mesh-delivery-gate: a merge learnt from the open list seconds after it landed moves its trunk and source.main; delivery_status shows source.main

mesh-delivery#51 merged 21:43:11 and the gate read the open list at 21:43:14, before the forge's merged event: taken as
learnt late, it moved no trunk and its group's finish left it out of source.main, so the checker kept judging every
mesh-delivery head on 73be3df. A late merge within replayLate of its landing is now taken as heard as it happened, and
one a gate before this left is written at the catch-up of the start (never backwards).

modules/mesh-delivery-gate/cmd/mesh-delivery-gate/holder.go

@@ -726,6 +726,13 @@ func (h *Holder) pullMerged(p PullEvent, late bool) {
 	d.MergedAs = p.MergeCommit
 	if t, err := time.Parse(time.RFC3339, p.MergedAt); err == nil {
 		d.MergedAt = t.UTC()
+		if late && now.Sub(d.MergedAt) < replayLate {
+			// Read from the forge's open pull requests seconds after the merge, before its event arrived (mesh-delivery#51,
+			// 2026-10-25 21:43: merged 21:43:11, learnt late 21:43:14): the trunk has not moved past it, so it is taken as a
+			// merge heard as it happened. Taken late, it moved no trunk and its group's finish left it out of source.main,
+			// which kept naming the trunk before it, and the checker judged every head on that.
+			late = false
+		}
 	} else if !late {
 		d.MergedAt = now
 	}

modules/mesh-delivery-gate/cmd/mesh-delivery-gate/issue1275_test.go

@@ -639,6 +639,42 @@ func TestAnApprovedGroupIsHandedWholeInItsOrderAndAStopIsSaid(t *testing.T) {
 				t.Fatalf("source.main moved for a merge learnt late: %+v", w.source.moves[moves:])
 			}
 		}},
+		// mesh-delivery#51 (2026-10-25 21:43): the open list was read seconds after the bridge merged it and before the forge's
+		// merged event, so it was learnt late, moved no trunk, and its group's finish left it out of source.main. A merge
+		// learnt within replayLate of its landing is taken as heard as it happened; one a gate before the fix took late is
+		// written at the catch-up of the start.
+		{"a merge learnt from the open list seconds after it landed moves source.main", func(t *testing.T) {
+			const repo, head, merge = "novox/mesh-delivery", "4628ba26b41a4628ba26b41a4628ba26b41a4628", "db53ec975f01db53ec975f01db53ec975f01db53"
+			for _, oldGate := range []bool{false, true} {
+				w := newWorld(t)
+				w.merges.manual = true
+				w.h.PullUpdated(pr(repo, 51, head, "fix/1945", "modules/a/a.go"))
+				w.h.Checked(judgedAt(repo, 51, head, "pass", "t1t1t1t1t1t1"))
+				w.settleAll()
+				w.source.main = &sdk.Source{V: sdk.Version, Group: "before", Heads: map[string]string{repo: "73be3df28cd4"}}
+				w.forge.pulls[repo+"#51"] = ForgePull{Number: 51, State: "closed", Merged: true, MergeCommit: merge,
+					MergedAt: w.h.Now().Add(-3 * time.Second).UTC().Format(time.RFC3339), HeadSHA: head, Base: "main"}
+				w.forge.open = []OpenPull{{Owner: "novox", Repo: "other", Number: 1, Base: "main", HeadSHA: "abab"}}
+				w.h.wantForge()
+				w.settleAll()
+				if oldGate { // what the gate before the fix left
+					w.h.mu.Lock()
+					kept := w.h.deliveries[IDOf(repo, head)]
+					kept.LearntLate, kept.InSource, kept.Ready.SourceMoved = true, true, true
+					w.h.mu.Unlock()
+					w.source.main.Heads[repo] = "73be3df28cd4"
+					w.h.SourceCatchUp()
+					w.settleAll()
+				}
+				d := w.delivery(IDOf(repo, head))
+				if d.State != Merged || (!oldGate && d.LearntLate) || w.source.main.Heads[repo] != merge {
+					t.Fatalf("old gate %v: %s, learnt late %v, source.main %v", oldGate, d.State, d.LearntLate, w.source.main.Heads)
+				}
+				if heads, _ := w.h.SourceMain()["heads"].(map[string]string); heads[repo] != merge {
+					t.Fatalf("delivery_status's source-main says %v", w.h.SourceMain())
+				}
+			}
+		}},
 		// Review round 1, blocker 2 (1275/AC6): an out-of-date refusal at t0 with no other event is said urgent at t0+10
 		// minutes: the gate asks itself for a look then.
 		{"an out-of-date refusal turns urgent on the clock alone", func(t *testing.T) {

