From eac2f52bcd9ff1e7d10c2365e316c80a7b340e7a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "Jonathan D.A. Jewell" <6759885+hyperpolymath@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 2026 08:23:39 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] docs(policy): retiring a flake means its references too
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§2.1 already ruled Nix retired and rightly warns against mass-deletion
(campaign #102 hand-diffed 277 candidates and removed exactly one; fan-out
REMOVE has a ~100% over-call rate here). The owner ruling of 2026-07-28 —
"nix flakes are deprecated and to be thrown from the estate" — is reconciled
with that warning rather than overriding it: removal stays a per-repo judgement
made while you are ALREADY in the repo. Opportunistic, never a sweep.

What was genuinely missing is that deleting flake.nix does not retire Nix.
Measured on trope-checker (PR #47), one flake had TEN satellites — .envrc's
`use flake`, a `nix-shell` recipe in BOTH Justfiles, nix in setup.sh's
package-manager detection AND its install switch, a flake-detecting branch in
install-tools.sh that ran ahead of Guix, dependabot's `nix` ecosystem,
.gitignore/.gitattributes rules, dep5's lockfile glob, and PLAYBOOK prose.
Leave any behind and the toolchain still reaches for Nix. They are now listed.

Two traps recorded because both cost time:
  - dependabot.yml rejects the WHOLE file on one malformed entry, so re-parse
    after removing the nix ecosystem.
  - a root .githooks/ is usually LOAD-BEARING (CI runs validators straight from
    it) — allowlist it, do not "tidy" it away while passing through.

And the standing caveat: a repo whose guix.scm is a scaffold stub has no working
packaging once the flake is gone. Make Guix real, or fill the sealed container,
in the SAME change — do not allowlist the flake instead.

Note for whoever reconciles the canon: this repo carries TWO
LANGUAGE-POLICY.adoc files and they disagree. This one (root) self-declares
canonical and is the more current — its §2.2 records the squisher-corpus
identity clobber measured 2026-07-29 across 418 repos. The other,
rhodium-standard-repositories/spec/LANGUAGE-POLICY.adoc, still lists Deno as
"replaces Node/npm/Bun" while §1 here makes Bun tier 1. That contradiction is
NOT resolved here — flagged only.

Renders clean under asciidoctor.
---
 LANGUAGE-POLICY.adoc | 29 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 29 insertions(+)

diff --git a/LANGUAGE-POLICY.adoc b/LANGUAGE-POLICY.adoc
index 0ad1b36e..8b4de0b9 100644
--- a/LANGUAGE-POLICY.adoc
+++ b/LANGUAGE-POLICY.adoc
@@ -77,6 +77,35 @@ WARNING: Do *not* mass-delete `flake.nix`. Campaign #102 hand-diffed 277
 candidates and removed exactly *one*. Fan-out REMOVE verdicts have a measured
 ~100% over-call rate here. Removal is a per-repo judgement, not a sweep.
 
+HARDENED 2026-07-28 (owner ruling): Nix flakes are to be *thrown out* of the
+estate, not merely tolerated where they linger. Reconcile that with the warning
+above as follows: removal remains a **per-repo judgement made while you are
+already working in that repo** — opportunistic, never a fan-out sweep.
+
+When you do retire a flake, remove the *references* as well as the file.
+Measured on `trope-checker` (PR #47), one `flake.nix` had ten satellites, and
+leaving any of them behind keeps Nix alive in the toolchain:
+
+* `.envrc` — a direnv `use flake` block
+* `Justfile` (and `.machine_readable/contractiles/Justfile`) — a `nix-shell` recipe
+* `build/setup.sh` — `nix` in package-manager detection and the install switch
+* `install-tools.sh` — a `flake.nix`-detecting branch, often ahead of Guix
+* `.github/dependabot.yml` — a `nix` `package-ecosystem` entry
+* `.gitignore` / `.gitattributes` — `flake.lock` and `*.nix` rules
+* `compliance/reuse/dep5` — `flake.lock` in the lockfile glob
+* docs and `PLAYBOOK.a2ml` prose
+
+CAUTION: `dependabot.yml` rejects the *whole file* on one malformed entry —
+re-parse it after removing the `nix` ecosystem. And do not "tidy" a root
+`.githooks/` away while you are there: it is usually load-bearing (CI runs
+validators directly from it); allowlist it in `root-allow.txt` instead.
+
+Retiring the mirror does not finish the job. A repo whose `guix.scm` is a
+scaffold stub — empty `inputs`, `TODO` markers, or a `{{PROJECT_NAME}}`
+placeholder — has *no working packaging* once the flake is gone. Make the Guix
+side real, or fill the sealed container, *in the same change*. Do not allowlist
+the flake instead.
+
 === 2.2 Identity and licence in `guix.scm`
 
 A `guix.scm` must name *its own project*. Measured 2026-07-29 across 418 repos: