Fix: a newer release could stay hidden behind one already shown that day

_should_show_update_notice() tracked only a last-shown date, so once
the banner had shown once for the daily/weekly/monthly window, any
later release published that same period stayed hidden until the
window reset — even though it was a genuinely different, newer
release than the one already seen. Found via a live report: a Spin5
install on 2157 didn't surface a same-day 2306 release because 2157
had already been shown once that day.

Now the last-shown *tag* is tracked alongside the date, and a release
whose tag doesn't match what was last shown always gets through
immediately, regardless of the frequency window — the setting only
throttles repeat notices about a release you've already seen.

Also gives the Update Now button a downloading spinner, since the
confirm-then-nothing-visible gap during the real download made it
look like the click hadn't registered.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

Author: tom-cloyd

tests/test_web.py

@@ -1928,6 +1928,38 @@ def test_home_page_shows_update_available_banner(client: TestClient, monkeypatch
     assert "Update now" not in resp.text
 
 
+def test_update_notice_frequency_gate_lets_a_newer_release_through(
+    client: TestClient, monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch,
+) -> None:
+    """The daily/weekly/monthly notification frequency throttles repeat
+    notices about the *same* release, not whether a *different, newer*
+    release that showed up since gets shown — otherwise the default daily
+    setting would hide a second same-day release until the next day."""
+    from numa_app.services import update_check as _update_check
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(
+        _update_check, "check_for_update",
+        lambda *a, **kw: {"tag": "v2099-01-01-0000", "url": "https://example.invalid/v2099-01-01-0000"},
+    )
+    resp = client.get("/")
+    assert "UPDATE AVAILABLE:" in resp.text
+
+    # Same release again on a same-day reload: suppressed — daily allows
+    # only one notice per day for a given release.
+    resp = client.get("/")
+    assert "UPDATE AVAILABLE:" not in resp.text
+
+    # A newer release than the one already shown today must get through
+    # immediately, not wait for tomorrow's daily window.
+    monkeypatch.setattr(
+        _update_check, "check_for_update",
+        lambda *a, **kw: {"tag": "v2099-02-02-0000", "url": "https://example.invalid/v2099-02-02-0000"},
+    )
+    resp = client.get("/")
+    assert "UPDATE AVAILABLE:" in resp.text
+    assert "v2099-02-02-0000" in resp.text
+
+
 def test_update_now_button_shown_only_for_packaged_install(client: TestClient, monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch) -> None:
     from numa_app.services import update_check as _update_check
     from numa_app.services import self_update as _self_update

user-manual.md

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # NutriMagnus User Manual
 
-*Updated 2026-08-31:2157* / Reading time: 4 hours, 25 minutes
+*Updated 2026-08-31:2330* / Reading time: 4 hours, 26 minutes
 
 *Last full audit: 2026-08-30*
 
@@ -2605,6 +2605,24 @@ Each entry below has a bold title and a plain-language description — anywhere
 
 #### August 31 program updates
 
+**FIX: A NEWER RELEASE COULD STAY HIDDEN BEHIND ONE ALREADY SEEN THAT DAY**
+
+The daily/weekly/monthly notification-frequency setting was meant to throttle repeat notices about the *same* release, not hide a *different, newer* one that showed up later the same day — but that's what it was doing: once the banner had shown once today, a second release published an hour later wouldn't surface until tomorrow. It now always shows a release you haven't been told about yet, regardless of the frequency window; the frequency setting only limits repeat notices about a release you've already seen.
+
+**THE UPDATE NOW BUTTON NOW SHOWS A DOWNLOADING SPINNER**
+
+Clicking Update Now used to leave the button sitting there with no feedback while the new binary downloaded in the background — easy to mistake for nothing having happened, especially on a slower connection. It now disables itself and shows a spinner with "Downloading…" the moment you confirm, so it's clear the update is actually in progress.
+
+```
+Scope: web/backend.py (_should_show_update_notice() now takes the candidate
+release's tag and only applies the frequency window when it matches the tag
+last shown — a new prefs.json key, update_notice_last_shown_tag, tracks
+this). web/templates/home.html (Update Now form's confirm handler moved out
+of an inline onsubmit into a proper <script> block, disables the button and
+swaps in a Bootstrap spinner on confirm). tests/test_web.py (new coverage
+for the frequency-vs-newer-release interaction).
+```
+
 **CHOOSE HOW OFTEN YOU'RE TOLD ABOUT NEW VERSIONS, AND ALWAYS SEE YOUR CURRENT ONE**
 
