iptvnator/docs/architecture/embedded-mpv-native.md

Embedded MPV Native Integration

This document explains how IPTVnator embeds MPV inside the Electron app, which files are source versus generated build output, and what must be true before the feature is safe to expose to users.

What To Commit

Source files for the embedded MPV integration:

• apps/electron-backend/build-embedded-mpv.js builds the native addon for the target Electron runtime.
• apps/electron-backend/native/binding.gyp defines the native addon build.
• apps/electron-backend/native/src/embedded_mpv.mm owns the macOS libmpv render integration.
• apps/electron-backend/native/src/embedded_mpv_win32.cc owns the Windows HWND + mpv wid backend.
• apps/electron-backend/native/src/embedded_mpv_linux.cc owns the Linux X11/Xwayland Window + mpv wid backend.
• apps/electron-backend/native/src/embedded_mpv_wid_common.h owns the shared Windows/Linux session surface, including Linux mpv --wid process control and JSON IPC.
• apps/electron-backend/src/app/services/embedded-mpv-native.service.ts owns Electron main-process session lifecycle and support detection.
• apps/electron-backend/src/app/events/embedded-mpv.events.ts registers the IPC contract.
• apps/electron-backend/src/app/api/main.preload.ts exposes the preload bridge to the renderer.
• libs/shared/interfaces/src/lib/embedded-mpv-session.interface.ts defines the shared session and audio-track contract.
• libs/ui/playback/src/lib/embedded-mpv-player/ owns the Angular UI and controls.

Generated native-addon build output:

• apps/electron-backend/native/build/

The build directory contains files such as Makefile, binding.Makefile, config.gypi, embedded_mpv.target.mk, gyp-mac-tool, embedded_mpv.node, .o, and .d files. These are generated by node-gyp and must not be committed. The repo .gitignore ignores this directory.

How It Is Embedded

The embedded player renders MPV frames into an app-owned native video surface. macOS uses the libmpv render API in an NSOpenGLView because the mpv wid path produced a black video surface inside Electron. Windows loads libmpv through the native Node addon and uses mpv's wid option against an IPTVnator-owned child HWND. Linux creates an IPTVnator-owned X11/Xwayland child Window and starts an out-of-process mpv --wid=<window> instance for that child window.

Windows packaged runtimes must preserve the MPV DLL basename referenced by the import library used at native-addon link time. For example, an archive that ships libmpv.dll.a and libmpv-2.dll must package libmpv-2.dll; renaming it to mpv-2.dll leaves embedded_mpv.node with an unresolved DLL dependency at startup, so the Settings support probe hides the Embedded MPV option.

On Linux, embedded_mpv.node must not link directly to libmpv or load libmpv in-process. Electron loads its own libffmpeg and Chromium graphics stack; in-process libmpv can resolve FFmpeg/GL symbols against incompatible Electron symbols, while isolated dynamic-loader namespaces introduce thread/runtime ownership problems. The Linux addon therefore owns only the X11 child-window embedding, process lifecycle, and a private MPV JSON IPC socket. It starts mpv --wid=<window> --input-ipc-server=<socket>, polls time-pos, duration, volume, and pause, and forwards pause/seek/volume/audio-track commands through that socket. The Linux MPV JSON IPC polling runs on an addon-owned background thread; getSessionSnapshot() returns the last cached snapshot and must not perform socket round trips on Electron's main thread. Linux MPV process teardown sends SIGTERM on the caller path, then waits and escalates to SIGKILL on a detached cleanup thread. A healthy Linux build lists X11/Xext as addon dependencies, but ldd apps/electron-backend/native/build/Release/embedded_mpv.node must not list libmpv. Runtime support also requires an mpv executable on PATH.

Linux native Wayland embedding is not implemented. When Electron is started on Xwayland, the Linux backend also starts the child MPV process with WAYLAND_DISPLAY removed, XDG_SESSION_TYPE=x11, --vo=gpu,x11, and --gpu-context=x11egl. This prevents MPV from choosing a Wayland VO in a Wayland desktop session, which would ignore the X11 --wid target and open a separate top-level MPV window.

