Four silent failures a demo on somebody else's Mac walked straight into

Three reported from a colleague's machine, plus one the fixing uncovered.
Every one produced a message that was true and useless.

## behavision-setup chose the Python least likely to work

findPython walked 3.14, 3.13, 3.12, 3.11, 3.10 and took the first hit - a
floor with NO ceiling, which is exactly backwards. The newest Python on a
machine is the one least likely to have binary wheels. It picked 3.14, pip
found no numpy wheel for cp314, fell back to building numpy from source and
produced "Unknown compiler(s)"; once the operator had installed Xcode's
command line tools to get past that, ten minutes of compiling ended in
"<arm_neon.h> is intended only for ARM and AArch64 targets".

maxMinor refuses in one line before anything is downloaded, and "too new" is
a different message from "too old" - telling somebody holding Python 3.14
that no Python was found sends them to install a newer one, which is the
direction that just failed.

## numpy<2.0 was the cap; OpenCV was the hazard

Widening it needed proof, and the proof found something else. Nine runs of
the detector guard per combination, one machine, one sitting:

  numpy 1.26 / cv2 4.11    9 passed, 0 crashed
  numpy 2.0  / cv2 4.11    8 passed, 1 crashed
  numpy 1.26 / cv2 4.14    3 passed, 6 crashed
  numpy 2.0  / cv2 4.14    2 passed, 7 crashed

numpy is not the variable; OpenCV is - the third row is numpy 1.26. The crash
was test_a_shared_detector_really_does_race, which races a shared
cv2.FaceDetectorYN on purpose. That is undefined behaviour in C++: 4.11
usually turned it into an exception, 4.14 usually turns it into a segfault,
and 4.11 crashing once says the hazard was always there.

It never reached the product - Engine._build_worker builds a detector per
camera. It reached the suite: two runs in three died with no failing
assertion in them. The race runs in a subprocess now, and one clean attempt
proves nothing, so the premise holds if any of several attempts misbehaves.
226 passed / 2 skipped on numpy 2.0.2, five runs of five.

opencv stays capped below 5: everything above was measured on 4.x, and an
uncapped >=4.8.1 gives every NEW install a major release this project has
never run a real camera through.

## One MQTT client id for a whole shop, so two PCs fought over it

behavision-<client>-<site> is the same string on every computer claimed to one
site. MQTT requires unique client ids and a broker enforces it by
disconnecting the older session, so the colleague's Mac and the shop's own
till took turns kicking each other off:

  broker connected / broker connection lost: EOF / broker connected / EOF ...

The damage is not confined to the new machine. The till is the other half of
that loop, so signing in on a laptop to look at the product stops a live shop
delivering visits - and from each end it reads as an unstable network.

MQTTClientID() appends a per-installation id, minted on first load and written
back so an existing install gets one without anybody doing anything. The site
stays in the name because that is what a broker log is read by. An unwritable
config falls back to a per-run id rather than a shared one.

## "no such file or directory" for an engine nobody had installed

Pressing Start went straight to the supervisor, which reported what exec
reported: a 200-character path ending in "no such file or directory". Every
word true, none of it saying "run the setup tool" - the startup path had that
sentence, in a log file nobody on a shop counter opens.

engineMissing() is the one function the startup path, the Start button and the
status panel all consult. It also names App Translocation, which was in that
path and is unguessable: macOS runs a downloaded unsigned app from a random
read-only copy, so relative paths resolve inside it and an install there would
not survive a restart. The product is unsigned, so that is the normal
first-run state on every Mac, not an edge case.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01KGcjxF1cNLcuwc3DAPcnfj

