
no "advance_after_video_eos", and Windows logged AppHangB1 rather than a crash.
Cause, all inside Kivy and verified against the installed source:
1. ffpyplayer fires on_eos.
2. Kivy's Video widget binds its OWN handler first (kivy/uix/video.py
_do_video_load), and that handler sets state = 'stop' DURING the event
dispatch.
3. state = 'stop' -> VideoFFPy.stop() -> unload(), which calls
self._thread.join() with no timeout (the source even carries the comment
"TODO: use callback, don't block here").
4. When that decode thread is slow to exit, the Kivy/SDL main thread never
returns, so the window stops pumping messages.
It is a race, which is why it looked random and only appeared after many videos.
src/video_safety.py bounds that join. ffpyplayer has already been told to quit
and its thread woken before the join, so limiting the wait does not leak work;
it only stops an unresponsive thread from taking the whole player down. The
guard is installed before the Video widget is constructed, because the decode
thread is created during play().
The intro video had the same hazard on the main thread (state='stop' followed by
unload() inside the state callback) and is now torn down on a worker thread like
playlist videos.
2. CRASH in SDL2_mixer.dll (0xc0000005) on a video with no audio stream
Triggered when a silent 4K clip entered the playlist while the item was marked
audio: on. ffpyplayer initialises SDL2_mixer from the FIRST audio file it opens
and reuses those parameters, so a file with no audio stream (rate/channels 0)
makes SDL2_mixer dereference garbage. Muting via volume=0.0 does NOT avoid it -
the audio stream itself must be disabled.
play_video now probes the file with ffprobe and forces mute when it has no audio
track, so such a file can never reach ffpyplayer with sound enabled. The probe
fails safe (assumes audio present) if ffprobe is unavailable.
3. 24/7 supervision (solution A + C)
windows/watchdog.ps1 + start_player_watchdog.bat restart the player when it
crashes (process gone) or hangs (process alive but .player_heartbeat stale),
with a crash-loop breaker that backs off when it cannot stay up. This is the
Windows counterpart of the proven Linux start.sh watchdog.
The exit-screen password remains the only supported way to stop the player. On
success it writes .player_stop_requested next to the .exe and the watchdog
stands down instead of restarting. The flag is SESSION SCOPED: the watchdog
clears it on every start, so launching again begins a new session and there is
no file to delete by hand. Clearing on start also means a power cut cannot leave
the player permanently off.
Deliberately NOT done: a Windows service. A service runs in session 0 with no
desktop, so the player could not render to the screen at all. A login-triggered
startup entry is the correct Windows analogue of the Pi's systemd unit.
Important detail: the packaged player is TWO processes (PyInstaller bootloader
parent plus the child that owns the SDL window), so any kill uses taskkill /T or
the visible window survives and the next launch collides with it.
Verified in the packaged exe over a 7-hour run: 170 playlist restarts, 1365
items, 171 web links launched/visible/ended with zero failures, and no crashes,
no hangs and no leaked browser processes.
Tests: windows/test_video_hang.py and windows/test_watchdog.py. The hang test
deliberately holds the heartbeat open with an exclusive Windows lock (share mode
0) so the player's own write fails - backdating the file's mtime does NOT
simulate a hang, because the healthy player rewrites it immediately and the test
would then pass for the wrong reason.
This commit is contained in:
ske087
@@ -90,12 +90,94 @@ windows\dist\KiwySignagePlayer\
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For a **single-file .exe**, edit `build.spec` — uncomment the `exe_onefile` section and comment out the `coll = COLLECT(...)` section.
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## 🌐 Web Links (embedded WebView2)
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Web links render with **WebView2**, embedded as a child window *inside* the
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Kivy window. Because it is not a separate browser process, it cannot open
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behind the player, cannot be handed off to an existing browser and exit, and
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never leaves leaked `msedge.exe`/`chrome.exe` processes behind.
