@@ -300,6 +300,28 @@ if ($LASTEXITCODE -ne 0) {
     exit 1
 }
 
+# Place the installer beside the binary so `update` points at a local file
+# rather than a URL, and so the next update runs THIS release's installer.
+#
+# Sourced from the archive we just checksum-verified, and published by rename
+# rather than written over the live path. PowerShell parses a script fully
+# before executing it, so self-overwrite is less hazardous here than it is for
+# bash -- but rename costs nothing and keeps both platforms on one rule.
+# Best effort: a failure here still leaves a working install.
+$DownloadedInstaller = Join-Path $TmpDir "install.ps1"
+if (Test-Path -LiteralPath $DownloadedInstaller -PathType Leaf) {
+    $InstallerDest = Join-Path $InstallDir "install.ps1"
+    $InstallerTmp = "$InstallerDest.new"
+    try {
+        Copy-Item -LiteralPath $DownloadedInstaller -Destination $InstallerTmp -Force -ErrorAction Stop
+        Move-Item -LiteralPath $InstallerTmp -Destination $InstallerDest -Force -ErrorAction Stop
+        Write-Host "Installed updater -> $InstallerDest"
+    } catch {
+        Remove-Item -LiteralPath $InstallerTmp -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
+        Write-Host "note: could not place install.ps1 in $InstallDir (update will explain where to find it)"
+    }
+}
+
 # Verify
 try {
     $ver = & $Dest --version 2>&1
 
@@ -268,6 +268,32 @@ if [ "$SKIP_CONFIG" = true ]; then
 fi
 "$DLBIN" install "${INSTALL_ARGS[@]}"
 
+# Place the installer beside the binary so `update` can point at a local file
+# instead of a URL, and so the next update uses THIS release's installer.
+#
+# Two things make this safe. The source is the copy from the archive we just
+# checksum-verified -- never "$0", which does not exist under `curl | bash` and
+# would pin us to the OLD installer forever. And it is published by atomic
+# rename, never by writing over the live path: bash reads a script incrementally
+# by byte offset, so overwriting the file it is executing continues reading the
+# NEW bytes at the OLD offset. That fails silently and bizarrely, which is worse
+# than failing loudly.
+#
+# Best effort by design: a user who cannot write to INSTALL_DIR still gets a
+# working install, and `update` falls back to explaining where to find it.
+DL_INSTALLER="$DLDIR/install.sh"
+if [ -f "$DL_INSTALLER" ]; then
+    INSTALLER_TMP="$INSTALL_DIR/.install.sh.$$"
+    if cp "$DL_INSTALLER" "$INSTALLER_TMP" 2>/dev/null &&
+        chmod 755 "$INSTALLER_TMP" 2>/dev/null &&
+        mv -f "$INSTALLER_TMP" "$INSTALL_DIR/install.sh" 2>/dev/null; then
+        echo "Installed updater -> $INSTALL_DIR/install.sh"
+    else
+        rm -f "$INSTALLER_TMP" 2>/dev/null || true
+        echo "note: could not place install.sh in $INSTALL_DIR (update will explain where to find it)"
+    fi
+fi
+
 # Verify
 VERSION=$("$DEST" --version 2>&1) || {
     echo "error: installed binary failed to run" >&2
 
@@ -113,21 +113,31 @@ NAME="codebase-memory-mcp${SUFFIX}-${GOOS}-${GOARCH}"
 strip_release_binary() {
     local binary="$1"
     [ -f "$binary" ] || return 0
-    # --strip-all on every format, Mach-O included.
+    # The right flags differ per format, and the WRONG ones fail silently in
+    # the dangerous direction. Measured on the flagged darwin-arm64 artifact:
     #
-    # This first shipped as `strip -x` on Mach-O out of caution that a full
-    # strip could leave an image dyld will not load. That caution was wrong for
-    # this binary and it cost us a release cycle: -x retains external symbols --
-    # 4058 of them -- so the macOS artifacts kept the very symbol table the ELF
-    # legs had just shed, and they were the only ones VirusTotal then flagged.
-    # Measured on the flagged darwin-arm64 artifact: --strip-all leaves 373
-    # symbols, `codesign --verify` passes, the binary runs, and the scan goes
-    # from 1 malicious to 0/61 clean.
+    #   llvm-strip --strip-all   373 symbols   scanned CLEAN
+    #   strip        (no flags)  378 symbols   equivalent
+    #   strip -x -S             4058 symbols   the state VirusTotal FLAGGED
+    #   strip -X / -u -r        4058 symbols   likewise
+    #
+    # Apple's strip returns success for `-x -S`, so a helper that just tries
+    # candidates until one exits 0 would quietly reship the flagged binary.
+    # GNU/LLVM `--strip-all` is not even accepted by Apple's strip, which is why
+    # generalising it to every platform broke the macOS build -- loudly, which
+    # was the lucky outcome.
+    #
+    # So: --strip-all where it is understood, plain `strip` for Mach-O, and a
+    # hard error when no candidate can do the job. Never a weaker fallback.
     local stripped=""
     for tool in "${STRIP:-}" llvm-strip strip; do
         [ -n "$tool" ] || continue
         command -v "$tool" >/dev/null 2>&1 || continue
-        "$tool" --strip-all "$binary" 2>/dev/null && stripped="$tool"
+        if "$tool" --strip-all "$binary" 2>/dev/null; then
+            stripped="$tool --strip-all"
+        elif [ "$GOOS" = "darwin" ] && "$tool" "$binary" 2>/dev/null; then
+            stripped="$tool"
+        fi
         [ -n "$stripped" ] && break
     done
     if [ -z "$stripped" ]; then
 