CLAUDE.md

@@ -3436,3 +3436,110 @@ three, and `api.CameraState` is the one function that decides them:
 - **An unparseable `last_seen_at` is stale**, not connected. It should be
   impossible, which is precisely why it must not fall through to the state that
   says everything is fine.
+
+## A demo on somebody else's Mac found four things, all of them silent
+
+Three failures in one afternoon on a colleague's machine, plus one the fixing
+uncovered. Every one produced a message that was true and useless.
+
+### behavision-setup chose the Python least likely to work
+
+`findPython` walked `3.14, 3.13, 3.12, 3.11, 3.10` and took the first hit — a
+floor with **no ceiling**, which is exactly backwards. The newest Python on a
+machine is the one least likely to have binary wheels for anything. It picked
+3.14, pip found no numpy wheel for cp314 (`numpy<2.0` caps the resolver at
+1.26.4, whose newest is cp312), fell back to building numpy from source and
+produced `ERROR: Unknown compiler(s)`; once the operator had installed Xcode's
+command line tools to get past that, ten minutes of compiling ended in
+`<arm_neon.h> is intended only for ARM and AArch64 targets`.
+
+Two screens of C compiler output on a shop counter, for a version choice this
+program made silently. `maxMinor` refuses in one line before anything is
+downloaded, and **"too new" is a different message from "too old"** — telling
+somebody holding Python 3.14 that no Python was found sends them to install a
+newer one, which is the direction that just failed. It is a *wheel-availability*
+ceiling, not a language one: onnxruntime is the binding dependency today
+(cp314 is its newest), numpy publishes further ahead, and opencv ships a
+stable-ABI wheel that covers everything.
+
+### `numpy<2.0` was the cap; OpenCV was the hazard
+
+Widening to `<3.0` needed proof, and the proof found something else. Nine runs
+of the detector guard per combination, one machine, one sitting:
+
+```
+numpy 1.26 / cv2 4.11    9 passed, 0 crashed
+numpy 2.0  / cv2 4.11    8 passed, 1 crashed
+numpy 1.26 / cv2 4.14    3 passed, 6 crashed
+numpy 2.0  / cv2 4.14    2 passed, 7 crashed
+```
+
+**numpy is not the variable; OpenCV is** — the third row is numpy 1.26. The
+crash was `test_a_shared_detector_really_does_race`, which races a shared
+`cv2.FaceDetectorYN` on purpose to prove the per-camera rule. That is undefined
+behaviour in C++: 4.11 usually turned it into an exception, 4.14 usually turns
+it into a **segfault**, and 4.11 crashing once says the hazard was always there
+and 4.11 merely survived it.
+
+It never reached the product — `Engine._build_worker` builds a detector per
+camera, which is the rule and is what the second test guards. What it reached
+was the suite: two runs in three died with **no failing assertion in them**,
+turning "we upgraded OpenCV" into the hardest kind of CI failure to read. The
+race now runs in a **subprocess**, so a segfault is an observed outcome rather
+than the end of the run, and one clean attempt proves nothing — the premise
+holds if *any* of several attempts misbehaves. With that fixed the suite is
+226 passed / 2 skipped on numpy 2.0.2, five runs out of five.
+
+`opencv-python` stays capped below 5. Everything above was measured on 4.x, and
+an uncapped `>=4.8.1` means every NEW install silently gets a major release
+this project has never run a real camera through while every existing one keeps
+4.11.
+
+### One MQTT client id for a whole shop, so two PCs fought over it
+
+`behavision-<client>-<site>` is the same string on every computer claimed to
+one site. MQTT requires client ids to be unique and a broker enforces it by
+disconnecting the older session when a new one arrives with the same id, so the
+colleague's Mac and the shop's own till took turns kicking each other off:
+
+```
+broker connected / broker connection lost: EOF / broker connected / EOF / ...
+```
+
+**The damage is not confined to the new machine.** The shop's till is the other
+half of that loop, so somebody signing in on a laptop to look at the product
+stops a live shop delivering visits — and from each end it reads as an unstable
+network, because nothing says otherwise.
+
+`Config.MQTTClientID()` appends a per-installation id, minted on first load and
+written back so an existing install gets one without anybody doing anything.
+The site stays in the name because that is what a broker log is read *by*. A
+config that could not be written falls back to a per-run id rather than a
+shared one: the right failure is a new name in the log after a restart, not the
+collision this exists to end.
+
+### "no such file or directory" for an engine nobody had installed
+
+Pressing Start with no engine went straight to the supervisor, which reported
+what `exec` reported:
+
+```
+engine failed to start: fork/exec /private/var/folders/c2/.../AppTranslocation/
+500A5354-.../d/Behavision.app/Contents/MacOS/engine/behavision:
+no such file or directory
+```
+
+Every word true, none of it saying *run the setup tool*. The startup path did
+have that sentence — in a log file nobody on a shop counter opens.
+`App.engineMissing()` is now the one function the startup path, the Start
+button and the status panel all consult, so three surfaces cannot give three
+accounts of one fact.
+
+It also names **App Translocation**, which is in that path and is unguessable.
+macOS quarantines a downloaded app it cannot verify and runs it from a randomly
+named read-only copy, so every relative path resolves inside that copy — which
+is why the engine folder appears missing from a bundle that plainly contains
+one, and why installing into it would not survive a restart. Fixed by dragging
+the app to Applications; saying nothing leaves somebody re-running a setup tool
+that cannot win. The product is unsigned, so this is the *normal* first-run
+state on every Mac, not an edge case.

agent/cmd/behavision-setup/main.go

@@ -46,6 +46,61 @@ import (
 // otherwise arrive as a syntax error deep inside a dependency.
 const minMinor = 10
 
