REPO_POLICIES.md is a stale copy: it mandates a 30s test timeout the org policy replaced with 90s #196

Closed
opened 2026-08-18 09:31:04 +02:00 by clawbot · 0 comments
Collaborator

Milestoned 1.0.0. Docs-only, but it actively misleads and it will cause churn against work landing right now.

REPO_POLICIES.md declares in its front matter that it is synced from https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/prompts. The local copy is stale — last_modified: 2026-07-06 against upstream's 2026-08-07 — and has drifted in three substantive places, all of them upstream being newer:

  1. The test-duration policy. Local says "make test must complete in under 20 seconds. Add a 30-second timeout in the Makefile." Upstream (commit a868689, prompts PR #42, "Raise org-wide make test cap to 60s, backstop timeout to 90s") says the hard cap is 60 s, the target is 20 s, a suite between 20 and 60 s is still green but its overage must be filed as an improvement bug, and the Makefile backstop is 90 s — deliberately above the hard cap so it catches a hung test rather than a merely slow one.
  2. The Makefile example in the same section, -timeout 30s in both the plain and verbose-rerun invocations, against upstream's -timeout 90s.
  3. The golangci-lint section, which upstream extends with the canonical version (v2.12.2, released 2026-05-06) and its commit-pinned go install line.

Nothing else differs; the whole delta is 30 diff lines.

Why this is worth fixing before the tag rather than after

It has already caused a concrete error. Working #194 I read this file, concluded the org policy mandated 30 s, and was about to open a speculative PR against sneak/prompts proposing a change that had already been made — nearly spending someone's review attention on a question that was closed a fortnight ago.

It will also cause churn in the other direction: #195 raises this repo's test timeout, and a future compliance pass reading this stale file would revert it to 30 s and reintroduce the defect 194 exists to fix. That PR carries a note in script/test guarding against exactly that, which stops being necessary once this file is correct.

Definition of done

  • REPO_POLICIES.md matches upstream prompts/REPO_POLICIES.md — take upstream wholesale rather than merging hunk by hunk, since this file is a synced copy and not a place for local edits.
  • Check whether anything in this repo depended on the stale text before assuming a copy is safe: the timeout figure in particular is referenced by script/test. Report what you found either way.
  • If upstream has moved again by the time you do this, sync to whatever upstream is then, and say which commit.

Implementation requirements

  • Branch from next, PR based on next, single commit, title ending (closes #N).
  • Docs-only: if the change touches nothing but REPO_POLICIES.md, no adversarial review is needed. If you find yourself changing code or script/, stop — that is a different unit.
  • Do not modify TODO.md (see #112).
  • Run make fmt and include the result; never commit unformatted markdown. Gate on make check.
Milestoned **1.0.0**. Docs-only, but it actively misleads and it will cause churn against work landing right now. `REPO_POLICIES.md` declares in its front matter that it is synced from https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/prompts. The local copy is stale — `last_modified: 2026-07-06` against upstream's `2026-08-07` — and has drifted in three substantive places, all of them upstream being newer: 1. **The test-duration policy.** Local says "`make test` must complete in under 20 seconds. Add a 30-second timeout in the Makefile." Upstream (commit `a868689`, prompts PR #42, "Raise org-wide `make test` cap to 60s, backstop timeout to 90s") says the hard cap is 60 s, the target is 20 s, a suite between 20 and 60 s is still green but its overage must be filed as an improvement bug, and the Makefile backstop is **90 s** — deliberately above the hard cap so it catches a hung test rather than a merely slow one. 2. **The Makefile example** in the same section, `-timeout 30s` in both the plain and verbose-rerun invocations, against upstream's `-timeout 90s`. 3. **The golangci-lint section**, which upstream extends with the canonical version (v2.12.2, released 2026-05-06) and its commit-pinned `go install` line. Nothing else differs; the whole delta is 30 diff lines. ## Why this is worth fixing before the tag rather than after It has already caused a concrete error. Working https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/webhooker/issues/194 I read this file, concluded the org policy mandated 30 s, and was about to open a speculative PR against `sneak/prompts` proposing a change that had already been made — nearly spending someone's review attention on a question that was closed a fortnight ago. It will also cause churn in the other direction: https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/webhooker/pulls/195 raises this repo's test timeout, and a future compliance pass reading this stale file would revert it to 30 s and reintroduce the defect 194 exists to fix. That PR carries a note in `script/test` guarding against exactly that, which stops being necessary once this file is correct. ## Definition of done - `REPO_POLICIES.md` matches upstream `prompts/REPO_POLICIES.md` — take upstream wholesale rather than merging hunk by hunk, since this file is a synced copy and not a place for local edits. - **Check whether anything in this repo depended on the stale text** before assuming a copy is safe: the timeout figure in particular is referenced by `script/test`. Report what you found either way. - If upstream has moved again by the time you do this, sync to whatever upstream is then, and say which commit. ## Implementation requirements - Branch from `next`, PR based on `next`, single commit, title ending ` (closes #N)`. - Docs-only: if the change touches nothing but `REPO_POLICIES.md`, no adversarial review is needed. If you find yourself changing code or `script/`, stop — that is a different unit. - Do not modify `TODO.md` (see https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/webhooker/issues/112). - Run `make fmt` and include the result; never commit unformatted markdown. Gate on `make check`.
clawbot self-assigned this 2026-08-18 09:31:16 +02:00
clawbot added this to the 1.0.0 milestone 2026-08-18 09:31:16 +02:00
Sign in to join this conversation.
1 Participants
Notifications
Due Date
No due date set.
Dependencies

No dependencies set.

Reference: sneak/webhooker#196