docs(session): make the boundary's position and ownership conditional

Documentation only; no behavior change.

`firstLiveSeq`'s JSDoc still stated the boundary sits at that seq
unconditionally. Verified reachable on a plain production path: pick up a log,
do no work, pick it up again — the seed already ends in a boundary, so it is
not re-marked and `events[firstLiveSeq]` is undefined. Both that claim and the
firehose-gap sentence are now conditional, with the locate rule ("scan for the
last boundary") matching what types.ts already said.

`repair.ts`'s header claimed this module supplies the boundary. It does not —
the constructor does; this module supplies the activity read that must skip it.
Reworded, and it now names the closer timestamp leak, which is the one real
coupling that justifies `lastActivityTime` living beside the repair synthesis.

Recorded that `Session`'s constructor is the boundary's only legitimate writer,
since the invariant companion constrains nothing and a plugin-side append would
silently turn live brackets below it into dead history.
This commit is contained in:
Hypatia May
2026-07-30 14:46:38 +08:00
parent 3e57bd3d0b
commit b257ed5e8a
8 changed files with 61 additions and 30 deletions

View File

@@ -101,6 +101,10 @@ interface SessionEventMap {
* ending in a boundary is not re-marked, so reopening an untouched session
* does not grow its log per pickup.
*
* `Session`'s constructor is the only legitimate writer. The invariant
* companion deliberately constrains nothing here, so a plugin appending one
* would silently turn every live bracket below it into dead history.
*
* An owner of a standalone open/close bracket (`compact/start` …
* `compact/end`) reads it because inherited history and live work are
* otherwise byte-identical: an unmatched opening marker below the boundary
@@ -346,14 +350,17 @@ declare class Session {
* session's constructor seed is its full stored log, while its header keeps
* the original fork value — this field is the in-process construction fact.
*
* Not persisted itself: a nonzero value is projected into the log as the
* `session/inherited` event at this seq, which is what a consumer reading
* STORED history reads. Prefer this field in-process — it is exact before
* the marker's write reaches storage.
* Not persisted itself: a seeded session projects it into the log as the
* `session/inherited` event, which is what a consumer reading STORED history
* reads. Locate that event as the log's LAST boundary, not at this seq — a
* seed already ending in one is not re-marked, so reopening an untouched
* session leaves the boundary below `firstLiveSeq`. Prefer this field
* in-process: it is exact before the marker's write reaches storage.
*
* The marker is appended before the store attaches, so when one exists the
* event AT this seq did not publish either: the firehose gap runs through
* `firstLiveSeq`, not just below it.
* When this lifecycle did append a boundary it sits at this seq, appended
* before the store attached, so that event did not publish either the
* firehose gap then runs through `firstLiveSeq` rather than stopping below
* it. Otherwise this seq holds an ordinary published write.
*/
readonly firstLiveSeq: number;
constructor(id: SessionId, seed?: readonly SessionEvent[], header?: SessionHeader);
@@ -535,7 +542,9 @@ The optional `dsh-session/invariant` companion enforces the relations owned by c
## The inherited-history boundary: `session/inherited`
A seeded session — resume, fork, or replay — appends this log-only event as its first live write, at the seq its `firstLiveSeq` names. It is the durable projection of that field: `firstLiveSeq` answers "which prefix did I inherit" for a consumer holding the object, this event for one holding only stored bytes. The payload is empty, so position and `time` carry the whole meaning, and it produces no message. An empty seed writes nothing, and a seed already ending in one is not re-marked, so reopening an untouched session does not grow its log per open.
A seeded session — resume, fork, or replay — appends this log-only event as its first live write. It is the durable projection of `firstLiveSeq`: that field answers "which prefix did I inherit" for a consumer holding the object, this event for one holding only stored bytes. The payload is empty, so position and `time` carry the whole meaning, and it produces no message. `Session`'s constructor is the only legitimate writer.
An empty seed writes nothing, and a seed already ending in a boundary is not re-marked, so reopening an untouched session does not grow its log per pickup. Locate the boundary as the log's LAST one rather than at `firstLiveSeq`: after a pickup with no work, the next one leaves it below that seq.
It exists because inherited history and live work are otherwise byte-identical, which defeats any plugin owning a standalone open/close bracket: an unmatched `compact/start` reads the same whether the writer crashed mid-compaction or is compacting right now. An opening marker below the boundary belongs to an ended lifecycle, whatever ended it (a crash, a succeeding process, or a fork out of a still-running parent), so its owner may treat it as dead. That covers only brackets *this* session inherited: a concurrently live session holding an open bracket over the same history has its own boundary elsewhere, so tolerating concurrent writers needs a liveness signal beyond the log. Core writes the boundary and reads nothing from it — a bracket's vocabulary stays with its owning plugin, which is why crash repair closes turn/step/tool boundaries and never `compact/*`.