fix(release): inject httpapi.buildVersion everywhere + guard update check against non-semver versions (#814)

Release QA on v0.47.0-rc.4 found the installed app reporting version
'development' on every httpapi-backed surface, with the Spec 079 update
banner, 'mcpproxy doctor' and 'mcpproxy status' all offering v0.46.0 —
a DOWNGRADE prompt — and telemetry heartbeats reporting 'development'
(corrupting Spec 080 churn metrics for the whole RC channel).

Two root causes, both fixed:

1. Wrong/missing -X ldflags paths. Go silently ignores -X with a wrong
   package path; the module is github.com/smart-mcp-proxy/mcpproxy-go:
   - prerelease.yml used mcpproxy-go/internal/httpapi.buildVersion
     (ignored) and the bogus mcpproxy-go/cmd/mcpproxy.version → every
     RC binary shipped with buildVersion='development'
   - scripts/build-windows-installer.ps1 (used by BOTH release.yml and
     prerelease.yml) never set httpapi.buildVersion → stable Windows
     installer builds have the same bug
   - scripts/build.ps1 and pr-build.yml aligned for consistency

2. Checker.CheckNow() (the /api/v1/info forced-refresh path used by the
   Web UI banner and doctor) lacked the non-semver guard that Start()
   has, and compareVersions() ranks an invalid current version below
   any release. A 'development' build therefore saw every stable
   release as an available 'update'. CheckNow now skips like Start,
   and compareVersions returns false for a non-semver current version.

Co-authored-by: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

Author: Dumbris

.github/workflows/pr-build.yml

@@ -207,7 +207,7 @@ jobs:
           CGO_CFLAGS: "-mmacosx-version-min=13.0"
           CGO_LDFLAGS: "-mmacosx-version-min=13.0"
         run: |
-          LDFLAGS="-s -w -X mcpproxy-go/cmd/mcpproxy.version=${VERSION} -X main.version=${VERSION}"
+          LDFLAGS="-s -w -X main.version=${VERSION} -X github.com/smart-mcp-proxy/mcpproxy-go/internal/httpapi.buildVersion=${VERSION}"
 
           # Determine clean binary name
           if [ "${{ matrix.goos }}" = "windows" ]; then

.github/workflows/prerelease.yml

@@ -205,7 +205,9 @@ jobs:
           fi
 
           echo "Building version: ${VERSION}"
-          LDFLAGS="-s -w -X mcpproxy-go/cmd/mcpproxy.version=${VERSION} -X main.version=${VERSION} -X mcpproxy-go/internal/httpapi.buildVersion=${VERSION}"
+          # -X paths must use the full module path (go.mod: github.com/smart-mcp-proxy/mcpproxy-go);
+          # a wrong path is silently ignored and the binary reports "development".
+          LDFLAGS="-s -w -X main.version=${VERSION} -X github.com/smart-mcp-proxy/mcpproxy-go/internal/httpapi.buildVersion=${VERSION}"
 
           # Determine clean binary name
           if [ "${{ matrix.goos }}" = "windows" ]; then

internal/updatecheck/checker.go

@@ -334,6 +334,12 @@ func (c *Checker) compareVersions(current, latest string) bool {
 	currentSemver := ensureVPrefix(current)
 	latestSemver := ensureVPrefix(latest)
 
+	// semver.Compare ranks an invalid version below every valid one, which
+	// would flag any published release as an "update" for a dev build.
+	if !semver.IsValid(currentSemver) {
+		return false
+	}
+
 	// semver.Compare returns -1 if current < latest
 	return semver.Compare(currentSemver, latestSemver) < 0
 }
@@ -377,6 +383,14 @@ func (c *Checker) CheckNow() *VersionInfo {
 		c.logger.Debug("Immediate update check skipped: update checking disabled")
 		return nil
 	}
+	// Same guard as Start(): a non-semver current version (e.g. "development")
+	// cannot be meaningfully compared, and offering the latest stable release
+	// against it is a downgrade prompt, not an update.
+	if !c.isValidSemver() {
+		c.logger.Debug("Immediate update check skipped: non-semver version",
+			zap.String("version", c.version))
+		return nil
+	}
 	c.logger.Debug("Performing immediate update check")
 	c.check()
 	return c.GetVersionInfo()

