Changelog¶

[0.2.0] - 2026-11-14¶

Add opt-in strict shell and task-prolog status for user job wrappers while retaining the default decision failure policy.
Accept four-digit ASCII year frontends alongside validated versioned module names during a restore.
A static Zig build of the guard, zig build -Drelease=true, runs the same decision as the Python script and passes the same test suite (TOOL_BIN=zig-out/bin/eessi-arch-guard python -m unittest discover -s tests). It is not yet the default prolog; it replaces the Python guard only after the release gate in the port plan (shadow comparison, real Lmod, a second review of the validators).

The decision cache is kept per output mode. A batch script that runs --shell after the task prolog no longer gets the prolog’s cached result, such as a failure for a value with a newline that --shell can carry, and a prolog no longer reuses a --shell result.
The cache and its lock are trusted only when the open file is a regular file owned by the caller, with one link and no group or other bits. A file planted at the cache name in a shared /tmp, such as a FIFO or another user’s file, no longer feeds the decision or blocks the prolog, and a cached entry that changes LD_*, SLURM_*, BASH_FUNC_* or another denylisted name is ignored.
Honor existing private job workspaces for restore temporaries and provide a strict-mode state-directory fallback without creating or widening configured bases.
The Zig build exits 0 with the one skip line on every failure path it can reach: out of memory, a cache lock error other than would-block (reported instead of waited out), and a crash, whose handlers now run on an alternate stack; an emergency stops the chained prolog’s child first. It builds on zig-common 0.8.1 and targets the baseline CPU by default.

This release ships the Zig build without the shadow comparison beside the Python guard that the port plan’s release gate names; the maintainer waived it on 2026-11-14. The Python guard stays the default prolog, and a site switching to the binary should run the comparison itself first (RELEASING.md, item 5).

Opt-in strict mode returns status 78 for failed decisions and unexpected exceptions.
Restore numeric year-module frontends alongside EESSI module names.
Strict restores and caches use caller-owned private job or state directories.

The WAITPKG march list is checked against GCC 16 (releases/gcc-16): the same set GCC 15.2.0 carried plus novalake, and znver6, the other new mask, has no WAITPKG; the comment names that source.

The decision stops at one deadline, a killed helper loses its temporary directory, and config timeout applies with --chain and --shell.
The root-owned config file is read as a map of settings.

A GCC march that includes waitpkg is skipped when the CPU flag is missing, and the next installed archdetect candidate is loaded.
A config value that is not UTF-8 is kept with surrogateescape and the other keys still apply.
An interrupted cache write removes its temporary file.
Export values keep their bytes, a failed write exits 0, and each prolog line stays within 4094 bytes.
The fake Lmod writes each script line as the environment’s own bytes.
The package metadata keeps the license expression and omits the license classifier that current setuptools rejects.
The restore helper is python3 -I -X utf8 and carries each name and value as those same bytes.
The sdist includes CHANGELOG.md, DESIGN.md, and the test files the default manifest left out.

An Intel A100 node uses the first archdetect candidate whose software directory exists.