--- status: current last-verified: 2026-10-08 owner: active-agent source: repository evidence --- # Progress ## Current status 5.0.0-rc5 is on the PowerShell Gallery and in the GitHub releases, published by CI on 2026-10-08 from the tag `5.0.0-rc5` on `master` (`fcb370e`, the merge of #114; Decision 12). Phase 2 of the quality gate (Decision 21) is complete: #115 (`ai/release-5.0.0-rc6`, head `be04cb7`) passed CI in all four configurations and waits for the maintainer to merge it and tag 5.0.0-rc6. The behavior changes that Phase 2 found are decided as assumptions for his review (Decision 22) on the local branch `ai/release-5.0.0-rc7`, stacked on #115. Phase 3 follows. The stable Gallery version is still 4.2.6. NTFSSecurity will be archived soon; its users move to WindowsAccessControl (Decision 18). ## Recent milestones - 2026-10-02 to 2026-10-04: #91 to #97 aligned the docs with the code, shipped the help file, kept the docs on GitHub, set version 5.0.0, moved CI and a wiki generated from `Docs` to GitHub Actions, and completed the version history (Decisions 6 to 11). - 2026-10-04: #98 (`e0f5366`) added releases on a version tag through CI (Decision 12). The tag `5.0.0-rc1` published to the Gallery and created the GitHub prerelease; the installed module passed the full suite. - 2026-10-05, overnight run: the 24 code defects of work package 5 and the issues #3, #4, #5, #17, #74, #82, #86, and #88 fixed with regression tests, plus what one security review per PR found; the 37 open issues triaged; `Docs/FAQ.md`, Dependabot for the actions, and the label `rc2`. #5 and #82 are breaking changes, like the change of Decision 13. - 2026-10-05: the first CI runs of the eight PRs found a defect that the workstation had skipped, fixed in `629f4e7` (audit inheritance of an item without a SACL). The PRs #99 to #106 were merged in order with merge commits, CI on `master` passed, and the tag `5.0.0-rc2` published the prerelease; GitHub's Actions outage that day cancelled the first two attempts of the release run before they started. Repository hardening is optional (Decision 14); the merge rule and the maintainer's rule for fixes are Decisions 15 and 16. - 2026-10-06: the issues got their labels (Decision 17). The maintainer decided to publish 5.0.0-rc3 before 5.0.0 and to archive the project in favor of WindowsAccessControl (Decision 18); the README, the docs home, and the changelog announce it. - 2026-10-06: 5.0.0-rc3 (#112): the access and audit cmdlets write only the section that they change, which fixes #34 and the inherited entries that elevated sessions copied as explicit ones (Decision 19). #67 has its cause outside the module (a share root over UNC can't re-inherit), is explained in `Docs/FAQ.md`, and was closed as not planned. One `security-reviewer` pass approved the branch. The PR description said "fixes #34", so the merge closed #34; it was reopened for a tester. - 2026-10-06: 5.0.0-rc4 (#113), test-first: drive and volume roots read and change their root folder, not the device (#41); the audit cmdlets reject a descriptor without the audit entries (#109); `-WhatIf` previews `Copy-Item2` and `Move-Item2` despite an existing destination (#108); small items (#111). One `security-reviewer` pass approved it; its Minor findings R1, R2, R6, and R8 were fixed before the merge. #41, #108, #109, and #111 closed as completed, #90 and #107 as not planned. - 2026-10-07: live tests in the lab of WindowsAccessControl (Decision 20) against 5.0.0-rc2 and 5.0.0-rc4 in both editions: rc2 fails #34 over SMB with error 1307 for `Add-NTFSAccess`, `Clear-NTFSAccess`, and `Set-NTFSSecurityDescriptor`; rc4 passes the four cases, except `Get-NTFSEffectiveAccess -ServerName` with a computer that can't be reached, which returned no access since before rc1. The maintainer chose to fix it test-first in 5.0.0-rc5; the branch build passes all live tests and the suite. One `security-reviewer` pass approved it with minor findings (`activeContext.md`). - 2026-10-08: #114 merged (`fcb370e`); the tag `5.0.0-rc5` published it to the Gallery and the GitHub releases, whose `NTFSSecurity.zip` holds the same 11 files. Phase 1 of the quality gate (Decision 21) measured rc5: the published package passes the live tests in both editions; the 11 tests that need a session without the Security privilege pass as a basic user, so every test runs in at least one configuration, but CI runs only elevated; the suite runs 55.9% of the C# lines and 37.4% of the branches. The maintainer approved Phase 2. - 2026-10-08: Phase 2, step 1 on `ai/release-5.0.0-rc6` (local): tests for `Set-NTFSOwner`, `Test-Path2`, `Get-DiskSpace`, and the link cmdlets (suite: 555 tests). Fixed test-first: the privileges stayed enabled after an early stop; `Test-Path2` stopped for invalid characters in Windows PowerShell; and, from one `security-reviewer` pass, the privilege cleanup decided on stale states, a defect since 4.2.6. The page of `New-NTFSSymbolicLink` was corrected after a lab check of Developer Mode. - 2026-10-08: Phase 2 finished on `ai/release-5.0.0-rc6` (local). Tests for `Get-NTFSOrphanedAudit`, `Get-NTFSSimpleAccess`, the `-SecurityDescriptor` parameter sets, the error contracts of all path cmdlets, and #110. Fixed test-first: `Get-NTFSSimpleAccess` (`ReadData`, relative paths), `Copy-Item2` and `Move-Item2` (folder conflicts, the missing destination folder of #21), the hard-link cmdlets on shares, `Set-NTFSSecurityDescriptor -PassThru` (R5), and the error ID of `Get-NTFSOrphanedAccess`; from the coverage report, relative paths that start with a dot (every cmdlet acted on the item without the first two characters), comparing output objects (`InvalidCastException`), and `InheritedFrom`. CI runs the suite as a basic user too; the live tests cover all cmdlet groups and accounts of three more domains. Suite: 677 tests, none failed, none skipped in every configuration; C# coverage 68.1% of the lines and 44.3% of the branches (rc5: 58.1% and 38.0%, measured again; the first measurements counted one of four runs). Two `security-reviewer` passes; the lab acceptance of `7b0781f` passed (`Tests/Lab/Acceptance-2026-10-08-5.0.0-rc6.md`). - 2026-10-08: #115 (rc6, head `be04cb7`) passed CI in all four configurations. On `ai/release-5.0.0-rc7` (local), the behavior changes of Phase 2 were decided as assumptions for review (Decision 22) and implemented test-first, two of them breaking (the link cmdlets); new defects found on the way: `Move-Item2` deleted an empty folder that it moved to another volume, the link cmdlets failed for every piped object, and `Get-NTFSEffectiveAccess` warned for names of this computer. One `security-reviewer` pass (no Blocker or Major; its findings fixed but one, declined). Suite and lab acceptance in `activeContext.md`. ## Stable capabilities - 36 cmdlets: access (7), audit (5), inheritance (6), owner and security descriptor (4), privileges (3), long-path items (6), links, hash, and disk space (5). - Works in Windows PowerShell 5.1 and PowerShell 7. In PowerShell 7, `Get-FileHash2` lacks `RIPEMD160` and `MACTripleDES`, which .NET lacks. - Pester tests in `Tests\` run in `$env:TEMP` sandboxes through `Tests\TestHelpers.psm1`; tests that need privileges skip without them and run in CI, whose runners are elevated. ## Open work 1. Quality gate before 5.0.0 (Decision 21): Phase 2 is done; the maintainer merges #115 and tags 5.0.0-rc6, reviews the choices of Decision 22 on `ai/release-5.0.0-rc7`, and publishes them as 5.0.0-rc7. Phase 3 runs the live tests on more operating systems. Then release 5.0.0 through CI (Decision 12): remove the label, date `[Unreleased]` as `[5.0.0]`, add the last prerelease to `$publishedVersions`, and tag `5.0.0` (steps in `Docs/Contributing/05-Releasing.md`). #34 stays open with Bug and Help Wanted until a tester with a file server that refuses the owner confirms the fix, or until 5.0.0 ships. 2. Issues: the rc6 branch addresses the seven items of #110 (tests); the pull request names it without a closing keyword, so the maintainer closes it after the merge. #21 (a misleading error of `Move-Item2`) got a fix in rc6 that names the missing destination folder; the folder moves to another volume that rc7 fixes are a different defect. #68 tracks `-WhatIf` and `-Confirm` for every cmdlet that changes security. The labels follow Decision 17; #16, #21, #45, and #89 wait for their reporters (Needs Info). Not planned for 5.0.0: the enhancements #22, #49, #68, #77, #87. 3. Review findings, not filed: of rc3, an extra DACL read and four SDDL snapshots on read paths, and a duplicate SACL check; of rc4, R3 to R5, R7, and five older defects, listed in the description of #113, among them the accounts filter that `RemoveFileSystemAccessRuleAll` and `RemoveFileSystemAuditRuleAll` ignore, which no cmdlet passes; of rc5, the bare `catch` in `Win32.GetEffectiveAccess`, the unchecked `AUTHZ_ACCESS_REPLY.Error`, and hardening of the lab controller (guards in the setup blocks, interpolated `-EncodedCommand` paths, CredSSP by IP address, the password string in memory, disabling the role accounts after a run); of rc6, a privilege that fails to be disabled isn't tried again by `Dispose` (finding 2, not reproducible); of rc7, one error ID for a missing path in the audit cmdlets (declined, Decision 22). 4. Behavior changes found in Phase 2 (Decision 16): decided in Decision 22 as assumptions for the maintainer's review, on `ai/release-5.0.0-rc7`; two of them are breaking changes of the link cmdlets. Left for Phase 3: 400 points of code that nothing calls besides the 244 lines of unused classes. 5. `pwsh` 7.6.1 crashed three times during test runs on the ARM64 workstation (x64 emulation), without module frames; none of the CI runs on native x64 on 2026-10-05 crashed. 6. Optional for the maintainer: delete the AppVeyor project and revoke its GitHub authorization, restrict wiki editing to collaborators, ask `Sup3rlativ3` to delete the Read the Docs project, and delete the branch `test/transfer`. In the lab, delete the checkpoints `ntfs-rc6-*-before-acceptance` and `ntfs-rc7-*-before-acceptance` of the six machines when they are no longer needed. 7. Reachable code that no test runs (coverage report of rc6, ranked by impact; about 300 points): `Remove-Item2` on folders (`-Recurse`, `-Force`, `DeleteError`); the owner restore after taking ownership (`RestoreOwnerError`); the inheritance cmdlets on folders and `Set-NTFSInheritance -AccessInheritanceEnabled $true`; the mapping of all 13 `-AppliesTo` values and the flag parameters of `Remove-NTFSAccess`, `Add-NTFSAudit`, and `Remove-NTFSAudit`; the switches and errors of `Get-ChildItem2`; the table views and `InheritedFrom` in them; `Move-Item2 -Force`; account input errors; `-PassThru` after success of the audit and inheritance cmdlets; `Set-NTFSSecurityDescriptor` failures; the audit cmdlets without the Security privilege on a local item; `Get-NTFSEffectiveAccess` for an unresolvable SID; failed ownership retries of `Clear-NTFSAccess` and `Set-NTFSInheritance`. A display limit, not a defect: a conditional ACE shows as an unconditional entry, because the .NET rules have no condition.