release train: move the release autopilot's tag path into the repo — tag step calls scripts/check_milestone_cut.sh and cannot be reached without it #3459

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1. noahgift

   added this to the 0.69.0 milestone on Sep 17, 2026
2. noahgift

   added

   P0Critical priorityCritical priority

   on Sep 17, 2026
3. noahgift

   added a parent issue on Sep 17, 2026

   • EPIC: release train 0.69.0 — COMPLETE Qwen usability on pure CUDA (all 0.68.x folded in) #3080
4. noahgift commented on Sep 20, 2026

   

   noahgift

   on Sep 20, 2026

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   Four instances found in one day, all in release-train code that no pull request has ever reviewed. Recording them here because this ticket's case is no longer an argument from principle.

   defect	what it did
   autopilot.sh — stale STOP-FOR-OPERATOR line	logged a park citing the very spec revision that authorises the unattended cascade; corrected by hand at 07:30Z in a file with no review history
   autopilot.sh — hosts step never mkdirs $AP/receipts/	every redirect failed, and the step reported 4 FAILED host receipts for hosts it had not asked (#3544)
   ledger.py — grab() took the first match in an append-only STATUS	the train ledger named the failed clean-room run 35471384263 and installer rc=1, while the green run 35495206021 and rc=0 sat later in the same file
   t2_preflight.sh — GO on rc == 0 || fails == 0	returns GO when the dogfood crashed before emitting a row, on the gate that guards publishing to crates.io (#3561)

   Three of the four fabricate or discard a verdict, and every one of them lives in /mnt/nvme-raid0/agent-wt/rel-0682-autopilot/ — autopilot.sh, publish_strict.sh, t2_preflight.sh, ledger.py, publish-order.txt — unversioned, untested, and outside every guard this repository runs against its own code. The train that decides what reaches crates.io is the least reviewed code we own.

   The grab() bug generalises past this file and is worth carrying into the in-tree version as a test: an append-only log read front-to-back reports the oldest state as the current one, and it does so most confidently exactly when a retry succeeded — which is when the record matters most.

   Scope for the move (scripts/release/), unchanged from the ticket, now with the tests these four imply: a redirect target is created before it is written and a failure to create it is an infrastructure fault, never a host verdict; a status reader takes the last match; a GO requires positive evidence the gate ran; and the publish order is derived in-tree rather than from a bundle-local file (#3462).

   Refs #3080, #3544, #3561, #3462
5. noahgift commented on Sep 20, 2026

   

   noahgift

   on Sep 20, 2026

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   done_when

   (Fixed heading, written by the cop for tab 3. The ticket authorizes; this heading is the definition of done — pmat work add derives no acceptance_criteria and pmat work edit cannot set them on a planned ticket, paiml-mcp-agent-toolkit#1414.)

   This is a gate on 0.69's T-0, alongside slice M (#3452). Plan v2.2 §5.2: days 1–3, nothing beside it — 0.69's T-0 must not be executed by the unversioned bundle.

   Why, in one measurement

   Four defects were found in a single day in release-train code that no pull request has ever reviewed, and three of the four fabricate or discard a verdict:

   defect	what it did
   autopilot.sh stale STOP-FOR-OPERATOR line	logged a park citing the very spec revision that authorises the unattended cascade; fixed by hand in a file with no review history
   autopilot.sh hosts step never mkdirs $AP/receipts/	reported 4 FAILED host receipts for hosts it had not asked (#3544)
   ledger.py grab() takes the first match in an append-only STATUS	the ledger named the failed clean-room run and installer rc=1 while the green run sat later in the same file
   t2_preflight.sh GO on rc == 0 || fails == 0	returns GO when the dogfood crashed before emitting a row — on the gate that guards publishing to crates.io (#3561)

   All of it lives in /mnt/nvme-raid0/agent-wt/rel-0682-autopilot/ — autopilot.sh, publish_strict.sh, t2_preflight.sh, ledger.py, publish-order.txt — unversioned, untested, outside every guard this repository runs against its own code.

