D557 - A prop is decided by provenance

Status: assumed Date: 2026-09-04

A run is propped up when any symbol it decided for, an answer or a region, rests on a fact graded guest-observed or assumed; facts graded published, differential or measured count as knowledge. Provenance is kept beside the answers in StubPolicy::known, and a name with no provenance reads as assumed.

Why: the grade already exists on every learned fact, and discarding it makes a measured answer indistinguishable from a typed one. A guest proceeding on an answer shows consistency, not correctness, so guest-observed stays on the prop side. Defaulting missing provenance to assumed means drift between the two maps can only make a run look less honest, never more.

Rejected:

• Any override at all props a run: a hardware-measured answer could never reach the honest slot.
• Counting answers only: a region writes guest memory and would read as an unassisted run.
• Provenance inside each answer: puts a field in the guest's path that only a report reads.
• Guest-observed as knowledge: rewards trying answers until the guest proceeds.