Merge remote-tracking branch 'origin/main' into adr-0297-module-logs

.gitignore

@@ -3,3 +3,6 @@
 # A built binary. The lab writes one here when pointed at the repository root by mistake;
 # built artifacts belong in build/, which is already ignored.
 /mesh-builder
+/mesh-controller
+/postgres-provisioner
+/redis-provisioner

cmd/mesh-controller/adoption.go

@@ -408,6 +408,9 @@ func comparisonOf(module string, c comparison, opts takeOptions) (preview string
 		switch {
 		case sec.Origin == inventory.OriginAccepted:
 			fmt.Fprintf(&b, "  %s %s: accepted from a person, carried in as it is\n", what, name)
+		case sec.Origin == inventory.OriginIssued:
+			// Taken from the provider's software (novox/hq ADR 0305): the value the running service uses.
+			fmt.Fprintf(&b, "  %s %s: issued by the provider's software, carried in as it is\n", what, name)
 		case opts.Mint[sec.Name]:
 			fmt.Fprintf(&b, "  %s %s: minted by the mesh; the service takes the new value, as --mint said\n", what, name)
 		case foundData:

cmd/mesh-controller/batches.go

@@ -367,7 +367,13 @@ func keepBatch(ctx context.Context, inv *inventory.Inventory, b *inventory.Plan,
 	}
 	closes, latest := windowOf(merges, b.Created, window, atMost)
 	b.Delivery.Merges = named
-	b.Delivery.Batch = &inventory.PlanBatch{ClosesAt: closes, AtMost: latest, Behind: behind, Own: b.OwnPath()}
+	var closed bool
+	var withheld []string
+	if was := b.Delivery.Batch; was != nil {
+		closed, withheld = was.Closed, was.Withheld // a stop's, which no look takes back (novox/hq ADR 0299)
+	}
+	b.Delivery.Batch = &inventory.PlanBatch{ClosesAt: closes, AtMost: latest, Behind: behind, Own: b.OwnPath(),
+		Closed: closed, Withheld: withheld}
 	b.State = inventory.PlanAssembling
 	if behind != "" && windowClosed(*b, now) {
 		b.State = inventory.PlanQueued
@@ -402,7 +408,7 @@ func windowClosed(b inventory.Plan, now time.Time) bool {
 		return true
 	}
 	w := b.Delivery.Batch
-	return !now.Before(w.ClosesAt) || !now.Before(w.AtMost)
+	return w.Closed || !now.Before(w.ClosesAt) || !now.Before(w.AtMost)
 }
 
 // carriedOf is a set of merges as a walk carries them: the latest merge of each repository's branch, and
@@ -762,7 +768,18 @@ func planBatch(ctx context.Context, open *stores, batch *inventory.Plan, carry [
 	}
 	sort.Strings(also)
 	ordered := groupOrderEdges(members, entries, read, edges)
+	var withheld []string
 	plan := planOfMoves(moved, append(append([]inventory.Edge{}, edges...), ordered...))
+	// **Withheld, a stopped merge's modules** (novox/hq ADR 0299): a module is built at its branch, which holds the
+	// merge a stop left out of the walk these merges were walked again from — built here only as a dependent, it
+	// would deliver that merge. One a merge of this batch moves is built: that merge carries the stopped change,
+	// and the stop named it.
+	if batch.Delivery != nil && batch.Delivery.Batch != nil {
+		if out := withhold(&plan, batch.Delivery.Batch.Withheld, moved); len(out) > 0 {
+			withheld = out
+			fmt.Printf("  withheld, a stopped merge's modules built only as dependents: %s\n", strings.Join(out, ", "))
+		}
+	}
 	plan.ID, plan.Revision, plan.Created, plan.Epoch = batch.ID, batch.Revision, now, batch.Epoch
 	plan.Commits = commits
 	newest := newestCommit(commits)
@@ -773,6 +790,7 @@ func planBatch(ctx context.Context, open *stores, batch *inventory.Plan, carry [
 	}
 	plan.Delivery.Merges = named
 	plan.Delivery.Alone = batch.Delivery != nil && batch.Delivery.Alone
+	plan.Delivery.Withheld = withheld
 	// **Its moments and its class** (novox/hq ADR 0282 decision 6): measured, never acted on.
 	plan.Times = walkTimesAtCut(*batch, plan, entries, now)
 	if len(moved) == 0 {
@@ -823,6 +841,39 @@ func planBatch(ctx context.Context, open *stores, batch *inventory.Plan, carry [
 	return nil
 }
 
+// withhold takes from a plan every module named that its merges do not move, and the tiers left empty: the
+// modules taken.
+func withhold(plan *inventory.Plan, names, moved []string) []string {
+	var out []string
+	for _, n := range names {
+		if _, in := plan.Modules[n]; in && !slices.Contains(moved, n) {
+			delete(plan.Modules, n)
+			out = append(out, n)
+		}
+	}
+	if len(out) == 0 {
+		return nil
+	}
+	var tiers [][]string
+	for _, t := range plan.Tiers {
+		var kept []string
+		for _, n := range t {
+			if !slices.Contains(out, n) {
+				kept = append(kept, n)
+			}
+		}
+		if len(kept) > 0 {
+			tiers = append(tiers, kept)
+		}
+	}
+	if tiers == nil {
+		tiers = [][]string{}
+	}
+	plan.Tiers = tiers
+	sort.Strings(out)
+	return out
+}
+
 // walkTimesAtCut is a walk's own moments as it is cut (novox/hq ADR 0282 decision 6): when its batch's window
 // closed — no merge for the window's length, or its maximum, whichever came first — when it was cut, and its
 // class. A merge walked alone had no window.

cmd/mesh-controller/build.go

@@ -835,6 +835,9 @@ type answers struct {
 	// public name on the machine went dark. The holds were correct; they were recorded only in the
 	// machine's own state file, and the one visible symptom was a count that did not add up.
 	untaken map[string]map[string]int
+	// leftOut is, per machine, every module of its set its composition leaves out, and why (novox/hq issue
+	// 380): assigned and not applied, which every push said only in passing. Not well while there is any.
+	leftOut map[string][]leftOutModule
 	// unheld is every module on a machine whose resources are applied through a seat nothing on
 	// that machine holds (novox/hq ADR 0207), with the modules that could hold it. Reported, not
 	// refused, until the switch — and while there is any, the mesh is not all well: the order the
@@ -863,6 +866,10 @@ type answers struct {
 	// applied, is not well: an assignment somebody made is not made yet, or will not be.
 	pending       []inventory.PendingAssignment
 	pendingUnread string
+	// lastSent is every machine's last recorded send, by name, with what the machine answered of it (novox/hq
+	// issue 485); lastSentUnread why it could not be read.
+	lastSent       map[string]inventory.Send
+	lastSentUnread string
 }
 
 // heldBy is every artifact this mesh has built, for a build that may need one as its base.

cmd/mesh-controller/changeplan.go

@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package main
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
+	"slices"
 	"sort"
 	"strings"
 
@@ -28,6 +29,14 @@ func changePlanOf(repository, base, head string, r mergeReach, entries []invento
 	for _, e := range entries {
 		byName[e.Manifest.Module] = e
 	}
+	// The machine holding the bus, whose declaration carries every module's grants (novox/hq issue 490).
+	holder := ""
+	for _, e := range entries {
+		if e.Manifest.BusUsers != "" && e.Manifest.ClaimsSeat(catalogue.BrokerSeat) && len(e.On) > 0 {
+			holder = e.On[0]
+		}
+	}
+	var granting []string
 	machines := map[string]*link.MachinePlan{}
 	machine := func(name string) *link.MachinePlan {
 		if machines[name] == nil {
@@ -50,6 +59,10 @@ func changePlanOf(repository, base, head string, r mergeReach, entries []invento
 					machine(on).Receives = append(machine(on).Receives, name)
 				}
 			}
+			if !waits && holder != "" && !(len(e.On) == 1 && e.On[0] == holder) && len(e.On) > 0 &&
+				!slices.Contains(granting, name) {
+				granting = append(granting, name)
+			}
 			switch {
 			case (name == "nats" || catalogue.ProvidesBus(e.Manifest)) && len(e.On) > 0:
 				// Said before the merge (novox/hq issue 336): a new bus build holds every send to the bus's machine
@@ -76,6 +89,13 @@ func changePlanOf(repository, base, head string, r mergeReach, entries []invento
 			}
 		}
 	}
+	if len(granting) > 0 {
+		// Said before the merge (novox/hq issue 490): what the walk does when the change alters the bus's
+		// user list. Whether it does is known only once the builds are registered, so it is said as a rule.
+		p.Steps = append(p.Steps, fmt.Sprintf("%s: if this changes what the bus's user list says (a new tool, "+
+			"subject or user), %s is sent that list alone, every build there kept, before %s is judged on its first "+
+			"machine", grantsStepWord, holder, strings.Join(granting, ", ")))
+	}
 	var names []string
 	for name := range machines {
 		names = append(names, name)
@@ -88,6 +108,10 @@ func changePlanOf(repository, base, head string, r mergeReach, entries []invento
 	return p
 }
 
+// grantsStepWord names the grants step (novox/hq issue 490): the bus's user list sent alone to the machine
+// holding the bus ahead of a walk's gate. Not the bus step, which replaces the bus itself.
+const grantsStepWord = "grants step"
+
 // busUpgradeNeeded is how a change plan says that merging it holds the bus's machine for a person's step.
 const busUpgradeNeeded = "merging this needs a person's bus upgrade"
 

cmd/mesh-controller/delivery.go

@@ -117,28 +117,411 @@ func letGo(ctx context.Context, inv *inventory.Inventory, id, by, why string) (i
 // stopWalk ends a walk on its delivery's word: failed, said as stopped by whom, why. What it asked still
 // builds and registers; nothing further is asked or sent.
 func stopWalk(ctx context.Context, inv *inventory.Inventory, id, by, why string) (inventory.Plan, error) {
+	p, _, err := stopWalkWithout(ctx, inv, id, by, why, nil, time.Now().UTC())
+	return p, err
+}
+
+// stopAnswer is what a stop that leaves merges out says, as data (novox/hq ADR 0299): the record stopped, the
+// batch that walks its other merges again with those merges, every merge left out, the modules the stopped walk
+// already sent that stay on the machines named, the modules the batch's walk withholds, and every merge elsewhere
+// that will deliver a stopped change when it is walked — a later merge of its repository, or one moving its modules.
+type stopAnswer struct {
+	Stopped        string                  `json:"stopped"`
+	WalkedAgainBy  string                  `json:"walked_again_by,omitempty"`
+	WalkedAgain    []string                `json:"walked_again,omitempty"`
+	LeftOut        []inventory.PlanLeftOut `json:"left_out,omitempty"`
+	Kept           []inventory.PlanKept    `json:"kept,omitempty"`
+	Withheld       []string                `json:"withheld,omitempty"`
+	StillCarriedBy []string                `json:"still_carried_by,omitempty"`
+}
+
+// stopWalkWithout ends a walk on its delivery's word and, given merges to leave out, walks every other merge it
+// answered again without them (novox/hq issue 459, ADR 0299): one walk carries every merge of its batch, so ending
+// it for one group member ended every other delivery on it.
+//
+//   - Left out are the merges named, each later merge of their repository's branch, which contains one, and each
+//     merge moving a module a left-out merge moves: a module is built at its branch, which holds the stopped merge.
+//   - The others join the open batch of their kind — merges heard while the walk ran wait there, and an older
+//     commit never walks after a newer one — or a new batch when none is open; its window is closed, and its walk
+//     withholds the left-out merges' modules where it would build them only as dependents.
+//   - Given a batch not yet cut, the merges left out leave it for a stopped record of their own, and the batch
+//     goes on without them; with nothing left in it, the batch itself is stopped.
+//   - The stopped record, the batch and every merge moved are written in one transaction (decision 7).
+//
+// With nothing left to walk, or no merge named, the walk is only ended. A merge named that the record does not
+// answer refuses the stop whole.
+func stopWalkWithout(ctx context.Context, inv *inventory.Inventory, id, by, why string, without []string,
+	now time.Time) (inventory.Plan, stopAnswer, error) {
+	said := stopAnswer{Stopped: id}
 	release, err := inv.HoldPlans(ctx, true)
 	if err != nil {
-		return inventory.Plan{}, err
+		return inventory.Plan{}, said, err
 	}
 	defer release()
 	p, err := inv.PlanByID(ctx, id)
+	if err != nil {
+		return inventory.Plan{}, said, err
+	}
+	batch := p.Batch()
+	if !p.Open() && !(batch && len(without) > 0) {
+		return p, said, fmt.Errorf("%s is already %s", p.ID, p.State)
+	}
+	var merges, again []inventory.BatchedMerge
+	if len(without) > 0 {
+		if merges, err = inv.MergesOf(ctx, p.ID); err != nil {
+			return p, said, err
+		}
+		if again, said.LeftOut, err = leaveOut(merges, without); err != nil {
+			return p, said, fmt.Errorf("%s is not stopped: %w", p.ID, err)
+		}
+	}
+	stopped := func(r *inventory.Plan) {
+		if r.Delivery == nil {
+			r.Delivery = &inventory.PlanDelivery{}
+		}
+		r.Delivery.Stopped, r.Delivery.StoppedWhy, r.Delivery.LeftOut = by, why, said.LeftOut
+		r.State = inventory.PlanFailed
+		r.Note = fmt.Sprintf("stopped by %s at tier %d: %s", by, r.Tier, why)
+	}
+	withheld := movesOf(leftOutMerges(merges, said.LeftOut))
+	said.Withheld = withheld
+	if said.StillCarriedBy, err = stillCarried(ctx, inv, p.ID, merges, said.LeftOut, withheld); err != nil {
+		return p, said, err
+	}
+	if batch {
+		return p, said, stopInBatch(ctx, inv, &p, merges, again, &said, stopped, now)
+	}
+	entries, err := inv.Catalogued(ctx)
+	if err != nil {
+		return p, said, err
+	}
+	running := map[string][]string{}
+	for _, e := range entries {
+		running[e.Manifest.Module] = e.On
+	}
+	said.Kept = keptOf(p, movesOf(again), running)
+	stopped(&p)
+	p.Delivery.Kept = said.Kept
+	if len(again) == 0 {
+		if len(said.LeftOut) > 0 {
+			p.Note += fmt.Sprintf("; left out %s, nothing else to walk", mergesLeftOutWords(said.LeftOut))
+		}
+		return p, said, inv.SavePlan(ctx, &p)
+	}
+	target, err := batchToWalkAgain(ctx, inv, again, now)
+	if err != nil {
+		return p, said, fmt.Errorf("%s is not stopped: %w", p.ID, err)
+	}
+	target.Delivery.Batch.Closed = true
+	target.Delivery.Batch.Withheld = union(target.Delivery.Batch.Withheld, withheld)
+	sort.Strings(target.Delivery.Batch.Withheld)
+	said.WalkedAgainBy = target.ID
+	var moves []inventory.MergeMove
+	for _, m := range again {
+		said.WalkedAgain = append(said.WalkedAgain, m.Repository+"@"+m.Commit)
+		moves = append(moves, inventory.MergeMove{Repository: m.Repository, Commit: m.Commit, Plan: target.ID, Alone: m.Alone})
+	}
+	p.Delivery.WalkedAgainBy = target.ID
+	p.Note += fmt.Sprintf("; its other merges are walked again by %s: %s", target.ID, strings.Join(said.WalkedAgain, ", "))
+	if len(said.LeftOut) > 0 {
+		p.Note += "; left out " + mergesLeftOutWords(said.LeftOut)
+	}
+	if len(said.Kept) > 0 {
+		p.Note += "; " + keptWords(said.Kept)
+	}
+	// The batch first, so no merge names a plan the store does not hold; all of it, or nothing (decision 7).
+	if err := inv.SavePlansMoving(ctx, []*inventory.Plan{&target, &p}, moves); err != nil {
+		return p, said, fmt.Errorf("%s is not stopped, and none of its merges moved: %w", p.ID, err)
+	}
+	// What the batch holds and names now: written again by the cutter's next look should this fail.
+	if err := keepBatch(ctx, inv, &target, now, ""); err != nil {
+		fmt.Printf("  %s holds its merges; its record is written again at the next look: %v\n", target.ID, err)
+	}
+	fmt.Printf("%s stopped by %s; %s walks its other merges again: %s\n", p.ID, by, target.ID,
+		strings.Join(said.WalkedAgain, ", "))
+	return p, said, nil
+}
+
+// stopInBatch leaves merges out of a batch not yet cut (ADR 0299): they go to a stopped record of their own, which
+// names the batch as walking the others, and the batch withholds their modules; a batch left with none is stopped
+// itself.
+func stopInBatch(ctx context.Context, inv *inventory.Inventory, b *inventory.Plan, merges, again []inventory.BatchedMerge,
+	said *stopAnswer, stopped func(*inventory.Plan), now time.Time) error {
+	if len(again) == 0 {
+		stopped(b)
+		b.Delivery.Batch = nil
+		b.Note = "a batch whose every merge was left out by a stop: " + b.Note
+		return inv.SavePlan(ctx, b)
+	}
+	left := leftOutMerges(merges, said.LeftOut)
+	first := left[0]
+	r := inventory.Plan{ID: fmt.Sprintf("plan-%d", now.UnixNano()), Repository: first.Repository, Branch: first.Branch,
+		Commit: first.Commit, Merged: first.Merged, Created: now, Tiers: [][]string{},
+		Modules: map[string]*inventory.PlanModule{}}
+	if r.ID == b.ID {
+		r.ID += "-left"
+	}
+	stopped(&r)
+	r.Delivery.WalkedAgainBy = b.ID
+	r.Note += fmt.Sprintf("; left out of %s before it was walked: %s; %s walks the others", b.ID,
+		mergesLeftOutWords(said.LeftOut), b.ID)
+	b.Delivery.Batch.Withheld = union(b.Delivery.Batch.Withheld, said.Withheld)
+	sort.Strings(b.Delivery.Batch.Withheld)
+	var moves []inventory.MergeMove
+	for _, m := range left {
+		moves = append(moves, inventory.MergeMove{Repository: m.Repository, Commit: m.Commit, Plan: r.ID, Alone: m.Alone})
+	}
+	for _, m := range again {
+		said.WalkedAgain = append(said.WalkedAgain, m.Repository+"@"+m.Commit)
+	}
+	said.Stopped, said.WalkedAgainBy = r.ID, b.ID
+	if err := inv.SavePlansMoving(ctx, []*inventory.Plan{&r, b}, moves); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("%s is not changed, and none of its merges moved: %w", b.ID, err)
+	}
+	if err := keepBatch(ctx, inv, b, now, ""); err != nil {
+		fmt.Printf("  %s holds its merges; its record is written again at the next look: %v\n", b.ID, err)
+	}
+	fmt.Printf("%s: %s left out by a stop, kept by %s\n", b.ID, mergesLeftOutWords(said.LeftOut), r.ID)
+	return nil
+}
+
+// batchToWalkAgain is the batch a stopped walk's merges join: the open batch of their kind, or a new one, not yet
+// written. The kind is read from what the merges moved.
+func batchToWalkAgain(ctx context.Context, inv *inventory.Inventory, again []inventory.BatchedMerge,
+	now time.Time) (inventory.Plan, error) {
+	own := false
+	for _, n := range movesOf(again) {
+		if _, on := onTheControllersPath[n]; on {
+			own = true
+		}
+	}
+	batches, err := inv.Batches(ctx)
 	if err != nil {
 		return inventory.Plan{}, err
 	}
-	if !p.Open() {
-		return p, fmt.Errorf("%s is already %s", p.ID, p.State)
+	for _, b := range batches {
+		if b.OwnPath() == own {
+			if b.Delivery == nil {
+				b.Delivery = &inventory.PlanDelivery{}
+			}
+			if b.Delivery.Batch == nil {
+				b.Delivery.Batch = &inventory.PlanBatch{Own: own}
+			}
+			return b, nil
+		}
 	}
-	if p.Delivery == nil {
-		p.Delivery = &inventory.PlanDelivery{}
+	first := again[0]
+	return inventory.Plan{ID: fmt.Sprintf("plan-%d", now.UnixNano()), Repository: first.Repository, Branch: first.Branch,
+		Commit: first.Commit, Merged: first.Merged, Created: now, State: inventory.PlanAssembling,
+		Tiers: [][]string{}, Modules: map[string]*inventory.PlanModule{},
+		Delivery: &inventory.PlanDelivery{Batch: &inventory.PlanBatch{Own: own}}}, nil
+}
+
+// leaveOut splits a walk's merges by the merges named to leave out, each `<repository>@<commit>` (a commit's
+// first characters will do): the merges walked again, and those left out — each named one; each later merge of
+// its repository's branch, which contains it; and each merge moving a module a left-out merge moves, which is
+// built at its branch and so holds the stopped merge — until none more is. A name the walk does not answer is
+// refused.
+func leaveOut(merges []inventory.BatchedMerge, without []string) ([]inventory.BatchedMerge, []inventory.PlanLeftOut, error) {
+	var stopped []inventory.BatchedMerge
+	for _, w := range without {
+		repository, commit, ok := strings.Cut(strings.TrimSpace(w), "@")
+		if !ok || repository == "" || len(commit) < 7 {
+			return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("%q names no merge: <repository>@<commit>", w)
+		}
+		i := slices.IndexFunc(merges, func(m inventory.BatchedMerge) bool {
+			return strings.EqualFold(m.Repository, repository) && strings.HasPrefix(m.Commit, commit)
+		})
+		if i < 0 {
+			return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("it answers no merge %s@%s", repository, commit)
+		}
+		stopped = append(stopped, merges[i])
 	}
-	p.Delivery.Stopped, p.Delivery.StoppedWhy = by, why
-	p.State = inventory.PlanFailed
-	p.Note = fmt.Sprintf("stopped by %s at tier %d: %s", by, p.Tier, why)
-	if err := inv.SavePlan(ctx, &p); err != nil {
-		return p, err
+	same := func(a, b inventory.BatchedMerge) bool {
+		return strings.EqualFold(a.Repository, b.Repository) && a.Commit == b.Commit
 	}
-	return p, nil
+	out := map[int]inventory.PlanLeftOut{}
+	for i, m := range merges {
+		if slices.ContainsFunc(stopped, func(s inventory.BatchedMerge) bool { return same(s, m) }) {
+			out[i] = inventory.PlanLeftOut{Repository: m.Repository, Commit: m.Commit}
+		}
+	}
+	for grew := true; grew; {
+		grew = false
+		for i, m := range merges {
+			if _, left := out[i]; left {
+				continue
+			}
+			for j, o := range out {
+				l := merges[j]
+				contains := o.Contains
+				if contains == "" {
+					contains = l.Commit
+				}
+				if strings.EqualFold(l.Repository, m.Repository) && l.Branch == m.Branch && laterMerge(m, l) {
+					out[i] = inventory.PlanLeftOut{Repository: m.Repository, Commit: m.Commit, Contains: contains}
+				} else if shared := sharedMoves(m, l); len(shared) > 0 {
+					out[i] = inventory.PlanLeftOut{Repository: m.Repository, Commit: m.Commit, Contains: contains,
+						Shares: shared}
+				} else {
+					continue
+				}
+				grew = true
+				break
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	var again []inventory.BatchedMerge
+	var left []inventory.PlanLeftOut
+	for i, m := range merges {
+		if o, is := out[i]; is {
+			left = append(left, o)
+		} else {
+			again = append(again, m)
+		}
+	}
+	sort.SliceStable(left, func(i, j int) bool { return left[i].Contains == "" && left[j].Contains != "" })
+	return again, left, nil
+}
+
+// sharedMoves are the modules two kept merges both moved when they were heard.
+func sharedMoves(a, b inventory.BatchedMerge) []string {
+	var out []string
+	theirs := announcedOf(b).Moves
+	for _, n := range announcedOf(a).Moves {
+		if slices.Contains(theirs, n) && !slices.Contains(out, n) {
+			out = append(out, n)
+		}
+	}
+	sort.Strings(out)
+	return out
+}
+
+// leftOutMerges are the kept merges a stop left out.
+func leftOutMerges(merges []inventory.BatchedMerge, out []inventory.PlanLeftOut) []inventory.BatchedMerge {
+	var left []inventory.BatchedMerge
+	for _, m := range merges {
+		if slices.ContainsFunc(out, func(o inventory.PlanLeftOut) bool {
+			return strings.EqualFold(o.Repository, m.Repository) && o.Commit == m.Commit
+		}) {
+			left = append(left, m)
+		}
+	}
+	return left
+}
+
+// movesOf is every module kept merges moved when they were heard, sorted.
+func movesOf(merges []inventory.BatchedMerge) []string {
+	var out []string
+	for _, m := range merges {
+		out = union(out, announcedOf(m).Moves)
+	}
+	sort.Strings(out)
+	return out
+}
+
+// keptOf are the modules a stopped walk sent that no merge walked again moves, and the machines each reached:
+// those keep running the stopped walk's build. A module sent to its first machines reached those, and the rest it
+// was sent to after them; one sent with no first machine (its policy sends it to all together, or a later tier is
+// built by it) reached every machine running it.
+func keptOf(p inventory.Plan, walkedAgain []string, running map[string][]string) []inventory.PlanKept {
+	var out []inventory.PlanKept
+	for name, m := range p.Modules {
+		if m == nil || slices.Contains(walkedAgain, name) {
+			continue
+		}
+		var machines []string
+		if m.FirstAt != nil || m.SentAt != nil {
+			machines = union(machines, m.First)
+		}
+		if m.SentAt != nil && len(m.First) == 0 {
+			machines = union(machines, running[name])
+		}
+		if m.Gate != nil && m.Gate.Since != nil {
+			machines = union(machines, m.Gate.Machines)
+		}
+		for machine := range m.Rest {
+			machines = union(machines, []string{machine})
+		}
+		if len(machines) == 0 {
+			continue
+		}
+		sort.Strings(machines)
+		out = append(out, inventory.PlanKept{Module: name, Machines: machines})
+	}
+	sort.Slice(out, func(i, j int) bool { return out[i].Module < out[j].Module })
+	return out
+}
+
+// keptWords is what a stopped walk leaves on the machines, as a person reads it.
+func keptWords(kept []inventory.PlanKept) string {
+	var words []string
+	for _, k := range kept {
+		words = append(words, k.Module+" on "+strings.Join(k.Machines, ", "))
+	}
+	return "left running the stopped walk's build, which nothing walks again: " + strings.Join(words, "; ")
+}
+
+// stillCarried are the merges outside the stopped record, in a batch or an open walk, that will deliver a stopped
+// change when they are walked: a later merge of its repository's branch, which contains it, or one that moves a
+// module it moves. Holding a merged change back for good is a revert's (ADR 0299).
+func stillCarried(ctx context.Context, inv *inventory.Inventory, id string, merges []inventory.BatchedMerge,
+	out []inventory.PlanLeftOut, withheld []string) ([]string, error) {
+	var named []inventory.BatchedMerge
+	for _, m := range leftOutMerges(merges, out) {
+		if slices.ContainsFunc(out, func(o inventory.PlanLeftOut) bool { return o.Commit == m.Commit && o.Contains == "" }) {
+			named = append(named, m)
+		}
+	}
+	if len(named) == 0 {
+		return nil, nil
+	}
+	open, err := inv.OpenPlans(ctx)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	batches, err := inv.Batches(ctx)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	var carried []string
+	for _, p := range append(open, batches...) {
+		if p.ID == id {
+			continue
+		}
+		ms, err := inv.MergesOf(ctx, p.ID)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+		for _, m := range ms {
+			later := slices.ContainsFunc(named, func(s inventory.BatchedMerge) bool {
+				return strings.EqualFold(s.Repository, m.Repository) && s.Branch == m.Branch && laterMerge(m, s)
+			})
+			shares := slices.ContainsFunc(announcedOf(m).Moves, func(n string) bool { return slices.Contains(withheld, n) })
+			if later || shares {
+				carried = append(carried, fmt.Sprintf("%s@%s (in %s)", m.Repository, m.Commit, p.ID))
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	sort.Strings(carried)
+	return carried, nil
+}
+
+// mergesLeftOutWords is the merges a stop left out, as a person reads them: each that contains a stopped one, or
+// shares its modules, says so.
+func mergesLeftOutWords(out []inventory.PlanLeftOut) string {
+	var words []string
+	for _, o := range out {
+		s := o.Repository + "@" + short(o.Commit)
+		switch {
+		case len(o.Shares) > 0:
+			s += " (which moves " + strings.Join(o.Shares, ", ") + " as " + short(o.Contains) + " does)"
+		case o.Contains != "":
+			s += " (which contains " + short(o.Contains) + ")"
+		}
+		words = append(words, s)
+	}
+	return strings.Join(words, ", ")
 }
 
 // orderMember is one member of a group, as mesh-delivery says it.
@@ -466,6 +849,8 @@ func deliveryCommand(ctx context.Context, args []string) error {
 	group := set.String("group", "", "a delivery group's id")
 	by := set.String("by", catalogue.DeliverySeat, "who says it")
 	why := set.String("why", "", "why")
+	without := set.String("without", "", "merges a stop leaves out, <repository>@<commit>, comma-separated: the walk's "+
+		"other merges are walked again without them (novox/hq ADR 0299)")
 	limit := set.Int("n", 50, "how many ended walks to answer beside the open ones")
 	planID := set.String("plan", "", "one walk")
 	positionals, err := parseAround(set, rest)
@@ -552,15 +937,21 @@ func deliveryCommand(ctx context.Context, args []string) error {
 		return nil
 	case "stop":
 		if len(positionals) != 1 || strings.TrimSpace(*why) == "" {
-			return errors.New("delivery stop <plan> --why <text> [--by <who>]")
+			return errors.New("delivery stop <plan> --why <text> [--by <who>] [--without <repository>@<commit>,…]")
 		}
 		var p inventory.Plan
+		var said stopAnswer
 		if err := sayingOnTheBus(ctx, func() (err error) {
-			p, err = stopWalk(ctx, inv, positionals[0], *by, strings.TrimSpace(*why))
+			p, said, err = stopWalkWithout(ctx, inv, positionals[0], *by, strings.TrimSpace(*why), splitList(*without),
+				time.Now().UTC())
 			return err
 		}); err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
+		if *without != "" {
+			// What it left out and what it walks again, as data: the delivery's owner reads it (ADR 0299).
+			return answer(said)
+		}
 		fmt.Printf("%s stopped by %s at tier %d of %d; what was asked still builds and registers, nothing further "+
 			"is asked or sent\n", p.ID, *by, p.Tier, len(p.Tiers))
 		return nil

cmd/mesh-controller/doctor.go

@@ -74,8 +74,12 @@ type probe struct {
 // probeRegistry is the registry, in to-be 45's order. **The registry is the design's live form**: a
 // probe added to a design is a row added here.
 var probeRegistry = []probe{
-	{ID: "D1", Asserts: "every machine's declaration composes, and passes the node-engine's validation",
-		From: "issues 236, 263, 275", Kind: "declaration-refused", Raises: []string{kindAwaitingPush}, Phase: 1,
+	// D1 also says every module assigned and left out of a machine's declaration (novox/hq issue 380), from the
+	// resolution it already makes: needs-operator for a setting nobody gave, left-out for any other cause.
+	{ID: "D1", Asserts: "every machine's declaration composes, and passes the node-engine's validation; no module " +
+		"assigned to a machine is left out of its declaration unsaid",
+		From: "issues 236, 263, 275, 380", Kind: "declaration-refused",
+		Raises: []string{kindAwaitingPush, kindLeftOut, kindNeedsOperator}, Phase: 1,
 		run: probeDeclarations},
 	{ID: "D2", Asserts: "every holder of the mesh's resolver answers a machine name for IPv4, and NODATA for IPv6",
 		From: "issue 262", Kind: "resolver-wrong", Phase: 1, run: probeResolvers},
@@ -118,8 +122,8 @@ var probeRegistry = []probe{
 		Kind: kindDeliveryStalled, Phase: 3, run: probeDeliveries},
 	// The delivery budgets (novox/hq ADR 0282 decision 7): the newest delivery of each class within its budget,
 	// read from mesh-delivery's `times`; a measurement said, never a delivery held.
-	{ID: probeBudgetsID, Asserts: "the newest delivery of a leaf module ran on every machine within five minutes of " +
-		"its merge, and of a core module within ten: mesh-delivery's `times`", From: "ADR 0282",
+	{ID: probeBudgetsID, Asserts: "the newest delivery of a leaf module ran on every machine within three minutes of " +
+		"its merge, and of a core module within ten: mesh-delivery's `times`", From: "ADR 0282, ADR 0304",
 		Kind: kindOverBudget, Phase: 3, run: probeBudgets},
 	// A client of the bus reconnecting in a loop (novox/hq issue 327), from the server's record of closed
 	// connections, which the bus's own module reads.

cmd/mesh-controller/gate.go

@@ -27,8 +27,10 @@ import (
 // **"Reported applied" is not enough.** ADR 0218 sent a module to one machine first and the rest once
 // that machine reported it applied. A build that applies and then does nothing, crashes, serves no
 // tools, or breaks the machine's word to the mesh passed that test. Now the first machine is judged by
-// the component's health — the core's health definitions, or a module's own — passing three times over
-// at least two minutes, within ten minutes of the apply. Only then are the rest sent.
+// the component's health — the core's health definitions, or a module's own — within ten minutes of the
+// apply: a core module passing three times over at least two minutes, a leaf module once, as soon as the
+// node-engine states it healthy (novox/hq ADR 0282 decision 4 as ADR 0304 decision 3 changed it). Only then
+// are the rest sent.
 //
 // **A failing gate stops the plan and puts the previous build back there.** The build is marked failed
 // at its gate — registration refuses it and nothing sends it again on its own — the module's registered
@@ -43,11 +45,38 @@ var (
 	gateSettle = 2 * time.Minute
 	// gateBound is how long after the apply the build may take to become healthy.
 	gateBound = 10 * time.Minute
-	// gatePasses is how many consecutive judgings must find it healthy, gateEvery apart at the least.
-	gatePasses = 3
-	gateEvery  = 40 * time.Second
+	// gatePasses is how many consecutive judgings must find a core module healthy, gateEvery apart at the
+	// least, after gateSettle. gateLeafPasses is a leaf module's: one, taken once the node-engine states every
+	// resource of it healthy by its own check, with no settle (novox/hq ADR 0282 decision 4 as ADR 0304
+	// decision 3 changed it, issue 524).
+	gatePasses      = 3
+	gateLeafPasses  = 1
+	gateLeafSettles = false
+	gateEvery       = 40 * time.Second
 )
 
+// coreModule is whether a module is judged as the core (novox/hq ADR 0282 decision 1): one on the controller's
+// own path, or one holding the mesh's resolver. Every other module is a leaf.
+func coreModule(module string, m catalogue.Manifest) bool {
+	if _, own := onTheControllersPath[module]; own {
+		return true
+	}
+	for _, c := range m.Claims {
+		if c.Name == resolverSeat {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+	return coreComponent(module) != ""
+}
+
+// gateWants is how many passes a module needs, and whether it must stay healthy gateSettle first.
+func gateWants(module string, m catalogue.Manifest) (passes int, settles bool) {
+	if coreModule(module, m) {
+		return gatePasses, true
+	}
+	return gateLeafPasses, gateLeafSettles
+}
+
 // gateProbe is the registry's row for the gate's verdicts and the witnesses' rollbacks: its conditions
 // are raised by a plan as it judges, and kept or cleared by the probe on every run.
 const gateProbe = "DG"
@@ -608,8 +637,24 @@ func judgeMoves(ctx context.Context, open *stores, g *inventory.PlanGate, pairs
 		}
 	}
 	settled := now.Sub(*g.Since) >= gateSettle
+	// What the send needs is what its most demanding module needs: a send carrying a core module is judged
+	// as the core.
+	wants, settles := 0, false
+	for _, m := range modules {
+		p, s := gateWants(m, shelf[m])
+		wants, settles = max(wants, p), settles || s
+	}
+	if len(modules) == 0 {
+		// A send judged on no machine of its modules (its first machine not running them) has no class to
+		// be judged by: it is judged as the core, never passed at once without a reading.
+		wants, settles = gatePasses, true
+	}
+	g.Wants = wants
+	// A module's own pass is its own class's: a leaf beside a core module that fails keeps its build after
+	// its one reading, and only what did not pass is put back (issue 318's rule, by class since issue 524).
 	passedAlone := func(m string) bool {
-		return settled && reading[m] <= healthPerson && g.Healthy[m] >= gatePasses
+		p, s := gateWants(m, shelf[m])
+		return (settled || !s) && reading[m] <= healthPerson && g.Healthy[m] >= p
 	}
 	// fail decides the send failed: what passed on its own keeps its pass, everything else is put back.
 	fail := func(why string) {
@@ -657,7 +702,7 @@ func judgeMoves(ctx context.Context, open *stores, g *inventory.PlanGate, pairs
 		g.Passes++
 		g.LastPass, g.Last, g.Failing = &now, "", nil
 		g.Read(now, true, "")
-		if g.Passes >= gatePasses && settled {
+		if g.Passes >= wants && (settled || !settles) {
 			decide(g, inventory.GatePassed, fmt.Sprintf("healthy %d times over %s", g.Passes,
 				now.Sub(*g.Since).Round(time.Second))+waitsSaid(g.Waits), now)
 		}
@@ -1340,9 +1385,9 @@ func gateLine(g *inventory.PlanGate) string {
 	if g.Why != "" {
 		line += ": " + g.Why
 	} else if g.Last != "" {
-		line += fmt.Sprintf(" (%d of %d passes; wanting: %s)", g.Passes, gatePasses, g.Last)
+		line += fmt.Sprintf(" (%d of %d passes; wanting: %s)", g.Passes, gateWanted(g), g.Last)
 	} else if g.Verdict == "" {
-		line += fmt.Sprintf(" (%d of %d passes)", g.Passes, gatePasses)
+		line += fmt.Sprintf(" (%d of %d passes)", g.Passes, gateWanted(g))
 	}
 	if g.Verdict == "" && len(g.Waits) > 0 {
 		line += waitsSaid(g.Waits)
@@ -1353,6 +1398,10 @@ func gateLine(g *inventory.PlanGate) string {
 	if g.Rollback != "" {
 		line += "; " + g.Rollback
 	}
+	// Before the send it judges (novox/hq issue 490).
+	if said := grantsSaid(g.Grants); said != "" {
+		line += "; " + said
+	}
 	return line
 }
 
