fix(frontend): normalize versions to stop update banner false-positive

[visawestern]

Fixes false-positive "Update Available" banner shown even on the latest version.

Root cause (frontend/src/hooks/useBanner.tsx, duplicated in frontend/src/components/home/widgets/WhatsNewWidget.tsx):

• startsWith("v") gate — a version without the v prefix always yields upToDate=false → banner always on.
• latestVersion (from getalby.com, format with/without v not guaranteed) never normalized — whitespace/junk makes compare() throw (stale state in the effect, render crash in the widget).
• No try/catch around compare().

Fix (both places, frontend-only, +25/−8): trim + strip leading v on BOTH sides, compare(current, latest, ">="), try/catch → upToDate=true (fail-closed: an unparseable version must not nag). Empty info.version (source builds without tag) keeps legacy upToDate=false — out of scope of #1870.

Test matrix (real compare-versions@6.1.1 from frontend node_modules; old → new):

• v1.18.2 / 1.18.2: true → true
• v1.18.2 / v1.18.2: true → true
• 1.18.2 / 1.18.2 (no v): false (BUG) → true (FIX)
• v1.18.2␣ / ␣1.18.2 (whitespace): THROWS → true
• v1.18.0 / 1.18.2 (really outdated): false → false (banner correctly kept)
• empty / 1.18.2 (source build): false → false (legacy preserved)
• dev / 1.18.2: false (nag) → true (no crash/nag)
• v1.18.2 / empty: THROWS → false (conservative, documented)
• yarn tsc:compile (tsc --noEmit after yarn prepare:http): exit 0, 0 errors
• npx eslint on both touched files --max-warnings 0: exit 0
• git apply --check on fresh shallow clone of HEAD 7b3fcaa: PASS

Closes #1870

Summary by CodeRabbit

• Bug Fixes
  • Version comparisons now ignore surrounding whitespace and an optional leading “v,” avoiding incorrect update prompts for differently formatted versions.
  • Unparseable or missing versions no longer trigger an update prompt.

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Review configuration:

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: defaults

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Advanced

Run ID: d5da869b-0a48-483c-b897-96248846c20d

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between b65155c and 117ab74.

📒 Files selected for processing (2)

• frontend/src/components/home/widgets/WhatsNewWidget.tsx
• frontend/src/hooks/useBanner.tsx

📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

The WhatsNewWidget and useBanner now normalize both version strings before comparison. Both require nonempty normalized values and treat comparison errors as up to date.

Changes

Update version checks

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Normalize and compare versions frontend/src/components/home/widgets/WhatsNewWidget.tsx, frontend/src/hooks/useBanner.tsx	Both checks trim whitespace, remove an optional leading v case-insensitively, and compare only nonempty normalized values. If comparison throws, each check treats the versions as up to date.

Priority: ⬇️ Low

Estimated code review effort: 2 (Simple) | ~10 minutes

Change: Bug fix · Severity of issue fixed: Low

Merge Risk: 🔵 Low · up to b6515

If the latest version is unavailable, users may be prompted to update without a known newer release. The impact is limited, but the empty-value handling should be corrected.

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 4 | ❌ 1

❌ Failed checks (1 warning)

Check name	Status	Explanation	Resolution
Docstring Coverage	⚠️ Warning	Docstring coverage is 0.00% which is insufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%. Docstring coverage is scoped to functions touched by this diff. Analyzed 2 functions across 2 files.	Write docstrings for the functions missing them to satisfy the coverage threshold.

✅ Passed checks (4 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Description Check	✅ Passed	Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly and concisely describes the primary frontend fix: normalizing versions to prevent false-positive update banners.
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	Issue [#1870] requires preventing an update banner when the Hub already uses the latest version. useBanner.tsx now trims both versions, removes a leading v, compares with >=, and suppresses the …
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	The diff changes only useBanner.tsx and WhatsNewWidget.tsx. The normalization and error handling support issue [#1870] in both the banner and its update control. No unrelated behavior or files are…

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Actionable comments posted: 1

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• 🪄 Fix CodeRabbit comments on this PR

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Inline comments:
In @frontend/src/hooks/useBanner.tsx:
- Around line 35-36: Update the upToDate calculation in useBanner so an empty
latest version is treated as up to date, while an empty current version remains
not up to date; compare versions only when both are nonempty.

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ℹ️ Review info

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: defaults

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Advanced

Run ID: 39d9da16-cf37-4eab-b5d9-613f8b388c78

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 7b3fcaa and b65155c.

📒 Files selected for processing (2)

• frontend/src/components/home/widgets/WhatsNewWidget.tsx
• frontend/src/hooks/useBanner.tsx

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