modules/mesh-delivery-gate/cmd/mesh-delivery-gate/main.go

@@ -360,8 +360,13 @@ func tools(h *Holder, l *listening) []stdio.Tool {
 		{Name: "delivery_status",
 			Description: "Whether this owner works: how many deliveries in each state, the groups, what is owed to " +
 				"the forge and the bus and not yet done, how many owed effects were tried since it started (done, failed " +
-				"and tried again, given up) and when the last was, whether its events arrive, and the last refusals.",
+				"and tried again, given up) and when the last was, whether its events arrive, the last refusals, and " +
-			Run: func(map[string]any) (any, error) { return h.Status(l.get()), nil }},
+				"source.main as the gate's bucket source holds it (each repository's trunk head the checker judges on).",
+			Run: func(map[string]any) (any, error) {
+				out := h.Status(l.get())
+				out["source-main"] = h.SourceMain()
+				return out, nil
+			}},
 	}
 	// A verb that changes a delivery asks for a look at what it makes possible (react.go).
 	for i := range list {

modules/mesh-delivery-gate/cmd/mesh-delivery-gate/merges.go

@@ -105,6 +105,26 @@ func (kvSource) Move(update func(prev *sdk.Source) (sdk.Source, bool)) error {
 	return fmt.Errorf("source.main was written by another writer first %d times: %w", changeAttempts, stdio.ErrChanged)
 }
 
+// SourceMain is source.main as the bucket source holds it, read and never written: its group and each repository's trunk
+// head, or why it cannot be read. Outside the lock.
+func (h *Holder) SourceMain() map[string]any {
+	if h.Source == nil {
+		return map[string]any{"error": "no source bucket"}
+	}
+	var held *sdk.Source
+	err := h.Source.Move(func(prev *sdk.Source) (sdk.Source, bool) {
+		held = prev
+		return sdk.Source{}, false
+	})
+	switch {
+	case err != nil:
+		return map[string]any{"error": err.Error()}
+	case held == nil:
+		return map[string]any{"heads": map[string]string{}, "says": "source.main is not written yet"}
+	}
+	return map[string]any{"group": held.Group, "heads": held.Heads}
+}
+
 // approvedOf are the heads an Approve covers as a merge carries them: `<repository>@<number>` to the full head.
 func (h *Holder) approvedOf(heads map[string]string) map[string]string {
 	out := map[string]string{}
@@ -434,6 +454,18 @@ func gateMerges(d *Delivery) bool {
 	return d.Ready != nil && d.Ready.Approved != nil && d.Ready.AskID != "" && len(d.Ready.Heads) > 0
 }
 
+// leftOutOfForgeSource is whether settleForgeMerges never writes a merge to source.main: one the gate handed on an Approve
+// (finish writes it), and one learnt after the fact, long past or with no time the forge said. One learnt late within
+// replayLate of its merge, as a gate before the fix took mesh-delivery#51 (2026-10-25, its group's finish left it out and
+// source.main kept the trunk before it), is weighed like any merge heard from the forge at a catch-up, and never moves
+// source.main back (olderHead).
+func (d *Delivery) leftOutOfForgeSource() bool {
+	if d.LearntLate {
+		return d.MergedAt.IsZero() || d.Since.Sub(d.MergedAt) >= replayLate
+	}
+	return gateMerges(d)
+}
+
 // settleForgeMerges moves source.main for each merge into the trunk heard only from the forge (issue 888): a pull request
 // merged at the forge directly, not handed by the gate on an Approve. Every other delivery's trunk moved with it (trunkMoved),
 // and the checker judges on the trunk source.main names, so source.main moves too. A merge replayed as history, or older than
@@ -447,7 +479,7 @@ func (h *Holder) settleForgeMerges() []func() {
 		again = h.newestInSource()
 	}
 	for _, d := range h.deliveries {
-		if d.MergedAs == "" || (d.InSource && !again[d]) || gateMerges(d) || d.LearntLate {
+		if d.MergedAs == "" || (d.InSource && !again[d]) || d.leftOutOfForgeSource() {
 			continue
 		}
 		if d.Base != MergeBranch || d.replayed() || h.newerMergeOf(d) {
@@ -564,7 +596,7 @@ func (h *Holder) SourceCatchUp() {
 func (h *Holder) newestInSource() map[*Delivery]bool {
 	newest := map[string]*Delivery{}
 	for _, d := range h.deliveries {
-		if d.MergedAs == "" || !d.InSource || gateMerges(d) || d.LearntLate || d.Base != MergeBranch || d.replayed() {
+		if d.MergedAs == "" || !d.InSource || d.leftOutOfForgeSource() || d.Base != MergeBranch || d.replayed() {
 			continue
 		}
 		if o := newest[d.Repository]; o == nil || mergedWhen(d).After(mergedWhen(o)) {