Table of Contents

AsiBackbone 2.3.0 Release Notes

2.3.0 is a compatible minor release for the stable 2.x AsiBackbone package family.

This release preserves the simplified AsiBackbone.* package IDs and public namespaces established in 2.0.0 while adding host-facing governance guardrails, safer signing defaults, diagnostic policy signals, outbox/query hardening, and documentation alignment for the current release line.

Release summary

2.3.0 is a minor release because it includes backward-compatible public/helper APIs, option surfaces, and host-facing validation guidance while keeping the 2.x package and namespace boundary intact.

Existing 2.0.x, 2.1.x, 2.2.0, and 2.2.1 consumers should continue to compile against existing APIs. Hosts using the managed-key signing provider should review the behavioral hardening note below because the production-oriented default now fails closed when signing cannot complete.

Added

  • Added GovernanceMetadataBudget and GovernanceMetadataBudgetValidator helper APIs so hosts can validate metadata count, key length, value length, serialized size, and reserved-key shape before audit, telemetry, or signing boundaries.
  • Added opt-in AsiBackbonePolicyEvaluatorOptions.TreatConstraintExceptionAsDenial behavior so hosts can convert constraint exceptions into denied governance decisions with configured safe reason codes.
  • Added managed-key local-validation helpers through CreateLocalValidation(...) and AddAsiBackboneManagedKeySigningForLocalValidation(...) for samples, tests, diagnostics, and explicit host policies that intentionally need unsigned failure metadata.
  • Added warning-level logging when the policy evaluator runs with zero constraints while permissive empty-policy behavior remains enabled.
  • Added design guidance for future opt-in governance outbox claim/lease behavior without mutating the existing find/read APIs.
  • Added tests covering metadata budgets, constraint-exception behavior, managed-key fail-closed behavior, empty-policy warning signals, EF Core outbox ordering, template package fallback versions, and collection-backed reason normalization.

Changed

  • Promotes central package version metadata from 2.2.1 to 2.3.0 while preserving AssemblyVersion as 2.0.0.0 for the compatible stable 2.x line.
  • Updates FileVersion to 2.3.0.0.
  • Updates CITATION.cff and .zenodo.json for the 2.3.0 release.
  • Updates README, documentation home, article index, DocFX article navigation, release validation guidance, API compatibility / SemVer guidance, release notes, release readiness, templates guidance, generated template fallback package versions, and Source Link validation defaults for the 2.3.0 package family.
  • Changes production-oriented managed-key signing to fail closed by default by making ManagedKeySigningOptions.ReturnUnsignedOnFailure default to false.
  • Removes repeated endpoint-governance option validation from the request path while preserving fail-closed startup/configured-options validation.
  • Pushes EF Core governance outbox pending and retry-ready filtering, ordering, and Take(maxCount) into database queries before materialization.
  • Adds deterministic OutboxEntryId tie-breakers and corresponding index coverage guidance for provider-neutral outbox drain paths.
  • Updates template fallback package references from 2.2.1 to 2.3.0.

Fixed

  • Fixes template fallback package version drift so generated fallback .csproj files align with the repository package version.
  • Preserves empty and all-null governance decision reason fallback behavior while optimizing collection-backed reason normalization to use a single enumeration pass for non-empty ICollection<OperationReason> inputs.
  • Preserves cancellation propagation for OperationCanceledException while documenting and testing the new opt-in constraint-exception denial path.
  • Preserves default permissive empty-policy behavior for compatibility while documenting it as a named sharp edge and recommending fail-closed configuration/startup validation.
  • Preserves endpoint-governance configuration validation through registration/configured-options validation and ValidateOnStart rather than per-request validation.

Behavioral hardening note

The managed-key signing provider now fails closed by default in production-oriented registration paths. ManagedKeySigningOptions.ReturnUnsignedOnFailure defaults to false, and validation or provider failures throw instead of returning unsigned failure metadata.

Hosts that intentionally relied on unsigned failure metadata for samples, diagnostics, local validation, or policy-routed fallback should choose one of the explicit opt-in paths:

ManagedKeySigningOptions.CreateLocalValidation(...)

or:

services.AddAsiBackboneManagedKeySigningForLocalValidation(...)

Unsigned failure metadata remains diagnostic or policy-routable evidence. It is not a successful signature and must not be treated as a signed governance artifact.

Security, governance, and metadata guardrails

  • Metadata budget validation helps hosts bound audit/telemetry/signing metadata before values cross durable or external-provider boundaries.
  • Reserved-key guidance documents which metadata keys should remain package-owned, canonical-signing-owned, or host-owned.
  • Constraint-exception denial behavior is opt-in so compatibility is preserved for hosts that prefer fail-fast exception propagation.
  • Empty-policy warning diagnostics make permissive no-constraint evaluation visible without changing the existing default allow behavior.
  • Managed-key signing defaults now better match production fail-closed expectations.
  • NuGet package signing remains deferred for 2.3.0; the release may provide SBOMs and package/SBOM provenance artifacts where supported, but it does not introduce maintainer-signed, repository-signed, or Authenticode-signed NuGet packages.

Performance and reliability refinements

  • EF Core outbox drain queries now filter, order, and limit pending/retry-ready entries in the database query before materialization.
  • Endpoint-governance request-path overhead is reduced by relying on startup/configured-options validation instead of repeated per-request option validation.
  • Governance decision reason normalization avoids a second enumeration for collection-backed non-empty reason inputs.
  • Dependency/tooling updates include BenchmarkDotNet, dotnet-stryker, Roslyn analyzer package updates, and CodeQL action updates.

Compatibility

No package ID or namespace changes are included.

No public API removals or renamed public APIs are intended.

AssemblyVersion remains 2.0.0.0 for the compatible stable 2.x line.

This release adds public/helper APIs and safer defaults while preserving the existing stable package family. Consumers should review the managed-key signing behavioral hardening note if they use default managed-key failure behavior.

Stable package family

The stable package set remains:

AsiBackbone.Core
AsiBackbone.DependencyInjection
AsiBackbone.Storage.InMemory
AsiBackbone.EntityFrameworkCore
AsiBackbone.AspNetCore
AsiBackbone.Testing
AsiBackbone.Templates
AsiBackbone.Analyzers
AsiBackbone.OpenTelemetry
AsiBackbone.Signing.LocalDevelopment
AsiBackbone.Signing.ManagedKey

Release boundary

2.3.0 does not change the project boundary. AsiBackbone remains Accountable Systems Infrastructure for governed .NET decision flow: a governance spine, not an intelligence engine. See Project Boundaries and Non-Claims for the full scope statement.

Event Hubs, Purview, Azure-specific SDK adapters, Aspire runtime packages, robotics, immutable-storage, and additional provider packages remain outside the stable package contract unless separately reviewed and released.

Validation

Before tagging v2.3.0, the release candidate should pass the repository release gates, including:

  • CI restore, build, formatting, tests, and coverage gates.
  • Stable Release Validation.
  • DocFX documentation build.
  • Package creation.
  • Generated NuGet metadata validation.
  • Package SBOM generation.
  • Package signing readiness documentation review.
  • Template package smoke validation.
  • External consumer smoke tests.
  • Version consistency validation for 2.3.0.
  • Package/SBOM provenance handling where supported by the workflow event.

After packages are published and visible on NuGet, validate Source Link repository commit metadata with:

./scripts/Validate-Source-Link-commit-metadata.ps1 -Version 2.3.0
Edit this page