fix(cli): refuse to spawn daemon from a test binary - #4
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April 22, 2026 20:59
EnsureDaemon calls daemon.SpawnDetached(os.Executable()). Under `go test`, os.Executable() is the test runner itself, so the detached child is a zombie cli.test.exe that survives the test run and holds open handles on its t.TempDir trees. On Windows this blocks cleanup, spams %TEMP%\Test<Name>* forever, and caused CI to fail with "unlinkat cli.test.exe: Access is denied" (PR #3 fixed this by reshaping the one test that tripped it). Harden the boundary instead of relying on every test to avoid the call: detect a .test / .test.exe basename in EnsureDaemon and return a descriptive error rather than forking. Real ghosthost / ghosthost.exe binaries are unaffected. Includes a regression test that asserts EnsureDaemon rejects the current process when run under `go test`, so future refactors can't quietly re-enable the zombie path.
PR2 changed `--json share` to always emit an array (one element per file), including in the single-file case, but the smoke test still unmarshals into a single object. The regression has been latent on main since PR2 merged — PR3's CI stayed green only because the smoke result hit the build cache. This PR touches internal/cli, which invalidates that cache and surfaces the bug. Unmarshal into a []struct, assert len == 1 for this single-file share, and take index 0.
godspede
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Jul 17, 2026
* fix(cli): refuse to spawn daemon from a test binary EnsureDaemon calls daemon.SpawnDetached(os.Executable()). Under `go test`, os.Executable() is the test runner itself, so the detached child is a zombie cli.test.exe that survives the test run and holds open handles on its t.TempDir trees. On Windows this blocks cleanup, spams %TEMP%\Test<Name>* forever, and caused CI to fail with "unlinkat cli.test.exe: Access is denied" (PR #3 fixed this by reshaping the one test that tripped it). Harden the boundary instead of relying on every test to avoid the call: detect a .test / .test.exe basename in EnsureDaemon and return a descriptive error rather than forking. Real ghosthost / ghosthost.exe binaries are unaffected. Includes a regression test that asserts EnsureDaemon rejects the current process when run under `go test`, so future refactors can't quietly re-enable the zombie path. * fix(smoke): accept JSON array from `--json share` PR2 changed `--json share` to always emit an array (one element per file), including in the single-file case, but the smoke test still unmarshals into a single object. The regression has been latent on main since PR2 merged — PR3's CI stayed green only because the smoke result hit the build cache. This PR touches internal/cli, which invalidates that cache and surfaces the bug. Unmarshal into a []struct, assert len == 1 for this single-file share, and take index 0. --------- Co-authored-by: godspede <jehutheawesome@gmail.com>
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Summary
EnsureDaemonso it refuses toSpawnDetached(os.Executable())when the current process is a*.test/*.test.exebinary.go test,os.Executable()is the test runner; detaching it leaks a zombiecli.test.exethat holds handles on itst.TempDirtrees. On Windows this blocks cleanup and spams%TEMP%\Test<Name>*indefinitely (one dir per run × up to 65 nested subdirs each).Test plan
go build ./...go vet ./...go test ./...(non-race, local — no cgo/gcc here; CI covers-race)TestEnsureDaemon_RefusesToSpawnTestBinaryexercises the guard live —os.Executable()is a test binary, so it hits the new error path and asserts the message. Skips gracefully (with a reason) on exotic runners where the basename doesn't match.TestIsTestBinarycovers.test,.test.exe, mixed case, and real binary names likeghosthost/ghosthost.exe.go vet,go test -race, smoke, govulncheck, gosec, fuzz) — must go green before merge.🤖 Generated with Claude Code