VM setup: apt-get only, fix root-owned ~/.gnupg, quieter installs, Remote Control confirmation

[modem7]

Summary

Fixes from the first live run of claude-code-vm-setup.sh on a fresh VM, where every check passed except Remote Control.

Remote Control service never started

The journal showed the cause: claude remote-control asks a one-time Enable Remote Control? (y/n) before it will serve. Under systemd, stdin is empty, which counts as "no", so it exited 0 and systemd restarted it every minute forever. The docs confirm the answer is stored once given, but there's no documented way to pre-set it.

• New confirm_remote_control step at the end of phase 1 (right after Claude sign-in): runs claude remote-control once in the foreground so the user sees Claude's own explanation and answers y, then presses Ctrl+C once the session URL shows (2-minute safety timeout). A no-op INT handler keeps Ctrl+C from aborting the script; timeout --foreground keeps claude able to read the terminal.
• Skipped when the service is already active, i.e. the confirmation was given on an earlier run. When not signed in, or with no TTY, it prints the one-line manual fix instead.
• Workspace trust moved into a shared trust_project_dir helper, applied before this step as well as when writing the service.
• The health check spots the prompt in the service journal and names the exact fix, instead of the generic "not staying up".

Real bugs

• Root-owned ~/.gnupg. NodeSource's setup script was run with sudo -E, which keeps HOME, so root's gpg wrote into /home/<user>/.gnupg (gpg: WARNING: unsafe ownership on homedir). That breaks the user's own gpg later. NodeSource's repo is now added directly: the armored key goes to /etc/apt/keyrings/nodesource.asc (no gpg involved), plus a nodesource.list entry and an apt pin preferring it over Ubuntu's older nodejs. The old script's nodesource.sources is replaced, so apt doesn't see two entries with different Signed-By. Preflight repairs a root-owned ~/.gnupg left by earlier runs.
• DEBIAN_FRONTEND never reached apt. sudo resets the environment, so the script's export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive did nothing, and a package with a debconf question could have stalled the run. All apt calls now go through apt_get(), which sets DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive NEEDRESTART_SUSPEND=1 on the sudo line itself (also passed to get.docker.com's installer).
• WARNING: apt does not have a stable CLI interface. This came from NodeSource's script calling apt. It's gone with the script; everything uses apt-get.

Noise

• needrestart's "Scanning processes / candidates / linux images" after every install: suppressed via NEEDRESTART_SUSPEND.
• Chatty installers (rustup's cargo:rerun-if-env-changed… block, get.docker.com's + sh -c trace, npm install -g, pip/Playwright downloads) now run through quiet(), which captures output and shows the last 30 lines only if the command fails.

Sign-in polish

• gh auth login --web: skips the "How would you like to authenticate?" question.
• BROWSER=true exported once in preflight when there's no display, so gh and Claude just print their URL / device code instead of "Failed opening a web browser" (and a console browser can't take over the terminal). Replaces the Claude-only version from VM setup: catch missing AVX2 up front and stop the sign-in step hanging #29.

Test plan

• shellcheck clean; no sudo apt-get / apt install left outside comments
• Fresh ubuntu:24.04 container with needrestart installed, NodeSource's old setup_22.x already run, and a root-owned ~/.gnupg: zero occurrences of the apt CLI warning, "Scanning processes", "unsafe ownership", cargo:rerun, + sh -c and npm "added N packages"; nodesource.sources replaced by nodesource.list; nodejs 24.21.0-1nodesource1 from NodeSource; ~/.gnupg returned to the user (700); Playwright import OK
• Remote Control confirmation step under a real PTY (Python pty driver, stub claude with the same y/n prompt): the answer reaches claude through the terminal; Ctrl+C stops only claude and the script continues (exit 0); the timeout path also continues; project dir trusted in ~/.claude.json
• Real claude remote-control confirmation needs a signed-in VM; next live run