docs(tui): advise on memory usage for finite-duration runs

crates/irtt-app/src/cmd/server/args.rs

@@ -106,10 +106,22 @@ pub struct ServerArgs {
     pub timestamp_allowance: Option<TimestampAllowanceArg>,
 
     /// Refuse to provide requested DSCP marking.
+    //
+    // `FalseyValueParser` rather than clap's default `bool` parser for a flag,
+    // which is what makes IRTT_SERVER_NO_DSCP usable from the environment at
+    // all. A flag's default parser accepts only the literals `true` and
+    // `false`, so the ordinary container/orchestrator spelling
+    // `IRTT_SERVER_NO_DSCP=1` did not enable the flag — it failed argument
+    // parsing and the server refused to start. Falsey semantics are clap's own
+    // documented recipe for a boolean environment flag: `0`, `false`, `no`,
+    // `n`, `off` and empty are off, anything else is on, and an absent
+    // variable is off as before. The command-line flag is unaffected: it still
+    // takes no value and still means "on".
     #[arg(
         long,
         env = "IRTT_SERVER_NO_DSCP",
-        long_help = "Refuse to provide requested traffic-class marking. Any requested DSCP is negotiated to zero, so the client is told its echo replies will be unmarked, and they are sent unmarked. The session is not refused."
+        value_parser = clap::builder::FalseyValueParser::new(),
+        long_help = "Refuse to provide requested traffic-class marking. Any requested DSCP is negotiated to zero, so the client is told its echo replies will be unmarked, and they are sent unmarked. The session is not refused.\n\nIRTT_SERVER_NO_DSCP sets the same thing from the environment: 0, false, no, n, off and an empty value leave marking enabled, and any other value disables it."
     )]
     pub no_dscp: bool,
 }
@@ -548,6 +560,43 @@ mod tests {
         );
     }
 
+    /// `IRTT_SERVER_NO_DSCP` is the one policy variable whose value is a
+    /// boolean rather than a number, a duration or a string, and the
+    /// container/orchestrator deployments this whole environment surface
+    /// exists for spell booleans `1`/`0`. clap's default parser for a flag
+    /// accepts only the literals `true`/`false` and turns everything else
+    /// into a *parse failure*, so `IRTT_SERVER_NO_DSCP=1` used to stop the
+    /// server from starting at all rather than enabling the flag. Falsey
+    /// semantics are what keeps that from being a startup failure.
+    #[test]
+    fn the_no_dscp_environment_variable_accepts_ordinary_boolean_spellings() {
+        for value in ["1", "true", "TRUE", "yes", "on", "enabled"] {
+            with_env(&[("IRTT_SERVER_NO_DSCP", value)], || {
+                let config = parse(&["--bind", "127.0.0.1:2112"])
+                    .expect("a truthy value must not fail argument parsing")
+                    .server_config();
+                assert!(!config.dscp_allowed(), "IRTT_SERVER_NO_DSCP={value}");
+            });
+        }
+
+        for value in ["0", "false", "no", "off", ""] {
+            with_env(&[("IRTT_SERVER_NO_DSCP", value)], || {
+                let config = parse(&["--bind", "127.0.0.1:2112"])
+                    .expect("a falsey value must not fail argument parsing")
+                    .server_config();
+                assert!(config.dscp_allowed(), "IRTT_SERVER_NO_DSCP={value}");
+            });
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// The command-line flag stays a flag: it takes no value, whatever the
+    /// environment parser accepts.
+    #[test]
+    fn the_no_dscp_flag_still_takes_no_command_line_value() {
+        assert!(parse(&["--bind", "127.0.0.1:2112", "--no-dscp=false"]).is_err());
+        assert!(!bound(&["--no-dscp"]).server_config().dscp_allowed());
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn an_explicit_flag_overrides_the_environment() {
         with_env(&[("IRTT_SERVER_MAX_SESSIONS", "512")], || {

crates/irtt-client/src/managed/task.rs

@@ -1613,6 +1613,30 @@ impl ManagedClientTask {
         self.send_gate = self.send_gate.filter(|gate| *gate > now);
     }
 
