Issue 087: a machine states its host only when the mesh sends it something #205

2026-09-30T07:09:11Z

jschoubben commented

2026-09-30 07:09:11 +00:00

Measured live after shipping 087. All four machines run the identical host binary — same digest, installed within eighteen seconds — and at first only one reported a version, which read as a difference where there was none.

A machine publishes a report after an apply. The five-minute reconcile publishes nothing, because it is the machine keeping itself as declared rather than answering anything. Confirmed by pushing: not reported, then 04a27ca.

Enough for the purpose, not enough for the claim — and not reported is worded as "nobody has asked recently" for exactly that reason. Making a heartbeat carry it would change what a heartbeat is; left alone rather than widened in passing.

Measured live after shipping 087. All four machines run the identical host binary — same digest, installed within eighteen seconds — and at first only one reported a version, which read as a difference where there was none. **A machine publishes a report after an apply.** The five-minute reconcile publishes nothing, because it is the machine keeping itself as declared rather than answering anything. Confirmed by pushing: `not reported`, then `04a27ca`. Enough for the purpose, not enough for the claim — and `not reported` is worded as "nobody has asked recently" for exactly that reason. Making a heartbeat carry it would change what a heartbeat is; left alone rather than widened in passing.

jschoubben added 1 commit 2026-09-30 07:09:11 +00:00

Issue 087: a machine states its host only when the mesh sends it something 941b920bd7

Measured live. All four machines run the identical host binary — same
digest, installed within eighteen seconds — and at first only one reported
a version, which read as a difference where there was none.

A machine publishes a report after an apply. The five-minute reconcile
publishes nothing, because it is the machine keeping itself as declared
rather than answering anything. So a current, idle machine never says, and
the mesh cannot tell that from a machine running something ancient.
Confirmed by pushing: not reported, then 04a27ca.

Enough for the purpose, not enough for the claim. For deciding whether a
new declaration field is safe it is sufficient — pushing is what the mesh
is about to do, and the answer arrives with the act. For knowing what the
mesh runs it is not, and "not reported" is worded as "nobody has asked
recently" for that reason.

Making a heartbeat carry it would close the gap and would change what a
heartbeat is — a bare word that the node is there, deliberately carrying
nothing else. Left alone rather than widened in passing.

jschoubben merged commit e10084fed6 into main

2026-09-30 07:09:17 +00:00

jschoubben deleted branch issue/087-a-machine-says-its-host-only-when-asked

2026-09-30 07:09:17 +00:00

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Reference: novox/hq#205