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Merged
aaldersondev merged 1 commit into from
Aug 25, 2026
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fix(templates): the terminal was not the whole of that refusal #124

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5 changes: 5 additions & 0 deletions apps/daemon/src/server/installer.ts
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Expand Up @@ -301,6 +301,11 @@ export function installCreateOptions(options: {
* {@link DockerFrameReader} is the eight bytes of header this adds — and
* that programs which check for a terminal print their plain output. On an
* install log, that second one is a gain: `apt-get` stops redrawing.
*
* It is not the whole of that failure, and the Source templates say so:
* with no tty at all, a cold SteamCMD still refuses its first call now and
* then, and the next one works. This line takes down a wall; the retry in
* the install script handles what is left standing.
*/
Tty: false,
AttachStdout: true,
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26 changes: 15 additions & 11 deletions docs/templates.md
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Expand Up @@ -694,17 +694,21 @@ So the daemon creates install containers with `Tty: false`, from Hopper 0.19.2.
problem: 104 of the 274 published eggs read for this catalogue install from SteamCMD, and a tty was a
wall in front of every one of them, with a message that names neither the panel nor the terminal.

An install script does not have to do anything about this. What it should do is **retry** — a
download of several gigabytes dies in the middle sometimes, and Steam keeps what it has already
staged under `steamapps/downloading`, so a second attempt resumes. The shipped Source install makes
three, then names which of three things happened, because none of their fixes is guessable from what
SteamCMD prints:

| What SteamCMD says | What it means |
| ----------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `Missing configuration` | The install container had a terminal — this node's daemon is older than the panel that sent the script. Update it. |
| `state is 0x202` | Out of room. The depot stages into `steamapps/downloading`, so the install wants about twice the finished size free. |
| `No subscription` | The app id is not anonymously installable — a game client's id, most often. |
**The terminal is not the whole of it.** With no terminal at all, on a node already carrying that
fix, a cold SteamCMD still refused its first call — and the next attempt downloaded all 6.87 GB.
Twice in the runs watched, and a warm-up `+quit` beforehand does not prevent it.

So an install script that fetches from Steam should **retry**, for that refusal and for a download of
several gigabytes dying in the middle. Steam keeps what it has already staged under
`steamapps/downloading`, so a second attempt resumes rather than starting over. The shipped Source
install makes three, then names what happened, because none of these is guessable from what SteamCMD
prints:

| What SteamCMD says | What it means |
| ----------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `Missing configuration` | Either the install container had a terminal — a node older than 0.19.2 — or a cold SteamCMD refused its first call. No retry gets past the first; the second one usually clears on the next attempt. |
| `state is 0x202` | Out of room. The depot stages into `steamapps/downloading`, so the install wants about twice the finished size free. |
| `No subscription` | The app id is not anonymously installable — a game client's id, most often. |

The second was measured by giving the volume 1.9 GB for a 6.87 GB depot.

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52 changes: 31 additions & 21 deletions packages/templates/src/catalog/source-install.ts
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Expand Up @@ -126,23 +126,29 @@ export function steamInstallScript(game: SteamInstall): string {
'# does not match. That is what makes a reinstall a repair rather than a',
'# gamble, and it is the whole update mechanism for this server.',
'#',
'# Retried, and the retry is not what fixed the failure people arrive here',
'# with.',
'# Retried, because SteamCMD refuses a call it will accept a minute later.',
'#',
`# A tty on the install container is what stopped app ${appId} installing:`,
`# "ERROR! Failed to install app '${appId}' (Missing configuration)", exit 8,`,
'# before a byte of depot. Measured eight times, interleaved so that neither',
'# time nor a Steam outage explains it — seven failures out of seven with a',
'# tty, three successes out of three without. Nothing a script can do gets',
'# out from under it, so the fix is where the container is created and not',
"# here: `Tty: false` in the daemon's installer, from Hopper 0.19.2.",
`# Two things produce "Failed to install app '${appId}' (Missing`,
'# configuration)", exit 8, before a byte of depot, and they were found in',
'# that order.',
'#',
'# What this loop is for is the ordinary thing instead: a download of',
'# several gigabytes that dies in the middle. Three attempts and not thirty,',
'# because a real refusal — a wrong app id, a full volume — comes back the',
'# same every time and is better reported in a minute than in an hour. A',
'# retry costs little, since Steam keeps what it has already staged under',
'# steamapps/downloading.',
'# A terminal on the install container does it every time: seven failures',
'# out of seven with one, three successes out of three without, interleaved',
'# so that neither time nor a Steam outage explains it, and a warm-up run',
'# beforehand does not help. Nothing a script can do gets out from under a',
'# tty, so that half is fixed where the container is created — `Tty: false`,',
'# from Hopper 0.19.2.',
'#',
'# And with no terminal at all, a cold SteamCMD still refused its first call',
'# — twice in the runs watched, one of them on a node already carrying that',
'# fix, and the next attempt downloaded all 6.87 GB. That is what these three',
'# attempts are for, and why the diagnosis below names both causes instead of',
'# sending everybody to check their node version.',
'#',
'# Three and not thirty: a real refusal — a wrong app id, a full volume —',
'# comes back the same every time and is better reported in a minute than in',
'# an hour. A retry costs little, since Steam keeps what it has already',
'# staged under steamapps/downloading.',
'STEAMCMD_LOG=/tmp/steamcmd.log',
'STEAMCMD_ATTEMPTS=3',
'',
Expand All @@ -160,12 +166,16 @@ export function steamInstallScript(game: SteamInstall): string {
' echo "" >&2',
'',
' if grep -q "Missing configuration" "${STEAMCMD_LOG}"; then',
' echo "This is what a terminal on the install container does to" >&2',
' echo "SteamCMD: it logs in, then refuses the app configuration" >&2',
' echo "without downloading anything. The panel stopped giving that" >&2',
' echo "container a terminal in Hopper 0.19.2, so this node is running" >&2',
' echo "a daemon older than the panel that sent this script. Update" >&2',
' echo "hopperd on it, then reinstall." >&2',
' echo "SteamCMD logged in and then refused the app configuration," >&2',
' echo "three times, without downloading anything. Two things do that:" >&2',
' echo "" >&2',
' echo " - A terminal on the install container. The panel stopped" >&2',
' echo " giving it one in Hopper 0.19.2, and against an older node" >&2',
' echo " no number of attempts gets past it. Check that first." >&2',
' echo "" >&2',
' echo " - A cold SteamCMD refusing its first call. That one the next" >&2',
' echo " attempt usually gets through, which is what these three" >&2',
' echo " were for. Reinstall in a few minutes." >&2',
' elif grep -q "state is 0x202" "${STEAMCMD_LOG}"; then',
' echo "SteamCMD stopped with state 0x202. Measured on this depot with" >&2',
' echo "1.9 GB free, that is what running out of room looks like: the" >&2',
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