+    /// The next stagger gate after a send was accepted at `accepted_at`.
+    ///
+    /// The gate advances on its **own** cadence rather than being re-anchored
+    /// on every observed accept time. Anchoring on `accepted_at` folds each
+    /// send's wakeup latency into the next slot and then into every slot after
+    /// it, so the gate — and with it the whole group's send cadence — drifts
+    /// later without bound while the per-target schedules stay on their
+    /// absolute grid. The drift is not hypothetical: it shows up as a
+    /// monotonically growing `EchoSent::timer_error` and, once it exceeds one
+    /// interval, as probe slots the schedule then skips.
+    ///
+    /// `accepted_at` is still the anchor in the two cases where continuing the
+    /// old cadence would be wrong: there is no previous gate, or the pacer has
+    /// fallen a full slot behind it. Re-anchoring there is what keeps a gate
+    /// stranded in the past from releasing a burst of catch-up sends once the
+    /// group starts moving again.
+    fn next_stagger_gate(&self, spacing: Duration, accepted_at: Instant) -> Option<Instant> {
+        let base = match self.send_gate {
+            Some(gate) if gate <= accepted_at && accepted_at.duration_since(gate) < spacing => gate,
+            _ => accepted_at,
+        };
+        base.checked_add(spacing)
+    }
+
     fn record_stagger_acceptance(
         &mut self,
         result: SendResult,
@@ -1626,7 +1650,7 @@ impl ManagedClientTask {
             return;
         };
         self.last_stagger_send = Some(accepted_at);
-        self.send_gate = accepted_at.checked_add(spacing);
+        self.send_gate = self.next_stagger_gate(spacing, accepted_at);
         #[cfg(test)]
         if let Some(observations) = &self.stagger_observations {
             observations.lock().unwrap().push((_active, spacing));

crates/irtt-client/src/managed/tests.rs

@@ -1895,6 +1895,78 @@ fn stagger_gate_tracks_active_membership() {
     second.finish();
 }
 
+/// The stagger gate must not fold each send's observed wakeup latency into
+/// every later slot.
+///
+/// The gate is the binding constraint on when the *group* may send next (see
+/// `next_deadline`), while each target's own schedule stays on an absolute
+/// grid anchored at its open. Re-anchoring the gate on every observed accept
+/// time therefore made the whole group's cadence drift later without bound:
+/// `EchoSent::timer_error` grew monotonically, and once the drift exceeded one
+/// interval `skip_missed_probe_slots_at` started dropping probe slots
+/// outright. Measured before this was fixed, a single-target 20 s run at a
+/// 50 ms interval sent 381 probes instead of 400.
+///
+/// This asserts the invariant directly rather than through a real-time run,
+/// because reproducing accumulation behaviorally needs seconds of wall clock
+/// and a jitter assumption. Two properties, both durable:
+///
+/// - while the pacer keeps up, N accepted sends advance the gate by exactly
+///   N spacings from the first anchor, whatever lateness each send is
+///   observed with;
+/// - a gate the pacer has fallen a full spacing behind re-anchors on the
+///   accept time instead, so a stranded gate cannot release a burst of
+///   catch-up sends.
+#[test]
+fn the_stagger_gate_advances_by_one_spacing_per_send_without_accumulating_lateness() {
+    // No socket is involved: the gate is driven directly and the task is never
+    // polled, so an unreachable address is all a valid target set needs here.
+    let (mut task, _) = ManagedClient::task(
+        config(ManagedPacing::Staggered),
+        vec![target("only", "127.0.0.1:9".parse().unwrap())],
+    )
+    .unwrap();
+
+    let spacing = Duration::from_millis(50);
+    let start = Instant::now();
+    let lateness = Duration::from_millis(3);
+
+    task.record_stagger_acceptance(
+        SendResult::Ready { accepted: true },
+        Some((1, spacing)),
+        start,
+    );
+    assert_eq!(task.send_gate, Some(start + spacing), "first send anchors");
+
+    // Every later send is observed `lateness` after the gate that released it.
+    // The gate must still advance one spacing per send from `start`, not
+    // `spacing + lateness`.
+    for slot in 1..=8_u32 {
+        let released_at = start + spacing * slot;
+        task.record_stagger_acceptance(
+            SendResult::Ready { accepted: true },
+            Some((1, spacing)),
+            released_at + lateness,
+        );
+        assert_eq!(
+            task.send_gate,
+            Some(start + spacing * (slot + 1)),
+            "slot {slot} accumulated observed lateness into the gate"
+        );
+    }
+
+    // A full spacing behind is no longer the same cadence, so the gate
+    // re-anchors rather than staying stranded in the past.
+    let stalled_gate = task.send_gate.expect("the gate is set");
+    let resumed_at = stalled_gate + spacing;
+    task.record_stagger_acceptance(
+        SendResult::Ready { accepted: true },
+        Some((1, spacing)),
+        resumed_at,
+    );
+    assert_eq!(task.send_gate, Some(resumed_at + spacing));
+}
+
 #[test]
 fn timeout_discovery_inspects_at_most_one_budget_of_targets() {
     let target_count = TIMEOUT_WORK_BUDGET + 1;

