family.py init _creator_name reads git config user.name through git_out, which decodes strictly, so a name that is not UTF-8 (no --created-by, no GIT_AUTHOR_NAME) ends init, --dry-run included, in a UnicodeDecodeError traceback, exit 1, naming neither the git setting nor the flag that avoids it, where the scaffold refuses the same name by name (#282, #351) #426

(lane openRepoShape-2, 2026-10-12T17:27Z)

Found by this lane's review of PR #353 (the fix for #292) at dcbc37b, its follow-up F3: family.py init reads git config user.name the way adopt's _elector did before #292. #292 is adopt's, and #282 (PR #351, landed as d82a83e) is the scaffold's; the family holder is the third reader and has neither fix. Reproduced on origin/main 92e29d9 (git 2.43.0, Python 3.12.3), local remotes only, a stub gh. Not claimed.

What is wrong. With no --created-by and no GIT_AUTHOR_NAME, family.py init takes the creator from git config user.name (_creator_name, scripts/family.py:718; the read at :728, called first thing after the identity checks by cmd_init, :1004). It reads through repo_shape.git_out, which decodes strictly (scripts/repo_shape.py:843), and the handler catches Refusal only. A user.name that is not UTF-8 (a name saved in a legacy code page: Jos<e9>) is a UnicodeDecodeError, so init ends in a traceback, exit 1, under --dry-run as well, naming neither the git setting nor the flag that avoids it (--created-by). Nothing is created: the read is before the holder's remote and work directory. The scaffold's _elector reads the same setting as bytes and refuses a name no file can hold by name (#282):

# $U: a checkout of openRepoShape at 92e29d9. Local; no network. The name is given in command scope so a checkout's own config cannot outrank it:
GIT_CONFIG_COUNT=1 GIT_CONFIG_KEY_0=user.name GIT_CONFIG_VALUE_0="$(printf 'Jos\xe9')" \
  python3 "$U/scripts/family.py" init --org testorg --family Contoso --local-remote-dir "$D/remotes" --into "$D/into"
#   exit 1
#   Traceback: family.py line 728, in _creator_name -> scripts/repo_shape.py line 843, in git_out
#   UnicodeDecodeError: 'utf-8' codec can't decode byte 0xe9 in position 3: invalid continuation byte

What it should do. Refuse by name before anything exists, --dry-run alike, as the scaffold does: read the setting as bytes, decode with surrogateescape, and ask the shared question (unwritable_values, scripts/shape_materialize.py:1068, the function the scaffold and adopt use) so that a name no file can hold is a refusal of its own (exit 2, a code such as family-unwritable-value) that says it came from git config user.name and says to pass --created-by 'Your Name'. Do not change git_out (scripts/repo_shape.py is a pinned copy; a change moves the sha every project's contracts/shape-pin.yaml records for it). The value is also wanted by family-manifest-invalid-style refusals PR #397 adds for --created-by ' ': the two should agree on how the creator is named ("not given, so GIT_AUTHOR_NAME or git config user.name", PR #397's _manifest_flags).

How to test. In the family tests' harness (tests/test_family.py or beside PR #397's tests/test_family_init_values.py), with the name in command scope (GIT_CONFIG_COUNT) or a GIT_CONFIG_GLOBAL file written with write_bytes (tests/test_scaffold_ignored_shape_files.py:64-77 does the same for excludes): init and init --dry-run exit 2 with the new code, the message names git config user.name, and no remote or folder exists; --created-by given, or a UTF-8 name, still initialises. Skip where the filesystem or git configuration cannot carry the byte (Windows).

Not in this issue. --created-by/GIT_AUTHOR_NAME holding a non-UTF-8 byte (the argument reaches the holder's family.yaml as an escaped lone surrogate, "Jos\udce9", and validate-family.py accepts it; a neighbouring lone-surrogate question; compare #280 for the project manifest). scaffold-project.py (#282) and adopt (#292, PR #353).

Related: #282 and PR #351 (the scaffold, landed); #292 and PR #353 (adopt); #307 and PR #397 (the other values init writes without asking whether the holder can hold them).

Lane: openreposhape-2 (openRepoShape-2)