Files
XC_VM/docs/en/development/streaming-subsystem.md
T
rootandClaude Opus 5 74ef365f7d feat(streaming): tamper-proof stream tokens (AES-256-GCM), switched on per panel
Stream-link tokens were AES-CBC with a fixed IV and no MAC. A modified token
decrypts to modified bytes, and a padding error answers differently from a bad
credential (auth.php: BAD_TOKEN vs everything after), so with enough requests
anyone holding a link could read its username and password, or write a token of
their own. Several consumers trust a token's contents as they stand: the live /
vod / timeshift JSON (user_info, channel_info), HLS segment and key tokens, the
web player's proxy URL (fetched server-side) and the MAG portal's verify token
(passed to igbinary_unserialize).

Encryption::seal()/open() add AES-256-GCM with a random nonce, as
base64url(nonce ‖ ciphertext ‖ tag) — the same URL-safe alphabet, so no nginx
route or pattern changes. Every stream-link token is now made with
mintToken() and read with readToken(); StreamTokenCallSitesTest keeps new code
from calling the legacy encrypt()/decrypt() for one. Deterministic encryption
of stored data (HMAC keys looked up by ciphertext, image cache names) stays as
it was.

The new setting secure_stream_tokens (Settings → Tamper-proof Stream Tokens):
- on: tokens are sealed, and the legacy format is refused wherever a token's
  contents are trusted. /play/ playlist and portal links, RTMP tokens and
  probe's /play/ links still read the old format — they carry credentials that
  are looked up again, and saved playlists hold them — and every token auth.php
  cannot read now counts against the address (BruteforceGuard), which stops
  reading an old one through the error responses.
- off: legacy tokens are minted and every format is read.
Servers on an older version cannot read sealed tokens, so migration 021 turns it
off on a panel that has other servers (on for a single server, and for new
installs); turn it on once every server is updated.

key.php now also refuses a token that does not read, instead of serving the key
of stream 0.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01BbYsGKhirq9eRK8e6wsCHR
2026-09-13 08:49:06 +00:00

530 lines
24 KiB
Markdown

# Streaming Subsystem
The streaming subsystem handles live, VOD, and timeshift delivery.
It is the hot path (~10K-100K req/min, <50ms p99) and uses a separate lightweight bootstrap to avoid loading the full admin stack.
---
## Request Flow
```text
client request
|
nginx rewrite (/auth/{token} -> /stream/live.php?token={token})
|
StreamingRequestBootstrap::init()
|
StreamingBootstrap::bootstrap()
|
LegacyInitializer::initStreaming()
|
endpoint logic (live.php / vod.php / timeshift.php)
|
ShutdownHandler::handle()
```
nginx rewrites all streaming URLs to PHP entry points under `Public/stream/`:
| URL pattern | Entry point | Purpose |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `/auth/{token}` | `live.php` | Live stream delivery |
| `/vauth/{token}` | `vod.php` | Video-on-demand delivery |
| `/tsauth/{token}` | `timeshift.php` | Archive/timeshift playback |
| `/hls/{token}` | `segment.php` | HLS segment delivery |
| `/key/{token}` | `key.php` | AES-128 encryption key |
| `/subauth/{token}` | `subtitle.php` | Subtitle delivery |
---
## Directory Layout
```
src/Streaming/
├── StreamingBootstrap.php
├── AsyncFileOperations.php
├── Auth/
│ ├── StreamAuth.php
│ └── StreamAuthMiddleware.php
├── Balancer/
│ └── ProxySelector.php
├── Codec/
│ ├── FFmpegCommand.php
│ ├── FfmpegPaths.php
│ └── FFprobeRunner.php
├── Delivery/
│ ├── HLSGenerator.php
│ ├── OffAirHandler.php
│ └── StreamRedirector.php
├── Fanout/
│ └── FanoutClient.php
├── Health/
│ └── ProcessChecker.php
├── Lifecycle/
│ └── ShutdownHandler.php
└── Protection/
└── ConnectionLimiter.php
src/Public/stream/
├── index.php # Entry router for the stream endpoints
├── auth.php # Token validation gateway
├── live.php # Live streaming delivery
├── vod.php # VOD delivery
├── timeshift.php # Archive/timeshift playback
├── segment.php # HLS segment delivery
├── key.php # Encryption key delivery
├── subtitle.php # Subtitle delivery
├── thumb.php # Thumbnail delivery
├── probe.php # Stream probe / off-air status
└── rtmp.php # RTMP publishing endpoint
```
---
## Bootstrap Pipeline
### 1. StreamingRequestBootstrap::init()
File: `src/Infrastructure/Bootstrap/StreamingRequestBootstrap.php`
Actions in order:
1. Load error codes, handler, paths, config, binaries.
2. Flood protection (HTTP only): check for `FLOOD_TMP_PATH . 'block_' . $rIP`.
3. Load settings from file cache (`CACHE_TMP_PATH . 'settings'`).
4. Host verification (HTTP only): validate against `allowed_domains`.
5. Initialize logger.
6. Fail-closed gate: return 404 if settings missing (except `/status`).
7. Call `StreamingBootstrap::bootstrap()`.
### 2. StreamingBootstrap::bootstrap()
File: `src/Streaming/StreamingBootstrap.php`
```php
public static function bootstrap($rFilename, $rSettings)
```
Classifies the endpoint:
- **Probe endpoints:** `probe`, `player_api` (light load)
- **Default endpoints:** `live`, `thumb`, `subtitle`, `timeshift`, `vod`, `status`
- **Privileged endpoints:** `rtmp`, `portal`
Loads `AsyncFileOperations.php` and `DatabaseHandler.php`, stores settings in `$GLOBALS['rSettings']` and access data in `$GLOBALS['rAccess']`, then calls `LegacyInitializer::initStreaming()`.
Returns the `$db` database instance (used by legacy entry points).
### 3. LegacyInitializer::initStreaming()
File: `src/Core/Init/LegacyInitializer.php`
Populates global variables from cache:
- `$GLOBALS['rSettings']`, `$GLOBALS['rServers']`, `$GLOBALS['rBouquets']`
- `$GLOBALS['rBlockedUA']`, `$GLOBALS['rBlockedISP']`, `$GLOBALS['rBlockedIPs']`
- `$GLOBALS['rAllowedIPs']`, `$GLOBALS['rProxies']`, `$GLOBALS['rSegmentSettings']`
- `$GLOBALS['rFFMPEG_CPU']`, `$GLOBALS['rFFMPEG_GPU']`, `$GLOBALS['rFFPROBE']`
Connects to database/Redis based on `$rSettings['redis_handler']`.
> **Important:** The streaming path reads exclusively from file cache. It does not query the database for settings or user lookups during normal operation.
---
## Token Authentication
File: `src/Streaming/Auth/StreamAuthMiddleware.php`
```php
StreamAuthMiddleware::decryptToken($rToken, $rSettings, $rServers, $rIP): array
```
Token contents:
| Field | Description |
| --- | --- |
| `username` | Line username |
| `password` | Line password |
| `stream_id` | Target stream ID |
| `expires` | Token expiration timestamp |
| `channel_info` | Stream metadata (on_demand, proxy, pid) |
| `user_info` | User permissions (max_connections, is_restreamer) |
| `country_code` | GeoIP country code |
| `video_codec` | Requested video codec |
Validation:
1. Read the token with `Encryption::readToken()` under `live_streaming_pass`.
2. Check expiration: `$rTokenData['expires'] < time() - $rServers[SERVER_ID]['time_offset']`.
3. Return parsed token data or trigger error.
### Token format
Stream-link tokens are made with `Encryption::mintToken()` and read with `Encryption::readToken()`; nothing else calls the legacy `encrypt()`/`decrypt()` for a token (`StreamTokenCallSitesTest` enforces it).
| `secure_stream_tokens` | Tokens minted | Legacy tokens read |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `1` (default on a new install) | Sealed: AES-256-GCM, random nonce, `base64url(nonce ‖ ciphertext ‖ tag)` | Only where the token carries credentials that are checked against the database again |
| `0` | Legacy AES-CBC | Everywhere |
The legacy format is AES-CBC with a fixed IV and no MAC: a modified token decrypts to modified bytes, and a padding error answers differently from a bad credential, which is enough to read a token or to forge one. Sealed tokens cannot be read or altered without the key, and keep the same URL-safe alphabet, so no route or pattern changes.
Where legacy tokens are still read with the setting on, and why:
- `auth.php` `/play/` links, `rtmp.php` tokens and `probe.php` `/play/` links carry a username and password that are looked up again, so a forged one gains nothing. Saved playlists and portal links hold the old format. Every token `auth.php` cannot read counts against the address through `BruteforceGuard`, which stops reading an old token through the error responses.
- Everything whose contents are trusted as they stand — the live/vod/timeshift JSON (`user_info`, `channel_info`), HLS segment and key tokens, thumbnail and subtitle tokens, the admin player's `uitoken`, the web player's proxy URL and the MAG portal's verify token — refuses the legacy format.
Servers on an older version cannot read sealed tokens. Migration `021_add_secure_stream_tokens.sql` therefore turns the setting off on a panel that has other servers; turn it on in **Settings → Tamper-proof Stream Tokens** once every server runs this version.
Response headers are set via `StreamAuthMiddleware::sendStreamHeaders()`:
```text
Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *
X-XSS-Protection: 0
X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff
Alt-Svc: h3-29, h3-T051, h3-Q050 (HTTP/3 hints)
```
---
## Stream Delivery
### Live (live.php)
Main delivery endpoint (~650 lines):
1. Decrypt token via `StreamAuthMiddleware::decryptToken()`.
2. Resolve server/proxy: `StreamAuth::checkAccess()` + `ProxySelector::availableProxy()`.
3. Enforce connection limits: `StreamAuth::validateConnections()`.
4. Create connection record: `ConnectionTracker::createConnection()`.
5. Hand delivery to the **`xc_fanout` daemon** (see below): PHP emits an
`X-Accel-Redirect` and exits the byte path — nginx streams the bytes.
- **TS:** `X-Accel-Redirect: /xc_fanout/<id>?c=<uuid>&prebuffer=N` (nginx
rewrites to the daemon's `/live/<id>`).
- **HLS:** the playlist points at tokenized segments; `segment.php` serves live
segments only through the daemon (`/xc_fanout_hls/<id>_<seq>`), else `404`.
6. On exit: `ShutdownHandler::handle()` → close connection record.
### VOD (vod.php)
Same auth flow as live. Reads from `VOD_PATH` instead of `STREAMS_PATH`. Byte ranges (seeking) are resolved by `Streaming\Delivery\HttpRange` (RFC 7233 single ranges, suffix ranges included). A direct-proxy movie is relayed with cURL, asking the source for exactly the requested range.
### Timeshift (timeshift.php)
Serves archived segments (timeshift / catch-up) from the archive path. A TS request streams the minute files back to back; a byte range (a seek) is mapped onto them — files before the start are skipped, the first is entered at the right offset and delivery stops at the range end.
### Daemon delivery — `xc_fanout`
Live client delivery (TS **and** HLS) is **daemon-only**: PHP authorizes the
viewer and then leaves the byte path entirely, so a viewer no longer pins a
PHP-FPM worker for the life of the stream.
- **Fan-out.** `xc_fanout` (a bundled Go daemon) pulls each source **once** and
fans it out to every viewer over a unix socket, with an in-RAM HLS segmenter.
PHP is out of the per-viewer byte path: the worker-per-viewer chase-read
serving loop and the on-disk `generateHLS()` client path are gone.
`AsyncFileOperations::awaitFileExists()` is still used for stream-startup
waits and the VOD/timeshift byte path (see the Performance table).
- **Who feeds the daemon.** Since the daemon is the only client path, every live
producer must feed it, or the channel cannot be watched:
the stream's ffmpeg tees into its ingest socket (`buildLive()`; loopback
children included), the daemon supervisor's producers do the same, the PHP
producers — the LLOD segmenter (`LlodCommand`) and the loopback relay
(`LoopbackCommand`) — push through `Streaming\Fanout\IngestFeeder`, and a
**delayed** stream is fed by `DelayCommand`, which pushes each delayed segment
as it publishes it, paced over the segment's duration (its encoder output is
the undelayed one, so the tee is not used for it). `IngestFeeder` buffers what
a non-blocking write could not send (a short write no longer tears packets),
re-registers and redials after a daemon restart, and carries the HLS key.
- **Two sockets.** A client socket (nginx-facing) serves `/live/<id>` and
`/hls/...`; a PHP-only control socket registers sources
(`PUT /streams/<id>` / `/ingest/<id>`), answers off-air status
(`GET /streams/<id>`, `GET /probe/<id>`) and exposes telemetry.
- **Telemetry / reconciliation.** `fanout_sync` polls `GET /rates` (per-uuid
KB/s → `lines_divergence`) and reconciles `GET /connections` against the
`lines_live` rows in both directions: a row whose viewer left the daemon is
closed (PHP cannot see a disconnect under `X-Accel`), and a daemon viewer whose
row is gone — reaped, expired or banned line — is dropped after a 20 s grace
(`DELETE /connections/<uuid>`).
- **Kicks and connection limits.** A daemon-served TS viewer's row has `pid = 0`:
there is no worker to kill. `ConnectionLimiter` / `ConnectionTracker::closeConnection()`
end it with `ConnectionTracker::dropDaemonViewer()` — `FanoutClient::dropConnection()`
on this node, or a `drop_con` signal that the viewer's node turns into the
same call. The limiter never evicts the requesting connection itself (it is
identified by uuid, since every daemon row shares pid 0).
- **Off-air.** If the daemon reports no data (`has_data=false` / stale), PHP
shows a "not on air" page instead of letting the viewer hang.
- **On-disk HLS retained** only for timeshift / thumbnails / `.analyse` /
loopback children / the on-demand start checks — not for client delivery.
#### Stream supervision and the native remuxer
With **Fanout Encoder Supervision** on (`fanout_supervise`, migration 018, on by default), a
live stream gets no PHP watchdog. `StreamProcess::startMonitor()` builds its commands and hands
them to the daemon's supervisor (`FanoutClient::supervise` → `PUT /monitor/<id>`), which starts,
watches and restarts them — failover, priority backup, forced source, stalled output, audio loss,
frame-rate drop and scheduled restart included. PHP keeps building every command and making every
database write; the daemon runs what it is handed.
- **Hand-over** — `StreamProcess::superviseStream()` asks the daemon first
(`GET /monitors/state`: reachable, `accepting`), builds the spec
(`StreamProcess::buildSupervisorSpec()`: one command per source, policy and health mapped from
the settings `MonitorCommand` obeyed), records the daemon's pid as `monitor_pid`, then hands it
over. Without a restart a running encoder is **adopted**, not replaced; `cron:streams` moves
PHP-monitored streams over this way on its next pass.
- **Commands** — a copy-only live stream runs the daemon's native remuxer, `xc_fanout remux`,
built by `StreamProcess::buildNativeLive()` beside `buildLive()`: it reads the source natively
(MPEG-TS over http(s), HLS with TS segments, udp/rtp) and writes the same on-disk HLS and daemon
feed as ffmpeg's `-f tee` line, with no ffmpeg. Which streams qualify is
`StreamProcess::nativeRefusal()` / `isNativeSource()`; `fanout_source_backend` decides:
`auto` = remuxer with the ffmpeg command as `fallback_cmd` (used when the remuxer exits 3,
"cannot serve this source"), `native` = remuxer only, `ffmpeg` = ffmpeg only. The panel only
writes a remuxer command when the node's daemon advertises it (`features` in
`GET /monitors/state`, `FanoutClient::supportsRemux()`) — an older binary would misparse it.
