fix(#60): checks that lied, and claims the machine stopped honouring #61

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dank merged 13 commits from fix/60-review-findings into main 2026-10-21 01:44:07 -07:00
3 changed files with 76 additions and 11 deletions
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+18 -1
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@@ -79,7 +79,24 @@ while IFS= read -r -d '' f; do
# gate refused the redaction of the password it exists to catch.
added=$(printf '%s\n' "$diff" | grep -E '^\+' | grep -vE '^\+\+\+' | sed 's/^+//' || true)
[ -z "$added" ] && continue
hits=$(printf '%s\n' "$added" | grep -Ei "$shapes" || true)
# Shape hits are judged on the MATCHED TOKEN, not on the whole line. Documentation about
# credentials quotes vendor placeholders — AWS publishes an all-zeros access-key id that ends
# in EXAMPLE for exactly this purpose — and
# a gate that blocks prose over an inert example gets worked around until it means nothing:
# the live-sync heartbeat failed three ticks on 2026-10-21 because a managed skill page quotes
# exactly that id. A line is exempted only when EVERY shape on it is inert, so one live token
# sharing the file with a documented fake still blocks.
hits=$(printf '%s\n' "$added" | while IFS= read -r line; do
live=0
while IFS= read -r m; do
# The shape regexes carry fixed quantifiers, so the match they return is TRUNCATED:
# `AKIA` + exactly 16 characters stops inside the word EXAMPLE and the placeholder
# disappears from what is judged. Judge the match plus what follows it instead.
ctx=$(printf '%s' "$line" | awk -v m="$m" '{ i = index($0, m); print (i > 0 ? substr($0, i, length(m) + 8) : m) }')
printf '%s' "$ctx" | grep -Eiq 'EXAMPLE|X{4,}|Y{4,}|Z{4,}|_{4,}|REDACTED|CHANGEME|PLACEHOLDER' || live=1
done < <(printf '%s\n' "$line" | grep -Eio "$shapes" || true)
[ "$live" = 1 ] && printf '%s\n' "$line"
done)
if [ "${f##*.}" != "md" ]; then
# The placeholder filter reads the VALUE, never the whole line. A trailing comment that
# says `# example` says nothing about the token the same line assigns; scoping the filter
+45 -10
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@@ -20,28 +20,63 @@ This page is the bundle's **only** work log: one file, at the root. Never start
second one in a subdirectory or under another name — `scripts/kb-lint.sh` reports any
`log.md` that is not this one.
## 2026-10-21 — reviewing a day of work, and finding checks that lie
Two-axis review (Standards / Spec) of everything landed 2026-10-20 → 2026-10-21: 51 commits,
30 findings, worked on `fix/60-review-findings` (issue #60). Three findings were the same shape —
a check that reports confidence it did not earn:
- **A guard that cannot see must refuse.** `pcie-probe.sh` dropped the `/dev/kfd` half of its
busy check when `fuser` was absent, and `gpu_busy_percent` reads `0` for a resident-but-idle
service: the tool measured beside a live endpoint while its own LAW said not to. Missing
visibility is now a refusal (exit `3`), not a narrower check.
- **A swallowed status is a false report.** `deploy.sh` printed `ENABLE` for units systemd
refuses to enable (`live-sync.service` has no `[Install]` section; its timer arms it), and the
loop walked `*.service` only, so a rebuilt box deployed the heartbeat and never armed its
timer. Every outcome now reports what actually happened.
- **A gate that reads a quoted path reads nothing.** git quotes non-ASCII paths in
`--name-only` output; the quoted name came back as an empty diff and the secret gate
`continue`d past it. Fail closed means `-z`, and it means the placeholder filter reads the
assigned value — a comment saying `# example` cannot vouch for the token beside it.
The law that cost the most, from the probe: **a test that observes the tool's environment instead
of what the tool passed on cannot see the bug.** The stub probe echoed `$HIP_VISIBLE_DEVICES`
rather than its argument, so the suite asserted the mask was set and per-card bandwidth was
unobtainable on the 2×R9700 box. Model the platform rule in the stub and the existing test goes
red against the old code — that is the red-proof worth having.