+// maxMinor is a WHEEL-availability ceiling, not a language one, and it is the
+// reason this constant exists at all.
+//
+// findPython used to take the newest interpreter it could find, with a floor
+// and no ceiling - which is precisely backwards, because the newest Python is
+// the one least likely to have binary wheels for anything. Measured on a
+// second Mac: it chose Python 3.14, pip found no numpy wheel for cp314, fell
+// back to building numpy from source, and produced
+//
+//	ERROR: Unknown compiler(s): [['cc'], ['gcc'], ['clang'], ...]
+//
+// then, once the operator installed Xcode's command line tools to get past
+// that, ten minutes of compiling ending in
+//
+//	arm_neon.h:28:2: error: "<arm_neon.h> is intended only for ARM and
+//	                         AArch64 targets"
+//
+// Two screens of C compiler output, on a shop counter, for a version choice
+// made silently by this program. Refusing in one line, before anything is
+// downloaded, is the whole of the fix.
+//
+// Raise it when the dependency set has wheels for the next version. Today
+// onnxruntime is the binding one (cp314 is its newest); numpy publishes
+// further ahead, and opencv-python ships a stable-ABI wheel that covers
+// everything. `pip download --only-binary=:all: -r requirements.txt` against
+// a candidate interpreter is the check.
+const maxMinor = 14
+
+// The three answers a candidate interpreter can get. Three, not two: a
+// version that is too new and one that is too old need opposite actions from
+// the operator, and collapsing them tells somebody holding Python 3.14 to go
+// and install a newer Python.
+const (
+	verdictOK      = "ok"
+	verdictTooOld  = "old"
+	verdictTooNew  = "new"
+	verdictUnknown = "unparseable"
+)
+
+func pythonVerdict(major, minor int, parsed bool) string {
+	switch {
+	case !parsed:
+		return verdictUnknown
+	case major != 3:
+		// Python 4 is not a version this has been tried against, and 2 is
+		// long gone. Neither is a thing to guess about.
+		return verdictTooNew
+	case minor < minMinor:
+		return verdictTooOld
+	case minor > maxMinor:
+		return verdictTooNew
+	}
+	return verdictOK
+}
+
 func main() {
 	if err := run(); err != nil {
 		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "\n  Setup did not finish: %v\n\n", err)
@@ -267,7 +322,13 @@ func findPython() (string, string, error) {
 	// `python3` therefore told a Mac with Python 3.12 sitting on it to go and
 	// install Python - measured on this machine, which has 3.12 under
 	// ~/.local/opt and reported "Found, but too old: python3 3.9".
-	versions := []string{"3.14", "3.13", "3.12", "3.11", "3.10"}
+	// Newest first WITHIN the supported range. Newest overall is what broke
+	// this; a version nobody has built wheels for is not a better choice than
+	// one that works.
+	var versions []string
+	for v := maxMinor; v >= minMinor; v-- {
+		versions = append(versions, fmt.Sprintf("3.%d", v))
+	}
 	for _, v := range versions {
 		cands = append(cands, cand{"python" + v, nil})
 	}
@@ -290,7 +351,7 @@ func findPython() (string, string, error) {
 		}
 	}
 
