test(clone): two tests still pass with the feature deleted; 7 negative assertions have no positive precondition #468

Labels: test, tech-debt

This is the repo's own degraded-path rule applied to its test suite: a suite that
cannot fail cannot see the class. Line numbers are origin/main
test/bats/116-clone-option.bats.

C1. Tests that survive deleting the feature they name

• :356 "clone(msb --clone: no guest-visible signal that a workspace is the disposable clone, so kits cannot safely target it on msb #456): a workspace-less create exports neither marker" is PURELY
  negative (:358 only asserts msb create ran; :359 refutes both markers), so it
  still passes with the whole feat(acq): export ACQ_WORKSPACE and ACQ_CLONE into the guest on both backends #457 emitter removed. NEW (PR feat(acq): export ACQ_WORKSPACE and ACQ_CLONE into the guest on both backends #457).
• :312 "clone(msb msb --clone: scratch clone's origin is the host checkout path, so push and fetch in the guest target the clone itself #453): a source with no origin leaves the clone's remote
  untouched" asserts stock git clone behaviour (url == source path, no pushurl),
  so it still passes with the whole fix(msb): point the --clone scratch's origin at the source checkout's remote #455 feature removed. NEW (PR fix(msb): point the --clone scratch's origin at the source checkout's remote #455).
  Fix: add a mutation check, or assert something only the feature can produce.

C2. Wrong subject — an assertion that can never fail

:163 refute_output --partial 'unfetched' greps $output from the
run git remote get-url on :161, not the acq rm output it means to check. The
intervening run clobbered the subject. PRE-EXISTING.

C3. Negative assertions with no positive precondition

:88, :97, :104, :133, :203, :213, :251 all do
refute_regex "$(cat "$CALLS")" 'msb create' with nothing first proving $CALLS
was written at all — they pass if the stub recorder is broken (empty file, cat
exits 0). Tests at :111, :122, :358 show the correct pattern. Also :136
refute_output --partial 'sandbox-' has an empty subject by construction (the
repo has no remotes). PRE-EXISTING.
Note the $line=$(_create_line msb) form gets incidental protection because
grep's exit 1 propagates; the $(cat "$CALLS") form does not.

C4. Coverage gaps this review needed and did not find

• no test sets two origin URLs (git remote set-url --add origin) — see draft B1
• no test makes the scratch git config write fail — see draft B3
• the sbx marker tests assert the stubbed create argv, not guest visibility; guest
  visibility rests entirely on the manual transcripts in the PR body

Attribution

Found during an AI-assisted (OpenCode) adversarial post-merge review of PRs
#455 and #457. Advisory — confirm before acting.