Linux Support Matrix

Embedded MPV on Linux is supported only for x64 desktop builds where Electron runs under X11 or Xwayland and an mpv executable is available on PATH. Native Wayland embedding is not supported in this implementation. Packaged Linux launchers pass --ozone-platform=x11 so Wayland desktops use Xwayland when it is available.

Current release-announcement wording should stay close to this:

• Supported display path: X11 or Xwayland.
• Not supported: native Wayland embedding.
• Validated locally: Ubuntu 24.04 GNOME Wayland session with Electron forced to X11/Xwayland and system mpv.
• Validated in CI: Ubuntu 22.04 standard Linux package build and Ubuntu 24.04 Flatpak package build.
• Expected standard packages: .deb on Ubuntu/Debian, pacman on Arch/Manjaro, .rpm on RPM-based distributions, and AppImage on x64 glibc systems, all with system mpv installed.
• Sandbox caveat: Flatpak and Snap packages build and continue to support the normal inline/external-player flows, but embedded MPV is not announced as supported there yet because the Linux backend launches mpv --wid and those sandboxed formats do not expose the host mpv executable to the app by default.

The flow is:

1. Angular receives a ResolvedPortalPlayback payload and renders EmbeddedMpvPlayerComponent.
2. The component paints a loading state before requesting native startup work.
3. If available, the preload API asks the main process to prepare the embedded MPV addon. This loads embedded_mpv.node and its platform runtime files, but does not create a native view or MPV playback session.
4. The component asks the preload API to create an embedded MPV session with the current viewport bounds and initial volume.
5. The Electron preload forwards calls through IPC to the main process.
6. EmbeddedMpvNativeService owns sessions, polls snapshots, and emits session updates to the renderer.
7. The native addon creates an app-owned platform video host inside the Electron window.
8. On macOS the addon configures vo=libmpv, creates a mpv_render_context, and draws into the OpenGL surface. On Windows it creates an mpv_handle, disables MPV's own OSC/input handling, and passes the child-window id through wid. On Linux it starts mpv --wid=<x11-window> in a separate process with a private JSON IPC socket and tracks that process until playback replacement or dispose.
9. Resize, scroll, and fullscreen changes are measured in Angular and sent back to the addon as native bounds so the platform video host stays aligned with the Angular layout.
10. Playback controls remain IPTVnator-owned Angular UI. MPV receives commands only through the controlled IPC surface.

The renderer never gets direct native-module access. It can only call the preload contract:

• prepare native addon
• create session
• load playback
• set bounds
• play/pause
• seek
• set volume
• set audio track
• start/stop live stream recording
• resolve/select the live recording folder
• dispose session
• subscribe to session updates

Settings uses the preload support API only as a lightweight availability check. That check verifies platform, experiment gating, addon presence, and bundled platform runtime presence without require()-loading embedded_mpv.node. This avoids blocking Settings navigation on synchronous native-addon loading and code-signing or dynamic-linker work.

When embedded-mpv is the saved player, the settings store schedules an idle prepareEmbeddedMpv() call. This intentionally moves the first native addon load away from the click-to-play path. It can still block the Electron main process briefly because Node native addon loading is synchronous, but doing it during idle is less visible than doing it when the user clicks a video. Actual MPV session creation still happens on playback because it needs the current Electron window handle and viewport bounds.

The MPV video surface is a native platform view/window, not a normal DOM element. Do not place critical Angular overlays on top of the video viewport and expect CSS z-index to win. The embedded MPV controls use a compositor-safe control dock below the native viewport instead of a true overlay on top of the native video surface.

The dock has a stable reserved height while embedded controls are enabled. Controls fade in and out inside that fixed dock, so normal show/hide behavior does not resize the native MPV viewport or make the video jump. Volume and audio-track panels replace the default transport controls inside the same dock and provide a back button to return to the default controls. Popovers and menus must stay inside that dock unless the native layering strategy changes. The native MPV view deliberately ignores hit testing so mouse movement passes through to Chromium and can reveal Angular controls even when the pointer moves quickly across the video area.

Resume And Track Handling

ResolvedPortalPlayback.startTime is treated as a media offset in seconds for VOD and episodes. The native addon passes it as the start option in one MPV loadfile options map together with title, user agent, referrer, and HTTP headers.

