fix(gateway): use git HEAD SHA, not file mtimes, for stale-code check (#19740)

The stale-code self-check (Issue #17648) used sentinel-file mtimes to
decide whether the gateway survived a `hermes update` with stale
`sys.modules`. That signal false-positives on any write to the
sentinel files — including agent-driven edits during Hermes-on-Hermes
dev sessions. Telling the agent to patch `run_agent.py` would flip
the check to True on the next user message and force a gateway
restart even though no update happened.

Switch the signal to `git rev-parse HEAD`. Agent file edits don't
move HEAD; `hermes update` (git pull) always does. Reading .git/HEAD
directly (no subprocess) with a 5s cache keeps the overhead negligible
on bursty chats. Non-git installs short-circuit to False — the
stale-modules class can't occur without a git-backed update path, so
there's nothing to detect.

The legacy `_compute_repo_mtime` helper is kept but unused by
detection, reserved as a fallback hook for future pip-install update
paths.

- _read_git_head_sha(): resolves HEAD across main checkout, worktree
  (follows `gitdir:` + `commondir` pointers), and packed-refs layouts.
- _current_git_sha_cached(): per-runner 5s SHA cache.
- _detect_stale_code(): boot SHA vs current SHA, returns False when
  either is unavailable.
- Tests cover all four layouts, the agent-edits-don't-trigger
  regression, and cache behavior.

Refs #17648.
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Teknium 2026-05-04 12:33:21 -07:00 committed by GitHub
parent a21f364ad7
commit d90f73bcec
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2 changed files with 482 additions and 139 deletions

