Config: deployment-managed env values (opt-in via DAPPS_ENV_MANAGED); derive the DAPPS callsign from the host node, probing for a free SSID

.github/workflows/ci.yml

@@ -247,7 +247,18 @@ jobs:
           path: dist
           merge-multiple: true
 
+      - name: Stamp manifest version
+        # pdn-app.yaml's `version:` field is informational (pdn shows it
+        # in its UI) and should track the release tag. Stamp it into the
+        # copy we attach so the asset always matches the release it
+        # ships with; the repo copy stays as-is.
+        run: |
+          sed -i 's/^version: .*/version: "${{ needs.test.outputs.version }}"/' pdn-app.yaml
+          grep '^version:' pdn-app.yaml
+
       - name: Create GitHub Release
+        # pdn-app.yaml rides along as a release asset so the pdn build
+        # can fetch manifest + binary from the same release.
         env:
           GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
         run: |
@@ -256,4 +267,5 @@ jobs:
             --title "$tag" \
             --target "${{ github.sha }}" \
             --generate-notes \
-            dist/*
+            dist/* \
+            pdn-app.yaml

docs/configure.md

@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@ Every operator-tunable setting on a DAPPS node has three configuration surfaces:
 
 For runtime-changeable knobs (probing on/off, fragment threshold, airtime budget, etc.), the dashboard is the right surface - changes pick up without a restart. For startup-only knobs (callsign, packet-node host/port, MQTT port, dashboard URL), the env var is the right surface - they're read once at boot.
 
+> **Deployment-managed mode (`DAPPS_ENV_MANAGED=true`)**: when a supervising deployment (a packet.net node host, say) sets `DAPPS_ENV_MANAGED=true`, every *set* `DAPPS_*` env var becomes deployment-managed config instead - re-applied over the persisted row at **every** start, with the matching dashboard fields badged "managed by environment" and rendered read-only. `DAPPS_ENV_MANAGED` itself is a mode switch read each start, never stored. Leave it unset for the standalone installs documented here: with it unset (or `false`) env vars keep the first-start-only semantics above and the dashboard stays in charge.
+
 ## Show the current persisted config
 
 ```bash

pdn-app.yaml

@@ -6,13 +6,13 @@
 # deb from this repo's published release binary) or /var/lib/packetnet/apps/dapps
 # (owner-installed), and the app stays OFF until the node owner enables it.
 #
-# A future dapps release workflow should attach this file as a release asset
-# (next to the dapps-linux-* binaries) so pdn's build can fetch manifest +
-# binary together from one release instead of carrying an interim copy.
+# The release workflow attaches this file as a release asset (next to the
+# dapps-linux-* binaries, with `version:` stamped to the release tag) so pdn's
+# build can fetch manifest + binary together from one release.
 manifest: 1
 id: dapps                     # must equal the package directory name
 name: DAPPS
-version: "0.33.12"            # informational, shown in pdn's UI — should track the release tag
+version: "0.34.0"            # informational, shown in pdn's UI — should track the release tag
 description: Distributed Asynchronous Packet Pub/Sub — store-and-forward messaging over packet radio.
 icon: inbox
 capabilities: [network, web]  # binds its own callsigns over RHPv2; serves its own web UI
@@ -21,26 +21,41 @@ capabilities: [network, web]  # binds its own callsigns over RHPv2; serves its o
 # DAPPS is not a console verb; it speaks RHPv2 to the node and binds its own
 # callsigns.
 #
-# FIRST-START SEEDING — read before enabling: DAPPS seeds its config from
-# DAPPS_* env vars ONLY on first start (a fresh data/dapps.db in the working
-# directory). Once the db exists, env vars stop mattering — later changes go
-# through the DAPPS dashboard's /Setup // /Config pages, or by deleting the db
-# to re-seed. In particular the owner MUST supply their callsign via pdn's
-# `apps:` override environment BEFORE the first start (there is no sensible
-# default — DAPPS boots in setup-required mode with the N0CALL placeholder and
-# refuses to bind bearers until a real callsign is configured):
+# CONFIG SEEDING — how DAPPS_* env vars behave: DAPPS has two modes, switched
+# by DAPPS_ENV_MANAGED (read each start, never stored):
+#
+#   - unset/false (the standalone default): env vars seed missing options on
+#     first start only; thereafter the dashboard owns every value.
+#   - "true" (set below — pdn-supervised deployments opt in): every set
+#     DAPPS_* env var is deployment-managed config — re-applied over whatever
+#     the dashboard stored at EVERY start, and badged read-only in the
+#     dashboard. Unset variables never touch stored config: anything not
+#     pinned below stays editable live through the DAPPS dashboard's
+#     /Setup // /Config pages, exactly as standalone.
+#
+# CALLSIGN — no pre-set needed: pdn injects PDN_NODE_CALLSIGN, and while no
+# real callsign is configured DAPPS derives its own identity as
+# <node-base-callsign>-<DAPPS_SSID> (DAPPS_SSID defaults to 7, so node M0XYZ
+# gets DAPPS at M0XYZ-7). If that SSID is already claimed on the node (pdn
+# refuses the listen with errCode 9 "Duplicate socket"), DAPPS probes the
+# next free SSID over RHPv2 (skipping 0 and the node's own SSID) and keeps
+# the first one that binds — the confirmed identity is then stable across
+# restarts. The owner can still pin a different identity via pdn's `apps:`
+# override environment — an explicit DAPPS_CALLSIGN (or a real callsign saved
+# via the dashboard) always wins over derivation and never probes:
 #
 #   apps:
 #     - id: dapps
 #       enabled: true
 #       environment:
-#         DAPPS_CALLSIGN: M0XYZ-7
+#         DAPPS_CALLSIGN: M0XYZ-9   # optional — omit to accept <nodecall>-7
 #
 # The working directory defaults to the app's state dir, so the database lands
 # in /var/lib/packetnet/apps/dapps (DAPPS resolves it cwd-relative).
 service:
   command: ./dapps            # relative — resolves to the release binary in this package dir
   environment:
+    DAPPS_ENV_MANAGED: "true"             # opt in: env vars below are re-applied at every start
     DAPPS_NODE_BEARER: rhpv2              # speak RHPv2 to pdn (not AGW)
     DAPPS_NODE_HOST: "127.0.0.1"
     DAPPS_RHP_PORT: "9000"                # pdn's RHP server loopback port

src/dapps/Directory.Build.props

@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
       Release already exists for v$(Version). Bump this in the same
       PR as the change you want released.
     -->
-    <Version>0.33.12</Version>
+    <Version>0.34.0</Version>
 
     <!--
       sqlite-net-pcl 1.9.x ships a SQLitePCLRaw.lib.e_sqlite3 that lists