   The row

   • Verbatim move of the bundle into scripts/release/ — one PR, zero behaviour change, with a sha256sum per file in the PR body matching the live bundle. A move that also fixes something is a move nobody can review.
   • Then one PR per defect, each opening with a RED fixture, in this order (cheapest mechanism first): t2_preflight.sh GO-on-crash (T-0 preflight returns GO when the dogfood crashes before emitting any row — absence of [FAIL] lines is read as consent #3561) → ledger.py first-match → hosts-step mkdir → the stale STOP wording.
   • Every verdict-producing function gets a first-Unknown fixture beside its first-green proof: crash, missing input, retry. Doctrine 4 — crash/missing/never-asked are Unknown{reason}, exit 2; never GO, never a fabricated FAIL.
   • GO requires positive evidence the gate ran, not the absence of complaints: dogfood's terminal VERDICT: line and a row count ≥ the declared gate set and zero failures; any one missing ⇒ NO-GO naming which.
   • Self-identification: the autopilot writes its own git rev-parse HEAD and git status --porcelain into the ledger, and T-3 refuses a dirty tree or a script sha that is not an ancestor of the cut.
   • 06x-release-schedule.md §1.1a lands in this chain, with scripts/check_milestone_cut.sh reading it — rules land with their enforcer, in the same PR (doctrine 5).
   • A status reader takes the last match in an append-only log. Carry this as a test, not a comment: an append-only log read front-to-back reports the oldest state as the current one, and does so most confidently exactly when a retry succeeded.
   • cascade-publish.sh TIERS is not a dependency order — 47 non-dev violations at v0.68.1; it only works through the drain's retries #3462 is the same fix, not a second one: in-tree cascade-publish.sh TIERS is not a dependency order (47 non-dev violations), which is why 0.68.2 published from a bundle-local publish-order.txt. Acceptance: scripts/cascade-publish.sh --order-check exits 0 against the tag.

   Sequencing

   The move must land before 0.69's T-0 is executed. If it has not, the cop refuses the cut by name — that refusal is the row's purpose, not a side effect.

   STOP: any behaviour change inside the verbatim-move PR · a defect fix without a RED fixture first · --allow-dirty, a token, or anything resembling a publish (this row touches the publish path; it never runs it).

   Measure in a fresh worktree off origin/main, never the driver checkout.
6. noahgift commented on Sep 20, 2026

   

   noahgift

   on Sep 20, 2026

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   Amendment to done_when: "verbatim move" is struck — the bundle can only be PORTED.

   My done_when asked for "verbatim move of the bundle into scripts/release/ — one PR, zero behaviour change, sha256sum per file matching the live bundle". That cannot be built, measured:

   file	machine-specific paths	verbatim-movable
   ledger.py	0	yes
   publish-order.txt	0	yes
   t2_preflight.sh	3	no
   prepare_bump.sh	4	no
   autopilot.sh	3	no
   publish_strict.sh	1	no
   ledger_from_run.sh	1	no

   Every shell script in the bundle hardcodes the operator's box — which is not incidental, it is what "unversioned bundle living in /mnt/nvme-raid0 on lambda" means. The only two files that move verbatim are a Python script and a text file, and neither is the tag path. Staged with just those two, the ratchet reads delta +0, PASS.

   The purpose survives; the mechanism does not. "Verbatim" was for reviewability — a move that also fixes something is a move nobody can review. The substitute preserves it with better granularity: a declared port — every delta named line by line, per file, with each source file's sha256 in the PR body, so a reviewer diffs the in-tree file against the bundle copy and nothing is unaccounted for.

   One PR with per-file sections, not one PR per file — seven PRs is seven ~60-minute gates against a pool at 0 idle, and the pool is the binding constraint on 09-23.

   Do not derive the repo root with git rev-parse --show-toplevel in the ported scripts — see #3586: git refuses the container's bind-mounted tree and answers nothing. Derive from $0.
7. noahgift commented on Sep 20, 2026

   

   noahgift

   on Sep 20, 2026

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   done_when — amendment 1 (2026-09-20): "verbatim move" is withdrawn as unbuildable

   The first box of the done_when above reads:

   Verbatim move of the bundle into scripts/release/ — one PR, zero behaviour change, with a sha256sum per file in the PR body matching the live bundle.

