---
id: suite-column-mem
name: Conformance suite — factory binding and the mem column (the reference column)
status: completed
depends_on: [store-read-paths, store-put-paths, gc-protocol]
scope: moderate
risk: medium
impact: phase
level: implementation
tags: [wave-2, suite, mem]
---

## Description

Bind the conformance harness to the real facade and grow the **mem
column** — the contract-reference column that defines the required set
every other engine's rows mirror (store-api.md invariant 7; ADR-011 §2).

- **The factory binding** (the skeleton's anticipated wave-2 moment):
  bind `StoreFactory::Store` to the real facade type — most plausibly
  the associated type collapsing to the concrete `Store` across all
  factories. If binding reveals a shape correction, make it and record
  it in `tests/conformance/factory.rs` + `README.md` per the
  skeleton's note. The mem factory vends fresh, isolated in-memory
  stores (no shared state between rows) with idempotent teardown; mem
  never skips (README §SKIP posture — SKIP machinery stays unneeded
  until the SQL waves).
- **The mem column's rows**, each ADR-stamped per the convention
  (`Contract stamp:` citing the pinning spec §/ADR §), tracing to the
  backlog entries:
  - **INV-1 round-trips**: whole-blob put/get byte-identical under the
    canonical derivation, over a content matrix looping both put paths
    (known-length, unknown-length) in-body; the git-interop test
    remains the derivation's source of truth.
  - **INV-2 dedup**: identical content twice (same and different put
    path) is one pool entry; the re-put's `Pin` protects exactly as a
    fresh put's.
  - **INV-3 stage hygiene**: exact counts over both put paths and both
    failure modes (explicit discard, failed commit) — zero residue on
    failure, exactly one committed entry on success (the degenerate
    kv stage form).
  - **INV-4 sweep safety**: single-node exact-count family — happy
    shape (exact `SweepReport` counts), abort shapes
    (`ProtectFailed`, `NoLivenessSources` — nothing deleted,
    `Ok(SweepReport)` always), and the sweep-vs-pinned-put race.
  - **INV-5 list correctness**: asserted through sweep outcomes (exact
    counts), never by comparing enumerated lists directly.
  - **INV-6 stat discipline**: `stat` returns length + algorithm
    without fetching content.
  - **Constructor-mode rows** (facade contract, ADR-011 §4 / ADR-012
    §6.2/§6.3): mem-only mode; kv-only(mem) over-threshold put-time
    rejection (known-length immediate, unknown-length mid-stream).
- Rows take factories, never stores (factory.rs contract); a failing
  assertion panics the row; teardown is idempotent against that path.

## Acceptance Criteria

- [ ] `StoreFactory::Store` bound to the real facade; any shape
      correction recorded in factory.rs + README
- [ ] The mem column green: INV-1/2/3/4/5/6 rows plus constructor-mode
      rows, every row ADR-stamped and traceable to the backlog
- [ ] The mem column's row set is the reference set (INV-7's basis) —
      recorded in README as what other columns mirror
- [ ] Factory isolation + idempotent teardown hold (fresh store per
      call; teardown safe against a panicking row)
- [ ] `cargo test --features mem` green (the column runs under its
      feature); clippy/fmt gates green

## References

- tests/conformance/README.md (the conventions this grows against)
- tests/conformance/backlog.rs (INV-1…7 entries and their first-column plan)
- docs/architecture/store-api.md (§Invariants — the test gate)
- docs/architecture/decisions/011-vocabulary-tiers-engines-and-fleet-state.md §2 (mem's reference role)
- docs/plans/implementation.md (Decided points — suite home; §Wave 2 — suite columns)

## Notes

> Filled by the implementation agent (2026-10-11).