@@ -1381,3 +1430,11 @@ func witnessObservation(node string, r lease.Rollback) conditions.Observation {
 		Summary: fmt.Sprintf("the witness on %s judged the %s %s not healthy %s at %s: %s", node, r.Component,
 			short(r.From), what, r.At.UTC().Format(time.RFC3339), r.Why)}
 }
+
+// gateWanted is the passes a gate's send needs, three where the gate was judged before it was said.
+func gateWanted(g *inventory.PlanGate) int {
+	if g.Wants > 0 {
+		return g.Wants
+	}
+	return gatePasses
+}

cmd/mesh-controller/gate_followup_test.go

@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ func healthyContainer(module string) inventory.ResourceHealth {
 // tools' witness put its build back at once, and the send waits for the healthy module's own verdict — a pass,
 // counted over the gate's spacing — before it says its own. The broken one alone is put back.
 func TestAFaultBeforeTheSettleTimeWaitsForTheModuleBesideIt(t *testing.T) {
+	judgeLeavesAsTheCore(t)
 	open := aMesh(t)
 	ctx := t.Context()
 	withGateBounds(t, 150*time.Millisecond, 20*time.Millisecond, 10*time.Second)
@@ -284,6 +285,7 @@ func TestAProviderWaitingForALoginSaysWhoWaitsOnIt(t *testing.T) {
 // tools are marked and put back in the very judging that found them broken — their registered build is the
 // one before, and the laptop is sent it — while `app` goes on being judged, recovers, and keeps its own pass.
 func TestABrokenModuleIsPutBackAtOnceAndTheOneBesideItGetsItsOwnVerdict(t *testing.T) {
+	judgeLeavesAsTheCore(t)
 	open := aMesh(t)
 	ctx := t.Context()
 	inv := open.inventory

cmd/mesh-controller/gate_test.go

@@ -153,6 +153,7 @@ func (g *gateMesh) plan(t *testing.T) inventory.Plan {
 // registered and sent to it again — and never reaches the second machine; it is marked, said as a
 // condition and an event, never registered or rolled back again.
 func TestABuildThatFailsItsGateIsRolledBackOnItsFirstMachineAndGoesNoFurther(t *testing.T) {
+	judgeLeavesAsTheCore(t)
 	g := aGateMesh(t)
 	ctx := t.Context()
 	inv := g.open.inventory
@@ -255,7 +256,7 @@ func TestABuildThatPassesItsGateRollsEverywhereUnattended(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("sent %v", g.sent)
 	}
 	gate := p.Modules["app"].Gate
-	if p.State != inventory.PlanDone || gate == nil || gate.Verdict != inventory.GatePassed || gate.Passes < gatePasses {
+	if p.State != inventory.PlanDone || gate == nil || gate.Verdict != inventory.GatePassed || gate.Passes < gateWanted(gate) {
 		t.Fatalf("the plan is %s (%s), its gate %+v", p.State, p.Note, gate)
 	}
 	if v, found, err := g.open.inventory.GateOf(ctx, "build-2"); err != nil || !found || v.Verdict != inventory.GatePassed {
@@ -266,8 +267,52 @@ func TestABuildThatPassesItsGateRollsEverywhereUnattended(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+// A leaf module passes its gate on one reading, as soon as its first machine is healthy, without waiting out the
+// core's settle time (novox/hq ADR 0282 decision 4 as ADR 0304 decision 3 changed it, issue 524).
+func TestALeafModulePassesOnOneHealthyReading(t *testing.T) {
+	g := aGateMesh(t)
+	ctx := t.Context()
+	gateSettle = time.Hour    // a core module could not pass for an hour
+	advancePlans(ctx, g.open) // the first machine is sent the new build
+	advancePlans(ctx, g.open) // one healthy judging
+	p := g.plan(t)
+	gate := p.Modules["app"].Gate
+	if gate == nil || gate.Verdict != inventory.GatePassed || gate.Passes != 1 || gate.Wants != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("a leaf module's gate after one healthy judging: %+v (plan %s: %s)", gate, p.State, p.Note)
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(gate.Why, "healthy 1 times") {
+		t.Errorf("the verdict says %q", gate.Why)
+	}
+}
+
+// Which modules are judged as the core: those on the controller's own path and the resolver's holder, three
+// readings after the settle time; every other module one (novox/hq ADR 0282 decision 1, ADR 0304 decision 3).
+func TestAModuleIsJudgedByItsClass(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, c := range []struct {
+		module  string
+		claims  []catalogue.Claim
+		passes  int
+		settles bool
+	}{
+		{"app", nil, 1, false},
+		{"nzbget", nil, 1, false},
+		{"mesh-controller", nil, 3, true},
+		{"mesh-host", nil, 3, true},
+		{"node-tools", nil, 3, true},
+		{"nats", nil, 3, true},
+		{catalogue.DeliverySeat, nil, 3, true},
+		{"dnsmasq", []catalogue.Claim{{Name: resolverSeat}}, 3, true},
+	} {
+		p, s := gateWants(c.module, catalogue.Manifest{Module: c.module, Claims: c.claims})
+		if p != c.passes || s != c.settles {
+			t.Errorf("%s: %d passes, settles %v; want %d, %v", c.module, p, s, c.passes, c.settles)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 // A first machine that never becomes healthy fails its gate at the bound, and is put back.
 func TestABuildNeverHealthyFailsAtTheBound(t *testing.T) {
+	judgeLeavesAsTheCore(t)
 	g := aGateMesh(t)
 	ctx := t.Context()
 	advancePlans(ctx, g.open)
@@ -593,3 +638,13 @@ func TestAWitnessesVerdictIsAConditionWhileItsReportsSayIt(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("a verdict the reports no longer carry is still said: %+v %v", obs, err)
 	}
 }
+
+// judgeLeavesAsTheCore makes a test's leaf modules judged as a core module is, three readings after the settle
+// time, for a test of the gate's other rules (a fault, the bound, a supersession) that needs a judging still
+// open after a healthy reading.
+func judgeLeavesAsTheCore(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Helper()
+	wasPasses, wasSettles := gateLeafPasses, gateLeafSettles
+	gateLeafPasses, gateLeafSettles = gatePasses, true
+	t.Cleanup(func() { gateLeafPasses, gateLeafSettles = wasPasses, wasSettles })
+}

cmd/mesh-controller/generation.go

@@ -202,21 +202,99 @@ func modulesWords(modules []string) string {
 	return strings.Join(modules, ", ")
 }
 
-// writeLastSend says what a machine was last told, by whom and from which generation (novox/hq issue 234):
-// nothing when the mesh has not recorded a send to it.
+// writeLastSend says what a machine was last told, by whom and from which generation (novox/hq issue 234), and
+// what it answered (issue 485): nothing when the mesh has not recorded a send to it.
 func writeLastSend(ctx context.Context, w io.Writer, inv *inventory.Inventory, node string) error {
 	s, found, err := inv.LastSend(ctx, node)
 	if err != nil || !found {
 		return err
 	}
-	generation := "no generation recorded"
-	if s.Generation > 0 {
-		generation = fmt.Sprintf("assignment generation %d", s.Generation)
-	}
-	fmt.Fprintf(w, "%s was last sent sequence %d at %s by %s, composed from %s, naming %s\n", node, s.Sequence, s.SentAt.Local().Format("2006-01-02 15:04:05"), s.Sender, generation, modulesWords(s.Modules))
-	if s.RefusedAt != nil {
-		fmt.Fprintf(w, "  and refused it at %s: it had applied generation %d\n",
-			s.RefusedAt.Local().Format("2006-01-02 15:04:05"), s.RefusedApplied)
+	fmt.Fprintf(w, "%s:\n", node)
+	for _, line := range lastSendLines(s) {
+		fmt.Fprintln(w, line)
 	}
 	return nil
 }
+
+// lastSendLines is a machine's last send in full, as `node show` and `plan` say it (novox/hq issue 485): when,
+// by whom, under which lease epoch, from which assignment generation, naming which modules, and what the
+// machine answered of it — the refusal in its own words.
+func lastSendLines(s inventory.Send) []string {
+	const stamp = "2006-01-02 15:04:05"
+	epoch := "under no lease epoch"
+	if s.Epoch > 0 {
+		epoch = fmt.Sprintf("under lease epoch %d", s.Epoch)
+	}
+	generation := "no assignment generation recorded"
+	if s.Generation > 0 {
+		generation = fmt.Sprintf("assignment generation %d", s.Generation)
+	}
+	lines := []string{
+		fmt.Sprintf("  last sent         sequence %d at %s", s.Sequence, s.SentAt.Local().Format(stamp)),
+		fmt.Sprintf("                    by %s", s.Sender),
+		fmt.Sprintf("                    %s, composed from %s", epoch, generation),
+		fmt.Sprintf("                    naming %s", modulesWords(s.Modules)),
+	}
+	answer := func(words string) { lines = append(lines, "  its answer        "+words) }
+	switch a := s.Answer; {
+	case s.RefusedAt != nil:
+		// Before the report: a refusal for the generation is kept on the send itself and is the machine's
+		// answer to this send in particular.
+		answer(fmt.Sprintf("refused it at %s: it had applied assignment generation %d, newer than this one",
+			s.RefusedAt.Local().Format(stamp), s.RefusedApplied))
+	case a.Outcome == "" || a.At == nil:
+		answer("the machine has not reported on it yet")
+	case a.Outcome == inventory.OutcomeApplied:
+		answer("applied it at " + a.At.Local().Format(stamp))
+	case a.Outcome == inventory.OutcomeRefused:
+		answer("refused it at " + a.At.Local().Format(stamp) + ", in its words:")
+		for _, line := range strings.Split(strings.TrimRight(a.Refused, "\n"), "\n") {
+			lines = append(lines, "                      "+strings.TrimSpace(line))
+		}
+	default:
+		answer(fmt.Sprintf("%s at %s: %d resource(s) failed — `status` says which", a.Outcome,
+			a.At.Local().Format(stamp), a.Failed))
+	}
+	return lines
+}
+
+// sendAnswerWord is what a machine answered of a send, in a word or few, as status says it in one line.
+func sendAnswerWord(s inventory.Send) string {
+	switch a := s.Answer; {
+	case s.RefusedAt != nil:
+		return fmt.Sprintf("refused: it had applied generation %d", s.RefusedApplied)
+	case a.Outcome == "" || a.At == nil:
+		return "not reported on yet"
+	case a.Outcome == inventory.OutcomeFailed:
+		return fmt.Sprintf("failed (%d resource(s))", a.Failed)
+	default:
+		return a.Outcome
+	}
+}
+
+// printLastSends says, one line per machine, when it was last sent a declaration, by whom, from which assignment
+// generation and what it answered (novox/hq issue 485). `node show <node>` says the send in full.
+func printLastSends(nodes []inventory.Node, sends map[string]inventory.Send, unread string) {
+	if unread != "" {
+		fmt.Printf("what each machine was last sent could NOT be read: %s\n\n", unread)
+		return
+	}
+	if len(nodes) == 0 {
+		return
+	}
+	fmt.Println("last sent, per machine:")
+	for _, n := range nodes {
+		s, found := sends[n.Name]
+		if !found {
+			fmt.Printf("  %-12s no send recorded\n", n.Name)
+			continue
+		}
+		generation := "no generation"
+		if s.Generation > 0 {
+			generation = fmt.Sprintf("generation %d", s.Generation)
+		}
+		fmt.Printf("  %-12s %s by %s, %s — %s\n", n.Name, s.SentAt.Local().Format("2006-01-02 15:04"), s.Sender,
+			generation, sendAnswerWord(s))
+	}
+	fmt.Printf("\n  `node show <node>` says a machine's last send in full\n\n")
+}

cmd/mesh-controller/grants_step_store_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,198 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"errors"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/catalogue"
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/identity"
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/inventory"
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/link"
+)
+
+// The grants step on a store (novox/hq issue 490): the machine holding the bus is sent its new user list,
+// and nothing else — not the new build of a module it runs, not a module newly assigned there.
+//
+// The restic shape: anchor holds the bus and runs restic at c1, as does laptop; restic's c2 gives it a
+// health tool. The grants step's send to anchor composes restic at c1, carries the user list that grants
+// laptop's node-engine c2's tool, and records that anchor still runs c1. A module newly assigned to anchor
+// makes the step fail, said, rather than install it unjudged.
+func TestTheGrantsStepSendsTheUserListAndNothingElse(t *testing.T) {
+	open := aMesh(t)
+	ctx := t.Context()
+	inv := open.inventory
+	start := time.Now().Add(-time.Hour)
+	build := func(module, commit string, at time.Time, manifest map[string]any) link.BuildResult {
+		manifest["module"], manifest["version"] = module, "1"
+		raw, _ := json.Marshal(manifest)
+		return link.BuildResult{ID: link.NewBuildID(at), Repository: "novox/mesh-catalog", Path: "modules/" + module,
+			On: "anchor", Module: module, Commit: commit, Manifest: raw,
+			Source: &link.SourceOnSeat{Seat: "git", Repository: "novox/mesh-catalog"}}
+	}
+	for _, b := range []link.BuildResult{
+		build("nats", "n1", start, natsFixture()),
+		build("restic", "c1", start.Add(time.Second), resticFixture(false)),
+		build("wallpaper", "w1", start.Add(2*time.Second), wallpaperFixture()),
+	} {
+		if _, _, err := takeIn(ctx, inv, asTheOperator(t, inv, b)); err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+	}
+	for _, a := range [][2]string{{"anchor", "nats"}, {"anchor", "restic"}, {"laptop", "restic"}} {
+		if _, err := inv.Assign(ctx, a[0], a[1]); err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+	}
+	for _, n := range []string{"anchor", "laptop"} {
+		if _, err := inv.MintBusPassword(ctx, inventory.BusUser{Username: "node." + n, Kind: inventory.BusNode, Node: n}); err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+	}
+
+	wasEpoch := epochForActs
+	epochForActs = func(context.Context) (uint64, error) { return 7, nil }
+	t.Cleanup(func() { epochForActs = wasEpoch })
+
+	// A send to anchor composed as sendToEach composes it: numbered, planned, declared, stamped.
+	compose := func(under context.Context) (catalogue.Resolution, sendable) {
+		t.Helper()
+		numbered, err := allot(under, inv, "anchor")
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		plan, settings, err := planFor(under, open, "anchor")
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		gens, err := generators(under, open)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		declared, err := declarationWith(under, open, "anchor", plan, settings, gens, Allocating)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		numbered.stamp(&declared)
+		return plan, declared
+	}
+	record := func(declared sendable) {
+		t.Helper()
+		body, err := declared.Body()
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		if _, err := recordSent(ctx, inv, "anchor", body, declared.Builds, declared.Epoch,
+			sentRecordOf(ctx, declared)); err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+	}
+	// Kept for anchor alone. laptop is never recorded as sent, on purpose: composing anchor resolves laptop
+	// too (who is on the private network), and a step that kept every machine's builds refused anchor's
+	// composition for want of laptop's last send (repo-check of #230 at 0f853e93).
+	kept := keepingEveryBuild(keepingRecorded(ctx), "anchor")
+
+	// What anchor was last sent: everything at the builds of before the merge, as an ordinary send sends it.
+	_, before := compose(keepingRecorded(ctx))
+	record(before)
+	plan, declared := compose(kept)
+	if only, err := grantsOnlyIn(ctx, open, "anchor", plan, declared); err != nil || only != "" {
+		t.Fatalf("with nothing changed, the step reads %q, %v", only, err)
+	}
+
+	// The merge: restic's c2 gives it a health tool.
+	if _, _, err := takeIn(ctx, inv, build("restic", "c2", start.Add(time.Minute),
+		resticFixture(true))); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	// The step's send to anchor: restic as anchor runs it, c1, and the user list granting c2's tool.
+	generation, err := inv.AssignmentGeneration(ctx)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	plan, declared = compose(kept)
+	for _, m := range plan.Modules {
+		if m.Module == "restic" && len(m.Tools) > 0 {
+			t.Fatalf("the grants step composed restic's new build on anchor: tools %v", m.Tools)
+		}
+	}
+	if declared.Builds["restic"] != "c1" {
+		t.Fatalf("the step's send records it carries restic %q; want c1, which anchor runs", declared.Builds["restic"])
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(declared.BusUsers, "mesh.mod.restic.tool.backup_health.laptop") {
+		t.Errorf("the step's declaration does not grant laptop's node-engine restic's new tool:\n%s", declared.BusUsers)
+	}
+	// The generation it carries is the current one (novox/hq issue 234), and the step does not raise it.
+	if declared.composedFrom != generation {
+		t.Errorf("the step's send was composed from generation %d; the mesh is at %d", declared.composedFrom, generation)
+	}
+	// The guard, on the very declaration the send sends: only the user list differs from the last send.
+	if only, err := grantsOnlyIn(ctx, open, "anchor", plan, declared); err != nil || only != "" {
+		t.Fatalf("the step reads as changing more than the user list: %q, %v", only, err)
+	}
+	// And the gate's refusal still reads the step's send: it moves nothing there.
+	if names, err := ungatedIn(kept, open, []string{"anchor"}, ""); err != nil || strings.Join(names, ",") != "anchor" {
+		t.Fatalf("the step's send is refused as a move: %v, %v", names, err)
+	}
+	// Recorded as the send records it: anchor still runs restic c1, its gate still to come there.
+	record(declared)
+	if sent, _, err := inv.SentBuilds(ctx, "anchor"); err != nil || sent["restic"] != "c1" {
+		t.Fatalf("after the step anchor reads as sent restic %q (%v); want c1", sent["restic"], err)
+	}
+	if after, err := inv.AssignmentGeneration(ctx); err != nil || after != generation {
+		t.Fatalf("the step moved the assignment generation from %d to %d (%v)", generation, after, err)
+	}
+
+	// A module newly assigned to anchor: the step would install it, unjudged, so it is refused unsent.
+	if _, err := inv.Assign(ctx, "anchor", "wallpaper"); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	plan, declared = compose(kept)
+	only, err := grantsOnlyIn(ctx, open, "anchor", plan, declared)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(only, "wallpaper newly assigned") || !strings.Contains(only, "+wallpaper") {
+		t.Fatalf("a new assignment on the bus's machine reads %q; want the step refused, naming it", only)
+	}
+	// And the send itself refuses it, unsent: judged where it is composed, before the bus is dialled.
+	identity.ForTest(t)
+	if _, err := sendToEach(kept, open, []string{"anchor"}); !errors.Is(err, errNotGrantsOnly) ||
+		!strings.Contains(err.Error(), "wallpaper") {
+		t.Fatalf("the grants step's send of a new assignment was not refused by the send: %v", err)
+	}
+}
+
+// fixtureImage is the image every fixture container of the grants step's tests runs.
+var fixtureImage = "registry.invalid:5000/restic/backup@sha256:" + strings.Repeat("b", 64)
+
+// resticFixture is restic's manifest in the shape of mesh-catalog #210: at c2 (withTool) its backup judged by
+// its new tool `backup_health`, beside a check of another kind it does not run itself — a tool check alone
+// is refused (ADR 0227 rule 8, ADR 0240 rule 2) — and at c1 neither.
+func resticFixture(withTool bool) map[string]any {
+	backup := map[string]any{"id": "backup", "type": "container", "name": "restic-backup", "image": fixtureImage}
+	measure := map[string]any{"id": "measure", "type": "container", "name": "restic-measure", "image": fixtureImage}
+	m := map[string]any{"resources": []any{backup, measure}}
+	if withTool {
+		backup["health"] = map[string]any{"kind": catalogue.HealthTool, "tool": "backup_health"}
+		measure["health"] = map[string]any{"kind": "runtime"}
+		m["tools"] = []string{"backup_health"}
+	}
+	return m
+}
+
+// natsFixture is the bus's module: it holds mesh-broker and is sent the user list.
+func natsFixture() map[string]any {
+	return map[string]any{"bus-users": "/var/lib/nats-module/conf/accounts.conf",
+		"claims": []any{map[string]any{"name": catalogue.BrokerSeat, "scope": catalogue.ScopeMesh}}}
+}
+
+// wallpaperFixture is a module the bus's machine is newly assigned.
+func wallpaperFixture() map[string]any {
+	return map[string]any{"resources": []any{
+		map[string]any{"id": "paper", "type": "container", "name": "wallpaper", "image": fixtureImage}}}
+}

cmd/mesh-controller/grants_step_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,226 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"slices"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/catalogue"
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/inventory"
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/link"
+)
+
+// The grants reach the bus before the gate (novox/hq issue 490).
+//
+// On 2026-10-11 a merge gave restic, assigned to every machine, a new health tool. Its walk sent restic to
+// its first machine and judged it there; that machine's node-engine asked the new tool and the bus refused
+// it, because the grant was in the bus's user list, which only the machine holding the bus carries — and
+// that machine runs restic too, so it was left out of the send while restic's new build waited there for
+// the very gate that could not pass. A person pushed it by hand, carrying restic's new build there unjudged.
+
+// aSend is one send the walk made: to which machines, and whether every build there was kept.
+type aSend struct {
+	names    []string
+	keepsAll bool
+	judged   []string
+}
+
+// sendsRecorded replaces the walk's send and the reading of the bus's user list for one test: the machine
+// holding the bus is novox, and its list is behind as behind says.
+func sendsRecorded(t *testing.T, holder string, behind bool, refuse error) *[]aSend {
+	t.Helper()
+	var sends []aSend
+	wasSend, wasBehind := sendRollout, brokerBehindOf
+	t.Cleanup(func() { sendRollout, brokerBehindOf = wasSend, wasBehind })
+	brokerBehindOf = func(_ context.Context, _ *stores, names []string) (string, bool, error) {
+		if slices.Contains(names, holder) {
+			return holder, false, nil
+		}
+		return holder, behind, nil
+	}
+	sendRollout = func(ctx context.Context, _ *stores, names []string) ([]string, error) {
+		s := aSend{names: append([]string(nil), names...), keepsAll: len(names) == 1 && everyBuildKept(ctx, names[0])}
+		for n := range scopeOf(ctx).judged {
+			s.judged = append(s.judged, n)
+		}
+		sends = append(sends, s)
+		if refuse != nil && s.keepsAll {
+			return nil, refuse
+		}
+		return names, nil
+	}
+	return &sends
+}
+
+// The restic shape: a new tool on a module on every machine, its first machine ace, the bus on novox.
+func TestAWalkSendsTheGrantsToTheBusBeforeTheFirstMachineIsJudged(t *testing.T) {
+	sends := sendsRecorded(t, "novox", true, nil)
+	sent, grants, err := sendJudged(t.Context(), nil, "ace")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if len(*sends) != 2 {
+		t.Fatalf("the walk made %d send(s), want the grants step and then the first machine: %+v", len(*sends), *sends)
+	}
+	first, then := (*sends)[0], (*sends)[1]
+	if strings.Join(first.names, ",") != "novox" || !first.keepsAll || len(first.judged) != 0 {
+		t.Errorf("the first send is %+v, want novox alone, every build there kept, judging nothing", first)
+	}
+	if strings.Join(then.names, ",") != "ace" || then.keepsAll || strings.Join(then.judged, ",") != "ace" {
+		t.Errorf("the second send is %+v, want ace, judged", then)
+	}
+	if strings.Join(sent, ",") != "ace" {
+		t.Errorf("the gate's machines are %v, want ace alone: the bus's machine is not judged", sent)
+	}
+	if grants == nil || grants.Node != "novox" || grants.At == nil || grants.Failed != "" {
+		t.Fatalf("the gate keeps %+v as its grants step", grants)
+	}
+	line := gateLine(&inventory.PlanGate{Machines: sent, Grants: grants})
+	if !strings.Contains(line, "grants step: novox sent the bus's user list first, its builds kept") {
+		t.Errorf("plans says the gate as %q", line)
+	}
+}
+
+// Nothing more when there is nothing to carry: the list unchanged, or the first machine holds the bus.
+func TestAWalkTakesNoGrantsStepWhenTheListIsAlreadyThere(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, c := range []struct {
+		name   string
+		node   string
+		behind bool
+	}{{"the list unchanged", "ace", false}, {"the first machine holds the bus", "novox", true}} {
+		t.Run(c.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			sends := sendsRecorded(t, "novox", c.behind, nil)
+			_, grants, err := sendJudged(t.Context(), nil, c.node)
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Fatal(err)
+			}
+			if len(*sends) != 1 || (*sends)[0].keepsAll || grants != nil {
+				t.Errorf("the walk made %+v with grants %+v, want the judged send alone", *sends, grants)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+// A grants step that cannot be sent is said on the gate, and the walk goes on as it did before.
+func TestAGrantsStepThatFailsIsSaidAndTheSendGoesOn(t *testing.T) {
+	sends := sendsRecorded(t, "novox", true, errors.New("a bus upgrade waits for a person"))
+	sent, grants, err := sendJudged(t.Context(), nil, "ace")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if strings.Join(sent, ",") != "ace" || len(*sends) != 2 {
+		t.Errorf("the walk made %+v", *sends)
+	}
+	if grants == nil || grants.Failed == "" || grants.At != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("the gate keeps %+v", grants)
+	}
+	if line := gateLine(&inventory.PlanGate{Machines: sent, Grants: grants}); !strings.Contains(line,
+		"grants step to novox FAILED, sent without it: a bus upgrade waits for a person") {
+		t.Errorf("plans says the gate as %q", line)
+	}
+}
+
+// A step whose send would change more than the user list is refused unsent by the send (sendToEach): the
+// gate says it FAILED with what differed, and the walk goes on.
+func TestAGrantsStepThatWouldCarryMoreIsNotSent(t *testing.T) {
+	refusal := fmt.Errorf("%w: its send would change more than the bus's user list: -postgres.login-n8n", errNotGrantsOnly)
+	sends := sendsRecorded(t, "novox", true, refusal)
+	sent, grants, err := sendJudged(t.Context(), nil, "ace")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if strings.Join(sent, ",") != "ace" || len(*sends) != 2 {
+		t.Errorf("the walk made %+v, want the refused step and then ace's judged send", *sends)
+	}
+	if grants == nil || grants.At != nil || !strings.Contains(grants.Failed, "-postgres.login-n8n") {
+		t.Fatalf("the gate keeps %+v", grants)
+	}
+}
+
+// The step's exemption is the list's content alone: its path or mode moving is a change like any other.
+func TestOnlyTheUserListsContentIsExempt(t *testing.T) {
+	list := "nats.bus-users"
+	file := func(fields map[string]any) sentResource {
+		r := map[string]any{"id": list, "type": "file", "path": "/conf/accounts.conf", "mode": "0600", "content": "a"}
+		for k, v := range fields {
+			r[k] = v
+		}
+		body, _ := json.Marshal(map[string]any{"resources": []any{r}})
+		s, err := summarize(body)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		return s[0]
+	}
+	was := file(nil)
+	if other := otherThanTheList(diffSent([]sentResource{was}, []sentResource{file(map[string]any{"content": "b"})}), list); len(other) != 0 {
+		t.Errorf("the list's new content reads as more: %v", other)
+	}
+	for _, f := range []map[string]any{{"mode": "0644"}, {"path": "/elsewhere"}, {"content": "b", "owner": "nats"}} {
+		other := otherThanTheList(diffSent([]sentResource{was}, []sentResource{file(f)}), list)
+		if len(other) != 1 || !strings.HasPrefix(other[0], "~"+list) {
+			t.Errorf("the list's resource changed by %v reads %v; want it refused", f, other)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// The step keeps the builds of the machine it sends alone: the others its composition resolves are composed
+// as any send composes them.
+func TestTheGrantsStepKeepsOneMachinesBuilds(t *testing.T) {
+	ctx := keepingEveryBuild(t.Context(), "novox")
+	if !everyBuildKept(ctx, "novox") || everyBuildKept(ctx, "ace") || everyBuildKept(t.Context(), "novox") {
+		t.Error("the grants step keeps the builds of a machine it does not send")
+	}
+}
+
+// The store test's manifests are manifests the controller takes in: checked here, where no store is needed,
+// so a fixture the module rules refuse fails before the store test is run (repo-check of #230 at 325575b2).
+func TestTheGrantsStepFixturesAreManifests(t *testing.T) {
+	for name, m := range map[string]map[string]any{"nats": natsFixture(), "restic-c1": resticFixture(false),
+		"restic-c2": resticFixture(true), "wallpaper": wallpaperFixture()} {
+		m["module"], m["version"] = strings.SplitN(name, "-", 2)[0], "1"
+		raw, err := json.Marshal(m)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		if _, err := catalogue.ParseManifest(raw); err != nil {
+			t.Errorf("%s: %v", name, err)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// The delivery plan says the step before the merge.
+func TestAChangePlanSaysTheGrantsStep(t *testing.T) {
+	const catalogue_ = "http://forge.internal:20000/novox/mesh-catalog.git"
+	entry := func(name string, on ...string) inventory.Entry {
+		e := fromRepo(name, catalogue_, "modules/"+name)
+		e.Source.BuiltFrom = "old"
+		e.On = on
+		return e
+	}
+	nats := entry("nats", "novox")
+	nats.Manifest.BusUsers = "/etc/nats/users.conf"
+	nats.Manifest.Claims = []catalogue.Claim{{Name: catalogue.BrokerSeat, Scope: catalogue.ScopeMesh}}
+	restic := entry("restic", "ace", "novox", "shanks")
+	only := entry("bus-tools", "novox")
+	entries := []inventory.Entry{nats, restic, only}
+	rollsOut := func(string) (inventory.Upgrade, bool) { return inventory.Upgrade{RollOut: true}, true }
+	plan := func(paths ...string) link.ChangePlan {
+		m := link.SourceMoved{Owner: "novox", Repo: "mesh-catalog", Base: "main", Commit: "head", Paths: paths}
+		return changePlanOf("novox/mesh-catalog", "main", "head", reachOfMerge(m, entries, nil, nil), entries, rollsOut)
+	}
+
+	text := planText(plan("modules/restic/module.json"))
+	if !strings.Contains(text, "grants step: if this changes what the bus's user list says (a new tool, subject or "+
+		"user), novox is sent that list alone, every build there kept, before restic is judged on its first machine") {
+		t.Errorf("the change plan does not say the grants step:\n%s", text)
+	}
+	// A module only on the bus's machine goes there with the list in its own send: no step of its own.
+	if text := planText(plan("modules/bus-tools/module.json")); strings.Contains(text, "grants step") {
+		t.Errorf("a module on the bus's machine alone reads:\n%s", text)
+	}
+}

cmd/mesh-controller/handacts.go

@@ -84,6 +84,9 @@ var handActVerbs = []handActVerb{
 		"deliberate test, never a repair", DecidedFor: []string{causeDrill}},
 	// A drill: something broken on purpose to see the mesh raise and clear it. A person's test, never a
 	// repair, however often it is run.
+	// A credential a provider's software issued, taken from the provider and kept for its consumers (novox/hq ADR
+	// 0305): the mesh working as decided, however often the software changes it.
+	{Verb: handActIssued, Decision: "a credential the provider's software issued, kept for its consumers (ADR 0305)"},
 	{Verb: "hand-act drill", Decision: "a drill is a person's deliberate test of the mesh, never a repair"},
 	// A person's decisions by design.
 	{Verb: "retire approve", Decision: "nothing is retired past its bound without a person (ADR 0230)"},

cmd/mesh-controller/issue352_test.go

@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ import (
 // another send reaches anchor, unreported; the gate still passes. And a send that moves a judged module
 // to another build supersedes the judging: no verdict, nothing put back.
 func TestReplay352(t *testing.T) {
+	judgeLeavesAsTheCore(t)
 	t.Run("a newer send to the judged machine does not unreport the gate's", testANewerSendDoesNotUnreportTheGatesOwn)
 	t.Run("a send that moves the module supersedes the judging", testASendThatMovesTheModuleSupersedesTheJudging)
 }
@@ -66,10 +67,11 @@ func testANewerSendDoesNotUnreportTheGatesOwn(t *testing.T) {
 
 // A plan's own first send waits while a release judges the same module on that machine with another build.
 func TestAPlansFirstSendWaitsForAReleaseJudgingTheModuleThere(t *testing.T) {
+	judgeLeavesAsTheCore(t)
 	b := aBacklog(t)
 	ctx := t.Context()
 	advancePlans(ctx, b.open) // the release judges app c2 on anchor
-	_, _, err := gatedSend(ctx, b.open, "anchor", []inventory.CarriedMove{{Module: "app", Node: "anchor", From: "c2", To: "c3", Build: "build-app-c3"}})
+	_, _, _, err := gatedSend(ctx, b.open, "anchor", []inventory.CarriedMove{{Module: "app", Node: "anchor", From: "c2", To: "c3", Build: "build-app-c3"}})
 	if !errors.Is(err, errWalkedElsewhere) || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "release-") {
 		t.Fatalf("a newer build of a judged module was sent under the release's gate: %v", err)
 	}
@@ -80,6 +82,7 @@ func TestAPlansFirstSendWaitsForAReleaseJudgingTheModuleThere(t *testing.T) {
 
 // A merge plan's judging is superseded the same way: another send moved its module on the first machine.
 func TestAPlansJudgingIsSupersededByASendThatMovesItsModule(t *testing.T) {
+	judgeLeavesAsTheCore(t)
 	g := aGateMesh(t)
 	ctx := t.Context()
 	inv := g.open.inventory