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@ -101,10 +101,21 @@ _AUTO_CONTINUE_FRESHNESS_SECS_DEFAULT = 60 * 60
# already-loaded stale module object and raises ``ImportError`` — see
# Issue #17648. Rather than papering over the import failure site-by-site
# in every tool file, detect the stale state centrally and auto-restart
# so the gateway reloads with fresh code. The sentinel files below are
# the canonical repo-level markers that every update touches; if any is
# newer than the gateway's boot time, we know the running process is out
# of date.
# so the gateway reloads with fresh code.
#
# The signal we use is ``git rev-parse HEAD`` — the only thing ``hermes
# update`` moves that is NOT moved by agent-driven file edits. Earlier
# revisions of this check compared file mtimes across a sentinel set
# (run_agent.py, gateway/run.py, ...), but that produced false positives
# whenever the agent edited its own source files during a session:
# mtime jumps, stale-check fires, gateway restarts, user must retype.
# See the conversation at PR #<this> for the motivating incident.
#
# The legacy mtime sentinels are kept ONLY as a last-resort fallback for
# non-git installs (pip install from wheel, sparse clones with no .git
# dir). In those environments ``hermes update`` is not a supported path,
# so the check effectively no-ops — which is the safe behavior: better
# to ship one broken import than to restart on every agent-edit.
_STALE_CODE_SENTINELS: tuple[str, ...] = (
"hermes_cli/config.py",
"hermes_cli/__init__.py",
@ -113,10 +124,106 @@ _STALE_CODE_SENTINELS: tuple[str, ...] = (
"pyproject.toml",
)
# Cache git HEAD reads across consecutive messages so a chat burst doesn't
# spawn one subprocess per message. 5s is long enough to collapse a burst
# and short enough that the real post-update detection still fires within
# the user's perceived "next message" window.
_GIT_SHA_CACHE_TTL_SECS = 5.0
def _read_git_head_sha(repo_root: Path) -> Optional[str]:
"""Return the git HEAD SHA for ``repo_root``, or None if unavailable.
Reads ``.git/HEAD`` directly (and follows one level of ref) instead
of shelling out to ``git`` cheaper, no subprocess tax, works on
gateway hosts that don't have a ``git`` binary on PATH. Returns
None for non-git installs (no ``.git`` dir) or any I/O error; callers
treat None as "can't tell" and skip the check.
Supports the three layouts we care about:
1. Main checkout: ``<repo>/.git/`` is a directory.
2. Git worktree: ``<repo>/.git`` is a file ``gitdir: <path>`` that
points at ``<main>/.git/worktrees/<name>/``. The worktree's
gitdir has HEAD + index but NOT refs/heads/ those live in
the main checkout, and ``<worktree-gitdir>/commondir`` points
at the main ``.git``. We search both locations for refs.
3. Packed refs: ``refs/heads/<branch>`` is absent on disk but
listed in ``<main-git-dir>/packed-refs``.
"""
try:
git_dir = repo_root / ".git"
# Worktrees store ``.git`` as a file pointing at gitdir: <path>
if git_dir.is_file():
try:
content = git_dir.read_text().strip()
if content.startswith("gitdir:"):
git_dir = Path(content.split(":", 1)[1].strip())
if not git_dir.is_absolute():
git_dir = (repo_root / git_dir).resolve()
except OSError:
return None
if not git_dir.is_dir():
return None
# Figure out the "common" git dir — the one that owns shared refs.
# For a worktree, commondir points at it (relative path, resolve
# against git_dir). For a main checkout, common_dir == git_dir.
common_dir = git_dir
commondir_file = git_dir / "commondir"
if commondir_file.is_file():
try:
rel = commondir_file.read_text().strip()
candidate = (git_dir / rel).resolve() if rel else git_dir
if candidate.is_dir():
common_dir = candidate
except OSError:
pass
head_path = git_dir / "HEAD"
if not head_path.is_file():
return None
head_content = head_path.read_text().strip()
if head_content.startswith("ref:"):
# Symbolic ref — follow one level (e.g. ref: refs/heads/main).
# Worktree-local refs (bisect, rebase-merge state) live under
# git_dir; shared refs (refs/heads/*, refs/tags/*) live under
# common_dir. Try git_dir first, then common_dir.
ref_rel = head_content.split(":", 1)[1].strip()
for base in (git_dir, common_dir) if git_dir != common_dir else (git_dir,):
ref_path = base / ref_rel
if ref_path.is_file():
try:
sha = ref_path.read_text().strip()
except OSError:
continue
if sha:
return sha
# Packed refs fallback — always stored in the common dir.
packed = common_dir / "packed-refs"
if packed.is_file():
try:
for line in packed.read_text().splitlines():
line = line.strip()
if not line or line.startswith("#") or line.startswith("^"):
continue
parts = line.split(None, 1)
if len(parts) == 2 and parts[1] == ref_rel:
return parts[0] or None
except OSError:
return None
return None
# Detached HEAD — content is the SHA directly.
return head_content or None
except Exception:
return None
def _compute_repo_mtime(repo_root: Path) -> float:
"""Return the newest mtime across the stale-code sentinel files.
Legacy fallback used only for non-git installs (``.git`` missing).
Missing files are ignored (they may not exist on older checkouts).
Returns 0.0 if no sentinel file is readable treat that as "can't
tell", which downstream callers interpret as "not stale" to avoid
@ -1005,6 +1112,7 @@ class GatewayRunner:
