RustChan Doctor: checker command that will dump the following info without starting the server

[csd113]

Do not make Doctor start the full RustChan server by default. It should be a preflight check, not a live production test.

rustchan-cli doctor

It should accept further args such as:

rustchan-cli doctor --data-dir ...

rustchan-cli doctor --data-dir ./rustchan-data

rustchan-cli --headless --data-dir ./rustchan-data

Doctor should also write the report to doctor.log in the logs folder.

Doctor checks:

• Load settings.toml, or report that it does not exist.

• Validate config syntax and values.

• Validate paths.

• Validate file permissions.

• Validate rustchan-data/ layout.

• Validate static asset availability.

• Validate favicon path.

• Validate upload/media directory safety.

• Validate database path and basic accessibility.

• Validate backup directory path if backups are enabled/configured.

• Validate TLS cert/key paths if TLS is enabled.

• Validate HTTP/HTTPS/redirect port availability.

• Validate Tor state/cache directory safety if Tor is enabled.

• Validate optional dependency availability where relevant:

  • ffmpeg

  • ffprobe

  • WebP support

  • VP9 support

  • Opus support

• Print a clear pass/warn/fail report.

• Exit 0 only if production startup is expected to work.

Example output:

RustChan Doctor

Config

PASS settings.toml found

PASS settings.toml parsed successfully

PASS required values are valid

Paths

PASS data directory exists

PASS uploads directory exists

PASS runtime directory exists

PASS logs directory is writable

PASS backup directory path is suitable

PASS media paths are contained safely

Database

PASS database path is valid

PASS database is readable

PASS database is writable

WARN integrity check was not run by default

Network

PASS HTTP bind 127.0.0.1:8080 is available

PASS HTTPS bind 127.0.0.1:8443 is available

WARN public_hosts is empty; reverse proxy deployments should configure it

WARN HTTP->HTTPS redirect is disabled

TLS

PASS TLS enabled

PASS certificate file exists and is readable

PASS private key file exists and is readable

Tor

PASS Tor enabled

PASS Tor state directory path is suitable

WARN Tor bootstrap not tested by doctor

Media

PASS ffmpeg found

PASS ffprobe found

PASS VP9 support detected

PASS Opus support detected

WARN WebP support not detected

Favicon

PASS /favicon.ico source exists

PASS favicon path is contained safely

Logs

PASS logs directory exists

PASS doctor.log is writable

Result

PASS RustChan appears ready to start.

Failure example:

RustChan Doctor

Config

FAIL settings.toml parsed with 1 error

[tls] redirect_http requires [tls] enabled = true

Network

FAIL HTTP bind 127.0.0.1:8080 failed: address already in use

Result

FAIL RustChan is not ready to start.

Avoid checking things that are slow, flaky, destructive, or network-dependent by default:

• Tor bootstrap to completion

• Public internet reachability

• Serveo/cloudflared tunnel availability

• Real TLS handshake from a browser

• Load testing

• Full database repair

• Full backup/restore simulation

• Media transcode stress tests

Make Doctor a first-class TUI page.

The Doctor page should show a compact summary first:

PASS in green

WARN in orange

FAIL in red

Doctor

Config PASS

Paths PASS

Database PASS

Network PASS

TLS WARN

Tor PASS

Media WARN

Favicon PASS

Logs PASS

Result

PASS RustChan appears ready to start.

Pressing Enter on a selected section should expand/collapse details:

Network

PASS HTTP bind 127.0.0.1:8080 available

PASS HTTPS bind 127.0.0.1:8443 available

WARN public_hosts is empty; reverse proxy deployments should configure it

Controls:

[↑↓] Select section

[j/k] Select section quietly as Vim-style aliases

[Enter] Expand/collapse section

[R] Re-run doctor

[Esc] Back

[Q] Quit

Implementation notes:

• Reuse existing RustChan config loading and validation logic where possible instead of duplicating a second parser.

• Do not start the full server as part of the default doctor command.

• Keep checks deterministic and fast.

• Structure doctor results internally as sections with individual checks, severity, message, and optional detail text so the CLI report and TUI page can render from the same source of truth.

• Prefer implementing this in existing files/modules if practical; avoid creating new Rust files unless the existing structure would become messy.

• Make sure doctor.log receives the same report that is printed to the terminal.