 Settings now has an "Update Notifications" section where you can set how often the "new version available" banner shows up on the home page: daily (the default), weekly, or monthly. The banner's build note also names that setting directly, with a link to change it. Separately, the home page now always shows a line under the Welcome heading — "Current version date: yyyy-mm-dd:hhmm" — so you can check exactly what you're running, down to the minute, without scrolling to the page footer; whenever a build note is set it follows in parentheses as "(Version note: ...)" on that same line. The build note no longer gets its own standalone box further up the page. See [What you see on the home page](#home-page-tour) for the full rundown, including exactly when the update check itself runs.

version.py

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-VERSION = "2026-08-31:2306"
+VERSION = "2026-08-31:2330"
 
 # A short, plain-language note shown next to VERSION on the home page and
 # used to describe this build in the update-available banner (see
@@ -9,4 +9,4 @@
 #   "minor problem fixes"
 #   "minor function added or improved"
 #   "significant improvements implemented — see top of User Manual for details"
-NEW_VERSION_NOTE = "test of new version messaging"
+NEW_VERSION_NOTE = "minor problem fixes"

web/backend.py

@@ -687,12 +687,21 @@ def _current_update_notify_frequency() -> str:
     return freq if freq in _VALID_UPDATE_NOTIFY_FREQS else "daily"
 
 
-def _should_show_update_notice() -> bool:
+def _should_show_update_notice(tag: str) -> bool:
     """Whether the "update available" banner should be shown on this page load,
     per the saved notification-frequency preference (daily/weekly/monthly) —
     gates only how often the already-cached update_check result is surfaced to
-    the user, not how often GitHub itself is polled."""
+    the user, not how often GitHub itself is polled. A release newer than the
+    one last shown always gets through regardless of the frequency window —
+    the setting throttles repeat notices about the *same* release, not
+    whether you're told about a *different, newer* one that showed up since."""
     prefs = _load_prefs_file()
+    if prefs.get("update_notice_last_shown_tag") != tag:
+        _save_prefs_file({
+            "update_notice_last_shown_at": datetime.date.today().isoformat(),
+            "update_notice_last_shown_tag": tag,
+        })
+        return True
     interval_days = _UPDATE_NOTIFY_FREQ_DAYS[_current_update_notify_frequency()]
     last_shown = prefs.get("update_notice_last_shown_at")
     if last_shown:
@@ -1359,7 +1368,7 @@ async def index(request: Request, updated: int = 0, update_error: str = ""):
     # check would (correctly, but confusingly) still report the release
     # just installed as "available." Skip it until the next real launch.
     update_available = None if updated else await run_in_threadpool(_update_check.check_for_update, VERSION)
-    if update_available and not _should_show_update_notice():
+    if update_available and not _should_show_update_notice(update_available["tag"]):
         update_available = None
     return templates.TemplateResponse(
         request, "home.html", {

web/templates/home.html

@@ -33,11 +33,26 @@
     — <a href="/settings#update-notifications">change via Settings</a>)</span></small>
   {% endif %}
   {% if self_update_available %}
-  <form method="post" action="/update-now" class="mt-2 mb-0"
-        onsubmit="return confirm('Download and install NutriMagnus ' + '{{ update_available.tag }}' + ' now? This replaces the running program; your data is untouched. You will need to quit and reopen NutriMagnus afterward.');">
-    <button type="submit" class="btn btn-sm btn-primary">Update now</button>
+  <form method="post" action="/update-now" class="mt-2 mb-0" id="update-now-form">
+    <button type="submit" id="update-now-btn" class="btn btn-sm btn-primary">Update now</button>
     <a href="{{ update_available.url }}" target="_blank" rel="noopener" class="ms-2">what's new</a>
   </form>
+  <script>
+    (function () {
+      var form = document.getElementById('update-now-form');
+      var btn = document.getElementById('update-now-btn');
+      form.addEventListener('submit', function (event) {
+        if (!confirm('Download and install NutriMagnus {{ update_available.tag }} now? ' +
+                      'This replaces the running program; your data is untouched. ' +
+                      'You will need to quit and reopen NutriMagnus afterward.')) {
+          event.preventDefault();
+          return;
+        }
+        btn.disabled = true;
+        btn.innerHTML = '<span class="spinner-border spinner-border-sm" role="status" aria-hidden="true"></span> Downloading…';
+      });
+    })();
+  </script>
   {% else %}
   See <a href="{{ update_available.url }}" target="_blank" rel="noopener">what's new on GitHub</a> to download it.
   {% endif %}