Timers 1.7.0: the LTC capture tool ships prebuilt, for Apple silicon and Intel

The tool used to be compiled by the macOS app build, or by the module
itself on the booth with swiftc — and a catalog install got source only,
which the unbundled 1.10.0 shell made every fresh install. Under the module
guide's rule it now ships built: bin/ltc-capture-macos-arm64 and
bin/ltc-capture-macos-x86_64, signed with the Developer ID (hardened
runtime, audio-input entitlement), from native/ltc-capture.swift via
native/build.sh. Nothing is built or looked for on the machine any more:
captureTool() picks the binary for this platform, and where there is none
— Windows, until a Windows implementation exists — timecode reports itself
off in the tile and the health line while the rest of the module runs.
The runtime build, its "building…" states and the device picker's build
kick are gone with it. The old top-level binary is no longer gitignored
(it is no longer written).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5.1 <noreply@anthropic.com>

.gitignore

@@ -8,9 +8,6 @@ dist/
 config/modules.json
 config/layouts/
 
-# compiled per-machine, source sits next to it
-modules/propresenter-timers/ltc-capture
-
 # the launcher's build output, and its cache of the Node runtime it embeds
 launcher/macos/build/
 launcher/macos/.cache/

modules/propresenter-timers/ltc-listener.js

@@ -3,8 +3,8 @@
 /**
  * Built-in LTC listener — capture child + in-process decode.
  *
- * Spawns the module's native capture tool (ltc-capture, compiled from
+ * Spawns the module's native capture tool (bin/ltc-capture-macos-<arch>,
- * ltc-capture.swift beside it) for the admin-configured audio device, reads
+ * shipped prebuilt; source in native/) for the admin-configured audio device, reads
  * the interleaved s16le stream, extracts the configured channel, and decodes
  * SMPTE LTC with ltc.js — all inside the module server. Reports upward via
  * onUpdate roughly 4×/s:
@@ -16,17 +16,13 @@
  * shows (short — "Not configured — see Admin"), `detail` is the full story
  * for the admin health line and the log.
  *
- * The capture binary is per-machine (gitignored), and a catalog install or
+ * The capture tool ships prebuilt inside the module, one binary per
- * update ships source only — the update even wipes a previously built
+ * platform under bin/ (module guide, "Native helpers"): nothing is ever
- * binary. ensureCaptureBinary() therefore rebuilds it with swiftc in the
+ * built on the machine running ProdDash. captureTool() picks the binary for
- * background as part of coming up: kicked when the LTC source starts and by
+ * this platform; when there is none, timecode reports itself off and the
- * the admin device picker, never on the event loop (a blocking build once
+ * rest of the module carries on. A dead capture child is restarted with
- * froze the whole server — see spl-meter's history), built to a temp name
+ * backoff — fast for a crash, slow for config-shaped failures (unknown
- * and renamed so a killed build can't leave a half-written "binary", and
+ * device, ambiguity) that never fix themselves.
- * rebuilt when a module update leaves the source newer than the binary.
- * A dead capture child is restarted with backoff — fast for a crash, slow
- * for config-shaped failures (unknown device, ambiguity) that never fix
- * themselves.
  *
  * macOS gotcha this file can't fix: microphone permission. A ProdDash
  * server launched over SSH or from a bare launchd job gets SILENT ZEROS
@@ -51,107 +47,43 @@ const RUNNING_WINDOW_MS = 400;
 /** stderr line the capture prints once the device is open. */
 const CAPTURING_RE = /capturing "(.+)": (\d+) channels @ (\d+) Hz/;
 
-/* ── the capture tool: build it when the install didn't bring one ──────── */
+/* ── the capture tool: prebuilt, one binary per platform ───────────────── */
 
 /** Tile-facing words (short); the detail goes to admin health and the log. */
-const TOOL_BUILDING = 'Capture tool building…';
 const TOOL_MISSING = 'Capture tool unavailable — see Admin';
-const BUILD_HELP = 'LTC capture tool could not be built here — build it on any Mac of the '
-  + 'same architecture with `swiftc -O -o ltc-capture ltc-capture.swift` (both files are in '
-  + 'the module folder) and copy the binary next to ltc-capture.swift';
 
-let building = false;
+/** What the module ships in bin/, by platform and architecture. */
-let buildFailed = false;
+const HELPERS = {
+  darwin: { arm64: 'ltc-capture-macos-arm64', x64: 'ltc-capture-macos-x86_64' },
+  win32: { x64: 'ltc-capture-win-x64.exe' },
+};
 