- **Which producer ran, and why** — the command handed over is recorded beside the stream's
files like the self-launched path's `<id>_.ffmpeg`: `<id>_.fanout` for the remuxer,
`<id>_.ffmpeg` for ffmpeg (in `auto`, both). When the native backend is on and a stream runs
ffmpeg anyway, `StreamProcess::nativeRefusal()`'s reason is appended to `<id>.errors`
(`[panel] ffmpeg runs this stream: transcoding is enabled`), the same file the producer's
stderr goes to. The qualifying type is `streams_types.type_key` = `live`; `gen_timestamps` and
`read_native` are deliberately not refusals (both default to 1, so they say nothing about the
channel — see the daemon runbook).
- **Reconcile** — the daemon cannot write the database, so `StreamProcess::reconcileSupervised()`
copies its state into `streams_servers` (status, pid, current source, codecs, resolution,
measured bitrate): every `cron:streams` pass, and every 5 s from the `signals` daemon. A
supervised stream whose row is gone or marked stopped is released. The codecs and picture size
are written to the `stream_info` JSON as well as the flat columns — that JSON is what the
streams list renders, what the adaptive master playlist takes `BANDWIDTH`/`RESOLUTION` from and
where `stream/auth.php` reads the viewer's video codec, and a supervised stream never runs
ffprobe to fill it.
- **Stop** — `StreamProcess::stopStream()` releases first (`DELETE /monitor/<id>`, which kills the
producer); killing the producer first is what the supervisor restarts.
- **Fallback to PHP** — a daemon that is down or not accepting, and the stream kinds it does not
take (delay, created channels, `yt-dlp` platform sources), run `MonitorCommand` as before;
`MonitorCommand` stands down for a stream the daemon supervises.
- **"Is it watched?"** — for a supervised stream `monitor_pid` is the daemon's pid, so callers use
`StreamProcess::isWatched()` (PHP monitor alive, or supervised) rather than
`ProcessManager::isMonitorAlive()` alone.
The daemon-side runbook — enabling, verifying, rollback, the remuxer's exit codes — is
`docs/en/09-encoder-supervision.md` in the `XC_VM_Fanout` repository.
#### Send-message overlay
The admin "Send Message" action burns a text banner onto **one** viewer's video.
PHP posts it to the daemon control socket
(`FanoutClient::sendSignal` → `POST /signal/<uuid>`), and the daemon applies an
ffmpeg `drawtext` overlay to that viewer's next HLS segment (or a short ~5s TS
window), one-shot, best-effort — a signal never breaks playback. The daemon must
be launched with an ffmpeg that actually has the `drawtext` filter, so the
`service` launcher picks a drawtext-capable build.
---
## Connection Management
### ConnectionTracker
Manages live connection state. Backend is selected by `$rSettings['redis_handler']`:
**Redis (preferred for scale):**
- Connections stored in sorted sets:
- `LINE#{identity}` — connections for user
- `STREAM#{stream_id}` — connections for stream
- `SERVER#{server_id}` — connections on server
**MySQL (fallback):**
- Table: `lines_live` with fields: `activity_id`, `user_id`, `stream_id`, `server_id`, `uuid`, `pid`, `hls_end`
Key methods:
```php
ConnectionTracker::createConnection($data)
ConnectionTracker::updateConnection($connection, $changes, 'open'|'close')
ConnectionTracker::getConnection($uuid)
ConnectionTracker::getLineConnections($user_id)
ConnectionTracker::getCapacity()
```
### ConnectionLimiter
File: `src/Streaming/Protection/ConnectionLimiter.php`
Enforces per-user connection limits when `max_connections` is exceeded:
| Priority | Criteria | Action |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 2 | Same IP + same User-Agent | Kill first |
| 1 | Same IP (any UA) | Kill next |
| 0 | Any connection | Kill as fallback |
Settings:
- `disallow_2nd_ip_con` — enforce single IP per user
- `ip_subnet_match` — match by /24 subnet instead of exact IP
- `restrict_same_ip` — return error on IP mismatch instead of killing
### ShutdownHandler
File: `src/Streaming/Lifecycle/ShutdownHandler.php`
Registered via `register_shutdown_function()`. On PHP process exit:
