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writ self install creates empty layers/base and layers/team, which repo list reads as registrations and repo add refuses #840
Description
writ self install creates empty directories layers/base and layers/team under the writ data
home. writ repo list reads any entry under layers/ as a registration, and writ repo add refuses
a layer that "is already registered" — so a fresh install manufactures two fake registrations that
block the two real ones.
Observed, 2026-09-05
$ make install # lore, star, writ self install ~/.local
$ ls -la ~/.local/share/devlore/writ/layers
drwxr-x--- Sep 5 base <- empty, created by self install
lrwxr-xr-x Aug 9 personal -> …/writ/repos/personal
drwxr-x--- Sep 5 team <- empty, created by self install
$ writ repo list
base -> …/writ/layers/base <- a plain empty directory, listed as registered
$ writ repo add base ~/Workspace/NobleFactor/noblefactor-ops
Error: layer base is already registered; run 'writ repo remove base' first
The same two placeholders existed dated Aug 31 from an earlier install, which is why base and
team looked "registered but empty" for a week.
Why it matters
The design (repo_cmd.go): "a layer is a symlink under the layers directory, never a config key."
A directory there is not a registration under that definition, and nothing should create one. The
first-run experience is: install, try to register your base layer, be told it already is.
Fix
Either of:
self installstops creatinglayers/<name>placeholders — the layers directory itself is all
that needs to exist; orrepo listandrepo addtreat a non-symlink entry underlayers/as unregistered (andlist
says why), so a stray directory cannot block a real registration.
The first is the real fix; the second is defence in depth and worth having anyway.
Related
#791 (repo set replaces add/remove: re-pointing is one command) would make the workaround one
step instead of two, but the placeholder should not exist in the first place.
Epic: #447
Feature: #463
Activity
David-Noble-at-work commentedon Sep 8, 2026
Measured 2026-09-07 by the layer-journey scenario (#855, step 0.2) against build
155067aein a pristine sandbox:writ self install <home>/.local --shell bashleaves three placeholders underXDG_DATA_HOME/devlore/writ/layers/—base,personalandteam— not the two this issue names. The scenario skips step 0.2 by this issue's number until a fresh install registers nothing; that step is your acceptance test.test(writ): the layer-journey scenario -- self install, repo set, dep…
David-Noble-at-work commentedon Sep 14, 2026
Confirmed on a fresh Linux machine, 2026-09-13, with one detail this issue does not record:
repo addclonesbefore it refuses.
danoble-ud24-1.local, linux/arm64, no devlore presence of any kind beforehand. Afterwrit self install:Three phantom registrations whose root is the registration directory itself. Then:
The clone completes and the registration is then refused. The machine is left with a full clone at
repos/basethat nothing points at, which is #792's orphan arriving by a second route. The refusal happensafter the expensive, network-bound, side-effecting half rather than before it.
So a fresh install cannot register a layer until the user removes three registrations they never made, and one
attempt to do so leaves a repository behind. The state that now exists on that machine is the evidence.
(The
stateandrootcolumns above arewrit repo list's new result form, from#794; the behaviour they report is unchanged.)
The end-to-end record says what actually ran
A document rendering, a terminal one, the renderings grouped, and pag…