- **The factory binding was already made and recorded** by the
  store-construction task: `open()` vends the concrete
  `alkblobs::Store` facade (the skeleton's `Store` associated type
  collapsed), recorded in `factory.rs` + README §The factory contract
  before this task ran. Verified; no further shape correction was
  needed. The wave-1 binding demonstrator (`binding.rs`) remains as
  the proof-of-implementability tests.
- **The reference row set** lives in `tests/conformance/rows.rs`
  (engine-uniform, factory-generic, every row ADR-stamped and traced
  to the backlog): INV-1 (content matrix × both put paths, in-body),
  INV-2 (same-path + cross-path legs), INV-3 (both paths × both
  injectable failure modes — mid-stream `Io` failure and
  declared-len `Verification` mismatch; the kv stage form is
  degenerate, so residue is the pool itself, observed through exact
  sweep outcomes), INV-4 (happy shape over the full protection set;
  all three `GcAbortCause` abort shapes — `NoLivenessSources`,
  `ProtectFailed`, `SweeperLock`, the last completing the
  single-node family per ADR-013 §2/ADR-012 §5; the sweep-vs-pinned-
  put race over both put paths), INV-5 (exact sweep outcomes, never
  list comparison — honored by every row), INV-6, and the two
  constructor-mode rows.
- **INV-6's slice through the facade**: stat's shape (len +
  algorithm), purity, and `None`-on-miss; the engine-level
  non-content-load half rides the tier `size` probes' own bodies
  (ADR-008 §1) — noted in the row doc; the mismatch-based proof
  needs a plant seam the factory contract deliberately lacks.
- **The kv-only row is threshold-agnostic by discovery**: a
  known-length rejection reads nothing, so `Unreadable` probes
  distinguish rejection from acceptance and binary search finds the
  factory's rejection point (~64 free probes); the row then asserts
  immediate/mid-stream rejections and both at-threshold-lands legs.
  Configuration contract recorded in the README: threshold < u64::MAX
  and materializable (≤ 8 MiB, `MAX_BOUNDARY_MATERIALIZATION`).
  Any column's kv-only factory mirrors the row unchanged.
- **Mem factories** (`mem_column.rs`): `MemOnlyFactory` (the
  reference host for the INV rows) and `KvOnlyMemFactory` at a
  column-declared threshold (1024) — fresh isolated store per open by
  construction, teardown a no-op (mem holds no external state),
  trivially idempotent and panicking-row-safe. Structural wiring
  tests (not backlog rows) demonstrate factory isolation and
  teardown-against-panic: `factory_open_vends_fresh_isolated_stores`,
  `factory_teardown_is_safe_against_a_panicking_row`.
- **Row lifecycle convention recorded**: the row body owns
  open/assert/teardown; a failing assertion panics before teardown
  (README §The factory contract grew the bullet). The column runs
  under feature `mem`; rows.rs compiles ungated so the reference rows
  stay type-checked in default builds. No SKIP machinery added.

## Summary

> Filled on completion (2026-10-11).

Landed the **mem column** — the conformance suite's contract-reference
column (ADR-011 §2). `tests/conformance/rows.rs` carries the reference
row set: INV-1…6 families (12 rows total, incl. all three sweep-abort
shapes and the sweep-vs-put race) plus the two constructor-mode rows
(mem-only posture; kv-only put-time rejection), each ADR-stamped and
traceable to the backlog. `tests/conformance/mem_column.rs` binds the
factories (`mem-only`, `kv-only(mem)`) and runs every row; the factory
contract's isolation and idempotent-teardown guarantees are
demonstrated structurally, including the panicking-row path. README
records the reference row set (INV-7's basis — what other columns
mirror), the row-lifecycle convention, and the new current state. The
wave-2 factory binding (concrete `Store` facade) was already made and
recorded upstream of this task; verified, nothing further to correct.

Verification: `cargo test --features mem` green (97 lib + 18
conformance + 4 git-interop), `cargo test` (default) and
`cargo test --all-features` green, `cargo clippy --all-features
--all-targets -- -D warnings` green, `cargo fmt --check` green.