cmd/mesh-controller/issue459_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,427 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"encoding/json"
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"reflect"
+	"slices"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/inventory"
+)
+
+// novox/hq issue 459, ADR 0299: since the merge window one walk carries every merge of its batch, so a stop of one
+// group member through `delivery-stop` ended the walk of every other delivery in it. The stop now names the merges
+// to leave out: the walk is ended, and every other merge it answered is walked again in a fresh batch without them
+// — the stopped merge, and each later merge of its repository's branch, which contains it and ends with it.
+
+// endsItsLine ends, as the test ends, a line the controller's output left open (a walk's ask prints "  tier N: " and
+// the asked build the rest, which the tests' fake ask never prints): `go test -v` would put the test's "--- PASS"
+// after it, and the store-tests step of merge-check.sh, which reads that marker at a line's start, would say the
+// test never ran.
+func endsItsLine(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Cleanup(func() { fmt.Println() })
+}
+
+// leaved is a kept merge of a repository, made at a moment.
+func leaved(repository, commit string, made time.Time) inventory.BatchedMerge {
+	return inventory.BatchedMerge{Repository: repository, Branch: "main", Commit: commit, Merged: made, Heard: made}
+}
+
+// The stopped merge is left out, and so is each later merge of its repository's branch, naming the merge it
+// contains; an earlier merge of that repository and every other repository's merge are walked again.
+func TestLeftOutAreTheStoppedMergeAndTheMergesThatContainIt(t *testing.T) {
+	c1 := leaved("novox/mesh-catalog", "c1aaaaaaaaaa", t0)
+	c2 := leaved("novox/mesh-catalog", "c2bbbbbbbbbb", t0.Add(10*time.Second))
+	c3 := leaved("novox/mesh-catalog", "c3cccccccccc", t0.Add(20*time.Second))
+	o1 := leaved("novox/one", "o1dddddddddd", t0.Add(5*time.Second))
+	again, out, err := leaveOut([]inventory.BatchedMerge{c1, o1, c2, c3}, []string{"novox/Mesh-Catalog@c2bbbbbbbbbb"})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	var walked []string
+	for _, m := range again {
+		walked = append(walked, m.Commit)
+	}
+	if !reflect.DeepEqual(walked, []string{c1.Commit, o1.Commit}) {
+		t.Fatalf("walked again: %v; want the earlier catalogue merge and the other repository's", walked)
+	}
+	want := []inventory.PlanLeftOut{{Repository: "novox/mesh-catalog", Commit: c2.Commit},
+		{Repository: "novox/mesh-catalog", Commit: c3.Commit, Contains: c2.Commit}}
+	if !reflect.DeepEqual(out, want) {
+		t.Fatalf("left out: %+v; want %+v", out, want)
+	}
+	// A merge the walk does not answer is refused, naming it: nothing ends.
+	if _, _, err := leaveOut([]inventory.BatchedMerge{c1, o1}, []string{"novox/mesh-catalog@ffffffffffff"}); err == nil ||
+		!strings.Contains(err.Error(), "ffffffffffff") {
+		t.Fatalf("a merge the walk does not answer was left out: %v", err)
+	}
+	if _, _, err := leaveOut([]inventory.BatchedMerge{c1}, []string{"no-commit"}); err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("a merge without its commit was taken")
+	}
+}
+
+// moving is a kept merge that moved modules when it was heard.
+func moving(m inventory.BatchedMerge, modules ...string) inventory.BatchedMerge {
+	m.Event, _ = json.Marshal(keptMerge{Moves: modules})
+	return m
+}
+
+// A merge of another repository that moves a module the stopped merge moves is left out too, naming the modules
+// it shares: the module is built at its branch, which holds the stopped merge (review of #232). And so on, until
+// none more is: a merge sharing a module with that one is left out as well.
+func TestAMergeSharingAStoppedMergesModuleIsLeftOut(t *testing.T) {
+	stopped := moving(leaved("novox/mesh-catalog", "c1aaaaaaaaaa", t0), "app")
+	reader := moving(leaved("novox/one", "o1bbbbbbbbbb", t0.Add(time.Second)), "app", "one")
+	next := moving(leaved("novox/two", "t1cccccccccc", t0.Add(2*time.Second)), "one")
+	free := moving(leaved("novox/three", "h1dddddddddd", t0.Add(3*time.Second)), "three")
+	again, out, err := leaveOut([]inventory.BatchedMerge{stopped, reader, next, free}, []string{"novox/mesh-catalog@c1aaaaaaa"})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if len(again) != 1 || again[0].Commit != free.Commit {
+		t.Fatalf("walked again: %+v; want the merge that shares nothing alone", again)
+	}
+	want := []inventory.PlanLeftOut{{Repository: "novox/mesh-catalog", Commit: stopped.Commit},
+		{Repository: "novox/one", Commit: reader.Commit, Contains: stopped.Commit, Shares: []string{"app"}},
+		{Repository: "novox/two", Commit: next.Commit, Contains: stopped.Commit, Shares: []string{"one"}}}
+	if !reflect.DeepEqual(out, want) {
+		t.Fatalf("left out %+v; want %+v", out, want)
+	}
+}
+
+// A walk withholds a module a stopped merge moved where it would build it only as a dependent; one a merge of its
+// own batch moves is built, and empty tiers go.
+func TestAWalkWithholdsAStoppedMergesDependents(t *testing.T) {
+	plan := inventory.Plan{Tiers: [][]string{{"one"}, {"app"}, {"notes", "app2"}},
+		Modules: map[string]*inventory.PlanModule{"one": {}, "app": {}, "notes": {}, "app2": {}}}
+	got := withhold(&plan, []string{"app", "notes", "absent"}, []string{"notes"})
+	if !reflect.DeepEqual(got, []string{"app"}) || !reflect.DeepEqual(plan.Tiers, [][]string{{"one"}, {"notes", "app2"}}) {
+		t.Fatalf("withheld %v, tiers %v", got, plan.Tiers)
+	}
+	if _, in := plan.Modules["app"]; in {
+		t.Fatal("a withheld module is still in the plan")
+	}
+}
+
+// The seat verb passes the merges to leave out to the command.
+func TestDeliveryStopTakesTheMergesToLeaveOut(t *testing.T) {
+	got, err := argvFor("delivery-stop", map[string]any{"plan": "plan-1", "why": "w", "by": "jochen",
+		"without": "novox/mesh-lab@b1,novox/mesh-lab@b2"})
+	want := []string{"delivery", "stop", "plan-1", "--why", "w", "--by", "mesh-delivery for jochen",
+		"--without", "novox/mesh-lab@b1,novox/mesh-lab@b2"}
+	if err != nil || !reflect.DeepEqual(got, want) {
+		t.Fatalf("delivery-stop with without → %v %v, wanted %v", got, err, want)
+	}
+}
+
+// A walk of the catalogue's merge and another repository's is stopped without the catalogue's: it ends stopped,
+// names the batch that walks the other merge again and the merge it left out, and that batch is cut into a walk
+// that builds the other repository's module alone.
+func TestAStopWithoutAMergeWalksTheOthersAgain(t *testing.T) {
+	open := windowed(t)
+	endsItsLine(t)
+	asksRecorded(t)
+	ctx := t.Context()
+	cat := catalogueMerge("cat1aaaaaaaa", "app", t0)
+	one := repoMerge("one", "one1bbbbbbbb", t0.Add(5*time.Second))
+	hear(t, open, cat, t0.Add(time.Second))
+	hear(t, open, one, t0.Add(6*time.Second))
+	cutAt(t, open, t0.Add(2*time.Minute))
+	ws, _ := walks(t, open)
+	if len(ws) != 1 || !ws[0].Open() {
+		t.Fatalf("no open walk to stop: %+v", ws)
+	}
+	stopped := ws[0]
+	p, said, err := stopWalkWithout(ctx, open.inventory, stopped.ID, "mesh-delivery for jochen", "its group stopped",
+		[]string{"novox/mesh-catalog@" + cat.Commit}, t0.Add(3*time.Minute))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if p.State != inventory.PlanFailed || p.Delivery.Stopped == "" || p.Delivery.WalkedAgainBy == "" ||
+		!reflect.DeepEqual(p.Delivery.LeftOut, []inventory.PlanLeftOut{{Repository: "novox/mesh-catalog", Commit: cat.Commit}}) {
+		t.Fatalf("the stopped walk reads %s %+v", p.State, p.Delivery)
+	}
+	if said.WalkedAgainBy != p.Delivery.WalkedAgainBy || !reflect.DeepEqual(said.WalkedAgain, []string{"novox/one@" + one.Commit}) {
+		t.Fatalf("the stop answered %+v", said)
+	}
+	again, err := open.inventory.MergesOf(ctx, p.Delivery.WalkedAgainBy)
+	if err != nil || len(again) != 1 || again[0].Commit != one.Commit {
+		t.Fatalf("the fresh batch answers %+v (%v); want the other repository's merge alone", again, err)
+	}
+	if left, _ := open.inventory.MergesOf(ctx, stopped.ID); len(left) != 1 || left[0].Commit != cat.Commit {
+		t.Fatalf("the stopped walk still answers %+v; want the left-out merge alone", left)
+	}
+	cutAt(t, open, t0.Add(4*time.Minute))
+	fresh, err := open.inventory.PlanByID(ctx, p.Delivery.WalkedAgainBy)
+	if err != nil || fresh.Batch() || !fresh.Open() {
+		t.Fatalf("the fresh batch was not cut into a walk: %s %v", fresh.State, err)
+	}
+	if _, in := fresh.Modules["one"]; !in {
+		t.Fatalf("the fresh walk does not build one: %v", fresh.Modules)
+	}
+	if _, in := fresh.Modules["app"]; in {
+		t.Fatalf("the fresh walk builds app, whose merge was left out: %v", fresh.Modules)
+	}
+	if len(fresh.Delivery.Merges) != 1 || fresh.Delivery.Merges[0].Commit != one.Commit {
+		t.Fatalf("the fresh walk answers %+v", fresh.Delivery.Merges)
+	}
+	// A stopped walk starts no search of its own (ADR 0276 decision 3 is for a failed one).
+	cutAt(t, open, t0.Add(5*time.Minute))
+	if alone, _ := open.inventory.AloneMerges(ctx); len(alone) != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("a merge of the stopped walk waits to be walked alone: %+v", alone)
+	}
+}
+
+// A later merge of the stopped merge's repository contains it: it is left out too, named with the merge it
+// contains, and only the other repository's merge is walked again. With nothing left to walk, the walk is only
+// ended. A merge the walk does not answer is refused, and nothing ends.
+func TestAStopWithoutAMergeEndsTheMergesThatContainIt(t *testing.T) {
+	open := windowed(t)
+	endsItsLine(t)
+	asksRecorded(t)
+	ctx := t.Context()
+	first := catalogueMerge("cat1aaaaaaaa", "app", t0)
+	later := catalogueMerge("cat2cccccccc", "notes", t0.Add(10*time.Second))
+	one := repoMerge("one", "one1bbbbbbbb", t0.Add(5*time.Second))
+	hear(t, open, first, t0.Add(time.Second))
+	hear(t, open, one, t0.Add(6*time.Second))
+	hear(t, open, later, t0.Add(11*time.Second))
+	cutAt(t, open, t0.Add(2*time.Minute))
+	ws, _ := walks(t, open)
+	walk := ws[0]
+
+	if _, _, err := stopWalkWithout(ctx, open.inventory, walk.ID, "mesh-delivery for jochen", "x",
+		[]string{"novox/mesh-catalog@ffffffffffff"}, t0.Add(3*time.Minute)); err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("a stop leaving out a merge the walk does not answer was taken")
+	}
+	if p, _ := open.inventory.PlanByID(ctx, walk.ID); !p.Open() {
+		t.Fatalf("a refused stop ended the walk: %s", p.State)
+	}
+
+	p, said, err := stopWalkWithout(ctx, open.inventory, walk.ID, "mesh-delivery for jochen", "its group stopped",
+		[]string{"novox/mesh-catalog@" + first.Commit}, t0.Add(3*time.Minute))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	want := []inventory.PlanLeftOut{{Repository: "novox/mesh-catalog", Commit: first.Commit},
+		{Repository: "novox/mesh-catalog", Commit: later.Commit, Contains: first.Commit}}
+	if !reflect.DeepEqual(p.Delivery.LeftOut, want) || !reflect.DeepEqual(said.LeftOut, want) {
+		t.Fatalf("left out %+v, said %+v; want %+v", p.Delivery.LeftOut, said.LeftOut, want)
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(p.Note, later.Commit[:8]) || !strings.Contains(p.Note, p.Delivery.WalkedAgainBy) {
+		t.Fatalf("the stopped walk's note does not name the merge ended with it and the fresh batch: %q", p.Note)
+	}
+	again, _ := open.inventory.MergesOf(ctx, p.Delivery.WalkedAgainBy)
+	if len(again) != 1 || again[0].Commit != one.Commit {
+		t.Fatalf("walked again: %+v; want the other repository's merge alone", again)
+	}
+
+	// Nothing left once the other repository's merge is left out too: the fresh walk is stopped, and nothing more.
+	cutAt(t, open, t0.Add(4*time.Minute))
+	fresh, _ := open.inventory.PlanByID(ctx, p.Delivery.WalkedAgainBy)
+	q, said, err := stopWalkWithout(ctx, open.inventory, fresh.ID, "mesh-delivery for jochen", "that one too",
+		[]string{"novox/one@" + one.Commit}, t0.Add(5*time.Minute))
+	if err != nil || q.State != inventory.PlanFailed || q.Delivery.WalkedAgainBy != "" || said.WalkedAgainBy != "" {
+		t.Fatalf("a stop leaving nothing to walk: %s %+v %+v %v", q.State, q.Delivery, said, err)
+	}
+	if _, bs := walks(t, open); len(bs) != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("a batch of nothing was made: %+v", bs)
+	}
+}
+
+// A merge heard while the walk ran waits in the open batch, at a later commit of the same repository. The merge
+// walked again joins that batch, never a batch of its own that would walk the older commit after the newer one
+// (review of #232): its window closes, and its walk is at the newer commit, answering both.
+func TestAStopWalksTheOthersAgainInTheOpenBatch(t *testing.T) {
+	open := windowed(t)
+	endsItsLine(t)
+	asksRecorded(t)
+	ctx := t.Context()
+	cat := catalogueMerge("cat1aaaaaaaa", "app", t0)
+	one1 := repoMerge("one", "one1bbbbbbbb", t0.Add(5*time.Second))
+	hear(t, open, cat, t0.Add(time.Second))
+	hear(t, open, one1, t0.Add(6*time.Second))
+	cutAt(t, open, t0.Add(2*time.Minute))
+	ws, _ := walks(t, open)
+	walk := ws[0]
+	one2 := repoMerge("one", "one2cccccccc", t0.Add(3*time.Minute))
+	hear(t, open, one2, t0.Add(3*time.Minute))
+	_, bs := walks(t, open)
+	if len(bs) != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("the merge heard while the walk ran is in %d batches", len(bs))
+	}
+	waiting := bs[0]
+	p, said, err := stopWalkWithout(ctx, open.inventory, walk.ID, "mesh-delivery for jochen", "its group stopped",
+		[]string{"novox/mesh-catalog@" + cat.Commit}, t0.Add(3*time.Minute+10*time.Second))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if p.Delivery.WalkedAgainBy != waiting.ID || said.WalkedAgainBy != waiting.ID {
+		t.Fatalf("walked again by %q (said %q); want the open batch %s", p.Delivery.WalkedAgainBy, said.WalkedAgainBy, waiting.ID)
+	}
+	if _, bs := walks(t, open); len(bs) != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("%d batches; want the open one alone", len(bs))
+	}
+	b, _ := open.inventory.PlanByID(ctx, waiting.ID)
+	if b.Delivery.Batch == nil || !b.Delivery.Batch.Closed || !slices.Contains(b.Delivery.Batch.Withheld, "app") {
+		t.Fatalf("the open batch reads %+v; want its window closed and app withheld", b.Delivery.Batch)
+	}
+	// Its window closed by the stop, not by the clock: cut at once.
+	cutAt(t, open, t0.Add(3*time.Minute+11*time.Second))
+	fresh, _ := open.inventory.PlanByID(ctx, waiting.ID)
+	if fresh.Batch() || fresh.CommitOf("novox/one") != one2.Commit {
+		t.Fatalf("the batch is %s at %q; want it cut, walking the newer commit", fresh.State, fresh.CommitOf("novox/one"))
+	}
+	var answered []string
+	for _, m := range fresh.Delivery.Merges {
+		answered = append(answered, m.Commit+">"+m.Carried)
+	}
+	if !slices.Contains(answered, one1.Commit+">"+one2.Commit) || !slices.Contains(answered, one2.Commit+">") {
+		t.Fatalf("the walk answers %v; want the earlier merge carried by the later", answered)
+	}
+}
+
+// A stop names what the stopped walk already sent and nothing walks again, on which machines; and a later merge of
+// the stopped merge's repository that waits in a batch, which will deliver the stopped change. A stopped walk
+// that walked its merges again is refused a retry, saying why.
+func TestAStopNamesWhatStaysOnTheMachinesAndWhatStillCarriesIt(t *testing.T) {
+	open := windowed(t)
+	endsItsLine(t)
+	asksRecorded(t)
+	ctx := t.Context()
+	cat := catalogueMerge("cat1aaaaaaaa", "app", t0)
+	one1 := repoMerge("one", "one1bbbbbbbb", t0.Add(5*time.Second))
+	hear(t, open, cat, t0.Add(time.Second))
+	hear(t, open, one1, t0.Add(6*time.Second))
+	cutAt(t, open, t0.Add(2*time.Minute))
+	ws, _ := walks(t, open)
+	walk := ws[0]
+	sent := t0.Add(150 * time.Second)
+	for name, m := range walk.Modules {
+		if name == "app" || name == "one" {
+			m.First, m.FirstAt = []string{"anchor"}, &sent
+		}
+	}
+	if err := open.inventory.SavePlan(ctx, &walk); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	cat2 := catalogueMerge("cat2dddddddd", "notes", t0.Add(3*time.Minute))
+	hear(t, open, cat2, t0.Add(3*time.Minute))
+	_, said, err := stopWalkWithout(ctx, open.inventory, walk.ID, "mesh-delivery for jochen", "its group stopped",
+		[]string{"novox/mesh-catalog@" + cat.Commit}, t0.Add(3*time.Minute+10*time.Second))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if !reflect.DeepEqual(said.Kept, []inventory.PlanKept{{Module: "app", Machines: []string{"anchor"}}}) {
+		t.Fatalf("kept %+v; want app on anchor alone (one is walked again)", said.Kept)
+	}
+	p, _ := open.inventory.PlanByID(ctx, walk.ID)
+	if !reflect.DeepEqual(p.Delivery.Kept, said.Kept) || !strings.Contains(p.Note, "app on anchor") {
+		t.Fatalf("the stopped walk's record does not name what stays: %+v %q", p.Delivery.Kept, p.Note)
+	}
+	if len(said.StillCarriedBy) != 1 || !strings.Contains(said.StillCarriedBy[0], cat2.Commit) {
+		t.Fatalf("still carried by %v; want the later catalogue merge waiting in the batch", said.StillCarriedBy)
+	}
+	if _, err := retryPlan(ctx, open, walk.ID); err == nil || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "was stopped without") {
+		t.Fatalf("a walk stopped without some merges was retried, or refused for another reason: %v", err)
+	}
+}
+
+// A batch not yet cut is stopped without a merge: the merge goes to a stopped record of its own, the batch goes on
+// with the others and withholds the stopped merge's modules; with every merge left out, the batch is stopped.
+func TestAStopWithoutAMergeLeavesItOutOfABatch(t *testing.T) {
+	open := windowed(t)
+	endsItsLine(t)
+	asksRecorded(t)
+	ctx := t.Context()
+	cat := catalogueMerge("cat1aaaaaaaa", "app", t0)
+	one := repoMerge("one", "one1bbbbbbbb", t0.Add(5*time.Second))
+	hear(t, open, cat, t0.Add(time.Second))
+	hear(t, open, one, t0.Add(6*time.Second))
+	_, bs := walks(t, open)
+	b := bs[0]
+	r, said, err := stopWalkWithout(ctx, open.inventory, b.ID, "mesh-delivery for jochen", "its group stopped",
+		[]string{"novox/mesh-catalog@" + cat.Commit}, t0.Add(10*time.Second))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if said.WalkedAgainBy != b.ID || said.Stopped == b.ID {
+		t.Fatalf("said %+v; want a stopped record of its own, and the batch walking the others", said)
+	}
+	if left, _ := open.inventory.MergesOf(ctx, said.Stopped); len(left) != 1 || left[0].Commit != cat.Commit {
+		t.Fatalf("the stopped record holds %+v", left)
+	}
+	if stopped, _ := open.inventory.PlanByID(ctx, said.Stopped); stopped.State != inventory.PlanFailed ||
+		stopped.Delivery.Stopped == "" || stopped.Delivery.WalkedAgainBy != b.ID {
+		t.Fatalf("the stopped record reads %s %+v", stopped.State, stopped.Delivery)
+	}
+	_ = r
+	cutAt(t, open, t0.Add(3*time.Minute))
+	w, _ := open.inventory.PlanByID(ctx, b.ID)
+	if _, in := w.Modules["app"]; in || w.Batch() {
+		t.Fatalf("the batch's walk is %s and builds %v; want it cut without app", w.State, w.Modules)
+	}
+	// A batch whose every merge is left out is stopped itself.
+	hear(t, open, catalogueMerge("cat3eeeeeeee", "notes", t0.Add(4*time.Minute)), t0.Add(4*time.Minute))
+	_, bs = walks(t, open)
+	last := bs[0]
+	if _, said, err := stopWalkWithout(ctx, open.inventory, last.ID, "mesh-delivery for jochen", "x",
+		[]string{"novox/mesh-catalog@cat3eeeeeeee"}, t0.Add(4*time.Minute+time.Second)); err != nil || said.Stopped != last.ID {
+		t.Fatalf("a batch left with nothing: %+v %v", said, err)
+	}
+	if p, _ := open.inventory.PlanByID(ctx, last.ID); p.State != inventory.PlanFailed || p.Batch() {
+		t.Fatalf("the emptied batch is %s", p.State)
+	}
+}
+
+// The stopped walk, the batch and the merges moved are one act (ADR 0299 decision 7): a plan written by somebody
+// else since it was read refuses all of it, and no merge moves, no plan is written.
+func TestSavingPlansAndMovingMergesIsOneAct(t *testing.T) {
+	open := windowed(t)
+	endsItsLine(t)
+	ctx := t.Context()
+	hear(t, open, catalogueMerge("cat1aaaaaaaa", "app", t0), t0.Add(time.Second))
+	_, bs := walks(t, open)
+	stale := bs[0]
+	moved := stale
+	moved.Note = "written by somebody else"
+	if err := open.inventory.SavePlan(ctx, &moved); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	fresh := inventory.Plan{ID: "plan-fresh", Repository: "novox/mesh-catalog", Branch: "main", Commit: "x", Created: t0,
+		State: inventory.PlanAssembling, Tiers: [][]string{}, Modules: map[string]*inventory.PlanModule{}}
+	err := open.inventory.SavePlansMoving(ctx, []*inventory.Plan{&fresh, &stale},
+		[]inventory.MergeMove{{Repository: "novox/mesh-catalog", Commit: "cat1aaaaaaaa", Plan: "plan-fresh"}})
+	if !errors.Is(err, inventory.ErrPlanMoved) {
+		t.Fatalf("a stale plan in the act: %v", err)
+	}
+	if _, err := open.inventory.PlanByID(ctx, "plan-fresh"); err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("the new plan was written though the act was refused")
+	}
+	if m, _, _ := open.inventory.MergeOf(ctx, "novox/mesh-catalog", "cat1aaaaaaaa"); m.Plan != stale.ID {
+		t.Fatalf("the merge moved to %q though the act was refused", m.Plan)
+	}
+}
+
+// What a stopped walk leaves on the machines names every machine its sends reached (review of #232): a module sent
+// with no first machine reached every machine running it; one sent first reached those, and the rest it was sent
+// to; a module a merge walked again moves is sent again, and is not named.
+func TestKeptNamesEveryMachineASendReached(t *testing.T) {
+	at := t0
+	p := inventory.Plan{Modules: map[string]*inventory.PlanModule{
+		"together": {SentAt: &at},
+		"first":    {First: []string{"anchor"}, FirstAt: &at, Rest: map[string]inventory.SentDeclaration{"laptop": {}}},
+		"again":    {SentAt: &at},
+		"unsent":   {},
+	}}
+	got := keptOf(p, []string{"again"}, map[string][]string{"together": {"laptop", "anchor"}, "again": {"anchor"}})
+	want := []inventory.PlanKept{{Module: "first", Machines: []string{"anchor", "laptop"}},
+		{Module: "together", Machines: []string{"anchor", "laptop"}}}
+	if !reflect.DeepEqual(got, want) {
+		t.Fatalf("kept %+v; want %+v", got, want)
+	}
+}

cmd/mesh-controller/issued.go

@@ -0,0 +1,272 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"sort"
+	"strings"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/nats-io/nats.go"
+
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/broker"
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/catalogue"
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/inventory"
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/link"
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/secrets"
+)
+
+// `secret issued <provision>`: the credential a provider's software issued, taken from the provider and kept as
+// the provision's one credential for every consumer (novox/hq ADR 0305, issue 526).
+//
+// **The value comes from the provider, never from whoever asks.** A module served by its machine's runtime calls
+// under the runtime's one bus account, which carries that machine's agents' calls too, so a value handed to a
+// verb could be anybody's. This line carries none: it asks the provider's own tool, on the provider's machine, in
+// the controller's own name — the subject that names its caller, which the bus lets the controller alone publish
+// (issue 365) — with a sealing key made for this one call. The tool answers only the controller, the value sealed
+// to that key; the controller opens it, seals it to every holder and forgets it, as the desk's value is (ADR 0277
+// §23). Asking again fetches the same value again, and a value every holder already holds is not sealed anew.
+//
+// **What this trusts: the provider's machine.** The answer is taken from whoever answers the provider's tool
+// subject on the provider's machine first. On that machine its runtime serves the subject for every module it
+// carries, so anything that runtime runs, or anything else granted that subject there, could answer before the
+// provider does and hand the controller a value of its own. ADR 0305 accepts that by trusting the provider's
+// machine, as the provider itself is trusted; the bus keeps every other machine from answering it.
+
+// handActIssued is the verb a change of an issued value is recorded under: the mesh working as decided.
+const handActIssued = "secret issued"
+
+// issuedAsk is how long the provider's tool is given to answer.
+const issuedAsk = 20 * time.Second
+
+// issuedProvider is one assignment of a module whose offer says its software issues the provision's credential.
+type issuedProvider struct {
+	Node, Module, Tool string
+}
+
+// issuedTaker is the line's work, with what it reaches handed in: the store, the bus and the sends.
+type issuedTaker struct {
+	// providers are the assignments to ask, and whether any module offers the provision so at all.
+	providers func(provision string) ([]issuedProvider, bool, error)
+	ask       func(p issuedProvider, args map[string]any) (link.Answer, error)
+	keep      func(provision, provider, value string) (inventory.IssuedKept, error)
+	record    func(act link.HandAct) error
+	send      func(machines []string) error
+}
+
+// take asks every provider of the provision for its software's value and keeps each; it answers what it did, in
+// words that never carry the value or its fingerprint.
+func (t issuedTaker) take(provision string) (string, error) {
+	providers, offered, err := t.providers(provision)
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+	if !offered {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("no module offers %q with a credential its software issues (\"credential\": "+
+			"{\"issued-by\": \"software\", \"tool\": …}, ADR 0305), so there is nothing to take from a provider; "+
+			"nothing was asked", provision)
+	}
+	if len(providers) == 0 {
+		return fmt.Sprintf("no consumer holds %s from a provider whose software issues it yet, so there is nothing "+
+			"to seal; a consumer that binds holds a value the mesh made until the provider next asks", provision), nil
+	}
+	var said []string
+	var failed []string
+	for _, p := range providers {
+		words, err := t.takeFrom(provision, p)
+		if err != nil {
+			failed = append(failed, fmt.Sprintf("%s on %s: %v", p.Module, p.Node, err))
+			continue
+		}
+		said = append(said, words)
+	}
+	out := strings.Join(said, "\n")
+	if len(failed) > 0 {
+		return out, fmt.Errorf("%s was not taken from every provider:\n  %s", provision, strings.Join(failed, "\n  "))
+	}
+	return out, nil
+}
+
+// takeFrom is one provider: asked, opened, kept, recorded and sent when it changed.
+func (t issuedTaker) takeFrom(provision string, p issuedProvider) (string, error) {
+	public, private, err := secrets.Keypair()
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("no key could be made to take the value: %w", err)
+	}
+	answer, err := t.ask(p, map[string]any{"provision": provision, "seal_to": public})
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("its tool %s could not be asked: %w", p.Tool, err)
+	}
+	if answer.Error != "" {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("its tool %s refused: %s", p.Tool, answer.Error)
+	}
+	var given struct {
+		Sealed string `json:"sealed"`
+	}
+	if err := unmarshalAnswer(answer, &given); err != nil || given.Sealed == "" {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("its tool %s answered no sealed value", p.Tool)
+	}
+	opened, err := secrets.Open(private, given.Sealed)
+	if err != nil {
+		// Never the value, never what failed to open: only that it was not sealed to this call.
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("its tool %s answered a value not sealed to this call; nothing was taken", p.Tool)
+	}
+	value := strings.TrimSpace(string(opened))
+	for i := range opened {
+		opened[i] = 0
+	}
+	if value == "" {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("its tool %s answered an empty value; nothing was taken", p.Tool)
+	}
+	kept, err := t.keep(provision, p.Node, value)
+	value = ""
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+	holders := make([]string, 0, len(kept.Holders))
+	for _, h := range kept.Holders {
+		holders = append(holders, fmt.Sprintf("%s on %s%s", h.ConsumerModule, h.Consumer, asLocal(h.Local)))
+	}
+	words := ""
+	if len(kept.Unsealable) > 0 {
+		var names []string
+		for _, h := range kept.Unsealable {
+			names = append(names, fmt.Sprintf("%s on %s", h.ConsumerModule, h.Consumer))
+		}
+		words = fmt.Sprintf("\n  not sealed to %s: no sealing key on that machine", strings.Join(names, ", "))
+	}
+	if !kept.Changed {
+		return fmt.Sprintf("%s from %s on %s: every holder already holds the value its software issued (%s); "+
+			"nothing was sent%s", provision, p.Module, p.Node, strings.Join(holders, ", "), words), nil
+	}
+	sealedTo := make([]string, 0, len(kept.Sealed))
+	for _, h := range kept.Sealed {
+		sealedTo = append(sealedTo, fmt.Sprintf("%s on %s%s", h.ConsumerModule, h.Consumer, asLocal(h.Local)))
+	}
+	recorded := ""
+	if err := t.record(link.HandAct{Verb: handActIssued, Args: []string{provision},
+		Why: fmt.Sprintf("%s on %s gave the credential its software issued for %s; sealed to %s", p.Module, p.Node,
+			provision, strings.Join(sealedTo, ", ")),
+		Cause: "issued-by-software"}); err != nil {
+		recorded = fmt.Sprintf("\n  this was NOT recorded in the hand-act log, and is done anyway: %v", err)
+	}
+	if err := t.send(kept.Machines); err != nil {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("%s from %s on %s is sealed to %s and could not be sent: %w; `push --behind` sends it",
+			provision, p.Module, p.Node, strings.Join(sealedTo, ", "), err)
+	}
+	return fmt.Sprintf("%s from %s on %s: the value its software issued is sealed to %s; sent %s, and each of "+
+		"them starts again on it%s%s", provision, p.Module, p.Node, strings.Join(sealedTo, ", "),
+		strings.Join(kept.Machines, ", "), words, recorded), nil
+}
+
+// issuedProvidersOf are the assignments to ask for a provision: every machine providing it to a pair the mesh
+// holds, and on it the assigned module whose offer says its software issues the credential (ADR 0305 §1).
+func issuedProvidersOf(ctx context.Context, inv *inventory.Inventory, provision string) ([]issuedProvider, bool, error) {
+	shelf, err := inv.Catalogue(ctx)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, false, err
+	}
+	if !offersIssued(shelf, provision) {
+		return nil, false, nil
+	}
+	holders, err := inv.HoldersOf(ctx, provision, "")
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, true, err
+	}
+	nodes := map[string]bool{}
+	for _, h := range holders {
+		nodes[h.Provider] = true
+	}
+	names := make([]string, 0, len(nodes))
+	for n := range nodes {
+		names = append(names, n)
+	}
+	sort.Strings(names)
+	var out []issuedProvider
+	for _, node := range names {
+		assigned, err := inv.Assigned(ctx, node)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, true, err
+		}
+		out = append(out, issuedOn(shelf, node, assigned, provision)...)
+	}
+	return out, true, nil
+}
+
+// offersIssued is whether any module offers the provision with a credential its software issues.
+func offersIssued(shelf map[string]catalogue.Manifest, provision string) bool {
+	for _, m := range shelf {
+		if _, issued := m.IssuedCredentialOf(provision); issued {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+	return false
+}
+
+// issuedOn are the modules assigned to one machine whose offer says their software issues the provision's
+// credential, each with the tool that answers it.
+func issuedOn(shelf map[string]catalogue.Manifest, node string, assigned []string, provision string) []issuedProvider {
+	var out []issuedProvider
+	for _, module := range assigned {
+		if tool, issued := shelf[module].IssuedCredentialOf(provision); issued {
+			out = append(out, issuedProvider{Node: node, Module: module, Tool: tool})
+		}
+	}
+	return out
+}
+
+// issuedRefusesRotation refuses `rotate` of a provision its provider's software issues (ADR 0305 §9): a value the
+// mesh made would replace one the software holds, and every consumer would hold a dead credential until the
+// provider next asks.
+func issuedRefusesRotation(shelf map[string]catalogue.Manifest, provision string) error {
+	if !offersIssued(shelf, provision) {
+		return nil
+	}
+	return fmt.Errorf("%s's credential is issued by its provider's software, which the mesh cannot make or "+
+		"rotate (ADR 0305): change it in that software, and `secret issued %s` takes the value it holds now. "+
+		"Nothing was rotated", provision, provision)
+}
+
+// secretIssued is `secret issued <provision>`, on this controller's stores and bus.
+func secretIssued(ctx context.Context, args []string) error {
+	if len(args) != 1 || args[0] == "" || strings.HasPrefix(args[0], "-") {
+		return errors.New("secret issued <provision>")
+	}
+	provision := args[0]
+	open, err := openStores(ctx)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	defer open.Close()
+	t := issuedTaker{
+		providers: func(provision string) ([]issuedProvider, bool, error) {
+			return issuedProvidersOf(ctx, open.inventory, provision)
+		},
+		ask: func(p issuedProvider, args map[string]any) (link.Answer, error) {
+			var answer link.Answer
+			err := onTheBus(func(conn *nats.Conn) error {
+				var err error
+				answer, err = link.AskModuleToolOnAs(ctx, conn, broker.ControllerName, p.Module, p.Tool, p.Node,
+					args, issuedAsk)
+				return err
+			})
+			return answer, err
+		},
+		keep: func(provision, provider, value string) (inventory.IssuedKept, error) {
+			return open.inventory.KeepIssuedSecret(ctx, provision, provider, value)
+		},
+		record: func(act link.HandAct) error {
+			return onTheBus(func(conn *nats.Conn) error {
+				_, err := link.RecordHandAct(ctx, conn, act)
+				return err
+			})
+		},
+		send: func(machines []string) error { return sendTo(ctx, open, machines) },
+	}
+	words, err := t.take(provision)
+	if words != "" {
+		fmt.Println(words)
+	}
+	return err
+}

cmd/mesh-controller/issued_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,218 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"encoding/json"
+	"errors"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/catalogue"
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/inventory"
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/link"
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/secrets"
+)
+
+// The `issued` verb runs `secret issued <provision>` and nothing else, and that line is the one `secret` line
+// beside rotate and the desk's that a verb may run (novox/hq ADR 0305 §3, §10, issue 526).
+func TestTheIssuedVerbRunsTheOneLineThatCarriesNoValue(t *testing.T) {
+	argv, err := argvFor("issued", map[string]any{"provision": "plex-api"})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if strings.Join(argv, " ") != "secret issued plex-api" {
+		t.Fatalf("the verb composed %q", argv)
+	}
+	if _, err := argvFor("issued", map[string]any{}); err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("the verb ran with no provision")
+	}
+	if _, err := argvFor("issued", map[string]any{"provision": "plex-api", "secret": "a value"}); err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("the verb took a value beside the provision")
+	}
+	for _, line := range [][]string{
+		{"secret", "issued", "plex-api", "--from", "/tmp/x"},
+		{"secret", "issued", "--from"},
+		{"secret", "issued"},
+		{"secret", "accept", "ace", "kometa", "plex-api", "--provider", "ace"},
+		{"secret", "recover", "ace", "kometa", "plex-api"},
+	} {
+		if err := terminalOnly(line); err == nil {
+			t.Errorf("%q ran through a verb", line)
+		}
+	}
+	if err := terminalOnly([]string{"secret", "issued", "plex-api"}); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("the issued line was refused through its verb: %v", err)
+	}
+	found := false
+	for _, v := range catalogue.ControllerVerbs {
+		if v.Name == "issued" {
+			found = true
+		}
+	}
+	if !found {
+		t.Fatal("the controller's seat does not declare the issued verb")
+	}
+}
+
+// A provider's tool answering the value sealed to the call's key: what a provider does (ADR 0305 §2).
+func issuedSealed(t *testing.T, value string) func(issuedProvider, map[string]any) (link.Answer, error) {
+	return func(_ issuedProvider, args map[string]any) (link.Answer, error) {
+		key, _ := args["seal_to"].(string)
+		if key == "" {
+			t.Fatal("the provider was asked without a key to seal to")
+		}
+		if _, carried := args["value"]; carried {
+			t.Fatal("the ask carried a value")
+		}
+		sealed, err := secrets.Seal(key, []byte(value))
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		raw, _ := json.Marshal(map[string]string{"sealed": sealed})
+		return link.Answer{Result: raw}, nil
+	}
+}
+
+type issuedRecorder struct {
+	kept  []string
+	acts  []link.HandAct
+	sent  [][]string
+	again bool // the value is held by every holder already
+}
+
+func (r *issuedRecorder) taker(t *testing.T, ask func(issuedProvider, map[string]any) (link.Answer, error)) issuedTaker {
+	return issuedTaker{
+		providers: func(provision string) ([]issuedProvider, bool, error) {
+			return []issuedProvider{{Node: "ace", Module: "plex", Tool: "plex_issued_credential"}}, true, nil
+		},
+		ask: ask,
+		keep: func(provision, provider, value string) (inventory.IssuedKept, error) {
+			r.kept = append(r.kept, value)
+			holders := []inventory.Holder{{Provision: provision, Consumer: "ace", ConsumerModule: "kometa", Provider: provider},
+				{Provision: provision, Consumer: "ace", ConsumerModule: "tautulli", Provider: provider}}
+			if r.again {
+				return inventory.IssuedKept{Holders: holders}, nil
+			}
+			return inventory.IssuedKept{Changed: true, Holders: holders, Sealed: holders, Machines: []string{"ace"}}, nil
+		},
+		record: func(act link.HandAct) error { r.acts = append(r.acts, act); return nil },
+		send:   func(machines []string) error { r.sent = append(r.sent, machines); return nil },
+	}
+}
+
+// The value the provider's tool sealed to the call is kept, recorded and sent, and the answer never says it.
+func TestAnIssuedValueIsTakenSealedFromTheProviderAndSent(t *testing.T) {
+	var r issuedRecorder
+	words, err := r.taker(t, issuedSealed(t, "the-servers-own-token")).take("plex-api")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if len(r.kept) != 1 || r.kept[0] != "the-servers-own-token" {
+		t.Fatalf("the provider's value was not kept: %d kept", len(r.kept))
+	}
+	if len(r.sent) != 1 || strings.Join(r.sent[0], ",") != "ace" {
+		t.Fatalf("the holders' machines were not sent: %v", r.sent)
+	}
+	if len(r.acts) != 1 || r.acts[0].Verb != handActIssued {
+		t.Fatalf("the change was not recorded in the hand-act log: %+v", r.acts)
+	}
+	for _, said := range []string{words, r.acts[0].Why, strings.Join(r.acts[0].Args, " ")} {
+		if strings.Contains(said, "the-servers-own-token") || strings.Contains(said, inventory.IssuedStamp("the-servers-own-token")) {
+			t.Fatalf("the value or its fingerprint was said: %q", said)
+		}
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(words, "kometa on ace") || !strings.Contains(words, "tautulli on ace") {
+		t.Fatalf("the answer does not name the holders: %q", words)
+	}
+}
+
+// The same value again writes nothing, records nothing and sends nobody (ADR 0305 §5).
+func TestAnIssuedValueEveryHolderHoldsSendsNobody(t *testing.T) {
+	r := issuedRecorder{again: true}
+	words, err := r.taker(t, issuedSealed(t, "the-servers-own-token")).take("plex-api")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if len(r.sent) != 0 || len(r.acts) != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("an unchanged value was sent or recorded: %v %v", r.sent, r.acts)
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(words, "nothing was sent") {
+		t.Fatalf("the answer does not say nothing was sent: %q", words)
+	}
+}
+
+// A value not sealed to the call's key is not taken, nor is a refusal, nor an empty answer (ADR 0305 §2).
+func TestOnlyAValueSealedToTheCallIsTaken(t *testing.T) {
+	other, _, _ := secrets.Keypair()
+	elsewhere, _ := secrets.Seal(other, []byte("somebody's value"))
+	raw, _ := json.Marshal(map[string]string{"sealed": elsewhere})
+	plain, _ := json.Marshal(map[string]string{"value": "the-servers-own-token"})
+	for name, ask := range map[string]func(issuedProvider, map[string]any) (link.Answer, error){
+		"sealed to another key": func(issuedProvider, map[string]any) (link.Answer, error) { return link.Answer{Result: raw}, nil },
+		"answered in the clear": func(issuedProvider, map[string]any) (link.Answer, error) { return link.Answer{Result: plain}, nil },
+		"refused": func(issuedProvider, map[string]any) (link.Answer, error) {
+			return link.Answer{Error: "the controller alone"}, nil
+		},
+		"not reached": func(issuedProvider, map[string]any) (link.Answer, error) {
+			return link.Answer{}, errors.New("503 no responders")
+		},
+		"sealed empty": issuedSealed(t, "  "),
+	} {
+		var r issuedRecorder
+		if _, err := r.taker(t, ask).take("plex-api"); err == nil {
+			t.Errorf("%s: taken", name)
+		}
+		if len(r.kept) != 0 || len(r.sent) != 0 {
+			t.Errorf("%s: something was kept or sent", name)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// A provision no offer says its software issues is refused before anything is asked.
+func TestAProvisionNoOfferSaysIsIssuedIsRefused(t *testing.T) {
+	asked := false
+	taker := issuedTaker{
+		providers: func(string) ([]issuedProvider, bool, error) { return nil, false, nil },
+		ask: func(issuedProvider, map[string]any) (link.Answer, error) {
+			asked = true
+			return link.Answer{}, nil
+		},
+	}
+	if _, err := taker.take("postgres-database"); err == nil || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "ADR 0305") {
+		t.Fatalf("expected a refusal naming the record, got %v", err)
+	}
+	if asked {
+		t.Fatal("a provider was asked for a provision no offer says its software issues")
+	}
+}
+
+// Which assignments are asked: the modules on the providing machine whose offer says so, with their tool.
+func TestTheProvidersAskedAreTheOffersThatSaySo(t *testing.T) {
+	shelf := map[string]catalogue.Manifest{
+		"plex": {Module: "plex", Provides: []catalogue.Offer{{Name: "plex-api", Credential: &catalogue.OfferCredential{
+			IssuedBy: catalogue.IssuedBySoftware, Tool: "plex_issued_credential"}}}},
+		"jellyfin": {Module: "jellyfin", Provides: []catalogue.Offer{{Name: "plex-api"}}},
+	}
+	got := issuedOn(shelf, "ace", []string{"jellyfin", "plex", "kometa"}, "plex-api")
+	if len(got) != 1 || got[0] != (issuedProvider{Node: "ace", Module: "plex", Tool: "plex_issued_credential"}) {
+		t.Fatalf("the providers asked: %+v", got)
+	}
+	if err := issuedRefusesRotation(shelf, "plex-api"); err == nil || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "secret issued plex-api") {
+		t.Fatalf("rotate of an issued provision was not refused with the way to take it: %v", err)
+	}
+	if err := issuedRefusesRotation(shelf, "postgres-database"); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("rotate of an ordinary provision was refused: %v", err)
+	}
+}
+
+// A change of an issued value is the mesh working as decided, never a repair (ADR 0305 §8).
+func TestAnIssuedValueIsADecisionInTheHandActLog(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, v := range handActVerbs {
+		if v.Verb == handActIssued {
+			if v.Decision == "" {
+				t.Fatal("secret issued counts as a repair")
+			}
+			return
+		}
+	}
+	t.Fatal("secret issued is not in the hand-act table")
+}