@@ -123,15 +123,55 @@ def start_suite(
     )
 
 
+def windows_descendants(pid: int, timeout: int) -> bool:
+    """True if any live process still claims `pid` as its parent.
+
+    Used only when the suite leader has already exited: `taskkill /T` cannot
+    walk a tree from a dead PID, so cleanup is proven by asking whether anything
+    is still parented to it. One level deep on purpose -- Windows does not
+    reparent orphans, so a grandchild keeps pointing at its own (dead) parent
+    and would not be found here. That is a weaker proof than taskkill /T, which
+    is why it is reserved for the case where the strong proof is impossible.
+    """
+    try:
+        completed = subprocess.run(
+            [
+                "powershell.exe",
+                "-NoProfile",
+                "-NonInteractive",
+                "-Command",
+                "@(Get-CimInstance Win32_Process -Filter "
+                f"'ParentProcessId={pid}').Count",
+            ],
+            check=False,
+            stdin=subprocess.DEVNULL,
+            capture_output=True,
+            text=True,
+            timeout=timeout,
+        )
+    except (OSError, subprocess.TimeoutExpired):
+        return True  # cannot prove absence -> assume the worst
+    if completed.returncode != 0:
+        return True
+    return (completed.stdout or "").strip() not in ("0", "")
+
+
 def terminate_process_tree(active: ActiveSuite, kill_grace: int) -> None:
     process = active.process
     leader_exited = process.poll() is not None
     if os.name == "nt":
         if leader_exited:
-            raise RuntimeError(
-                f"suite {active.name!r} leader exited before Windows tree cleanup "
-                "could be proven"
-            )
+            # The leader can exit on its own between the timeout decision and
+            # this call. Refusing outright made the harness itself lose a race:
+            # a natural exit at the wrong moment failed the whole wave, which is
+            # how a deliberately-hanging fixture suite reddened a release run.
+            # taskkill /T cannot walk a tree from a dead PID, so prove cleanup
+            # the only way still available -- nothing is parented to it.
+            if windows_descendants(process.pid, kill_grace):
+                raise RuntimeError(
+                    f"suite {active.name!r} leader exited leaving live descendants"
+                )
+            return
         try:
             completed = subprocess.run(
                 [
 
@@ -66,7 +66,6 @@ src/ui/http_server.c:execl:exec indexing binary in child process
 URL:https://api.github.com/repos/DeusData/codebase-memory-mcp/releases/latest:update check
 URL:https://github.com/DeusData/codebase-memory-mcp/releases/latest/download:binary download + checksums
 URL:https://github.com/DeusData/codebase-memory-mcp/releases/latest:version check via redirect header
-URL:https://raw.githubusercontent.com/DeusData/codebase-memory-mcp/main/install.sh:printed by `update` as the install-script command when install.sh is not beside the binary (a string in the message, not a network call - the binary no longer downloads anything)
 URL:http://127.0.0.1:UI server binding (localhost only)
 URL:https://www.sqlite.org/c3ref/c_checkpoint_full.html:sqlite WAL checkpoint API doc reference (comment only, not a network call)
 URL:https://github.com/DeusData/codebase-memory-mcp:project repository self-reference in update/star notice (src/mcp/mcp.c)
 
@@ -151,7 +151,27 @@ fi
 trap 'smoke_rmtree "$TMPDIR" "${DRYRUN_HOME:-}"' EXIT
 
 CLI_STDERR=$(smoke_mktemp_file)
-cli() { "$BINARY" cli "$@" 2>"$CLI_STDERR"; }
+# 10 of the cli call sites assign directly (VAR=$(cli ...)). Under
+# `set -euo pipefail` a non-zero exit there kills the smoke with NOTHING
+# printed: no FAIL line, no stderr, just an abort indistinguishable from a hang,
+# a starved runner, or a real regression. One such abort cost a full Windows
+# cycle just to locate, and still could not be attributed. Surface the command
+# and its stderr here, while we still can.
+#
+# Neutral wording on purpose: one call site deliberately expects a non-zero exit
+# (the unknown-function query must error loudly), so this must not read as a
+# failure on its own.
+cli() {
+  local rc=0
+  "$BINARY" cli "$@" 2>"$CLI_STDERR" || rc=$?
+  if [ "$rc" -ne 0 ]; then
+    {
+      printf 'cli: `%s` exited %s\n' "$*" "$rc"
+      sed 's/^/  /' "$CLI_STDERR" 2>/dev/null
+    } >&2
+  fi
+  return "$rc"
+}
 
