Make the build reproducible
A build that produces different output from the same commit, pinned until it does not.
The ticket
Make the build produce identical output from the same commit.
Acceptance criteria
- Two builds of the same commit produce identical artefacts
- Toolchain versions are pinned rather than floating
- Timestamps and other nondeterministic inputs are normalised
- The comparison is automated
What lands as proof
A byte comparison of two independent builds of the same commit.
Why teams defer it
- Nondeterminism is invisible until you try to prove two artefacts are the same.
- The causes are scattered across timestamps, ordering, and toolchain versions, so it is a hunt rather than a fix.
Questions
- What does the agent actually change?
- The ticket is scoped to one outcome: make the build produce identical output from the same commit. Work that serves that outcome is in scope, and anything outside it is left for a separate ticket, so the pull request stays reviewable.
- How do I know the work is done?
- The pull request carries the evidence, not only the diff. Here that means two builds of one commit produce identical output, so a reviewer can confirm the result without reproducing the work locally.
- How much oversight does this need?
- The run stops once the plan is written. Somebody reads the approach and approves it before any code exists, which is the cheapest moment to redirect the work.