docs/irtt-server.md

@@ -60,7 +60,8 @@ served.
 A port of `0` selects an unused port per listener, so two such binds get two
 different ports.
 
-With no `--bind` at all, see [Default bind](#default-bind) above.
+With no `--bind` at all, see [Description](#description) above for the
+default wildcard pair and the address-family fallback it allows.
 
 ### `--hmac KEY`
 
@@ -136,6 +137,35 @@ and they are sent unmarked. The session is not refused.
 Durations everywhere in this command accept an integer followed by a unit:
 `ms`, `s`, or `m`.
 
+## ENVIRONMENT
+
+Every option above can also be supplied through an environment variable, for
+deployments that configure by environment rather than by command line
+(containers, orchestrators, unit files). A flag given on the command line
+overrides the corresponding variable entirely; an unset variable leaves the
+built-in default in place.
+
+| Variable | Option |
+| --- | --- |
+| `IRTT_SERVER_BIND` | `--bind`, one address only |
+| `IRTT_SERVER_HMAC` | `--hmac` |
+| `IRTT_SERVER_MAX_SESSIONS` | `--max-sessions` |
+| `IRTT_SERVER_MAX_PACKET_LENGTH` | `--max-packet-length` |
+| `IRTT_SERVER_MIN_INTERVAL` | `--min-interval` |
+| `IRTT_SERVER_BURST` | `--burst` |
+| `IRTT_SERVER_IDLE_TIMEOUT` | `--idle-timeout` |
+| `IRTT_SERVER_MAX_DURATION` | `--max-duration` |
+| `IRTT_SERVER_TIMESTAMP_ALLOWANCE` | `--timestamp-allowance` |
+| `IRTT_SERVER_NO_DSCP` | `--no-dscp` |
+
+`IRTT_SERVER_BIND` takes exactly one address, the same as a single `--bind`;
+there is no way to request several listeners from the environment. Serving
+more than one address needs repeated `--bind` options.
+
+`IRTT_SERVER_NO_DSCP` is the only boolean. `0`, `false`, `no`, `n`, `off` and
+an empty value leave traffic-class marking enabled; any other value disables
+it, and an unset variable leaves it enabled.
+
 ## OUTPUT
 
 Each bound endpoint is printed on startup, once every listener is up, which

docs/irtt-tui.md

@@ -62,6 +62,14 @@ presentation bounds on top of the client's own statistics retention (see
 total memory is dominated by whichever of the two is larger for your target
 count.
 
+A **finite** `--duration` TUI run retains exact statistics samples exactly as
+`irtt-client(1)` does in finite mode, so its retained state grows with the
+probe count rather than approaching a bound. Unlike `irtt-client`, the TUI
+prints **no** memory warning when that estimate gets large: it owns the
+alternate screen, and a stderr warning there would be invisible or would
+corrupt the display. Size a long finite TUI run from the figures in
+`irtt-client(1)` MEASUREMENTS AND MEMORY, or use the continuous default.
+
 ## EXIT BEHAVIOR
 
 Quitting with `q` or `Ctrl-C` is an interrupted, successful exit. Otherwise,