Add robust crash logging and dual-exe Windows build support

.github/workflows/build_windows.yml

@@ -33,6 +33,16 @@ jobs:
       - name: Build EXE
         run: python build_windows.py
 
+      - name: Smoke test — CLI help
+        run: |
+          dist\venting_cli.exe --help
+        shell: cmd
+
+      - name: Smoke test — CLI gate
+        run: |
+          dist\venting_cli.exe gate --single
+        shell: cmd
+
       - name: Get short SHA
         id: sha
         run: echo "short=$("${{ github.sha }}".Substring(0,7))" >> $env:GITHUB_OUTPUT
@@ -55,9 +65,18 @@ jobs:
             Automatic build from `main` branch.
             Commit: ${{ github.sha }}
 
-            **Download:** `venting.exe` from Assets below.
-            Runs without installing Python.
-          files: dist/venting.exe
+            **Downloads:**
+            - `venting.exe` — GUI application (double-click to launch)
+            - `venting_cli.exe` — CLI version (run from terminal with subcommands)
+
+            Both run without installing Python.
+
+            **Crash logs:** If `venting.exe` fails to start, check:
+            - `%LOCALAPPDATA%\venting\logs\boot.log`
+            - `%LOCALAPPDATA%\venting\logs\crash.log`
+          files: |
+            dist/venting.exe
+            dist/venting_cli.exe
           prerelease: false
           make_latest: true
         env:

.gitignore

@@ -10,3 +10,5 @@ results/
 *.egg-info/
 .coverage
 htmlcov/
+build/
+dist/

build_windows.py

@@ -1,6 +1,16 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python3
-"""Build venting.exe. Run: python build_windows.py"""
+"""Build venting.exe (GUI) and venting_cli.exe (CLI).
 
+Usage:
+    python build_windows.py             # build both
+    python build_windows.py --gui-only  # GUI exe only
+    python build_windows.py --cli-only  # CLI exe only
+    python build_windows.py --debug     # diagnostic build (console=True, no UPX)
+"""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import argparse
 import shutil
 import subprocess
 import sys
@@ -14,41 +24,78 @@ def check(pkg):
         subprocess.check_call([sys.executable, "-m", "pip", "install", pkg])
 
 
-def main():
-    check("PyInstaller")
-    upx = bool(shutil.which("upx"))
-    if not upx:
-        print(
-            "UPX not found -- exe will be larger. https://github.com/upx/upx/releases"
-        )
-
-    for d in ["build", "dist"]:
-        if Path(d).exists():
-            shutil.rmtree(d)
-
+def build_spec(spec, *, upx, extra_flags=None):
     cmd = [
         sys.executable,
         "-m",
         "PyInstaller",
-        "venting.spec",
+        spec,
         "--clean",
         "--noconfirm",
     ]
     if not upx:
         cmd.append("--noupx")
+    if extra_flags:
+        cmd.extend(extra_flags)
 
     result = subprocess.run(cmd)
-    if result.returncode != 0:
-        sys.exit(1)
+    return result.returncode == 0
+
+
+def main():
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="Build venting Windows executables")
+    parser.add_argument("--gui-only", action="store_true", help="Build GUI exe only")
+    parser.add_argument("--cli-only", action="store_true", help="Build CLI exe only")
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "--debug",
+        action="store_true",
+        help="Diagnostic build: no UPX, debug logging",
+    )
+    args = parser.parse_args()
+
+    check("PyInstaller")
+    upx = bool(shutil.which("upx")) and not args.debug
+    if not upx and not args.debug:
+        print(
+            "UPX not found -- exe will be larger. "
+            "https://github.com/upx/upx/releases"
+        )
 
-    exe = Path("dist/venting.exe")
-    if exe.exists():
-        print(f"\nDONE: dist/venting.exe  ({exe.stat().st_size / 1e6:.0f} MB)")
-        print("The file runs without installing Python -- ready to distribute.")
-    else:
-        print("ERROR: dist/venting.exe was not created")
+    for d in ["build", "dist"]:
+        if Path(d).exists():
+            shutil.rmtree(d)
+
+    build_gui = not args.cli_only
+    build_cli = not args.gui_only
+
+    extra = []
+    if args.debug:
+        extra.append("--log-level=DEBUG")
+
+    ok = True
+
+    if build_gui:
+        print("\n=== Building venting.exe (GUI, console=False) ===")
+        if not build_spec("venting.spec", upx=upx, extra_flags=extra):
+            print("ERROR: venting.exe build failed")
+            ok = False
+
+    if build_cli:
+        print("\n=== Building venting_cli.exe (CLI, console=True) ===")
+        if not build_spec("venting_cli.spec", upx=upx, extra_flags=extra):
+            print("ERROR: venting_cli.exe build failed")
+            ok = False
+
+    if not ok:
         sys.exit(1)
 
