# RigDoctor — Decisions & Open Questions Format: each item is **OPEN** (needs a call) or **DECIDED** (with date + rationale). Decisions D1–D15 were all settled on 2026-05-21; the original open questions are kept below with their resolutions so the reasoning is traceable. No tracked decisions are currently open. ## Decided ### D1 — Project name — *DECIDED 2026-05-21* **RigDoctor.** Confirmed as the final name (repo, package, and CLI command `rigdoctor`). Alternatives (RigWatch, GameDoc, Penguin Pit Crew, LGD) dropped. ### D2 — Language / runtime — *DECIDED 2026-05-21* **Python 3 + Qt (PySide6).** - *Why Python:* fastest AI-assisted development (largest codegen corpus) and a perfect fit for the real workload — parsing `nvidia-smi`/sysfs/`journalctl`, CSV/JSON, subprocess. - *Why Qt/PySide6:* one toolkit covers **both** the desktop GUI and the system-tray applet. - *Layering that preserves "low overhead":* the **core engine, CLI, and crash-logger daemon stay stdlib-only** (no hard deps, tiny footprint); **only the GUI and tray modules pull in PySide6**. This maps cleanly onto the modular installer — a headless/server user never installs Qt. - *Trade-off accepted:* the GUI carries a Qt runtime dependency (not a single static binary). Mitigated by shipping a `.deb` that declares `python3` + `python3-pyside6` (see D8). ### D3 — Distro priority order — *DECIDED 2026-05-21* **Ubuntu first**, by an explicit margin. Debian comes along for free via `apt`. Arch (`pacman`) / Fedora (`dnf`) / openSUSE (`zypper`) are best-effort later. The package-manager and distro abstraction stays in the design so other distros can be added, but all primary development, testing, and packaging target Ubuntu. ### D4 — GPU vendor priority — *DECIDED 2026-05-21* **NVIDIA first.** It's the seed hardware (RTX 3070) and the source of the motivating crash. AMD and Intel come later behind the vendor abstraction; nothing should hard-code NVIDIA in a way that blocks them. ### D5 — MVP scope — *DECIDED 2026-05-21* **M1 + M3 + M4 (the *Essential* bundle), NVIDIA-only**, CLI-first. This is the first build target — it captures the seed crash and explains the logs before any installer, GUI, tray, or multi-vendor work. ### D6 — Crash-logger trigger model — *DECIDED 2026-05-21* **Let the user choose.** All three modes are supported and selectable (installer + config): 1. **Always-on** `systemd --user` service. 2. **Game-launch-triggered** (auto-start when a game/Steam session starts, stop after). 3. **Manual** (CLI command, or the tray applet's "start recording" button). *Still open:* the exact game-launch detection mechanism — see D12. ### D7 — Stress / repro module — *DECIDED 2026-05-21* **Out of scope. Module M7 is dropped.** RigDoctor will not build or bundle stress/load generators. Users who want to reproduce load can run existing tools (gpu-burn, vkmark, stress-ng) themselves alongside the logger. ### D8 — Distribution / packaging — *DECIDED 2026-05-21* **`.deb` package** as the primary distribution channel (matches the Ubuntu-first focus). The `.deb` declares dependencies per module group; the interactive installer (M9) handles module selection on top. AUR / Flatpak / COPR are possible later, not now. ### D9 — Scope of action (read-only vs apply-fixes) — *DECIDED 2026-05-21* **Read-only + suggestions.