NTFSSecurity/.memory-bank/activeContext.md

---
status: current
last-verified: 2026-10-21
owner: active-agent
source: current task evidence
---

# Active context

## Current focus

State at 2026-10-21: 5.0.0-rc8 is published and accepted (tag `c719197`, CI run
`39408140862`, Gallery 2026-10-20 10:40:58Z, GitHub 10:41:07Z, identity check
passed; lab acceptance of the published bytes 10:38 to 11:47Z, record
`Tests/Lab/Acceptance-2026-10-20-published-rc8.md`, #128). `master` is
`d0cb57c`: the maintainer merged #128 (2026-10-21 05:48Z), the tests-only round
#129 (08:24Z), and the Memory Bank #130 (08:47Z).

The last prerelease before the stable 5.0.0 is rc9 (Decision 27). The branch
`ai/rc9` (base `d0cb57c`, 32 commits, head `de67883`) is complete and
validated; it is local until the maintainer pushes it, opens the pull request
(body: `C:\Temp\ntfs-rc9\final-msgs\pr-rc9-body.md`, temporary), merges it, and
tags `5.0.0-rc9`. It contains: the five piped parameters of `Add-` and
`Remove-NTFSAccess` and `-NTFSAudit` are `object`, converted in the cmdlet
(`ParameterConversion`), so a typo for `Deny` no longer creates an Allow entry;
a list for `-AccessType` and `-AppliesTo` is rejected; the `-SecurityDescriptor`
sets report a failing descriptor and go on; the 17 owner-restore handlers pass
on what a later command raises; `Get-ChildItem2 -Filter` has one matcher with
the Windows PowerShell 5.1 rules; the library fixes 3.1 to 3.3 and 3.10;
`Get-NTFSOrphanedAccess` writes an error; `-SecurityDescriptor` of
`Set-NTFSSecurityDescriptor` at position 1; tests that bind four parameters by
property name; label `rc9`.

Validation of `de67883`: the full suite in the four CI configurations, 2,116
cases each, 0 failed (rc8: 1,615; skipped 27, 359, 58, and 390, so every new
case runs where it can); the pages and the help file are a fixpoint (0 drift, 0
broken links; the help file is identical after a second generation);
PSScriptAnalyzer reports nothing in the 11 changed scripts; the public surface
differs from rc8 by 16 `object` properties, 5 completer classes, 1 protected
method, and 1 parameter position, and equals the candidate of round 1; a
matrix of valid shapes of the five parameters, run on the published rc8 and on
this build in both editions, differs in exactly the 9 list rows of
`Add-NTFSAccess`. Two review rounds (Decision 27, "Built in rc9"): round 1 on the
first integration found a Blocker (the last-dot rule of the filter) and two
Major findings; round 2 on the final tree and three checks of its fixes found
only Minor findings (wrong statements in the pages, completers that were not
culture invariant, the list for `-AccessType` and `-AppliesTo`, ways around
that rejection, a collection that holds itself); all are fixed with a test
that is red without the fix, or decided. A blank, `$null`, or `DBNull` value of
the other parameter group is `AmbiguousParameterSet` (documented, not
restructured).

Open before the stable pull request: the pull request, merge, and tag of rc9
(maintainer); the lab acceptance of the published rc9 (agent, about 70
minutes, `Chain-Published.ps1`); his decision on #34 on 2026-11-02; his check of
`PSGALLERY_API_KEY`. The stable change then touches only the label, the
CHANGELOG, and `$publishedVersions` (add `5.0.0-rc9`). The Memory Bank of this
work is a separate pull request (branch `ai/memory-bank-merged`).

State at 2026-10-10: the maintainer integrated the release-gate stack into
`master` (#116, #120, #118, #119, #121; `fa0701b`, CI green; GitHub closed #117
unmerged when the branch deletion removed its base, Decision 15) and tagged rc7
(Gallery 12:30:57Z). The published rc7 passed its lab acceptance the same day
(record `Tests/Lab/Acceptance-2026-10-10-published-rc7.md`). The agent's
delegated decisions of 2026-10-09 and 10 are D1 to D47 in
`decisions-night-2026-10-09.md` of the session files; the maintainer accepted
Decisions 22 and 24 on 2026-10-19 and decides 23 on 2026-11-02.