VOD and episode payloads carry contentInfo and are treated as non-live unless isLive is explicitly set. The embedded MPV UI must not infer "live" from a missing duration alone: on Linux the first snapshot can arrive before the out-of-process MPV IPC socket has reported duration, so the UI shows an unknown duration placeholder until MPV reports a finite duration. Live playback is classified from ResolvedPortalPlayback.isLive when present, otherwise from the absence of contentInfo.

Live catchup is different: the catchup URL already encodes the archive window, so live catchup playback must not pass an absolute Unix timestamp as startTime.

Audio tracks are discovered from MPV's track-list property. The selected track is controlled through MPV's aid property. Switching tracks must not reload the stream.

Subtitle tracks mirror the audio-track contract: same track-list source, same parsing pipeline, but selected through MPV's sid property. A trackId of -1 from the renderer is interpreted as "disable subtitles" and translated to sid=no at the addon boundary. Playback speed is observed and set through MPV's speed property, clamped at the addon to [0.25, 4.0]. Aspect override uses MPV's video-aspect-override property as a passthrough string ("no", "16:9", "4:3", "21:9", "2.35:1"). All four properties (sid, speed, video-aspect-override, plus aid) are observed at session init so renderer state stays in sync with the native side without needing extra round-trips.

The renderer learns which features the loaded addon binary supports through the EmbeddedMpvSupport.capabilities field returned from getEmbeddedMpvSupport(). The service probes typeof addon.<method> === 'function' for each optional native export. Older addon binaries with the original audio-only surface return capabilities: { subtitles: false, playbackSpeed: false, aspectOverride: false, screenshot: false, recording: false }, and the renderer hides the corresponding controls instead of throwing at runtime. Linux intentionally does not export libmpv-only optional controls while it uses the process-isolated mpv --wid backend.

Session End And Series Navigation

EmbeddedMpvSessionStatus includes ended for successful EOF only. The native addon maps MPV_EVENT_END_FILE to:

• ended when the end-file reason is MPV_END_FILE_REASON_EOF
• error when MPV reports an end-file error
• loading when MPV reports MPV_END_FILE_REASON_REDIRECT, because playback continues with the redirected playlist contents
• idle for other successful end-file reasons such as replacement/stop
• closed only for dispose/manual teardown

Renderer autoplay must use ended only. It must not treat closed, idle, or error as a request to continue to the next episode.

The native addon also observes mpv's eof-reached property and maps a true value to ended. This is required because embedded sessions run with keep-open=yes; MPV can pause at EOF while keeping the file loaded, so relying only on MPV_EVENT_END_FILE can leave the renderer in a paused-at-end state and block series autoplay.

Series episode navigation is owned by the portal feature components and passed through the shared inline player to EmbeddedMpvPlayerComponent. The embedded MPV controls show skip_previous and skip_next buttons only for non-live series playback. The shared navigation payload contains canPrevious, canNext, and autoplayEnabled; the component disables previous/next at the current-season boundaries and guards the output handlers as well as the button disabled state.

Autoplay is enabled by default for series playback in embedded MPV. On ended, Xtream and Stalker series detail views start the next episode only when the current episode has a next item in the same season. Playback stops on the last episode of the current season. Previous always switches to the previous episode in the current season; it does not implement a restart-threshold behavior.

Live Stream Recording

Embedded MPV can record live streams through mpv's stream-record option. IPTVnator exposes this only for playback classified as live (ResolvedPortalPlayback.isLive when present, otherwise no contentInfo); VOD, episodes, catchup playback, radio audio playback, and non-embedded players do not show the recording control.

Recording is session-scoped:

• startEmbeddedMpvRecording(sessionId, { directory, title }) resolves a unique .ts filename in the requested directory and calls the native addon's startRecording(sessionId, targetPath).
• stopEmbeddedMpvRecording(sessionId) calls the native addon's stopRecording(sessionId).
• The native addon sets mpv's stream-record property to the target path on start and to an empty value on stop.
• Loading a replacement stream or disposing the embedded session stops any active recording before the MPV handle is reused or destroyed.
• EmbeddedMpvSession.recording carries { active, targetPath, startedAt, error } so the renderer can show active elapsed time, final save path, or a failure.

