Tell a state file it cannot read from one that is not there #29

2026-09-03T11:41:36-07:00

dejima-agent commented

2026-09-03 11:41:36 -07:00

Summary generated by LLM agent

Reported from a live host, where bootstrap said the guest side was at v7 and status, run seconds later, said the host predates version tracking and should read the baseline note "to establish where you actually are".

Both were right about what they looked at. Bootstrap writes the state file 0640 root. status was run without sudo and could not read it. [ ! -r "$STATE" ] gives the same answer for absent and for unreadable, and the reading it chose sends an operator to redo the version tracking of a host that is fully tracked.

Three answers now:

not readable by this account, with the mode and owner, saying that is the ordinary state of a tracked host read by an ordinary account, and to use sudo
a directory that is not searchable, which hides the file from -e as well and has a different fix
genuinely absent, which keeps the message it had

The first two return 2, because not knowing is a fault rather than an answer, and this repository already draws that line everywhere else.

The comment above that branch was careful about exactly this class: it says an untracked host and a host whose state file went missing are the same thing from in here, and refuses to assume v1. They are the same thing. A host whose state file is merely unreadable is not, and was being told it was.

Tested: 191 passing. The new test fails against main.

**Summary generated by LLM agent** Reported from a live host, where bootstrap said the guest side was at v7 and `status`, run seconds later, said the host predates version tracking and should read the baseline note "to establish where you actually are". Both were right about what they looked at. Bootstrap writes the state file `0640 root`. `status` was run without sudo and could not read it. `[ ! -r "$STATE" ]` gives the same answer for absent and for unreadable, and the reading it chose sends an operator to redo the version tracking of a host that is fully tracked. Three answers now: - **not readable by this account**, with the mode and owner, saying that is the ordinary state of a tracked host read by an ordinary account, and to use sudo - **a directory that is not searchable**, which hides the file from `-e` as well and has a different fix - **genuinely absent**, which keeps the message it had The first two return 2, because not knowing is a fault rather than an answer, and this repository already draws that line everywhere else. The comment above that branch was careful about exactly this class: it says an untracked host and a host whose state file went missing are the same thing from in here, and refuses to assume v1. They are the same thing. A host whose state file is merely unreadable is not, and was being told it was. Tested: 191 passing. The new test fails against `main`.

dejima-agent added 1 commit 2026-09-03 11:41:36 -07:00

Tell a state file it cannot read from one that is not there

tests / runner-env (pull_request_target) Successful in 41s

Details

tests / tests (pull_request_target) Successful in 1m19s

Details

5f03eba8ce

Reported from a live host: bootstrap said the guest side was at v7, and
`dejima-devbox-upgrade status` said the host predates version tracking and
should read the baseline note to establish where it actually is.

Both were right about what they looked at. Bootstrap writes the state 0640 root;
status was run without sudo and could not read it. `[ ! -r ]` answers the same
for absent and for unreadable, and it chose the reading that sends an operator
to redo the version tracking of a host that is fully tracked.

Three answers now instead of one: not readable by this account, which says to
use sudo; a directory that is not searchable, which hides the file from -e as
well and has a different fix; and genuinely absent, which keeps the message it
had. The first two return 2, since not knowing is a fault rather than an answer.

The comment above that branch already said an untracked host and a host whose
state file went missing are the same thing from in here. They are. A host whose
state file is merely unreadable is not, and was being told it was.

branderson approved these changes 2026-09-03 11:43:50 -07:00

branderson merged commit 88c1521b32 into main

2026-09-03 11:43:55 -07:00

Sign in to join this conversation.

2 Participants

Notifications

Due Date

No due date set.

Dependencies

No dependencies set.

Reference: dejima/dejima-devbox-hardener#29