Found during the Build K staging run (2026-07-13). Fail-closed catch #3 of 3 — this one is structural, not feed drift.
What happened
Passing the published Build J export (populace_us_2024.h5, sha 9d1e460d…) as --base-h5 fails at with_us_qbi_input_reconciliation (release tool, unconditional since the QBI/SOI wiring): it requires 15 PUF-imputed columns (business_is_sstb, w2_wages_from_qualified_business, unadjusted_basis_qualified_property, …) that only exist on the 337k base produced by build_us_puf_support_base.py — the release export's column surface never carried them.
Why it matters
--base-h5 documents itself as "Existing Populace US H5 to recalibrate. Defaults to HF latest." That default path — recalibrate the published artifact — now fails unconditionally, since HF latest is a release export. Anyone without a base h5 is blocked; until 2026-07-13 the base existed only on the build machine (now mitigated: populace-us-staging carries bases/build-j/… with a MANIFEST, and #406's checkpointed base builder makes rebuilds feasible).
Options
- Carry the 15 QBI columns in release exports (they are person-level inputs; cost is export width).
- Make the reconciliation conditional on the columns being present, with a loud gate downgrade recorded in the manifest when absent (weakens the SSTB identity guarantee — probably wrong).
- Keep it hard, but fix the
--base-h5 help text and fail with a message that names the staging bases/ path — recalibration simply requires a base, not an export.
(3) is the minimal truth-telling fix; (1) is the one that restores the "recalibrate HF latest" default.
🤖 Generated with Claude Code
Found during the Build K staging run (2026-07-13). Fail-closed catch #3 of 3 — this one is structural, not feed drift.
What happened
Passing the published Build J export (
populace_us_2024.h5, sha9d1e460d…) as--base-h5fails atwith_us_qbi_input_reconciliation(release tool, unconditional since the QBI/SOI wiring): it requires 15 PUF-imputed columns (business_is_sstb,w2_wages_from_qualified_business,unadjusted_basis_qualified_property, …) that only exist on the 337k base produced bybuild_us_puf_support_base.py— the release export's column surface never carried them.Why it matters
--base-h5documents itself as "Existing Populace US H5 to recalibrate. Defaults to HF latest." That default path — recalibrate the published artifact — now fails unconditionally, since HF latest is a release export. Anyone without a base h5 is blocked; until 2026-07-13 the base existed only on the build machine (now mitigated:populace-us-stagingcarriesbases/build-j/…with a MANIFEST, and #406's checkpointed base builder makes rebuilds feasible).Options
--base-h5help text and fail with a message that names the stagingbases/path — recalibration simply requires a base, not an export.(3) is the minimal truth-telling fix; (1) is the one that restores the "recalibrate HF latest" default.
🤖 Generated with Claude Code