-	var tried []string
+	var tried, tooNew []string
 	for _, c := range cands {
 		exe := c.exe
 		if filepath.IsAbs(exe) {
@@ -314,7 +375,18 @@ func findPython() (string, string, error) {
 		}
 		ver := strings.TrimSpace(string(out))
 		tried = append(tried, c.exe+" "+ver)
-		if major, minor, ok := parseVer(ver); ok && (major > 3 || (major == 3 && minor >= minMinor)) {
+		major, minor, parsed := parseVer(ver)
+		switch verdict := pythonVerdict(major, minor, parsed); verdict {
+		case verdictTooNew:
+			// Recorded separately: "too new" and "too old" need opposite
+			// actions, and a single "found, but unsuitable" list sends
+			// somebody to upgrade a Python that is already past the problem.
+			tooNew = append(tooNew, c.exe+" "+ver)
+			continue
+		case verdictTooOld, verdictUnknown:
+			continue
+		}
+		{
 			full := exe
 			if len(c.args) > 0 {
 				full = exe + " " + strings.Join(c.args, " ")
@@ -327,7 +399,30 @@ func findPython() (string, string, error) {
 	// python.exe to PATH" on a Windows installer page reads as software that
 	// does not know where it is running, which is exactly the moment somebody
 	// stops trusting the rest of what it says.
-	msg := "no Python 3.10 or newer was found on this computer.\n\n"
+	// Only a too-new Python is a different problem with a different fix, and
+	// saying "no Python was found" to somebody looking at Python 3.14 is the
+	// kind of message that makes people stop believing the next one.
+	if len(tooNew) > 0 && len(tried) == 0 {
+		// Built as a value and wrapped, not written as an fmt.Errorf literal:
+		// this is a paragraph shown to an operator, and a linter that wants
+		// error strings to be lower-case fragments is right about errors
+		// programs read and wrong about the ones people do.
+		tooNewMsg := fmt.Sprintf(
+			"this computer has %s, which is newer than Behavision supports.\n\n"+
+				"    Some of the libraries the engine needs have no build for it\n"+
+				"    yet, so installing would fail part-way through.\n\n"+
+				"    Install Python 3.%d and run this again:\n"+
+				"      macOS:   brew install python@3.%d\n"+
+				"               or https://www.python.org/downloads/macos/\n"+
+				"      Windows: https://www.python.org/downloads/windows/\n\n"+
+				"    Both versions can sit on the machine together; this picks\n"+
+				"    the one it can use.",
+			strings.Join(tooNew, ", "), maxMinor, maxMinor)
+		return "", "", errors.New(tooNewMsg)
+	}
+
+	msg := fmt.Sprintf("no Python between 3.%d and 3.%d was found on this computer.\n\n",
+		minMinor, maxMinor)
 	if runtime.GOOS == "windows" {
 		msg += "    Install it from https://www.python.org/downloads/windows/\n" +
 			"    and tick \"Add python.exe to PATH\" on the first screen,\n" +
@@ -339,6 +434,9 @@ func findPython() (string, string, error) {
 	if len(tried) > 0 {
 		msg += "\n\n    Found, but too old: " + strings.Join(tried, ", ")
 	}
+	if len(tooNew) > 0 {
+		msg += "\n\n    Found, but too new: " + strings.Join(tooNew, ", ")
+	}
 	return "", "", errors.New(msg)
 }
 

agent/cmd/behavision-setup/python_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+package main
+
+import "testing"
+
+// The choice this program makes silently, and got wrong.
+//
+// findPython took the newest interpreter on the machine, with a floor and no
+// ceiling - backwards, because the newest Python is the one least likely to
+// have binary wheels. On a Mac holding Python 3.14 it chose 3.14, pip found
+// no numpy wheel for cp314, fell back to a source build and produced two
+// screens of clang errors ending in "<arm_neon.h> is intended only for ARM
+// and AArch64 targets". The operator's machine was fine; the version was not.
+func TestTooNewIsRefusedRatherThanCompiled(t *testing.T) {
+	if got := pythonVerdict(3, maxMinor+1, true); got != verdictTooNew {
+		t.Errorf("3.%d = %q, want %q - picking it means a source build",
+			maxMinor+1, got, verdictTooNew)
+	}
+	if got := pythonVerdict(3, maxMinor, true); got != verdictOK {
+		t.Errorf("3.%d = %q, want %q - the ceiling is inclusive", maxMinor, got, verdictOK)
+	}
+}
+
+// Too old and too new must stay different answers. Telling somebody holding
+// Python 3.14 that no Python was found, or that theirs is too old, sends them
+// to install a newer one - which is the direction that already failed.
+func TestOldAndNewAreDifferentAnswers(t *testing.T) {
+	old := pythonVerdict(3, minMinor-1, true)
+	fresh := pythonVerdict(3, maxMinor+1, true)
+	if old == fresh {
+		t.Fatalf("3.%d and 3.%d both reported %q", minMinor-1, maxMinor+1, old)
+	}
+	if old != verdictTooOld {
+		t.Errorf("3.%d = %q, want %q", minMinor-1, old, verdictTooOld)
+	}
+}
+
+// Every version in the range is accepted, so the window this program claims
+// to support is the one it actually uses.
+func TestTheWholeSupportedRangeIsAccepted(t *testing.T) {
+	for m := minMinor; m <= maxMinor; m++ {
+		if got := pythonVerdict(3, m, true); got != verdictOK {
+			t.Errorf("3.%d = %q, want %q", m, got, verdictOK)
+		}
+	}
+	if minMinor > maxMinor {
+		t.Fatal("the supported range is empty; nothing would ever be chosen")
+	}
+}
+
+// A major version nobody has tested against is not something to guess at, and
+// an unreadable version string is not a working interpreter.
+func TestUnknownVersionsAreNotAccepted(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, c := range []struct {
+		name         string
+		major, minor int
+		parsed       bool
+	}{
+		{"python 4", 4, 0, true},
+		{"python 2", 2, 7, true},
+		{"unparseable", 0, 0, false},
+	} {
+		if got := pythonVerdict(c.major, c.minor, c.parsed); got == verdictOK {
+			t.Errorf("%s was accepted", c.name)
+		}
+	}
+}