Incident, found while verifying the gate: the live-sync heartbeat had failed three hourly ticks,
because a managed skill that documents how to write a secret gate quotes the vendor's all-zeros
placeholder id and the gate's shape rule fired on the documentation. Prose about credentials is
what the machine tier is made of; a gate that blocks it is worked around, and the workaround is
the hole. Placeholder judgement reads the matched token — plus what follows it, because a fixed
quantifier truncates `EXAMPLE` to `EXA` — never the whole line. `ALLOW_SECRETS` stays the only
override, and the heartbeat's own payload was replayed through the fixed hook to prove it lands.
## 2026-10-21 — a documented mode the panel never had
The home ultrawide had been running at 60 Hz for weeks while `desk-1-home.kdl`
asked for `3440x1440@239.999`. The page that owns that file documented the same
phantom mode, so every reader — including tonight's inspection — trusted it.
`niri msg outputs` says the Sceptre M34's EDID tops out at 180 Hz; there is no
240 Hz mode to ask for.
The panel does offer a 240-class mode: `niri msg outputs` lists `3440x1440@239.998`. The defect
was one character — niri matches mode strings verbatim, and `239.999` is not `239.998`.
Laws, now on [tools/niri/displays](tools/niri/displays.md):
- **An impossible mode does not fail, it falls back.** niri logs
`configured mode … could not be found, falling back to preferred` and drives
the EDID preferred mode — 60 Hz here. A config typo therefore looks like a
dying monitor, and every connector drop re-enacts it.
- **A mode string must match the advertised string verbatim.** niri does not round:
`3440x1440@239.999` does not select `3440x1440@239.998`. It logs
`configured mode … could not be found, falling back to preferred` and drives the EDID
preferred mode — 60 Hz here. A one-character typo therefore looks like a dying monitor, and
every connector drop re-enacts it.
- **Three layers, three signatures:** config fallback, DP link drops, and
amdgpu `DMCUB` errors with `EINVAL` page flips after s2idle. Only the first
yields to a file edit; only the last yields to a reboot. Triage table and
probes are on the page.
- **A number in a page is a claim, not a measurement.** Modes, refresh rates and
tool availability were wrong on four pages at once — `wlr-randr` was listed as
installed while `pacman -Qs wlr` matches nothing. Read the hardware before
writing a mode into a runbook, and destroy the stale copies.
- **A number in a page is a claim, not a measurement.** Mode strings, refresh rates and tool
availability were wrong on several pages at once — `wlr-randr` was listed as installed while
`pacman -Qs wlr` matches nothing. Read the hardware before writing a mode into a runbook, and
destroy the stale copies. A correction is itself a measurement: the first pass at this entry
published a second wrong hardware fact, with a `verified:` date stamped on it.
Fix: `desk-1-home.kdl` 239.999 → 180.000 on the identity block and both legacy
connector blocks, applied live with `niri msg output <panel> mode <mode>` — the
+13
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@@ -189,3 +189,16 @@ export API_KEY_FILE=/run/secrets/api_key'
printf '%s\n' "$output" | grep -qx ' b/two.env'
! printf '%s\n' "$output" | grep -qE 'hunter2corp2026 +b/two\.env'
}
@test "a documented fake id in prose is committable; a live-shaped id in the same file is not" {
# Measured on blankpad 2026-10-21: the live-sync heartbeat failed three ticks in a row
# because a managed-skill page documents how to write a secret gate and quotes AWS's own
# placeholder id. A gate that blocks the machine tier over an inert example gets worked
# around, and a workaround is the hole. The exemption reads the matched token, so a real
# id in the same file still blocks.
try_commit "docs.md" 'Inert fixtures look like AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE or AKIA0000000000000EXAMPLE.'
[ "$status" -eq 0 ]
try_commit "docs.md" 'Inert fixture AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE and a live one AKIAQZR4W7DBPCFG7V3Q.'
[ "$status" -ne 0 ]
[[ "$output" == *"docs.md"* ]]
}