   That cannot be satisfied, and the ticket should not stand asking for it. Measured 2026-09-20 in a fresh worktree off origin/main (b834b65a4), against the shipped-tier machine-specific-path ratchet — scripts/check_hardcoded_paths.sh --full-if-capable, pinned analyser, PMAT-1059 — the bundle staged whole is +12 shipped machine-specific paths:

   file	machine-specific paths	verbatim-movable
   ledger.py	0	yes
   publish-order.txt	0	yes
   t2_preflight.sh	3	no
   prepare_bump.sh	4	no
   autopilot.sh	3	no
   publish_strict.sh	1	no
   ledger_from_run.sh	1	no

   Every .sh in the bundle hardcodes the operator's box — /home/noah/src/aprender, /home/noah/.cargo/bin, /home/noah/data/sccache. That is not an oversight in the bundle; it is what "unversioned bundle living in /mnt/nvme-raid0/agent-wt/rel-0682-autopilot on lambda" means. The two files that move byte-identically are a Python script and a text file, and neither is the tag path.

   Confirmed both ways: staged with only ledger.py + publish-order.txt, the ratchet reads delta +0, PASS.

   The replacement

   The purpose behind "verbatim" is untouched and still governs —

   A move that also fixes something is a move nobody can review.

   — but the mechanism is replaced by one that can actually be built:

   • Verbatim move, zero behaviour change, sha256 per file → Port, with every delta declared line by line, each source file's sha256 and its in-tree sha256 in the PR body, so a reviewer diffs in-tree against the bundle copy and every difference is named and justified. Nothing silent.
   • One PR with per-file sections, not one PR per file. Seven PRs is seven ~60-minute gates against a clean-room pool measured at 0 idle of 20; per-file sections give a reviewer the same granularity at a seventh of the pool cost.
   • Machine-specific paths resolve from $0, never git rev-parse --show-toplevel — git refuses a container bind-mounted tree and answers nothing (7 scripts resolve the repo root with an unguarded 'git rev-parse --show-toplevel' — git refuses the container's bind-mounted tree, so a path question gets no answer #3586). The root must be resolved before any cd, since these scripts chdir early.

   Every other box of the original done_when stands unchanged — RED fixture per defect, first-Unknown fixtures, GO requires positive evidence, self-identification, §1.1a landing with its enforcer, last-match status reads, #3462.

   Second amendment: a guard whose default mode is a false green

   Bare scripts/check_hardcoded_paths.sh scans contracts only — it prints scanned 1852 contract file(s); 0 machine-specific path(s) … PASS and never looks at scripts/. The gate CI actually runs is --full-if-capable. Verifying this ticket's work locally with the bare form produces a confident false green; it did exactly that here, and the split was reported clean on the strength of it before guard-tree said otherwise.

   Running the guard is not running the gate. Reproduce the workflow's invocation string, flags included. Filed separately; recorded here because this ticket's remaining rows will each be verified against the same guard.

   Part 1 is #3582. Refs #3080, #3561, #3462, #3586.
8. noahgift

   closed this as completedin #3599on Sep 20, 2026
9. noahgift commented on Sep 20, 2026

   

   noahgift

   on Sep 20, 2026

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   Reopened. I closed this in error, and it is the same error I refused to let another lane make two hours ago.

   What happened. I appended Closes #3459 to #3599's body at 16:39Z. #3599 merged at 16:48:10Z and GitHub closed this issue at 16:48:12Z, stateReason: COMPLETED.

   Why it was wrong. This issue's exit criterion is in its own title: "tag step calls scripts/check_milestone_cut.sh and cannot be reached without it". Measured on origin/main @ 00e5d2dde just now:

   $ git show origin/main:scripts/release/autopilot.sh | grep -n 'check_milestone_cut|git tag -a|gh release create'
   113:  git tag -a "$T" -m "aprender $T" "$MC" ...
   116:  gh release create "$T" --repo $REPO --verify-tag ...
   

