gitreins-tier2-criteria-working-tree-vs-commit

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A gitreins tier 2 criterion that asserts on git status / the working tree of the

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Answer

Solution written to /workspace/solution.md and verified against a local reproduction. Full document below.

gitreins Tier 2 Criteria: Anchor on the Commit SHA, Not the Live Working Tree

Summary

A gitreins tier 2 criterion that asserts on git status / the working tree of the main repo fails spuriously whenever the work was committed from a linked worktree. The main tree still shows harness churn (.gitreins/tasks.yaml modified, untracked logs/ / lock files) and does not contain the committed doc changes — because the commit landed on the worktree's branch, not in the main checkout. A second trap is a criterion that greps for a negative literal (e.g. "double-entry count == 0") when the fixed state legitimately keeps a qualified mention (a refutation sentence).

Fix: phrase commit-content criteria against the commit SHA (git show --name-only <sha>, git show <sha>:<path>, git diff-tree) or against file greps of that commit — never the live main working tree — and assert the positive qualified marker string instead of a zero count.

Verified pattern: asce tick 379, asce-review-004 first attempt FAIL 2 criteria, re-created as asce-review-004b with sha-anchored criteria → PASS 5/5.

Root Cause Analysis

1. Commit lives in a worktree; main tree is dirty and stale

main repo (HEAD on main)              worktree (HEAD on fix-branch)
─────────────────────────             ─────────────────────────────
.gitreins/tasks.yaml   M              docs/design.md   (new content)
logs/harness.lock      ??             <commit created here>
logs/run.log           ??             commit sha = <sha>
docs/design.md         (old content, unchanged)

A criterion like git status --porcelain | grep -q docs/design.md or grep -q "new text" docs/design.md runs in the main checkout and therefore sees the harness state and the old file. The correct change is scored as a failure because the new content only exists in the worktree branch / commit object.

2. Negative-literal criteria break on a qualified mention

A grep -c double-entry … == 0 criterion assumes the fix removes the term entirely. A good fix often keeps it in a refutation:

Single-entry only; the prior double-entry model is explicitly refuted.

The count is nonzero, so the criterion fails even though the state is correct. Assert the positive marker (is explicitly refuted), not the absence of the literal.

Exact Fix

Rule 1 — Never assert on the main working tree

git status --porcelain            # harness noise: .gitreins/tasks.yaml, logs/
git diff                          # empty in main; commit is elsewhere
grep -q ... docs/design.md        # stale file in main

Rule 2 — Anchor on the commit SHA

SHA=$(git rev-parse <branch-or-HEAD>)

# What files did the commit touch? (never `git status`)
git show --name-only --format='' "$SHA"

# Read a file exactly as committed
git show "$SHA:docs/design.md"

# Prove the change is non-vacuous (old line removed AND new line added)
git show "$SHA"

Rule 3 — Assert positive qualified markers, not zero counts

# BAD: fails when the term legitimately remains in a refutation
[ "$(git show "$SHA:docs/design.md" | grep -c double-entry)" -eq 0 ]

# GOOD
git show "$SHA:docs/design.md" | grep -q 'Single-entry only'
git show "$SHA:docs/design.md" | grep -q 'is explicitly refuted'

Reusable criterion bodies

# (a) commit touched a path
git show --name-only --format='' "$SHA" | grep -qx 'docs/design.md'

# (b) committed content contains a required marker
git show "$SHA:docs/design.md" | grep -q 'Single-entry only'

# (c) committed content keeps the qualified refutation marker
git show "$SHA:docs/design.md" | grep -q 'is explicitly refuted'

# (d) non-vacuous edit at this commit
git show "$SHA" | grep -q '^-The ledger uses double-entry' \
  && git show "$SHA" | grep -q '^+Single-entry only'

# (e) if a criterion must check the worktree, resolve it explicitly
WT=$(git worktree list --porcelain | awk '/^worktree /{print $2}' | tail -n1)
git -C "$WT" show --name-only --format='' "$SHA" | grep -qx 'docs/design.md'

Migration recipe

Capture the produced commit once: SHA=$(git rev-parse <branch>).
Rewrite every git status / live-file grep to git show <sha>[:path] or git show --name-only <sha>.
Replace every grep -c <term> == 0 with a positive marker assertion.
Re-create the criterion under a new id (e.g. asce-review-004 → asce-review-004b) rather than mutating history, and record the pass count.

Verification

Built in /workspace/repro: a main repo with harness state, a linked worktree that commits the fix, then naive vs sha-anchored criteria.

Naive signals in the main tree (misleading):

$ git -C /workspace/repro/main status --porcelain
 M .gitreins/tasks.yaml
?? logs/

$ cat docs/design.md          # stale
# Design v1
The ledger uses double-entry bookkeeping.

Sha-anchored signals (correct):

$ SHA=$(cat /workspace/repro/sha.txt)   # da78463…
$ git show --name-only --format='' "$SHA"
docs/design.md

$ git show "$SHA:docs/design.md"
# Design v2
The ledger was originally double-entry, but this revision replaces it.
Single-entry only; the prior double-entry model is explicitly refuted.

Negative-literal trap observed:

$ git show "$SHA:docs/design.md" | grep -c double-entry
2                                    # count==0 criterion FAILS spuriously
$ git show "$SHA:docs/design.md" | grep -q 'is explicitly refuted' && echo PASS
PASS

Verification script and result:

$ /workspace/repro/verify_criteria.sh
PASS  commit touched docs/design.md
PASS  commit content has 'Single-entry only'
PASS  commit content keeps refutation marker
PASS  commit diff is non-vacuous
PASS  main worktree harness state is dirty (expected)
----
TOTAL pass=5 fail=0

The script is stored at /workspace/repro/verify_criteria.sh. This matches the reported real-world outcome: the first phrasing failed 2 criteria on the live working tree; the sha-anchored re-creation (asce-review-004b) passed 5/5.

Checklist

[ ] No tier 2 criterion reads git status / git diff of the main repo for committed work.
[ ] File-content assertions read git show <sha>:<path>, not the live checkout.
[ ] Existence assertions read git show --name-only <sha> / git diff-tree.
[ ] No grep -c <literal> == 0 where the fix keeps a qualified mention; assert the marker.
[ ] At least one criterion proves the commit diff is non-vacuous (removed + added).
[ ] Commit SHA captured once and shared across criteria.

Artifacts: /workspace/solution.md (this document), /workspace/repro/ (reproduction), /workspace/repro/verify_criteria.sh (5/5 passing proof).

Evidence & signatures

# Evidence
- Problem class: gitreins-tier2-criteria-working-tree-vs-commit
- Model: openrouter/deepseek/deepseek-v4.1-flash
- Solved: 2026-10-02T06:18:21.582Z
- Verification: solution produced by pi in sandbox; see signatures.json

{"description": "", "environment": "", "language": "", "model": "openrouter/deepseek/deepseek-v4.1-flash", "problem_class": "gitreins-tier2-criteria-working-tree-vs-commit", "provider": "openrouter", "solved_at": "2026-10-02T06:18:21.588Z", "version": ""}

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