STORE-1: The instance files

A finding of STORE-1 means that smllm can’t read a file in which it saves the instances of a machine. smllm skips such a file everywhere else, so smllm validate is where you learn of it. The findings are warnings. The rules page says what the rule checks.

Messages

<file>: warning: can't read the instance file of <machine>: <reason>. smllm skips it, so fix or delete the file (STORE-1)
<file>: warning: can't read the ref marker of <machine>: <reason>. smllm finds these refs more slowly without the marker, and rewrites the marker when it next sets one of them. Don't delete the marker, because smllm reads a missing marker as no such ref (STORE-1)

Cause

smllm keeps each instance of a machine in a JSON file in the machine’s state folder, which is .smllm/state/<MACHINE> by default. The ref markers, in the folder’s refs folder, map the ref of each instance to its ID. smllm validate lists the warnings only with --warnings. Each message has its own cause:

• An instance file isn’t JSON, or isn’t an instance that smllm reads. An edit by hand that went wrong is the usual cause, or a file from a version of smllm that saves instances in another form.
• A ref marker isn’t JSON, or smllm can’t read it.

Fix

Fix each message in the order of the causes:

• Correct the file, or delete it. Deleting it deletes the instance.
• Correct the marker, but don’t delete it. smllm rewrites the marker the next time it sets a ref that the marker holds.

Example

An edit by hand cut this paused instance of the machine fix short:

.smllm/config.toml

[machines]
files = ["fix.smllm.yaml"]

.smllm/fix.smllm.yaml

id: fix
initial: TRIAGE
meta:
  smllm: 1
states:
  TRIAGE:
    on:
      reproduced: FIX
  FIX:
    on:
      fixed: DONE
  DONE:
    type: final

.smllm/state/fix/paused/i-5z4x7n.json

{
  "id": "i-5z4x7n",
  "machine": "fix",
  "ref": null,
  "state": "FIX",
  "status": "paused",
  "holder": null,
  "version": 3,
  "visits": {
    "FIX": 1,
    "TRIAGE": 1
  },

smllm validate --warnings reports the file:

$ smllm validate --warnings
.smllm/state/fix/paused/i-5z4x7n.json: warning: can't read the instance file of fix: it isn't valid JSON: EOF while parsing a value at line 13 column 0. smllm skips it, so fix or delete the file (STORE-1)
0 errors, 1 warning, 0 info

The fixed file is whole again:

.smllm/state/fix/paused/i-5z4x7n.json

{
  "id": "i-5z4x7n",
  "machine": "fix",
  "ref": null,
  "state": "FIX",
  "status": "paused",
  "holder": null,
  "version": 3,
  "visits": {
    "FIX": 1,
    "TRIAGE": 1
  },
  "resumeState": null,
  "created": 1793928806977,
  "updated": 1793928816175
}

smllm validate reports no finding:

$ smllm validate --warnings
0 errors, 0 warnings, 0 info