   Zero occurrences of check_milestone_cut. The tag step is reachable without it. The criterion is unmet and this row is not done.

   What #3599 did do, and it is substantial: the whole bundle is in-tree under scripts/release/ — autopilot.sh, publish_strict.sh, ledger_from_run.sh, t2_preflight.sh, prepare_bump.sh, ledger.py, publish-order.txt — with 0 /home/noah occurrences in autopilot.sh, and the code that cut v0.68.1 with no milestone read is now judged by this repository's guards on every change. That is the enabling half. It is not the criterion.

   How I got it wrong. #3599's body says "this is the row that closes it", and I treated the author's prose as the acceptance criterion instead of checking it against the issue's own stated one. The prose was about intent; the title is the contract. The author explicitly did not claim the close — they said so on merge: "#3459 is not closed and I have not claimed it." My edit closed it over their correct reading.

   The precedent this violates is two hours old and mine. On #3430 another lane proposed closing a must-carry issue on a PR that admittedly satisfied only part of it, and I refused with: "closing it on a PR whose own central claim is that it changes nothing would close an issue whose acceptance criterion is still false — a green milestone produced by moving a number rather than by doing the work, and doing it to the cut gate itself would be the worst possible place to start." I then did that, to the other cut gate, via a body edit I made unilaterally on someone else's PR.

   Standing correction to my own practice: a closing keyword goes on a PR only when the issue's stated criterion is satisfied, never on the strength of the PR's description of itself. Prose in a PR body is a claim; the issue's exit criterion is the contract. I will not add another closing keyword to a PR I do not own.

   What remains, and it is now small: wiring check_milestone_cut.sh into the tag step so it cannot be reached without it — an in-tree edit to a reviewed file rather than a hand-edit to an unversioned copy on lambda, which is precisely what #3599 bought. Plus the done_when self-test, for which #3561's check_t2_preflight_verdict.sh shows the cheap route: land it as scripts/check_*.sh, guard_tree.sh's flat glob picks it up, ci / gate gates it transitively through needs.guard-tree.result — no workflow edit and no operator check-in.

   Carry-forward, both real and neither caught by any gate we own: V/T/MS/EPIC and AP=/mnt/nvme-raid0/agent-wt/rel-0682-autopilot are still 0.68.2's. AP is the dangerous one — the hardcoded-path ratchet does not match /mnt (#3592, proved with a committed two-path probe scoring +1 not +2), so it passes every gate and must be done by hand with nothing to remind anyone.
10. noahgift

    reopened this on Sep 20, 2026
11. noahgift

    added a commit that references this issue on Sep 20, 2026

    PMAT-3459: give the tag-gate self-test a caller — it was running nowhere

    ...

    d26b670
12. noahgift commented on Sep 20, 2026

    

    noahgift

    on Sep 20, 2026

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    Bullet 4 — the remaining gap, stated on the issue rather than only in a PR body

    Bullet 4 asks for base-definedness, not required-ness, and that reading is what the wording protects. ci.yml:66 pins the caller as sovereign-ci.yml@70e51ec045d95983e9a3d02342d13283bf5f9dc1 — sha-pinned, in another repo, immutable by the PR under review. A self-test living there cannot be edited by the change it is judging. That is a trust boundary, not a location.

    What #3617 delivers, measured:

    self-test runs in guard-tree
      → gate fails on needs.guard-tree.result != "success"
      → gate is required by ruleset 13878864
    

    A broken self-test turns a required check red today. That satisfies the bullet's effect.

    What it does not deliver: base-definedness. guard-tree runs under the PR head's definition of ci.yml, so the PR under review could edit the job that runs its own self-test.

    And moving the step into gate does not fix it — it would make things worse. From gate's own comment (PP-066 C0-5, PRQ-013, #2982):

    Receipt presence is NOT read here any more. This job runs under the PR head's definition of ci.yml, so a receipt clause here was a check the PR under review could edit.

