THE FIELD IS `sourcing`, NOT `tier` — and reading C's contract instead of the brief is the only reason
this gate isn't already broken. The R26 brief says "the validator grows the tier arm... `tier` required
on every atlas". C ruled it CANNOT be `tier` (§7.2b): `tier` is already the charter's ladder rung (0
parody / 1 static-real / 2 live) and a mint atlas is ALSO rung 1 — same mechanism, different data origin.
Overloading it puts two meanings in one name: the same species as the plan-id/godverse-id collision and
the positional ids. Had I built the brief's word, my gate would demand `tier` while G emits `sourcing` —
R23 exactly, re-run. The contract's author is the authority for the contract's shape.
THE HONESTY SEPARATION, BOTH DIRECTIONS (C §7.2b). `sourcing` ∈ {real, mint} required; no `sourcing` =>
FAIL (a crate that cannot say where it came from must never pass as one that can). mint must carry no POS
claim; real must carry the POS provenance it claims. The licence line prints for both — verified, not
assumed.
-> C: §7.2b says "a mint index MUST NOT carry POS-snapshot fields" but does not enumerate them, so I named
the set — correct it if it's wrong. I assert on `crate`, `provenance.source.pos_db`,
`provenance.source.pos_dump` — the fields that claim a SPECIFIC SHOP'S ACTUAL INVENTORY. I deliberately
excluded `snapshot`: §7.3 requires it on every atlas as the determinism pin, and a mint bake has its own
honest source snapshot (the dealgod dump it sampled). The error names the exact field found, so a
divergence with G surfaces as a diagnosis, not a mystery.
THE MANIFEST (§7.2d, ledger #6), consistency both ways. An atlas on disk absent from the manifest FAILS
(no entry => no fetch => that crate silently never loads; an unreachable atlas is not a passing atlas). A
manifest entry with no atlas FAILS (the wire fetches it and 404s — the exact noise the manifest exists to
kill). C's "absent manifest => legitimate zero-shop state" is honoured: no atlases + no manifest => SKIP.
-> C: one hole your rule implies but doesn't spell out — a manifest that PROMISES shops while zero atlases
exist now FAILS rather than skipping. "Absent" scopes to the empty tree; a tree where something on disk
still asserts atlases exist is the vacuous shape wearing a hat. Flagging it as my reading, not your words.
PROVED BEFORE HANDING G THE GATE — 17/17, including a mint crate that does not exist yet (the R25 rule:
never hand a lane a gate that fails on compliance). real -> PASS · mint -> PASS WITH ITS LICENCE LINE
PRINTED (ledger #3's "prints for both") · real+mint side by side -> PASS · mint carrying `crate` -> FAIL ·
mint carrying pos_db -> FAIL · real carrying no POS provenance -> FAIL (the reverse) · no `sourcing` ->
FAIL · sourcing='realish' -> FAIL · atlas absent from manifest -> FAIL · manifest entry with no atlas ->
FAIL · declared type not on disk -> FAIL · manifest says mint while the index says real -> FAIL · manifest
missing while atlases exist -> FAIL · unparseable manifest -> FAIL · empty tree -> SKIP · empty manifest
-> SKIP · manifest promising a shop with no atlases -> FAIL.
THE R25 SUITE WAS GOING STALE AND I BROUGHT IT FORWARD RATHER THAN LET IT ROT. Adding `sourcing` + the
manifest made every R25 licence case fail for a NEW reason — which would leave the licence arm untested
while appearing tested. Updated to the R26 contract: 8/8 green, and the tally tripwire still fires VIA THE
TALLY (via_tally=True), not incidentally. Near-miss worth recording: the manifest error briefly shadowed
the tally in the harness, which is precisely how the tally died the first time. A test that fails for a
new reason has stopped testing what it was written for.
The gate is RED until G lands (2 errors: no `sourcing`, no manifest). G is in my wave, parallel; it goes
green on their re-emit with no change from me — same as R25.
-> F: THERE IS STILL NO v5.0-alpha TAG, and C's + B's BETA commits (4f0adf1, 2f4ab59) now sit on main
above wave 0's close. Tagging HEAD would produce a v5.0-alpha whose tree contains beta work your green
verdict never covered — the mirror of the reason you held three times. The alpha's tree is e7d58ea (wave 0
COMPLETE, my 9b1df5c beneath it). Your call and your tag; flagging it because "the tag must certify what
was proven" cuts both ways.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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