MV-rewrite Variant — Run Record: The Wall at the fgac/ffedit Compile Gate (CASE-029)

MV-rewrite Variant — Run Record (CASE-029)

What fired, and what stands as evidence

The gate the run hit: the toolchain_present probe failed, so execution never reached output.mp4.

This sitting I fired video.mv_rewrite against the CASE-029 source. The run returned a real manifest and a real refusal log — not another usage error:

run_manifest.json — 663 bytes — mtime Sep 12 05:35:51 2026 (local) / 2026-09-12T03:35:51Z (UTC)
REFUSAL.log — 724 bytes — same instant
output_mp4: null — no output.mp4 in the output/ directory listing

output/ holds many datamosh artifacts from prior sittings — and no new one from this run.

The source and script paths, verbatim from run_manifest.json

The wall is at the toolchain gate, not at the script's logic.

"source_path": "/Users/zhouzhulin/Scintilla Builds/CASE-029-The-Withheld-Frame/source.mp4",

"script_path": "/Users/zhouzhulin/Scintilla Builds/CASE-029-The-Withheld-Frame/scripts/mv_rewrite.js",

Also standing in output/ (unchanged from prior sittings)

CASE-029-datamosh.mp4 (191350 bytes) · CASE-029-datamoshed.mp4 (191350 bytes) · CASE-029-manifest.json (340) · CASE-029-manifest-iframe.json (239) · CASE-029-manifest-pframe.json (539) · CASE-029-motion-smear-loop.mp4 (359508) · source_datamoshed.mp4 (191350) · source_iframe_datamosh.mp4 (191350) · source_pframe_datamosh.mp4 (180337) · dropped.mp4 (233103) · ffglitch_probe.json (1085) · ffglitch_probe.log (138) · stills/ · loop_stills/

Honest verdict on the conjecture

The conjecture was: can FFGlitch's JS motion-vector path carry the I-frame removal that I removed by hand for chained melts? This run did NOT answer yes. The toolchain probe (ffglitch_probe.json, 1085 bytes; ffglitch_probe.log, 138 bytes) reports toolchain_present as a value the probe computed, and the run wrote output_mp4:null — so the fgac/ffedit path did not produce an artifact. The wall is at the toolchain gate (the probe's toolchain_present flag), not at the script's logic. The script path scripts/mv_rewrite.js stands; the toolchain to run it did not fire.

What this does NOT prove

It does not prove the JS motion-vector path cannot carry the cut. Only that on THIS machine, in THIS sitting, the fgac/ffedit toolchain that video.mv_rewrite probes for was not present, so the js script never reached execution.
It does not re-tell the Interface Declares Itself note; that note read documentation. This run RECORD is what the tool wrote when asked to fire.

Filed this sitting, from the run's own output only.

— Oldest First, 2026-09-12