fix(engine): headless step() is a full simulation frame; --exec can no longer hang

step() advanced animations and timers only. It never called updatePythonScenes(),
which lives solely in doFrame() -- so headless Scene.update(dt) overrides never
fired. That was the filed bug, but it was one of twelve omissions: the C++ scene
update never ran, scene transitions never progressed or COMPLETED, and
current_frame never advanced. Headless behaved measurably differently from a real
frame, and any game with per-frame logic in update() was untestable.

step() is now a full simulation frame: scene update, timers, Python scene update,
animations, transitions (including completion), frame-time metrics, currentFrame++.
Render and input stay out, deliberately -- rendering is orthogonal to the clock and
costs zero simulation time (see renderScene(); a screenshot draws arbitrary state
without time passing). Timers remain on simulation_time: explicit, deterministic
time is the entire point of driving a headless test with step().

This exposed the deeper bug. testTimers() reads simulation_time when headless, and
simulation_time is advanced ONLY by step() -- the doFrame run loop never touched it.
So the headless run loop spun forever on a frozen clock: any headless script that
registered a timer and did not call step() hung until killed. And a script that died
during setup registered no timers, hit the auto-exit-when-no-timers path, exited 0,
and was scored as a PASSING test.

So headless --exec now exits when its scripts finish, nonzero if a script fell off
the end without calling sys.exit(). step() is the clock; the engine cannot advance
time on its own, and pretending otherwise is what produced the hang. A genuinely
long-lived headless process (server, REPL host) opts in with the new --run-forever.

run_tests.py additionally refuses to pass any test whose output contains a
Traceback. Between the two, 82 tests that were being scored green while asserting
nothing are now correctly red; they are repaired in the following commits.

closes #350

src/CommandLineParser.cpp

@@ -86,6 +86,12 @@ CommandLineParser::ParseResult CommandLineParser::parse(McRogueFaceConfig& confi
             continue;
         }
         
+        if (arg == "--run-forever") {
+            config.run_forever = true;
+            current_arg++;
+            continue;
+        }
+
         if (arg == "--audio-off") {
             config.audio_enabled = false;
             current_arg++;

src/McRogueFaceConfig.h

@@ -32,6 +32,13 @@ struct McRogueFaceConfig {
     // Auto-exit when no timers remain (for --headless --exec automation)
     bool auto_exit_after_exec = false;
 
+    // Keep running after --exec scripts finish, instead of exiting (#350).
+    // Headless --exec normally exits when the scripts are done: step() is the only
+    // headless clock, so the engine cannot advance timers on its own and would
+    // otherwise spin forever. Pass --run-forever for a long-lived headless process
+    // (a server, a REPL host) that drives itself.
+    bool run_forever = false;
+
     // Exception handling: exit on first Python callback exception (default: true)
     // Use --continue-after-exceptions to disable
     bool exit_on_exception = true;

src/main.cpp

@@ -215,9 +215,37 @@ int run_python_interpreter(const McRogueFaceConfig& config)
     else if (!config.exec_scripts.empty()) {
         // Execute startup scripts on the existing engine (not in constructor to prevent double-execution)
         engine->executeStartupScripts();
-        if (config.headless) {
+
-            engine->setAutoExitAfterExec(true);
+        // A script that called sys.exit() has already decided the outcome.
+        if (McRFPy_API::shouldExit()) {
+            int code = McRFPy_API::exit_code.load();
+            McRFPy_API::api_shutdown();
+            delete engine;
+            return code;
         }
+
+        // #350: headless --exec that falls off the end without exiting is an error.
+        //
+        // step() is the only headless clock, so the run loop cannot advance timers on
+        // its own: entering it here used to spin forever with a frozen clock, and any
+        // headless script with a pending timer hung until it was killed. Worse, a
+        // script that died during setup registered no timers, auto-exited 0, and was
+        // scored as a passing test.
+        //
+        // An --exec script must state its outcome with sys.exit(). If a long-lived
+        // headless process is genuinely wanted (a server, a REPL host), say so with
+        // --run-forever.
+        if (config.headless && !config.run_forever) {
+            std::cerr << "mcrogueface: --exec scripts finished without calling sys.exit().\n"
+                      << "  In headless mode the engine cannot advance time on its own: "
+                      << "mcrfpy.step() is the clock.\n"
+                      << "  End the script with sys.exit(0), or pass --run-forever to keep "
+                      << "the process alive.\n";
+            McRFPy_API::api_shutdown();
+            delete engine;
+            return 1;
+        }
+
         engine->run();
         McRFPy_API::api_shutdown();
         delete engine;

