tests/test_doctor_legs_members_next.py (#276, PR #354) never runs the PowerShell form of the git line a Windows reader is handed, and its test that the explanation holds "none of ;, ', a backtick or a parenthesis" passes only because pytest's temporary roots need no quoting: under a root with a space the same sentence's keep line is git -C '<root>/spec' branch NAME, as the file's own spelling test expects #415

Lane: openreposhape-4 (openRepoShape-4)

Found by this lane's adversarial review of #276 (PR #354, head c30bfb2: its N6 and N7). PR #354's body carries both as follow-ups at its head cb2a684. #354 is open, and the test file this is about is new in it. Verified at cb2a684. Local bare remotes, an empty global git config, GIT_ALLOW_PROTOCOL=file, and a gh that exits 97 (only the machine row calls it). Two test gaps; neither is a wrong line printed today.

What is wrong.

1. N6: the PowerShell line is never run.
   • On a Windows host, submodule_update_next prints the git line in PowerShell's quoting: git -C 'C:\...' submodule update --init --recursive --checkout -- <paths>.
   • tests/test_doctor_legs_members_next.py asserts that text (test_the_line_is_spelled_for_the_readers_shell), and every test that PASTES a line is WINDOWS_SKIP, because it pastes through sh -c.
   • So tests-windows never runs the line a Windows reader is handed. The review held it right by PowerShell's documented parsing (-- is passed through to a native command, and a single-quoted root is one argument), but only by reading.
   • The suite already has the pattern: tests/test_shape_doctor.py::test_a_template_validators_next_runs_when_pasted_into_powershell (skipif(os.name != "nt"), powershell -NoProfile -NonInteractive -Command "<line>; exit $LASTEXITCODE"), "the one test that RUNS it". It covers the template validator's line, not this one.
2. N7: the "no character a pasted tail would break on" test holds only by accident.
   • Its docstring says "New tail text has none of ;, ', a backtick or a parenthesis", and it checks the sentence over CHECKOUT_SCENARIOS, the detached leg included.
   • The same sentence carries the keep line git -C <mount> branch NAME, with the mount quoted by quote_arg. A root whose path needs quoting puts '…' in it, as the file's own spelling test expects ("git -C '/srv/my atlas/spec' branch NAME" in why).
   • The property holds in CI only because pytest's temporary roots need no quoting:

U=<openRepoShape checkout>   # a clean checkout of PR #354's head cb2a684
# Runs in bash on Linux (GNU coreutils). Nothing leaves the machine: every repository is a local bare one under $R, git
# reads an empty global config, GIT_ALLOW_PROTOCOL=file makes any accidental https/ssh clone fail, and a `gh` that exits
# 97 stands first on PATH.
R=$(mktemp -d); mkdir $R/bin; printf '#!/bin/sh\nexit 97\n' > $R/bin/gh; chmod +x $R/bin/gh; touch $R/gitconfig
export PATH=$R/bin:$PATH GIT_CONFIG_GLOBAL=$R/gitconfig GIT_CONFIG_NOSYSTEM=1 GIT_ALLOW_PROTOCOL=file \
       GIT_AUTHOR_NAME=t GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL=t@t.invalid GIT_COMMITTER_NAME=t GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL=t@t.invalid
python3 $U/scaffold-project.py --org testorg --project Atlas --elected-by 'Test Human' --elected-on 2026-10-12 \
    --local-remote-dir $R/remotes --work-dir $R/work >/dev/null
C="$R/my projects/Atlas"; git clone -q --recurse-submodules $R/remotes/Atlas.git "$C"     # a root whose path needs quoting
(cd "$C/spec" && echo x >> README.md && git commit -qam 'past the pin, on a detached HEAD')
python3 $U/shape-doctor.py --root "$C" --json > $R/d.json
python3 - $R/d.json <<'PY'
import json, sys
row = [r for r in json.load(open(sys.argv[1]))["rows"] if r["id"] == "legs"][0]
why = row["next"].partition("   # ")[2]
print("the sentence's keep line:", why[why.index("run first"):why.index(" with a name")])
print("characters the test says it never holds:", [c for c in (";", "'", "`", "(", ")") if c in why])
PY
cd $U && grep -n -A9 '^def test_the_explanation_carries_no_character' tests/test_doctor_legs_members_next.py | grep -E 'def |"""|for character|assert'
grep -n -B1 -A5 '^CHECKOUT_SCENARIOS = {' tests/test_doctor_legs_members_next.py | grep -E 'detached'
echo "tests in the new file that run the PowerShell form of a line: $(grep -c -E '"powershell"|powershell\.exe' tests/test_doctor_legs_members_next.py)"

Output at cb2a684:

the sentence's keep line: run first git -C '$R/my projects/Atlas/spec' branch NAME
characters the test says it never holds: ["'"]
356:def test_the_explanation_carries_no_character_a_pasted_tail_would_break_on(
358-    """New tail text has none of `;`, `'`, a backtick or a parenthesis: a
360-    precedent of #267; #277 moves the text out of the NEXT)."""
363-    for character in (";", "'", "`", "(", ")"):
364-        assert character not in why, (character, why)
171-    "detached-past-the-pin": make_detached_past_the_pin,
tests in the new file that run the PowerShell form of a line: 0

The quote is balanced, so the line still pastes in sh. What is wrong is that the test claims a property that the code does not have and that the test's roots never exercise.

Why. N6: the paste tests were written for sh, and the PowerShell half was left at text level, as the writer's brief chose. N7: the property was written for the fixed words of the sentence, and the path the sentence interpolates was not considered.

What it should do. The decisions are the author's:

1. N6. A Windows-only test, in the precedent's manner: on a root with an empty mount, paste the git line into powershell -NoProfile -NonInteractive -Command "<line>; exit $LASTEXITCODE" (tail cut off first, as the precedent does), assert exit 0, and assert the legs row is ok afterwards. A second root with a space in its path holds the quoting.
2. N7. Restate the property for the FIXED words of the sentence (strip the quoted paths first, or build the sentence over a root that needs quoting and assert that shlex.split of it succeeds), or drop the test once shape-doctor.py: fifteen NEXT builders end the command with # <comment>, which a stock interactive zsh (macOS's default shell) does not read as a comment, so pasting the line hands the comment's words to the command as arguments, runs whatever follows a ;, and runs the make bootstrap the legs and members comments put in backticks, then exits 127 #277 moves the sentence into why, where it is never pasted.

How to test. These items ARE tests. For N7, a mutant that puts a ' into the fixed words of the sentence must still fail the restated test.

Verified at PR #354's head cb2a684 (tests/test_doctor_legs_members_next.py sha256 2095ef0a…, shape-doctor.py 82a5ac78…).

Related: #276 / PR #354, #277 (the sentence moves to why; in progress in this lane), #238 (the PowerShell paste test's precedent), #413, #414.