 /**
- * Make sure the capture tool exists, building it in the background when it
+ * The capture tool for this machine. It is never built here and never
- * does not — module scope, so the LTC source can kick it the moment it
+ * looked for anywhere else: the module ships it, or timecode is off on this
- * starts and the admin device picker can kick it before any device is
+ * platform and says so. `ready` means a usable binary at `bin`; otherwise
- * configured (a listener-only build would deadlock: no tool → no device
+ * `error` is the short tile text and `detail` names the platform.
- * list → no device → no listener). A catalog install ships source only and
- * a catalog update deletes the module folder (old binary included), so this
- * IS the install step for the tool.
  *
- * Never blocks (a synchronous build once held the whole server's event loop
+ * @returns {{ready:boolean, bin:string, error:string, detail:string}}
- * — every module — for the duration). Builds to a temp name and renames, so
- * a killed or crashed build can't leave a truncated file that looks like a
- * ready binary. A binary older than the source (a module update over an
- * existing folder) keeps serving while a replacement builds behind it.
- *
- * @returns {{ready:boolean, error:string, detail:string}} `ready` = a binary
- *   is usable right now; otherwise `error` is the short tile text and
- *   `detail` the full one.
  */
-function ensureCaptureBinary({ moduleDir, log, onReady }) {
+function captureTool(moduleDir, platform = process.platform, arch = process.arch) {
-  const bin = path.join(moduleDir, 'ltc-capture');
+  const name = HELPERS[platform]?.[arch] || '';
-  const src = bin + '.swift';
+  const bin = name ? path.join(moduleDir, 'bin', name) : '';
-  const ok = { ready: true, error: '', detail: '' };
+  if (bin && fs.existsSync(bin)) return { ready: true, bin, error: '', detail: '' };
-  let haveBin = false;
+  const here = `${platform === 'darwin' ? 'macOS' : platform === 'win32' ? 'Windows' : platform} ${arch}`;
-  let stale = false;
+  return {
-  try {
-    haveBin = fs.existsSync(bin);
-    if (haveBin && fs.existsSync(src)) stale = fs.statSync(src).mtimeMs > fs.statSync(bin).mtimeMs;
-  } catch { /* treat as missing */ }
-  if (haveBin && !stale) return ok;
-  if (!fs.existsSync(src)) {
-    return haveBin ? ok : { ready: false, error: TOOL_MISSING, detail: 'ltc-capture.swift is missing from the module folder' };
-  }
-  const notYet = haveBin ? ok : {
     ready: false,
-    error: building || !buildFailed ? TOOL_BUILDING : TOOL_MISSING,
+    bin: '',
-    detail: building || !buildFailed ? 'Building the LTC capture tool — ready in a moment' : BUILD_HELP,
+    error: TOOL_MISSING,
+    detail: `The module ships no LTC capture tool for ${here}${name ? ` (bin/${name} is missing)` : ''} — timecode is off on this machine`,
   };
-  if (building || buildFailed) return notYet;
-
-  building = true;
-  const tmp = bin + '.building';
-  log(stale ? 'ltc-capture is older than its source — rebuilding it in the background'
-    : 'ltc-capture binary missing — building it in the background');
-  const build = spawn('swiftc', ['-O', '-o', tmp, src], { stdio: ['ignore', 'ignore', 'pipe'] });
-  let buildErr = '';
-  build.stderr.setEncoding('utf8');
-  build.stderr.on('data', (t) => { buildErr = (buildErr + t).slice(-800); });
-  const giveUp = setTimeout(() => {
-    try { build.kill('SIGKILL'); } catch { /* already gone */ }
-  }, 300000);
-  giveUp.unref?.();
-  build.on('error', (err) => {
-    clearTimeout(giveUp);
-    building = false;
-    buildFailed = true;
-    try { fs.rmSync(tmp, { force: true }); } catch { /* nothing to clean */ }
-    log(`swiftc could not be run: ${err.message}`);
-  });
-  build.on('exit', (code) => {
-    clearTimeout(giveUp);
-    building = false;
-    if (code === 0 && fs.existsSync(tmp)) {
-      try {
-        fs.renameSync(tmp, bin);
-      } catch (err) {
-        buildFailed = true;
-        log(`ltc-capture built but could not be moved into place: ${err.message}`);
-        return;
 }
-      buildFailed = false;
-      log('ltc-capture built');
-      if (typeof onReady === 'function') onReady();
-      return;
-    }
-    buildFailed = true;
-    try { fs.rmSync(tmp, { force: true }); } catch { /* nothing to clean */ }
-    log(`ltc-capture build failed (exit ${code})` + (buildErr ? `: ${buildErr.trim().split('\n').pop()}` : ''));
-  });
-  return notYet;
-}
-
 /**
  * @param {{device:string, channel:number, moduleDir:string, log:Function,
  *          onUpdate:(u:object)=>void}} opts
  * @returns {{stop:()=>void}}
  */
 function createLtcListener({ device, channel, moduleDir, log, onUpdate }) {
-  const bin = path.join(moduleDir, 'ltc-capture');
   let child = null;
   let stopped = false;
   let restartTimer = null;
@@ -181,22 +113,11 @@ function createLtcListener({ device, channel, moduleDir, log, onUpdate }) {
 
