---
status: open
opened: 2026-08-22
located-in: []
fixed-by:
amended-design:
---

# 002 — A declared package can fail purely because the node's index is stale

## Symptom

A package install ran without first synchronising the node's package index. It therefore
requested a version the mirrors had already superseded, and received a 404 from every one of
them.

The package exists. The declaration is correct. The node's view of what exists is old.

## Why this matters

The failure has nothing to do with the module, the manifest or the mirror. It is a property of
when the node last synchronised, which nothing in the mesh manages or reports. Two nodes given
the same declaration on the same day can produce different outcomes, and neither says why.

Combined with [issue 001](../001-failed-package-install-reports-success/00-report.md), the
failure is not only environmental but silent: today the node ends up without the package and
the job is green.

## Evidence

- Observed 2026-08-22, same declaration as issue 001.
- Documented as a recurring shape in the knowledge base under package installation failures,
  where it is recorded as appearing in two disguises.

## Open questions

- Should the mesh own package-index freshness as a node property, the way it owns module
  versions — or is an index sync part of the install step?
- A partial sync is unsafe on the platform in use; a full upgrade is the only sanctioned fix.
  Does that make index freshness a scheduled node concern rather than a pipeline one?