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ersatztv/docs/decisions/archive
timothy fba5233caf
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feat(610): split the decision corpus into one YAML-frontmatter file per record
168 records -> docs/decisions/records/<area>/<topic>.md (163 active, 23 dirs) and
docs/decisions/archive/<area>/<topic>.md (5 archived). The filename IS the key,
so one-active-record-per-key becomes a filesystem property rather than a
validator check, and supersession becomes a `git mv`.

WHY: the monolith was a concurrency problem before an aesthetic one. A
3,900-line append target made parallel sessions collide -- PR #605 and PR #614
both hit append-vs-append conflicts during routine rebases, and hand-resolving
those inside the corpus is exactly the operation the rationale-rewrite guard
exists to police.

HOW IT IS VERIFIED: a ~170-file diff cannot be meaningfully read, so correctness
does not rest on reading it. The parser was taught BOTH formats first, so the
body-diff guard parses the old form at the merge-base and the new form at head --
the migration validates itself, no bypass. The proof is a field-level equivalence
harness: 168 records before and after, zero lost, zero gained, zero field
mismatches, zero rationale bodies differing. Reviewers should scrutinise the
harness; it is the actual evidence.

What measuring caught that reading would not have:

- ~500 lines sit OUTSIDE any record -- decisions.md's lifecycle schema and each
  topic file's preamble, mostly the only copy. Source files are kept and
  stripped, never deleted. They also cannot be filed per-area: topic files hold
  several areas and 4 of 23 areas span several files.
- Archive discovery was a non-recursive glob; after the split it found ZERO
  archived records, surfacing as four bogus "supersedes points to unknown key"
  errors rather than an obvious failure.
- ~32 live docs point into the corpus BY DATE, which the split dangles. Each
  stripped file now ends with a generated "Records formerly in this file" index,
  which also rescues the identical breadcrumbs in old issue comments.
- decisions.md's "In this file:" list was 97 same-file anchor bullets that the
  split makes WRONG, not merely stale. Dropped; the generated index replaces
  them with links that resolve.

The equivalence harness now runs against a checked-in FIXTURE, not the live
corpus. The earlier version migrated the real tree, which made it a one-shot:
the moment the migration landed there was nothing left to move and the tests
failed for reasons unrelated to the code. A fixture keeps them testing the
SCRIPT rather than the repo's current state.

Keys preserved verbatim, warts included: `sched` (12) and `scheduling` (1) remain
two directories for one concept. Renaming a key is not a move -- it changes
identity, breaks the equivalence proof, and invalidates MemPalace's per-key
drawers. Taxonomy normalisation is separate work.

refs #610
2026-07-25 19:45:09 +02:00
..

Archive — superseded / retired decision records

This directory holds decision records whose status is superseded or retired. They are kept verbatim (rationale prose untouched — see docs/decisions.md header and scripts/decisions_lib.py) for history: why we changed our mind is the point, never silently rewritten.

They are out of the active startup path: scripts/decisions_lib.py active_files() / all_active_records() do not glob this directory, docs/decisions/README.md (the active catalog) never lists a record from here, and an agent doing task-router discovery should not need to read this directory to find the current rule — follow a record's superseded-by key to the active successor instead.

The lifecycle validator (scripts/decisions_validate.py) still enforces invariants here:

  • a superseded/retired record MUST live under this directory, never in an active file;
  • an active record MUST NOT live under this directory;
  • supersedes/superseded-by keys must resolve reciprocally to a record in the active set OR here;
  • a record moved here must not have its rationale prose changed in the same commit (unless the commit message carries the [decisions-edit] token, reserved for genuine rationale edits).

One file per topic cluster (e.g. ci.md, release-ci-governance.md), mirroring the active docs/decisions/*.md topic-file split. See docs/decisions/migration-map.md for the legacy heading → key → status → location mapping produced during the #521 lifecycle migration.