## The problem
Every fleet PR conflicts with every other fleet PR in
`lifecycle-column-census-baseline.json` — **even when they convert
entirely different files**. I have rebased **six** of my own branches
for nothing but this file, and the resolution was *always* "take main's,
re-run `--update-baseline`". Never once a real merge.
That makes a generated artifact the serialisation point for the whole
fleet phase.
## The cause
`totals`, `byColumnId`, `properties` and `queryByColumnId` are
**derived** — recomputable from the per-file maps — and **`--strict`
never reads any of them**. It compares `byFile`, `deliberateByFile` and
`queryByFile`, and nothing else.
But every conversion changes at least one aggregate line. So those lines
were a **shared write on a file whose real content is per-file and
disjoint**. Removing them, two PRs converting different files touch no
common lines.
## Trade-off, stated because it undoes a deliberate choice
An earlier note kept the totals in the pin *"so the new number lands in
the diff where a reviewer sees it"*. That was a good reason. The signal
survives elsewhere:
- the CLI prints the totals on every run;
- `--update-baseline` prints each tightened entry by name;
- the fleet rules already require a census before/after **in the PR
body**.
Reversible if the diff-visible number proves to matter more than the
conflicts.
## Cost, stated too
Merging this makes every in-flight fleet PR re-record once. That is one
more instance of an operation they are already performing on every
rebase — a one-time cost against a recurring one.
## Verification
The end-to-end test that asserted the write via `totals.column` now
asserts the same claim via the per-file entry: the stale pin says 1, the
rewritten pin must carry the tree's real higher count for that file.
**Mutation: suppressing the `--update-baseline` write still fails it**,
so the assertion did not weaken.
71 census tests green · `--strict` and `--strict --exact` exit 0 · lint
clean · gate green (487 + 158 + 10 + 71).
## Not done
A merge driver. `.gitattributes` can name one, but registering it needs
`git config` per clone and this repo has no `postinstall`/`prepare` hook
to do that — so it would silently not apply for most people. Removing
the shared lines fixes the conflicts without needing any local setup.
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