ether
diff --git a/‎CHANGELOG.md‎
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diff --git a/‎admin/src/store/store.ts‎
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diff --git a/‎doc/admin/updates.md‎
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diff --git a/‎doc/api/http_api.adoc‎
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diff --git a/‎doc/api/http_api.md‎
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@@ -4,6 +4,9 @@
 
 ### Notable enhancements
 
+- **pad: Outdated-version notice redesigned (#7799).** The persistent "severely outdated" banner is replaced by a dismissable gritter notification (auto-fades after 8 seconds), shown only to a pad's first author and only when the server is at least one minor version behind the latest released version. Patch-only deltas no longer fire the notice. The `vulnerable-below` directive scraping, the `severe` and `vulnerable` enum values, and the `vulnerableBelow` state field have been removed.
+- **API: `GET /api/version-status` updated (#7799).** Now accepts an optional `?padId=<id>` query parameter and returns `{outdated: "minor" | null, isFirstAuthor: boolean}`. The `severe` and `vulnerable` enum values are gone. Results are cached per `(padId, authorId)` for 60 seconds.
+
 - **Self-update — Tier 4 (autonomous in a maintenance window).** Set `updates.tier: "autonomous"` together with `updates.maintenanceWindow: {"start":"HH:MM","end":"HH:MM","tz":"local"|"utc"}` to constrain autonomous updates to a nightly window. The scheduler snaps `scheduledFor` forward to the next window opening when grace would otherwise land outside the window, and defers the fire when the window has closed by the timer callback. Cross-midnight windows (`end < start`) are supported; DST transitions are absorbed by host wall-clock arithmetic. A missing or malformed window degrades the policy to Tier 3 with an explicit `policy.reason` of `maintenance-window-missing` / `maintenance-window-invalid`; an admin banner surfaces the misconfiguration so autonomous behaviour is not silently disabled. The admin update page shows a "Maintenance window" section with the parsed window summary, the next opening, and a "deferred until <iso>" subtitle on the scheduled panel when the timer has been snapped forward. Closes #7607 (#7753).
 - **Updater — real SMTP via nodemailer (new top-level `mail.*` block).** Replaces the "(would send email)" stub. New settings: `mail.host`, `mail.port`, `mail.secure`, `mail.from`, `mail.auth.{user,pass}`. `mail.host=null` keeps the legacy log-only behaviour. The `nodemailer` dependency is lazy-imported on first send so installs that don't configure mail pay no runtime cost; the transport is cached on the full SMTP options tuple so a `reloadSettings()` change to host/port/credentials invalidates the cache. `settings.json.docker` reads `MAIL_HOST` / `MAIL_FROM` / `MAIL_PORT` / `MAIL_SECURE` from env. Send errors are logged warn and swallowed so a transient SMTP failure can never poison the updater state machine.
 - **Updater — preflight against the target tag's `engines.node`.** Before mutating the working tree, `runPreflight` now runs `git show <tag>:package.json` and verifies `process.versions.node` satisfies the target's `engines.node`. A mismatch fails cleanly at `preflight-failed` with the detail `target requires Node >=X, running Y` — no drain, no restart, no rollback. The check runs *after* signature verification so we only trust signed `package.json`. New `PreflightReason: 'node-engine-mismatch'`.
 
@@ -45,7 +45,6 @@ export interface UpdateStatusPayload {
   installMethod: string;
   tier: string;
   policy: null | {canNotify: boolean; canManual: boolean; canAuto: boolean; canAutonomous: boolean; reason: string};
-  vulnerableBelow: Array<{announcedBy: string; threshold: string}>;
   // Tier 2 additions:
   execution: Execution;
   lastResult: LastResult;
 
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 Etherpad ships with a built-in update subsystem.
 
-- **Tier 1 (notify)** — default. A banner appears in the admin UI when a new release is available, and pad users see a discreet badge if the running version is severely outdated or flagged as vulnerable. No execution.
+- **Tier 1 (notify)** — default. A banner appears in the admin UI when a new release is available, and pad users see a dismissable gritter notification if the running version is at least one minor version behind the latest release. No execution.
 - **Tier 2 (manual click)** — admins on a git install can click "Apply update" at `/admin/update`. Etherpad drains active sessions, runs `git fetch / checkout / pnpm install / pnpm run build:ui`, and exits with code 75 so a process supervisor restarts it on the new version. Auto-rolls back on failure.
 - **Tier 3 (auto with grace window)** — opt-in. On a git install, a newly detected release transitions execution state to `scheduled` and is applied after `preApplyGraceMinutes`. During the grace window, `/admin/update` shows a live countdown plus Cancel and Apply now buttons; an admin email (if `adminEmail` is set) fires once per scheduled tag.
 - **Tier 4 (autonomous in maintenance window)** — opt-in. Tier 3 + `updates.maintenanceWindow` is required; the scheduler only fires while the wall clock is inside the configured window. Updates detected outside the window queue for the next opening.
@@ -52,30 +52,27 @@ In `settings.json`:
 
