testsAndMisc/docs/superpowers/evidence/shell-coverage-bar-back-to-presence-2026-08-23.json
Krzysztof kuhy Rudnicki 578c4a6cdd Drop the 100% shell coverage bar; back to a presence ratchet
bca70b67 (2026-08-22) turned the shell ratchet from "a run_all.sh exists
beside this lib" into a measured 100% line-coverage bar, run through the
kcov+userns jail. It works -- dot_resolver_install.sh really does measure
39/39 -- but the price is one hand-written test file per lib: fixes/lib
took 34 test files for 22 libs, the jail runs serially at 37-90s a pass
(concurrent jails give false failures), and most libs need a production
seam added before they can be driven at all.

That put the remaining 84 exempt libs at several days of work, for a
repo of personal automation scripts. User's call today: not worth it.

python_pkg keeps its 100% branch bar, which is already met -- 2101 tests,
100.00%, zero missing statements or branches. The difference is the
instrument: pytest-cov is fast, reliable and parallel; the shell jail is
none of those.

Also tried and rejected, recorded in the file: a middle option where the
suite must MENTION the lib by name, closing the empty-suite hole the
100% bar was reaching for. It newly BLOCKED 68 libs sitting in
directories that already have suites -- 38 in utils/lib alone -- because
those passed the old presence check and so were never allowlisted, and
seed_allowlist refuses to grow by design. Tightening a ratchet with no
way to grandfather the existing tree turns it into a wall.

The jail is not deleted; it is still the tool for measuring a lib on
purpose, and ci_mirror.sh still runs jailed suites.

  check_shell_coverage.sh --all:  >600s  ->  0.31s
  BLOCK entries:                  3, all pre-existing meta/scripts/lib
                                  coverage-tooling libs
  allowlist:                      unchanged at 84 (--seed correctly
                                  refused to add the 3)

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01PJrqKERAo5QUeEHWS5Asgp
2026-08-23 15:47:04 +02:00

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{
"intent": "Stop enforcing a measured 100% line-coverage bar on shell libraries, which priced the remaining work at several days, and return the ratchet to the presence check it was before 2026-08-22.",
"scope": [
"meta/scripts/lib/shell_coverage_bar.sh",
"Non-goal: deleting shell_coverage_jail.sh, which is still used deliberately and by ci_mirror.sh",
"Non-goal: changing python_pkg's 100% branch-coverage bar, which is already met"
],
"changes": [
"is_covered() is once again 'the lib's directory has a tests/run_all.sh', replacing the jail-measured COVERAGE_BAR=100 introduced in bca70b67.",
"Recorded why in the file: 22 libs in fixes/lib required 34 hand-written test files, the jail runs serially at 37-90s per pass, and most libs need a production seam added before they are testable at all.",
"Documented that a stricter 'the suite must mention the lib' variant was written and measured first, and rejected because it newly blocked 68 libs in directories that already have suites, which seed_allowlist cannot grandfather since it refuses to grow."
],
"verification": [
{
"command": "bash meta/scripts/check_shell_coverage.sh --all",
"result": "pass",
"evidence": "0.31s, '37 uncovered shell librar(ies), 84 exempt', 3 BLOCK entries -- all three are meta/scripts/lib coverage-tooling libs that blocked before this change too. Under the 100% bar the same command took over 600s."
},
{
"command": "check_shell_coverage.sh on a new lib in a dir WITH a suite, and in a dir WITHOUT one",
"result": "pass",
"evidence": "exit 0 and exit 1 respectively; the ratchet still refuses a lib whose directory has no suite. Both probe files removed."
},
{
"command": "check_shell_coverage.sh --seed",
"result": "pass",
"evidence": "Refused, as designed: seeding would ADD the 3 tooling libs and the allowlist only ever shrinks. Allowlist left byte-identical at 84 entries."
},
{
"command": "shellcheck and bash -n on the changed file",
"result": "pass",
"evidence": "clean; 49 lines, within the 250-line cap"
}
],
"risks": [
"An empty run_all.sh that sources nothing would now satisfy the gate. Accepted deliberately and recorded in the file; closing it requires a grandfathering mechanism the ratchet does not have.",
"Shell libraries will drift below whatever coverage they have today. Mitigated in that the suites already written are still run by ci_mirror.sh and the shell-tests workflow on every push."
],
"rollback": [
"git revert this commit to restore COVERAGE_BAR=100 and the jail-measured predicate.",
"After rollback, re-run check_shell_coverage.sh --all and expect it to take minutes again and to fail the ~11 non-exempt libs in suite-having directories."
]
}