fix(desktop): stop gateway before update + preserve release dir in ZIP fallback (#70337)

apps/desktop/electron/main.ts

@@ -2494,6 +2494,25 @@ async function releaseBackendLock(updateRoot, tag) {
     return { unlocked: true }
   }
 
+  // Stop any independently-running gateway process before checking the venv
+  // lock.  Gateways started via `hermes gateway run` or as a Windows service
+  // are NOT in our backend pool — they hold the venv shim open and block the
+  // update.  Best-effort: if the stop fails we still check the lock and
+  // surface a helpful error.
+  try {
+    const venvScripts = path.join(updateRoot, 'venv', 'Scripts')
+    const hermesBin = path.join(venvScripts, 'hermes.exe')
+    const { execFileSync } = require('child_process')
+    execFileSync(hermesBin, ['gateway', 'stop'], {
+      timeout: 15000,
+      stdio: 'ignore',
+      windowsHide: true,
+    })
+    rememberLog(`[${tag}] gateway stop requested before update`)
+  } catch {
+    // Gateway may not be running, or hermes.exe may be locked — non-fatal.
+  }
+
   // Collect every backend PID the desktop owns: primary window backend + pool.
   const pids = []
   const hermesProcess = backendConnectionState.getProcess()
@@ -2668,8 +2687,9 @@ async function applyUpdates(opts = {}) {
       // user close the holder and retry. Restart our own backend so the app
       // keeps working after the failed attempt.
       const message =
-        'Update aborted: another process is holding the Hermes install open ' +
-        '(a second Hermes window or a terminal running hermes?). Close it and retry.'
+        'Update aborted: another process is holding the Hermes install open. ' +
+        'If a gateway is running, stop it with `hermes gateway stop` and retry. ' +
+        'Otherwise close any other Hermes windows or terminals.'
 
       emitUpdateProgress({ stage: 'error', message, percent: null })
       startHermes().catch(() => {})

hermes_cli/main.py

@@ -6905,6 +6905,13 @@ def _update_via_zip(args):
 
         # Copy updated files over existing installation, preserving venv/node_modules/.git
         preserve = {"venv", "node_modules", ".git", ".env"}
+        # Subdirectories within a replaced directory that must survive the
+        # atomic swap.  On Windows the pre-built desktop binary lives in
+        # apps/desktop/release/win-unpacked/ — it is NOT in the source ZIP
+        # so _atomic_replace_dir would delete it, breaking the shortcut.
+        _preserve_subdirs: dict[str, list[str]] = {
+            "apps": ["desktop/release"],
+        }
         update_count = 0
         for item in os.listdir(extracted):
             if item in preserve:
@@ -6914,7 +6921,23 @@ def _update_via_zip(args):
             if os.path.isdir(src):
                 # Atomic-ish replace: never leave dst half-deleted if the copy
                 # fails partway (the failure mode behind #49145 on Windows).
+                saved_subdirs: list[tuple[str, str]] = []
+                for sub in _preserve_subdirs.get(item, []):
+                    sub_dst = os.path.join(dst, sub)
+                    if os.path.isdir(sub_dst):
+                        sub_staging = f"{sub_dst}.hermes-preserve"
+                        if os.path.exists(sub_staging):
+                            shutil.rmtree(sub_staging, ignore_errors=True)
+                        shutil.copytree(sub_dst, sub_staging)
+                        saved_subdirs.append((sub_dst, sub_staging))
                 _atomic_replace_dir(src, dst)
+                for sub_dst, sub_staging in saved_subdirs:
+                    try:
+                        # Move the preserved copy back into the new tree.
+                        os.makedirs(os.path.dirname(sub_dst), exist_ok=True)
+                        os.rename(sub_staging, sub_dst)
+                    except OSError:
+                        shutil.rmtree(sub_staging, ignore_errors=True)
             else:
                 shutil.copy2(src, dst)
             update_count += 1