The default recording folder is app.getPath('downloads'), matching the desktop download manager's fallback. Users can override it in Settings through Settings.recordingFolder; an empty setting means system Downloads. Recordings are intentionally not inserted into the Downloads database or queue in v1 because MPV writes from the active playback session while the download manager owns independent backend download jobs.

mpv's own caveats apply: the output container is inferred from the target extension, and seeking or switching streams while recording can produce broken output. IPTVnator limits the UI to live streams and stops recording on playback replacement to avoid the most obvious corruption path, but the feature should still be treated as an experimental embedded MPV capability.

Renderer Architecture And Reactivity

The Angular side of the embedded MPV player is intentionally split so the player component stays a view-only orchestrator. The renderer files live under libs/ui/playback/src/lib/embedded-mpv-player/:

• embedded-mpv-format.utils.ts — pure helpers (formatTime, audioTrackLabel, subtitleTrackLabel, speedLabel, aspectLabel, volumeIcon, volumeLabel, readStoredVolume, persistVolume, measureBounds) and preset constants (SPEED_PRESETS, ASPECT_PRESETS, HIDDEN_BOUNDS, MENU_OPEN_BOTTOM_CUTOUT_PX).
• embedded-mpv-shortcuts.ts — EmbeddedMpvShortcuts class with attach(handlers) / detach(). Owns the document keydown listener and routes through a callback interface; the component supplies the callbacks. Listens for Space/K (toggle), F (fullscreen), arrow keys (seek/volume), M (mute), Escape (close popovers).
• embedded-mpv-overlay-visibility.service.ts — singleton service that exposes overlayActive: signal<boolean>. Tracks MatDialog.afterOpened/afterAllClosed for dialog-shaped overlays and falls back to a MutationObserver on the CDK overlay container for any remaining backdrop-bearing CDK overlays. The native MPV video host is hidden off-screen while a modal is open so DOM dialogs can paint above it.
• embedded-mpv-ui-state.ts — EmbeddedMpvMenuState (single-open popover state machine with volumeOpen, audioOpen, subtitleOpen, speedOpen, aspectOpen signals plus anyOpen computed; toggle/open/close/closeAll helpers) and EmbeddedMpvFeedback (transient overlay that auto-clears after a configurable delay; used for keypress feedback).
• embedded-mpv-session-controller.ts — component-scoped Injectable service that owns the support, session, sessionId, stalled, and retryToken signals. Subscribes to onEmbeddedMpvSessionUpdate, runs the polling-driven stalled timer, owns bounds-sync (resize, scroll, overlay state), and exposes the imperative IPC surface (startSession, togglePaused, seekBy/seekTo, applyVolume, setAudioTrack, setSubtitleTrack, setSpeed, setAspect, startRecording, stopRecording, retry).
• embedded-mpv-player.component.ts — view-only shell. Holds view children, derived computed signals, DOM event listeners (pointermove, pointerdown, fullscreenchange, dblclick), and three effect()s.

Bounds compositing strategy

The native video host paints outside the normal DOM stacking model, so any DOM region it covers cannot reliably receive pointer events and any CSS z-index competition is unwinnable. The component compensates with a single boundsProvider(host) closure on the controller that returns one of three bound shapes, evaluated each time the active bounds-sync runs:

• Modal overlay open (any MatDialog, including the command palette) → HIDDEN_BOUNDS. The MPV video host moves off-screen so the dialog has the full window.
• Control popover open (any of the menu states above) → host bounds with MENU_OPEN_BOTTOM_CUTOUT_PX (300 px) removed from the bottom. The popover region becomes DOM-receiving while video keeps playing in the upper region.
• Idle → full host bounds.

The viewport DOM element also reserves --embedded-mpv-controls-height (64 px) at the bottom when controls are enabled, so the controls strip itself is always DOM and always reachable for hover-to-reveal even before the popover-cutout takes effect.

