diff --git a/docs/active-work.md b/docs/active-work.md
index 9d2dffe..5359eb2 100644
--- a/docs/active-work.md
+++ b/docs/active-work.md
@@ -279,6 +279,27 @@ from #171 and #215.
   **`72da24a`**, worktree
   `/home/jeans/Repos/personal/pmacs-probe-sigint`. Recover with
   `git fetch githubsucks && git checkout gpu-probe-sigint-teardown`.
+- **CI ON `916007b`: 12 GREEN, 2 RED — both macOS `Test` jobs**, and it
+  is the **pre-declared A7 portability finding**, not an environment
+  excuse. Exactly one row:
+  `gate_maps_an_unexecutable_helper_to_error_not_ignored`,
+  `left: Some(1)  right: Some(2)`. The other five SIGINT rows pass on
+  macOS, including both `error` cases, so helper and gate consumers are
+  otherwise exercised there.
+  - **The gate returned 1 = `ignored` for a helper it could not
+    execute** — the exact conflation §7c forbids.
+  - **Leading hypothesis, NOT yet established: the ABI's `1` is
+    ambiguous by construction.** `1` means "ignored", and `1` is also a
+    status shells return for assorted failures. On Linux an
+    unexecutable file yields 126, so the catch-all maps it to 2; if
+    macOS's `/bin/sh` returns 1, the two cases are **the same number**
+    at the call boundary and no catch-all can separate them. If that
+    holds, the fix is to move the verdicts out of the range shells
+    produce, or to carry them by something other than exit status
+    alone — a design change needing its own revision.
+  - The assertion now carries the gate's stderr, which prints the raw
+    probe status, because the first failure could not say which status
+    produced it.
 - **PR #241** (`https://github.com/levineuwirth/pmacs/pull/241`), opened
   2026-08-19 from `gpu-probe-sigint-teardown` into `main`. **Not merged;
   awaiting review rounds.**
diff --git a/tests/gate_script_acceptance.rs b/tests/gate_script_acceptance.rs
index 3190fb3..b0685e7 100644
--- a/tests/gate_script_acceptance.rs
+++ b/tests/gate_script_acceptance.rs
@@ -209,8 +209,16 @@ fn gate_maps_an_unexecutable_helper_to_error_not_ignored() {
         .env("PMACS_GATE_TARGET_ROOT", root.path())
         .output()
         .expect("run the stub-worktree gate");
-    assert_eq!(out.status.code(), Some(2), "boundary failures map to 2");
     let err = String::from_utf8_lossy(&out.stderr);
+    // The gate prints the raw probe status it saw. Carry it into every
+    // assertion message: this row failed on macOS with exit 1 where 2
+    // was expected, and the log could not say which status produced it
+    // because the message discarded stderr.
+    assert_eq!(
+        out.status.code(),
+        Some(2),
+        "boundary failures map to 2; gate said:\n{err}"
+    );
     assert!(
         err.contains("could not run the SIGINT guard"),
         "the boundary has its own wording: {err}"