feat: dress VLC down to an appliance screen

Stock VLC looks like a desktop media player, which is wrong for a room
where the TV is the whole interface. VLC stays the backend because its
dvdnav module is what provides the disc menus, and menus are the part
that matters on a commercial disc.

It is dressed down with documented VLC 3.x options, all verified against
the 3.0.23 build in Debian Trixie: minimal view, dark palette, no cone,
no tray, no now-playing popups, no resume prompt, no recent-disc
history, no title banner. sway draws no border on the window either, so
there is nothing above the video.

The auto-hiding fullscreen controller is deliberately kept: it is not
persistent chrome, and it is the only way a volunteer with a mouse can
pause or change chapter.

No skin is involved. Skins replace the interface wholesale and take the
keyboard and mouse handling that DVD menu navigation depends on with
them, as would --intf dummy.

Also drops --no-qt-updates-notif, which was not an option in Debian's
VLC at all. It made VLC exit before it started, so the DVD button could
never have launched a disc.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <[email protected]>

config/sway/config

@@ -19,6 +19,11 @@ exec --no-startup-id /usr/local/bin/classroom-dock
 
 include /etc/sway/config.d/*
 
+# The DVD player is an appliance screen, not a desktop window: no sway
+# title bar, and it opens fullscreen over the dock.
+for_window [class="(?i)vlc"] border none
+for_window [app_id="(?i)vlc"] border none
+
 # Minimize and restore.
 #
 # classroom-window parks the window on a hidden workspace as an ordinary

docs/dvd.md

@@ -39,32 +39,79 @@ a disc left in over the week does not announce itself at every boot.
 ## Playback
 
 Playback is VLC, chosen over mpv because mpv dropped DVD menu support.
-VLC's `dvdnav` path gives working menus, chapters and audio tracks.
+VLC's `dvdnav` module is what provides the disc menus, and `dvd://`
+selects it.
 
 `classroom-dvd toggle` hands the disc to VLC through `classroom-window`,
 so the DVD player behaves like any other classroom application: the DVD
 button focuses it, minimises it, and restores it. `Super+M` minimises it
 too. VLC starts fullscreen; `Esc` leaves fullscreen.
 
+## How VLC is made to fit the classroom
+
+Stock VLC looks like a desktop media player, which is wrong for a room
+where the TV is the whole interface. It is dressed down with documented
+VLC 3.x options — no skin is involved, because skins replace the
+interface wholesale and take DVD menu input with them:
+
+| Option | Why |
+| --- | --- |
+| `--fullscreen` | The disc opens straight onto the TV |
+| `--qt-minimal-view` | No menu bar or extended panels |
+| `--qt-dark-palette` | Dark window instead of the default light grey |
+| `--no-qt-bgcone` | No orange cone, no album-art panel |
+| `--no-qt-system-tray` | Not a background desktop application |
+| `--no-qt-name-in-title` | Nothing in the title bar to read |
+| `--no-qt-video-autoresize` | The window does not jump to the video size |
+| `--qt-notification=0` | No now-playing popups |
+| `--qt-continue=0` | Never asks to resume where it left off |
+| `--no-qt-recentplay` | No history of the discs a classroom has played |
+| `--no-qt-privacy-ask` | No first-run privacy dialog |
+| `--no-video-title-show` | No title banner over the video |
+
+sway also draws no border on the VLC window
+(`for_window [class="(?i)vlc"] border none`), so there is no title bar
+above the video either.
+
+The auto-hiding fullscreen controller is deliberately **kept**. It is
+the only way to pause or change chapter with a mouse, it is not
+persistent chrome, and a volunteer with a wireless mouse needs it.
+
+`--intf dummy` would give an even barer window, but the dummy interface
+takes the keyboard and mouse handling that DVD menu navigation depends
+on, so it is not an option here.
+
+Note that `--no-qt-updates-notif`, which earlier classroom builds
+passed, is not an option in Debian's VLC at all — it made VLC exit
+before it started.
+
 ## Commercial (CSS encrypted) discs
 
 Most retail DVDs are CSS encrypted, and Debian cannot ship the
 decryption library. Unencrypted discs — curriculum discs, home-burned
 video — play without any extra work.
 
-For commercial discs, run once per endpoint, as root:
+**This is automatic.** On any classroom with `DVD_ENABLED=true`, the
+provisioning service installs the codecs after the next boot. See
+[provisioning.md](provisioning.md).
+
+To do it by hand, or to watch it happen:
 
 ```
 sudo classroom-dvd-css-setup
+classroom-dvd-css-setup --status
 ```
 
-That enables the Debian `contrib` component, installs `libdvd-pkg` and
+It enables the Debian `contrib` component in whichever APT source format
-builds `libdvdcss`. It needs network access and it compiles a package,
+the machine uses, installs `libdvd-pkg`, answers its debconf questions
-which is why it is deliberately not run from the package `postinst`: the
+and builds `libdvdcss`. It only ever adds a missing component to an
-postinst runs while dpkg already holds the apt lock during an OTA update.
+existing Debian entry, so repeated runs cannot produce a duplicate
+repository or a duplicate component, and third-party repositories such
+as Google Chrome's are never touched.
 
-**Commercial DVD playback has not been verified on hardware yet.** Test
+It needs the network and it compiles a package, which is why it runs
-with an actual disc before relying on it for a service.
+from the provisioning service rather than the package `postinst`: the
+postinst executes while dpkg is still holding the apt lock.
 
 ## Command line
 

docs/testing.md

@@ -111,6 +111,9 @@ With `DVD_ENABLED=true`:
 - [ ] Closing the player works
 - [ ] Ejecting is detected, the icon goes back
 - [ ] Reinserting is detected again
+- [ ] VLC opens fullscreen, dark, with no menu bar, no orange cone and
+      no sway title bar
+- [ ] The fullscreen controller still appears on mouse movement
 - [ ] Commercial CSS disc, after `classroom-dvd-css-setup`
 
 ## OTA

scripts/classroom-dvd

@@ -43,12 +43,42 @@ def notify(title, message, urgency="normal"):
 
 
 def player_command(device):
+    """VLC, dressed down to look like an appliance rather than a desktop app.
+
+    All of these are documented VLC 3.x options, verified against the
+    3.0.23 build in Debian Trixie. No skin is involved: skins replace the
+    interface wholesale and break DVD menu input, which is the one thing
+    that has to keep working.
+
+    Note that --no-qt-updates-notif, which earlier builds passed, is not
+    an option in Debian's VLC and made it refuse to start at all.
+    """
     return [
         PLAYER,
+        # Fullscreen first: the disc opens straight onto the TV.
         "--fullscreen",
-        "--no-video-title-show",
+        # No menu bar or extended panels, and a dark window instead of
+        # the default light grey one.
+        "--qt-minimal-view",
+        "--qt-dark-palette",
+        # No orange cone, and no album-art panel, behind the video.
+        "--no-qt-bgcone",
+        # Nothing that behaves like a desktop application.
+        "--no-qt-system-tray",
+        "--no-qt-name-in-title",
+        "--no-qt-video-autoresize",
+        "--qt-notification=0",
+        # Never offer to resume, and never accumulate a list of the
+        # discs a classroom has played.
+        "--qt-continue=0",
+        "--no-qt-recentplay",
+        # No first-run privacy dialog, no title banner over the video.
         "--no-qt-privacy-ask",
-        "--no-qt-updates-notif",
+        "--no-video-title-show",
+        # dvd:// selects VLC's dvdnav module, which is what provides the
+        # disc menus. The Qt interface is kept for exactly that reason:
+        # --intf dummy would be cleaner still but takes the keyboard and
+        # mouse handling that menu navigation depends on with it.
         f"dvd://{device}",
     ]