Reactivity rules (signals and effects)

A signal read inside an effect() becomes a tracked dependency and re-runs the entire effect on change. The cleanup-then-rebuild pattern that lives in effect((onCleanup) => { ... }) is catastrophic for stateful resources like MPV sessions — every dependency change disposes the active session and creates a new one, restarting playback.

Defensive practice for this component:

Any signal read inside an effect that is used as input to a one-shot side effect (write a value, emit an event, schedule a timer, pass an initial argument) must be wrapped in untracked(). Only signals whose change is supposed to trigger a re-run go in the tracked block.

Concrete bugs from the audit, recorded so they don't get reintroduced:

• Infinite session-create loop. EmbeddedMpvSessionController.startSession once wrote this.support.set(prepared) after the prepareEmbeddedMpv round-trip. The component's session-creation effect tracks this.support(), so the write fired the effect → cleanup disposed the session → new session was created → prepare ran again → support was set again. Symptom: endless "Loading stream…" spinner. Fix: do not write support inside startSession; the constructor's loadSupport() already populates it including capabilities.
• Stream restart on volume change. The session-creation effect once read this.volume() directly to pass to startSession's initialVolume. Each volume tick re-ran the effect, disposing and recreating the session — for VOD/series this restarted playback from the beginning. Fix: read it via untracked(() => this.volume()). Subsequent volume changes flow through controller.applyVolume(), never through the effect graph.
• Spurious timeUpdate re-emits and volume.set calls. The session-fan-out effect calls scheduleControlsHide(), which reads isPlaying, menus.anyOpen, statusLabel, and controlsVisible. Those reads became tracked deps, so opening any popover, pausing, or hovering re-ran the body. No loop in isolation, but a parent that wires timeUpdate back into playback.startTime would have hit the volume-restart bug class. Fix: wrap the side-effect block in untracked() so the effect listens only to session changes.
• 2 Hz no-op stalled-tracker re-runs. The controller's stalled effect tracked the full session signal, which updates on every position-poll snapshot. handleStalledTracking is a no-op for non-loading status, so the re-runs cost nothing useful. Fix: track a sessionStatus = computed(() => this.session()?.status ?? null) instead so the effect fires only on real status transitions.

When adding a new effect, audit it the same way: list every tracked signal read explicitly, justify each one as a re-trigger source, and wrap everything else in untracked(). When extending an existing helper that is called from inside an effect, treat the helper's signal reads as if they were inline in the effect.

IPC safety

Renderer-side IPC methods on the controller use the canonical sessionId() signal as the gate, not session()?.id. The session payload during the loading window carries a placeholder id (embedded-mpv-starting) set by createLoadingSession(); pushing that placeholder to the addon would hit getSessionOrThrow for a session that does not exist. The native side throws Napi::Error rather than std::runtime_error so that misuse surfaces as a JS exception rather than a process abort, but the renderer should still gate properly so the addon never sees the placeholder.

Every IPC call goes through a guardIpc helper that swallows addon-side throws — sessions can be torn down while a call is in flight, and snapshot polling will resync state on the next tick.

Power management

The Electron main process holds an electron.powerSaveBlocker of type prevent-display-sleep whenever any embedded MPV session has status playing. Released on pause, EOF (ended), dispose, or shutdown. Necessary because libmpv-rendered video does not own the windowing surface, so MPV's own screensaver inhibition does not apply. See EmbeddedMpvNativeService.updatePowerBlocker() for the implementation.

Packaging State

Current development behavior:

• The addon build supports darwin, win32, and linux; Windows and Linux builds require running on that target OS.
• The build script first looks for a staged runtime at vendor/embedded-mpv/<platform>-<arch>/.
• The staged runtime/build inputs must contain include/mpv/client.h and runtime-manifest.json. macOS and Windows staging also contains the platform runtime files that are bundled into the app.
• The compiled .node addon is copied into dist/apps/electron-backend/native/embedded_mpv.node.
• Bundled runtime files are copied into dist/apps/electron-backend/native/lib/ for macOS and Windows. macOS copies .dylib and non-.dylib Mach-O dependencies; Windows copies the staged mpv-2.dll/libmpv-2.dll/mpv.dll/libmpv.dll runtime name plus import libraries. Linux writes an external-mpv-process manifest and intentionally leaves libmpv.so out of the package.
• Linux does not bundle or load libmpv in the Electron process. Its native addon still requires staged MPV headers, but runtime support depends on the X11/Xwayland window handle plus an mpv executable on PATH.
• afterPack copies dist/apps/electron-backend/native/ into app.asar.unpacked/electron-backend/native/ on macOS, Windows, and Linux so the addon, manifest, and runtime libraries are filesystem-addressable.