+    print("\n=== Build results ===")
+    for name in ["venting.exe", "venting_cli.exe"]:
+        exe = Path("dist") / name
+        if exe.exists():
+            print(f"  {name}: {exe.stat().st_size / 1e6:.0f} MB")
+    print("\nReady to distribute. No Python installation required.")
+
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     main()

src/venting/__main__.py

@@ -1,7 +1,129 @@
-try:
-    from .cli import main
-except ImportError:
-    from venting.cli import main
+"""Bootstrap entry point for venting.
+
+Provides:
+- Earliest-possible crash logging to a file so that failures in windowed
+  (console=False) PyInstaller builds are never silent.
+- Frozen-exe default: if running as a PyInstaller bundle with no CLI args,
+  launch the GUI directly instead of requiring a subcommand.
+"""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import logging
+import os
+import sys
+import traceback
+from pathlib import Path
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# 1. Bootstrap log directory
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+_FROZEN: bool = getattr(sys, "frozen", False)
+
+
+def _log_dir() -> Path:
+    """Return a writable directory for boot/crash logs."""
+    if sys.platform == "win32":
+        base = os.environ.get("LOCALAPPDATA") or os.environ.get("TEMP") or "."
+    else:
+        base = os.environ.get("XDG_STATE_HOME") or os.path.expanduser("~/.local/state")
+    d = Path(base) / "venting" / "logs"
+    try:
+        d.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+    except OSError:
+        d = Path(os.environ.get("TEMP", "/tmp")) / "venting_logs"
+        d.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+    return d
+
+
+def _setup_logging() -> logging.Logger:
+    log = logging.getLogger("venting.boot")
+    log.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)
+    try:
+        fh = logging.FileHandler(_log_dir() / "boot.log", encoding="utf-8", delay=False)
+        fh.setFormatter(logging.Formatter("%(asctime)s  %(levelname)s  %(message)s"))
+        log.addHandler(fh)
+    except OSError:
+        pass  # Cannot log — will still try to show MessageBox on fatal
+    return log
+
+
+def _show_fatal_messagebox(crash_path: str, short_msg: str) -> None:
+    """Show a minimal Windows MessageBox on fatal error (no new deps)."""
+    if sys.platform != "win32":
+        return
+    try:
+        import ctypes
+
+        ctypes.windll.user32.MessageBoxW(
+            0,
+            f"Venting crashed on startup.\n\n{short_msg}\n\n"
+            f"Full traceback saved to:\n{crash_path}",
+            "Venting — Fatal Error",
+            0x10,  # MB_ICONERROR
+        )
+    except Exception:
+        pass  # Best-effort
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# 2. Main entry logic
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+def _entry() -> None:
+    log = _setup_logging()
+    log.info(
+        "boot: argv=%s  executable=%s  frozen=%s  cwd=%s",
+        sys.argv,
+        sys.executable,
+        _FROZEN,
+        os.getcwd(),
+    )
+
+    try:
+        from venting import __version__
+
+        log.info("venting version: %s  python: %s", __version__, sys.version)
+    except Exception:
+        log.warning("could not determine venting version")
+
+    # ------------------------------------------------------------------
+    # Frozen exe with no args → launch GUI directly (H1 fix)
+    # ------------------------------------------------------------------
+    if _FROZEN and len(sys.argv) <= 1:
+        log.info("frozen build, no args → launching GUI")
+        try:
+            from venting.gui.main import main as gui_main
+
+            raise SystemExit(gui_main())
+        except SystemExit:
+            raise
+        except Exception:
+            tb = traceback.format_exc()
+            crash_file = _log_dir() / "crash.log"
+            crash_file.write_text(tb, encoding="utf-8")
+            log.critical("GUI launch failed:\n%s", tb)
+            _show_fatal_messagebox(str(crash_file), tb.splitlines()[-1])
+            raise SystemExit(1) from None
+
+    # ------------------------------------------------------------------
+    # Normal CLI path
+    # ------------------------------------------------------------------
+    try:
+        from venting.cli import main
+
+        main()
+    except SystemExit as exc:
+        log.info("CLI exited with code %s", exc.code)
+        raise
+    except Exception:
+        tb = traceback.format_exc()
+        crash_file = _log_dir() / "crash.log"
+        crash_file.write_text(tb, encoding="utf-8")
+        log.critical("unhandled exception:\n%s", tb)
+        if _FROZEN:
+            _show_fatal_messagebox(str(crash_file), tb.splitlines()[-1])
+        raise SystemExit(1) from None
+
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
-    main()
+    _entry()

venting.spec

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# venting.spec
+# venting.spec — GUI executable (console=False, launches GUI on double-click)
 from PyInstaller.utils.hooks import collect_data_files, collect_submodules
 
 block_cipher = None
@@ -20,12 +20,22 @@ hidden_imports = [
 datas = [
     *collect_data_files('pyqtgraph'),
     *collect_data_files('scipy'),
+    # PySide6 Qt plugins (platforms/qwindows.dll, styles, imageformats, etc.)
+    *collect_data_files('PySide6', subdir='plugins'),
+    *collect_data_files('PySide6', subdir='translations'),
 ]
 
+# PySide6 shared libraries that PyInstaller hooks may miss
+try:
+    from PyInstaller.utils.hooks import collect_dynamic_libs
+    binaries = collect_dynamic_libs('PySide6')
+except ImportError:
+    binaries = []
+
 a = Analysis(
     ['src/venting/__main__.py'],
     pathex=['src'],
-    binaries=[],
+    binaries=binaries,
     datas=datas,
     hiddenimports=hidden_imports,
     hookspath=[],
@@ -43,8 +53,11 @@ exe = EXE(
     strip=False,
     upx=True,
     upx_exclude=[
-        'Qt6Core.dll', 'Qt6Gui.dll', 'Qt6Widgets.dll',
-        'Qt6OpenGL.dll', 'Qt6OpenGLWidgets.dll', 'PySide6/*.pyd',
+        # Never UPX-compress Qt/PySide6 binaries — causes loader failures
+        'Qt6*.dll',
+        'pyside6*.dll',
+        'shiboken6*.dll',
+        '*.pyd',
     ],
     console=False,
     runtime_tmpdir=None,