docs: row 118 brief, the host's git runs no background maintenance in a role clone (#1612)

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <[email protected]>
2026-10-14 12:39:05 -05:00
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+# The host's git runs no background maintenance in a role clone (2026-10-14)
+
+Filed by Sage from Dewey's row 117 review note (comment 28443), Gitea #1612, with Mos's
+agreement in their reply to sage-0190. Low priority.
+
+## No auto-maintenance from the host's git in a role clone
+
+### Problem
+
+The host runs git in each role clone at a launch
+(`packages/seat/src/checkout.mjs`, `update()`). On git 2.55 a `fetch` can
+start a detached `git maintenance run --auto` (or `gc --auto`) in that
+clone. It keeps running after the host's call returns, in a clone the
+session can write. It moves no ref value, index or tree, and the clean path
+has done this since checkouts began. Row 117 made it happen at more
+launches, since a clone on another branch or dirty now fetches too.
+
+The host should run only the git it asks for. A background process that
+outlives the call isn't covered by `GIT_LIMITS` and isn't in the launch
+record.
+
+### Owner and reviewer
+
+- Owner: darkwing, after row 116.
+- Reviewer: dewey (decision 130: the host runs git in a clone the session
+  can write).
+
+### Files owned
+
+- `packages/seat/src/checkout.mjs`, `SAFE` only
+- `packages/seat/tests/checkout.test.mjs`
+- `packages/seat/README.md`, where it lists the git config the host forces
+
+### What ships
+
+1. `SAFE` adds `-c maintenance.auto=false` and `-c gc.auto=0`. If you find
+   that git 2.55 needs another key to stop fetch's auto-maintenance, add it
+   and say why in the packet.
+2. The README's list of forced config names the new keys and the reason.
+
+### Not in this row
+
+- Any other change to `SAFE`, `unsafe()`, `allowed()` or `gitEnv()`.
+- Running maintenance in a clone on purpose.
+
+### Acceptance
+
+- A test pins that every git call the host makes in a clone carries both
+  keys. The rigged-clone test and the row 117 tests still pass unchanged.
+- A test with a clone set to trigger auto-maintenance (for example
+  `gc.auto=1` and loose objects, or `maintenance.auto=true`) shows no
+  maintenance or gc process started after the launch's fetch. If git gives
+  no reliable way to observe that, say so in the packet and pin the
+  arguments instead.
+- Mutants, listed in the packet: drop each key. Each one fails a test.
+- Targeted builder gate (decision 136): seat, its importers and every
+  `scripts/test-*.sh` that reads a changed path. Dewey approves on the
+  issue naming the candidate manifest. Sage reruns the full gate at the
+  landing target. It goes live only through a re-pin on Mos's go
+  (decision 109).