Current release caveat:

• Release packaging requires a vendored-lgpl runtime manifest on macOS and Windows, and an external-mpv-process manifest on Linux.
• macOS release packaging rejects embedded MPV binaries linked to /opt/homebrew or /usr/local.
• Windows release packaging verifies that the platform runtime file is present when Embedded MPV is required. Linux release packaging verifies that the addon and manifest are present and that no bundled libmpv.so files slipped into the package.
• Local development can opt into Homebrew libmpv only by setting IPTVNATOR_EMBEDDED_MPV_ALLOW_HOMEBREW=1; packaged release validation rejects that runtime origin.

Before public release, packaging must:

• stage an LGPL-compatible libmpv runtime for each macOS/Windows release platform/architecture, and stage Linux MPV headers/build metadata for Linux
• collect indirect macOS dependencies expressed as absolute paths, @loader_path, or @rpath
• rewrite macOS install names and dependency paths to app-relative paths such as @loader_path
• code-sign and notarize the full macOS dependency set
• ensure Windows runtime staging includes both the DLL and the import library used by node-gyp
• ensure Linux native builds do not gain a direct libmpv dependency; the runtime playback path is mpv --wid in a separate process
• publish the corresponding FFmpeg/libmpv source and build metadata for bundled macOS/Windows runtimes; Linux should document the distribution package versions used as build inputs

Users on macOS and Windows do not need the MPV GUI application for this architecture. Linux currently requires an mpv executable because the supported backend is process-isolated. If the native addon/runtime prerequisites or Linux mpv executable are missing, embedded MPV is hidden/unsupported and the existing inline/external players remain available.

Runtime Staging

Runtime staging tooling lives in:

• /Users/4gray/Code/iptvnator/tools/embedded-mpv/
• /Users/4gray/Code/iptvnator/vendor/embedded-mpv/

Release runtime policy:

• FFmpeg must be built without --enable-gpl and without --enable-nonfree.
• mpv must be built with -Dlibmpv=true and -Dgpl=false.
• The runtime must be dynamically linked and shipped with license/source-distribution notices.

After building an LGPL-compatible prefix for a platform/architecture:

pnpm embedded-mpv:stage-runtime -- darwin arm64 /path/to/lgpl-prefix
pnpm embedded-mpv:stage-runtime -- darwin x64 /path/to/lgpl-prefix
pnpm embedded-mpv:stage-runtime -- win32 x64 /path/to/lgpl-prefix
pnpm embedded-mpv:stage-runtime -- linux x64 /path/to/lgpl-prefix

Tagged macOS release CI builds that prefix from pinned source archives first. The workflow can temporarily run the same path for macOS PR artifacts while the bundled runtime is being tested:

pnpm embedded-mpv:build-runtime -- arm64 /tmp/embedded-mpv-prefix
pnpm embedded-mpv:stage-runtime -- darwin arm64 /tmp/embedded-mpv-prefix

During temporary PR and master artifact testing, CI can restore an exact-keyed GitHub Actions cache for the staged vendor/embedded-mpv/<platform>-<arch>/ runtime and skip the expensive source build or archive staging path where one exists. The cache only contains include/, lib/, and runtime-manifest.json; it never contains the compiled embedded_mpv.node addon because that target depends on Electron headers, ABI, architecture, and build environment. Runtime cache entries are saved only from trusted repository refs, and tagged public macOS release builds continue to rebuild from pinned sources until a dedicated signed and attested runtime artifact flow exists. Windows CI uses a checksum-pinned win32-x64 runtime archive configured through IPTVNATOR_WINDOWS_EMBEDDED_MPV_RUNTIME_URL and IPTVNATOR_WINDOWS_EMBEDDED_MPV_RUNTIME_SHA256 repository variables or secrets on cache miss. Non-tag artifact builds have a pinned zhongfly/mpv-winbuild mpv-dev-lgpl-x86_64 fallback so PR builds can produce a Windows embedded MPV artifact before repository variables are configured; tagged releases still require explicit repository configuration. The Windows archive helper accepts normal lib/ + bin/ prefixes and common mpv-dev-lgpl flat archives, including libmpv-2.dll names, and preserves the DLL basename expected by the import library; when the archive does not include runtime-manifest.json, it generates a minimal manifest from the archive URL/path and checksum. Linux stages Ubuntu package build inputs only; adding pinned source builders for Windows and Linux remains a separate release-hardening task.

