# An existing test stopped me retiring documented behaviour

_2026-09-22 · booth_

**An existing test stopped me retiring documented behaviour
while fixing a race.** The mtime-restore race is real, and the clean fix —
ignoring a booth directory's own mtime whenever the booth holds anything —
would also have silently retired the rule that RELEASING a kept board resets
its clock, which the CLI header, the README and a deliberately-written test
all pin. That is a TTL doctrine change, not a bug fix. Fixed the concrete half
(a failing `os.utime` used to escape and 500 the route), left the race stated
in the code. **A fix that changes a documented rule is a proposal, not a
patch.**