 echo "=== Phase 1: version ==="
 VERSION_STATUS=0
 
@@ -11168,12 +11168,6 @@ static bool check_already_latest(void) {
 
 #endif /* CBM_CLI_ENABLE_TEST_API */
 
-/* One token on purpose: the security audit extracts URLs literally, so a URL
- * split across string-literal continuations cannot be matched against the
- * allow-list. Printed for the user to paste; never fetched by this binary. */
-#define CBM_INSTALL_SH_URL \
-    "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/DeusData/codebase-memory-mcp/main/install.sh"
-
 int cbm_cmd_update(int argc, char **argv) {
     parse_auto_answer(argc, argv);
 
@@ -11253,7 +11247,9 @@ int cbm_cmd_update(int argc, char **argv) {
         if (have_dir) {
             printf("  powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File \"%s\\install.ps1\"\n\n", self_dir);
         } else {
-            printf("  powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File install.ps1\n\n");
+            printf("  powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File install.ps1\n"
+                   "  (ships in the release archive, and is placed beside the\n"
+                   "  binary on install)\n\n");
         }
         printf("It downloads the latest release, verifies its checksum, and replaces\n"
                "this binary in place. If PowerShell refuses to run the script because\n"
@@ -11263,7 +11259,8 @@ int cbm_cmd_update(int argc, char **argv) {
         if (have_dir) {
             printf("  bash \"%s/install.sh\"\n\n", self_dir);
         } else {
-            printf("  curl -fsSL " CBM_INSTALL_SH_URL " | bash\n\n");
+            printf("  install.sh (ships in the release archive, and is placed\n"
+                   "  beside the binary on install)\n\n");
         }
         printf("It downloads the latest release, verifies its checksum, and replaces\n"
                "this binary in place. install.sh is idempotent, so re-running it IS\n"
 
@@ -6,7 +6,11 @@
 #   2. the DYNAMIC binary refuses to start (its glibc 2.38+ floor is by
 #      design — old-glibc coverage is the portable binary's job, and a
 #      dynamic binary that silently ran here would mask a floor regression).
-FROM ubuntu:22.04
+# Pinned by digest like every other venue image: a floating tag means the
+# glibc-FLOOR assertion silently drifts to whatever ubuntu:22.04 points at, and
+# a floor that moves is not a floor. (Scorecard PinnedDependenciesID #76 — this
+# was the one image the pinning pass missed.)
+FROM ubuntu:22.04@sha256:0e0a0fc6d18feda9db1590da249ac93e8d5abfea8f4c3c0c849ce512b5ef8982
 
 RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
         bash \
 
@@ -2855,10 +2855,17 @@ TEST(daemon_application_cancels_physical_job_only_after_final_session) {
         started[i] = cbm_thread_create(&threads[i], 0, app_request_thread, &requests[i]) == 0;
     }
     bool subscribed = started[0] && started[1] && app_wait_for_subscribers(application, project, 2);
-    if (subscribed) {
+    /* The physical job starts asynchronously once a session subscribes, so a
+     * subscriber count of 2 does NOT imply it has started. Cancelling both
+     * sessions before that point leaves starts == 0 -- arguably the correct
+     * outcome, and the reason this test failed intermittently on Windows while
+     * passing everywhere else. Wait for the state the assertions below actually
+     * require; `starts` only increments, so this cannot miss the transition. */
+    bool job_started = subscribed && app_wait_for_atomic_int(&fake.starts, 1);
+    if (job_started) {
         callbacks.session_cancel(callbacks.context, sessions[0]);
     }
-    bool one_left = subscribed && app_wait_for_subscribers(application, project, 1);
+    bool one_left = job_started && app_wait_for_subscribers(application, project, 1);
     int cancels_after_first = atomic_load(&fake.cancels);
     if (one_left) {
         callbacks.session_cancel(callbacks.context, sessions[1]);
@@ -2874,6 +2881,7 @@ TEST(daemon_application_cancels_physical_job_only_after_final_session) {
 
     ASSERT_TRUE(setup);
     ASSERT_TRUE(subscribed);
+    ASSERT_TRUE(job_started);
     ASSERT_TRUE(one_left);
     ASSERT_EQ(atomic_load(&fake.starts), 1);
     ASSERT_EQ(cancels_after_first, 0);