Literal tool configuration and association routing — October 24, 2026

This family follows pinned TortoiseGit 7338078f8ddd924b8cddee35f512f2286072136d:

Settings/SetProgsAdvDlg.cpp:38–79,179–188,202–260 loads/saves literal association keys and adds, finds, edits and removes the selected entry.
AppUtils.cpp:431–439 chooses Diff by destination filename, base filename, then destination extension; 288–293 applies Merge's extension/exact-filename policy, including its dotted filename convention.
Settings/SettingsProgsAlternativeEditor.cpp:76–124 browses and saves the selected literal editor path. AppUtils.cpp:676–695 uses the configured editor path plus the file argument; it is not an arbitrary editor argument template.

Native identities and source policy

Diff/Merge association patterns retain their existing leading-asterisk removal, edge-whitespace trimming and case normalization. Their normalized keys now have UTF-8 byte identities. Canonically equivalent Unicode spellings remain distinct rules and can choose different tools. Case-only duplicates remain invalid. Candidate filenames are lowercased for matching but are not trimmed like entered patterns. Diff keeps destination-name/base-name/extension precedence; Merge keeps its dotted exact-name before extension precedence. Disabled association/Shift inversion, image-before-default routing, built-in adapters and invalid enabled program refusal remain unchanged.

Advanced Add/Edit validation, duplicate detection, native sorting ties, persistence and Restore Defaults use the same key identity. Restore replaces only shipped adapter keys and retains unrelated rules and their UUID row identities. Editing or deleting one Unicode spelling cannot silently replace its sibling. Localized sorting remains native; byte order provides a stable tie-break when collation considers two labels equivalent.

Program executable paths and argument templates compare by UTF-8 bytes. The same applies to association pattern drafts, Alternative Editor paths and the connected Unified Diff viewer. Settings Apply therefore notices a byte-distinct change, including a command argument containing decomposed text; Cancel retains the accepted byte spelling. Existing JSON/default keys are unchanged and no migration normalizes stored names. Application-bundle versus executable choices, bookmarks, placeholder substitution and literal process argv retain their existing policies. This does not change unrelated application strings or Git reference comparisons.

macOS uses its existing Unicode lowercasing adaptation; exhaustive equivalence to every Windows locale-specific case mapping is not claimed. A normalizing filesystem can constrain two physically distinct executable paths, independently of preserving configuration text and historical Git filenames.

Native child and chooser ownership

Diff/Merge Advanced sheets capture the parent page presentation and association draft. Leaving/revisiting a cached page invalidates the earlier receipt; late child results cannot replace a newer draft. Advanced editor callbacks become terminal when their actual presentation disappears. Cached page Apply remains available through the Settings transaction after ordinary navigation, as before.

The shared application chooser captures owner generation and current draft. A closed, moved-away-and-back or replaced owner, changed draft, consumed reply or modal dialog cannot adopt a retained response. Actual native sheet release keeps its selecting state and global ownership until detachment. Already-detached mock or native replies settle synchronously. Cancel rejects later replies; forced closure drains the accepted presentation without publishing a bookmark or error to another owner. Choosers inherit the parent's appearance and visibility.

Alternative Editor now uses an observable owned chooser, disables its form while Browse owns it and captures the same exact draft/current-path policy as Diff, Merge and Unified Diff. Selecting TextEdit preserves the saved custom path. App and executable validation, scoped bookmarks and existing runtime grants are reused.

Planned grouped checkpoint

LiteralToolConfigurationTests adds four private Core methods: exact persisted program/editor/viewer text; filename and extension precedence/case duplicates; Merge disabled/Shift/default behavior; and actual executable delivery of literal argument bytes. No public repository, credential or user preference is used.

qa/literal-tools-native-2026-10-24.swift and cached scripts/test-literal-tools.py provide three native cases:

real Diff/Merge/Alternative/Unified settings fields and Settings transaction Apply/Cancel, including byte-distinct edits and bookmark invalidation;
actual Advanced native table, selected row, editor lifecycle, Add/Edit/Remove, duplicate refusal, Restore Defaults and persistence;
actual installed Browse controls, real owned sheet detachment, changed literal draft refusal, accepted grant, forced owner closure and late-response refusal.

These settings controls perform no Git operations, so the three cases are not artificially repeated under different Git executables. Receivers prohibit activation, use invisible windows/private preferences, close owned children and retain cleanup assertions. The four focused Core methods passed in the parent checkpoint. The affected Debug build and all three native cases now pass, with the focused production and fixture repairs described below. Physical input/VoiceOver, signed bookmark renewal, all external receiving applications and full source layout remain separate acceptance scopes. This is not certification of complete Settings or application parity.

Native canonical-only edit repair

The first forms receiver failed before Apply. A focused diagnostic then acquired its actual native field editor and inserted the decomposed argument spelling; AppKit retained those bytes while SwiftUI's PlatformTextFieldCoordinator left the original composed model value unchanged. This was a production input bridge failure, independently of the initial fixture's synthetic delegate delivery. Diff/Merge arguments, association keys, Alternative Editor paths and Unified Diff arguments now use a native byte-exact binding. Existing path-completion fields already publish their native editor text directly. The shared control retains native field editing, Undo, disabled state and accessibility labels and refuses publication from detached, closed, sheet-blocked or retired owners. The fixture now uses actual native editor insertion without an intermediate ASCII edit. The affected Debug app rebuilt successfully; the forms and associations cases passed against it. No Core changes or Core rerun were needed for this repair.

Chooser action projection and grouped completion

The original chooser case searched for an NSButton, but this SDK renders the installed SwiftUI Browse control through its hosting view and key-view proxy. The prohibited, invisible receiver also exposes no SwiftUI virtual accessibility children; its default native tab chain skips the button. Diagnostic attempts recorded those separate limitations rather than substituting a direct chooser call or changing system keyboard-access preferences.

The final fixture waits for the actual program field's nonzero layout, finds the adjacent Browse control bounds, verifies a live owned content hit-test target, and sends local mouse-down/up events to that window. It neither moves the user cursor nor injects global input. The real installed Diff and Alternative Editor Browse actions then passed all original sheet, draft-change, grant-once, closed-owner and late-reply assertions. This verifies the native action route, not physical pointer or VoiceOver acceptance.

The passing chooser log is build/qa/literal-tools-chooser-repair6-2026-10-24.log (receiver 93083 reaped). The five preceding focused chooser diagnostics remain recorded as failures, with receivers 92508, 92639, 92792, 92887 and 92953 reaped; they did not justify rebuilding the app or repeating the passing forms, associations, Core, metadata or metafile checks. The separate canonical-edit production diagnostic is build/qa/literal-tools-native-repair1-2026-10-24.log (receiver 91298 reaped). The parent checkpoint retains the earlier grouped failure/build records and independently verifies receiver absence.