1. Close connection record in `lines_live` or Redis.
2. Delete tmp files at `CONS_TMP_PATH . $uuid`.
3. Remove on-demand stream from queue if applicable.
---
## Load Balancing
### Server Selection (StreamAuth::checkAccess)
File: `src/Streaming/Auth/StreamAuth.php`
```php
public static function checkAccess($rUserInfo, $rUserIP, $rCountryCode, $rUserISP = ''): int|false
```
Algorithm:
1. Get available servers: `server_online == true`, `server_type == 0`, `online_clients < total_clients`.
2. Sort by capacity (ascending) — least loaded first.
3. Apply GeoIP routing (if `enable_geoip == 1`):
- Exact country match → select immediately.
- `geoip_type == 'strict'` → exclude non-matching.
- Otherwise → assign priority weight.
4. Apply ISP routing (if `enable_isp == 1`): same logic as GeoIP.
5. Return server with lowest capacity from highest-priority group.
### Proxy Selection (ProxySelector::availableProxy)
File: `src/Streaming/Balancer/ProxySelector.php`
```php
public static function availableProxy($rProxies, $rCountryCode, $rUserISP = ''): int|null
```
Same algorithm as `StreamAuth::checkAccess()` but applied to proxy server list.
---
## Rate Limiting and Flood Protection
Three layers:
### 1. nginx (connection level)
```nginx
limit_req_zone $binary_remote_addr zone=one:30m rate=20r/s;
limit_req zone=one burst=8;
```
20 requests/second per IP with 8-request burst. 30-minute sliding window.
### 2. StreamingRequestBootstrap (IP block)
```php
if (file_exists(FLOOD_TMP_PATH . 'block_' . $rIP)) {
http_response_code(403);
exit();
}
```
File-based IP blocking. Block files are created by upstream flood detection logic.
### 3. ConnectionLimiter (per-user)
Enforced after token validation. Limits concurrent streams per user based on `max_connections`, closing the oldest connections first (the requesting device's own older ones before others). Daemon-served viewers are disconnected through the daemon — see [Daemon delivery](#daemon-delivery-xc_fanout).
### 4. Proxy-only servers
A server with `enable_proxy` only accepts requests that arrive through one of its proxies. `auth.php` checks the TCP peer nginx saw — `XC_PEER_ADDR`, set to `$realip_remote_addr` in the stream location of `nginx.conf` — not a request header, which the client controls.
---
## HLS Encryption
Client HLS is served by the `xc_fanout` daemon (see [Daemon delivery](#daemon-delivery-xc_fanout)), so encryption happens **daemon-side**:
1. `StreamProcess` writes the stream's AES-128 key/IV to `content/streams/<id>_.key` / `_.iv` — before it spawns a PHP producer, which registers with the daemon moments after starting.
2. At ingest registration (`FanoutClient::registerIngest`), when `encrypt_hls` is on, the key/IV are handed to the daemon, which encrypts the HLS segments it serves. Every producer passes them — ffmpeg streams (loopback children included), supervised streams, and the PHP producers via `IngestFeeder::forStream()` — because the playlist always declares the key: a daemon fed without it served plain segments no player could decrypt.
3. `HLSGenerator::tokenizeDaemonPlaylist()` rewrites the daemon playlist's segment URLs into per-segment auth'd `/hls/<token>` links that `segment.php` proxies from the daemon, and adds the `#EXT-X-KEY` line.
4. The AES key is delivered to players by `key.php` (`src/Public/stream/key.php`) using the same token mechanism.
The live playlist's `#EXT-X-MEDIA-SEQUENCE` is re-anchored by `HlsSequence` so it never steps back across an off-air ↔ live transition, without renumbering a stream that is playing (its state lives in `tmp/signals/hlsseq_<id>`, so it survives a stream restart).
