Stop a missing SSH key making every Tailscale peer look like the Gitea host, and say so when the scripts are absent

Plugin/varaverk.plg

@@ -56,7 +56,17 @@ SRC="/boot/config/plugins/varaverk/Plugin/unraid"
 [[ -L "$WEB_DIR" ]] && rm -f "$WEB_DIR"
 [[ -d "$WEB_DIR" ]] && rm -rf "$WEB_DIR"
 ln -sf "$SRC" "$WEB_DIR"
-echo "[Varaverk] web dir symlinked → $SRC"
+# The link is made either way — it costs nothing and becomes valid the moment the scripts land,
+# which matters because this block runs on every boot while the clone runs once. What is not
+# acceptable is reporting success when the target is not there: the symlink dangles, the Varaverk
+# tab never appears, and "web dir symlinked" is the only thing anyone sees.
+if [[ -d "$SRC" ]]; then
+    echo "[Varaverk] web dir symlinked → $SRC"
+else
+    echo "[Varaverk] WARNING: $SRC does not exist — the scripts are not installed."
+    echo "[Varaverk] The Varaverk tab will not appear until the repo is cloned."
+    echo "[Varaverk] See /boot/config/plugins/varaverk/install.log for why the clone failed."
+fi
 ]]>
 </INLINE>
 </FILE>
@@ -143,9 +153,18 @@ if [[ ! -d "$SCRIPTS_DIR/.git" ]]; then
     elif command -v tailscale >/dev/null 2>&1; then
         # Try each known peer until we find one hosting Gitea
         while IFS= read -r peer_ip; do
+            # Match Gitea's actual banner, not the word "gitea" anywhere in the output. The
+            # identity path is /root/.ssh/unraid_gitea, so a plain "gitea" match hits ssh's own
+            # "Warning: Identity file /root/.ssh/unraid_gitea not accessible" — which means a
+            # missing key made EVERY peer look like a Gitea host. The loop takes the first match
+            # and breaks, so that picked an arbitrary peer, failed the fetch against it, and fell
+            # through to the GitHub fallback with an error naming the wrong machine.
+            #
+            # These phrases are sentences Gitea emits; none of them can occur in a file path.
             if ssh -i "$GITEA_SSH_KEY" -p "$SSH_PORT" \
                    -o ConnectTimeout=3 -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no \
-                   -o BatchMode=yes "git@${peer_ip}" 2>&1 | grep -q "varaverk\|Gitea\|gitea"; then
+                   -o BatchMode=yes "git@${peer_ip}" 2>&1 \
+                 | grep -qiE "does not provide shell access|successfully authenticated|welcome to gitea"; then
                 GITEA_IP="$peer_ip"
                 log "Gitea found on Tailscale peer $GITEA_IP"
                 break