   function start() {
     if (stopped) return;
-    const tool = ensureCaptureBinary({
+    const tool = captureTool(moduleDir);
-      moduleDir,
-      log,
-      onReady() {
-        // The build this start() was waiting on landed — go now.
-        if (!stopped) { clearTimeout(restartTimer); restartTimer = null; start(); }
-      },
-    });
     if (!tool.ready) {
+      // No binary for this platform: say so and look again later — a module
+      // update remounts us anyway, this is only belt and braces.
       report({ error: tool.error, detail: tool.detail });
-      // onReady is only the FAST path (a successful build restarts us at
-      // once). The slow retry must stay armed regardless: a failed build
-      // never calls back, and a binary can also arrive from outside — scp'd
-      // in on a machine whose toolchain can't build (AB's broken CLT).
-      // Waiting on onReady alone deadlocked exactly that way in production:
-      // "Capture tool building…" forever, with a working binary on disk.
       scheduleRestart(BAD_CONFIG_RETRY_MS);
       return;
     }
@@ -206,7 +127,7 @@ function createLtcListener({ device, channel, moduleDir, log, onUpdate }) {
     let decoder = null;
     let stderrTail = '';
 
-    child = spawn(bin, ['--device', device], { stdio: ['ignore', 'pipe', 'pipe'] });
+    child = spawn(tool.bin, ['--device', device], { stdio: ['ignore', 'pipe', 'pipe'] });
 
     child.stderr.setEncoding('utf8');
     child.stderr.on('data', (text) => {
@@ -298,4 +219,4 @@ function createLtcListener({ device, channel, moduleDir, log, onUpdate }) {
   };
 }
 
-module.exports = { createLtcListener, ensureCaptureBinary };
+module.exports = { createLtcListener, captureTool };

modules/propresenter-timers/module.json

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "id": "propresenter-timers",
   "name": "Timers",
-  "version": "1.6.0",
+  "version": "1.7.0",
   "proddash": ">=1.4.0",
   "description": "Timers, Clocks, and LTC From configured Modules",
   "provides": [

modules/propresenter-timers/native/build.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+#!/bin/zsh
+# Build this module's native helper for every macOS architecture it ships —
+#   ../bin/ltc-capture-macos-arm64 and ../bin/ltc-capture-macos-x86_64 —
+# from ltc-capture.swift beside this script. Run it on any Mac with the
+# Xcode command line tools; both architectures cross-compile from either.
+# The binaries are committed: a machine running ProdDash never builds
+# anything (docs/MODULE-GUIDE.md, "Native helpers").
+#
+# Signed with a Developer ID Application certificate when one is installed
+# (override with CODESIGN_IDENTITY) — hardened runtime plus the audio-input
+# entitlement, which a helper that reads a microphone needs under the
+# hardened runtime — and ad-hoc otherwise, which is fine on your own Macs.
+#
+# Windows is not built here: there is no Windows implementation of this
+# tool yet, so on Windows the module reports timecode off.
+set -e -u
+cd "$(dirname "$0")"
+
+NAME="ltc-capture"
+DEPLOYMENT_TARGET="13.0"
+
+command -v swiftc >/dev/null || {
+  echo "build.sh: swiftc not found — install the Xcode command line tools: xcode-select --install" >&2
+  exit 1
+}
+
+IDENTITY="${CODESIGN_IDENTITY:-}"
+if [[ -z "$IDENTITY" ]]; then
+  IDENTITY=$(security find-identity -v -p codesigning 2>/dev/null \
+    | awk -F'"' '/Developer ID Application/ {print $2; exit}')
+fi
+if [[ -n "$IDENTITY" ]]; then
+  echo "signing as $IDENTITY"
+  SIGN=(--force --sign "$IDENTITY" --options runtime --timestamp)
+else
+  echo "signing ad-hoc (no Developer ID installed — fine on your own Macs)"
+  SIGN=(--force --sign - --options runtime)
+fi
+
+mkdir -p ../bin
+for ARCH in arm64 x86_64; do
+  OUT="../bin/$NAME-macos-$ARCH"
+  echo "  compiling $OUT"
+  swiftc -O -whole-module-optimization -target "$ARCH-apple-macos$DEPLOYMENT_TARGET" -o "$OUT" "$NAME.swift"
+  codesign "${SIGN[@]}" --entitlements helper.entitlements "$OUT"
+  codesign --verify --strict "$OUT"
+  echo "  built $OUT ($(du -h "$OUT" | awk '{print $1}'))"
+done