## Evidence

- Evidence of rc9 is outside git, in the session folder
  `816cf47d-2f80-4eba-8ac9-41702c49560b\files\rc9`: the specs and review briefs,
  `suite-full1` (first integration), `suite-final`, `suite-final2`,
  `suite-final3`, and `suite-final4` (the head `de67883`), the probes (`p-*.ps1`,
  `fixb-probe`, `shapes-r2`, `Run-Oracle.ps1`, `Run-Pathological.ps1`), the
  published rc8 (`rc8-published`), and the analyzer and surface results. The
  review probes of the reviewers are in `C:\Temp\ntfs-rc9\review*-probes-*`
  (temporary). The worktrees under `C:\Temp\ntfs-rc9` are temporary too.
- Milestones of earlier gates (rc6 and rc7 releases, handoff 1, the operating
  system matrix, handoff 5, the rc7 and rc8 acceptances) are in `progress.md`
  and in the records and reports under `Tests/Lab` and `Tests/Coverage`.
- Reviews: the custom `security-reviewer` can't start (its model is
  unavailable; no override); the built-in `code-review` agent reviewed the paths
  work, the matrix, rc8, and rc9; the built-in `security-review` agent found no
  exploitable vulnerability and two LOW items for the maintainer (Next step 5).
- Raw evidence of the older gates is outside git: the session folder
  `4b12e2f4-d4c7-4a5d-883a-ddb7421c4848\files` (`qg-paths`, the matrix runs, the
  night log), `26f151b6-e46f-49bd-9398-b27e20603949\files\quality-gate-3442194-20261009`,
  and `816cf47d-2f80-4eba-8ac9-41702c49560b\files\qg-unknowns` (430 files of
  `rc8-published`, with a manifest; the published hashes are in the deployment
  notes).
- Six checkpoints of the lab report Standard even after a successful
  ProductionOnly probe; policy restored, no restore performed: don't claim
  verified Production rollback evidence.

## Next step

1. The maintainer pushes `ai/rc9`, creates the pull request, merges it after
   CI, and tags `5.0.0-rc9` (commands in the reply of 2026-10-21; every release
   step is his). Then run `Chain-Published.ps1 -Version 5.0.0-rc9 -Tag 5.0.0-rc9
   -Evidence <dir>` from the session files (about 70 minutes, detached, with the
   heartbeat; save the labs afterwards) and write the acceptance record
   `Tests/Lab/Acceptance-<date>-published-rc9.md`. A defect that it finds needs
   rc10.
2. The stable pull request: no `Prerelease`, `## [5.0.0] - <date>` with an empty
   `[Unreleased]` and the links, and `5.0.0-rc9` in `$publishedVersions` (the
   list ends at rc7 now; rc8 comes with the rc9 pull request). The maintainer
   checks the expiry of `PSGALLERY_API_KEY` first, merges, and tags.
3. #34 waits for a tester until 2026-11-02 (Decision 23, option 3; checklist:
   `Tests/Lab/Non-Windows-File-Server-Test.md`). On that date the maintainer
   chooses between waiting longer and accepting the untested risk with a
   release-note caveat. No agent can accept it.
4. Open housekeeping: keep or replace the matrix VMs (about 60 GB, saved between
   runs) and the evaluation client (it shuts down every hour; `OSWin11E` is
   off); a domain cell for Windows 11 26H1, whose client loses the secure
   channel to the Server 2025 domain controller; the cleanup list before the
   archive (AppVeyor, Read the Docs, wiki, `test/transfer`, old checkpoints) is
   the maintainer's. The tests-round report still says that the new tests "have
   not run on Windows Server 2019/2022/Windows 11"; the 24 lab runs of
   2026-10-21 changed that (fix in a later documentation pull request).
5. Of the two LOW findings of the security review, the swallowed initialization
   errors of `GetEffectiveAccess` are fixed in rc8; he still decides the other:
   the ACL of the stage folders under `C:\` in the lab kit (they inherit
   Authenticated Users: Modify; protecting them is a design change of the
   controller and needs a new acceptance).
6. Known limits after rc9, for the archive (Decision 27): `Get-FileHash2
   -Algorithm` keeps the silent default for a piped value that does not convert;
   three settings still read their value with an unchecked cast;
   `PrivilegeEnabler` is not disposed in some paths; `Get-NTFSEffectiveAccess`
   fails with an `ArgumentOutOfRangeException` on a FAT32 volume or an item with
   a NULL DACL (older than rc9); 9 of the 17 owner-restore handlers and the
   error branch of `Get-NTFSOrphanedAccess` cannot be pinned by a test.
7. Do not release stable 5.0.0 or equate a percentage with gate closure.