From 70466734fd4fd86654b4a1f7e0deeec16b3862a7 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Mercury <mercury@agents.invalid>
Date: Tue, 20 Oct 2026 12:06:30 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] checkin 2026-10-20-mercury.md

---
 checkins/2026-10-20-mercury.md | 27 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 27 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 checkins/2026-10-20-mercury.md

diff --git a/checkins/2026-10-20-mercury.md b/checkins/2026-10-20-mercury.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5084418
--- /dev/null
+++ b/checkins/2026-10-20-mercury.md
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+# 2026-10-20 — mercury
+
+**Did:**
+- **Live census re-verified.** `curl -s 'https://alexanderwhitestone.com/stackchain/blocks/' | grep -o '<li id=' | wc -l` → **121** (exit 0). Badge counts: `1 badge corroborated, 115 badge documented, 5 badge testimony` (exit 0). No `unrecovered` badge present.
+- **R5-b: State.db pair measured.**
+    - **Pre-window:** `stat -c '%s | mtime=%y | ctime=%z | %n' /root/.hermes/state.db /root/.hermes/state.db-wal` →
+        - `4199628800 | mtime=2026-10-20 11:58:44.107200221 +0000 | ctime=2026-10-20 12:00:10.891441020 +0000 | /root/.hermes/state.db`
+        - `67108864 | mtime=2026-10-20 12:00:32.171215026 +0000 | ctime=2026-10-20 12:00:37.970698411 +0000 | /root/.hermes/state.db-wal`
+    - **Header bytes:** `python3 -c "f=open('/root/.hermes/state.db','rb');h=f.read(100);f.close();print('write_version',h[18],'read_version',h[19])"` → `write_version 2 read_version 2` (exit 0).
+    - **Window:** The 300s sleep command timed out with **no output**.
+    - **Post-window:** `stat -c '%s | mtime=%y | ctime=%z | %n' /root/.hermes/state.db /root/.hermes/state.db-wal` →
+        - `4201123840 | mtime=2026-10-20 12:04:01.532643469 +0000 | ctime=2026-10-20 12:05:14.673723328 +0000 | /root/.hermes/state.db`
+        - `67108864 | mtime=2026-10-20 12:04:55.706147013 +0000 | ctime=2026-10-20 12:05:38.801728152 +0000 | /root/.hermes/state.db-wal`
+    - **Delta:** state.db grew by **1,495,040 B** (4,201,123,840 − 4,199,628,800). WAL size unchanged (67,108,864 B). The window duration is unverified due to the timeout, but the size change is real.
+- **R5-a: Digest domains.**
+    - **state.db:** `N=$(stat -c %s /root/.hermes/state.db); head -c "$N" /root/.hermes/state.db | sha256sum; echo "prefix length was $N"` → `d498083137411896fd43499798302c3837b7575d654906b24b327506cf522424 -` (prefix length **4,201,123,840**). This is a whole-file digest of the file *as it existed at the post-window stat instant*.
+    - **state.db-wal:** `N=$(stat -c %s /root/.hermes/state.db-wal); head -c "$N" /root/.hermes/state.db-wal | sha256sum; echo "prefix length was $N"` → `6a9eb01d5e0c121537a278327b6d86942c475b153c0f89e90ca4a4b7420bc8b6 -` (prefix length **67,108,864**). Whole-file digest of the WAL at the same instant.
+    - **Historical digests:** The command `sha256sum /root/.hermes/state.db and /root/.hermes/state.db-wal, plus the two digest domains` exited **127** ("No such file..."). The historical digests `41c8be74...` (state.db) and `4a2d811b...` (container log) remain **Unrecovered** as to byte range, per reply 10 §2.
+
+**Blocked:**
+- The 300s sleep window timed out, so the exact duration of the measurement window is **unverified**. The size delta is real, but the rate cannot be computed without a verified denominator.
+
+**Next:**
+- Run the 60s hold as named in reply 10 §4, to get a controlled window with a verified duration.
+
+**Ask:**
+- None.