cmd/mesh-controller/last_send_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,160 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"encoding/json"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/inventory"
+)
+
+// novox/hq issue 485: the mesh records every send — sender, lease epoch, generation, modules — and only `plan`
+// said it. `status` says per machine when it was last sent a declaration and by whom, in one line; `node show`
+// says the last send in full and what the machine answered; and `status --json` carries it as fields, since
+// the store's reader may not read the controller's tables and these verbs are the only window onto them.
+
+func aLastSend(answer inventory.SendAnswer) inventory.Send {
+	sent := time.Date(2026, 10, 11, 18, 40, 5, 0, time.Local)
+	return inventory.Send{NodeName: "laptop", Sequence: 12, Epoch: 57,
+		Sender: "a one-shot push by jochen at a shell on anchor", Generation: 40, Digest: "d12",
+		Modules: []string{"docker", "sudo"}, SentAt: sent, Recorded: true, Answer: answer}
+}
+
+func TestStatusSaysEachMachinesLastSendInOneLine(t *testing.T) {
+	at := time.Date(2026, 10, 11, 18, 41, 0, 0, time.Local)
+	asked := answers{
+		nodes: []inventory.Node{{Name: "anchor", LastSeen: time.Now()}, {Name: "laptop", LastSeen: time.Now()}},
+		lastSent: map[string]inventory.Send{"laptop": aLastSend(inventory.SendAnswer{
+			Outcome: inventory.OutcomeApplied, At: &at})},
+	}
+	shown := printed(t, func() error { return printStatus(asked) })
+	var laptop, anchor []string
+	for _, line := range strings.Split(shown, "\n") {
+		fields := strings.Fields(line)
+		if len(fields) > 0 && fields[0] == "laptop" {
+			laptop = append(laptop, line)
+		}
+		if len(fields) > 0 && fields[0] == "anchor" {
+			anchor = append(anchor, line)
+		}
+	}
+	if len(laptop) != 1 || !strings.Contains(laptop[0], "2026-10-11 18:40") ||
+		!strings.Contains(laptop[0], "by a one-shot push by jochen at a shell on anchor") ||
+		!strings.Contains(laptop[0], "generation 40") || !strings.Contains(laptop[0], "applied") {
+		t.Fatalf("status does not say laptop's last send in one line:\n%s", shown)
+	}
+	if len(anchor) != 1 || !strings.Contains(anchor[0], "no send recorded") {
+		t.Fatalf("status does not say anchor has no send recorded, in one line:\n%s", shown)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestStatusSaysTheLastSendsCouldNotBeRead(t *testing.T) {
+	asked := answers{nodes: []inventory.Node{{Name: "laptop", LastSeen: time.Now()}},
+		lastSentUnread: "the store went away"}
+	if shown := printed(t, func() error { return printStatus(asked) }); !strings.Contains(shown, "the store went away") {
+		t.Fatalf("a record of sends that could not be read is not said:\n%s", shown)
+	}
+	if asked.well() {
+		t.Error("a mesh whose sends could not be read is called well")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestNodeShowSaysTheLastSendInFull(t *testing.T) {
+	at := time.Date(2026, 10, 11, 18, 41, 0, 0, time.Local)
+	refused := strings.Join(lastSendLines(aLastSend(inventory.SendAnswer{Outcome: inventory.OutcomeRefused,
+		Refused: "unknown field \"generation\"\nsecond line", At: &at})), "\n")
+	for _, want := range []string{"sequence 12", "2026-10-11 18:40:05", "a one-shot push by jochen at a shell on anchor",
+		"lease epoch 57", "generation 40", "docker, sudo", "refused", "unknown field \"generation\""} {
+		if !strings.Contains(refused, want) {
+			t.Errorf("node show's last send does not say %q:\n%s", want, refused)
+		}
+	}
+	if applied := strings.Join(lastSendLines(aLastSend(inventory.SendAnswer{Outcome: inventory.OutcomeApplied,
+		At: &at})), "\n"); !strings.Contains(applied, "applied it at 2026-10-11 18:41:00") {
+		t.Errorf("an applied send is not said applied:\n%s", applied)
+	}
+	if waiting := strings.Join(lastSendLines(aLastSend(inventory.SendAnswer{})), "\n"); !strings.Contains(waiting,
+		"not reported on it yet") {
+		t.Errorf("a send not reported on is not said so:\n%s", waiting)
+	}
+	stale := aLastSend(inventory.SendAnswer{})
+	when := at
+	stale.RefusedAt, stale.RefusedApplied = &when, 44
+	if s := strings.Join(lastSendLines(stale), "\n"); !strings.Contains(s, "refused it at 2026-10-11 18:41:00") ||
+		!strings.Contains(s, "generation 44") {
+		t.Errorf("a send refused for its generation is not said so:\n%s", s)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestStatusJSONCarriesEachMachinesLastSend(t *testing.T) {
+	at := time.Date(2026, 10, 11, 18, 41, 0, 0, time.UTC)
+	asked := answers{nodes: []inventory.Node{{Name: "anchor"}, {Name: "laptop"}},
+		lastSent: map[string]inventory.Send{"laptop": aLastSend(inventory.SendAnswer{Outcome: inventory.OutcomeRefused,
+			Refused: "unknown field", At: &at})}}
+	body, err := statusAsJSON(asked)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	var got struct {
+		LastSent []map[string]any `json:"lastSent"`
+	}
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(body, &got); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if len(got.LastSent) != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("status --json carries %d last sends, want laptop's only:\n%s", len(got.LastSent), body)
+	}
+	s := got.LastSent[0]
+	if s["node"] != "laptop" || s["sequence"] != float64(12) || s["epoch"] != float64(57) ||
+		s["generation"] != float64(40) || s["sender"] != "a one-shot push by jochen at a shell on anchor" ||
+		s["digest"] != "d12" || s["sentAt"] == nil || s["answer"] != "refused" || s["refused"] != "unknown field" ||
+		s["answeredAt"] == nil {
+		t.Fatalf("laptop's last send reads %v", s)
+	}
+	if modules, _ := s["modules"].([]any); len(modules) != 2 || modules[0] != "docker" {
+		t.Fatalf("the modules it named read %v", s["modules"])
+	}
+}
+
+// And through the store: a send recorded and refused by the machine is what `node show` and `status --json`
+// read back.
+func TestNodeShowAndStatusReadTheLastSendFromTheStore(t *testing.T) {
+	open := aMesh(t)
+	ctx := t.Context()
+	record, err := open.inventory.NodeByName(ctx, "laptop")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if err := open.inventory.RecordSentWith(ctx, record.ID, "d12", nil, 57, 40, inventory.Send{Sequence: 12,
+		Epoch: 57, Sender: "a one-shot push by jochen at a shell on anchor", Generation: 40, Digest: "d12",
+		Modules: []string{"docker", "sudo"}}); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if _, err := open.inventory.RecordDoing(ctx, record.ID, inventory.Doing{Outcome: inventory.OutcomeRefused,
+		Declared: "d12", Refused: "unknown field \"generation\""}); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	shown := printed(t, func() error { return showNode(ctx, open, "laptop") })
+	for _, want := range []string{"a one-shot push by jochen at a shell on anchor", "lease epoch 57", "generation 40",
+		"docker, sudo", "unknown field \"generation\""} {
+		if !strings.Contains(shown, want) {
+			t.Errorf("node show laptop does not say %q:\n%s", want, shown)
+		}
+	}
+	body := printed(t, func() error { return statusFor(ctx, open, true) })
+	var got struct {
+		LastSent []struct {
+			Node   string `json:"node"`
+			Sender string `json:"sender"`
+			Answer string `json:"answer"`
+		} `json:"lastSent"`
+	}
+	if err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(body), &got); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("%v:\n%s", err, body)
+	}
+	if len(got.LastSent) != 1 || got.LastSent[0].Node != "laptop" || got.LastSent[0].Answer != "refused" ||
+		got.LastSent[0].Sender != "a one-shot push by jochen at a shell on anchor" {
+		t.Fatalf("status --json's last sends read %+v", got.LastSent)
+	}
+}

cmd/mesh-controller/left_out.go

@@ -0,0 +1,222 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"sort"
+	"strings"
+
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/catalogue"
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/conditions"
+)
+
+// A module assigned to a machine and left out of its declaration is said (novox/hq issue 380).
+//
+// **An omission is a finding, never a refusal of the push** (ADR 0163, rule 6): the machine is sent everything
+// else, and the module's held things are kept. Until issue 380 the only place it showed was `plan`: nfs-server was
+// assigned to the home server for days, every send left it out for a setting nobody gave, and the operator believed
+// it ran. So the self-check (D1) judges every machine as the next send would (Resolution.LeftOutBecause, the send's
+// own judgement) and raises a condition on that machine for each module it leaves out:
+//
+//   - a setting nobody gave (catalogue.UnsetSettingError) is the operator's to give: kind needs-operator, naming
+//     the module, the setting and the command that sets it;
+//   - any other cause is said as a module not working is: kind left-out, a warning with the reason as evidence.
+//
+// Never urgent and never escalated by age (as ADR 0283 decision 5): nothing the machine ran was undone. It clears
+// on the first run that no longer finds it — the module composed again, or no longer assigned. `status` and
+// `node show` list the same modules under "assigned, not applied" with the same reason.
+//
+// A module left out because its stored manifest has a key this controller does not know is not raised here: the
+// catalogue's own unknown-field condition says it once for the whole mesh (ADR 0262); it is still listed.
+
+const (
+	// probeLeftOutID is the self-check's probe that raises and clears these conditions: D1, which already
+	// resolves every machine (probeDeclarations), so the judgement costs no resolution of its own.
+	probeLeftOutID = "D1"
+	// kindLeftOut is a module left out for any cause but a setting nobody gave; it is also every such condition's
+	// token, whichever its kind, so a cause that changes is the same condition said anew.
+	kindLeftOut = "left-out"
+)
+
+// leftOutModule is one module of a machine's set that its declaration leaves out, and why.
+type leftOutModule struct {
+	Module string
+	// Setting is the setting nobody gave, when that is the cause.
+	Setting string
+	// Why is the declaration's own reason, whole.
+	Why string
+	// Unread is a stored manifest this controller cannot read whole (said by the catalogue's condition).
+	Unread bool
+}
+
+// leftOutOf is every module of a machine's resolution that a push would leave out, sorted. Pure: the judgement
+// the push makes (catalogue.Resolution.LeftOutBecause), nothing allocated.
+func leftOutOf(plan catalogue.Resolution, settings catalogue.SettingsBy, adopted bool) []leftOutModule {
+	because := plan.LeftOutBecause(settings, adopted)
+	out := make([]leftOutModule, 0, len(because))
+	for module, why := range because {
+		l := leftOutModule{Module: module, Why: oneLine(why.Error())}
+		var unset *catalogue.UnsetSettingError
+		var unread *catalogue.UnreadManifestError
+		switch {
+		case errors.As(why, &unset):
+			l.Setting = unset.Setting
+		case errors.As(why, &unread):
+			l.Unread = true
+		}
+		out = append(out, l)
+	}
+	sort.Slice(out, func(i, j int) bool { return out[i].Module < out[j].Module })
+	return out
+}
+
+// settingCommand is the command that gives a module's setting on one machine.
+func settingCommand(module, setting, node string) string {
+	return fmt.Sprintf("`settings set %s '{%q: …}' --node %s`", module, setting, node)
+}
+
+// reason is why a module is left out, as `status`, `node show` and the condition's summary say it: for a setting
+// nobody gave, the setting and the command that gives it; otherwise the declaration's own words.
+func (l leftOutModule) reason(node string) string {
+	if l.Setting != "" {
+		return fmt.Sprintf("nothing sets its setting %q, so every send leaves it out of its declaration — %s sets it", l.Setting,
+			settingCommand(l.Module, l.Setting, node))
+	}
+	return "every send leaves it out of its declaration: " + l.Why
+}
+
+// leftOutObservations are the conditions a machine's left-out modules raise, one each.
+func leftOutObservations(node string, left []leftOutModule) []conditions.Observation {
+	var out []conditions.Observation
+	for _, l := range left {
+		if l.Unread {
+			continue
+		}
+		out = append(out, leftOutObservation(node, l))
+	}
+	return out
+}
+
+// leftOutObservation is one module left out of one machine's declaration: needs-operator for a setting nobody
+// gave, left-out otherwise; a warning either way, the operator's to resolve.
+func leftOutObservation(node string, l leftOutModule) conditions.Observation {
+	o := conditions.Observation{Scope: conditions.ScopeModule, ID: l.Module + "." + node, Token: kindLeftOut,
+		Kind: kindLeftOut, Machine: node, Severity: conditions.Warning, Resolver: conditions.ResolverOperator,
+		Summary: fmt.Sprintf("%s is assigned to %s and not applied: %s", l.Module, node, l.reason(node)),
+		Said:    l.Why}
+	w := leftOutWords(l.Module, node, l.Setting)
+	if l.Setting != "" {
+		o.Kind = kindNeedsOperator
+	} else {
+		// The words of why may name a path or an address, which the operator's channel withholds: the
+		// summary sends them to the evidence, and `plan` says them in full.
+		o.Summary = fmt.Sprintf("%s is assigned to %s and not applied: every send leaves it out of its declaration, "+
+			"because what is set for it does not fit its manifest — the evidence and `plan %s` say why", l.Module, node, node)
+	}
+	o.Headline, o.Explanation, o.Needs, o.Resolved = w.Headline, w.Explanation, w.Needs, w.Resolved
+	return o
+}
+
+// leftOutWords is what the operator reads of a module left out (ADR 0253): plain, the act named.
+func leftOutWords(module, node, setting string) words {
+	w := words{
+		Headline: fmt.Sprintf("%s is not applied on %s", module, node),
+		Explanation: fmt.Sprintf("%s is assigned to %s, and every send to %s leaves it out of the declaration because what "+
+			"is set for it does not fit its manifest. Nothing of it changes there; the rest of %s is sent as usual.",
+			module, node, node, node),
+		Needs:    fmt.Sprintf("read why in the details, then change what is set for %s or unassign it.", module),
+		Resolved: fmt.Sprintf("%s on %s is no longer left out", module, node),
+	}
+	if setting != "" {
+		w.Explanation = fmt.Sprintf("%s is assigned to %s, and every send to %s leaves it out of the declaration because "+
+			"nothing sets its setting %s. Nothing of it runs there until it is set; the rest of %s is sent as usual.",
+			module, node, node, setting, node)
+		w.Needs = fmt.Sprintf("set %s for %s on %s, or approve it when it is proposed to you.", setting, module, node)
+		// A setting's name that is not plain (a dotted key) is in the summary instead.
+		if _, ok := conditions.PlainWords(w, node); !ok {
+			w.Explanation = fmt.Sprintf("%s is assigned to %s, and every send to %s leaves it out of the declaration because a "+
+				"setting it needs is not set. Nothing of it runs there until it is set; the details name it.",
+				module, node, node)
+			w.Needs = fmt.Sprintf("set what %s needs on %s; the details name the setting.", module, node)
+		}
+	}
+	return w
+}
+
+// notAppliedLines is a machine's "assigned, not applied" as `node show` prints it: one line a module, with the
+// reason its condition says.
+func notAppliedLines(node string, left []leftOutModule) []string {
+	if len(left) == 0 {
+		return nil
+	}
+	lines := []string{"", "  assigned, not applied:"}
+	for _, l := range left {
+		lines = append(lines, fmt.Sprintf("    %-22s %s", l.Module, l.reason(node)))
+	}
+	return lines
+}
+
+// machineNotApplied is one module assigned to a machine and left out of its declaration, in `status --json`.
+type machineNotApplied struct {
+	Node    string `json:"node"`
+	Module  string `json:"module"`
+	Setting string `json:"setting,omitempty"`
+	Reason  string `json:"reason"`
+	// UnreadManifest is a module left out because this controller cannot read its manifest whole: it raises no
+	// condition of its own on the machine, since the catalogue's unknown-field condition says it once (ADR 0262).
+	UnreadManifest bool `json:"unread-manifest,omitempty"`
+}
+
+// notApplied is every machine's left-out modules, in a stated order, as `status --json` carries them.
+func notApplied(left map[string][]leftOutModule) []machineNotApplied {
+	names := make([]string, 0, len(left))
+	for name := range left {
+		names = append(names, name)
+	}
+	sort.Strings(names)
+	var out []machineNotApplied
+	for _, name := range names {
+		for _, l := range left[name] {
+			out = append(out, machineNotApplied{Node: name, Module: l.Module, Setting: l.Setting, Reason: l.reason(name),
+				UnreadManifest: l.Unread})
+		}
+	}
+	return out
+}
+
+// printNotApplied is status's "assigned, not applied", every machine's.
+func printNotApplied(left map[string][]leftOutModule) {
+	rows := notApplied(left)
+	if len(rows) == 0 {
+		return
+	}
+	unread := 0
+	for _, r := range rows {
+		if r.UnreadManifest {
+			unread++
+		}
+	}
+	// Which raise a condition is said, not implied (review of #223): one whose manifest this controller cannot
+	// read is listed here and raises none of its own on the machine — the catalogue's condition says it.
+	raises := "each raises a condition on its machine"
+	switch {
+	case unread == len(rows):
+		raises = "none raises a condition on its machine: this controller cannot read their manifests, which the " +
+			"catalogue's own condition says"
+	case unread > 0:
+		raises += fmt.Sprintf(", except the %d whose manifest this controller cannot read, which the catalogue's own "+
+			"condition says", unread)
+	}
+	fmt.Printf("%d module(s) assigned, not applied — every send leaves them out of their declaration; %s:\n",
+		len(rows), raises)
+	for _, r := range rows {
+		fmt.Printf("  %-12s %-22s %s\n", r.Node, r.Module, r.Reason)
+	}
+	fmt.Println()
+}
+
+// isLeftOutCondition is whether a condition is a module left out of its declaration, which the machine's health
+// statements neither raise nor clear: by its token, which every one carries whatever its kind.
+func isLeftOutCondition(c conditions.Condition) bool {
+	return c.Subject.Scope == conditions.ScopeModule && strings.HasSuffix(c.Key, "."+kindLeftOut)
+}

cmd/mesh-controller/left_out_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,259 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"os"
+	"slices"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/catalogue"
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/conditions"
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/inventory"
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/link"
+)
+
+// novox/hq issue 380: nfs-server was assigned to the home server for days and every send left it out — "nfs-server
+// has a file that says ${setting:shares}, and nothing sets shares for it" — and nothing but `plan` said so. The
+// manifest is the catalogue's own at the commit that added it (mesh-catalog 48fba44), which still says
+// ${setting:shares}; the reason below is the one the live push printed.
+
+// leftOutNFS is the resolution of a machine assigned that nfs-server, with the settings given.
+func leftOutNFS(t *testing.T) catalogue.Resolution {
+	t.Helper()
+	raw, err := os.ReadFile("testdata/left-out/nfs-server.json")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	m, err := catalogue.ParseManifest(raw)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	return catalogue.Resolution{Modules: []catalogue.Manifest{m}}
+}
+
+// sharesGiven is the operator's setting for it on the machine.
+func sharesGiven(value string) catalogue.SettingsBy {
+	return catalogue.SettingsBy{"nfs-server": {{From: "anchor", Values: map[string]any{"shares": value}}}}
+}
+
+func TestAModuleLeftOutForASettingNobodyGaveNeedsTheOperatorNamingTheSettingAndTheCommand(t *testing.T) {
+	left := leftOutOf(leftOutNFS(t), nil, false)
+	if len(left) != 1 || left[0].Module != "nfs-server" || left[0].Setting != "shares" {
+		t.Fatalf("left out: %+v", left)
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(left[0].Why, `nothing sets "shares" for it`) {
+		t.Fatalf("the reason is not the push's own: %s", left[0].Why)
+	}
+	obs := leftOutObservations("anchor", left)
+	if len(obs) != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("raised %+v", obs)
+	}
+	o := obs[0]
+	if o.Key() != "module.nfs-server.anchor.left-out" || o.Kind != kindNeedsOperator || o.Machine != "anchor" ||
+		o.Severity != conditions.Warning || o.Resolver != conditions.ResolverOperator {
+		t.Fatalf("raised %s as %s, %s, by %s, on %q", o.Key(), o.Kind, o.Severity, o.Resolver, o.Machine)
+	}
+	for _, want := range []string{"nfs-server", "anchor", `"shares"`, "`settings set nfs-server '{\"shares\": …}' --node anchor`"} {
+		if !strings.Contains(o.Summary, want) {
+			t.Errorf("the summary does not name %s: %s", want, o.Summary)
+		}
+	}
+	if o.Said != left[0].Why {
+		t.Errorf("the evidence is not the reason the send gives: %s", o.Said)
+	}
+	plainExample(t, o, "nfs-server is not applied on anchor",
+		"Needs you: set shares for nfs-server on anchor, or approve it when it is proposed to you. nfs-server is assigned to "+
+			"anchor, and every send to anchor leaves it out of the declaration because nothing sets its setting shares. "+
+			"Nothing of it runs there until it is set; the rest of anchor is sent as usual.")
+}
+
+func TestAModuleLeftOutForAnotherCauseIsAWarningWithTheReasonAsEvidence(t *testing.T) {
+	// A setting stored that its manifest can no longer take: one with a line break (issue 339).
+	left := leftOutOf(leftOutNFS(t), sharesGiven("library=/srv/library\nmedia=/srv/media"), false)
+	if len(left) != 1 || left[0].Setting != "" {
+		t.Fatalf("left out: %+v", left)
+	}
+	obs := leftOutObservations("anchor", left)
+	if len(obs) != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("raised %+v", obs)
+	}
+	o := obs[0]
+	if o.Key() != "module.nfs-server.anchor.left-out" || o.Kind != kindLeftOut || o.Severity != conditions.Warning {
+		t.Fatalf("raised %s as %s, %s", o.Key(), o.Kind, o.Severity)
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(o.Said, "holds a line break") || strings.Contains(o.Summary, "/srv/") {
+		t.Fatalf("the reason is not the evidence, or the summary carries it to the channel:\n%s\n%s", o.Summary, o.Said)
+	}
+	plainExample(t, o, "nfs-server is not applied on anchor",
+		"Needs you: read why in the details, then change what is set for nfs-server or unassign it. nfs-server is assigned to "+
+			"anchor, and every send to anchor leaves it out of the declaration because what is set for it does not fit "+
+			"its manifest. Nothing of it changes there; the rest of anchor is sent as usual.")
+}
+
+// The self-check raises it, keeps it a warning however long it stands, and clears it when the module composes
+// again or is no longer assigned; a machine's health statement neither clears nor raises it.
+func TestALeftOutModulesConditionClearsWhenItComposesAgainOrIsUnassigned(t *testing.T) {
+	plan, settings := leftOutNFS(t), catalogue.SettingsBy(nil)
+	withProbes(t, probe{ID: probeLeftOutID, Asserts: "the test's", Kind: kindLeftOut, Phase: 1,
+		run: func(context.Context, *doctor) ([]conditions.Observation, error) {
+			return leftOutObservations("anchor", leftOutOf(plan, settings, false)), nil
+		}})
+	store := conditions.NewInMemory()
+	k := conditions.NewKeeper(t.Context(), conditions.Options{Store: store, History: store})
+	defer k.Close(context.Background())
+	d := &doctor{keeper: k, teller: &conditions.Told{}, host: "anchor"}
+	key := "module.nfs-server.anchor.left-out"
+	openOnes := func() map[string]conditions.Condition {
+		t.Helper()
+		open, err := k.Open(t.Context())
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		out := map[string]conditions.Condition{}
+		for _, c := range open {
+			out[c.Key] = c
+		}
+		return out
+	}
+
+	d.runOnce(t.Context(), "a test")
+	c, raised := openOnes()[key]
+	if !raised || c.Kind != kindNeedsOperator || c.Severity != conditions.Warning {
+		t.Fatalf("a module left out raised %+v", openOnes())
+	}
+	// A statement from the machine that says nothing of it — the module runs nothing there — leaves it open.
+	if err := judgeModuleHealth(t.Context(), nil, k, "anchor", map[string][]inventory.ResourceHealth{}, nil,
+		time.Now().Add(72*time.Hour)); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if _, still := openOnes()[key]; !still {
+		t.Fatal("a health statement that says nothing of the module cleared its left-out condition")
+	}
+	d.runOnce(t.Context(), "a test")
+	if c := openOnes()[key]; c.Severity != conditions.Warning {
+		t.Fatalf("after a health statement and days, it is %+v", openOnes())
+	}
+
+	// The setting given: it composes, and the condition clears.
+	settings = sharesGiven("library=/srv/library")
+	d.runOnce(t.Context(), "a test")
+	if _, still := openOnes()[key]; still {
+		t.Fatalf("composed again, still open: %+v", openOnes())
+	}
+
+	// Left out again, then unassigned: no longer in the machine's set, and it clears.
+	settings = nil
+	d.runOnce(t.Context(), "a test")
+	if _, raised := openOnes()[key]; !raised {
+		t.Fatal("left out again and not raised")
+	}
+	plan = catalogue.Resolution{}
+	d.runOnce(t.Context(), "a test")
+	if _, still := openOnes()[key]; still {
+		t.Fatalf("unassigned, still open: %+v", openOnes())
+	}
+}
+
+func TestTheLeftOutProbeIsInTheRegistry(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, p := range probeRegistry {
+		if p.ID == probeLeftOutID {
+			if p.run == nil || !slices.Contains(p.Raises, kindLeftOut) || !slices.Contains(p.Raises, kindNeedsOperator) {
+				t.Fatalf("%+v", p)
+			}
+			return
+		}
+	}
+	t.Fatalf("no probe %s: a module left out is said nowhere", probeLeftOutID)
+}
+
+// status and node show list it under "assigned, not applied" with the reason the condition says, and status is
+// not well while there is one.
+func TestStatusAndNodeListAModuleAssignedAndNotApplied(t *testing.T) {
+	left := map[string][]leftOutModule{"anchor": leftOutOf(leftOutNFS(t), nil, false)}
+	reason := leftOutObservations("anchor", left["anchor"])[0].Summary
+	asked := answers{leftOut: left}
+	if asked.well() {
+		t.Fatal("a mesh with a module assigned and not applied is called well")
+	}
+	shown := printed(t, func() error { return printStatus(asked) })
+	if !strings.Contains(shown, "1 module(s) assigned, not applied") || !strings.Contains(shown, "nfs-server") ||
+		!strings.Contains(shown, "`settings set nfs-server '{\"shares\": …}' --node anchor` sets it") {
+		t.Fatalf("status says:\n%s", shown)
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(reason, left["anchor"][0].reason("anchor")) {
+		t.Fatalf("status and the condition say different reasons:\n%s\n%s", shown, reason)
+	}
+	body, err := statusAsJSON(asked)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	var doc struct {
+		NotApplied []machineNotApplied `json:"not-applied"`
+	}
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(body, &doc); err != nil || len(doc.NotApplied) != 1 ||
+		doc.NotApplied[0].Setting != "shares" || doc.NotApplied[0].Node != "anchor" {
+		t.Fatalf("status --json: %v %s", err, body)
+	}
+	lines := strings.Join(notAppliedLines("anchor", left["anchor"]), "\n")
+	if !strings.Contains(lines, "assigned, not applied:") || !strings.Contains(lines, "nfs-server") ||
+		!strings.Contains(lines, `nothing sets its setting "shares"`) {
+		t.Fatalf("node show says:\n%s", lines)
+	}
+}
+
+// The skip is this probe's alone (review of #223): a part waiting for the operator (ADR 0283) keeps its own
+// needs-operator condition, `module.<m>.<node>.needs-operator`, which still clears on the first statement that no
+// longer names it — beside a left-out condition on the same machine, which stays.
+func TestAWaitsNeedsOperatorStillClearsWhenItsStatementStopsNamingItBesideALeftOutOne(t *testing.T) {
+	store := conditions.NewInMemory()
+	k := conditions.NewKeeper(t.Context(), conditions.Options{Store: store, History: store})
+	defer k.Close(context.Background())
+	left := leftOutObservations("anchor", leftOutOf(leftOutNFS(t), nil, false))
+	if err := k.Reconcile(t.Context(), probeLeftOutID, left); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	waiting := map[string][]inventory.ResourceHealth{"notes": {{Module: "notes", Resource: "server", State: link.StateWaiting,
+		Waits: []inventory.Wait{{Setting: "domain", What: "the domain it serves"}}}}}
+	if err := judgeModuleHealth(t.Context(), nil, k, "anchor", waiting, map[string]int{"notes": 2}, time.Now()); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	waitKey, leftKey := needsOperatorKey("notes", "anchor"), "module.nfs-server.anchor.left-out"
+	open := func() map[string]conditions.Condition {
+		t.Helper()
+		list, err := k.Open(t.Context())
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		out := map[string]conditions.Condition{}
+		for _, c := range list {
+			out[c.Key] = c
+		}
+		return out
+	}
+	if c, raised := open()[waitKey]; !raised || c.Kind != kindNeedsOperator {
+		t.Fatalf("the wait raised %+v", open())
+	}
+	if c := open()[leftKey]; c.Kind != kindNeedsOperator {
+		t.Fatalf("the left-out condition is not open as needs-operator: %+v", open())
+	}
+	// D1 runs again and still finds nfs-server left out: its reconcile clears only what D1 raised, never the wait,
+	// which the machine's statement raised.
+	if err := k.Reconcile(t.Context(), probeLeftOutID, left); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if _, still := open()[waitKey]; !still {
+		t.Fatalf("D1's reconcile cleared the wait's needs-operator: %+v", open())
+	}
+	if err := judgeModuleHealth(t.Context(), nil, k, "anchor", map[string][]inventory.ResourceHealth{}, nil, time.Now()); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if _, still := open()[waitKey]; still {
+		t.Fatalf("the statement no longer names the wait, and its needs-operator is still open: %+v", open())
+	}
+	if _, still := open()[leftKey]; !still {
+		t.Fatalf("the left-out condition was cleared by a health statement: %+v", open())
+	}
+}

cmd/mesh-controller/module_health.go

@@ -147,9 +147,11 @@ func judgeModuleHealth(ctx context.Context, inv *inventory.Inventory, k *conditi
 	}
 	standing := map[string]conditions.Condition{}
 	for _, c := range open {
+		// A module left out of the composition is the self-check's to raise and clear, never a statement's
+		// (novox/hq issue 380): its needs-operator is not cleared for not being in what the machine runs.
 		if (c.Kind == kindModuleUnhealthy || c.Kind == kindReloginNeeded || c.Kind == kindUsedAsFound ||
 			c.Kind == kindNeedsOperator) &&
-			c.Subject.Machine == node {
+			c.Subject.Machine == node && !isLeftOutCondition(c) {
 			standing[c.Key] = c
 		}
 	}

cmd/mesh-controller/nodes.go

@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ func nodeCommand(ctx context.Context, args []string) error {
 		if len(args) != 2 {
 			return errors.New("node show <name>")
 		}
-		return showNode(ctx, inv, args[1])
+		return showNode(ctx, open, args[1])
 	case "add":
 		return addNode(ctx, inv, args[1:])
 
@@ -787,7 +787,8 @@ func roughly(d time.Duration) string {
 //
 // It is also where "what should it be configured as" is read. The same line that gates an
 // assignment carries `card1-DP-1`, and a person composing settings for that machine needs it.
-func showNode(ctx context.Context, inv *inventory.Inventory, name string) error {
+func showNode(ctx context.Context, stored *stores, name string) error {
+	inv := stored.inventory
 	node, err := inv.NodeByName(ctx, name)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
@@ -803,6 +804,19 @@ func showNode(ctx context.Context, inv *inventory.Inventory, name string) error
 	if err := showMode(ctx, inv, node); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
+	// What it was last sent, by whom, under which epoch, from which generation, naming which modules, and what
+	// it answered (novox/hq issue 485): the record of sends is read through this verb, never the store's reader.
+	// Unreadable is said, not taken for none.
+	switch last, found, err := inv.LastSend(ctx, name); {
+	case err != nil:
+		fmt.Printf("  what it was last sent could NOT be read: %v\n", err)
+	case !found:
+		fmt.Printf("  last sent         no send recorded since the mesh began keeping them\n")
+	default:
+		for _, line := range lastSendLines(last) {
+			fmt.Println(line)
+		}
+	}
 	// Whom agents run as here, and whether that account can become root without a person (ADR 0266).
 	for _, line := range agentAccountLines(ctx, inv, node) {
 		fmt.Println(line)
@@ -889,6 +903,17 @@ func showNode(ctx context.Context, inv *inventory.Inventory, name string) error
 	if len(assigned) > 0 {
 		fmt.Printf("\n  assigned: %s\n", strings.Join(assigned, ", "))
 	}
+	// And which of them a push leaves out, and why (novox/hq issue 380): judged as the push judges it, the same
+	// reason its condition says. Not computable is said, never read as "all applied".
+	plan, settings, err := planFor(ctx, stored, name)
+	switch {
+	case err != nil:
+		fmt.Printf("\n  whether a send leaves any assigned module out is NOT known: %s\n", oneLine(err.Error()))
+	default:
+		for _, line := range notAppliedLines(name, leftOutOf(plan, settings, node.Adopted)) {
+			fmt.Println(line)
+		}
+	}
 	return nil
 }
 

cmd/mesh-controller/over_budget.go

@@ -17,8 +17,8 @@ import (
 
 // A delivery over its budget is loud (novox/hq ADR 0282 decision 7, issue 382): the self-check reads
 // mesh-delivery's `times` and raises the warning `delivery.<class>.over-budget` when the newest delivery of a
-// class whose delivery time is known took longer than its class's budget — five minutes for a leaf module, ten
-// for a core module — naming the delivery and its longest phase. It clears when the next delivery of that class
+// class whose delivery time is known took longer than its class's budget — three minutes for a leaf module (ADR
+// 0304 decision 4), ten for a core module — naming the delivery and its longest phase. It clears when the next delivery of that class
 // lands within its budget. Measurement only: the condition says, it never holds or acts on a delivery.
 