** RigDoctor diagnoses, monitors, and **suggests** actions in plain language (with the exact command where possible), but does **not** apply changes itself in this stage. Auto-applying fixes (governor, power profile, etc.) is a deliberate later milestone, gated behind explicit user consent when it lands. ### D10 — GUI is a first-class deliverable — *DECIDED 2026-05-21* The app must run **three ways**: (a) **CLI-only / headless** (full functionality from the terminal, works over SSH), (b) a **desktop GUI**, and (c) a **system-tray / top-menu-bar applet** with quick actions. This supersedes the original "terminal-first, GUI maybe later" non-goal. GUI and tray are separate optional modules over the shared core engine. ### D11 — Tray / menu-bar applet — *DECIDED 2026-05-21* A small always-available applet in the Linux top menu bar (system tray / StatusNotifierItem, via Qt's `QSystemTrayIcon`; on Ubuntu/GNOME this surfaces through the AppIndicator extension). Provides quick actions and at-a-glance status. *Still open:* the exact set of quick actions/indicators — see D13. ### D12 — Game-launch detection mechanism — *DECIDED 2026-05-21* **Layered approach, no root** (logger stays a `systemd --user` service): 1. **Wrapper (precise, primary):** `rigdoctor wrap %command%` for per-game Steam launch options, plus an installer helper that registers RigDoctor as a **global Steam compatibility tool** (covers all Proton games without per-game edits). The same wrapper field works in Lutris/Heroic. Deterministic start/stop, knows the title, needs no watcher daemon. *Build first.* 2. **Zero-config watcher (fallback):** low-frequency poll of Steam's `RunningAppID` (`~/.steam/registry.vdf`) plus a `/proc` heuristic for non-Steam launchers, for users who won't edit launch options. *Build later.* 3. **GameMode (opportunistic):** if Feral `gamemoded` is present, use its D-Bus `GameRegistered`/`GameUnregistered` signals (via `gdbus`/`busctl` — no Python dbus dep). - *Explicitly rejected:* root-only kernel mechanisms (proc-connector netlink `PROC_EVENTS`, eBPF) — they'd force the logger to run as root. - *Phasing:* wrapper ships with the game-launch trigger mode (Phase 4); watcher + GameMode follow. ### D13 — Tray / menu-bar applet: actions & indicators — *DECIDED 2026-05-21* **Live readouts (from M1) + a Run Diagnostic action.** - **At-a-glance live data** shown inline in the tray dropdown, refreshed periodically: **CPU temp, GPU temp, memory used/total** (e.g. "14 GB / 32 GB"). A status dot (normal / throttling / alert) is proposed alongside. - **Run Diagnostic** — the primary action. Launches the **guided diagnostic session** (SPEC §4): prompts *which game to focus on*, starts a focused log collection for that game's session (M3, scoped via the D12 game detection), then scans/analyzes (M4) and presents the findings. - **Supporting actions (proposed minimal set):** Open dashboard (M10), Start/Stop recording (manual trigger), Snapshot now, Quit. ### D14 — Final installer module list & bundles — *DECIDED 2026-05-21* **Use the current `MODULES.md` catalog and bundles as final.** Modules: M1, M2, M3, M4, M5, M6, M8, M9, M10, M11 (M7 dropped). Bundles: Essential / Monitoring / Diagnostics / Desktop UI (+ Custom). No further additions planned for v1. ### D15 — Distro package-name mapping → apt-only — *DECIDED 2026-05-21* *What it was:* RigDoctor's optional modules need a few system packages (smartmontools, lm-sensors, dmidecode, python3-pyside6, AppIndicator). The same tool is named differently per distro (e.g. `lm-sensors` on apt vs `lm_sensors` on pacman/dnf; Qt is `python3-pyside6` on apt). Supporting multiple distros would require a table mapping each logical dependency to the right package name per package manager. *Decision:* **apt-only.** We maintain package names for **Ubuntu/apt only** and do **not** build or maintain mappings for other package managers. A thin seam is left in the design so another package manager *could* be added later, but multi-distro support is **not** a planned deliverable. Revisit only if Ubuntu-only proves too narrow. ## Open None currently — all tracked decisions (D1–D15) are resolved. New questions will be added here as they arise. Remaining detail to flesh out during build: the tray's supporting-action set (D13 proposed list) and per-module apt package names (filled in as modules land).