When no reader was named and readers() failed (e.g. SCARD_E_NO_ACCESS -
the user may not use pcscd), the auto-detect swallowed the error and pySim
fell back to the Serial transport, failing on /dev/ttyUSB0 while the
server still printed "listening". The startup now probes PC/SC,
classifies the failure by hresult (access/service/reader), reports the
cause with the pcscd group/polkit and pcsc_scan guidance and exits 2; the
python -m guard uses sys.exit(main()). An explicit -d/--device keeps the
serial path; a reader without a card stays a normal cardless start; a
readerless start exits with its own message.
start.sh runs the same access pre-flight before launching (readers() with
a 3x retry for socket activation; -d is detected and skips it). READMEs,
CHANGELOG (folded into the unreleased 3.38.1) and AGENTS updated.
Tests: tests/test_pcsc_startup.py (16: the error classifier, the probe,
the report guidance, the serial-arg detection and the source pins).
1083 Python + 1075 frontend.
catarrh
a269f8bd2e