---
## Performance
Key design decisions for throughput and latency:
| Feature | Mechanism |
| --- | --- |
| Stream-online wait | `AsyncFileOperations::awaitFileExists()` waits for `_.pid`/`_.monitor`/first segment as a stream comes up (and in the VOD/timeshift byte path). Live client delivery is daemon-served — not chase-read by PHP. |
| Zero-CPU sleep | `time_nanosleep()` via `AsyncFileOperations::efficientSleep()` |
| nginx buffering | 128 x 32KB buffers per request |
| Connection pooling | Redis (preferred) or persistent MySQL |
| Cache-only reads | Settings and user data read from file cache, no DB queries |
| Early exit (VOD/timeshift) | Those byte loops poll `connection_status()` to stop when the client disconnects. Live has no per-viewer PHP byte loop (daemon-served). |
| Settings refresh | Every 5 minutes (300s) to catch config changes without restart |
---
## File System Paths
```text
STREAMS_PATH = /home/xc_vm/content/streams/
VOD_PATH = /home/xc_vm/content/vod/
ARCHIVE_PATH = /home/xc_vm/content/archive/
VIDEO_PATH = /home/xc_vm/content/video/
CONS_TMP_PATH = /home/xc_vm/tmp/opened_cons/
CACHE_TMP_PATH = /home/xc_vm/tmp/cache/
FLOOD_TMP_PATH = /home/xc_vm/tmp/flood/
SIGNALS_TMP_PATH = /home/xc_vm/tmp/signals/
SIGNALS_PATH = /home/xc_vm/signals/
```
---
## Diagnostics & Tooling
The standalone stream-integrity tool (`tools/stream-check/stream_check.py`) now lives on its own page — see [Streaming Diagnostics & Tooling](streaming-diagnostics.md).
---
## Design rationale (ADRs)
Why live delivery moved off tmpfs and out of the PHP byte path — the decisions behind the current
`xc_fanout` architecture — is recorded in the Architecture Decision Records (repo-internal notes,
not part of the published site):
- [ADR 0001 — Tmpfs-free streaming](https://github.com/Vateron-Media/XC_VM/blob/main/docs/adr/0001-tmpfs-free-streaming.md) — PHP out of the byte path, native fan-out, in-RAM HLS.
- [ADR 0002 — `xc_fanout` daemon](https://github.com/Vateron-Media/XC_VM/blob/main/docs/adr/0002-xc-fanout-daemon.md) — the native live fan-out daemon.
- [ADR 0003 — Full daemon cutover](https://github.com/Vateron-Media/XC_VM/blob/main/docs/adr/0003-full-daemon-cutover.md) — retiring the legacy byte path for live.
---
## Related files
| File | Purpose |
| --- | --- |
| `src/Streaming/StreamingBootstrap.php` | core streaming bootstrap |
| `src/Infrastructure/Bootstrap/StreamingRequestBootstrap.php` | HTTP-level init |
| `src/Streaming/Auth/StreamAuth.php` | server selection and connection validation |
| `src/Streaming/Auth/StreamAuthMiddleware.php` | token decryption and response headers |
| `src/Streaming/Balancer/ProxySelector.php` | proxy server selection |
| `src/Streaming/Protection/ConnectionLimiter.php` | per-user connection limits |
| `src/Streaming/Delivery/HLSGenerator.php` | M3U8 playlist generation |
| `src/Streaming/Delivery/StreamRedirector.php` | stream availability and server routing |
| `src/Streaming/AsyncFileOperations.php` | non-blocking filesystem utilities |
| `src/Streaming/Lifecycle/ShutdownHandler.php` | connection cleanup on exit |
| `src/Domain/Stream/ConnectionTracker.php` | connection state in Redis/MySQL |
| `src/Domain/Stream/StreamProcess.php` | command building (`buildLive` / `buildNativeLive`), supervision hand-over and reconcile |
| `src/Streaming/Fanout/FanoutClient.php` | daemon control API (ingest, supervision, force source) |
| `src/Core/Init/LegacyInitializer.php` | global variable setup for streaming |
| `tools/stream-check/stream_check.py` | queue-integrity checker + playlist batch + live buffer dashboard + SVG grapher |