agent/main.go

@@ -325,7 +325,7 @@ func cmdRun() error {
 			cfg.ClientID, cfg.SiteID, cfg.BrokerURL)
 		client, err := mqtt.NewClient(mqtt.ClientOptions{
 			BrokerURL: cfg.BrokerURL,
-			ClientID:  "behavision-" + cfg.ClientID + "-" + cfg.SiteID,
+			ClientID:  cfg.MQTTClientID(),
 			Username:  cfg.BrokerUsername, Password: cfg.BrokerPassword,
 			CAFile: cfg.BrokerCAFile, Log: logger,
 		})

agent/pkg/cameras/live.go

@@ -30,12 +30,12 @@ import (
 // argument, and it is why the wanted-check comes first and the push stops the
 // moment the server says the last viewer has gone.
 type Live struct {
-	Engine    *EngineClient
+	Engine  *EngineClient
-	Cloud     *CloudClient
+	Cloud   *CloudClient
-	Log       *log.Logger
+	Log     *log.Logger
-	FPS       float64
+	FPS     float64
-	Width     int
+	Width   int
-	Quality   int
+	Quality int
 }
 
 // Defaults, measured against the office camera rather than guessed.

agent/pkg/config/config.go

@@ -8,7 +8,9 @@
 package config
 
 import (
+	"crypto/rand"
 	"encoding/base64"
+	"encoding/hex"
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
@@ -83,6 +85,10 @@ type Config struct {
 	// Queue.
 	SpoolMax int `json:"spool_max"`
 
+	// InstallID distinguishes THIS installation from every other one claimed
+	// to the same site. See MQTTClientID.
+	InstallID string `json:"install_id,omitempty"`
+
 	path string
 }
 
@@ -124,6 +130,14 @@ func Load(path string) (Config, error) {
 		return cfg, fmt.Errorf("config %s: %w", path, err)
 	}
 	cfg.path = path
+	// Minted on first load and written back, so an installation that predates
+	// this field gets one without anybody doing anything. Best effort: a
+	// read-only config still yields a working id for this run, it is simply
+	// not the same one next time.
+	if cfg.InstallID == "" {
+		cfg.InstallID = newInstallID()
+		_ = cfg.Save(path)
+	}
 	for _, field := range []*string{&cfg.BrokerPassword, &cfg.APIPassword,
 		&cfg.SessionToken, &cfg.SessionRefresh, &cfg.AgentToken} {
 		plain, err := reveal(*field)
@@ -210,3 +224,41 @@ func reveal(stored string) (string, error) {
 	}
 	return string(plain), nil
 }
+
+// MQTTClientID names this INSTALLATION, not this site.
+//
+// It was `behavision-<client>-<site>`, which is the same string on every
+// computer claimed to one shop. MQTT requires client ids to be unique and a
+// broker enforces it by disconnecting the older session when a new one
+// arrives with the same id - so two machines on one site take turns kicking
+// each other off, forever. Measured on a second Mac claimed to a live shop:
+//
+//	broker connected / broker connection lost: EOF / broker connected / ...
+//
+// The damage is not confined to the new machine. The shop's own till is the
+// other half of that loop, so somebody signing in on a laptop to look at the
+// product stops the shop delivering visits - and nothing at either end says
+// why, because from each side it reads as an unstable network.
+//
+// The site stays in the id because it is what a broker log is read by, and
+// the random half is short for the same reason. `CleanSession(true)` means
+// there is no session state for a changed id to strand.
+func (c Config) MQTTClientID() string {
+	id := c.InstallID
+	if id == "" {
+		// A config that could not be written still has to produce a UNIQUE
+		// id, or this falls straight back into the collision it exists to
+		// prevent. Per-run is the right failure: the connection works and the
+		// only cost is a new name in the broker's log after a restart.
+		id = newInstallID()
+	}
+	return "behavision-" + c.ClientID + "-" + c.SiteID + "-" + id
+}
+
+func newInstallID() string {
+	b := make([]byte, 4)
+	if _, err := rand.Read(b); err != nil {
+		return "x"
+	}
+	return hex.EncodeToString(b)
+}

