[hanthor]

The package trial on f3890fc installed the approved qemu-guest-agent archive, but its console reported that the static unit was not started; the independent old-phase QGA readback timed out. This change prepares the exact archive, named virtio device, systemd unit, and process after observing the complete old inventory. The existing independent QGA readback remains required, and the preparation receipt explicitly records agentResponding:false.

Each fixed lifecycle command has bounded output and time. The command owner holds the original leader PID until group cleanup, reaps adopted descendants including escaped groups, and requires an empty child observation. Unknown cleanup preserves its facts without repeating a group signal or restoring the lease.

Validation: 130 package controls pass; runtime and classic source audits match 80 and 32 sources. Native disposable child controls cover closed streams, escaped groups, nonzero exit, output overflow, timeout, and an induced observation failure after leader reap. Removed-cleanup and frozen-288 facts-loss controls fail as expected. Approved archive contents were read with actual dpkg-deb; service/device/process orchestration observations use explicit fixtures and never mutate host services.

Historical guest failure and raw proof remain preserved in docs/experiments/evidence/2026-09-27-package-agent-lifecycle. This source checkpoint has not executed a guest lifecycle or a new VM trial and does not claim package-suite or desktop acceptance.