sopcanonicalOWNER-2026-07-10

SOP-002 — Conflict Resolution (Authority Chain) · sop-002-conflict-resolution

Owner directive (2026-07-10), canonical. "the version at mainland.so have all the concepts quite scattered and conflicting (but if you have them in a line you can deterministically presume the right definition." [src: wiki/development/prompts-archive/by-topic/knowledge-management-and-concept-modeling.md:579] — "Create different versions for conflicting definitions." [src: :618] — "So you never need to guess." [src: :626]

Content

This SOP is the deterministic procedure for resolving two or more conflicting definitions of one HOS concept. It is the operational form of the TEMPLATE rules [src: HOS-Instance/library/_templates/TEMPLATE.md:42-53] and applies to every card in this library.

Authority chain (precedence, highest first)

  1. D-ledger — D1–D28 resolutions in HOS-Webdoc/web/src/data/hos-specification.ts. A Dxx ✓ RESOLVED entry is final.
  2. C-entries — canonical decisions in wiki/development/HANDOFF.md §5 (C-01…C-06 resolved; C-07/C-08 explicitly open: "do not guess — flag" [src: wiki/development/HANDOFF.md:145]) and wiki/development/REQUIREMENTS.md.
  3. Owner-directive blockquotes — dated > **Owner directive** quotes in wiki canon pages.
  4. Newest dated owner prompt — verbatim prompts in the archive (sop-005-prompt-archival), cited as OWNER-YYYY-MM-DD; among prompts, the newest date wins.

Procedure

  1. Detect. A loop or authoring pass finds ≥2 sources defining the same concept differently.
  2. Collect verbatim. Copy each conflicting definition exactly — spelling and all — with [src: path:line]. "Variants preserve conflicting definitions VERBATIM — deprecated text is never deleted." [src: HOS-Instance/library/_templates/TEMPLATE.md:51]
  3. Walk the chain in order. Stop at the first level that rules on the concept. Quote the ruling.
  4. Ruled → write the Variants table. In the concept's card, add a ## Variants table: one row per definition, ruling column citing the authority (D-xx / C-xx / OWNER-YYYY-MM-DD), status canonical for the winner, deprecated or variant for the rest. The card's frontmatter authority must be non-empty.
  5. Unruled → draft + Open question. If no level of the chain rules: set status: draft, leave the ruling column "pending", and add an ## Open question section addressed to the owner. Never guess a ruling. [src: HOS-Instance/library/_templates/TEMPLATE.md:46-49]
  6. Escalate. Register the open question as a queue item in the next dispatch tick (sop-003-run-dispatch) so it reaches the owner; when the owner answers, the answer is archived per sop-005-prompt-archival and becomes a citable OWNER-YYYY-MM-DD authority, and the card is upgraded from draft.
  7. Propagate. After a ruling, sweep the library for cards linking the concept and update their prose to the canonical definition; the Variants table remains as the permanent record.

Worked precedent

neuralware-index follows step 5: canon states two different registry compositions, no D/C entry rules on the count, so the card is draft with an Open question — the procedure exactly as specified.

Composition

See also

Linked from — 14 cards