---
id: "bug-1412"
status: "fixed"
status_updated: "2026-09-24"
status_note: ""
component: "controller"
severity: "unknown"
timestamp: "2026-07-04T17:00:00.000Z"
last_seen: "2026-09-19T09:00:00Z"
occurrences: 1
files: ["src/controller/testsuite/test_apply_pump.c"]
tags: ["raft-apply-decoupling", "task-6.1", "test-only", "comment-terminator", "build-break"]
related: []
legacy: true
---

# bug-1412: test_apply_pump.c failed to compile: 'unknown type name RETAIN', stray bytes, __gnuc_va_list…

## Description
test_apply_pump.c failed to compile: 'unknown type name RETAIN', stray bytes, __gnuc_va_list errors cascading from an unrelated location

## Environment
_Not recorded (migrated from buglog.json)._

## Reproduction
_Not recorded (migrated from buglog.json)._

## Root cause
A doc comment contained the literal substring 'WAL_JOB_*/RETAIN' -- the '*' immediately followed by '/' forms a real C block-comment terminator, closing the file's top doc comment many lines early and turning the rest of the comment text into stray code tokens.

## Fix
Reworded to 'a WAL_JOB_SUBMIT WAIT-mode entry mixed with WAL_JOB_{START,FINISH} RETAIN-mode facts', removing the accidental */ sequence. Lesson: never write '<TOKEN>*/<TOKEN>' inside a C block comment, even when '*' is meant as a wildcard/glob character.

## Verification
_Not recorded (migrated from buglog.json)._

## References
_Not recorded (migrated from buglog.json)._