53 lines
2.7 KiB
Markdown
53 lines
2.7 KiB
Markdown
---
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status: located
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opened: 2026-09-26
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located-in: [mesh-host internal/apply]
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---
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# 126 — a volume path is not in the spec comparison, and a roll-out raced a data move
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## What was observed
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Landing the "module data lives in /var/lib" change on novox (mesh-catalog #97), two
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distinct faults surfaced in one hour:
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1. **Building a module with a roll-out upgrade policy IS deploying it.** gitea's policy
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was roll-out; the `build` that registered its repathed manifest sent it to the node
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immediately, which recreated the container mounting the *not-yet-renamed* (empty)
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`/var/lib/gitea/data`. The forge came back as its own install page, fresh host keys
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and all, and every subsequent pipeline build died on `repository not found` — which
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also blocked the fix, since re-registering the other modules needed the forge. The
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operator narrative "build, then move data, then push" is only safe under the record
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policy; nothing warned that one module in the batch would skip the pause.
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2. **Changing a container's volume paths does not recreate the container.** After the
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final push, five of the six repathed modules kept their old containers running
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("Up 13–26 hours") — the new declaration's volume paths differ from the running
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containers' mounts, and the apply judged them current. Same class as mesh-host #27
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(`dns`/`ip` absent from the comparison): a field the comparison does not read is a
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field that can never change a running container. Benign here only because a rename
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on one filesystem preserves the mounted inode — the running containers keep serving
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the same bytes the new path names, and the next natural recreation converges. A
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cross-filesystem move, or a path change to *different* data, would have silently
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split the module between two worlds.
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## What would have prevented it
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- `build` printing the module's upgrade policy when that policy will act on the result
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("gitea rolls out on build — the node will receive this immediately"), or a
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`--register-only` flag for exactly this choreography.
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- Volumes (and every other container field) in the spec comparison, or the honest
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refusal: "this field changed and I cannot apply it without recreation."
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## Recovery that worked
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Instant renames both ways broke the circular dependency (forge needed for builds,
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builds needed for the push, push needed for the forge): data back to the old path,
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old-spec forge started, artifacts rebuilt, data renamed forward, push. Nothing lost;
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the install-page junk was discarded twice.
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## Decided, 2026-10-01
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[ADR 0163](../../02-DECISIONS/0163-taking-a-module-over-is-a-comparison.md), rules 5 and 7: every field compared; build says the policy. Building follows,
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host first, then the controller's `take`.
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