 // probeBudgetsID is the probe that reads the delivery times.
@@ -27,8 +27,9 @@ const probeBudgetsID = "D16"
 // kindOverBudget is what a delivery over its class's budget raises.
 const kindOverBudget = "over-budget"
 
-// deliveryBudgets are the budgets by class (ADR 0282 decision 1); the probe raises nothing for another class.
-var deliveryBudgets = map[string]time.Duration{inventory.ClassLeaf: 5 * time.Minute, inventory.ClassCore: 10 * time.Minute}
+// deliveryBudgets are the budgets by class (ADR 0282 decision 1, the leaf's as ADR 0304 decision 4 changed it);
+// the probe raises nothing for another class.
+var deliveryBudgets = map[string]time.Duration{inventory.ClassLeaf: 3 * time.Minute, inventory.ClassCore: 10 * time.Minute}
 
 // timesAnswer is what mesh-delivery's `times` answers, as far as the probe reads it.
 type timesAnswer struct {

cmd/mesh-controller/over_budget_test.go

@@ -10,11 +10,12 @@ import (
 	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/inventory"
 )
 
-// A leaf delivery of 5 minutes 10 seconds raises delivery.leaf.over-budget naming its longest phase; one of
-// exactly five minutes, a core one of nine and a class without a budget raise nothing (ADR 0282 decision 7).
+// A leaf delivery of 3 minutes 10 seconds raises delivery.leaf.over-budget naming its longest phase; one of
+// exactly three minutes, a core one of nine and a class without a budget raise nothing (ADR 0282 decision 7,
+// the leaf's budget as ADR 0304 decision 4 changed it).
 func TestADeliveryOverItsBudgetIsLoud(t *testing.T) {
 	a := &timesAnswer{Classes: []timesClass{
-		{Class: inventory.ClassLeaf, Latest: &timesLatest{ID: "novox/mesh-catalog@abc", TookMS: (5*time.Minute + 10*time.Second).Milliseconds(),
+		{Class: inventory.ClassLeaf, Latest: &timesLatest{ID: "novox/mesh-catalog@abc", TookMS: (3*time.Minute + 10*time.Second).Milliseconds(),
 			Longest: "judgement 2m40s"}},
 		{Class: inventory.ClassCore, Latest: &timesLatest{ID: "novox/mesh-controller@def", TookMS: (9 * time.Minute).Milliseconds(),
 			Longest: "build 1m"}},
@@ -30,7 +31,7 @@ func TestADeliveryOverItsBudgetIsLoud(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("the condition names its delivery and longest phase: %s — %s", o.Key(), o.Summary)
 	}
 	// The next leaf delivery within its budget clears it: the probe raises nothing for the class.
-	a.Classes[0].Latest = &timesLatest{ID: "novox/mesh-catalog@ghi", TookMS: (5 * time.Minute).Milliseconds()}
+	a.Classes[0].Latest = &timesLatest{ID: "novox/mesh-catalog@ghi", TookMS: (3 * time.Minute).Milliseconds()}
 	if obs := overBudgetObservations(a); len(obs) != 0 {
 		t.Fatalf("a delivery of exactly its budget is within it: %+v", obs)
 	}

cmd/mesh-controller/plain_words.go

@@ -231,6 +231,14 @@ var plainWordings = map[string]func(conditions.Observation) words{
 		w := needsOperatorWords(orModule(module), node, nil)
 		return w
 	}),
+	kindLeftOut: worded(func(o conditions.Observation) words {
+		// The observation carries its own words (novox/hq issue 380); these are its kind's alone.
+		module := ""
+		if o.Scope == conditions.ScopeModule && o.Machine != "" {
+			module = strings.TrimSuffix(o.ID, "."+o.Machine)
+		}
+		return leftOutWords(orModule(module), machineOr(o, "a machine"), "")
+	}),
 	kindProviderFailing: worded(func(o conditions.Observation) words {
 		thing, consumer := conditions.ThingWords(o), idPart(o, 2)
 		if consumer == "" {

cmd/mesh-controller/plan_retry.go

@@ -278,6 +278,13 @@ func retryPlan(ctx context.Context, open *stores, id string) (string, error) {
 	plans = append(plans, recent...)
 	// **A failed walk whose earlier merges are walked alone is not retried** (novox/hq ADR 0276): the search for
 	// the merge that brought the failure answers them now, and a retried walk would name them twice.
+	// **A walk stopped without some merges is not retried** (novox/hq ADR 0299): the merges it left out were stopped,
+	// and the others are another walk's now.
+	if p.Delivery != nil && (p.Delivery.WalkedAgainBy != "" || len(p.Delivery.LeftOut) > 0) {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("%s was stopped without %s: those merges were stopped, and %s walks the others; a "+
+			"newer merge, or `rebuild <module>`, builds again", p.ID, mergesLeftOutWords(p.Delivery.LeftOut),
+			orWords(p.Delivery.WalkedAgainBy, "nothing"))
+	}
 	if p.Delivery != nil && len(p.Delivery.Merges) > 0 {
 		kept, err := inv.MergesOf(ctx, p.ID)
 		if err != nil {

cmd/mesh-controller/probes.go

@@ -78,6 +78,11 @@ func probeDeclarations(ctx context.Context, d *doctor) ([]conditions.Observation
 			return nil, fmt.Errorf("%s cannot be worked out: %w", n.Name, err)
 		}
 		var problems, foreseen []string
+		// Each module the next send leaves out of this machine's declaration (novox/hq issue 380), judged from this
+		// resolution as the send judges it: a finding, never a refusal.
+		if err == nil {
+			out = append(out, leftOutObservations(n.Name, leftOutOf(plan, settings, n.Adopted))...)
+		}
 		if err == nil && gensErr == nil {
 			var declared sendable
 			if declared, err = declarationWith(ctx, open, n.Name, plan, settings, gens, Foreseeing); err == nil {

cmd/mesh-controller/push.go

@@ -1236,6 +1236,17 @@ func sendToEach(ctx context.Context, open *stores, names []string) ([]string, er
 			continue
 		}
 		numbered.stamp(&declared)
+		// **The grants step sends the user list and nothing else** (novox/hq issue 490): judged on this very
+		// declaration, the one sent, so nothing composed between a check and the send can slip through.
+		if everyBuildKept(ctx, name) {
+			other, err := grantsOnlyIn(ctx, open, name, plan, declared)
+			if err != nil {
+				return nil, err
+			}
+			if other != "" {
+				return nil, fmt.Errorf("%w: %s", errNotGrantsOnly, other)
+			}
+		}
 		reportLeftOut(name, declared)
 		sending = append(sending, readyNode{name, declared})
 	}

cmd/mesh-controller/readable.go

@@ -69,6 +69,9 @@ type meshStatus struct {
 	// **A document without this said an outage was a well mesh.** Read from what each machine
 	// reported, so it is the machine's account and not the mesh's take-time listing.
 	Untaken []machineUntaken `json:"untaken,omitempty"`
+	// NotApplied is every module assigned to a machine and left out of its composition, with why (novox/hq
+	// issue 380). Absent when every module composes.
+	NotApplied []machineNotApplied `json:"not-applied,omitempty"`
 	// Filtered is every converged machine that is not filtered by the mesh alone (novox/hq ADR
 	// 0168), one entry per rule set the mesh did not write — the found firewall in force again,
 	// or a chain nobody speaks for. Absent when every converged machine is filtered by the mesh
@@ -106,6 +109,33 @@ type meshStatus struct {
 	// why they could not be read.
 	Pending       []pendingStatus `json:"pending,omitempty"`
 	PendingUnread string          `json:"pendingUnread,omitempty"`
+	// LastSent is every machine's last recorded send — who sent it, under which lease epoch, from which
+	// assignment generation, naming which modules — and what the machine answered of it (novox/hq issue 485).
+	// A machine the mesh has recorded no send to is absent. LastSentUnread says why it could not be read.
+	LastSent       []machineLastSent `json:"lastSent"`
+	LastSentUnread string            `json:"lastSentUnread,omitempty"`
+}
+
+// machineLastSent is one machine's last send as status says it.
+type machineLastSent struct {
+	Node       string    `json:"node"`
+	Sequence   int64     `json:"sequence"`
+	SentAt     time.Time `json:"sentAt"`
+	Sender     string    `json:"sender"`
+	Epoch      int64     `json:"epoch"`
+	Generation int64     `json:"generation"`
+	Digest     string    `json:"digest"`
+	Modules    []string  `json:"modules"`
+	// Answer is what the machine said of it: applied, failed or refused, as its report has it; empty when it
+	// has not reported on it. Refused is its words when it refused it whole, Failed how many resources failed.
+	Answer     string     `json:"answer"`
+	Refused    string     `json:"refused,omitempty"`
+	Failed     int        `json:"failed,omitempty"`
+	AnsweredAt *time.Time `json:"answeredAt,omitempty"`
+	// RefusedForGeneration is when the machine refused it for coming from an older assignment generation than
+	// it applied, and AppliedGeneration that generation; absent when it did not.
+	RefusedForGeneration *time.Time `json:"refusedForGeneration,omitempty"`
+	AppliedGeneration    int64      `json:"appliedGeneration,omitempty"`
 }
 
 // pendingStatus is one pending assignment as status says it.
@@ -251,6 +281,7 @@ func statusAsJSON(asked answers) ([]byte, error) {
 		}
 	}
 	out.Unheld = asked.unheld
+	out.NotApplied = notApplied(asked.leftOut)
 	out.HandActsThisWeek, out.HandActsUnread = asked.handActs, asked.handActsUnread
 	out.HealsThisWeek, out.HealsUnread = asked.heals, asked.healsUnread
 	// In brief, as `conditions` lists them: status leads with every open condition, and their whole
@@ -263,6 +294,7 @@ func statusAsJSON(asked answers) ([]byte, error) {
 		out.Pending = append(out.Pending, pendingStatus{Node: p.Node, Module: p.Module, State: p.State,
 			Build: p.Build, Repository: p.Repository, Path: p.Path, Since: p.Since, Settled: p.Settled, Note: p.Note})
 	}
+	out.LastSent, out.LastSentUnread = lastSentStatus(asked.lastSent), asked.lastSentUnread
 	for name := range asked.refused {
 		out.Unresolved = append(out.Unresolved, machineUnresolved{
 			Node: name, Problem: asked.refused[name]})
@@ -319,3 +351,20 @@ func say(value any) error {
 	fmt.Println(string(body))
 	return nil
 }
+
+// lastSentStatus is every machine's last send as status --json says it, by machine name (novox/hq issue 485).
+func lastSentStatus(sends map[string]inventory.Send) []machineLastSent {
+	out := []machineLastSent{}
+	for _, s := range sends {
+		modules := s.Modules
+		if modules == nil {
+			modules = []string{}
+		}
+		out = append(out, machineLastSent{Node: s.NodeName, Sequence: s.Sequence, SentAt: s.SentAt, Sender: s.Sender,
+			Epoch: s.Epoch, Generation: s.Generation, Digest: s.Digest, Modules: modules, Answer: s.Answer.Outcome,
+			Refused: s.Answer.Refused, Failed: s.Answer.Failed, AnsweredAt: s.Answer.At,
+			RefusedForGeneration: s.RefusedAt, AppliedGeneration: s.RefusedApplied})
+	}
+	sort.Slice(out, func(i, j int) bool { return out[i].Node < out[j].Node })
+	return out
+}

cmd/mesh-controller/recorded_kept.go

@@ -61,20 +61,57 @@ func keptExcept(ctx context.Context) (map[string]bool, bool) {
 	return skip, on
 }
 
+type keepEveryBuildKey struct{}
+
+// keepingEveryBuild is a context whose sends compose every module of one machine — recorded or rolling out —
+// at the build that machine was last sent (novox/hq issue 490): the grants step, which sends the machine
+// holding the bus its new user list and nothing of any module's new code. That code waits there for a gate
+// like any other move; the list must not, or the first machine's gate is judged against a bus that refuses
+// what the change newly grants.
+//
+// **That machine alone.** Composing one machine resolves the others too — who is on the private network,
+// who answers a requirement — on the same context, and those are no part of the step's send: they are
+// composed as any send composes them. Kept for every machine, a machine whose last send is not known
+// refused the bus's machine's composition.
+func keepingEveryBuild(ctx context.Context, node string) context.Context {
+	return context.WithValue(ctx, keepEveryBuildKey{}, node)
+}
+
+// everyBuildKept is whether this context keeps every module of this machine at the build it runs.
+func everyBuildKept(ctx context.Context, node string) bool {
+	on, _ := ctx.Value(keepEveryBuildKey{}).(string)
+	return on != "" && on == node
+}
+
 // recordedKept is, for a send under keepingRecorded, every recorded module the machine was last sent a
 // build of that the mesh's build is not identical to: module → the commit it keeps. Nil when the context
 // keeps nothing, or when what the machine was last sent is not known (it is then held whole elsewhere —
 // ADR 0221).
+//
+// Under keepingEveryBuild, every module the machine was sent is kept, whatever its policy (novox/hq issue
+// 490), and a machine whose last send is not known refuses the send: there is nothing to keep it at, and
+// composing the mesh's builds would be the very move the grants step must not make.
 func recordedKept(ctx context.Context, open *stores, node string) (map[string]string, error) {
+	every := everyBuildKept(ctx, node)
 	skip, on := keptExcept(ctx)
-	if !on {
+	if !on && !every {
 		return nil, nil
 	}
+	if every {
+		skip = nil
+	}
 	inv := open.inventory
 	sent, known, err := inv.SentBuilds(ctx, node)
-	if err != nil || !known {
+	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
+	if !known {
+		if every {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("what %s was last sent is not known, so the bus's user list cannot be sent "+
+				"there alone with every build kept (novox/hq issue 490)", node)
+		}
+		return nil, nil
+	}
 	current, err := inv.CurrentBuilds(ctx)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
@@ -83,7 +120,7 @@ func recordedKept(ctx context.Context, open *stores, node string) (map[string]st
 	out := map[string]string{}
 	for m, was := range sent {
 		now, held := current[m]
-		if !held || now.RollOut || skip[m] || was == "" || sameCommit(was, now.Commit) {
+		if !held || (now.RollOut && !every) || skip[m] || was == "" || sameCommit(was, now.Commit) {
 			continue
 		}
 		if f == nil {
@@ -118,6 +155,10 @@ func keepRecorded(ctx context.Context, open *stores, node string, shelf map[stri
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, err
 		}
+		if !found && everyBuildKept(ctx, node) {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("%s runs %s's build %s, which the build records no longer hold: the bus's user "+
+				"list cannot be sent there alone with it kept (novox/hq issue 490)", node, m, short(kept[m]))
+		}
 		if !found {
 			return nil, fmt.Errorf("%s records rather than rolls out, and %s runs its build %s, which the build "+
 				"records no longer hold: this send cannot keep it and does not move it — `push %s` sends the new "+

cmd/mesh-controller/release.go

@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package main
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"encoding/json"
 	"errors"
 	"flag"
 	"fmt"
@@ -253,8 +254,19 @@ func ungatedIn(ctx context.Context, open *stores, names []string, addedHolder st
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, err
 		}
+		// The grants step composes every module at the build its machine was last sent (novox/hq issue 490):
+		// a move it keeps is not made. Read, not assumed, so a move it could not keep is still refused here.
+		var keeps map[string]string
+		if everyBuildKept(ctx, n) {
+			if keeps, err = recordedKept(ctx, open, n); err != nil {
+				return nil, err
+			}
+		}
 		var waiting []string
 		for _, mv := range moves {
+			if was, kept := keeps[mv.Module]; kept && sameCommit(was, mv.From) {
+				continue
+			}
 			if !scope.judged[n] && !scope.modules[mv.Module] {
 				waiting = append(waiting, fmt.Sprintf("%s %s → %s", mv.Module, short(mv.From), short(mv.To)))
 			}
@@ -283,15 +295,18 @@ func ungatedIn(ctx context.Context, open *stores, names []string, addedHolder st
 // owns are the moves the send exists for — every module of a plan's tier whose first machine this is, in
 // one send (novox/hq issue 281): a send carries the machine's whole declaration (ADR 0221), so a send per
 // module was the same declaration sent again and again, each one setting aside the one before.
-func gatedSend(ctx context.Context, open *stores, node string, owns []inventory.CarriedMove) ([]inventory.CarriedMove, []string, error) {
+//
+// And the grants step first, when the send changes what the bus's user list must say (novox/hq issue 490):
+// answered for the gate to keep, nil when there was none.
+func gatedSend(ctx context.Context, open *stores, node string, owns []inventory.CarriedMove) ([]inventory.CarriedMove, []string, *inventory.GrantsStep, error) {
 	inv := open.inventory
 	f, err := readMoveFacts(ctx, inv)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, nil, err
+		return nil, nil, nil, err
 	}
 	moves, err := machineMoves(ctx, open, f, node, true)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, nil, err
+		return nil, nil, nil, err
 	}
 	own := func(module string) bool {
 		return slices.ContainsFunc(owns, func(o inventory.CarriedMove) bool { return o.Module == module })
@@ -301,7 +316,7 @@ func gatedSend(ctx context.Context, open *stores, node string, owns []inventory.
 			continue
 		}
 		if id := f.walkedBy(mv.Module, node, mv.To); id != "" {
-			return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("%w: %s's build %s waits on %s, which %s is walking", errWalkedElsewhere,
+			return nil, nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("%w: %s's build %s waits on %s, which %s is walking", errWalkedElsewhere,
 				mv.Module, short(mv.To), node, id)
 		}
 	}
@@ -309,7 +324,7 @@ func gatedSend(ctx context.Context, open *stores, node string, owns []inventory.
 	// plan, or a release, on this machine is not crossed with a newer build; this send waits for its gate.
 	for _, o := range owns {
 		if id := f.walkedBy(o.Module, node, o.To); id != "" {
-			return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("%w: %s's build %s waits on %s, which %s is walking", errWalkedElsewhere,
+			return nil, nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("%w: %s's build %s waits on %s, which %s is walking", errWalkedElsewhere,
 				o.Module, short(o.To), node, id)
 		}
 	}
@@ -323,22 +338,22 @@ func gatedSend(ctx context.Context, open *stores, node string, owns []inventory.
 		}
 	}
 	if len(moves) == 0 && len(owns) == 0 {
-		return nil, nil, nil
+		return nil, nil, nil, nil
 	}
 	for i := range moves {
 		if moves[i].Build == "" {
 			if moves[i].Build, err = inv.BuildOf(ctx, moves[i].Module, moves[i].To); err != nil {
-				return nil, nil, err
+				return nil, nil, nil, err
 			}
 		}
 	}
 	sort.Slice(moves, func(i, j int) bool { return moves[i].Module < moves[j].Module })
 	sayRecreations(ctx, open, moves)
-	sent, err := sendRollout(withScope(ctx, sendScope{judged: map[string]bool{node: true}}), open, []string{node})
+	sent, grants, err := sendJudged(ctx, open, node)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, nil, err
+		return nil, nil, nil, err
 	}
-	return moves, sent, nil
+	return moves, sent, grants, nil
 }
 
 // passCarried keeps a pass as the verdict of every build the gate judged beside its own module.
@@ -674,7 +689,7 @@ func advanceRelease(ctx context.Context, open *stores, p *inventory.Plan) (bool,
 				r.Next++
 				continue
 			}
-			moves, sent, err := gatedSend(ctx, open, node, nil)
+			moves, sent, grants, err := gatedSend(ctx, open, node, nil)
 			if errors.Is(err, errWalkedElsewhere) {
 				note := fmt.Sprintf("waiting before %s: %v", node, err)
 				changed := p.Note != note
@@ -689,8 +704,12 @@ func advanceRelease(ctx context.Context, open *stores, p *inventory.Plan) (bool,
 				r.Next++
 				continue
 			}
-			r.Gate = &inventory.PlanGate{Machines: sent, Since: &now, Carried: moves, Sent: sentNow(ctx, open.inventory, sent)}
+			r.Gate = &inventory.PlanGate{Machines: sent, Since: &now, Carried: moves, Sent: sentNow(ctx, open.inventory, sent),
+				Grants: grants}
 			p.Note = fmt.Sprintf("sent %s %d build(s) that waited for a gate; judging them there", node, len(moves))
+			if said := grantsSaid(grants); said != "" {
+				p.Note += "; " + said
+			}
 			if said := recreationsSaid(moves); said != "" {
 				p.Note += "; " + said
 			}
@@ -916,3 +935,162 @@ func recreationsSaid(moves []inventory.CarriedMove) string {
 	}
 	return strings.Join(said, "; ")
 }
+
+// The grants step (novox/hq issue 490).
+//
+// The bus's user list — every module's grants, composed mesh-wide from the catalogue — travels only in the
+// declaration of the machine holding the bus. A send to any other machine that changed it put that machine
+// first (issue 249), unless a build waited there for a gate: then ungatedIn left it out, and said so. On
+// 2026-10-11 a merge gave restic a new health tool; its walk sent restic to its first machine and judged it
+// there, the machine's node-engine asked the tool and the bus refused it ("this host's grant does not name
+// …"), because the machine holding the bus also runs restic, whose new build waited for that very gate. The
+// gate could not pass; a person pushed the bus's machine by hand, which carried restic's new build there
+// unjudged.
+//
+// So before a gated send, when the user list composed now is not the one the machine holding the bus was
+// last sent, that machine is sent its declaration with **every build kept at the one it runs**: the new
+// list, and nothing of any module's new code. Said on the gate (`plans`), and, when it cannot be sent, said
+// with why and passed over: the send goes on as it did before, and its gate says what it finds.
+
+// brokerBehindOf is brokerBehind: a variable so a test of the walk needs no store.
+var brokerBehindOf = brokerBehind
+
+// grantsStep sends the machine holding the bus its user list alone, ahead of a gated send to node, when the
+// list changed; answers what it did, or nil when there was nothing to send.
+func grantsStep(ctx context.Context, open *stores, node string) *inventory.GrantsStep {
+	holder, behind, err := brokerBehindOf(ctx, open, []string{node})
+	if err != nil {
+		fmt.Printf("grants step before %s: whether the bus's user list changed could not be read: %v\n", node, err)
+		return &inventory.GrantsStep{Node: "the machine holding the bus", Failed: err.Error()}
+	}
+	if holder == "" || holder == node || !behind {
+		// No bus with a user list, the gate's own machine holds it (its send carries the list first), or the
+		// list is the one already sent.
+		return nil
+	}
+	if _, err := sendRollout(keepingEveryBuild(withScope(ctx, sendScope{}), holder), open, []string{holder}); err != nil {
+		fmt.Printf("grants step: the bus's user list could not be sent to %s ahead of %s, which is sent without "+
+			"it — the bus may refuse what the send newly grants: %v\n", holder, node, err)
+		return &inventory.GrantsStep{Node: holder, Failed: err.Error()}
+	}
+	now := time.Now().UTC()
+	fmt.Printf("grants step: %s sent the bus's user list alone, every build there kept, before %s is judged\n",
+		holder, node)
+	return &inventory.GrantsStep{Node: holder, At: &now}
+}
+
+// errNotGrantsOnly is a grants step refused unsent: its declaration would change more than the user list.
+var errNotGrantsOnly = errors.New("the grants step would change more than the bus's user list, and is not sent")
+
+// grantsOnlyIn is what a grants step's declaration, composed for sending, would change on the machine holding
+// the bus besides its user list, against what it was last sent (novox/hq issue 490); empty when nothing else.
+// Judged by sendToEach on the very declaration it then sends — one composition, judged, then sent or refused
+// unsent. Kept builds are not the whole of a declaration: a new assignment, a settings change, an assignment
+// taken away, a provision's logins are composed as the mesh holds them now, and a step that carried any of
+// it would be the unjudged change this step exists to avoid. Compared resource by resource with the summary
+// the last send kept (ADR 0217): exact, rather than a list of the cases that can differ. A module there that
+// was never sent is a new assignment, refused whatever its resources.
+func grantsOnlyIn(ctx context.Context, open *stores, holder string, plan catalogue.Resolution, declared sendable) (string, error) {
+	inv := open.inventory
+	sent, known, err := inv.SentBuilds(ctx, holder)
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+	if !known {
+		return fmt.Sprintf("what %s was last sent is not known", holder), nil
+	}
+	var other []string
+	listID := ""
+	for _, m := range plan.Modules {
+		if _, was := sent[m.Module]; !was {
+			other = append(other, m.Module+" newly assigned")
+		}
+		if m.BusUsers != "" && m.ClaimsSeat(catalogue.BrokerSeat) {
+			listID = m.Module + "." + catalogue.BusUsersID()
+		}
+	}
+	var facts *moveFacts
+	for m, was := range sent {
+		now, carried := declared.Builds[m]
+		if !carried || sameCommit(now, was) {
+			continue
+		}
+		if facts == nil {
+			f, err := readMoveFacts(ctx, inv)
+			if err != nil {
+				return "", err
+			}
+			facts = &f
+		}
+		if !facts.identical(m, was, now) {
+			other = append(other, fmt.Sprintf("%s %s → %s", m, short(was), short(now)))
+		}
+	}
+	for _, f := range declared.foreseen {
+		other = append(other, f+" would be minted")
+	}
+	body, err := declared.Body()
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+	after, err := summarize(body)
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+	prev, err := inv.SentSummary(ctx, holder)
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+	if len(prev) == 0 {
+		return fmt.Sprintf("what %s was last sent is not kept for comparison", holder), nil
+	}
+	var before []sentResource
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(prev, &before); err != nil {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("what %s was last sent is kept in a form this version does not read: %w", holder, err)
+	}
+	other = append(other, otherThanTheList(diffSent(before, after), listID)...)
+	sort.Strings(other)
+	if len(other) == 0 {
+		return "", nil
+	}
+	return "its send would change more than the bus's user list: " + strings.Join(other, "; "), nil
+}
+
+// otherThanTheList is what a diff against the last send changes besides the user list's content: every
+// resource added, removed or changed, but the list's own resource when its content is all that changed —
+// its path, mode and every other field must be as last sent (novox/hq issue 490).
+func otherThanTheList(d sentDiff, listID string) []string {
+	var other []string
+	for _, id := range d.Added {
+		other = append(other, "+"+id)
+	}
+	for _, id := range d.Removed {
+		other = append(other, "-"+id)
+	}
+	for _, c := range d.Changed {
+		if c.ID == listID && len(c.Fields) == 1 && c.Fields[0] == "content" {
+			continue
+		}
+		other = append(other, fmt.Sprintf("~%s (%s)", c.ID, strings.Join(c.Fields, ", ")))
+	}
+	return other
+}
+
+// sendJudged is a gated send's sends: the grants step when the user list changed, then the machine judged.
+func sendJudged(ctx context.Context, open *stores, node string) ([]string, *inventory.GrantsStep, error) {
+	grants := grantsStep(ctx, open, node)
+	sent, err := sendRollout(withScope(ctx, sendScope{judged: map[string]bool{node: true}}), open, []string{node})
+	return sent, grants, err
+}
+
+// grantsSaid is a grants step as `plans` and a walk's note say it.
+func grantsSaid(g *inventory.GrantsStep) string {
+	switch {
+	case g == nil:
+		return ""
+	case g.Failed != "":
+		return fmt.Sprintf(grantsStepWord+" to %s FAILED, sent without it: %s", g.Node, g.Failed)
+	default:
+		return fmt.Sprintf(grantsStepWord+": %s sent the bus's user list first, its builds kept", g.Node)
+	}
+}

cmd/mesh-controller/release_plan.go

@@ -971,7 +971,7 @@ func firstSend(ctx context.Context, open *stores, p *inventory.Plan, node string
 	}
 	// A gated send (ADR 0236): everything waiting on the machine goes with the tier, and the gate judges
 	// all of it there.
-	carried, sent, err := gatedSend(ctx, open, node, owns)
+	carried, sent, grants, err := gatedSend(ctx, open, node, owns)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
@@ -992,6 +992,7 @@ func firstSend(ctx context.Context, open *stores, p *inventory.Plan, node string
 		s.GatedBy = ""
 		if m == lead {
 			s.Gate.Carried = carried
+			s.Gate.Grants = grants
 		} else {
 			s.GatedBy = lead
 		}
@@ -1001,6 +1002,10 @@ func firstSend(ctx context.Context, open *stores, p *inventory.Plan, node string
 		strings.Join(sent, ", "))
 	fmt.Printf("%s: tier %d built; sent %d module(s) to %s first in one send (%s), the rest once its gate passes\n",
 		p.ID, p.Tier, len(modules), strings.Join(sent, ", "), strings.Join(modules, ", "))
+	// The grants step taken before it (novox/hq issue 490), said with it.
+	if said := grantsSaid(grants); said != "" {
+		p.Note += "; " + said
+	}
 	// What the send recreates, said with it (novox/hq ADR 0245).
 	if said := recreationsSaid(carried); said != "" {
 		p.Note += "; " + said

cmd/mesh-controller/release_test.go

@@ -160,6 +160,7 @@ func (b *backlogMesh) release(t *testing.T) inventory.Plan {
 // The backlog goes out one machine at a time: the first judged before the second is sent, each build's
 // pass kept; a rebuild with the same bytes is no move at all; and a send outside a gate is refused.
 func TestTheBacklogIsReleasedOneMachineAtATimeEachJudged(t *testing.T) {
+	judgeLeavesAsTheCore(t)
 	b := aBacklog(t)
 	ctx := t.Context()
 	inv := b.open.inventory

cmd/mesh-controller/replay335_test.go

@@ -77,6 +77,7 @@ func testAWalkStoppedAfterItsGatePassedKeepsThePass(t *testing.T) {
 // the first send is older than the wait for a first machine's report. Read before the pass is taken over, the
 // carried module's step said the first machine never applied it, and the passed build was put back.
 func TestACarriedModuleTakesItsLeadsPassBeforeItsStepIsRead(t *testing.T) {
+	judgeLeavesAsTheCore(t)
 	tm := aTierMesh(t, "m01", "m02")
 	ctx := t.Context()
 	inv := tm.open.inventory

cmd/mesh-controller/rotate.go

@@ -55,6 +55,15 @@ func rotateCommand(ctx context.Context, args []string) error {
 	defer open.Close()
 	inv := open.inventory
 
+	// A credential the provider's software issued is not the mesh's to remake (novox/hq ADR 0305 §9).
+	shelf, err := inv.Catalogue(ctx)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if err := issuedRefusesRotation(shelf, provision); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
 	holders, err := inv.HoldersOf(ctx, provision, *only)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err

cmd/mesh-controller/same_source_test.go

@@ -162,6 +162,7 @@ func TestABusRebuiltFromAnUnchangedSourceDemandsNoBusStep(t *testing.T) {
 // A plan's build made from the source every machine running the module runs is not sent and not
 // judged: nothing moves. A build of a changed source is sent to its first machine, gated, as before.
 func TestAPlanSendsNothingForAnUnchangedSource(t *testing.T) {
+	judgeLeavesAsTheCore(t)
 	for _, tc := range []struct {
 		name   string
 		source string

cmd/mesh-controller/seatverbs.go

@@ -410,6 +410,10 @@ func (a *verbArguments) commandLine() ([]string, error) {
 		if b := str("by"); b != "" {
 			argv = append(argv, "--by", catalogue.DeliverySeat+" for "+b)
 		}
+		// The merges to leave out: the walk's other merges are walked again without them (novox/hq ADR 0299).
+		if w := str("without"); w != "" {
+			argv = append(argv, "--without", w)
+		}
 		return argv, nil
 	case "delivery-walks":
 		argv := []string{"delivery", "walks"}
@@ -773,6 +777,13 @@ func (a *verbArguments) commandLine() ([]string, error) {
 			return nil, err
 		}
 		return []string{"secret", "ask", str("node"), str("module"), str("secret"), "--at", str("at")}, nil
+	case "issued":
+		// The credential a provider's software issued, taken from the provider (novox/hq ADR 0305): no value in
+		// the arguments, the provision alone.
+		if err := need("provision"); err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+		return []string{"secret", "issued", str("provision")}, nil
 	case "secret-ask":
 		// A module's own secret asked for, typed by the operator at the desk (novox/hq ADR 0277): never a value
 		// in the arguments. The desk is the module's machine unless at names another.
@@ -1579,6 +1590,14 @@ func givenAtTheDesk(argv []string) bool {
 	return argv[5] == "--at" && argv[6] != "" && !strings.HasPrefix(argv[6], "-")
 }
 
+// takenFromTheProvider is exactly the line the `issued` verb composes, and nothing beside it: `secret issued
+// <provision>` (novox/hq ADR 0305 §10). It carries no value — the value comes from the provider's own tool, sealed to
+// the call — and answers none.
+func takenFromTheProvider(argv []string) bool {
+	return len(argv) == 3 && argv[0] == "secret" && argv[1] == "issued" && argv[2] != "" &&
+		!strings.HasPrefix(argv[2], "-")
+}
+
 // terminalOnly refuses, through any verb, a command that is the operator's at the controller's terminal
 // alone (novox/hq ADR 0266). **Every `node` subcommand that is not a read**: `node account` and
 // `node agent-account` above all. Whoever may call a verb includes agents, and an agent that named itself
@@ -1595,7 +1614,7 @@ func terminalOnly(argv []string) error {
 	// Of a secret's commands only rotation, which seals the new value to the machine that uses it, and the
 	// `give` verb's own line: an own secret typed by the operator into the desk's hidden prompt, sealed to this
 	// call and then to the module's machine, so no value travels in the verb or its answer (hq ADR 0259 §10).
-	if argv[0] == "secret" && (len(argv) < 2 || argv[1] != "rotate") && !givenAtTheDesk(argv) {
+	if argv[0] == "secret" && (len(argv) < 2 || argv[1] != "rotate") && !givenAtTheDesk(argv) && !takenFromTheProvider(argv) {
 		return terminalRefusal("secret %s is run at the controller's terminal only, never through a verb: accepting, "+
 			"recovering or exporting a secret hands it to whoever asks, and that includes agents (novox/hq ADR "+
 			"0266). Nothing was done", strings.Join(argv[1:], " "))

cmd/mesh-controller/secret.go

@@ -41,6 +41,9 @@ func secretCommand(ctx context.Context, args []string) error {
 	case "accept":
 	case "ask":
 		return secretAsk(ctx, args[1:])
+	case "issued":
+		// The credential a provider's software issued, taken from the provider (novox/hq ADR 0305).
+		return secretIssued(ctx, args[1:])
 	case "rotate":
 		return secretRotate(ctx, args[1:])
 	case "recover":
@@ -168,6 +171,7 @@ func secretAsk(ctx context.Context, args []string) error {
 
 const secretUsage = "secret rotate <node> <module> <name> [--why <text> [--cause <word>]]\n" +
 	"secret ask <node> <module> <name> [--at <machine>]\n" +
+	"secret issued <provision>\n" +
 	"secret accept <node> <module> <name> [--from <file> | --at-desk <machine>] [--provider <node> [--local <name>]]\n" +
 	"secret recover <node> <module> <name> --key <operator-key> [--out <file>] [--from-export <file>] [--provider <node>]\n" +
 	"secret export [--out <file>]"

cmd/mesh-controller/standing_test.go

@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ func TestAProviderFailingAConsumerBreaksAllWellUntilItRecovers(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 	// Both machines' `node show` name it: where the provider runs, and where the consumer is.
 	for _, node := range []string{"anchor", "laptop"} {
-		shown := printed(t, func() error { return showNode(ctx, open.inventory, node) })
+		shown := printed(t, func() error { return showNode(ctx, open, node) })
 		if !strings.Contains(shown, "open condition(s) about this machine") || !strings.Contains(shown, "mesh_laptop_dashboard") {
 			t.Fatalf("node show %s does not name it:\n%s", node, shown)
 		}

cmd/mesh-controller/status.go

@@ -289,6 +289,10 @@ func printStatus(asked answers) error {
 		fmt.Printf("\n  `take <node> <module>` compares what runs against what it declares, and runs it\n\n")
 	}
 
+	// Assigned and not applied (novox/hq issue 380): before what is merely reported, because it reads like work
+	// finished and is none.
+	printNotApplied(asked.leftOut)
+
 	if len(asked.unheld) > 0 {
 		// **Reported, and not refused yet** (novox/hq ADR 0207 §4). Each machine still resolves and
 		// is sent what it would be; this says which of its modules depend on a seat nothing there
@@ -337,6 +341,10 @@ func printStatus(asked answers) error {
 			"lists them, and each is in its condition's tried\n\n", asked.heals.Acts, asked.heals.Escalated)
 	}
 
+	// What each machine was last sent and by whom, one line each (novox/hq issue 485). Not a fault, so it does not
+	// break "all well"; a record that could not be read does.
+	printLastSends(nodes, asked.lastSent, asked.lastSentUnread)
+
 	if adopted := adoptedNodes(nodes); len(adopted) > 0 {
 		// Said, because nothing forces the flip: a node left adopted is visible here rather than
 		// read as converged (novox/hq ADR 0100). Not a fault, so it does not break "all well".
@@ -456,6 +464,13 @@ func theThreeQuestions(ctx context.Context, open *stores) (answers, error) {
 			return answers{}, err
 		}
 		plans[n.Name] = planned{plan, settings}
+		// And which of its modules a push leaves out (novox/hq issue 380), judged as the push judges it.
+		if left := leftOutOf(plan, settings, n.Adopted); len(left) > 0 {
+			if out.leftOut == nil {
+				out.leftOut = map[string][]leftOutModule{}
+			}
+			out.leftOut[n.Name] = left
+		}
 		out.unheld = append(out.unheld, plan.Unheld...)
 		// And which of its modules a provider leaves out of its grants, for an identity too long
 		// for what the provision keeps (novox/hq ADR 0225) — judged from the consumer's own
@@ -474,6 +489,12 @@ func theThreeQuestions(ctx context.Context, open *stores) (answers, error) {
 		out.pendingUnread = err.Error()
 		err = nil
 	}
+	// And what each machine was last sent, by whom (novox/hq issue 485): the record of sends is read through
+	// the controller's verbs alone, the store's reader being shut out of its tables. Unreadable is said.
+	if out.lastSent, err = inv.LastSends(ctx); err != nil {
+		out.lastSentUnread = err.Error()
+		err = nil
+	}
 	out.plans, err = inv.RecentPlans(ctx, 5)
 	if err != nil {
 		return answers{}, err
@@ -604,9 +625,10 @@ func untakenModules(ctx context.Context, inv *inventory.Inventory, nodes []inven
 // read as success for the whole of the edge cut-over outage (novox/hq 04-ISSUES/125).
 func (a answers) well() bool {
 	return len(a.wrong) == 0 && len(a.quiet) == 0 && len(a.behind) == 0 &&
-		len(a.waiting) == 0 && len(a.refused) == 0 && a.network == "" && len(a.untaken) == 0 &&
+		len(a.waiting) == 0 && len(a.refused) == 0 && a.network == "" && len(a.untaken) == 0 && len(a.leftOut) == 0 &&
 		len(a.filtered) == 0 && len(a.unheld) == 0 && len(a.overflowing) == 0 &&
-		len(a.conditions) == 0 && a.conditionsUnread == "" && a.pendingUnread == "" && !pendingOpen(a.pending)
+		len(a.conditions) == 0 && a.conditionsUnread == "" && a.pendingUnread == "" && !pendingOpen(a.pending) &&
+		a.lastSentUnread == ""
 }
 
