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test(hooks): the held-lock guard tests keep one loose timing check - #396

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kevintseng merged 2 commits into
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test/guard-timing-loose
Sep 21, 2026
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kevintseng merged 2 commits into
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test/guard-timing-loose

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@kevintseng kevintseng commented Sep 21, 2026

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Refs #366. Test-only change, one file (tests/hooks/guard-check.test.ts).

Problem

The three held-lock tests (a second database connection holds the write lock while a real guard hook runs) asserted three timings. One of them was a floor: the locked run had to take more than 100 ms longer than an unlocked run, to prove the fire counter waits at all. That difference is the difference of two process starts, and on a slow Windows CI runner it swings by more than 100 ms, so the test failed at random there (93 ms measured, more than 100 required, on PR #395) while the hook behaved correctly. No user can tell a 0.2 s wait from a 0.5 s one, so the exact wait is not worth a test that fails at random.

Change

  • Removed the floor, the ceiling derived from the hook's timeout, the hookBudgetMs helper, the second unlocked reference run and the HOOK_BUSY_TIMEOUT_MS import.
  • Kept every functional assertion: the warning is delivered on stdout, the hook exits 0, stderr says the fire was not counted, and the hook is not killed at the timeout.
  • Kept one loose timing check: a locked run may not take a second longer than an unlocked run. It still catches the old 2 s wait.

Evidence

  • With the wait set back to 2000 ms, exactly the three held-lock tests fail (about 2150 ms measured, limit 1000); at the real 200 ms all 10 tests in the file pass. Measured locked - unlocked at 200 ms: 202-250 ms over several runs, including under CPU load, against the 1000 ms limit.
  • Three independent reviewers (fresh-eyes, silent-failure, code review): no blocking finding. The silent-failure reviewer broke the hook in six functional ways (warning not printed in each of three code paths, non-zero exit, the not-counted line dropped, the lock not held) and every one turns a test red.
  • npm run verify green on the tip tree.

Known trade-off

Nothing in the tests now pins that the counter waits at all (with the wait at 0 the file still passes). That is deliberate, see the Problem section. Also noted by the reviewers, present before this change and left alone: the comment on GUARD_COUNTER_WAIT_MS in scripts/hooks/_shared.js says the tests read the constant (they do not), and the ledger assertion in the Bash held-lock test reads the last ledger line, which can be the unlocked run's record.

The three held-lock tests in tests/hooks/guard-check.test.ts asserted three
timings, among them a floor: the locked run had to take more than 100 ms longer
than an unlocked run, to prove the counter waits at all. That difference is
the difference of two process starts, and on a slow Windows runner it swings by
more than 100 ms: CI failed at random there (93 ms measured, more than 100
required) while the hook behaved correctly. Nobody using MeMesh can tell 0.2 s
from 0.5 s, so the exact wait is not worth a test that fails at random.

The tests keep everything that matters to a user (the guard warning is
delivered on stdout, the hook exits 0, stderr says the fire was not counted)
and one loose timing check: a locked run may not take a second longer than an
unlocked run. That still fails with the old 2 s wait (about 2150 ms measured
with the wait set back to 2000, limit 1000; three tests red).

The floor, the ceiling derived from the hook's timeout, the hookBudgetMs
helper, the second unlocked reference run and the HOOK_BUSY_TIMEOUT_MS import
are removed. Test-only change.

Refs #366
@kevintseng
kevintseng merged commit 4a48ad1 into main Sep 21, 2026
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