version: "1.0.0" name: kedra-home description: Maintain managed home files - the data-driven list, three-way update, capture into the checkout, local edits and privacy.

Managed home files

Read usr/src/kedra/docs/HOME.md, usr/src/kedra/docs/ARCHITECTURE.md ("Writable home") and references/state-model.md. Check usr/src/kedra/docs/STATUS.md for what actually passed.

The image lists managed files in usr/share/kedra/home-files.toml (schema1): path plus optional check and reload argv with an absolute program and a {file} placeholder. sysroot home (crates/sysroot/home.rs, home/) knows no application. Never add app-specific Rust (version allow-lists, IPC clients, process-tree or service-unit checks, field projections); put behavior in the data file or in the application's own CLI. sysroot doctor runs the same checks on live files as home_file:<path>.

update merges with git merge-file -p --diff3 over B (last applied baseline, $XDG_STATE_HOME/kedra/home/applied/), L (live) and N (installed baseline). Check the candidate beside the live file (replace_file::Directory::validate_bytes), replace atomically (prepare/publish/finish, keeps mode/group/label, refuses links), run each distinct reload once, then record N. While the record is missing or outdated, an L that already equals the result is still checked and reloaded before recording, so a failed reload is retried. A conflict writes <file>.kedra-new and pending/<path>; deleting the conflict file resolves it. Never write conflict markers into a live file, never overwrite a .kedra-new an update did not write, never record N before check and reload succeed. New accounts get B from /etc/skel/.local/state/kedra/home/applied/ (the skel derive step; the lab overlay repeats it in tests/container/lab/overlay-apply.sh); without B a differing file becomes a conflict, not an adoption.

capture writes one live file to the checkout's source path (target overlay copy if the checkout has one, else etc/skel/) and never stages or commits; the owner picks lines with git add -p. Only declared files are read. Diffs show the owner's live content: review before staging, since staged text can become a public Git object. No symlinked or whole-home capture.

Facts behind the shipped entries (2026-10-14, Fedora44 qemu-arm64 stable c36c10c: niri-26.04-1, noctalia-5.2.1-1, git-2.56.0):

• noctalia config validate [path] validates one file when given a file; with no

path it merges every *.toml in the config dir plus state overrides. The shell loads every *.toml there, so candidates and .kedra-new must not end in .toml. Unknown enum values are warnings (exit0), not failures.

• niri resolves relative includes against the config file's directory, so check

candidates in the live directory. niri reloads its config itself; no reload argv.

• Noctalia GUI overrides in ~/.local/state/noctalia/settings.toml win over

config.toml and are not managed. Source: noctalia config validate --help and niri validate runs in that image, crates/sysroot/tests/e2e_home.rs, tests/container/home_files_tests.rs.

Test with the real CLI only: cargo test -p sysroot --test e2e_home (generated image root via --root, real Git) and the container case native::home_files_update (nested session: niri loads the merged file, Noctalia restarts, check refusal, conflict and resolution). kedra-lab sync stages the working tree as a --root image and runs the same update. Kill-at-publication recovery is not qualified: an interrupted update can leave a private .sysroot-activation-<token> directory holding the previous content.