internal/updatecheck/checker_test.go

@@ -79,6 +79,35 @@ func TestChecker_CheckNow_NoUpdate(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+// TestChecker_CheckNow_NonSemverVersionSkipsCheck verifies that the forced
+// refresh path has the same non-semver guard as Start(): a "development"
+// build must never run a check, because compareVersions would rank the
+// invalid current version below ANY published release and every surface
+// (Web UI banner, doctor, status) would offer a stable-version "update" —
+// a downgrade prompt on dev/misbuilt binaries.
+func TestChecker_CheckNow_NonSemverVersionSkipsCheck(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, version := range []string{"development", "dev", ""} {
+		t.Run("version_"+version, func(t *testing.T) {
+			checker := New(zaptest.NewLogger(t), version)
+
+			checked := false
+			checker.SetCheckFunc(func() (*GitHubRelease, error) {
+				checked = true
+				return &GitHubRelease{TagName: "v1.1.0", HTMLURL: "https://example.com"}, nil
+			})
+
+			info := checker.CheckNow()
+
+			if checked {
+				t.Error("CheckNow ran a network check for a non-semver version")
+			}
+			if info != nil && info.UpdateAvailable {
+				t.Errorf("UpdateAvailable = true for non-semver version %q", version)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
 // TestChecker_UpdateAvailableLoggedOncePerVersion verifies the "Update available"
 // Info log is emitted exactly once per detected latest version, not on every
 // periodic tick (FR-004 of specs/079-upgrade-nudge: no repeated log spam).
@@ -168,6 +197,10 @@ func TestChecker_CompareVersions(t *testing.T) {
 		{"1.0.0", "1.1.0", true}, // Without v prefix
 		{"v0.11.1", "v0.11.3", true},
 		{"v0.11.2", "v0.11.2", false},
+		// An invalid current version must never be treated as "older than
+		// everything" — that turns a dev build into a permanent downgrade nudge.
+		{"development", "v1.0.0", false},
+		{"", "v1.0.0", false},
 	}
 
 	for _, tc := range tests {

scripts/build-windows-installer.ps1

@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ Write-Host "  Building mcpproxy.exe..." -ForegroundColor White
 $env:CGO_ENABLED = "0"
 $CoreBinary = Join-Path $BinDir "mcpproxy.exe"
 $CoreCmd = Join-Path $RepoRoot "cmd/mcpproxy"
-go build -buildvcs=false -ldflags "-s -w -X main.version=$Version" -o $CoreBinary $CoreCmd
+go build -buildvcs=false -ldflags "-s -w -X main.version=$Version -X github.com/smart-mcp-proxy/mcpproxy-go/internal/httpapi.buildVersion=$Version" -o $CoreBinary $CoreCmd
 
 if ($LASTEXITCODE -ne 0) {
     Write-Host "  Failed to build mcpproxy.exe" -ForegroundColor Red
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ Write-Host "  Building mcpproxy-tray.exe..." -ForegroundColor White
 $env:CGO_ENABLED = "1"
 $TrayBinary = Join-Path $BinDir "mcpproxy-tray.exe"
 $TrayCmd = Join-Path $RepoRoot "cmd/mcpproxy-tray"
-go build -buildvcs=false -ldflags "-s -w -X main.version=$Version -H windowsgui" -o $TrayBinary $TrayCmd
+go build -buildvcs=false -ldflags "-s -w -X main.version=$Version -X github.com/smart-mcp-proxy/mcpproxy-go/internal/httpapi.buildVersion=$Version -H windowsgui" -o $TrayBinary $TrayCmd
 
 if ($LASTEXITCODE -ne 0) {
     Write-Host "  Failed to build mcpproxy-tray.exe" -ForegroundColor Red

scripts/build.ps1

@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ Write-Host "Commit: $Commit" -ForegroundColor Green
 Write-Host "Date: $Date" -ForegroundColor Green
 Write-Host ""
 
-$LDFLAGS = "-X main.version=$Version -X main.commit=$Commit -X main.date=$Date -s -w"
+$LDFLAGS = "-X main.version=$Version -X main.commit=$Commit -X main.date=$Date -X github.com/smart-mcp-proxy/mcpproxy-go/internal/httpapi.buildVersion=$Version -s -w"
 
 # Array to track built binaries
 $BuiltBinaries = @()
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ if (!$OnlyCurrentPlatform) {
 if ($BuildTray) {
     Write-Host ""
     Write-Host "Building mcpproxy-tray binaries..." -ForegroundColor Magenta
-    
+
     # Build tray for current platform (Windows with CGO)
     Write-Host "Building tray for Windows..." -ForegroundColor Cyan
     $env:CGO_ENABLED = "1"
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ if ($BuildTray) {
         Write-Host "✓ Windows tray binary built successfully" -ForegroundColor Green
         $BuiltBinaries += "mcpproxy-tray.exe"
     }
-    
+
     if (!$OnlyCurrentPlatform) {
         # Build tray for macOS (requires macOS host for proper CGO compilation)
         Write-Host "Attempting to build tray for macOS..." -ForegroundColor Cyan
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ if ($BuildTray) {
             Write-Host "✓ macOS tray binary built successfully" -ForegroundColor Green
             $BuiltBinaries += "mcpproxy-tray-darwin-amd64"
         }
-        
+
         # Build tray for macOS ARM64
         Write-Host "Attempting to build tray for macOS ARM64..." -ForegroundColor Cyan
         $env:CGO_ENABLED = "1"
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ if ($BuildTray) {
     } else {
         Write-Host "Skipping cross-platform tray builds (OnlyCurrentPlatform flag is set)" -ForegroundColor Yellow
     }
-    
+
     # Reset environment variables
     Remove-Item Env:CGO_ENABLED -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
     Remove-Item Env:GOOS -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
@@ -172,4 +172,3 @@ if ($BuiltFiles.Count -gt 0) {
 Write-Host ""
 Write-Host "Test version info:" -ForegroundColor Cyan
 & .\mcpproxy.exe --version
-