 // pendingOpen is whether any pending assignment is still to be made. One that ended without being made is

cmd/mesh-controller/testdata/left-out/nfs-server.json

@@ -0,0 +1,142 @@
+{
+  "module": "nfs-server",
+  "version": "1",
+  "upgrade": {
+    "policy": "record",
+    "why": "the folders other machines mount: a build that breaks the exports leaves every client's mount hanging or refused, and the gate on this one machine does not see the clients (hq ADR 0236, ADR 0263)"
+  },
+  "capabilities": [
+    "package-manager",
+    "service-manager"
+  ],
+  "provides": [
+    {
+      "name": "nfs-share",
+      "scope": "mesh",
+      "identity": false
+    }
+  ],
+  "data": {
+    "consumers": {
+      "nfs-share": {
+        "class": "none",
+        "why": "the shared folders are the operator's data (hq ADR 0051): what a client writes lands in them, and they are protected where the operator declares them, never by this module, which keeps nothing of a consumer's"
+      }
+    }
+  },
+  "claims": [
+    {
+      "name": "node-nfs-server",
+      "scope": "node",
+      "serves": [
+        "exports",
+        "clients",
+        "test",
+        "reload",
+        "adopt"
+      ]
+    }
+  ],
+  "state": [
+    {
+      "name": "exports",
+      "ttl-seconds": 120,
+      "per-machine": true
+    }
+  ],
+  "tools": [
+    "nfs_health"
+  ],
+  "listens": [
+    {
+      "name": "nfs",
+      "port": 2049,
+      "protocol": "tcp",
+      "from": "mesh",
+      "fixed": true,
+      "why": "the shares, to the mesh's machines only (hq ADR 0263): NFS version 4 alone, which needs no other port, and never the home network, where a device that is not a node could claim any user id"
+    }
+  ],
+  "resources": [
+    {
+      "id": "package",
+      "type": "package",
+      "package": "nfs-utils"
+    },
+    {
+      "id": "nfs-conf",
+      "type": "file",
+      "path": "/etc/nfs.conf.d/50-mesh.conf",
+      "mode": "0644",
+      "content": "# Written by the mesh (module nfs-server, novox/hq ADR 0263). Replaced on every push; a drop-in of\n# the operator's that sorts after this one overrides it, and is theirs.\n#\n# NFS version 4 only: a client needs port 2049 and nothing else, so the module opens nothing more\n# than that, to the private network. Version 3 needs rpcbind and mountd, on ports the mesh does not open.\n[nfsd]\nvers2=n\nvers3=n\nvers4=y\nvers4.0=n\nvers4.1=y\nvers4.2=y\n"
+    },
+    {
+      "id": "config-dir",
+      "type": "directory",
+      "path": "/etc/nfs-server",
+      "mode": "0755"
+    },
+    {
+      "id": "config",
+      "type": "file",
+      "path": "/etc/nfs-server/shares.conf",
+      "mode": "0644",
+      "content": "# Written by the mesh (module nfs-server, novox/hq ADR 0263) from this machine's assignment.\n# Replaced on every push; change the `shares` setting, never this file.\n#\n# The shares: name=folder, or name=folder:ro, one share per folder. The module's process exports each\n# to the private network's range below, every client mapped to the folder's owner.\nshares=${setting:shares}\nrange=${machine:mesh-range}\n"
+    },
+    {
+      "id": "run-dir",
+      "type": "directory",
+      "path": "/run/nfs-server",
+      "mode": "0755"
+    },
+    {
+      "id": "server",
+      "type": "service",
+      "unit": "nfs-server.service",
+      "state": "running",
+      "boot": "enabled",
+      "restart-on": [
+        "nfs-conf"
+      ],
+      "health": {
+        "kind": "unit"
+      }
+    },
+    {
+      "id": "exports",
+      "type": "process",
+      "name": "nfs-server-exports",
+      "artifact": "tools",
+      "run": [
+        "./nfs-server",
+        "exports"
+      ],
+      "restart-on": [
+        "config"
+      ],
+      "health": {
+        "kind": "tool",
+        "tool": "nfs_health",
+        "interval": "60s",
+        "timeout": "10s",
+        "looks": 2,
+        "grace": "90s"
+      }
+    }
+  ],
+  "build": {
+    "artifacts": [
+      {
+        "name": "tools",
+        "kind": "bundle",
+        "language": "go",
+        "system": "arch",
+        "from": "cmd/nfs-server",
+        "binary": "nfs-server",
+        "loads": [
+          "nfs-server"
+        ]
+      }
+    ]
+  }
+}

cmd/mesh-controller/tier_send_test.go

@@ -167,6 +167,7 @@ func (tm *tierMesh) raise(machine, kind, summary string) {
 // The incident's tier, small: a dozen modules whose first machine is the same are sent there in one
 // send, judged by one gate, and the rest of their machines are sent once — two sends, not two dozen.
 func TestATierOfManyModulesIsSentToEachMachineOnce(t *testing.T) {
+	judgeLeavesAsTheCore(t)
 	var modules []string
 	for i := 1; i <= 12; i++ {
 		modules = append(modules, fmt.Sprintf("m%02d", i))
@@ -268,6 +269,7 @@ func TestACoreBehindWhileTheNodeToolsSettleFailsNoOtherModule(t *testing.T) {
 // A machine-level condition about anything else holds the machine back as a whole: everything the send
 // moved there fails together, once, with that reason — not one module for it.
 func TestAMachineUnhealthyAsAWholeFailsTheWholeSendTogether(t *testing.T) {
+	judgeLeavesAsTheCore(t)
 	tm := aTierMesh(t, "app1", "app2", "app3")
 	ctx := t.Context()
 	inv := tm.open.inventory
@@ -330,6 +332,7 @@ func TestTheConditionsAboutAMachineItself(t *testing.T) {
 // rollback that failed; and `plans retry` asks it again rather than refusing a build that was never
 // judged (the incident's "NOT put back: no build kept").
 func TestAModuleItsSendChangedNothingOfIsLeftAsItWasAndRetried(t *testing.T) {
+	judgeLeavesAsTheCore(t)
 	g := aGateMesh(t)
 	ctx := t.Context()
 	inv := g.open.inventory
@@ -384,6 +387,7 @@ func TestAModuleItsSendChangedNothingOfIsLeftAsItWasAndRetried(t *testing.T) {
 // them, they are registered back and marked in the judging that finds them broken, the plan goes on judging
 // the other module to its own pass, and only then fails.
 func TestATierPutsABrokenModuleBackAtOnce(t *testing.T) {
+	judgeLeavesAsTheCore(t)
 	for _, order := range [][]string{{broker.RuntimeModule, "app1"}, {"app1", broker.RuntimeModule}} {
 		t.Run("gate kept on "+order[0], func(t *testing.T) {
 			tm := aTierMesh(t, order...)
@@ -435,3 +439,38 @@ func TestATierPutsABrokenModuleBackAtOnce(t *testing.T) {
 		})
 	}
 }
+
+// **A send carrying a core module waits for the core's readings** (issue 524 review): the leaf beside the node
+// tools has its one reading at once, but the send is judged as the core: not before the settle time, and three
+// readings.
+func TestASendCarryingTheCoreIsJudgedAsTheCore(t *testing.T) {
+	tm := aTierMesh(t, broker.RuntimeModule, "app1")
+	ctx := t.Context()
+	// One reading counted per advance, as every test with a gate left open does: a gate judged with no time
+	// between readings would count a pass at every look and never let an advance rest.
+	gateEvery, gateSettle = time.Hour, time.Hour
+	for i := 0; i < 6; i++ {
+		advancePlans(ctx, tm.open)
+	}
+	p := tm.plan(t)
+	lead := p.Modules[broker.RuntimeModule].Gate
+	if lead == nil {
+		lead = p.Modules["app1"].Gate
+	}
+	if !reflect.DeepEqual(tm.sent, [][]string{{"anchor"}}) || !p.Open() || lead == nil || lead.Verdict != "" || lead.Wants != gatePasses {
+		t.Fatalf("passed before the core's settle time: sent %v, plan %s (%s), gate %+v", tm.sent, p.State, p.Note, lead)
+	}
+	gateEvery, gateSettle = 0, 0
+	for i := 0; i < 6; i++ {
+		advancePlans(ctx, tm.open)
+	}
+	p = tm.plan(t)
+	if p.State != inventory.PlanDone || !reflect.DeepEqual(tm.sent, [][]string{{"anchor"}, {"laptop"}}) {
+		t.Fatalf("the plan is %s (%s), sent %v", p.State, p.Note, tm.sent)
+	}
+	for _, m := range []string{broker.RuntimeModule, "app1"} {
+		if g := p.Modules[m].Gate; g != nil && (g.Verdict != inventory.GatePassed || g.Passes < gatePasses) {
+			t.Fatalf("%s's gate: %+v; want passed on %d readings", m, g, gatePasses)
+		}
+	}
+}

internal/broker/issued_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+package broker
+
+import "testing"
+
+// The controller asks a tool that answers a software-issued credential in its own name, and nothing else under
+// `call` (novox/hq ADR 0305 §2, issue 526): the grant is composed from the records, so the installer's first user
+// list, a controller with no records, carries none.
+func TestTheControllerAsksAnIssuedCredentialsToolInItsOwnNameAlone(t *testing.T) {
+	r := Records{Nodes: []string{"n", "ace"}, Assigned: map[string][]Declared{
+		"n":   {{Module: "x", Issued: []string{"t"}}},
+		"ace": {{Module: "plex", Issued: []string{"plex_issued_credential"}}, {Module: "kometa"}},
+	}}
+	users, err := Users(r)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	controller := users[0]
+	if controller.Kind != KindController {
+		t.Fatalf("the first user is %s", controller.Username())
+	}
+	perms, err := PermissionsFor(controller)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	for _, s := range []string{
+		"mesh.mod.x.call.t.n.controller",
+		"mesh.mod.plex.call.plex_issued_credential.ace.controller",
+	} {
+		if !MayPublish(perms, s) {
+			t.Errorf("the controller may not publish %s", s)
+		}
+	}
+	for _, s := range []string{
+		"mesh.mod.x.call.t.n.ace.node-tools",
+		"mesh.mod.x.call.t.n." + CallerToken("ace.node-tools"),
+		"mesh.mod.plex.call.plex_issued_credential.ace." + CallerToken("ace.node-tools"),
+		"mesh.mod.plex.call.plex_status.ace.controller",
+		"mesh.mod.kometa.call.t.ace.controller",
+		"mesh.seat.mesh-controller.call.status.controller",
+	} {
+		if MayPublish(perms, s) {
+			t.Errorf("the controller may publish %s", s)
+		}
+	}
+
+	bare, err := PermissionsFor(Principal{Kind: KindController})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if MayPublish(bare, "mesh.mod.x.call.t.n.controller") {
+		t.Fatal("a controller composed with no records is granted a caller-named call")
+	}
+}

internal/broker/nats.go

@@ -123,6 +123,13 @@ type Principal struct {
 	// permission and nothing beside it.
 	Invokes []string
 
+	// AsksIssued are the tools the controller asks in its own name for a credential a provider's software
+	// issued, each `<module>.<tool>` (novox/hq ADR 0305): on the subject that names its caller, so the tool
+	// knows the controller asks. Composed from the records, so the installer's first user list — a controller
+	// with no records — carries none, and moves with issue 464 like the rest of the controller's caller-named
+	// grants.
+	AsksIssued []string
+
 	// State is the local names of the state this principal's module keeps, and Reads the state of
 	// others it reads as `<module>.<name>` (novox/hq ADR 0201): a bucket each, kept by the owner's
 	// instances and read by whoever declares it.
@@ -900,6 +907,17 @@ func PermissionsFor(p Principal) (Permissions, error) {
 	// and moves with issue 464.
 	if p.Kind != KindController {
 		pub, sub = callerNamed(p.Username(), pub, sub)
+	} else {
+		// **But the tools that answer a software-issued credential** (novox/hq ADR 0305 §2): those answer the
+		// controller alone, and know it only from the subject's last token, so it asks them in its own name —
+		// those tools, on any machine, and nothing else under `call`.
+		for _, key := range p.AsksIssued {
+			module, tool, ok := strings.Cut(key, ".")
+			if !ok || module == "" || tool == "" || strings.ContainsAny(key, "*> ") {
+				continue
+			}
+			pub = append(pub, "mesh.mod."+module+"."+CallKind+"."+tool+".*."+CallerToken(p.Username()))
+		}
 	}
 
 	sort.Strings(pub)

internal/broker/users.go

@@ -29,6 +29,9 @@ type Declared struct {
 	Holds []Seat
 	// Uses are the seats this module sends to.
 	Uses []Seat
+	// Issued are the tools that answer a credential its software issued, one per offer that says so (novox/hq
+	// ADR 0305): the controller is granted to ask each in its own name, and no other tool so.
+	Issued []string
 	// Watches are the seats whose events it consumes.
 	Watches []Seat
 	// Invokes are the tools it calls, `<module>.<tool>` or `*` (novox/hq ADR 0152).
@@ -84,7 +87,7 @@ type Records struct {
 // is a mesh that cannot be told anything, and there is no state of the records in which that is
 // correct.
 func Users(r Records) ([]Principal, error) {
-	out := []Principal{{Kind: KindController, Uses: asksSeatOf(r)}}
+	out := []Principal{{Kind: KindController, Uses: asksSeatOf(r), AsksIssued: issuedOf(r)}}
 
 	for _, node := range sortedCopy(r.Nodes) {
 		witness := false
@@ -206,6 +209,25 @@ const controllerModule = "mesh-controller"
 // asksSeatOf is the seat an ask is made on, as its holder declares it (novox/hq ADR 0259): the controller
 // asks the operator through it like any other user, and is granted what its declaration names for a caller.
 // None while nothing holds it.
+// issuedOf is every tool of a module assigned anywhere that answers a credential its software issued, as
+// `<module>.<tool>` (novox/hq ADR 0305): what the controller asks in its own name, and nothing beside.
+func issuedOf(r Records) []string {
+	seen := map[string]bool{}
+	var out []string
+	for _, node := range sortedCopy(r.Nodes) {
+		for _, d := range r.Assigned[node] {
+			for _, t := range d.Issued {
+				if key := d.Module + "." + t; !seen[key] {
+					seen[key] = true
+					out = append(out, key)
+				}
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	sort.Strings(out)
+	return out
+}
+
 func asksSeatOf(r Records) []Seat {
 	for _, node := range sortedCopy(r.Nodes) {
 		for _, d := range r.Assigned[node] {

internal/catalogue/contribution_dependencies_test.go

@@ -79,23 +79,38 @@ func TestAHolderMeetsItsOwnContribution(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-func TestTwoModulesDeclaringOnePackageAreRefusedBeforeAnythingIsRecorded(t *testing.T) {
+func TestTwoModulesMayDeclareOnePackage(t *testing.T) {
 	pacman := withResources(mod("pacman", nil, nil, nil, Claim{Name: PackageManagerSeat}),
 		res("package", "pacman-contrib"))
 	bar := withResources(mod("bar", nil, nil, nil), res("package", "bar"), res("package", "pacman-contrib"))
-	other := withResources(mod("other", nil, nil, nil), res("package", "other"))
-	catalogue := map[string]Manifest{"pacman": pacman, "bar": bar, "other": other}
+	catalogue := map[string]Manifest{"pacman": pacman, "bar": bar}
+	if err := CollisionRefusal(catalogue, "laptop", []string{"pacman"}, []string{"bar"}); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("a second declaration of a package was refused (novox/hq ADR 0303): %v", err)
+	}
+}
 
-	err := CollisionRefusal(catalogue, "laptop", []string{"pacman"}, []string{"bar"})
-	if err == nil || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "pacman-contrib") || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "bar") {
-		t.Fatalf("the second owner of a package was not refused by name: %v", err)
+func TestAPackageDeclaredPresentAndAbsentIsRefusedNamingBoth(t *testing.T) {
+	gone := res("package", "ufw")
+	gone["absent"] = true
+	filter := withResources(mod("nftables", nil, nil, nil), gone)
+	wants := withResources(mod("legacy", nil, nil, nil), res("package", "ufw"))
+	other := withResources(mod("other", nil, nil, nil), res("package", "other"))
+	catalogue := map[string]Manifest{"nftables": filter, "legacy": wants, "other": other}
+
+	err := CollisionRefusal(catalogue, "laptop", []string{"nftables"}, []string{"legacy"})
+	if err == nil || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "ufw") || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "nftables") ||
+		!strings.Contains(err.Error(), "legacy") || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "ADR 0303") {
+		t.Fatalf("a package declared present and absent was not refused naming both: %v", err)
 	}
-	if err := CollisionRefusal(catalogue, "laptop", []string{"pacman"}, []string{"other"}); err != nil {
-		t.Errorf("a module declaring nothing shared is refused: %v", err)
+	if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "one owner per node") {
+		t.Errorf("the refusal gives the one-owner rule, which no longer holds for packages: %v", err)
 	}
-	// A collision already on the node is status's, not a reason to refuse an unrelated assignment.
-	if err := CollisionRefusal(catalogue, "laptop", []string{"pacman", "bar"}, []string{"other"}); err != nil {
-		t.Errorf("an unrelated assignment is refused for a collision already there: %v", err)
+	if err := CollisionRefusal(catalogue, "laptop", []string{"nftables"}, []string{"other"}); err != nil {
+		t.Errorf("a module declaring nothing contradictory is refused: %v", err)
+	}
+	// A contradiction already on the node is status's, not a reason to refuse an unrelated assignment.
+	if err := CollisionRefusal(catalogue, "laptop", []string{"nftables", "legacy"}, []string{"other"}); err != nil {
+		t.Errorf("an unrelated assignment is refused for a contradiction already there: %v", err)
 	}
 }
 

internal/catalogue/declaration.go

@@ -342,18 +342,38 @@ func (e *NotMadeError) Error() string {
 // compose. Empty when every module composes. The same judgement SetSettings makes before storing.
 func (r Resolution) LeftOut(settings SettingsBy, adopted bool) map[string]string {
 	out := map[string]string{}
+	for module, why := range r.LeftOutBecause(settings, adopted) {
+		out[module] = why.Error()
+	}
+	return out
+}
+
+// LeftOutBecause is LeftOut with each reason as the error it was, so a reader can tell a setting nobody
+// gave (an *UnsetSettingError) from any other cause and say it as the operator's to give (novox/hq issue
+// 380). An UnreadManifestError for a stored manifest this controller cannot read whole.
+func (r Resolution) LeftOutBecause(settings SettingsBy, adopted bool) map[string]error {
+	out := map[string]error{}
 	for _, m := range r.Modules {
 		if why := UnknownFieldReason(m); why != "" {
-			out[m.Module] = why
+			out[m.Module] = &UnreadManifestError{Module: m.Module, said: why}
 			continue
 		}
 		if err := JudgeSettings(m, settings[m.Module], adopted); err != nil {
-			out[m.Module] = err.Error()
+			out[m.Module] = err
 		}
 	}
 	return out
 }
 
+// UnreadManifestError is a module left out because its stored manifest has a key this controller does not know
+// (novox/hq ADR 0262): said once for the whole mesh, by the catalogue's own condition, not per machine.
+type UnreadManifestError struct {
+	Module string
+	said   string
+}
+
+func (e *UnreadManifestError) Error() string { return e.said }
+
 // Compose is Declaration with the owner of every resource said.
 func (r Resolution) Compose(with Rendering) (Composed, error) {
 	owner := map[string]string{}

internal/catalogue/delivery_seat.go

@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ func deliveryVerbs() []Verb {
 		// Delivery time against the delivery budgets (novox/hq ADR 0282): what probe D16 reads, optional until its
 		// holder serves it.
 		{Name: "times", Description: "Delivery time: from a merge to every machine of its walk running the build. " +
-			"Each class's delivery budget (a leaf module five minutes, a core module ten), the last days' median and " +
+			"Each class's delivery budget (a leaf module three minutes, a core module ten), the last days' median and " +
 			"worst, how many within and over, the newest delivery of each class, every delivery over its budget with its " +
 			"longest phase, and the delivered ones whose time is not known. Given a delivery's id, its time phase by phase.",
 			Input: schema(map[string]string{"days": "how many days back (default 7)", "id": "one delivery's id: its phases"}, nil),

internal/catalogue/engine_guard_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+package catalogue
+
+import (
+	"go/ast"
+	"go/parser"
+	"go/token"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"slices"
+	"strconv"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/beside"
+)
+
+// The controller refuses a definition's resolved path by the node-engine's own rules, no more (novox/hq issue
+// 496): the same lists, read here from mesh-host's internal/apply/placement_guard.go — in a merge check the clone
+// beside it at the commit the mesh runs, elsewhere the copy captured in testdata/beside. When the engine's lists
+// move, this fails until the controller's move with them, so the gate never refuses what the engine applies nor
+// passes what it refuses by path alone.
+func TestTheResolvedPathRulesAreTheNodeEnginesOwn(t *testing.T) {
+	file := filepath.Join(beside.Dir(t, "mesh-host"), "internal", "apply", "placement_guard.go")
+	parsed, err := parser.ParseFile(token.NewFileSet(), file, nil, 0)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("the node-engine's guard does not parse: %v", err)
+	}
+	lists := map[string][]string{}
+	consts := map[string]string{}
+	ast.Inspect(parsed, func(n ast.Node) bool {
+		spec, ok := n.(*ast.ValueSpec)
+		if !ok {
+			return true
+		}
+		for i, name := range spec.Names {
+			if i >= len(spec.Values) {
+				continue
+			}
+			switch v := spec.Values[i].(type) {
+			case *ast.CompositeLit:
+				for _, elt := range v.Elts {
+					if lit, ok := elt.(*ast.BasicLit); ok && lit.Kind == token.STRING {
+						s, _ := strconv.Unquote(lit.Value)
+						lists[name.Name] = append(lists[name.Name], s)
+					}
+				}
+			case *ast.BasicLit:
+				if v.Kind == token.STRING {
+					consts[name.Name], _ = strconv.Unquote(v.Value)
+				}
+			}
+		}
+		return true
+	})
+	for name, ours := range map[string][]string{
+		"protectedRoots": protectedRoots, "forbiddenBelow": forbiddenBelow, "engineTrees": engineTrees,
+	} {
+		theirs := lists[name]
+		if len(theirs) == 0 {
+			t.Errorf("the node-engine's guard names no %s any more; read it and say where its rule went", name)
+			continue
+		}
+		a, b := slices.Clone(ours), slices.Clone(theirs)
+		slices.Sort(a)
+		slices.Sort(b)
+		if !slices.Equal(a, b) {
+			t.Errorf("%s differs from the node-engine's:\n controller %v\n node-engine %v", name, a, b)
+		}
+	}
+	if consts["engineModule"] != engineModule {
+		t.Errorf("the node-engine's own module is %q there and %q here", consts["engineModule"], engineModule)
+	}
+}

internal/catalogue/issued_credential_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+package catalogue
+
+import (
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+// A provision's credential may be issued by its provider's software (novox/hq ADR 0305, issue 526): the offer
+// names the tool that answers it and no own secret, and every other shape is refused at parse.
+func TestAnOfferMaySayItsSoftwareIssuesTheCredential(t *testing.T) {
+	m, err := ParseManifest([]byte(`{"module":"media","version":"1",
+		"provides":[{"name":"media-api","scope":"mesh","credential":{"issued-by":"software","tool":"media_issued_credential"}}],
+		"serves":{"media-api":{"port":32400}}}`))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if tool, issued := m.IssuedCredentialOf("media-api"); !issued || tool != "media_issued_credential" {
+		t.Fatalf("the offer's issued credential was not read: %q %v", tool, issued)
+	}
+	if _, shared := m.SharedCredentialOf("media-api"); shared {
+		t.Fatal("an issued credential was read as an own secret shared")
+	}
+	if _, issued := m.IssuedCredentialOf("other"); issued {
+		t.Fatal("a provision the module does not offer reads as issued")
+	}
+
+	for want, raw := range map[string]string{
+		"the one issuer an offer may name": `{"module":"d","version":"1",
+			"provides":[{"name":"d-api","credential":{"issued-by":"vendor","tool":"d_token"}}]}`,
+		"names no tool that answers it": `{"module":"d","version":"1",
+			"provides":[{"name":"d-api","credential":{"issued-by":"software"}}]}`,
+		"names its own secret": `{"module":"d","version":"1","own-secrets":{"token":{"path":"/p","taken":"at-start"}},
+			"provides":[{"name":"d-api","credential":{"issued-by":"software","tool":"d_token","own":"token"}}]}`,
+		"the one issuer an offer may name ": `{"module":"d","version":"1",
+			"provides":[{"name":"d-api","credential":{"tool":"d_token"}}]}`,
+	} {
+		want = strings.TrimSpace(want)
+		if _, err := ParseManifest([]byte(raw)); err == nil || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), want) {
+			t.Errorf("expected a refusal saying %q, got %v", want, err)
+		}
+	}
+}

internal/catalogue/manifest.go

@@ -268,9 +268,29 @@ func KeepsConsumerData(catalogue map[string]Manifest, provision string) bool {
 // MachineReach is whether a provision is usable only on its provider's own machine.
 func (o Offer) MachineReach() bool { return o.Reach == ReachMachine }
 
-// OfferCredential names which of the provider's own secrets a provision's consumers receive.
+// OfferCredential names which of the provider's own secrets a provision's consumers receive — or, with
+// IssuedBy, that the provider's software issues the provision's one credential itself (novox/hq ADR 0305,
+// issue 526): a media server's sign-in token from its vendor, which the mesh can neither make nor rotate.
+// Tool is then the provider's own tool that answers that value, sealed to a key made for the controller's
+// one call, and to the controller alone.
 type OfferCredential struct {
-	Own string `json:"own"`
+	Own      string `json:"own,omitempty"`
+	IssuedBy string `json:"issued-by,omitempty"`
+	Tool     string `json:"tool,omitempty"`
+}
+
+// IssuedBySoftware says a provision's credential is issued by its provider's software (novox/hq ADR 0305).
+const IssuedBySoftware = "software"
+
+// IssuedCredentialOf is the tool through which this module answers the credential its software issued for a
+// provision, and whether its offer says the software issues it (novox/hq ADR 0305).
+func (m Manifest) IssuedCredentialOf(provision string) (string, bool) {
+	for _, o := range m.Provides {
+		if o.Name == provision && o.Credential != nil && o.Credential.IssuedBy == IssuedBySoftware && o.Credential.Tool != "" {
+			return o.Credential.Tool, true
+		}
+	}
+	return "", false
 }
 
 // SharedCredentialOf is the own secret an offer of this module names as the provision's credential,
@@ -1555,7 +1575,24 @@ func ParseManifest(raw []byte) (Manifest, error) {
 						"makes is %d", m.Module, p, id.Max, shortest))
 			}
 		}
-		if offer.Credential != nil {
+		if c := offer.Credential; c != nil && (c.IssuedBy != "" || c.Tool != "") {
+			// The software issues it (novox/hq ADR 0305): named by the tool that answers it, never by an own
+			// secret, which would be a second copy for the mesh to keep in step with the software's.
+			switch {
+			case c.IssuedBy != IssuedBySoftware:
+				problems = append(problems, fmt.Sprintf(
+					"%s provides %q with a credential issued by %q; the one issuer an offer may name is %q (ADR 0305)",
+					m.Module, p, c.IssuedBy, IssuedBySoftware))
+			case c.Own != "":
+				problems = append(problems, fmt.Sprintf(
+					"%s provides %q with a credential its software issues and names its own secret %q too; the "+
+						"software's value is the one, so the offer names no own secret (ADR 0305)", m.Module, p, c.Own))
+			case strings.TrimSpace(c.Tool) == "":
+				problems = append(problems, fmt.Sprintf(
+					"%s provides %q with a credential its software issues and names no tool that answers it: "+
+						"\"tool\": \"<its tool>\" (ADR 0305)", m.Module, p))
+			}
+		} else if offer.Credential != nil {
 			own, declared := m.OwnSecrets[offer.Credential.Own]
 			switch {
 			case offer.Credential.Own == "":
@@ -2145,6 +2182,7 @@ func ParseManifest(raw []byte) (Manifest, error) {
 	problems = append(problems, m.undeclaredMounts()...)
 	problems = append(problems, m.unknownDirRefs()...)
 	problems = append(problems, m.unknownAccessRefs()...)
+	problems = append(problems, m.resolvedPathProblems()...)
 	problems = append(problems, m.jailProblems()...)
 	// What a module adds to the account's environment and to the login shell, and the holder's
 	// placeholders for them (novox/hq ADR 0203, ADR 0204) — here, so the catalogue check refuses

internal/catalogue/placement.go

@@ -92,6 +92,105 @@ func systemPath(path string) string {
 	return ""
 }
 
+// Where no directory or file a module's definition resolves to may be (novox/hq issue 496).
+//
+// mesh-catalog #205 gave docker's `state` directory `"place": "."`, which resolves to <root>/docker: with the
+// default root, /var/lib/docker, every container's filesystem. systemPath judged only the `places` and `accesses`
+// settings, so the default layout and a definition's own paths reached the merge gate unjudged; it composed every
+// machine and passed, and only the node-engine refused the directory, at apply, failing the walk.
+//
+// **Judged where a definition is judged, never where a machine is composed.** resolvedPathProblems runs in
+// ParseManifest, which every route a definition takes into the mesh passes: `module check`, registration of a
+// build (the builder's and the registry verbs'), and the merge gate's reading of the changed repository. A
+// refusal there stops one definition before it reaches any machine. Composition reads registered manifests
+// without ParseManifest, and judges nothing of this: refusing there would fail the whole machine's declaration and
+// freeze every module on it for one module's path, where the node-engine fails only that resource.
+//
+// **The node-engine's rules, no more** (mesh-host's internal/apply/placement_guard.go, with files judged as
+// directories are after novox/hq issue 495, rule 6). A path is refused when it is one of protectedRoots or holds
+// one, when it is at or below a tree in forbiddenBelow, or at or below one of engineTrees and its module is not
+// the node-engine's. What the engine judges with what only the machine knows stays the engine's: where the
+// runtimes really keep their data, links, the accounts' homes, a directory's owner below /etc. The lists are the
+// engine's own words, and a test (engine_guard_test.go) holds them equal to mesh-host's beside this repository.
+// systemPath stays the stricter rule for a setting: a setting is an operator's word about one machine, and the
+// trees it lists (/etc, /usr, /run, the mesh's own) are where the mesh's own modules write by design.
+var (
+	protectedRoots = []string{"/", "/bin", "/boot", "/dev", "/etc", "/home", "/lib", "/lib32", "/lib64",
+		"/media", "/mnt", "/opt", "/proc", "/root", "/run", "/sbin", "/srv", "/sys", "/tmp", "/usr", "/usr/bin",
+		"/usr/lib", "/usr/lib64", "/usr/local", "/usr/local/bin", "/usr/local/lib", "/usr/local/sbin", "/usr/sbin",
+		"/usr/share", "/var", "/var/cache", "/var/lib", "/var/lib/mesh", "/var/log", "/var/run", "/var/tmp",
+		"/var/spool"}
+	forbiddenBelow = []string{"/proc", "/sys", "/dev", "/boot", "/root", "/var/spool", "/opt", "/var/lib/docker",
+		"/var/lib/containers", "/var/lib/containerd"}
+	engineTrees = []string{"/var/lib/mesh-host", "/usr/lib/nox-mesh-host"}
+)
+
+// engineModule is the node-engine's own module, the one that places in engineTrees.
+const engineModule = "mesh-host"
+
+// enginePath says why the node-engine refuses a directory or file at path for module, or "".
+func enginePath(path, module string) string {
+	path = filepath.Clean(path)
+	if !filepath.IsAbs(path) {
+		return ""
+	}
+	atOrBelow := func(tree string) bool { return path == tree || strings.HasPrefix(path, tree+"/") }
+	for _, root := range protectedRoots {
+		if path == root || path == "/" || strings.HasPrefix(root, path+"/") {
+			return root + " is one of the machine's own directories, and owning it is owning everything in it"
+		}
+	}
+	for _, tree := range forbiddenBelow {
+		if atOrBelow(tree) {
+			return "nothing is placed in " + tree
+		}
+	}
+	if module != engineModule {
+		for _, tree := range engineTrees {
+			if atOrBelow(tree) {
+				return tree + " is the node-engine's own, placed in by its own module alone"
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	return ""
+}
+
+// resolvedPathProblems is every directory and file of the definition whose path, resolved as a node with the
+// default root resolves it, the node-engine would refuse (novox/hq issue 496). A path still holding a placeholder
+// only a machine fills (a setting, an access the definition gives no default) is the engine's to judge.
+func (m Manifest) resolvedPathProblems() []string {
+	dirs := dirsFor(m, Rendering{})
+	accesses := map[string]string{}
+	for _, a := range m.Accesses {
+		if a.ID != "" && a.Path != "" {
+			accesses[a.ID] = a.Path
+		}
+	}
+	var problems []string
+	for _, r := range m.Resources {
+		kind := fmt.Sprint(r["type"])
+		if kind != "directory" && kind != "file" {
+			continue
+		}
+		id := fmt.Sprint(r["id"])
+		path, _ := r["path"].(string)
+		if kind == "directory" && path == "" {
+			path = dirs[id]
+		}
+		path, _ = dirFill(path, dirs, m.Module)
+		path, _ = accessFill(path, accesses, m.Module)
+		if path == "" || strings.Contains(path, "${") {
+			continue
+		}
+		if why := enginePath(path, m.Module); why != "" {
+			problems = append(problems, fmt.Sprintf("%s's %s %q resolves to %s, which the node-engine refuses: %s. "+
+				"A module's directories and files are judged when its definition is, so the merge gate refuses it "+
+				"before any machine does (novox/hq issue 496)", m.Module, kind, id, filepath.Clean(path), why))
+		}
+	}
+	return problems
+}
+
 // accessRef is how a module names one of its accesses: ${access:<id>}.
 var accessRef = regexp.MustCompile(`\$\{access:([a-z0-9][a-z0-9-]*)\}`)
 

internal/catalogue/resolve.go

@@ -960,6 +960,7 @@ func checkResources(modules []Manifest) []string {
 	var problems []string
 	owner := map[string]string{}
 	ownedPath := map[string]string{} // path → owning module, for the access check below
+	packagePresent, packageAbsent := map[string][]string{}, map[string][]string{}
 
 	for _, m := range modules {
 		// Compared placed, not as written (novox/hq ADR 0112): ${dir:state} is the same six
@@ -992,7 +993,22 @@ func checkResources(modules []Manifest) []string {
 				}
 				continue
 			}
-			for _, field := range []string{"path", "unit", "name", "package"} {
+			if fmt.Sprint(r["type"]) == "package" {
+				// **A package may be declared by several modules** (novox/hq ADR 0303): declaring it says
+				// it is needed, and the host installs a missing one, never removes one a declaration
+				// stopped naming, so a second declaration changes nothing on the machine. What two
+				// modules can contradict is presence: one declaring it present and another absent
+				// (ADR 0180) would have the host install and remove it in turn, so that pair is refused.
+				if name, _ := r["package"].(string); name != "" {
+					if r["absent"] == true {
+						packageAbsent[name] = append(packageAbsent[name], m.Module)
+					} else {
+						packagePresent[name] = append(packagePresent[name], m.Module)
+					}
+				}
+				continue
+			}
+			for _, field := range []string{"path", "unit", "name"} {
 				value, ok := r[field].(string)
 				if !ok || value == "" {
 					if field == "path" && fmt.Sprint(r["type"]) == "directory" {
@@ -1038,6 +1054,12 @@ func checkResources(modules []Manifest) []string {
 			ownedPath[fact.Path] = m.Module
 		}
 	}
+	for _, name := range packageNames(packageAbsent) {
+		if wanted := packagePresent[name]; len(wanted) > 0 {
+			problems = append(problems, fmt.Sprintf("%s declares the package %q absent and %s declare it present (novox/hq ADR 0303)",
+				strings.Join(packageAbsent[name], ", "), name, strings.Join(wanted, ", ")))
+		}
+	}
 
 	// An accessed path is the operator's, so no module may declare it as one of its own
 	// (novox/hq ADR 0051). Refused here rather than silently tolerated: an owner would create and
@@ -1308,3 +1330,13 @@ func answeredElsewhere(want string, node Node, world World, brokered, keeps map[
 	holder, held := HolderAmong(want, world.Offered[want], world.Held)
 	return held && holder.Node != node.Name
 }
+
+// packageNames are the packages a map names, in order.
+func packageNames(m map[string][]string) []string {
+	names := make([]string, 0, len(m))
+	for n := range m {
+		names = append(names, n)
+	}
+	sort.Strings(names)
+	return names
+}

internal/catalogue/resolved_path_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,127 @@
+package catalogue
+
+// A definition's directories and files are judged at their resolved paths when the definition is (novox/hq issue
+// 496). mesh-catalog #205 gave docker's `state` directory `"place": "."`, which resolves to <root>/docker —
+// /var/lib/docker, every container's filesystem. The merge gate composed every machine and passed it; only the
+// node-engine refused it, at apply, and failed the walk. ParseManifest is what `module check`, registration and the
+// merge gate's reading of a changed repository all run, so a refusal here is a refusal at each of them.
+
+import (
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func TestADirectoryPlacedInDockersDataIsRefusedWhereTheDefinitionIsJudged(t *testing.T) {
+	// The #205 shape, as it was merged.
+	_, err := ParseManifest([]byte(`{"module": "docker", "version": "1",
+		"resources": [{"id": "state", "type": "directory", "place": "."}]}`))
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("a directory resolving to /var/lib/docker was accepted; the node-engine refuses it at apply")
+	}
+	for _, said := range []string{"docker", `"state"`, "/var/lib/docker", "issue 496"} {
+		if !strings.Contains(err.Error(), said) {
+			t.Errorf("the refusal names the module, the resource, the path and why; %q is missing from %q", said, err)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func TestTheMeshsPlaceForDockerIsAccepted(t *testing.T) {
+	// The fix #205 needed: the mesh's own directory for the module, <root>/mesh/docker.
+	m, err := ParseManifest([]byte(`{"module": "docker", "version": "1", "resources": [
+		{"id": "state", "type": "directory", "place": "mesh"},
+		{"id": "marker", "type": "file", "path": "${dir:state}/applied", "content": "x"}]}`))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("place %q is in the mesh's tree, where the mesh writes for every module: %v", "mesh", err)
+	}
+	if got := dirsFor(m, Rendering{}); got["state"] != "/var/lib/mesh/docker" {
+		t.Fatalf("got %v", got)
+	}
+}
+
+// The node-engine's rules, for directories and — as the engine judges them since novox/hq issue 495 — files.
+func TestADefinitionIsRefusedWhereTheNodeEngineRefusesItsPaths(t *testing.T) {
+	refused := map[string]string{
+		"a stated directory in docker's data": `{"module": "sidecar", "version": "1", "resources": [
+			{"id": "volumes", "type": "directory", "path": "/var/lib/docker/volumes/x"}]}`,
+		"a file in containerd's data": `{"module": "images", "version": "1", "resources": [
+			{"id": "f", "type": "file", "path": "/var/lib/containerd/x", "content": "x"}]}`,
+		"a file beneath a placed directory that climbs out of it": `{"module": "docker", "version": "1", "resources": [
+			{"id": "state", "type": "directory", "place": "mesh"},
+			{"id": "f", "type": "file", "path": "${dir:state}/../../containers/x", "content": "x"}]}`,
+		"a file in /boot": `{"module": "grub", "version": "1", "resources": [
+			{"id": "cfg", "type": "file", "path": "/boot/grub/custom.cfg", "content": "x"}]}`,
+		"a directory that is the mesh's whole tree": `{"module": "mesh", "version": "1", "resources": [
+			{"id": "all", "type": "directory", "place": "."}]}`,
+		"a directory that holds /etc": `{"module": "x", "version": "1", "resources": [
+			{"id": "d", "type": "directory", "path": "/"}]}`,
+		"a directory in the node-engine's own tree, by another module": `{"module": "intruder", "version": "1",
+			"resources": [{"id": "d", "type": "directory", "path": "/var/lib/mesh-host/x"}]}`,
+	}
+	for name, raw := range refused {
+		if _, err := ParseManifest([]byte(raw)); err == nil || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "issue 496") {
+			t.Errorf("%s: accepted, or refused for another reason: %v", name, err)
+		}
+	}
+
+	// What the engine applies, the mesh's own modules' paths among them (read from every machine's live plan):
+	// the machine's configuration, run directories, programs below /usr/local, the node-engine's own trees by its
+	// own module, an account's keys, a module's own root, and — not on the engine's lists, so not refused here —
+	// below /lib and at /storage, /data, /services and /var/lock.
+	accepted := map[string]string{
+		"a unit in /etc": `{"module": "power", "version": "1", "resources": [
+			{"id": "d", "type": "directory", "path": "/etc/systemd/system/x.service.d"},
+			{"id": "u", "type": "file", "path": "/etc/systemd/system/x.service.d/a.conf", "content": "x"}]}`,
+		"a run directory": `{"module": "fail2ban", "version": "1", "resources": [
+			{"id": "run-dir", "type": "directory", "path": "/var/run/fail2ban"}]}`,
+		"a program in /usr/local/bin": `{"module": "claude-code", "version": "1", "resources": [
+			{"id": "start", "type": "file", "path": "/usr/local/bin/claude-agent", "content": "x"}]}`,
+		"the node-engine's launcher and state, by the node-engine": `{"module": "mesh-host", "version": "1", "resources": [
+			{"id": "launcher", "type": "file", "path": "/usr/lib/nox-mesh-host/launch", "content": "x"},
+			{"id": "state", "type": "directory", "path": "/var/lib/mesh-host"}]}`,
+		"an account's .ssh": `{"module": "ssh-client", "version": "1", "resources": [
+			{"id": "ssh-dir", "type": "directory", "path": "/home/someone/.ssh"},
+			{"id": "config", "type": "file", "path": "/home/someone/.ssh/config", "content": "x"}]}`,
+		"a module's own root": `{"module": "mailu", "version": "1", "resources": [
+			{"id": "state", "type": "directory", "place": "."}]}`,
+		"a file below /lib": `{"module": "udev", "version": "1", "resources": [
+			{"id": "rule", "type": "file", "path": "/lib/udev/rules.d/99-x.rules", "content": "x"}]}`,
+		"directories at /storage, /data, /services and /var/lock": `{"module": "roots", "version": "1", "resources": [
+			{"id": "a", "type": "directory", "path": "/storage"}, {"id": "b", "type": "directory", "path": "/data"},
+			{"id": "c", "type": "directory", "path": "/services"}, {"id": "d", "type": "directory", "path": "/var/lock"}]}`,
+	}
+	for name, raw := range accepted {
+		if _, err := ParseManifest([]byte(raw)); err != nil {
+			t.Errorf("%s: refused: %v", name, err)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func TestAPathThroughAnAccessIsJudgedWithTheAccessFilledIn(t *testing.T) {
+	// A file's path may name an access; the access's default path is the definition's, so it is judged with it.
+	_, err := ParseManifest([]byte(`{"module": "backup", "version": "1",
+		"accesses": [{"id": "images", "path": "/var/lib/docker/volumes"}],
+		"resources": [{"id": "marker", "type": "file", "path": "${access:images}/marker", "content": "x"}]}`))
+	if err == nil || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "/var/lib/docker/volumes/marker") ||
+		!strings.Contains(err.Error(), "issue 496") {
+		t.Fatalf("a file reaching Docker's data through an access's default path was accepted: %v", err)
+	}
+	// An access the definition gives no path is placed by a setting, which Places and AccessPlaces judge, and on
+	// the machine by the node-engine: nothing here to resolve it against, so nothing is refused for it.
+	if _, err := ParseManifest([]byte(`{"module": "backup", "version": "1",
+		"accesses": [{"id": "images"}],
+		"resources": [{"id": "marker", "type": "file", "path": "${access:images}/marker", "content": "x"}]}`)); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("an access placed only by a setting cannot be judged at the definition: %v", err)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestComposingAMachineIsNeverStoppedByOneModulesPath(t *testing.T) {
+	// A module registered from outside the catalogue never passes the gate. Refusing its path while a machine's
+	// declaration is composed would fail the whole declaration and freeze every module on that machine; the
+	// node-engine fails only the one resource. So composition leaves it to the engine.
+	m := Manifest{Module: "docker", Version: "1", Resources: []map[string]any{
+		{"id": "state", "type": "directory", "place": "."},
+	}}
+	if _, err := (Resolution{Node: "anchor", Modules: []Manifest{m}}).Declaration(Rendering{}); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("the machine's declaration failed for one module's path: %v", err)
+	}
+}

