A plan settles an asked build from the build records (hq issue 214)

A merge to the controller's own repository replaces the controller in its first tier; the build
that produced the new one was recorded, the plan never heard it, and it waited for ever with every
later plan behind it. The record is the fact: a build recorded after the ask is the tier's outcome,
whoever was listening when it came.

cmd/mesh-controller/release_plan.go

@@ -399,6 +399,24 @@ func advanceOnce(ctx context.Context, open *stores, p *inventory.Plan,
 		}
 		return true, nil
 	}
+	// **Asked: settle from the build records first** (novox/hq 04-ISSUES/214). An outcome is taken
+	// in by whichever controller hears it, and a merge to the controller's own repository replaces
+	// the controller in its first tier: the build that produced the new one is recorded, and the
+	// plan never hears it. The record is the fact; a build recorded after the ask is that tier's
+	// outcome, whoever was listening.
+	recorded := map[string][]inventory.Build{}
+	for _, m := range tier {
+		if s := p.Modules[m]; s != nil && s.State == "asked" {
+			builds, err := inv.Builds(ctx, m, 5)
+			if err != nil {
+				return false, err
+			}
+			recorded[m] = builds
+		}
+	}
+	if settleFromRecords(p, tier, recorded) {
+		return true, nil
+	}
 	// Asked: wait for every build.
 	var latest time.Time
 	for _, m := range tier {
@@ -755,3 +773,41 @@ func splitList(s string) []string {
 	}
 	return out
 }
+
+// settleFromRecords marks every module of the tier still `asked` built — or failed — from a build
+// recorded after it was asked, and says whether it changed anything (novox/hq 04-ISSUES/214).
+// Newest first, as Builds answers: the first record after the ask is the outcome of that ask.
+func settleFromRecords(p *inventory.Plan, tier []string, recorded map[string][]inventory.Build) bool {
+	changed := false
+	for _, m := range tier {
+		s := p.Modules[m]
+		if s == nil || s.State != "asked" || s.AskedAt == nil {
+			continue
+		}
+		var outcome *inventory.Build
+		for i := range recorded[m] {
+			b := recorded[m][i]
+			if b.At.Before(*s.AskedAt) {
+				break
+			}
+			outcome = &b
+		}
+		if outcome == nil {
+			continue
+		}
+		at := outcome.At
+		if outcome.Worked() {
+			s.State = "built"
+			s.BuiltAt = &at
+			s.Commit = outcome.Commit
+		} else {
+			s.State = "failed"
+			s.Why = outcome.Failed
+			p.State = inventory.PlanFailed
+			p.Note = fmt.Sprintf("%s failed to build in tier %d", m, p.Tier)
+		}
+		fmt.Printf("%s: %s settled from the build records as %s (%s)\n", p.ID, m, s.State, outcome.ID)
+		changed = true
+	}
+	return changed
+}

cmd/mesh-controller/release_plan_test.go

@@ -116,13 +116,39 @@ func TestACycleIsOneLastTierAndSaidSo(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-// novox/hq 04-ISSUES/211: a merge moving the toolchain and a bundle compiled in it builds the
-// bundle a tier after the toolchain, not beside it.
-func TestABundleIsPlannedAfterTheToolchainItIsCompiledIn(t *testing.T) {
-	edges := []inventory.Edge{{From: "node-tools", To: "mesh-tools", Kind: inventory.EdgeStandsOn}}
-	p := planOfMerge(link.SourceMoved{Owner: "novox", Repo: "mesh-tools", Commit: "abc"},
-		[]string{"mesh-tools", "node-tools"}, edges)
-	if len(p.Tiers) != 2 || p.Tiers[0][0] != "mesh-tools" || p.Tiers[1][0] != "node-tools" {
-		t.Fatalf("the toolchain, then the bundle: %v", p.Tiers)
+// novox/hq 04-ISSUES/214: a plan whose build outcome was recorded while no controller followed it —
+// the controller rebuilding itself — settles from the build records instead of waiting for ever.
+func TestAPlanSettlesAnAskedBuildFromTheRecords(t *testing.T) {
+	asked := time.Date(2026, 10, 3, 19, 20, 0, 0, time.UTC)
+	p := inventory.Plan{ID: "plan-1", Tiers: [][]string{{"mesh-controller", "builder"}, {"route-proxy"}},
+		Modules: map[string]*inventory.PlanModule{
+			"mesh-controller": {State: "asked", AskedAt: &asked},
+			"builder":         {State: "asked", AskedAt: &asked},
+		}}
+	records := map[string][]inventory.Build{
+		// Newest first, as Builds answers: the build after the ask is the outcome.
+		"mesh-controller": {
+			{ID: "build-2", Commit: "2ebbb799", At: asked.Add(4 * time.Minute)},
+			{ID: "build-1", Commit: "06ea2168", At: asked.Add(-10 * time.Minute)},
+		},
+		// Only a build from before the ask: not this ask's outcome.
+		"builder": {{ID: "build-0", Commit: "06ea2168", At: asked.Add(-time.Hour)}},
+	}
+	if !settleFromRecords(&p, p.Tiers[0], records) {
+		t.Fatal("nothing settled, though the controller's build is recorded after the ask")
+	}
+	if s := p.Modules["mesh-controller"]; s.State != "built" || s.Commit != "2ebbb799" || s.BuiltAt == nil {
+		t.Errorf("the controller's ask is %+v, want built from 2ebbb799", s)
+	}
+	if s := p.Modules["builder"]; s.State != "asked" {
+		t.Errorf("an ask with no record after it was settled: %+v", s)
+	}
+
+	// A failure recorded after the ask fails the plan, as hearing it would have.
+	q := inventory.Plan{ID: "plan-2", Tiers: [][]string{{"x"}},
+		Modules: map[string]*inventory.PlanModule{"x": {State: "asked", AskedAt: &asked}}}
+	settleFromRecords(&q, q.Tiers[0], map[string][]inventory.Build{"x": {{ID: "b", Failed: "no", At: asked.Add(time.Minute)}}})
+	if q.State != inventory.PlanFailed || q.Modules["x"].State != "failed" {
+		t.Errorf("a recorded failure did not fail the plan: %+v %+v", q, q.Modules["x"])
 	}
 }