agent/pkg/config/installid_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+package config
+
+import (
+	"path/filepath"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+// The bug this exists to prevent, measured on a second Mac claimed to a live
+// shop: MQTT requires client ids to be unique, and a broker enforces it by
+// disconnecting the older session when a new one arrives with the same id. The
+// id was `behavision-<client>-<site>` - identical on every computer claimed to
+// one shop - so the two took turns kicking each other off:
+//
+//	broker connected / broker connection lost: EOF / broker connected / ...
+//
+// The damage is not confined to the new machine. The shop's own till is the
+// other half of that loop, so somebody signing in on a laptop to look at the
+// product stops the shop delivering visits.
+func TestTwoInstallsOnOneSiteGetDifferentClientIDs(t *testing.T) {
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	one := writeClaimed(t, filepath.Join(dir, "a.json"))
+	two := writeClaimed(t, filepath.Join(dir, "b.json"))
+
+	if one.MQTTClientID() == two.MQTTClientID() {
+		t.Fatalf("both installs answered to %q; the broker will disconnect one "+
+			"whenever the other connects", one.MQTTClientID())
+	}
+}
+
+// And the same install keeps its name across restarts, or a broker log is a
+// list of strangers and nobody can tell one till from a stream of new ones.
+func TestOneInstallKeepsItsClientIDAcrossRestarts(t *testing.T) {
+	path := filepath.Join(t.TempDir(), "agent.json")
+	first := writeClaimed(t, path)
+
+	again, err := Load(path)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("reload: %v", err)
+	}
+	if got, want := again.MQTTClientID(), first.MQTTClientID(); got != want {
+		t.Errorf("after a restart the id was %q, want %q", got, want)
+	}
+}
+
+// The site stays in the id: it is what somebody reading a broker log is
+// reading FOR, and an opaque random string would make every connection
+// anonymous.
+func TestTheClientIDStillNamesTheShop(t *testing.T) {
+	c := Config{ClientID: "tenext-retail", SiteID: "chennai", InstallID: "abcd1234"}
+	id := c.MQTTClientID()
+	for _, want := range []string{"tenext-retail", "chennai", "abcd1234"} {
+		if !strings.Contains(id, want) {
+			t.Errorf("client id %q does not contain %q", id, want)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// A config that could not be written still has to produce a UNIQUE id, or a
+// read-only install falls straight back into the collision. Per-run is the
+// right failure: the connection works, and the only cost is a new name in the
+// broker's log after a restart.
+func TestAnUnsavedConfigStillGetsAUniqueID(t *testing.T) {
+	a := Config{ClientID: "c", SiteID: "s"}
+	b := Config{ClientID: "c", SiteID: "s"}
+	if a.MQTTClientID() == b.MQTTClientID() {
+		t.Fatal("two configs with no install id produced the same client id")
+	}
+}
+
+func writeClaimed(t *testing.T, path string) Config {
+	t.Helper()
+	cfg := Defaults()
+	cfg.ClientID, cfg.SiteID = "tenext-retail", "chennai"
+	if err := cfg.Save(path); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("save: %v", err)
+	}
+	// Loading is what mints the id, so an installation that predates the
+	// field gets one without anybody doing anything.
+	got, err := Load(path)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("load: %v", err)
+	}
+	if got.InstallID == "" {
+		t.Fatal("loading a config without an install id did not mint one")
+	}
+	return got
+}

desktop/app.go

@@ -44,6 +44,9 @@ type App struct {
 	broker     *agentmqtt.Client
 	stopBridge func()
 	hookURL    string
+	// The resolved engine command, so engineMissing() and the supervisor are
+	// never looking at two different paths.
+	engineExe string
 	// Relays camera feeds to the webview so the engine's credential never has
 	// to travel in an <img> src, which a Chromium webview would strip anyway.
 	proxy *streamProxy
@@ -109,6 +112,9 @@ func (a *App) startup(ctx context.Context) {
 	if exe != "" && !filepath.IsAbs(exe) {
 		exe = filepath.Join(agentpaths.InstallRoot(), exe)
 	}
+	a.mu.Lock()
+	a.engineExe = exe
+	a.mu.Unlock()
 	logFile, _ := agentengine.LogFile(agentpaths.EngineLog())
 	a.sup = agentengine.New(agentengine.Options{
 		Command: func(c context.Context) *exec.Cmd {
@@ -154,13 +160,55 @@ func (a *App) startup(ctx context.Context) {
 	// not run yet, starting the supervisor would loop on a missing executable
 	// with nothing useful to say. The Start button still exists for the one
 	// case where somebody has deliberately stopped it.
-	if _, err := os.Stat(exe); err == nil {
+	if why := a.engineMissing(); why == "" {
 		a.sup.Start()
 	} else {
-		log.Printf("engine not installed yet (%s); run behavision-setup, then Start", exe)
+		log.Printf("%s (looked for %s)", why, exe)
 	}
 }
 