The CI builder pins FFmpeg 8.1, mpv 0.41.0, libplacebo 7.360.1, libass 0.17.3, FreeType 2.13.3, FriBidi 1.0.16, and HarfBuzz 8.5.0. FFmpeg disables autodetected external libraries so Homebrew libraries cannot silently enter the runtime. Libplacebo is checked out from git with the submodules required by its Meson build because the generated GitHub archive does not include submodule contents. Even with Vulkan disabled, libplacebo still compiles Vulkan stubs and needs 3rdparty/Vulkan-Headers. The generated manifest records source URLs, archive SHA-256 values where applicable, libplacebo git commit/submodule metadata, FFmpeg configure flags, and mpv Meson flags. The staging step normalizes macOS/Windows manifests to origin: vendored-lgpl, which release package validation requires on those platforms.

The Electron backend build consumes the staged runtime/build inputs and copies macOS/Windows runtime files into the native build output. Linux consumes the staged MPV headers, writes an external-mpv-process manifest, and does not copy libmpv.so into the package. macOS additionally rewrites Mach-O paths so embedded_mpv.node loads @loader_path/lib/libmpv.2.dylib instead of a machine-local Homebrew path. After install_name_tool rewrites any addon or runtime binary, the build re-signs that binary with an ad-hoc signature for local development. Release packaging still performs the normal app signing and notarization later.

For local development before the vendored runtime exists, Homebrew can be used explicitly:

pnpm run serve:backend:embedded-mpv

That script first runs the local native build with IPTVNATOR_EMBEDDED_MPV_ALLOW_HOMEBREW=1, then starts Electron with IPTVNATOR_ENABLE_EMBEDDED_MPV_EXPERIMENT=1. This path is intentionally macOS development-only. Packaged builds reject homebrew-dev manifests and macOS packages reject any /opt/homebrew or /usr/local embedded MPV links.

If the settings page does not show Embedded MPV (Experimental) after starting with those flags, check the native build output:

ls apps/electron-backend/native/build/Release/embedded_mpv.node

If only embedded-mpv-unavailable.txt exists, the dev app started from a build where no runtime was available. Stop the Electron dev process and rerun pnpm run serve:backend:embedded-mpv so the native target is rebuilt before Electron starts. The native MPV build target is intentionally uncached because it depends on local runtime files and environment variables such as IPTVNATOR_EMBEDDED_MPV_ALLOW_HOMEBREW and IPTVNATOR_EMBEDDED_MPV_ARCH.

If opening Settings hard-crashes Electron on macOS and the crash report says Code Signature Invalid, one of the copied runtime binaries was modified by install_name_tool without being re-signed. Rebuild the native target and verify the copied addon/runtime files:

IPTVNATOR_EMBEDDED_MPV_ALLOW_HOMEBREW=1 node apps/electron-backend/build-embedded-mpv.js
codesign --verify --verbose=2 apps/electron-backend/native/build/Release/embedded_mpv.node
codesign --verify --verbose=2 apps/electron-backend/native/build/Release/lib/libmpv.2.dylib

If macOS support detection reports a missing @rpath/... dependency, the dependency collector missed an indirect runtime file. The packaging helper must copy that file into native/lib/, rewrite the dependency to @loader_path/<name>, and include non-.dylib Mach-O files in the asset copy glob.

Same-Version Desktop Release Gate

The normal release tag can produce Linux, Windows, and macOS artifacts from the same source version. Embedded MPV is required only for jobs where IPTVNATOR_REQUIRE_EMBEDDED_MPV=1; otherwise package validators still reject a present but invalid runtime while allowing the addon to be absent.