internal/inventory/dependencies.go

@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ import (
 	"sort"
 	"strings"
 
-	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/builder"
 	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/catalogue"
 )
 
@@ -97,21 +96,6 @@ func dependenciesOf(entries []Entry, against map[string][]string, read map[strin
 					add(name, on.Module, EdgeDeclared)
 				}
 			}
-			// **A bundle stands on the toolchain it is compiled in** (novox/hq 04-ISSUES/211). A
-			// manifest names its toolchain by language, not in `build.on`, so the edge was implicit
-			// and a merge that moved the toolchain and a bundle together built both in one tier —
-			// the bundle against the toolchain as it was, recorded as built from the new commit. Read
-			// from the manifest, so it holds before any build has recorded what it stood on; and a
-			// toolchain that moves rebuilds every bundle compiled in it, which is what a toolchain
-			// carrying a bundle's dependencies requires.
-			for _, a := range e.Manifest.Build.Artifacts {
-				if a.Kind != catalogue.ArtifactBundle {
-					continue
-				}
-				if chain, err := builder.ToolchainFor(a.Language); err == nil {
-					add(name, chain.Base, EdgeStandsOn)
-				}
-			}
 		}
 		for _, ref := range against[name] {
 			if rest, ok := strings.CutPrefix(ref, catalogue.ArtifactStoreScheme); ok {

internal/inventory/dependencies_test.go

@@ -62,41 +62,3 @@ func TestDependenciesAreOneRelationWithTheirKinds(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	}
 }
-
-// novox/hq 04-ISSUES/211: a bundle stands on the toolchain it is compiled in, so a merge moving both
-// builds the toolchain first — read from the manifest, before any build recorded it.
-func TestABundleStandsOnTheToolchainItIsCompiledIn(t *testing.T) {
-	entries := []Entry{
-		{Manifest: catalogue.Manifest{Module: "mesh-tools"}, Source: Source{Repository: "novox/mesh-tools"}},
-		{Manifest: catalogue.Manifest{Module: "mesh-tools-go"}, Source: Source{Repository: "novox/mesh-tools-go"}},
-		{Manifest: catalogue.Manifest{Module: "node-tools", Build: &catalogue.Build{Artifacts: []catalogue.Artifact{
-			{Name: "runtime", Kind: catalogue.ArtifactBundle, Language: "go", System: "arch", From: "cmd/node-tools"}}}},
-			Source: Source{Repository: "novox/mesh-tools"}},
-		{Manifest: catalogue.Manifest{Module: "nftables", Build: &catalogue.Build{Artifacts: []catalogue.Artifact{
-			{Name: "tools", Kind: catalogue.ArtifactBundle, Language: "typescript", Entrypoints: []string{"tools/index.js"}}}}},
-			Source: Source{Repository: "novox/mesh-catalog"}},
-		{Manifest: catalogue.Manifest{Module: "photos", Build: &catalogue.Build{Artifacts: []catalogue.Artifact{
-			{Name: "server", Kind: catalogue.ArtifactImage, From: "Dockerfile"}}}},
-			Source: Source{Repository: "novox/photos"}},
-	}
-	edges := dependenciesOf(entries, nil, nil)
-	has := func(from, to string) bool {
-		for _, e := range edges {
-			if e.From == from && e.To == to && e.Kind == EdgeStandsOn {
-				return true
-			}
-		}
-		return false
-	}
-	if !has("nftables", "mesh-tools") {
-		t.Errorf("a TypeScript bundle does not stand on the TypeScript toolchain: %v", edges)
-	}
-	if !has("node-tools", "mesh-tools-go") {
-		t.Errorf("a Go bundle does not stand on the Go toolchain: %v", edges)
-	}
-	for _, e := range edges {
-		if e.From == "photos" && e.Kind == EdgeStandsOn {
-			t.Errorf("an image stands on a toolchain it is not compiled in: %v", e)
-		}
-	}
-}