 ## What "outdated" means
 
-- **`severe`** — running at least one major version behind the latest release.
-- **`vulnerable`** — the running version is below a `vulnerable-below` threshold announced in a recent release. Releases declare these via a `<!-- updater: vulnerable-below X.Y.Z -->` HTML comment in their body. The newest such directive wins.
+- **`minor`** — the running server is at least one minor version behind the latest published release. Patch-only deltas (same major and minor, higher patch) do not fire the notice.
 
 ## Email cadence (when `adminEmail` is set)
 
 | Trigger | First send | Repeat |
 | --- | --- | --- |
-| Vulnerable status detected | Immediate | Weekly while still vulnerable |
-| New release announced while still vulnerable | Immediate | n/a (one event per tag change) |
-| Severely outdated detected | Immediate | Monthly while still severely outdated |
+| Outdated (minor or more behind) detected | Immediate | Monthly while still outdated |
 | Up to date | No email | — |
 
-If `adminEmail` is unset, the updater never sends mail. The admin UI banner and the pad-side badge still work without it.
+If `adminEmail` is unset, the updater never sends mail. The admin UI banner and the pad-side notice still work without it.
 
 PR 1 ships the cadence machinery but does not yet wire a real SMTP transport — emails are logged with `(would send email)` until a future PR adds the transport. The dedupe state still advances correctly so admins are not bombarded once SMTP is wired.
 
-## Pad-side badge
+## Pad-side notice
 
-Pad users see no version information by default. A small badge appears in the bottom-right corner only when:
+Pad users see no version information by default. A dismissable gritter notification appears only when:
 
-- The instance is `severe` (one or more major versions behind), or
-- The instance is `vulnerable` (running below an announced threshold).
+- The running server is at least one minor version behind the latest published release (patch-only deltas do not fire), **and**
+- The requesting user is the first author of the pad.
 
-The public endpoint `/api/version-status` returns only `{outdated: null|"severe"|"vulnerable"}` — it never leaks the running version, so attackers do not gain a fingerprint vector.
+The notice auto-fades after 8 seconds and can be dismissed immediately. The public endpoint `/api/version-status` accepts an optional `?padId=<id>` query parameter and returns `{outdated: "minor" | null, isFirstAuthor: boolean}` — it never leaks the running version, so attackers do not gain a fingerprint vector. Results are cached per `(padId, authorId)` for 60 seconds.
 
 ## Disabling everything
 
 
@@ -712,3 +712,31 @@ get stats of the etherpad instance
 _Example returns_:
 
  * `{"code":0,"message":"ok","data":{"totalPads":3,"totalSessions": 2,"totalActivePads": 1}}`
+
+===== `GET /api/version-status`
+
+Returns an outdated-version signal intended for the pad-side gritter.
+
+*Query parameters:*
+
+[cols="1,1,1,3"]
+|===
+| name | type | required | description
+
+| `padId`
+| string
+| no
+| Pad whose first-author membership is being checked.
+|===
+
+*Response 200 (`application/json`):*
+
+[source,json]
+----
+{
+  "outdated": "minor",
+  "isFirstAuthor": true
+}
+----
+
+`outdated` is `"minor"` only when the running server is at least one minor version behind the latest published release AND the request resolves to the pad's first author. Otherwise it is `null`. Result is cached per `(padId, authorId)` for 60s. The endpoint is disabled entirely when `updates.tier = 'off'`.
@@ -764,3 +764,24 @@ get stats of the etherpad instance
 {"code":0,"message":"ok","data":{"totalPads":3,"totalSessions": 2,"totalActivePads": 1}}
 ```
 
+#### `GET /api/version-status`
+
+Returns an outdated-version signal intended for the pad-side gritter.
+
+**Query parameters:**
+
+| name    | type   | required | description                                                                 |
+| ------- | ------ | -------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
+| `padId` | string | no       | Pad whose first-author membership is being checked.                         |
+
+**Response 200 (`application/json`):**
+
+```json
+{
+  "outdated": "minor",
+  "isFirstAuthor": true
+}
+```
+
+`outdated` is `"minor"` only when the running server is at least one minor version behind the latest published release AND the request resolves to the pad's first author. Otherwise it is `null`. Result is cached per `(padId, authorId)` for 60s. The endpoint is disabled entirely when `updates.tier = 'off'`.
+