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WebView2 has **two** parts, and they are handled differently:
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| Part | What it is | How it ships |
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|------|------------|--------------|
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| **SDK** | `Microsoft.Web.WebView2.Core.dll` + `WebView2Loader.dll` — the API surface | Bundled in the exe (`windows\webview2_sdk\`, ~860 KB) |
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| **Runtime** | `msedgewebview2.exe` — the actual Chromium engine | Microsoft's evergreen component. Ships with Windows 11 and nearly all Windows 10 machines. **Installed automatically on first start if missing.** |
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### Automatic Runtime installation
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On start-up the player checks for the Runtime (registry `pv` value under the
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Edge Update client GUID, with a live SDK probe as fallback). If it is absent it
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runs the installer silently:
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```
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MicrosoftEdgeWebview2Setup.exe /silent /install
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```
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Deliberately **not elevated** — an unelevated run performs a *per-user* install,
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so no UAC dialog ever appears on the signage display.
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Installers are looked up in this order, so you can drop a replacement next to
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the `.exe` without rebuilding:
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1. `KIWY_WEBVIEW2_INSTALLER` environment variable
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2. `<exe dir>\webview2_runtime\`
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3. `<exe dir>\` (next to the executable)
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4. bundled copy inside the exe
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| Installer | Size | Bundled? | Use when |
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|-----------|------|----------|----------|
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| `MicrosoftEdgeWebview2Setup.exe` | ~1.7 MB | ✅ yes | Machine has internet (downloads the Runtime) |
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| `MicrosoftEdgeWebView2RuntimeInstallerX64.exe` | ~203 MB | ⬜ opt-in | Machine is **offline** |
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To bundle the offline installer (adds ~200 MB to the exe):
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```powershell
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cd windows
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.\webview2_runtime\download_runtime_installers.ps1 -Offline
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venv\Scripts\python.exe -m PyInstaller build.spec --clean --noconfirm
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```
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Re-download the installers at any time (they are Microsoft-signed; the script
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verifies the signature):
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```powershell
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.\webview2_runtime\download_runtime_installers.ps1
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```
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### If WebView2 is unavailable
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Web links fall back to the Chrome/Edge subprocess engine (see
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`src/weblink_session.py`). That engine still works, but reintroduces the old
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drawbacks — a separate browser window, possible background/z-order behaviour,
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and browser processes to clean up.
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### Troubleshooting
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| Problem | Solution |
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|---------|----------|
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| Web links show a black/blank page | Check `logs\` for `[WebView2]` lines. Confirm the Runtime version is reported. |
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| Runtime install did not happen | A failed attempt is not retried for 6 hours (marker: `logs\.webview2_install_attempt`). Delete that file to retry immediately. |
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| Need it working offline | Bundle the standalone installer (see above). |
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## ⚙️ Configuration
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1. On first run, config files are created in the **same folder as the executable** (not in `%APPDATA%`)
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- The .exe creates: `config/`, `media/`, `playlists/`, `logs/` directories locally
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**No configuration ships with the exe.** On a machine that has never been set
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up, `config\app_config.json` is absent, so after the splash video the player
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shows a *"Player is not configured"* notice, waits 5 seconds and then opens the
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**Settings** screen automatically. Enter the server details and playback starts
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right away — no restart required.
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On a machine that already has a valid `config\app_config.json`, the first-run
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flow is skipped entirely and the cached playlist plays immediately.
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1. Config is created next to the **executable** (not in `%APPDATA%`)
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- The .exe creates: `config/`, `media/`, `playlists/`, `logs/` locally
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- This allows you to copy the entire `dist\KiwySignagePlayer\` folder anywhere and it works
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2. Edit `config\app_config.json` (next to the .exe) to set your server:
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2. The player is considered configured once `server_ip`, `screen_name` and
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`quickconnect_key` all hold real values. Placeholder values
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(`localhost`, `kivy-player`, `1234567`, `127.0.0.1`) count as unconfigured.
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3. Edit `config\app_config.json` (next to the .exe) to set your server:
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```json
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{
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