tests/regression/issue_350_step_frame_parity_test.py

@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+"""
+Regression test for issue #350.
+
+Headless mcrfpy.step() advanced animations and timers only. It never called
+McRFPy_API::updatePythonScenes(), which lives solely in doFrame() -- so under step():
+
+  * Scene.update(dt) overrides NEVER fired (the filed bug)
+  * the C++ scene update never ran
+  * scene transitions never progressed or completed
+  * current_frame never advanced
+
+Any game with per-frame logic in update() was untestable headless.
+
+step() is now a full SIMULATION frame: everything doFrame() does except render and
+input. Rendering stays deliberately off the clock -- it costs zero simulation time
+(see issue_341 test), so step() must still render nothing.
+"""
+import mcrfpy
+import sys
+
+failures = []
+
+
+def check(label, condition, detail=""):
+    if condition:
+        print(f"  PASS: {label}")
+    else:
+        print(f"  FAIL: {label} {detail}")
+        failures.append(label)
+
+
+# ------------------------------------------------------- Scene.update under step()
+print("1. Scene.update(dt) fires under step() (the filed bug)")
+
+
+class CountingScene(mcrfpy.Scene):
+    def __init__(self, name):
+        super().__init__(name)
+        self.update_count = 0
+        self.dt_total = 0.0
+
+    def update(self, dt):
+        self.update_count += 1
+        self.dt_total += dt
+
+
+scene = CountingScene("issue350")
+mcrfpy.current_scene = scene
+
+for _ in range(5):
+    mcrfpy.step(0.016)
+
+check("update() fired once per step()", scene.update_count == 5,
+      f"got {scene.update_count}")
+check("update() received the dt", abs(scene.dt_total - 5 * 0.016) < 1e-4,
+      f"got {scene.dt_total}")
+
+# ------------------------------------------------------------ current_frame advances
+print("2. current_frame advances under step()")
+before = mcrfpy.get_metrics()["current_frame"]
+for _ in range(3):
+    mcrfpy.step(0.016)
+after = mcrfpy.get_metrics()["current_frame"]
+check("current_frame advanced by 3", after - before == 3, f"{before} -> {after}")
+
+# ------------------------------------------------------------------- timers still fire
+print("3. Timers still fire under step() (unchanged behavior)")
+fired = []
+mcrfpy.Timer("t350", lambda timer, rt: fired.append(rt), 50)
+for _ in range(4):
+    mcrfpy.step(0.02)
+check("timer fired", len(fired) > 0, f"got {len(fired)} fires")
+
+# ----------------------------------------------------------- step() must not render
+print("4. step() still renders nothing (render is off the clock)")
+m = mcrfpy.get_metrics()
+check("draw_calls == 0 after step()-only", m["draw_calls"] == 0,
+      f"got {m['draw_calls']}")
+
+print()
+if failures:
+    print(f"FAIL - {len(failures)} check(s) failed:")
+    for f in failures:
+        print(f"  - {f}")
+    sys.exit(1)
+
+print("PASS")
+sys.exit(0)

tests/run_tests.py

@@ -113,6 +113,13 @@ def run_test(test_path, verbose=False, timeout=DEFAULT_TIMEOUT,
         passed = result.returncode == 0
         output = result.stdout + result.stderr
 
+        # An uncaught exception is never a pass. Exit code alone was not enough:
+        # a script that raised during setup registered no timers, was auto-exited 0
+        # by the engine, and was scored PASS -- 59 tests sat rotted this way, their
+        # assertions never once executing. (#341/#350/#372)
+        if 'Traceback (most recent call last)' in output:
+            passed = False
+
         # Check for PASS/FAIL in output
         if 'FAIL' in output and 'PASS' not in output.split('FAIL')[-1]:
             passed = False

tools/generate_dynamic_docs.py

@@ -678,4 +678,5 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
     print("Generating dynamic documentation from mcrfpy module...")
     generate_html_docs()
     generate_markdown_docs()
-    print("Documentation generation complete!")
+    print("Documentation generation complete!")
+    sys.exit(0)  # #350: headless --exec must declare its outcome

tools/generate_stubs_v2.py

@@ -537,3 +537,4 @@ def main():
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     main()
+    sys.exit(0)  # #350: headless --exec must declare its outcome