Root-causes the July 2026 Windows incident chain (locked _brotlicffi.pyd /
_sodium.pyd during install, then 'No module named annotated_doc' with
'hermes update' insisting 'Already up to date!'):
- hermes update: probe venv core imports even when the checkout is current;
a half-updated venv (dep sync killed mid-flight by a locked .pyd) is now
detected and repaired instead of being reported as up to date
- hermes update (Windows): after pausing gateways, refuse to mutate the venv
while other processes run from the venv interpreter (the Desktop backend
runs as python.exe so the hermes.exe shim guard never saw it); --force
keeps the old behavior
- install.ps1 venv stage: disarm gateway autostart Scheduled Tasks before
the kill sweep (they respawn the gateway inside the kill->delete window),
make the sweep a bounded loop requiring 3 clean passes, and rename-then-
delete the old venv (a rename succeeds even with mapped DLLs) with stale-
dir cleanup on the next run
- desktop updater: 'venv shim still locked after 15s' now ABORTS the update
hand-off (restarting our backend, surfacing the holder to the user)
instead of 'proceeding anyway (force)' into guaranteed venv corruption;
the unlock wait also re-kills respawned backends each poll tick
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