bastion/src/bastion/src/routes/dispatch.ts

@@ -5,8 +5,8 @@
 //   - unknown       -> discovery mode (collect hardware, POST to bastion)
 
 import type { FastifyInstance } from "fastify";
-import type { Arch, BastionConfig, BastionState } from "@lab/shared";
-import { normalizeArch, fedoraMirrorFor } from "@lab/shared";
+import type { Arch, BastionConfig, BastionState, OsId } from "@lab/shared";
+import { normalizeArch, fedoraMirrorFor, osSupportsArch } from "@lab/shared";
 import type { StateManager } from "../services/state.js";
 import {
   renderDiscoverIpxe,
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ import {
   renderDebugIpxe,
   renderPxeBootDebugIpxe,
   renderLocalBootIpxe,
+  renderUnsupportedIpxe,
 } from "../templates/boot.ipxe.js";
 import { renderUbuntuInstallIpxe } from "../templates/ubuntu-boot.ipxe.js";
 import { renderDebugKickstart } from "../templates/debug.ks.js";
@@ -215,6 +216,20 @@ echo "==============================="
 
       let script: string;
       if (os.startsWith("ubuntu")) {
+        // Last line of defence. The install guard refuses this combination when the
+        // machine's architecture is already known, but a machine queued before it was
+        // discovered can reach here. Serving the x86-only Ubuntu kernel to an arm64
+        // client is precisely the bug this work exists to fix, so stop instead.
+        if (!osSupportsArch(os as OsId, arch)) {
+          logger.error(`INSTALL BLOCKED: ${mac} -> ${hostname} -- ${os} has no ${arch} artifacts`);
+          script = renderUnsupportedIpxe({
+            hostname,
+            mac,
+            reason: `${os} publishes no ${arch} netboot artifacts`,
+            action: `labctl provision install ${mac} ${hostname} --os fedora-43`,
+          });
+          return reply.type("text/plain").send(script);
+        }
         script = renderUbuntuInstallIpxe({
           mac,
           hostname,

bastion/src/bastion/src/templates/boot.ipxe.ts

@@ -212,6 +212,34 @@ boot
 `;
 }
 
+/**
+ * iPXE script for a request we refuse to serve.
+ *
+ * Better a machine that stops with a legible reason on its console than one handed a
+ * kernel it cannot execute, which fails much later and much less clearly.
+ */
+export function renderUnsupportedIpxe(params: {
+  mac: string;
+  hostname: string;
+  reason: string;
+  action?: string;
+}): string {
+  return `#!ipxe
+
+echo
+echo =============================================
+echo   Lab PXE Bastion - CANNOT BOOT THIS MACHINE
+echo   Target: ${params.hostname}
+echo   MAC:    ${params.mac}
+echo
+echo   ${params.reason}
+${params.action !== undefined ? `echo\necho   Try: ${params.action}\n` : ""}echo =============================================
+echo
+sleep 10
+exit 1
+`;
+}
+
 /**
  * iPXE script for already-installed machines -- exits to boot from local disk.
  */

bastion/src/bastion/tests/arch-dispatch.test.ts

@@ -141,6 +141,36 @@ describe("aarch64 dispatch", () => {
     expect(res.body).not.toContain("nomodeset");
   });
 
+  it("refuses to serve the x86-only Ubuntu kernel to an arm64 client", async () => {
+    // A machine queued for Ubuntu before it was discovered as aarch64 reaches dispatch
+    // with no guard having run. Serving it /ubuntu-vmlinuz is the original bug.
+    state.update((s) => {
+      s.install_queue[mac] = {
+        hostname: "arm-node", disk: "", role: "worker",
+        os: "ubuntu-26.04", queued_at: new Date().toISOString(),
+      };
+    });
+
+    const res = await app.inject({ method: "GET", url: `/dispatch?mac=${mac}&arch=arm64` });
+    expect(res.statusCode).toBe(200);
+    expect(res.body).toContain("CANNOT BOOT THIS MACHINE");
+    expect(res.body).toContain("no aarch64 netboot artifacts");
+    expect(res.body).not.toContain("ubuntu-vmlinuz");
+  });
+
+  it("still serves Ubuntu to an x86_64 client", async () => {
+    state.update((s) => {
+      s.install_queue[mac] = {
+        hostname: "x86-node", disk: "", role: "worker",
+        os: "ubuntu-26.04", queued_at: new Date().toISOString(),
+      };
+    });
+
+    const res = await app.inject({ method: "GET", url: `/dispatch?mac=${mac}&arch=x86_64` });
+    expect(res.body).toContain("ubuntu-vmlinuz");
+    expect(res.body).not.toContain("CANNOT BOOT");
+  });
+
   it("serves a rescue kernel for the recorded architecture, not the requester's", async () => {
     // The Spark case: machine known to be aarch64, queued for rescue.
     state.update((s) => {

bastion/tests/integration/arm-pxe-provision.test.ts

@@ -170,9 +170,10 @@ async function startHarness(vmName: string, httpPort: number, pubKey: string): P
   const { loadConfig } = await import("../../src/bastion/src/config.js");
   const { generateDnsmasqConf, startDnsmasq, stopDnsmasq } = await import("../../src/bastion/src/services/dnsmasq.js");
   const { generateDiscoverKickstart } = await import("../../src/bastion/src/services/kickstart-generator.js");
-  const { renderBootIpxe } = await import("../../src/bastion/src/templates/boot.ipxe.js");
-  const { kernelPath, initrdPath } = await import("../../src/bastion/src/templates/boot.ipxe.js");
-  const { SUPPORTED_ARCHES, fedoraMirrorFor } = await import("@lab/shared");
+  const { renderBootIpxe, kernelPath, initrdPath } = await import("../../src/bastion/src/templates/boot.ipxe.js");
+  // Relative, not "@lab/shared": these tests run from the repo root against sources,
+  // where the workspace package alias is not resolvable.
+  const { SUPPORTED_ARCHES, fedoraMirrorFor } = await import("../../src/shared/src/hardware/index.js");
 
   const config = loadConfig({
     bastionDir: testDir,