hs.2's implementer-orchestrator BLOCKED with an empirical finding: the iter 18d.3 move-tracking and iter 18b non-escape lowering together prevent static-Str pointers from ever reaching ailang_rc_inc/_dec along any shipping execution path. The previously-proposed runtime sentinel guard and the i64 -1 sentinel slot in static-Str globals were both dead by construction.
Amendment is subtractive: remove the runtime/rc.c guard from §Architecture/Runtime layer + §Components/runtime/rc.c (none needed), shrink static-Str globals from <{i64, i64, [N+1 x i8]}> to <{i64, [N+1 x i8]}> (saves 8 bytes per literal), update GEP indices (i32 0, i32 1 → i32 0, i32 0), drop the §Error-handling 'Sentinel collision' subsection, drop the proposed str_field_in_adt_drops_static_str_noop safety-gate test from §Testing strategy (vacuous against natural fixtures), reframe §Architecture/Codegen-4 as 'codegen-level elision invariant, no runtime guard'. Goal/consumer-ABI claims tightened to 'unified along consumer paths, producer + RC sides differ'.
Acceptance: re-dispatched grounding-check PASS. The amendment leaves hs.1 (committed at c56498a) needing a forward-fix retrofit — that is the new hs.2's scope, planned next.
Brummel
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