# Session Log -- 2026-09-11

## Summary

First "new work" day after the whirlwind SDP 2026.1 GA + EBF stretch (see
`SessionLog-2026-09-09.md`/`SessionLog-2026-09-10.md`). Picked SDP-1393 (`verify_sdp.sh`
spurious `grep: off: No such file or directory` message) from the three open 2026.1 Patch 1
candidates (SDP-1390/1391/1393), fixed it directly in `dev`, added a regression test, and
added it to the new "SDP 2026.1 Patch 1" Release Notes section.

## New policy: south-of-dev streams for large/destabilizing work

User introduced a new rule: for work that's large or potentially destabilizing (their
example: SDP-568's `log()`/`die()` -> `msg()`/`bail()` migration and replacing the legacy
`P4U_ENV`/`BASH_LIBS` env-setup mechanism with the modern `template.sh` approach -- a
high-risk change touching some of SDP's most critical scripts), create a dedicated
south-of-dev stream first (e.g. `//p4-sdp/dev_SDP-568`, parented by `dev`) and do the work
there instead of directly in `dev`. Rationale: `dev` should always be ready to ship (modulo
an hour or so of tidying if an urgent release need arises -- our release cadence is slow
enough to afford that much slack, but not a half-finished multi-hour refactor sitting in
`dev`). A dedicated stream lets the Copy Up to `main` be deferred until the feature is
actually ready to ship, with Merge Downs from `dev` happening in the meantime as needed.
This doesn't apply to small, contained fixes like today's SDP-1393 -- those still go
straight into `dev`. Documented as a decision rule under the existing `dev_*` stream row in
`SDP_DeveloperGuide.adoc`'s "Working in Streams" table (change 33744).

## SDP-1393: verify_sdp.sh spurious "grep: off" message

Root cause: near the end of `verify_sdp.sh`, two summary blocks (warnings-only case and
errors+warnings case) run `grep ^Warning: "$Log"` / `grep -E '^(Error|Warning):' "$Log"`
unconditionally whenever `$ShowErrorSummary` is set and at least one warning/error was
detected -- but neither was guarded against `$Log` holding the literal string `"off"` (set
when the script is called with `-L off` to disable logging), unlike an existing, identical
guard already used elsewhere in the same file (`[[ "$Log" == "off" ]] || msg ...` around
line 525). The result: `grep ^Warning: off` tries to open a nonexistent file named `off`,
producing the spurious message. Confirmed via `p4 annotate`/`print` that this bug has been
present, unchanged, since at least SDP 2025.1 -- long-standing, not a new regression.
Fix: guarded both grep calls with the same `"$Log" != "off"` pattern (change 33742,
`Server/Unix/p4/common/bin/verify_sdp.sh`). `bash -n` and `shellcheck` both clean.

**Test strategy**: `test/bsw/cli_tests.cfg`'s existing `VerifySDP` group already exercises
`verify_sdp.sh -only commit_defined -d` against a deliberately-bogus extra server spec to
force a detected error -- the natural home for this regression test. Added one more
`VerifySDP` entry immediately after that existing test, reusing its already-set-up bogus
spec, that reruns the same check with `-L off` and asserts (via a `case` statement, since
the test framework has no native "string must NOT appear" assertion and the command field
can't contain literal `|` characters, which are the framework's own field separator) that
`grep: off:` does not appear anywhere in the command's output.

**Noted in passing, not yet acted on**: `test-install_sdp`'s own top-level `cli_tests.cfg`
(the file actually wired into `/opt/perforce/dev/bin` on the EC2 fleet machines) has
diverged significantly from `p4-sdp/dev/test/bsw/cli_tests.cfg` -- it's missing entire test
groups (including `VerifySDP` itself) that exist in the SDP repo's copy. Worth a closer look
at some point (why two copies exist, whether one should mirror the other), but out of scope
for today.

**Live verification** (no live SDP instance was up on the fleet at session start, so did a
quick, real, from-scratch verification rather than relying on static analysis alone): fetched
the change to EC2 fleet machine `p4d-test-u22-01` (confirmed on the correct/new fleet first,
per the `install-sdp-test-suite-run` skill's fleet-identification check), ran a fast
`install_sdp.sh -demo` install to get a real `/p4/1` instance, then ran
`verify_sdp.sh -only commit_defined -d` both with and without `-L off` against a real
detected error condition (no commit-server spec registered in the fresh instance). Confirmed:
without the fix, `-L off` would have printed `grep: off: No such file or directory`
immediately after the "Verifications completed..." line; with the fix in place, that line is
cleanly absent while the rest of the output (error count, checks, exit code) is unaffected.
Cleaned up afterward with `DANGER_CLEAN.sh -y` plus removal of a couple of stray scratch
files from an earlier attempt.

Added SDP-1393 to the new "SDP 2026.1 Patch 1" Release Notes section (change 33743, `dev`
only -- per the Copy Up cadence policy, this unreleased-prep content stays in `dev`).

**JIRA update blocked**: went to set SDP-1393's `P4Blog` to change 33742 (per the new
"maintain P4Blog as you go" policy from last night) and close the issue out, but the
Atlassian/Rovo MCP connection had again silently dropped to read-only (`getAccessibleAtlassianResources`
showed only `read:jira-work`, no `write:jira-work` -- the same gotcha documented in
`P4Info.md`). Flagged to the user; JIRA update is still pending a `/mcp` reconnect.