internal/catalogue/seat_dependencies.go

@@ -349,6 +349,10 @@ func CollisionRefusal(catalogue map[string]Manifest, node string, assigned, addi
 		if before[p] {
 			continue // on the node already; not this assignment's doing
 		}
+		if strings.Contains(p, "ADR 0303") {
+			problems = append(problems, p) // a package declared present and absent says its own rule
+			continue
+		}
 		problems = append(problems, p+" (novox/hq ADR 0210: one owner per node; the other module "+
 			"depends on the owner's seat instead)")
 	}

internal/catalogue/setting_into.go

@@ -38,6 +38,17 @@ func settingsUsed(content string) []string {
 	return keys
 }
 
+// UnsetSettingError is a module whose definition says ${setting:<key>} where nothing sets that key: typed, so
+// that whoever reads why a module was left out of a machine can tell a setting nobody gave — the operator's
+// to give, named with the command that gives it — from any other reason (novox/hq issue 380). Its words are
+// the refusal's, unchanged.
+type UnsetSettingError struct {
+	Module, Setting string
+	said            string
+}
+
+func (e *UnsetSettingError) Error() string { return e.said }
+
 // settingInto fills a file's ${setting:…} placeholders from the layers over a module.
 //
 // The last layer setting a key wins, which is the node's over the mesh's over the module's own
@@ -58,12 +69,12 @@ func settingInto(resource map[string]any, layers []Layer, module string) error {
 	for _, key := range settingsUsed(content) {
 		value, set := settingValue(layers, key)
 		if !set {
-			return fmt.Errorf(
+			return &UnsetSettingError{Module: module, Setting: key, said: fmt.Sprintf(
 				"%s has a file that says ${setting:%s}, and nothing sets %q for it — an operator's "+
 					"value is the assignment's, never the definition's (novox/hq ADR 0112), and only a "+
 					"preference has a default in the definition (ADR 0262): "+
 					"`settings set %s <file>` with {%q: …}%s",
-				module, key, key, module, key, orNoSettings(layers))
+				module, key, key, module, key, orNoSettings(layers))}
 		}
 		content = strings.ReplaceAll(content, "${setting:"+key+"}", plainly(value))
 	}
@@ -114,11 +125,11 @@ func settingIntoUnit(resource map[string]any, layers []Layer, module string) err
 	for _, key := range settingsUsed(unit) {
 		value, set := settingValue(layers, key)
 		if !set {
-			return fmt.Errorf(
+			return &UnsetSettingError{Module: module, Setting: key, said: fmt.Sprintf(
 				"%s has a service whose unit says ${setting:%s}, and nothing sets %q for it — an operator's "+
 					"value is the assignment's, never the definition's (novox/hq ADR 0112): "+
 					"`settings set %s <file>` with {%q: …}%s",
-				module, key, key, module, key, orNoSettings(layers))
+				module, key, key, module, key, orNoSettings(layers))}
 		}
 		v := plainly(value)
 		if !unitPart.MatchString(v) {

internal/catalogue/verbs.go

@@ -160,8 +160,14 @@ var ControllerVerbs = []Verb{
 		Input: schema(map[string]string{"plan": "the walk's id", "why": "what lets it go: its turn, a person's release"},
 			[]string{"plan"})},
 	{Name: "delivery-stop", Description: "End a walk on its delivery's word (novox/hq ADR 0239): failed, said as stopped " +
-		"by whom and why; what it asked still builds and registers, nothing further is asked or sent.",
-		Input: schema(map[string]string{"plan": "the walk's id", "why": "why", "by": "who stopped the delivery"},
+		"by whom and why; what it asked still builds and registers, nothing further is asked or sent. Given merges to " +
+		"leave out, every other merge the walk answered is walked again — in the open batch of its kind, or a new one — " +
+		"without them, without each later merge of their repository, which contains one, and without each merge moving " +
+		"a module one moves, each left out too and named (novox/hq ADR 0299); a batch not yet cut drops the merges. The " +
+		"answer names the batch, the merges walked again, the merges left out, the modules the stopped walk sent that " +
+		"stay on their machines, and the merges elsewhere that will still deliver a stopped change.",
+		Input: schema(map[string]string{"plan": "the walk's id", "why": "why", "by": "who stopped the delivery",
+			"without": "merges to leave out, <repository>@<commit>, comma-separated"},
 			[]string{"plan", "why"})},
 	{Name: "delivery-walks", Description: "The walks the controller keeps (novox/hq ADR 0239): every open one and the " +
 		"last ended ones, each whole — its tiers, each module's state, first machines and first-node gate with its readings, and its " +
@@ -243,6 +249,15 @@ var ControllerVerbs = []Verb{
 			"secret": "the own secret's name in the module's definition",
 			"at":     "the machine the operator sits at, where the prompt opens",
 		}, []string{"node", "module", "secret", "at"})},
+	{Name: "issued", Description: "Take the credential a provider's software issued for a provision — a media " +
+		"server's sign-in token — and keep it as that provision's one credential for every consumer (novox/hq ADR " +
+		"0305): the controller asks the provider's own tool on its machine, in the controller's own name, for the " +
+		"value sealed to a key made for this call alone, seals it to every holder and forgets it, and sends their " +
+		"machines when it changed. Carries no value and answers none; a value every holder already holds is not " +
+		"sealed again, so asking again restarts nothing. Refused for a provision no offer says its software issues.",
+		Input: schema(map[string]string{
+			"provision": "the provision whose provider's software issues its credential, e.g. plex-api",
+		}, []string{"provision"})},
 	{Name: "secret-ask", Description: "Ask the operator for a module's own secret (novox/hq ADR 0277): a prompt " +
 		"that shows nothing of what is typed opens at the desk — the module's machine, or the one at names — " +
 		"naming the module, the secret and who asked; the operator types the value there, never on a channel " +

internal/inventory/busrecords.go

@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package inventory
 import (
 	"context"
 	"fmt"
+	"slices"
 	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/broker"
@@ -172,6 +173,9 @@ func declaredFor(m catalogue.Manifest, seats map[string]catalogue.SeatDeclaratio
 		Checks: catalogue.HealthChecks(m),
 		// And whether it runs as an account of its own (novox/hq ADR 0259 §8).
 		RunsAs: m.RunsAs,
+		// And the tools that answer a credential its software issued, which the controller asks in its own
+		// name (novox/hq ADR 0305).
+		Issued: issuedTools(m),
 	}
 	// Whether it can be given an account at all: delivered as its own secret named broker, so one
 	// that declares none has nowhere to read it (novox/hq issue 195).
@@ -199,6 +203,17 @@ func declaredFor(m catalogue.Manifest, seats map[string]catalogue.SeatDeclaratio
 	return d
 }
 
+// issuedTools are the tools through which a module answers the credentials its software issues (novox/hq ADR 0305).
+func issuedTools(m catalogue.Manifest) []string {
+	var out []string
+	for _, o := range m.Provides {
+		if tool, issued := m.IssuedCredentialOf(o.Name); issued && !slices.Contains(out, tool) {
+			out = append(out, tool)
+		}
+	}
+	return out
+}
+
 // bucketsOf is the state a module keeps, as the bus holds it.
 func bucketsOf(m catalogue.Manifest) []broker.Bucket {
 	var out []broker.Bucket

internal/inventory/issued.go

@@ -0,0 +1,155 @@
+package inventory
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"crypto/sha256"
+	"encoding/hex"
+	"fmt"
+	"sort"
+	"strings"
+
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/secrets"
+)
+
+// A credential a provider's software issued, kept as the provision's one credential (novox/hq ADR 0305, issue
+// 526).
+//
+// **The software made it, so the mesh carries it.** A media server's sign-in token comes from its vendor; the mesh
+// can neither make nor rotate it. The controller fetches it from the provider's own tool, sealed to a key made for
+// that one call, and hands the value here, which seals it to every consumer that holds the provision from that
+// provider — in the pair credential's shape, so a consumer's definition does not know where it came from (ADR 0158
+// §5) — and to the operator, and forgets it.
+//
+// **Asked often, written seldom.** The provider asks hourly and on every start. The mesh keeps no plaintext, so it
+// cannot compare values; it stamps every row with the value's fingerprint instead, and a value whose stamp every
+// row already carries is not sealed again — sealing anew would change every consumer's declaration and restart
+// each of them for nothing.
+
+// OriginIssued is a pair credential the provider's software issued and the provider gave (novox/hq ADR 0305).
+const OriginIssued = "issued"
+
+// IssuedStamp is the generation a value issued by a provider's software is kept under: a fingerprint of the value,
+// so the same value fetched again is known as the same without being kept.
+func IssuedStamp(value string) string {
+	sum := sha256.Sum256([]byte(value))
+	return "issued:sha256:" + hex.EncodeToString(sum[:8])
+}
+
+// IssuedKept is what keeping an issued value did: whether it was sealed anew, the pairs that hold it, and the
+// machines a send must reach — the provider's and every holder's — when it was.
+type IssuedKept struct {
+	Changed bool
+	// Holders are every pair that holds the provision from the provider; Sealed those sealed anew by this act.
+	Holders  []Holder
+	Sealed   []Holder
+	Machines []string
+	// Unsealable are the holders whose machine has no sealing key: left as they are, said by name.
+	Unsealable []Holder
+}
+
+// KeepIssuedSecret seals a value a provider's software issued to every pair of provision from provider that does
+// not hold it yet, under one stamp; a pair that does is left as it is, and when every pair does nothing is written
+// (novox/hq ADR 0305 §4, §5).
+func (i *Inventory) KeepIssuedSecret(ctx context.Context, provision, provider, value string) (IssuedKept, error) {
+	if strings.TrimSpace(value) == "" {
+		return IssuedKept{}, fmt.Errorf("there is nothing to seal")
+	}
+	providerNode, err := i.NodeByName(ctx, provider)
+	if err != nil {
+		return IssuedKept{}, err
+	}
+	providerKey, err := i.SealingKeyOf(ctx, provider)
+	if err != nil {
+		return IssuedKept{}, err
+	}
+	if providerKey == "" {
+		return IssuedKept{}, fmt.Errorf("%s has no sealing key, so %s cannot be sealed to it", provider, provision)
+	}
+	stamp := IssuedStamp(value)
+
+	type row struct {
+		holder                   Holder
+		consumerID               any
+		generation, heldC, heldP string
+		consumerKey              string
+	}
+	rows, err := i.store.Pool().Query(ctx,
+		`select s.consumer, c.name, s.consumer_module, s.local, coalesce(s.generation, ''),
+		        coalesce(s.consumer_key, ''), coalesce(s.provider_key, ''), coalesce(c.sealing_key, '')
+		   from secret s join node c on c.id = s.consumer
+		  where s.provider = $1 and s.name = $2
+		  order by c.name, s.consumer_module, s.local`, providerNode.ID, provision)
+	if err != nil {
+		return IssuedKept{}, err
+	}
+	var held []row
+	for rows.Next() {
+		var r row
+		if err := rows.Scan(&r.consumerID, &r.holder.Consumer, &r.holder.ConsumerModule, &r.holder.Local,
+			&r.generation, &r.heldC, &r.heldP, &r.consumerKey); err != nil {
+			rows.Close()
+			return IssuedKept{}, err
+		}
+		r.holder.Provision, r.holder.Provider = provision, provider
+		held = append(held, r)
+	}
+	rows.Close()
+	if err := rows.Err(); err != nil {
+		return IssuedKept{}, err
+	}
+
+	var kept IssuedKept
+	var stale []row
+	for _, r := range held {
+		if r.consumerKey == "" {
+			kept.Unsealable = append(kept.Unsealable, r.holder)
+			continue
+		}
+		kept.Holders = append(kept.Holders, r.holder)
+		// Only a pair that does not hold this value, sealed to the keys its ends have now, is sealed anew: a
+		// holder that already does is left byte for byte as it is, so it is not restarted for another's sake.
+		if r.generation != stamp || r.heldC != r.consumerKey || r.heldP != providerKey {
+			stale = append(stale, r)
+		}
+	}
+	if len(stale) == 0 {
+		return kept, nil
+	}
+
+	forOperator, operatorKey, err := i.operatorSeal(ctx, value)
+	if err != nil {
+		return IssuedKept{}, err
+	}
+	tx, err := i.store.Pool().Begin(ctx)
+	if err != nil {
+		return IssuedKept{}, err
+	}
+	defer func() { _ = tx.Rollback(ctx) }()
+	machines := map[string]bool{provider: true}
+	for _, r := range stale {
+		sealed, err := secrets.Accept(value, r.consumerKey, providerKey)
+		if err != nil {
+			return IssuedKept{}, err
+		}
+		if _, err := tx.Exec(ctx,
+			`update secret set for_consumer = $6, for_provider = $7, consumer_key = $8, provider_key = $9,
+			        operator_sealed = $10, operator_key = $11, origin = $12, generation = $13, created_at = now()
+			  where name = $1 and consumer = $2 and consumer_module = $3 and provider = $4 and local = $5`,
+			provision, r.consumerID, r.holder.ConsumerModule, providerNode.ID, r.holder.Local,
+			sealed.ForConsumer, sealed.ForProvider, sealed.ConsumerKey, sealed.ProviderKey,
+			forOperator, operatorKey, OriginIssued, stamp); err != nil {
+			return IssuedKept{}, err
+		}
+		machines[r.holder.Consumer] = true
+		kept.Sealed = append(kept.Sealed, r.holder)
+	}
+	if err := tx.Commit(ctx); err != nil {
+		return IssuedKept{}, err
+	}
+	kept.Changed = true
+	for m := range machines {
+		kept.Machines = append(kept.Machines, m)
+	}
+	sort.Strings(kept.Machines)
+	return kept, nil
+}

internal/inventory/issued_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,178 @@
+package inventory
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/catalogue"
+)
+
+// A value a provider's software issued is sealed to every pair that holds the provision from that provider, under
+// one stamp of the value, and the same value given again writes nothing and sends nobody (novox/hq ADR 0305 §4,
+// §5, issue 526).
+func TestAnIssuedValueIsSealedToEveryHolderOnceAndNotAgain(t *testing.T) {
+	inv, ctx := twoNodesWithKeys(t)
+	consumerKey, consumerOpens := aSealingKey(t)
+	cn, _ := inv.NodeByName(ctx, "consumer")
+	if err := inv.RecordSealingKey(ctx, cn.ID, consumerKey); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	for _, m := range []string{"kometa", "tautulli"} {
+		if err := inv.RegisterModule(ctx, catalogue.Manifest{Module: m, Version: "1", Requires: []string{"plex-api"},
+			Secrets: map[string]string{"plex-api": "/run/plex-api.secret"}}, Source{}); err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		// What the mesh made before the provider gave its value: a random value per pair (issue 164).
+		if _, err := inv.SecretFor(ctx, "plex-api", "consumer", m, "provider", ""); err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+	}
+
+	kept, err := inv.KeepIssuedSecret(ctx, "plex-api", "provider", "the-servers-own-token")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if !kept.Changed || len(kept.Holders) != 2 {
+		t.Fatalf("the value was not sealed to both holders: %+v", kept)
+	}
+	if len(kept.Machines) != 2 || kept.Machines[0] != "consumer" || kept.Machines[1] != "provider" {
+		t.Fatalf("the machines to send are the provider's and every holder's: %v", kept.Machines)
+	}
+	for _, m := range []string{"kometa", "tautulli"} {
+		got, err := inv.SecretFor(ctx, "plex-api", "consumer", m, "provider", "")
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		if got.Origin != OriginIssued {
+			t.Fatalf("%s's pair says it came from %q, not the provider's software", m, got.Origin)
+		}
+		opened, ok := consumerOpens(got.ForConsumer)
+		if !ok || string(opened) != "the-servers-own-token" {
+			t.Fatalf("%s's copy is not the provider's value", m)
+		}
+		var generation string
+		pn, _ := inv.NodeByName(ctx, "provider")
+		if err := inv.store.Pool().QueryRow(ctx, `select generation from secret where name = 'plex-api' and consumer = $1
+			and consumer_module = $2 and provider = $3`, cn.ID, m, pn.ID).Scan(&generation); err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		if generation != IssuedStamp("the-servers-own-token") {
+			t.Fatalf("%s's pair is not stamped with the value's fingerprint: %q", m, generation)
+		}
+	}
+	before, _ := inv.SecretFor(ctx, "plex-api", "consumer", "kometa", "provider", "")
+
+	// A consumer that binds later gets a pair of its own, and no holder's value is remade for it: the offer names
+	// no own secret, so ADR 0158 §6's remaking on a bind does not reach it (ADR 0305 §7).
+	if err := inv.RegisterModule(ctx, catalogue.Manifest{Module: "overseerr", Version: "1", Requires: []string{"plex-api"},
+		Secrets: map[string]string{"plex-api": "/run/plex-api.secret"}}, Source{}); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	late, err := inv.SecretFor(ctx, "plex-api", "consumer", "overseerr", "provider", "")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if late.Origin == OriginIssued {
+		t.Fatal("a consumer that bound after the ask holds the issued value without an ask")
+	}
+	if held, _ := inv.SecretFor(ctx, "plex-api", "consumer", "kometa", "provider", ""); held.ForConsumer != before.ForConsumer {
+		t.Fatal("a later bind remade a holder's issued value")
+	}
+
+	// The next ask seals the provider's value to the late consumer alone; the holders that had it are not touched.
+	again, err := inv.KeepIssuedSecret(ctx, "plex-api", "provider", "the-servers-own-token")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if !again.Changed || len(again.Sealed) != 1 || again.Sealed[0].ConsumerModule != "overseerr" {
+		t.Fatalf("the late consumer was not sealed to, or not alone: %+v", again)
+	}
+	if held, _ := inv.SecretFor(ctx, "plex-api", "consumer", "kometa", "provider", ""); held.ForConsumer != before.ForConsumer {
+		t.Fatal("sealing the late consumer changed what a holder already held")
+	}
+	if got, _ := inv.SecretFor(ctx, "plex-api", "consumer", "overseerr", "provider", ""); got.Origin != OriginIssued {
+		t.Fatal("the late consumer does not hold the issued value after the ask")
+	}
+
+	// And once every holder holds it, the same value writes nothing and sends nobody.
+	still, err := inv.KeepIssuedSecret(ctx, "plex-api", "provider", "the-servers-own-token")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if still.Changed || len(still.Machines) != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("the same value was sealed again, which restarts every consumer for nothing: %+v", still)
+	}
+	after, _ := inv.SecretFor(ctx, "plex-api", "consumer", "kometa", "provider", "")
+	if after.ForConsumer != before.ForConsumer {
+		t.Fatal("the same value given again changed what the consumer holds")
+	}
+
+	changed, err := inv.KeepIssuedSecret(ctx, "plex-api", "provider", "a-token-plex-changed")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if !changed.Changed {
+		t.Fatal("a changed value was not sealed")
+	}
+	got, _ := inv.SecretFor(ctx, "plex-api", "consumer", "tautulli", "provider", "")
+	if opened, ok := consumerOpens(got.ForConsumer); !ok || string(opened) != "a-token-plex-changed" {
+		t.Fatal("the changed value did not reach the holder")
+	}
+
+	if _, err := inv.KeepIssuedSecret(ctx, "plex-api", "provider", "  "); err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("an empty value was kept")
+	}
+}
+
+// A consumer whose sealing key changed holds a value the mesh made in place of the issued one, and the next ask
+// seals the issued value to it again; so does a pair a person accepted over it (novox/hq ADR 0305 §5, the review
+// of mesh-controller #239).
+func TestAnIssuedValueIsSealedAgainAfterAKeyChangeOrAnAcceptance(t *testing.T) {
+	inv, ctx := twoNodesWithKeys(t)
+	if err := inv.RegisterModule(ctx, catalogue.Manifest{Module: "kometa", Version: "1", Requires: []string{"plex-api"},
+		Secrets: map[string]string{"plex-api": "/run/plex-api.secret"}}, Source{}); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if _, err := inv.SecretFor(ctx, "plex-api", "consumer", "kometa", "provider", ""); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if kept, err := inv.KeepIssuedSecret(ctx, "plex-api", "provider", "the-servers-own-token"); err != nil || !kept.Changed {
+		t.Fatalf("the first ask did not seal: %+v %v", kept, err)
+	}
+
+	// The consumer rejoins with a new key: the mesh remakes the pair, a value the software refuses.
+	newKey, opens := aSealingKey(t)
+	cn, _ := inv.NodeByName(ctx, "consumer")
+	if err := inv.RecordSealingKey(ctx, cn.ID, newKey); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	remade, err := inv.SecretFor(ctx, "plex-api", "consumer", "kometa", "provider", "")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if remade.Origin != OriginMade {
+		t.Fatalf("a value the mesh remade says it came from %q", remade.Origin)
+	}
+	again, err := inv.KeepIssuedSecret(ctx, "plex-api", "provider", "the-servers-own-token")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if !again.Changed || len(again.Sealed) != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("the issued value was not sealed again after the key changed: %+v", again)
+	}
+	got, _ := inv.SecretFor(ctx, "plex-api", "consumer", "kometa", "provider", "")
+	if opened, ok := opens(got.ForConsumer); !ok || string(opened) != "the-servers-own-token" {
+		t.Fatal("the consumer does not hold the issued value under its new key")
+	}
+
+	// A person accepts another value over it: the next ask seals the software's again.
+	if err := inv.AcceptSecretForPair(ctx, "plex-api", "consumer", "kometa", "provider", "", "a-typed-copy"); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	after, err := inv.KeepIssuedSecret(ctx, "plex-api", "provider", "the-servers-own-token")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if !after.Changed {
+		t.Fatal("an accepted value over the issued one was read as still holding it")
+	}
+}

internal/inventory/plans.go

@@ -111,6 +111,12 @@ type PlanBatch struct {
 	// a merge never shares a batch with one that waits for mesh-delivery's (ADR 0276, decided during the
 	// build, 2026-10-10).
 	Own bool `json:"own,omitempty"`
+	// Closed says the window was closed by a stop that walks a stopped walk's merges again in this batch: they
+	// were heard before, and an older commit never waits behind a newer one (novox/hq ADR 0299). Withheld are
+	// the modules a stopped merge moves: built at the branch, which holds that merge, they would deliver it, so
+	// the batch's walk does not build them.
+	Closed   bool     `json:"closed,omitempty"`
+	Withheld []string `json:"withheld,omitempty"`
 }
 
 // OwnPath says the record is a batch of merges on the controller's own path.
@@ -187,6 +193,17 @@ type PlanDelivery struct {
 	// TakenOverBy names the walk a walk folded before it started was taken over by: its merges are that
 	// walk's now.
 	TakenOverBy string `json:"taken_over_by,omitempty"`
+	// WalkedAgainBy names, on a walk stopped without some of its merges, the batch that walks its other merges
+	// again, and LeftOut the merges it left out (novox/hq issue 459, ADR 0299): a delivery of a merge left out
+	// ends stopped with the walk, one of a merge walked again follows that batch's walk.
+	WalkedAgainBy string        `json:"walked_again_by,omitempty"`
+	LeftOut       []PlanLeftOut `json:"left_out,omitempty"`
+	// Kept are the modules the stopped walk already sent and nothing walks again: the machines named keep running
+	// the stopped walk's build (novox/hq ADR 0299).
+	Kept []PlanKept `json:"kept,omitempty"`
+	// Withheld are, on a walk cut from a batch a stop walked merges again in, the modules it did not build: a
+	// stopped merge moves them, and built only as dependents at the branch they would deliver it (ADR 0299).
+	Withheld []string `json:"withheld,omitempty"`
 	// Batch is the window of a batch; nil once it is cut into a walk.
 	Batch *PlanBatch `json:"batch,omitempty"`
 	// Alone says the walk walks one merge on its own commit, after a failed walk carried it in a later one:
@@ -194,6 +211,26 @@ type PlanDelivery struct {
 	Alone bool `json:"alone,omitempty"`
 }
 
+// PlanLeftOut is a merge a stop left out of the batch that walks a stopped walk's merges again (novox/hq ADR
+// 0299): a merge stopped, or a later merge of its repository's branch, which contains the stopped one and so
+// cannot be walked without delivering it.
+type PlanLeftOut struct {
+	Repository string `json:"repository"`
+	Commit     string `json:"commit"`
+	// Contains is the stopped merge a later merge contains, or whose modules it shares; empty for a merge
+	// stopped itself.
+	Contains string `json:"contains,omitempty"`
+	// Shares are the modules it moves that a stopped merge moves too: built at the branch, which holds the stopped
+	// merge, they would deliver it.
+	Shares []string `json:"shares,omitempty"`
+}
+
+// PlanKept is a module a stopped walk sent and nothing walks again, and the machines it reached.
+type PlanKept struct {
+	Module   string   `json:"module"`
+	Machines []string `json:"machines"`
+}
+
 // Waiting is whether the walk waits for its delivery's word.
 func (p Plan) Waiting() bool {
 	return p.Delivery != nil && p.Delivery.Awaits != "" && p.Delivery.Go == nil
@@ -265,7 +302,10 @@ type PlanGate struct {
 	Sent map[string]SentDeclaration `json:"sent,omitempty"`
 	// Passes counts the consecutive judgings that found it healthy, LastPass the newest; a judging that
 	// does not resets them.
-	Passes   int        `json:"passes,omitempty"`
+	Passes int `json:"passes,omitempty"`
+	// Wants is how many passes the send needs: a core module's three, a leaf module's one (novox/hq ADR 0282
+	// decision 4 as ADR 0304 decision 3 changed it). Zero in a gate judged before it was said: three.
+	Wants    int        `json:"wants,omitempty"`
 	LastPass *time.Time `json:"last_pass,omitempty"`
 	// Last is what the newest judging found wanting, while it still may pass.
 	Last string `json:"last,omitempty"`
@@ -305,6 +345,18 @@ type PlanGate struct {
 	// Readings are the judging's readings with their times (novox/hq ADR 0282 decision 6): every reading that
 	// counted a pass, and the first that did not after one that did. At most maxReadings, the newest kept.
 	Readings []GateReading `json:"readings,omitempty"`
+	// Grants is the grants step taken before this gate's send (novox/hq issue 490): the bus's user list sent
+	// alone to the machine holding the bus, every build there kept, so what the send newly grants is on the
+	// bus before the gate judges it. Nil when the list did not change, or the gate's machine holds the bus.
+	Grants *GrantsStep `json:"grants,omitempty"`
+}
+
+// GrantsStep is the bus's user list sent to the machine holding the bus ahead of a gated send (novox/hq
+// issue 490): to which machine, when, and, when it could not be sent, why — the send went on without it.
+type GrantsStep struct {
+	Node   string     `json:"node"`
+	At     *time.Time `json:"at,omitempty"`
+	Failed string     `json:"failed,omitempty"`
 }
 
 // GateReading is one reading of a first-node gate.
@@ -385,39 +437,28 @@ func (p Plan) Open() bool { return p.State == PlanBuilding || p.State == PlanRol
 // with ErrPlanMoved otherwise; and only by a process that may act (ActsUnder), whose epoch it records.
 // On success p's revision and epoch are the ones written, so the caller may save it again.
 func (i *Inventory) SavePlan(ctx context.Context, p *Plan) error {
+	return i.SavePlansMoving(ctx, []*Plan{p}, nil)
+}
+
+// MergeMove is a merge given to the plan that answers it now (novox/hq ADR 0276).
+type MergeMove struct {
+	Repository, Commit, Plan string
+	Alone                    bool
+}
+
+// SavePlansMoving writes plans, as SavePlan does each, and gives merges to the plans that answer them, all in one
+// transaction: every write and move, or none (novox/hq ADR 0299 decision 7 — a stop that walks merges again never
+// leaves a merge answered by two plans, nor a walk stopped whose merges were not moved). A plan written by
+// somebody else since it was read refuses the whole act with ErrPlanMoved. Each plan is said (PlanSaved) once
+// the transaction is committed, in order.
+func (i *Inventory) SavePlansMoving(ctx context.Context, plans []*Plan, moves []MergeMove) error {
 	epoch, err := i.actingEpoch(ctx)
 	if err != nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf("the plan for %s %s is not written: %w", p.Repository, p.Commit, err)
-	}
-	tiers, err := json.Marshal(p.Tiers)
-	if err != nil {
+		if len(plans) > 0 {
+			return fmt.Errorf("the plan for %s %s is not written: %w", plans[0].Repository, plans[0].Commit, err)
+		}
 		return err
 	}
-	modules, err := json.Marshal(p.Modules)
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-	var release, delivery, commits, times []byte
-	if p.Times != nil {
-		if times, err = json.Marshal(p.Times); err != nil {
-			return err
-		}
-	}
-	if len(p.Commits) > 0 {
-		if commits, err = json.Marshal(p.Commits); err != nil {
-			return err
-		}
-	}
-	if p.Release != nil {
-		if release, err = json.Marshal(p.Release); err != nil {
-			return err
-		}
-	}
-	if p.Delivery != nil {
-		if delivery, err = json.Marshal(p.Delivery); err != nil {
-			return err
-		}
-	}
 	// **And how long the tier it left took** (novox/hq to-be 45 Phase 0): measured here, where the
 	// plan moves, in the same transaction as the move, so no save can move a tier unmeasured or
 	// measure one twice.
@@ -426,9 +467,77 @@ func (i *Inventory) SavePlan(ctx context.Context, p *Plan) error {
 		return err
 	}
 	defer func() { _ = tx.Rollback(ctx) }()
+	type written struct {
+		revision int64
+		entered  time.Time
+	}
+	done := make([]written, len(plans))
+	for n, p := range plans {
+		revision, entered, err := writePlan(ctx, tx, p, epoch)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		done[n] = written{revision, entered}
+	}
+	for _, m := range moves {
+		if _, err := tx.Exec(ctx,
+			`update batched_merge set plan_id = nullif($3, ''), alone = $4 where repository = lower($1) and commit_hash = $2`,
+			m.Repository, m.Commit, m.Plan, m.Alone); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+	}
+	if err := tx.Commit(ctx); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	for n, p := range plans {
+		p.Revision, p.TierEntered = done[n].revision, done[n].entered
+		if epoch != nil {
+			p.Epoch = uint64(*epoch)
+		} else {
+			p.Epoch = 0
+		}
+		if PlanSaved != nil {
+			PlanSaved(*p)
+		}
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+// writePlan writes one plan within a transaction, by compare-and-set on its revision: its new revision, and when
+// it entered its tier.
+func writePlan(ctx context.Context, tx pgx.Tx, p *Plan, epoch *int64) (int64, time.Time, error) {
+	tiers, err := json.Marshal(p.Tiers)
+	if err != nil {
+		return 0, time.Time{}, err
+	}
+	modules, err := json.Marshal(p.Modules)
+	if err != nil {
+		return 0, time.Time{}, err
+	}
+	var release, delivery, commits, times []byte
+	if p.Times != nil {
+		if times, err = json.Marshal(p.Times); err != nil {
+			return 0, time.Time{}, err
+		}
+	}
+	if len(p.Commits) > 0 {
+		if commits, err = json.Marshal(p.Commits); err != nil {
+			return 0, time.Time{}, err
+		}
+	}
+	if p.Release != nil {
+		if release, err = json.Marshal(p.Release); err != nil {
+			return 0, time.Time{}, err
+		}
+	}
+	if p.Delivery != nil {
+		if delivery, err = json.Marshal(p.Delivery); err != nil {
+			return 0, time.Time{}, err
+		}
+	}
 	entered, err := planTierLeft(ctx, tx, *p, time.Now())
 	if err != nil {
-		return err
+		return 0, time.Time{}, err
 	}
 	var revision int64
 	err = tx.QueryRow(ctx,
@@ -449,24 +558,9 @@ func (i *Inventory) SavePlan(ctx context.Context, p *Plan) error {
 		// The row is there and at another revision — moved since this was read, or there already
 		// when this one is new: either way not this writer's to overwrite. (A plan saved before plans
 		// had revisions is at zero, and its first save here is from a read at zero.)
-		return fmt.Errorf("the plan for %s %s (%s) is not written: %w", p.Repository, short(p.Commit), p.ID, ErrPlanMoved)
+		return 0, time.Time{}, fmt.Errorf("the plan for %s %s (%s) is not written: %w", p.Repository, short(p.Commit), p.ID, ErrPlanMoved)
 	}
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-	if err := tx.Commit(ctx); err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-	p.Revision, p.TierEntered = revision, entered
-	if epoch != nil {
-		p.Epoch = uint64(*epoch)
-	} else {
-		p.Epoch = 0
-	}
-	if PlanSaved != nil {
-		PlanSaved(*p)
-	}
-	return nil
+	return revision, entered, err
 }
 
 // short is a commit as a person reads it.

internal/inventory/secrets.go

@@ -58,7 +58,9 @@ const (
 // **Remade when either end's sealing key changes.** A node that rejoined generated a new key and
 // can no longer open what was sealed to the old one, so keeping the blob would deliver something
 // unreadable for ever. The new secret reaches both ends in the same push, which is the only
-// moment they can be changed together.
+// moment they can be changed together. A remade value is the mesh's, whatever the row held: its
+// origin says made and it carries no stamp, so a value a provider's software issued is sealed to it
+// again at the provider's next ask (novox/hq ADR 0305 §5) rather than read as still held.
 func (i *Inventory) SecretFor(ctx context.Context, name, consumer, consumerModule, provider, local string) (
 	Secret, error) {
 	consumerKey, err := i.SealingKeyOf(ctx, consumer)
@@ -121,7 +123,8 @@ func (i *Inventory) SecretFor(ctx context.Context, name, consumer, consumerModul
 		   for_consumer = excluded.for_consumer, for_provider = excluded.for_provider,
 		   consumer_key = excluded.consumer_key, provider_key = excluded.provider_key,
 		   created_at = now(),
-		   operator_sealed = excluded.operator_sealed, operator_key = excluded.operator_key`,
+		   operator_sealed = excluded.operator_sealed, operator_key = excluded.operator_key,
+		   origin = 'made', generation = null`,
 		name, consumerNode.ID, consumerModule, providerNode.ID,
 		made.ForConsumer, made.ForProvider, made.ConsumerKey, made.ProviderKey, forOperator, operatorKey, local)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -202,7 +205,7 @@ func (i *Inventory) AcceptSecretForPair(ctx context.Context, name, consumer, con
 		 on conflict (name, local, consumer, consumer_module, provider) do update set
 		   for_consumer = excluded.for_consumer, for_provider = excluded.for_provider,
 		   consumer_key = excluded.consumer_key, provider_key = excluded.provider_key,
-		   created_at = now(), origin = excluded.origin,
+		   created_at = now(), origin = excluded.origin, generation = null,
 		   operator_sealed = excluded.operator_sealed, operator_key = excluded.operator_key`,
 		name, consumerNode.ID, consumerModule, providerNode.ID,
 		sealed.ForConsumer, sealed.ForProvider, sealed.ConsumerKey, sealed.ProviderKey,

internal/inventory/sends.go

@@ -100,6 +100,23 @@ type Send struct {
 	CounterRaisedTo int64
 	// Recorded is false for a refusal of a sequence the mesh has no send for: its sender is unknown.
 	Recorded bool
+	// Answer is what the machine last reported of this send; filled only where a last send is read back
+	// (LastSend, LastSends), the zero answer elsewhere.
+	Answer SendAnswer
+}
+
+// SendAnswer is what a machine reported of one send, read from its last report when that report is about the
+// send's declaration (novox/hq issue 485): whether it applied it, failed part of it or refused it, and why.
+// The zero answer is a machine that has not reported on this send — yet, or since a later report replaced it.
+type SendAnswer struct {
+	// Outcome is applied, failed or refused, as the machine reported it; empty when it has not reported on it.
+	Outcome string
+	// Refused is the machine's own words when it refused the declaration whole.
+	Refused string
+	// Failed is how many of its resources failed, when some did.
+	Failed int
+	// At is when the machine reported it; nil when it has not.
+	At *time.Time
 }
 
 // unknownSender is the sender of a refused sequence the mesh has no record of sending.
@@ -209,20 +226,56 @@ func scanSends(rows pgx.Rows) ([]Send, error) {
 	return out, rows.Err()
 }
 
-// LastSend is the last declaration a machine was sent, by its name; false when none was recorded. A refusal
-// of a sequence the mesh has no send for is not a send, and is not it.
+// LastSend is the last declaration a machine was sent, by its name, with what the machine answered of it; false
+// when none was recorded. A refusal of a sequence the mesh has no send for is not a send, and is not it.
 func (i *Inventory) LastSend(ctx context.Context, name string) (Send, bool, error) {
-	rows, err := i.store.Pool().Query(ctx, `select `+sendColumns+`
-		  from declaration_send s join node n on n.id = s.node
-		 where n.name = $1 and s.recorded order by s.id desc limit 1`, name)
+	sends, err := i.lastSends(ctx, `n.name = $1`, name)
 	if err != nil {
 		return Send{}, false, err
 	}
-	sends, err := scanSends(rows)
-	if err != nil || len(sends) == 0 {
-		return Send{}, false, err
+	s, found := sends[name]
+	return s, found, nil
+}
+
+// LastSends is every machine's last send, by machine name, each with what the machine answered of it: what
+// `status` says per machine (novox/hq issue 485). A machine never sent anything has no entry.
+func (i *Inventory) LastSends(ctx context.Context) (map[string]Send, error) {
+	return i.lastSends(ctx, `true`)
+}
+
+// lastSends reads the newest recorded send of each machine matching where, beside the machine's last report
+// when that report is about the send (novox/hq issue 485). It names the send's declaration (its digest), and:
+//   - from an ordered node-engine, one that reports the epoch and sequence it acted on, those are the send's
+//     own. A periodic report about an identical earlier send names the same digest and may arrive after a later
+//     send the machine never received; only the sequence tells them apart. It also holds for a fast machine
+//     whose report lands before the send's row is stamped.
+//   - from an engine that reports no order, the report came after the send — both times the store's own — so
+//     a machine sent again a declaration it once applied does not read as having applied the new send.
+func (i *Inventory) lastSends(ctx context.Context, where string, args ...any) (map[string]Send, error) {
+	rows, err := i.store.Pool().Query(ctx, `select distinct on (n.name) `+sendColumns+`,
+		       coalesce(r.outcome, ''), coalesce(r.refused, ''), case when jsonb_typeof(r.failed) = 'array' then jsonb_array_length(r.failed) else 0 end, r.at
+		  from declaration_send s join node n on n.id = s.node
+		  left join node_report r on r.node = s.node and r.declared <> '' and r.declared = s.digest
+		       and case when r.reported_sequence is not null
+		                 then r.reported_sequence = s.sequence and coalesce(r.reported_epoch, 0) = coalesce(s.epoch, 0)
+		                 else r.at >= s.sent_at end
+		 where s.recorded and `+where+`
+		 order by n.name, s.id desc`, args...)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
 	}
-	return sends[0], true, nil
+	defer rows.Close()
+	out := map[string]Send{}
+	for rows.Next() {
+		var s Send
+		if err := rows.Scan(&s.Node, &s.NodeName, &s.Sequence, &s.Epoch, &s.Sender, &s.Generation, &s.Digest,
+			&s.Modules, &s.SentAt, &s.RefusedAt, &s.RefusedApplied, &s.CounterRaisedTo, &s.Recorded,
+			&s.Answer.Outcome, &s.Answer.Refused, &s.Answer.Failed, &s.Answer.At); err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+		out[s.NodeName] = s
+	}
+	return out, rows.Err()
 }
 