For tagged macOS builds, CI must:

• build the pinned LGPL-compatible runtime for the matrix architecture
• stage it into vendor/embedded-mpv/darwin-${arch} before pnpm run build:backend
• set IPTVNATOR_EMBEDDED_MPV_PLATFORM=darwin
• set IPTVNATOR_EMBEDDED_MPV_ARCH=${arch} for backend build and packaging
• set IPTVNATOR_REQUIRE_EMBEDDED_MPV=1 for packaging and package-layout verification

For Windows builds, CI must restore the win32-x64 staged runtime cache or stage the checksum-pinned runtime archive before pnpm run build:backend. The Windows job must set IPTVNATOR_EMBEDDED_MPV_PLATFORM=win32, IPTVNATOR_EMBEDDED_MPV_ARCH=x64, and IPTVNATOR_REQUIRE_EMBEDDED_MPV=1 for backend build, package make, and package-layout verification. CI narrows electron-builder.json to x64 Windows targets while only a win32-x64 runtime is available. The Windows job is pinned to windows-2022 until the Electron node-gyp toolchain can identify Visual Studio 18 from windows-latest.

For Linux builds, CI must set IPTVNATOR_EMBEDDED_MPV_PLATFORM=linux, IPTVNATOR_EMBEDDED_MPV_ARCH=x64, and IPTVNATOR_REQUIRE_EMBEDDED_MPV=1 after staging the Ubuntu package build inputs. Linux package verification checks the external-mpv-process manifest and confirms that no bundled libmpv.so files are present.

During temporary artifact tests, CI may also set IPTVNATOR_REQUIRE_EMBEDDED_MPV=1 for PR and master push jobs where a runtime is known to exist. After the artifacts are manually validated, remove temporary conditions so ordinary development builds leave IPTVNATOR_REQUIRE_EMBEDDED_MPV unset or 0. This keeps the native feature in-tree without making every non-release build depend on runtime artifacts.

Release Safety

The feature is still experimental. The largest risks are native-process risks, not normal Angular UI risks:

• a bad native addon or libmpv crash can crash the Electron main process
• packaging can fail if libmpv or one of its platform runtime dependencies is missing, unsigned where signing applies, or linked to the wrong runtime path
• macOS graphics behavior can vary across Intel, Apple Silicon, external displays, fullscreen transitions, and hardware decoding paths
• Windows HWND and Linux X11/Xwayland embedding need packaged-app smoke coverage for focus, resize, and fullscreen behavior
• Linux native Wayland is unsupported until a dedicated Wayland embedding path exists
• Homebrew libmpv builds can target a newer macOS version than IPTVnator's declared deployment target

It is reasonable to ship the code in-tree behind the current experiment flag. It is not yet safe to make it the default player. It can be exposed as desktop experimental if support detection is strict, the UI clearly labels it experimental, and fallback to Video.js or external MPV/VLC stays available.

If an embedded session fails to initialize, the app should keep the user in control by preserving the normal player setting choices. If a native crash occurs, normal settings fallback cannot intercept that crash, so broader OS-specific smoke testing and packaged-app testing are required before broad release.

Suggested Release Gate

Do not expose embedded MPV broadly until these pass on every supported target:

• macOS/Windows packaged app starts without system mpv installed; Linux reports Embedded MPV unsupported with a clear message when system mpv is missing
• bundled libmpv and dependent runtime files pass macOS/Windows package validation; Linux package validation confirms the external-process manifest and absence of bundled libmpv.so
• macOS bundled libmpv and dependent dylibs pass code signing and notarization
• VOD resume starts near the saved offset
• series EOF emits ended and embedded MPV auto-continues only inside the current season
• live HLS, MPEG-TS, MP4/VOD, headers, referrer, volume, seek, fullscreen, route changes, and cleanup work
• audio-track switching works on a stream with multiple audio tracks
• live stream recording starts, stops, writes a .ts file in Downloads/custom recording folder, and stops on route/playback changes
• fallback behavior is clear when the addon or native dependencies are unavailable