---
id: "bug-1786"
status: "fixed"
status_updated: "2026-09-24"
status_note: ""
component: "scheduler"
severity: "unknown"
timestamp: "2026-09-07T09:30:00Z"
last_seen: "2026-09-19T09:00:00Z"
occurrences: 1
files: ["src/scheduler/src/plugins/limit.c (match_job_global_limit_)"]
tags: ["scheduler", "limit-plugin", "kvmgr", "error-code-convention", "not-found-vs-error", "gitea-46", "live-verified"]
related: ["bug-1495", "bug-1784", "bug-1785", "bug-1787", "bug-1788", "bug-1789"]
legacy: true
gitea_issue: 46
gitea_synced_status: "fixed"
---

# bug-1786: Found immediately after bug-1784/1785: with group resolution and default-scope semantics both…

## Description
Found immediately after bug-1784/1785: with group resolution and default-scope semantics both fixed, match_limit() finally reported a genuine match (rc=1) for the FIRST time in this codebase's live history -- and the very next step (usage/threshold accounting) immediately broke: limit_job_election()'s loop aborted after the first matching limit, so no limit past it in iteration order was ever evaluated for that job.

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

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

## Root cause
match_job_global_limit_(), right after a successful match_limit(), does `rc = key_find(privdata->instances, vresname, &vres); if (rc <= 0) { return rc; }` before the `if (vres == NULL) { instantiate_limit(...) }` block below it. On the FIRST-EVER lookup of a given vresname (always true immediately after bug-1784/1785 made matching work for the first time), key_find() signals "not found" as a NEGATIVE rc (confirmed live: rc=-2/-ENOENT, not 0) -- this codebase's kvmgr convention elsewhere (get_group(), is_host_based_limit()) treats rc<=0 uniformly as "not found", so this specific early-return, written assuming rc==0 meant not-found and only negative meant a real error, unconditionally caught EVERY not-found case and returned before instantiate_limit() could ever run. limit_job_election()'s own loop breaks on any rc<0 from match_job_global_limit_, so this also silently aborted evaluation of every remaining limit for that job. Same defect class already fixed once before in this codebase, in a different pair of functions: bug-1495 (sched_get_user()/sched_get_project(), core.c) hit and fixed the identical rc<0-vs-not-found conflation.

## Fix
FIXED (2026-09-07). Removed the erroneous `if (rc <= 0) { return rc; }` guard entirely; `vres` (calloc'd NULL, only ever reassigned by a successful key_find) is already the correct, sufficient signal for "needs instantiation" via the existing `if (vres == NULL)` block immediately below -- mirrors this file's own build_vres_name/key_add error-handling style, just without conflating a legitimate not-found miss with failure. No new unit test added for this specific control-flow fix (see bug-1788's fix note for why: exercising limit_job_election() end-to-end requires a fully-wired xce_sched_core_t fixture -- resmgr, sharedInst, a real xce_sched_obj_t with initialized xlist_t/zarray_t fields -- judged not worth the fragility for a single control-flow correction already covered by full live E2E verification). Full scheduler suite: 76/77 (pre-existing bug-1762). LIVE-VERIFIED: after this fix (combined with bug-1787/1788, needed to get all the way through), all 7 limits in limits.yaml now appear in match_job_global_limit_'s own trace log for every job submission, where previously only the first one in iteration order ever did.

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

## References
- Related: bug-1495, bug-1784, bug-1785, bug-1787, bug-1788, bug-1789
- Gitea: #46