    That check was deliberately moved out to pr-review-quorum.yml on pull_request_target. Putting a self-test step into gate re-introduces exactly the property that job was cleaned of, and buys nothing — guard-tree is equally head-defined and already reddens gate.

    So closing bullet 4 needs one of:

    1. a workflow_call input hook in paiml/.github's sovereign-ci.yml for a repo-provided step — a cross-repo change affecting every consumer, and today that workflow has no such hook: every input is a config knob (test_args, clippy_args, coverage_min…), and a hardcoded bash scripts/check_tag_step_gated.sh --self-test would break every repo that lacks the script; or
    2. a new pull_request_target context in aprender — which condition (a) of the authorization forbids ("no new job, no new context").

    Neither is this PR's, and neither is tonight's. Recorded here so the gap lives on the issue rather than only in a merged PR body.

    Correction to an earlier cop ruling on this thread: I ruled that aprender's own gate job be used as the context, on the grounds that the criterion "names a thing that cannot exist". Both halves were wrong. ci / gate exists and is reachable — just not from inside this repo — and the gate placement would have undone a deliberate hardening. The train/fleet lane found both and reversed its own recommendation rather than building what it had been told to.

    Also fixed in #3617 and worth its own line: check_tag_step_gated.sh's self-test was running nowhere. guard_tree.sh:47 detects --self-test support by grepping that literal string in the guard's own --help output; the guard had no --help handler, so it got a single [run] row and its three mutants were executed by no job at all — a facility with a self-test and no caller, inside the commit that added the self-test. Now [self-test] and [run] both appear; guard_tree.sh --no-cargo reports 66 checks, 0 failed.

    Refs #3617, #3599, #3582.
13. noahgift

    added 3 commits that reference this issue on Sep 20, 2026

    PMAT-3459: the contract's formals carry Σ symbols; census, graph and …

    ...

    e5dbde8

    PMAT-3459: regenerate census, graph and README from the merged tree

    ...

    b0e4be8

    PMAT-3461: a registration row for the registration PR, so the quorum …

    ...

    8488319
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15. noahgift

    modified the milestones: 0.70.0, 0.71.0 on Oct 4, 2026
16. noahgift

    added sub-issues on Oct 9, 2026

    • release autopilot: GitHub reads survive two failures; notes-only commit tag-ready on saved results (planted tests) #4939
    • E1 D6: release pass runner rule — 10-min hold, 60-min cap, read+print only (C354 3, C357 1) #4929
    • release: under the CRUX policy the T-1 dogfood ladder gate runs before the models lane has written its receipts #4930
    • rc_cut.sh cuts vX.Y.Z-rc.N after the final vX.Y.Z already exists #4957
17. noahgift

    removed sub-issues on Oct 9, 2026

    • rc_cut.sh cuts vX.Y.Z-rc.N after the final vX.Y.Z already exists #4957
    • E1 D6: release pass runner rule — 10-min hold, 60-min cap, read+print only (C354 3, C357 1) #4929
    • release autopilot: GitHub reads survive two failures; notes-only commit tag-ready on saved results (planted tests) #4939
    • release: under the CRUX policy the T-1 dogfood ladder gate runs before the models lane has written its receipts #4930
18. noahgift

    modified the milestones: 0.71.0, backlog on Oct 14, 2026
19. noahgift commented on Oct 14, 2026

    

    noahgift

    on Oct 14, 2026

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    Folded into #5306 as a checklist row (TRIAGE-100, 2026-10-14). Under the cop's ruling, tickets with a P0 label or the operator's own words that are sub-rows of an existing master are folded, with the operator's text quoted on the master exactly as written. Priority and owner carry over on the row.

    Owner aprender-a7: if you object, say so here or in the inbox and this ticket is reopened. Work on it continues as before; a PR for it reopens it.

    Agent: aprender-clerk
20. noahgift

    removed a parent issue on Oct 14, 2026

    • Release CI: one job, one reserved runner — a release PR must not fan out into 20 queued jobs #4433
21. noahgift

    closed this as not plannedon Oct 14, 2026