0099 — Starter HEAD skips require an exact-version deferred review
Status
Accepted. Refines ADR 0061.
Context
ADR 0061 keeps the published starter target independent from framework HEAD. The later breaking-release bridge inferred a HEAD skip solely from a breaking changelog heading and mismatched pre-1.0 minors. Several consecutive breaking releases could therefore leave the template untested against HEAD; its first additive successor inherited the delayed failure.
A hard cut can still make one template source unable to compile against both the published target and the unpublished core. Removing the bridge entirely would recreate the release cycle ADR 0061 avoided.
Decision
Packed local-HEAD validation is fail-closed: it runs for additive, aligned and
unaligned breaking releases. An unaligned breaking release may skip it only
when scripts/starter-head-review.json names the exact core version, uses the
literal outcome deferred, and records a non-empty reason. Missing, stale and
unknown records run HEAD; invalid JSON refuses the release-plan command.
CI and pre-push use the same decision. Target validation is never skipped, and the HEAD lane continues to install a locally packed core rather than querying npm for an unpublished version.
Consequences
- A new breaking SHA exposes starter drift immediately unless somebody records the incompatibility debt deliberately.
- A genuine dual-version source conflict remains releasable without aliases or compatibility wrappers.
- Review records cannot silently carry into another core version and are removed when the starter target advances.
- The rare skip is inspectable in source, CI output and release history.