+// engineMissing says, in a sentence somebody can act on, why recognition
+// cannot start here - or "" when it can.
+//
+// It exists because the answer was only ever given at startup, to a log file
+// nobody on a shop counter opens. Pressing Start went straight to the
+// supervisor, which reported what exec reported:
+//
+//	engine failed to start: fork/exec /private/var/folders/c2/.../
+//	AppTranslocation/500A5354-.../d/Behavision.app/Contents/MacOS/engine/
+//	behavision: no such file or directory
+//
+// Every word of that is true and none of it says "run the setup tool". One
+// function, consulted by the startup path, the Start button and the status
+// panel, so the three cannot give three different accounts of one fact.
+func (a *App) engineMissing() string {
+	a.mu.RLock()
+	exe := a.engineExe
+	a.mu.RUnlock()
+	if exe == "" {
+		return "The recognition engine is not set up on this computer yet."
+	}
+	if _, err := os.Stat(exe); err == nil {
+		return ""
+	}
+	msg := "The recognition engine is not installed on this computer yet. " +
+		"Run behavision-setup from the folder you unzipped, then press Start."
+	// macOS quarantines a downloaded app it cannot verify and runs it from a
+	// randomly named READ-ONLY copy - App Translocation. Every relative path
+	// then resolves inside that copy, which is why the engine folder appears
+	// to be missing from a bundle that plainly contains one, and why an
+	// install into it would not survive a restart. Detectable, unguessable,
+	// and fixed by one drag; saying nothing leaves somebody re-running a
+	// setup tool that cannot win.
+	if strings.Contains(exe, "/AppTranslocation/") {
+		msg = "macOS is running Behavision from a temporary read-only copy, " +
+			"because it was opened straight from Downloads. Move Behavision " +
+			"to your Applications folder and open it from there, then run " +
+			"behavision-setup."
+	}
+	return msg
+}
+
 // webhookURL is the loopback address the bridge is listening on, or empty
 // before it has started.
 func (a *App) webhookURL() string {
@@ -242,7 +290,7 @@ func (a *App) startPipeline(ctx context.Context) {
 	}
 	client, err := agentmqtt.NewClient(agentmqtt.ClientOptions{
 		BrokerURL: a.cfg.BrokerURL,
-		ClientID:  "behavision-" + a.cfg.ClientID + "-" + a.cfg.SiteID,
+		ClientID:  a.cfg.MQTTClientID(),
 		Username:  a.cfg.BrokerUsername, Password: a.cfg.BrokerPassword,
 		CAFile: a.cfg.BrokerCAFile, Log: logger,
 	})
@@ -595,6 +643,11 @@ func (a *App) EngineStatus() EngineStatus {
 	if err != nil {
 		out.Error = err.Error()
 	}
+	// The supervisor's own error is an exec failure; this replaces it with
+	// the reason, which is the part that tells somebody what to do.
+	if why := a.engineMissing(); why != "" {
+		out.Error = why
+	}
 	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(a.ctx, 4*time.Second)
 	defer cancel()
 	// A running process is not a working engine: on a memory-starved box the
@@ -609,6 +662,13 @@ func (a *App) EngineStatus() EngineStatus {
 }
 
 func (a *App) StartEngine() EngineStatus {
+	// Refused rather than attempted. Handing a missing path to the supervisor
+	// produces a retry loop and an exec error for a message.
+	if why := a.engineMissing(); why != "" {
+		st := a.EngineStatus()
+		st.Error = why
+		return st
+	}
 	if a.sup != nil {
 		a.sup.Start()
 	}

pyproject.toml

@@ -4,8 +4,9 @@ version = "1.1.0"
 description = "Production face recognition over RTSP"
 requires-python = ">=3.10"
 dependencies = [
-    "numpy>=1.26,<2.0",
+    # See requirements.txt for why numpy is uncapped and opencv is not.
-    "opencv-python>=4.8.1",
+    "numpy>=1.26,<3.0",
+    "opencv-python>=4.8.1,<5",
     "onnxruntime>=1.16",
     "fastapi>=0.110",
     "uvicorn>=0.29",

requirements.txt

@@ -1,5 +1,31 @@
-numpy>=1.26,<2.0
+# numpy 2 is allowed, and that is what lets this install on a current Python.
-opencv-python>=4.8.1
+# `<2.0` capped the resolver at numpy 1.26.4, whose newest wheel is cp312, so
+# on a Mac with Python 3.14 pip fell back to BUILDING numpy from source and
+# died in clang - two screens of C compiler output on a shop counter, for a
+# version choice made silently by behavision-setup.
+#
+# Measured before changing it, nine runs of the detector guard per combination
+# on one machine:
+#
+#     numpy 1.26 / cv2 4.11    9 passed, 0 crashed
+#     numpy 2.0  / cv2 4.11    8 passed, 1 crashed
+#     numpy 1.26 / cv2 4.14    3 passed, 6 crashed
+#     numpy 2.0  / cv2 4.14    2 passed, 7 crashed
+#
+# numpy is not the variable there; OpenCV is. The crash was a test racing a
+# shared cv2.FaceDetectorYN on purpose - undefined behaviour in C++, which 4.11
+# usually turned into an exception and 4.14 usually turns into a segfault. The
+# product never shares one (Engine._build_worker builds a detector per camera),
+# and the test now runs that race out of process. With that fixed, the whole
+# suite is 226 passed / 2 skipped on numpy 2.0.2, five runs out of five.
+#
+# opencv IS capped, and the two are not the same call. Everything above was
+# measured on 4.x; OpenCV 5.0 is a major release this project has never run a
+# real camera or an emotion model through, and an uncapped `>=4.8.1` means
+# every NEW install silently gets it while every existing one keeps 4.11. Lift
+# it after running a camera on 5.x, not before.
+numpy>=1.26,<3.0
+opencv-python>=4.8.1,<5
 onnxruntime>=1.16
 fastapi>=0.110
 uvicorn>=0.29

