From 40e0dd321eeffe9eb746f437f124a654ff02ab75 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: John Pettitt <j@p.tt>
Date: Sat, 26 Sep 2026 16:18:28 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] Stop the dispatcher when connect() fails or is cancelled

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Reviewed-by: John Pettitt @jpettitt
---
 src/meshcore/meshcore.py             | 15 ++++---
 tests/unit/test_asyncio_lifecycle.py | 64 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 74 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/src/meshcore/meshcore.py b/src/meshcore/meshcore.py
index fc9b36c..b81fe15 100644
--- a/src/meshcore/meshcore.py
+++ b/src/meshcore/meshcore.py
@@ -207,11 +207,16 @@ class MeshCore:
 
     async def connect(self):
         await self.dispatcher.start()
-        result = await self.connection_manager.connect()
-        if result is None:
-            await self.dispatcher.stop()
-            raise ConnectionError("Failed to connect to device")
-        res = await self.commands.send_appstart(timeout=2)
+        try:
+            result = await self.connection_manager.connect()
+            if result is None:
+                raise ConnectionError("Failed to connect to device")
+            res = await self.commands.send_appstart(timeout=2)
+        except BaseException:
+            # The create_* factories drop this instance when connect() raises, so
+            # nothing else can stop the dispatcher task or close an opened transport.
+            await self.disconnect()
+            raise
         if res is None or res.type == EventType.ERROR:
             return None
         return res
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_asyncio_lifecycle.py b/tests/unit/test_asyncio_lifecycle.py
index f70f2f0..7a4f9bf 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test_asyncio_lifecycle.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_asyncio_lifecycle.py
@@ -4,9 +4,11 @@ Verification tests for asyncio lifecycle fixes.
 
 import asyncio
 import gc
+import socket
 import unittest
 from unittest.mock import AsyncMock, MagicMock, patch
 
+from meshcore import MeshCore
 from meshcore.events import Event, EventDispatcher, EventType
 from meshcore.tcp_cx import TCPConnection
 from meshcore.serial_cx import SerialConnection
@@ -231,5 +233,67 @@ class TestGetRunningLoop(unittest.TestCase):
         asyncio.run(_run())
 
 
+class TestConnectFailureCleanup(unittest.TestCase):
+    """A connect() that raises or is cancelled must not leave the dispatcher running."""
+
+    def setUp(self):
+        # Without collection, a leaked task stays visible instead of being destroyed
+        gc.disable()
+        self.addCleanup(gc.enable)
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def _dispatcher_tasks():
+        return [
+            task
+            for task in asyncio.all_tasks()
+            if not task.done()
+            and task.get_coro().__qualname__ == "EventDispatcher._process_events"
+        ]
+
+    def test_refused_create_tcp_leaves_no_dispatcher_task(self):
+        """create_tcp() raising on a refused connection stops the dispatcher."""
+        async def _run():
+            with socket.socket() as sock:
+                sock.bind(("127.0.0.1", 0))
+                port = sock.getsockname()[1]
+
+            with self.assertRaises(OSError):
+                await MeshCore.create_tcp("127.0.0.1", port)
+
+            assert self._dispatcher_tasks() == []
+
+        asyncio.run(_run())
+
+    def test_cancelled_connect_closes_transport_and_dispatcher(self):
+        """Cancelling connect() while it waits for appstart releases everything."""
+        async def _run():
+            peers = []
+            accepted = asyncio.Event()
+
+            async def accept(reader, _writer):
+                peers.append(reader)
+                accepted.set()
+
+            server = await asyncio.start_server(accept, "127.0.0.1", 0)
+            port = server.sockets[0].getsockname()[1]
+            try:
+                mc = MeshCore(TCPConnection("127.0.0.1", port))
+                attempt = asyncio.create_task(mc.connect())
+                await asyncio.wait_for(accepted.wait(), 1.0)
+                attempt.cancel()
+                with self.assertRaises(asyncio.CancelledError):
+                    await attempt
+
+                assert self._dispatcher_tasks() == []
+                assert not mc.dispatcher.running
+                # EOF on the server side means the client transport was closed
+                await asyncio.wait_for(peers[0].read(), 1.0)
+            finally:
+                server.close()
+                await server.wait_closed()
+
+        asyncio.run(_run())
+
+
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     unittest.main()