# running __init__ don't crash when _handle_message reads these.
_boot_wall_time: float = 0.0
_boot_repo_mtime: float = 0.0
_boot_git_sha: Optional[str] = None
_stale_code_restart_triggered: bool = False
def __init__(self, config: Optional[GatewayConfig] = None):
@ -1020,15 +1128,23 @@ class GatewayRunner:
try:
self._boot_wall_time: float = time.time()
self._repo_root_for_staleness: Path = Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent
self._boot_git_sha: Optional[str] = _read_git_head_sha(
self._repo_root_for_staleness,
)
self._boot_repo_mtime: float = _compute_repo_mtime(
self._repo_root_for_staleness,
)
except Exception:
self._boot_wall_time = 0.0
self._repo_root_for_staleness = Path(".")
self._boot_git_sha = None
self._boot_repo_mtime = 0.0
self._stale_code_notified: set[str] = set()
self._stale_code_restart_triggered: bool = False
# Cached current-SHA read, refreshed at most every
# _GIT_SHA_CACHE_TTL_SECS so bursty chats don't hammer the filesystem.
self._cached_current_sha: Optional[str] = self._boot_git_sha
self._cached_current_sha_at: float = self._boot_wall_time
# Load ephemeral config from config.yaml / env vars.
# Both are injected at API-call time only and never persisted.
@ -2737,36 +2853,69 @@ class GatewayRunner:
task.add_done_callback(self._background_tasks.discard)
return True
def _current_git_sha_cached(self) -> Optional[str]:
"""Return the current HEAD SHA, cached for _GIT_SHA_CACHE_TTL_SECS.
A bursty chat (user mashes "hello?" three times) would otherwise
re-read ``.git/HEAD`` on every message. Caching collapses that
into a single read and still re-checks within the user's
perceived "next message" window.
"""
now = time.time()
if (
self._cached_current_sha is not None
and (now - self._cached_current_sha_at) < _GIT_SHA_CACHE_TTL_SECS
):
return self._cached_current_sha
try:
sha = _read_git_head_sha(self._repo_root_for_staleness)
except Exception:
sha = None
self._cached_current_sha = sha
self._cached_current_sha_at = now
return sha
def _detect_stale_code(self) -> bool:
"""Return True if source files on disk are newer than the running process.
"""Return True if the git HEAD moved since this process booted.
A gateway that survives ``hermes update`` (manual SIGTERM never
escalated, systemd restart race, detached-process respawn failed,
etc.) keeps pre-update modules cached in ``sys.modules``. Later
imports of names added post-update e.g. ``cfg_get`` from PR
#17304 — raise ImportError against the stale module object (see
Issue #17648). Detecting this at the source — "the code on disk
is newer than me" — lets us auto-restart instead of serving
broken responses until the user notices and runs
``hermes gateway restart`` manually.
Issue #17648).
Returns False when the boot-time snapshot is unavailable or no
sentinel file is readable, to avoid false-positive restart loops
in unusual checkouts (sparse clones, read-only filesystems).
We compare the git HEAD SHA at boot to the current SHA on disk.
``hermes update`` always moves HEAD forward via ``git pull``;
agent file edits (the agent patching ``run_agent.py`` or
``gateway/run.py`` during a self-dev session) never move HEAD.
That makes SHA comparison free of the false-positive class that
the old mtime check suffered from the agent can edit any file
without triggering a phantom restart.
Returns False when:
- the boot SHA is unavailable (non-git install, first call
during partial init, etc.); we can't tell and refuse to loop
- the current SHA matches the boot SHA
- reading the current SHA fails for any reason
"""
if not self._boot_wall_time or not self._boot_repo_mtime:
if not self._boot_wall_time:
return False
if not self._boot_git_sha:
# Non-git install. ``hermes update`` is git-based, so a
# non-git install can't experience the stale-modules class
# this check exists to catch. Return False — no check, no
# false positives. (If we ever ship a pip-install update
# path, we'd add a persistent update marker here and compare
# its timestamp to self._boot_wall_time.)
return False
try:
current = _compute_repo_mtime(self._repo_root_for_staleness)
current = self._current_git_sha_cached()
except Exception:
return False
if current <= 0.0:
if not current:
return False
# 2-second slack guards against filesystems with coarse mtime
# resolution (FAT32, some NFS mounts). Real updates always move
# the newest-file mtime forward by minutes, so this doesn't hide
# genuine staleness.
return current > self._boot_repo_mtime + 2.0
return current != self._boot_git_sha
def _trigger_stale_code_restart(self) -> None:
"""Idempotently kick off a graceful restart after stale-code detection.
@ -2782,12 +2931,17 @@ class GatewayRunner:
if self._stale_code_restart_triggered:
return
self._stale_code_restart_triggered = True
current_sha = None
try:
current_sha = self._current_git_sha_cached()
except Exception:
pass
logger.warning(
"Stale-code self-check: source files newer than gateway boot "
"time (boot=%.0f, newest=%.0f) — requesting graceful restart. "
"Stale-code self-check: git HEAD moved since gateway boot "
"(boot=%s, current=%s) — requesting graceful restart. "
"See Issue #17648.",
self._boot_repo_mtime,
_compute_repo_mtime(self._repo_root_for_staleness),
(self._boot_git_sha or "?")[:12],
(current_sha or "?")[:12],
)
try:
self.request_restart(detached=False, via_service=True)