tests/test_detector_concurrency.py

@@ -1,7 +1,32 @@
 """cv2.FaceDetectorYN caches its input size and is not thread-safe, so camera
 workers must not share one. Skipped when the model is absent, matching the
 faiss-optional pattern in test_index.py — the suite stays runnable with no
-models installed."""
+models installed.
+
+The premise is proved in a SUBPROCESS, and that is the whole lesson of this
+file. The first version raced a shared detector in-process and asserted that
+an exception came back, because on OpenCV 4.11 one usually did. It is a data
+race in C++: what it produces is undefined, and on 4.14 what it mostly
+produces is a segmentation fault. Measured, nine runs each, same machine:
+
+    numpy 1.26 / cv2 4.11    9 passed, 0 crashed
+    numpy 2.0  / cv2 4.11    8 passed, 1 crashed
+    numpy 1.26 / cv2 4.14    3 passed, 6 crashed
+    numpy 2.0  / cv2 4.14    2 passed, 7 crashed
+
+numpy is not the variable; OpenCV is, and 4.11 crashing once says the hazard
+was always there and 4.11 merely survived it. A test that takes the whole
+suite down two runs in three is worse than no test: it turns "we upgraded
+OpenCV" into a CI failure with no failing assertion in it, which is the
+hardest kind to read.
+
+None of this reaches the product. `Engine._build_worker` constructs a
+FaceDetector per camera, which is what the rule says and what the second test
+here guards.
+"""
+import subprocess
+import sys
+import textwrap
 import threading
 from pathlib import Path
 
@@ -11,10 +36,16 @@ import pytest
 from behavision.config import Config
 from behavision.detection import YUNET_FILENAME, FaceDetector
 
-MODELS = Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent / "models"
+ROOT = Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent
+MODELS = ROOT / "models"
 pytestmark = pytest.mark.skipif(not (MODELS / YUNET_FILENAME).exists(),
                                 reason="YuNet model not installed")
 
+# A shared detector fails probabilistically, so one clean attempt proves
+# nothing. Several do: the premise holds if ANY attempt misbehaves, and only
+# an unbroken run of clean ones is evidence it has stopped being true.
+ATTEMPTS = 6
+
 
 def _detector():
     d = Config().detection
@@ -44,11 +75,37 @@ def _race(det_a, det_b):
     return errors
 
 
+_SHARED_RACE = textwrap.dedent("""
+    import sys
+    sys.path.insert(0, {root!r})
+    from tests.test_detector_concurrency import _detector, _race
+    shared = _detector()
+    print("raced" if _race(shared, shared) else "clean")
+""")
+
+
+def _shared_race_outcome():
+    """Run one shared-detector race out of process.
+
+    Returns "raced" (an exception came back), "crashed" (the process died,
+    which is the same premise arriving by a blunter route) or "clean".
+    """
+    proc = subprocess.run([sys.executable, "-c", _SHARED_RACE.format(root=str(ROOT))],
+                          capture_output=True, text=True, timeout=120)
+    if proc.returncode != 0:
+        return "crashed"
+    return proc.stdout.strip().splitlines()[-1] if proc.stdout.strip() else "clean"
+
+
 def test_a_shared_detector_really_does_race():
     """Guards the premise: if this ever stops failing, the test below is
     proving nothing and the per-camera split can be revisited."""
-    shared = _detector()
+    seen = [_shared_race_outcome() for _ in range(ATTEMPTS)]
-    assert _race(shared, shared), "expected a shared detector to race"
+    assert any(o != "clean" for o in seen), (
+        f"a shared detector survived {ATTEMPTS} races ({seen}) - if that is "
+        "reproducible, cv2.FaceDetectorYN may have become thread-safe and the "
+        "per-camera rule in CLAUDE.md can be revisited"
+    )
 
 
 def test_per_camera_detectors_do_not_race():