The mkdir->rename->remove->rename directory fallback had a TOCTOU window
between the second remove and the second rename: a concurrent writer
creating an entry at the destination was silently clobbered. The fallback
now claims the destination once with mkdir and never unlinks it: the
fast-path rename publishes over the claim (Linux), and platforms that
refuse directory renames (macOS, Windows) move the staged children into
the claim through atomic no-clobber primitives (mkdir/os.Link/os.Symlink),
consuming the emptied source shell on success.
renameSkillPathNoReplace now returns the mkdir-claim identity captured by
the child-move path. PublishSkillPathNoReplace uses it as a three-state
ownership witness: the atomic/fast paths keep the staged-inode proof, the
child-move path proves dest is still the mkdir claim, and a mismatch
reports the new ErrSkillPathPublicationUncertain sentinel with the
destination retained. The witness is real on POSIX now: darwin and linux
report the dev:ino file identity instead of the empty no-op.
Upstream consumers honor the sentinel: the mono/multi upgrade copy
fallbacks no longer retry over an uncertain destination (the retry would
displace the concurrent writer's object), and skill setup reports the
retained destination instead of claiming a rollback.
Rewrites the fallback tests that pinned the removed remove-and-retry flow
and adds regression coverage: concurrent claim entries abort with the
destination retained, wholesale replacement after child-move reports the
uncertain sentinel, staged-set transactions pass the sentinel through,
and both copy fallbacks short-circuit (ablation-verified).
A universal Agent whose obsolete private copy cannot be retired installs
nothing there, yet every entry point counted that retirement failure as an
install failure — aborting `npm install`, `dws skill setup`, and the shell
installers even when the canonical store and all links published correctly,
and skipping the skills-state write. Route retirement failures to a separate
warning path across all surfaces (Go upgrade + skill setup, npm, PowerShell,
install.sh, install-skills.sh, install-event.sh, install-devapp.sh).
Also:
- Add a checked-rename fallback for filesystems that reject the atomic
no-replace flag (NFS, FUSE, overlayfs); the no-clobber contract is kept and
the previously unsupported platforms build and work.
- PowerShell multi-mode links only bundle skills, never the shared canonical
store, so third-party/user skills are no longer fanned into every Agent root.
- Prune ~/.dws/skill-backups to the newest 5 on every surface; encode
HOME-relative backup names on PowerShell to preserve origin.
- Add simulated-win32 junction coverage and rewrite the tautological
no-replace test; remove dead code whose tests gave false coverage.
- Soften the overstated Windows ownership-proof comment (NTFS tunneling).
A failed canonical publish only failed the upgrade when
hasDependentSkillRoot reported a non-universal link target; that helper
explicitly skipped universal agents, which are exactly the direct consumers
of ~/.agents/skills. On a universal-only machine (e.g. only Codex
installed), UpgradeSkillLocations* returned a nil error with nothing
installed, contradicting the documented "canonical publication is
mandatory and fails the upgrade loudly" contract.
Canonical publish failures now return an error unconditionally in both the
mono and multi branches, and hasDependentSkillRoot is removed. The test
that pinned the old standalone-does-not-fail-fast behavior now asserts
error propagation in both modes.