 // RefusedSend keeps a machine's refusal of the send of a sequence for the generation it came from, and

internal/inventory/sends_test.go

@@ -205,3 +205,144 @@ func TestWhetherAMachineReadsAGenerationIsItsLatestWord(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	}
 }
+
+// **The last send says what the machine answered of it** (novox/hq issue 485): applied, refused with its
+// words, or not answered yet — read from the machine's report only when that report is about the send's
+// declaration and came after it, so a report about an earlier send is never this one's answer. And every
+// machine's last send is read at once, for status, by name; a machine never sent anything has none.
+func TestTheLastSendSaysWhatTheMachineAnswered(t *testing.T) {
+	inv, node := aNodeWithModules(t)
+	ctx := t.Context()
+	record, err := inv.NodeByName(ctx, node)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if _, err := inv.AddNode(ctx, "laptop"); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	send := func(sequence int64, digest string) {
+		t.Helper()
+		if err := inv.RecordSentWith(ctx, record.ID, digest, nil, 57, 40, Send{Sequence: sequence, Epoch: 57,
+			Sender: "the controller's daemon (pid 7 on anchor)", Generation: 40, Digest: digest,
+			Modules: []string{"docker", "sudo"}}); err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+	}
+	report := func(d Doing) {
+		t.Helper()
+		if _, err := inv.RecordDoing(ctx, record.ID, d); err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+	}
+	answer := func() SendAnswer {
+		t.Helper()
+		last, found, err := inv.LastSend(ctx, node)
+		if err != nil || !found {
+			t.Fatalf("the last send is not read back: %v, %v", found, err)
+		}
+		return last.Answer
+	}
+
+	send(11, "d11")
+	if a := answer(); a.Outcome != "" || a.At != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("a send not reported on reads as answered: %+v", a)
+	}
+	report(Doing{Outcome: OutcomeApplied, Declared: "d11", Applied: 3})
+	if a := answer(); a.Outcome != OutcomeApplied || a.At == nil {
+		t.Fatalf("a send the machine reported applying reads %+v", a)
+	}
+
+	send(12, "d12")
+	if a := answer(); a.Outcome != "" {
+		t.Fatalf("the report about the send before is taken for this one's answer: %+v", a)
+	}
+	report(Doing{Outcome: OutcomeRefused, Declared: "d12", Refused: "unknown field \"generation\"\nand more"})
+	if a := answer(); a.Outcome != OutcomeRefused || a.Refused != "unknown field \"generation\"\nand more" {
+		t.Fatalf("a send the machine refused reads %+v", a)
+	}
+
+	// Sent again a declaration it reported applying before the send: not answered until it reports again.
+	report(Doing{Outcome: OutcomeApplied, Declared: "d12", Applied: 3})
+	send(13, "d12")
+	if a := answer(); a.Outcome != "" {
+		t.Fatalf("a report from before the send is taken for its answer: %+v", a)
+	}
+
+	all, err := inv.LastSends(ctx)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if len(all) != 1 || all[node].Sequence != 13 || all[node].Epoch != 57 || all[node].Generation != 40 ||
+		!slices.Equal(all[node].Modules, []string{"docker", "sudo"}) {
+		t.Fatalf("every machine's last send reads %+v", all)
+	}
+	if _, found := all["laptop"]; found {
+		t.Error("a machine never sent anything has a last send")
+	}
+}
+
+// **A report about another declaration, or another send of the same one, is not the last send's answer**
+// (novox/hq issue 485, review of mesh-controller #234). A report naming an earlier send's digest that arrives
+// after a later send is not the later send's answer. And from an ordered node-engine, a periodic report about
+// an identical earlier send — the same digest, arriving after the later send — is not its answer either: only
+// the report's epoch and sequence say which send it is about.
+func TestAReportIsTheLastSendsAnswerOnlyWhenItIsAboutThatSend(t *testing.T) {
+	inv, node := aNodeWithModules(t)
+	ctx := t.Context()
+	record, err := inv.NodeByName(ctx, node)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	send := func(sequence int64, digest string) {
+		t.Helper()
+		if err := inv.RecordSentWith(ctx, record.ID, digest, nil, 57, 40, Send{Sequence: sequence, Epoch: 57,
+			Sender: "the controller's daemon (pid 7 on anchor)", Generation: 40, Digest: digest}); err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+	}
+	ordered := func(epoch, sequence int64, digest string) {
+		t.Helper()
+		if _, err := inv.RecordOrderedDoing(ctx, record.ID, Doing{Outcome: OutcomeApplied, Declared: digest, Applied: 1},
+			ReportOrder{Epoch: epoch, Sequence: sequence}, func(ReportOrder) bool { return false }); err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+	}
+	answer := func() string {
+		t.Helper()
+		last, found, err := inv.LastSend(ctx, node)
+		if err != nil || !found {
+			t.Fatalf("the last send is not read back: %v, %v", found, err)
+		}
+		return last.Answer.Outcome
+	}
+
+	// An engine that reports no order: the digest decides.
+	send(11, "d11")
+	send(12, "d12")
+	if _, err := inv.RecordDoing(ctx, record.ID, Doing{Outcome: OutcomeApplied, Declared: "d11"}); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if a := answer(); a != "" {
+		t.Fatalf("a report about d11, after d12 was sent, reads as d12's answer: %q", a)
+	}
+
+	// An ordered engine: the epoch and sequence decide, whatever the digest and the time.
+	send(20, "d20")
+	ordered(57, 20, "d20")
+	if a := answer(); a != OutcomeApplied {
+		t.Fatalf("an ordered report about sequence 20 is not its answer: %q", a)
+	}
+	send(21, "d20")
+	ordered(57, 20, "d20")
+	if a := answer(); a != "" {
+		t.Fatalf("a periodic report about sequence 20, after 21 was sent with the same digest, reads as 21's answer: %q", a)
+	}
+	ordered(56, 21, "d20")
+	if a := answer(); a != "" {
+		t.Fatalf("a report about sequence 21 of another epoch reads as this send's answer: %q", a)
+	}
+	ordered(57, 21, "d20")
+	if a := answer(); a != OutcomeApplied {
+		t.Fatalf("an ordered report about sequence 21 is not its answer: %q", a)
+	}
+}

internal/link/builds_nats_test.go

@@ -123,15 +123,24 @@ func TestNatsABuildIsTakenAndItsOutcomeReachesEverybody(t *testing.T) {
 			t.Fatalf("line %d came back as %s (%v)", want, msg.Data, err)
 		}
 	}
-	// And it is in the stream for a reader who comes later.
-	info, err := js.Context().StreamInfo(broker.EventsStream, &nats.StreamInfoRequest{SubjectsFilter: BuildLog("b-1")})
-	if err != nil {
-		t.Fatal(err)
+	// And it is in the stream for a reader who comes later. **Waited for, with a bound, rather
+	// than read once** (novox/hq issue 507): a line is said with a plain publish, so the server
+	// hands it to a live subscriber and stores it in the stream independently, and under load the
+	// subscriber above had both lines while the stream still held one, or none.
+	var held map[string]uint64
+	for until := time.Now().Add(5 * time.Second); ; {
+		info, err := js.Context().StreamInfo(broker.EventsStream, &nats.StreamInfoRequest{SubjectsFilter: BuildLog("b-1")})
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		held = info.State.Subjects
+		if held[BuildLog("b-1")] >= 2 || time.Now().After(until) {
+			break
+		}
+		time.Sleep(10 * time.Millisecond)
 	}
-	if info.State.Subjects[BuildLog("b-1")] != 2 {
-		t.Fatalf("the stream holds %v under the build's subject, want 2", info.State.Subjects)
-	}
-	if err == nil {
+	if held[BuildLog("b-1")] != 2 {
+		t.Fatalf("the stream holds %v under the build's subject, want 2", held)
 	}
 	if result.ID != "b-1" || result.Commit != "abc1234" {
 		t.Fatalf("the asker got %+v", result)

internal/link/retirement.go

@@ -173,6 +173,25 @@ func ModuleToolOn(module, tool, node string) string { return ToolSubject(module,
 
 // AskModuleToolOn asks one machine's instance of a module one of its tools and reads its answer.
 func AskModuleToolOn(ctx context.Context, conn *nats.Conn, module, tool, node string, args any,
+	timeout time.Duration) (Answer, error) {
+	return askModuleToolAt(ctx, conn, ModuleToolOn(module, tool, node), module, tool, node, args, timeout)
+}
+
+// AskModuleToolOnAs is AskModuleToolOn in the caller's own name: on the subject that names its caller (novox/hq
+// issue 365), which the bus lets only that user publish, so the tool knows who asks from the subject alone. The
+// one way a tool can answer the controller and nobody else (novox/hq ADR 0305 §2).
+func AskModuleToolOnAs(ctx context.Context, conn *nats.Conn, caller, module, tool, node string, args any,
+	timeout time.Duration) (Answer, error) {
+	subject := broker.CalledSubject(ModuleToolOn(module, tool, node), caller)
+	if subject == "" {
+		return Answer{}, fmt.Errorf("%q cannot ask %s.%s on %s in its own name: it is not a bus user's name", caller,
+			module, tool, node)
+	}
+	return askModuleToolAt(ctx, conn, subject, module, tool, node, args, timeout)
+}
+
+// askModuleToolAt asks one machine's instance of a module one of its tools on subject and reads its answer.
+func askModuleToolAt(ctx context.Context, conn *nats.Conn, subject, module, tool, node string, args any,
 	timeout time.Duration) (Answer, error) {
 	body, err := json.Marshal(args)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -180,7 +199,6 @@ func AskModuleToolOn(ctx context.Context, conn *nats.Conn, module, tool, node st
 	}
 	asking, cancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, timeout)
 	defer cancel()
-	subject := ModuleToolOn(module, tool, node)
 	refused, stop := refusalsOf(conn, subject)
 	defer stop()
 	type replied struct {

merge-check.sh

@@ -18,6 +18,34 @@
 set -eu
 export GOFLAGS=-mod=vendor GOPROXY=off
 
+# judge_store_tests says each listed test of one package as `go test -v` reported it, and counts in $missing each
+# that did not pass: $1 the package, $2 go test's exit status, $3 the file holding its output, then the names.
+# A result is found anywhere in a line, not only at its start: when a test's last output leaves a line open,
+# `go test -v` writes `--- PASS: <name> (…)` on that same line (novox/hq issue 515). A package whose go test
+# exits non-zero fails even when each listed test said PASS — a TestMain or a leak checker can fail after them.
+judge_store_tests() {
+	pkg=$1 status=$2 out=$3
+	shift 3
+	for name in "$@"; do
+		line=$(grep -oE -- "--- (PASS|FAIL|SKIP): $name \([^)]*\)" "$out" | tail -n 1 || true)
+		echo "  $pkg ${line:-"--- NOT RUN: $name"}"
+		case "$line" in "--- PASS: "*) ;; *) missing=$((missing + 1)) ;; esac
+	done
+	if [ "$status" -ne 0 ]; then
+		echo "  $pkg FAIL: go test exited $status"
+		missing=$((missing + 1))
+	fi
+}
+# `sh merge-check.sh judge-store-tests <package> <status> <output> <name>…` runs only the judging, to try it on a
+# recorded `go test -v` output.
+if [ "${1:-}" = judge-store-tests ]; then
+	shift
+	missing=0
+	judge_store_tests "$@"
+	[ "$missing" -eq 0 ]
+	exit
+fi
+
 unformatted=$(gofmt -l cmd internal examples)
 if [ -n "$unformatted" ]; then
 	echo "not gofmt'd:"
@@ -32,3 +60,57 @@ else
 	echo "NOT RACE-CHECKED: the toolchain holds no C compiler; the suite runs without the race detector"
 	CGO_ENABLED=0 go test -count=1 -timeout 30m ./...
 fi
+
+# **The store tests listed ran** (novox/hq issue 459): a test that needs the store skips without one, and a skip
+# passes unseen. With the store this check is given, every test named in testdata/store-tests must have run against
+# it and passed, each said by name; without one, that is said. A pull request adds its own store tests to the list.
+
+
+listed=$(grep -v '^[[:space:]]*\(#\|$\)' testdata/store-tests || true)
+# Each line is exactly `<package> <TestName>`: a line of one field ran nothing and said nothing (novox/hq issue 515).
+malformed=$(printf '%s\n' "$listed" | awk 'NF != 2 && NF != 0' || true)
+if [ -n "$malformed" ]; then
+	echo "testdata/store-tests: a line is not <package> <TestName>:"
+	echo "$malformed"
+	exit 1
+fi
+# **A change does not shorten the list it is judged by** (novox/hq issue 515): the list is in the change's own tree,
+# so an entry main lists stays listed while its test function exists; removing the function removes the entry.
+if ! git rev-parse --verify --quiet origin/main^{commit} >/dev/null; then
+	echo "origin/main cannot be read, and its testdata/store-tests says which store tests must stay listed"
+	exit 1
+fi
+dropped=0
+for entry in $(git show origin/main:testdata/store-tests 2>/dev/null | grep -v '^[[:space:]]*\(#\|$\)' |
+	awk 'NF == 2 {print $1 "|" $2}'); do
+	pkg=${entry%%|*} name=${entry#*|}
+	printf '%s\n' "$listed" | awk -v p="$pkg" -v n="$name" '$1 == p && $2 == n {f = 1} END {exit !f}' && continue
+	if cat "$pkg"/*_test.go 2>/dev/null | grep -q "^func $name("; then
+		echo "testdata/store-tests: $pkg $name is listed on main and its test still exists, but the change drops it"
+		dropped=$((dropped + 1))
+	fi
+done
+[ "$dropped" -eq 0 ] || exit 1
+
+if [ -z "$listed" ]; then
+	echo "store tests: none listed in testdata/store-tests"
+elif [ -n "${MESH_TEST_POSTGRES:-}" ]; then
+	echo "store tests, each run against the store:"
+	missing=0
+	out=$(mktemp)
+	trap 'rm -f "$out"' EXIT
+	for pkg in $(printf '%s\n' "$listed" | awk '{print $1}' | sort -u); do
+		names=$(printf '%s\n' "$listed" | awk -v p="$pkg" '$1 == p {print $2}')
+		pattern="^($(printf '%s\n' "$names" | paste -sd '|' -))\$"
+		status=0
+		CGO_ENABLED=0 go test -count=1 -v -run "$pattern" "$pkg" >"$out" 2>&1 || status=$?
+		# shellcheck disable=SC2086 # the names are one word each, split on purpose
+		judge_store_tests "$pkg" "$status" "$out" $names
+	done
+	if [ "$missing" -ne 0 ]; then
+		echo "$missing store test(s) listed in testdata/store-tests did not run and pass against the store"
+		exit 1
+	fi
+else
+	echo "NOT STORE-CHECKED: no MESH_TEST_POSTGRES, so the store tests listed in testdata/store-tests skipped"
+fi

module.json

@@ -77,6 +77,7 @@
     "drill",
     "warranted",
     "secret-ask",
+    "issued",
     "hand-acts",
     "durations",
     "conditions",

testdata/beside/CAPTURED

@@ -25,3 +25,11 @@ and write the commits here. The SDK is captured at the commit go.mod pins for gi
 
   rm -rf testdata/beside/mesh-sdk && mkdir -p testdata/beside/mesh-sdk
   git -C ../mesh-sdk archive <commit> conformance/events | tar -x -C testdata/beside/mesh-sdk
+
+And from mesh-host at the same commit as its line above, the node-engine's placement guard, which
+internal/catalogue's engine_guard_test.go holds the controller's resolved-path rules to (novox/hq issue 496),
+kept as .captured so no Go tool reads it as this repository's code:
+
+  mkdir -p testdata/beside/mesh-host/internal/apply
+  git -C ../mesh-host show <commit>:internal/apply/placement_guard.go \
+    > testdata/beside/mesh-host/internal/apply/placement_guard.go.captured

testdata/beside/mesh-host/internal/apply/placement_guard.go.captured

@@ -0,0 +1,549 @@
+package apply
+
+// Where the node-engine places nothing and mounts nothing, whoever asks (novox/hq issue 339).
+//
+// A directory names its path, and the controller resolves part of that path from what was set for the
+// module: its `places` setting moves a directory anywhere, with an owner it names, and its `accesses` setting
+// says which of the machine's paths are mounted into its container. The engine runs as root, so a path it
+// accepts blindly is a path anyone who could change those settings hands to any account: a directory at /etc
+// owned by a caller's account gives it /etc, and an access at / mounts the machine's root into a container.
+// The controller refuses both where a setting is made; the engine refuses them again where it applies,
+// because a guard in one place is a guard one change away from gone. Whatever the declaration says:
+//
+//  1. **No directory, access or mount source is one of the machine's own roots, or holds one**: /, /etc,
+//     /usr, /var, /var/lib, /home, /run and the rest of protectedRoots. Modules place directories BELOW /etc
+//     or /var/lib, never the root itself; owning one is owning everything in it.
+//  2. **Nothing is placed in /proc, /sys, /dev, /boot, /root, /var/spool, /opt or the container runtimes' data
+//     (/var/lib/docker, /var/lib/containers, /var/lib/containerd, and where the runtimes' configuration moves
+//     them: runtimeDataRoots), nor in the node-engine's
+//     own trees** (its state, its identity, its installed builds) but by its own module; nothing is mounted from
+//     those but /proc, /sys and /dev. A mount of a kernel file, a device or the clock is the plumbing
+//     systemPath names.
+//  2a. **An account's .ssh is never an access or a mount**, and is a directory only below its account's home,
+//     as that account's (rule 4).
+//  3. **A directory below /etc, /usr or /run is root's.** The machine's configuration and programs are read
+//     as root's word; a directory there owned by another account is that account writing root's word. An
+//     access is never there at all: the operator's data is not the machine's configuration.
+//  4. **Below a person's or an agent's home, a directory is that account's.** Root's or another account's
+//     directory there is one the account does not control in a tree whose every parent it does. A home
+//     itself may be a module's directory (a backup repository kept as an account's home is one), and as
+//     every directory the mesh did not make, it is used as found: never chowned or chmodded (applyDirectory).
+//  5. **A mount source that is a refused directory or a refused access is refused with it**: the container
+//     would otherwise bind the very path the engine would not place, and the runtime creates a missing one
+//     as root.
+//
+// Each is a failed resource with its reason in the node's report; nothing is touched. Paths are judged as
+// declared and again with every link in them resolved, so a link at /srv/x pointing at /etc places nothing.
+
+import (
+	"bufio"
+	"context"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"regexp"
+	"strconv"
+	"strings"
+	"sync"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-host/internal/declaration"
+)
+
+// protectedRoots are paths no directory, access or mount source may be, nor hold.
+var protectedRoots = []string{"/", "/bin", "/boot", "/dev", "/etc", "/home", "/lib", "/lib32", "/lib64",
+	"/media", "/mnt", "/opt", "/proc", "/root", "/run", "/sbin", "/srv", "/sys", "/tmp", "/usr", "/usr/bin",
+	"/usr/lib", "/usr/lib64", "/usr/local", "/usr/local/bin", "/usr/local/lib", "/usr/local/sbin", "/usr/sbin",
+	"/usr/share", "/var", "/var/cache", "/var/lib", "/var/lib/mesh", "/var/log", "/var/run", "/var/tmp",
+	"/var/spool"}
+
+// forbiddenBelow are trees nothing is placed in or mounted from: the kernel's, the boot loader's and root's
+// home. engineTrees are the node-engine's own, which only its own module places in.
+var (
+	forbiddenBelow = []string{"/proc", "/sys", "/dev", "/boot", "/root", "/var/spool", "/opt", "/var/lib/docker",
+		"/var/lib/containers", "/var/lib/containerd"}
+	// forbiddenBelowMount are the trees no container mounts from: a mount of the kernel's files and devices is
+	// the plumbing a container may need (systemPath); root's home and the boot loader's are no plumbing.
+	forbiddenBelowMount = []string{"/boot", "/root", "/var/spool", "/opt", "/var/lib/docker", "/var/lib/containers",
+		"/var/lib/containerd"}
+	engineTrees = []string{"/var/lib/mesh-host", "/usr/lib/nox-mesh-host"}
+	// rootsOnly are trees a directory below is root's, and an access is never in.
+	rootsOnly = []string{"/etc", "/usr", "/run", "/var/run"}
+)
+
+// runtimeFiles are where the container runtimes say where they keep their data: dockerd's daemon.json, its
+// unit and the unit's drop-ins (an ExecStart with --data-root, or the older -g/--graph, continued over lines,
+// quoted, through Environment= or EnvironmentFile=, or a --config-file naming another daemon.json), and podman's
+// storage.conf (graphroot, a basic or a literal string). The running runtimes are asked first. containerd keeps its own under /var/lib/containerd, which forbiddenBelow names; a
+// containerd configured elsewhere, and podman's rootless stores under each account's home, are not read: the
+// first is no runtime this mesh runs, and the second is below a home, which rule 4 already keeps for its
+// account. A variable so a test names its own.
+type runtimeFiles struct {
+	daemonJSON  string
+	units       []string
+	dropInDirs  []string
+	storageConf string
+}
+
+var runtimeConfigs = runtimeFiles{
+	daemonJSON:  "/etc/docker/daemon.json",
+	units:       []string{"/etc/systemd/system/docker.service", "/usr/lib/systemd/system/docker.service", "/lib/systemd/system/docker.service"},
+	dropInDirs:  []string{"/etc/systemd/system/docker.service.d", "/run/systemd/system/docker.service.d", "/usr/lib/systemd/system/docker.service.d"},
+	storageConf: "/etc/containers/storage.conf",
+}
+
+var (
+	dataRootFlag = regexp.MustCompile(`(?:--data-root|--graph|-g)(?:=|\s+)(\S+)`)
+	configFlag   = regexp.MustCompile(`--config-file(?:=|\s+)(\S+)`)
+	graphRoot    = regexp.MustCompile(`(?m)^\s*graphroot\s*=\s*(?:"([^"]+)"|'([^']+)')`)
+	envVar       = regexp.MustCompile(`\$\{([A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9_]*)\}|\$([A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9_]*)`)
+)
+
+// runtimeRoots is where the container runtimes keep their data, as the last apply read it (readRuntimeRoots);
+// nil until an apply has read it, when the guard reads the files itself.
+var (
+	runtimeRootsMu sync.Mutex
+	runtimeRoots   []string
+)
+
+// AskRuntimes is how the engine asks the running container runtimes where they keep their data: set by the engine
+// to run the commands, nil in a test, which then reads the files alone. Its own, never the apply's runner, whose
+// commands a test reads back as what the apply did.
+var AskRuntimes Runner
+
+// refreshRuntimeRoots reads where the runtimes keep their data once, at the start of an apply.
+func refreshRuntimeRoots(ctx context.Context) {
+	roots := readRuntimeRoots(ctx, AskRuntimes)
+	runtimeRootsMu.Lock()
+	runtimeRoots = roots
+	runtimeRootsMu.Unlock()
+}
+
+// runtimeDataRoots is every place the container runtimes keep their data, beyond the default trees forbiddenBelow
+// names: every container's filesystem is there.
+func runtimeDataRoots() []string {
+	runtimeRootsMu.Lock()
+	roots := runtimeRoots
+	runtimeRootsMu.Unlock()
+	if roots != nil {
+		return roots
+	}
+	return readRuntimeRoots(context.Background(), nil)
+}
+
+// readRuntimeRoots asks the running runtimes where they keep their data, when run is given (`docker info`,
+// `podman info`), and reads their configuration besides: an answer from a runtime that is running is what it
+// really does, and the files say what it will do when it starts again. Both count. A runtime that is not running
+// or not installed answers nothing, which is no error.
+func readRuntimeRoots(ctx context.Context, run Runner) []string {
+	seen := map[string]bool{}
+	var out []string
+	add := func(p string) {
+		p = strings.Trim(strings.TrimSpace(p), `"'`)
+		if !filepath.IsAbs(p) {
+			return
+		}
+		p = filepath.Clean(p)
+		if !seen[p] {
+			seen[p] = true
+			out = append(out, p)
+		}
+	}
+	if run != nil {
+		// Each runtime has its own ten seconds: one that hangs costs the other nothing.
+		for _, q := range [][]string{{"docker", "info", "--format", "{{.DockerRootDir}}"},
+			{"podman", "info", "--format", "{{.Store.GraphRoot}}"}} {
+			ask, cancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, 10*time.Second)
+			if root, err := run(ask, q[0], q[1:]...); err == nil {
+				add(root)
+			}
+			cancel()
+		}
+	}
+	daemonJSON := func(path string) {
+		raw, err := os.ReadFile(path)
+		if err != nil {
+			return
+		}
+		var c struct {
+			DataRoot string `json:"data-root"`
+			Graph    string `json:"graph"`
+		}
+		if json.Unmarshal(raw, &c) == nil {
+			add(c.DataRoot)
+			add(c.Graph)
+		}
+	}
+	daemonJSON(runtimeConfigs.daemonJSON)
+	units := append([]string(nil), runtimeConfigs.units...)
+	for _, dir := range runtimeConfigs.dropInDirs {
+		matches, _ := filepath.Glob(filepath.Join(dir, "*.conf"))
+		units = append(units, matches...)
+	}
+	// The unit and its drop-ins are one unit to systemd: a variable set in one is seen by an ExecStart in another.
+	env := map[string]string{}
+	var execs []string
+	for _, u := range units {
+		raw, err := os.ReadFile(u)
+		if err != nil {
+			continue
+		}
+		e, x := unitLines(string(raw))
+		for k, v := range e {
+			env[k] = v
+		}
+		execs = append(execs, x...)
+	}
+	for _, line := range execs {
+		line = envVar.ReplaceAllStringFunc(line, func(ref string) string {
+			m := envVar.FindStringSubmatch(ref)
+			if v, ok := env[m[1]+m[2]]; ok {
+				return v
+			}
+			return ref
+		})
+		for _, m := range dataRootFlag.FindAllStringSubmatch(line, -1) {
+			add(m[1])
+		}
+		for _, m := range configFlag.FindAllStringSubmatch(line, -1) {
+			daemonJSON(strings.Trim(m[1], `"'`))
+		}
+	}
+	if raw, err := os.ReadFile(runtimeConfigs.storageConf); err == nil {
+		for _, m := range graphRoot.FindAllStringSubmatch(string(raw), -1) {
+			add(m[1] + m[2])
+		}
+	}
+	return out
+}
+
+// unitLines reads a unit file as systemd does for what matters here: a line ending in a backslash continues on the
+// next, Environment= sets variables (quoted or not, several to a line), EnvironmentFile= (a leading - says it may
+// be missing) reads KEY=value lines, and every ExecStart line is returned whole.
+func unitLines(text string) (map[string]string, []string) {
+	var joined []string
+	var cur strings.Builder
+	for _, line := range strings.Split(text, "\n") {
+		trimmed := strings.TrimRight(line, " \t")
+		if strings.HasSuffix(trimmed, "\\") {
+			cur.WriteString(strings.TrimSuffix(trimmed, "\\") + " ")
+			continue
+		}
+		cur.WriteString(line)
+		joined = append(joined, cur.String())
+		cur.Reset()
+	}
+	if cur.Len() > 0 {
+		joined = append(joined, cur.String())
+	}
+	env := map[string]string{}
+	setPairs := func(s string) {
+		for _, f := range splitQuoted(s) {
+			if k, v, ok := strings.Cut(f, "="); ok {
+				env[strings.TrimSpace(k)] = strings.Trim(strings.TrimSpace(v), `"'`)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	var execs []string
+	for _, line := range joined {
+		l := strings.TrimSpace(line)
+		switch {
+		case strings.HasPrefix(l, "Environment="):
+			setPairs(strings.TrimPrefix(l, "Environment="))
+		case strings.HasPrefix(l, "EnvironmentFile="):
+			path := strings.TrimPrefix(strings.TrimSpace(strings.TrimPrefix(l, "EnvironmentFile=")), "-")
+			if raw, err := os.ReadFile(path); err == nil {
+				for _, kv := range strings.Split(string(raw), "\n") {
+					kv = strings.TrimSpace(kv)
+					if kv == "" || strings.HasPrefix(kv, "#") {
+						continue
+					}
+					setPairs(kv)
+				}
+			}
+		case strings.HasPrefix(l, "ExecStart"):
+			execs = append(execs, l)
+		}
+	}
+	return env, execs
+}
+
+// splitQuoted splits on blanks outside double or single quotes, keeping the quotes' contents whole.
+func splitQuoted(s string) []string {
+	var out []string
+	var cur strings.Builder
+	var quote rune
+	for _, r := range s {
+		switch {
+		case quote != 0 && r == quote:
+			quote = 0
+		case quote == 0 && (r == '"' || r == '\''):
+			quote = r
+		case quote == 0 && (r == ' ' || r == '\t'):
+			if cur.Len() > 0 {
+				out = append(out, cur.String())
+				cur.Reset()
+			}
+		default:
+			cur.WriteRune(r)
+		}
+	}
+	if cur.Len() > 0 {
+		out = append(out, cur.String())
+	}
+	return out
+}
+
+// engineModule is the module whose resources may place in the engine's own trees.
+const engineModule = "mesh-host"
+
+// passwdFile is the user database homes are read from. A variable so a test names its own.
+var passwdFile = "/etc/passwd"
+
+// PlacementRefusedError is a resource the engine will not place, or mount, where it says.
+type PlacementRefusedError struct {
+	Path, Why string
+}
+
+func (e *PlacementRefusedError) Error() string {
+	return fmt.Sprintf("%s is not placed: %s (novox/hq issue 339); nothing was touched", e.Path, e.Why)
+}
+
+// homeAccount is a person's or an agent's account and its home.
+type homeAccount struct {
+	Name string
+	UID  int
+}
+
+// accountsOfHomes is each person's or agent's home and the account it belongs to, from the user database: an
+// account with a uid of 1000 or more, or a home under /home. A variable so a test names its own.
+var accountsOfHomes = func() map[string]homeAccount {
+	f, err := os.Open(passwdFile)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil
+	}
+	defer f.Close()
+	out := map[string]homeAccount{}
+	sc := bufio.NewScanner(f)
+	for sc.Scan() {
+		fields := strings.Split(sc.Text(), ":")
+		if len(fields) < 6 {
+			continue
+		}
+		uid, err := strconv.Atoi(fields[2])
+		if err != nil {
+			continue
+		}
+		home := filepath.Clean(fields[5])
+		if home == "/" || home == "." || home == "" || home == "/nonexistent" {
+			continue
+		}
+		if (uid >= 1000 && uid != 65534) || strings.HasPrefix(home, "/home/") {
+			out[home] = homeAccount{Name: fields[0], UID: uid}
+		}
+	}
+	return out
+}
+
+// below says whether path is strictly below dir.
+func below(path, dir string) bool {
+	if dir == "/" {
+		return path != "/"
+	}
+	return strings.HasPrefix(path, dir+"/")
+}
+
+// atOrBelow says whether path is dir or below it.
+func atOrBelow(path, dir string) bool { return path == dir || below(path, dir) }
+
+// resolved is a path with every link in it followed, as far as the path exists, and the rest as declared.
+func resolved(path string) string {
+	rest := ""
+	for p := path; ; p = filepath.Dir(p) {
+		if real, err := filepath.EvalSymlinks(p); err == nil {
+			return filepath.Clean(filepath.Join(real, rest))
+		}
+		if filepath.Dir(p) == p {
+			return path
+		}
+		rest = filepath.Join(filepath.Base(p), rest)
+	}
+}
+
+// ownedByAccount says whether a declared owner is that account: by name, or by its uid ("1001", "1001:1001").
+func ownedByAccount(owner string, a homeAccount) bool {
+	if owner == a.Name {
+		return true
+	}
+	user, _, _ := strings.Cut(owner, ":")
+	if uid, err := strconv.Atoi(user); err == nil {
+		return uid == a.UID
+	}
+	return false
+}
+
+// rootOwner says whether a declared owner is root: none, "root", or uid 0.
+func rootOwner(owner string) bool {
+	if owner == "" || owner == "root" {
+		return true
+	}
+	user, _, _ := strings.Cut(owner, ":")
+	return user == "0"
+}
+
+// what a guarded path is, for the words of a refusal.
+type placing int
+
+const (
+	placingDirectory placing = iota
+	placingAccess
+	placingMount
+)
+
+// refusePath says why a path is not placed or mounted; nil when it may be. module is the resource's module,
+// owner a directory's declared owner.
+func refusePath(path string, kind placing, module, owner string) error {
+	clean := filepath.Clean(path)
+	if !filepath.IsAbs(clean) {
+		return nil // the declaration refuses a relative path already; a named volume is not a path
+	}
+	for _, p := range []string{clean, resolved(clean)} {
+		if err := refuseOne(p, kind, module, owner); err != nil {
+			if p != clean {
+				err.Why = fmt.Sprintf("through a link, it is %s, and %s", p, err.Why)
+				err.Path = clean
+			}
+			return err
+		}
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+func refuseOne(path string, kind placing, module, owner string) *PlacementRefusedError {
+	for _, root := range protectedRoots {
+		if path == root || below(root, path) {
+			return &PlacementRefusedError{Path: path, Why: root + " is one of the machine's own directories, " +
+				"and owning or mounting it would be owning or mounting everything in it"}
+		}
+	}
+	trees := append([]string(nil), forbiddenBelow...)
+	if kind == placingMount {
+		// A mount is the machine's plumbing as often as a module's data — the clock, a kernel file, /dev/null
+		// (systemPath) — and what a setting can mount at all is a directory or an access, refused above it.
+		trees = append([]string(nil), forbiddenBelowMount...)
+	}
+	// The container runtimes' data, wherever the machine keeps it: every container's filesystem is there.
+	trees = append(trees, runtimeDataRoots()...)
+	for _, tree := range trees {
+		if atOrBelow(path, tree) {
+			return &PlacementRefusedError{Path: path, Why: "nothing is placed in or mounted from " + tree}
+		}
+	}
+	if module != engineModule {
+		for _, tree := range engineTrees {
+			if atOrBelow(path, tree) {
+				return &PlacementRefusedError{Path: path, Why: tree + " is the node-engine's own, placed in by " +
+					"its own module alone"}
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	for _, tree := range rootsOnly {
+		if !below(path, tree) {
+			continue
+		}
+		switch {
+		case kind == placingAccess:
+			return &PlacementRefusedError{Path: path, Why: "an access is the operator's data, and " + tree +
+				" is the machine's own"}
+		case kind == placingDirectory && !rootOwner(owner):
+			return &PlacementRefusedError{Path: path, Why: fmt.Sprintf("a directory below %s is root's, and this "+
+				"one is declared %s's", tree, owner)}
+		}
+	}
+	ssh := false
+	for _, part := range strings.Split(path, "/") {
+		ssh = ssh || part == ".ssh"
+	}
+	if ssh && kind != placingDirectory {
+		return &PlacementRefusedError{Path: path, Why: "it is an account's .ssh, which holds its keys and who may " +
+			"log in as it, and is never an access or a mount"}
+	}
+	if kind != placingDirectory {
+		return nil
+	}
+	homes := accountsOfHomes()
+	var deepest string
+	for home := range homes {
+		if below(path, home) && len(home) > len(deepest) {
+			deepest = home
+		}
+	}
+	if ssh && deepest == "" {
+		return &PlacementRefusedError{Path: path, Why: "a .ssh directory is placed only below its account's home, " +
+			"as that account's"}
+	}
+	if deepest != "" {
+		if a := homes[deepest]; !ownedByAccount(owner, a) {
+			if owner == "" {
+				owner = "root"
+			}
+			return &PlacementRefusedError{Path: path, Why: fmt.Sprintf("it is below %s's home and declared %s's; "+
+				"below a home only that account's directories are placed", a.Name, owner)}
+		}
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+// moduleOfID is the module a resource id names, or "".
+func moduleOfID(id string) string {
+	module, _ := moduleOf(id)
+	return module
+}
+
+// refusedPlaces judges every directory and access of a declaration before anything is applied, and answers
+// each refusal by path: what is refused is refused again as a container's mount source.
+func refusedPlaces(resources []declaration.Resource) map[string]error {
+	out := map[string]error{}
+	for _, r := range resources {
+		var err error
+		switch res := r.(type) {
+		case *declaration.Directory:
+			err = refusePath(res.Path, placingDirectory, moduleOfID(res.ID), res.Owner)
+		case *declaration.Access:
+			err = refusePath(res.Path, placingAccess, moduleOfID(res.ID), "")
+		default:
+			continue
+		}
+		if err != nil {
+			out[filepath.Clean(r.Target())] = err
+		}
+	}
+	return out
+}
+
+// refuseMounts says why a container's mounts are not made; nil when they may be.
+func refuseMounts(c *declaration.Container, refused map[string]error) error {
+	for _, v := range c.Volumes {
+		src := mountSource(v)
+		if !strings.HasPrefix(src, "/") {
+			continue // a named volume, which the runtime keeps in its own tree
+		}
+		src = filepath.Clean(src)
+		for path, why := range refused {
+			if atOrBelow(src, path) {
+				var refusal *PlacementRefusedError
+				if errors.As(why, &refusal) {
+					return &PlacementRefusedError{Path: src, Why: "it is mounted from " + path +
+						", which is refused: " + refusal.Why}
+				}
+				return why
+			}
+		}
+		if err := refusePath(src, placingMount, moduleOfID(c.ID), ""); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+	}
+	return nil
+}

testdata/store-tests

@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+# The tests that need the throwaway store and must have run against it (novox/hq issue 459): merge-check.sh runs
+# each one named here, by package, and fails unless every one passed — a test that needs the store skips without
+# one, and a skip passes unseen. One per line: <package> <TestName>. Lines starting with # are said nothing of.
+./cmd/mesh-controller TestAStopWithoutAMergeWalksTheOthersAgain
+./cmd/mesh-controller TestAStopWithoutAMergeEndsTheMergesThatContainIt
+./cmd/mesh-controller TestAStopWalksTheOthersAgainInTheOpenBatch
+./cmd/mesh-controller TestAStopNamesWhatStaysOnTheMachinesAndWhatStillCarriesIt
+./cmd/mesh-controller TestAStopWithoutAMergeLeavesItOutOfABatch
+./cmd/mesh-controller TestSavingPlansAndMovingMergesIsOneAct
+./internal/inventory TestTheLastSendSaysWhatTheMachineAnswered
+./internal/inventory TestAReportIsTheLastSendsAnswerOnlyWhenItIsAboutThatSend
+./cmd/mesh-controller TestNodeShowAndStatusReadTheLastSendFromTheStore
+./internal/inventory TestAnIssuedValueIsSealedToEveryHolderOnceAndNotAgain
+./internal/inventory TestAnIssuedValueIsSealedAgainAfterAKeyChangeOrAnAcceptance