modules/propresenter-timers/native/helper.entitlements

@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
+<plist version="1.0">
+<dict>
+	<!-- The helper reads an audio input; under the hardened runtime that
+	     needs saying. The permission itself comes from the launcher. -->
+	<key>com.apple.security.device.audio-input</key>
+	<true/>
+</dict>
+</plist>

modules/propresenter-timers/native/ltc-capture.swift

@@ -4,12 +4,12 @@
 // The module decodes LTC in-process (ltc.js) and spawns this to move
 // samples from an input device to a pipe. Production machines rarely have
 // ffmpeg/sox, and shipping a third-party binary for that one job is
-// overkill — this is the whole job, natively. The module compiles it on
+// overkill — this is the whole job, natively. It ships prebuilt in the
-// first use when swiftc is available; otherwise build it once on any
+// module's bin/ (one binary per platform, committed — a booth never
-// same-architecture Mac and copy the binary next to this source:
+// builds anything). To rebuild after a change here, on any Mac with the
+// Xcode command line tools:
 //
-//   swiftc -O -o modules/propresenter-timers/ltc-capture \
+//   modules/propresenter-timers/native/build.sh       (both architectures, ~10 s)
-//     modules/propresenter-timers/ltc-capture.swift          (once, ~5 s)
 //
 //   ltc-capture --list
 //       every input-capable device: name, input channels, sample rate

modules/propresenter-timers/server.js

@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@
 const http = require('http');
 const path = require('path');
 const { spawn } = require('child_process');
-const { createLtcListener, ensureCaptureBinary } = require('./ltc-listener');
+const { createLtcListener, captureTool } = require('./ltc-listener');
 const { createTimerPhase } = require('./phase');
 const manifest = require('./module.json');
 
@@ -660,11 +660,8 @@ function createLtcSource({ config, log, moduleDir }) {
     kind: 'ltc',
     start(e) {
       emit = e;
-      // Kick the capture-tool build right away: a catalog install ships
+      // The capture tool ships prebuilt in the module; the listener picks
-      // source only and a catalog update wipes any previously built binary,
+      // it for this platform when it starts and says so when there is none.
-      // so coming up after an install/update must rebuild it without
-      // waiting for a device to be picked or a listener to need it.
-      ensureCaptureBinary({ moduleDir, log });
       if (!device) {
         word = {
           error: 'Not configured — see Admin',
@@ -1359,23 +1356,21 @@ module.exports = {
       },
 
       // The admin device picker asks this machine what it can hear. The
-      // options shape matches the admin select's optionsRoute contract.
+      // options shape matches the admin select's optionsRoute contract. The
-      // Opening the picker also kicks the capture-tool build when a catalog
+      // capture tool ships prebuilt in the module (bin/); with none for this
-      // install/update left only the source — without this, no tool meant
+      // platform the list is empty and the error says so.
-      // no device list, and no device meant nothing would ever build it.
       'GET /ltc/devices': (req, res) => {
-        const tool = ensureCaptureBinary({ moduleDir: __dirname, log });
+        const tool = captureTool(__dirname);
         if (!tool.ready) {
-          sendJson(res, 200, { options: [], error: tool.detail || tool.error });
+          sendJson(res, 200, { options: [], error: tool.detail });
           return;
         }
-        const bin = path.join(__dirname, 'ltc-capture');
+        const child = spawn(tool.bin, ['--list'], { stdio: ['ignore', 'ignore', 'pipe'], timeout: 4000 });
-        const child = spawn(bin, ['--list'], { stdio: ['ignore', 'ignore', 'pipe'], timeout: 4000 });
         let err = '';
         child.stderr.setEncoding('utf8');
         child.stderr.on('data', (t) => { err += t; });
-        child.on('error', () => {
+        child.on('error', (e) => {
-          sendJson(res, 200, { options: [], error: 'LTC capture tool missing — see modules/propresenter-timers/ltc-capture.swift' });
+          sendJson(res, 200, { options: [], error: `LTC capture tool could not be run: ${e.message}` });
         });
         child.on('exit', () => {
           if (res.writableEnded) return;