foto-portfolio/worker.php

<?php
/**
 * Background archive worker.
 *
 * Shared hosting has no dependable cron, so gallery archives are rebuilt by a
 * chain of short requests instead: a page render calls archive_kick(), which
 * fires one request at this script and hangs up; this script does a slice of
 * work and then dispatches its own successor. One guest upload therefore starts
 * a chain that runs to completion with no further visitors.
 *
 * Each request does exactly one of two things, never both, so it cannot
 * approach max_execution_time:
 *
 *   - a gallery is due  → run one slice (archive.step_seconds), then dispatch
 *   - only unsettled    → sleep out the rest of the settle window (capped at
 *     entries remain      30 s), then dispatch
 *
 * The site-wide lock is held across the whole body, including the sleep. That
 * is what keeps the chain single: a worker that cannot take the lock exits
 * without dispatching, because the worker that holds it will dispatch the next
 * one itself. The chain also stops as soon as the queue is empty, so it can
 * never become a perpetual heartbeat, and archive.max_chain bounds it even if
 * something goes wrong.
 *
 * Authenticated by the key in data/worker-key.json: the caller is this server
 * making an HTTP request to itself, so there is no admin session to check. A
 * wrong or missing key is indistinguishable from the script not existing.
 *
 * If the host offers real cron, calling this URL every few minutes works just as
 * well and needs no code change (see docs/SETUP.md).
 */
require __DIR__ . '/app/bootstrap.php';

if (!hash_equals(archive_worker_key(), (string)($_GET['key'] ?? ''))) {
    http_response_code(404);
    exit;
}

// The dispatcher hung up after a fraction of a second. Without this, PHP would
// kill this process the moment it noticed the disconnect.
ignore_user_abort(true);
@set_time_limit(0);   // honoured on some hosts; the design never relies on it.

// Nothing is ever read from the response — the caller is not listening.
http_response_code(204);

$lock = archive_lock();
if ($lock === null) {
    exit;   // another worker owns the chain and will dispatch its successor
}

$chain = json_update(archive_queue_file(), function (array $queue): array {
    $queue['chain'] = (int)($queue['chain'] ?? 0) + 1;
    return $queue;
});

if ((int)($chain['chain'] ?? 0) > (int)config('archive.max_chain', 500)) {
    exit;   // runaway guard; the next page view starts a fresh chain
}

$wait = archive_queue_wait();

if ($wait === null) {
    // Queue empty: the chain ends here, and its counter resets with it.
    json_update(archive_queue_file(), function (array $queue): array {
        $queue['chain'] = 0;
        return $queue;
    });
    exit;
}

if ($wait > 0) {
    // Nothing has settled yet. Waiting here rather than exiting is what lets a
    // gallery nobody is looking at still rebuild on its own.
    //
    // Kept short: this holds both a PHP process and the worker lock, and an
    // admin clicking "Rebuild now" has to wait it out. A settle window is
    // bridged by a chain of these short waits instead of one long one.
    sleep(min($wait, 15));
} else {
    $slug = archive_next_due();
    if ($slug !== null) {
        archive_run_slice($slug);
    }
}

// Release before handing off, so the successor can start immediately.
flock($lock, LOCK_UN);
fclose($lock);

if (archive_queue_wait() !== null) {
    archive_dispatch(2000);
}