@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+---
+"@objectstack/lint": minor
+---
+
+fix(lint)!: `absolute-colspan-discouraged` is withdrawn — its premise was measured false in a browser, and the alternative it recommended measured worse than the thing it warned about (#17328)
+
+<!-- adr-0087: not-required (no-migration-prescription) nothing an author writes moves: `FormField.colSpan` is untouched in `packages/spec`, still parses, and every stored form view keeps its shape and its rendering. The only surface that moves is one exported TypeScript rule-id constant in `@objectstack/lint` plus the advisory finding it named — neither has a metadata representation, so `objectstack migrate meta` has nothing to reach and the ledger serves nobody affected. -->
+
+**BREAKING** — `@objectstack/lint` no longer exports `FORM_COLSPAN_ABSOLUTE`, and
+`validateFormLayout` no longer emits the `absolute-colspan-discouraged` finding. A
+TypeScript consumer that imported that constant (to suppress the rule, or to route it)
+stops compiling on the import, and the compiler names the site — a more precise channel
+than any release note. Authored metadata is untouched: `FormField.colSpan` is unchanged
+and still valid.
+
+The rule fired on **every** authored `colSpan`, `colSpan: 1` included, and asserted a
+rendering consequence: the form's column count is derived per surface (mobile 1 / modal 2
+/ page 3-4), so a fixed span "only aligns at one width". Measured in Chromium on a real
+authored 3-column section at all three of the widths that sentence names (390 / 720 /
+1700), that misalignment does not happen. The renderer emits one container-query-scoped
+span class clamped to the section's declared column count, so the cell starts at a real
+column boundary at every width and rendered overflow is 0px in every configuration —
+including `colSpan: 4` in a 3-column section, the case that would overflow if the clamp
+did not work. The clamp is precisely why the claim was false, and the rule's own file
+already recorded the clamp a few lines above the claim.
+
+The hint was the sharper defect. It steered authors to `span: 'full'`, which compiles to
+the same class as `colSpan: 4` (`@2xl:col-span-3`) and measures byte-identically: the rule
+warned about one spelling and recommended the other, and they are the same thing. At the
+modal width `span: 'full'` renders pixel-identical to authoring nothing at all, so an
+author who complied was left worse off than one who ignored it.
+
+With no authored `colSpan` shape left that misbehaves there was nothing to re-ground, so
+the rule is withdrawn rather than narrowed: `colSpan: 1` emits no class at all, a
+`colSpan` within the column count renders exactly as authored, and one above it clamps.
+Every test that pinned the rule's wording or its firing set was re-judged in place with
+the reason recorded, never deleted, and each re-judged pin is paired with a live finding
+on the same fixture so that a walk which stopped reaching the site could not pass as a
+withdrawal.
@@ -596,10 +596,14 @@ describe('authoring-rule registry wiring (#4409)', () => {
       },
       {},
     );
-    expect(findings.map((f) => f.rule).sort()).toEqual([
-      'absolute-colspan-discouraged',
-      'form-field-unknown',
-    ]);
+    // [#17328] RE-JUDGED, not deleted: the fixture used to earn a second rule
+    // id, `absolute-colspan-discouraged`, which was withdrawn after browser
+    // measurement falsified the misalignment it asserted. The `colSpan: 2` is
+    // left on the fixture on purpose — an entry-object field is the shape this
+    // adapter has to survive — and `form-field-unknown` still carries the whole
+    // point of the test: the registry entry's `run` really returns the finding
+    // a broken stack earns, on all three commands.
+    expect(findings.map((f) => f.rule).sort()).toEqual(['form-field-unknown']);
   });
 
   it('every ledger entry is still an exported rule', () => {
 
@@ -1026,10 +1026,12 @@ export const AUTHORING_RULES: readonly AuthoringRule[] = [
     run: (stack) => validateSemanticRoles(stack),
   },
   // #2578 / #4449 — a form section's field reference that resolves to nothing
-  // (silently not rendered) and an absolute `colSpan` under a per-surface
-  // derived column count. Advisory: the renderer skips the unknown field and
-  // clamps the span, so nothing is broken — but each is almost certainly an
-  // authoring mistake, and until #4449 this rule ran on no command at all.
+  // (silently not rendered), and a `section.group` naming a field group the
+  // object does not declare. Advisory: the renderer skips the unknown field, so
+  // nothing is broken — but each is almost certainly an authoring mistake, and
+  // until #4449 this rule ran on no command at all. [#17328] It used to carry a
+  // third finding, `absolute-colspan-discouraged`; that one was withdrawn —
+  // `validate-form-layout.ts`'s module note carries the measurement.
   // Pure structured-metadata walk (no lazy dependency), so wiring it to all
   // three costs nothing measurable.
   {
 
@@ -227,10 +227,17 @@ export {
 } from './validate-semantic-roles.js';
 export type { SemanticRoleFinding, SemanticRoleSeverity } from './validate-semantic-roles.js';
 
+// [#17328] `FORM_COLSPAN_ABSOLUTE` / `absolute-colspan-discouraged` was
+// WITHDRAWN, not renamed: browser measurement at all three surface widths
+// falsified the misalignment it asserted, and its recommended alternative
+// measured worse than the thing it warned about. The argument is in
+// `validate-form-layout.ts`'s module note. Removing the constant rather than
+// leaving it exported is deliberate: a rule id on the public surface reads as a
+// check the platform performs (Prime Directive #10), and the compiler is the
+// precise channel for telling a consumer that suppresses it.
 export {
   validateFormLayout,
   FORM_FIELD_UNKNOWN,
-  FORM_COLSPAN_ABSOLUTE,
   FORM_SECTION_GROUP_UNKNOWN,
 } from './validate-form-layout.js';
 export type { FormLayoutFinding, FormLayoutSeverity } from './validate-form-layout.js';
 
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ import { defineStack, normalizeStackInput } from '@objectstack/spec';
 import {
   validateFormLayout,
   FORM_FIELD_UNKNOWN,
-  FORM_COLSPAN_ABSOLUTE,
   FORM_SECTION_GROUP_UNKNOWN,
 } from './validate-form-layout.js';
 
@@ -38,7 +37,7 @@ const groupedObjects = [
 ];
 
 describe('validateFormLayout (#2578)', () => {
-  it('is clean for a well-formed multi-column form (known fields, no colSpan)', () => {
+  it('is clean for a well-formed multi-column form (known fields)', () => {
     const stack = {
       objects,
       views: [
@@ -74,7 +73,19 @@ describe('validateFormLayout (#2578)', () => {
     expect(findings[0].path).toBe('views[0].sections[0].fields[1]');
   });
 
-  it('discourages absolute colSpan and steers to span', () => {
+  // [#17328] RE-JUDGED, not deleted. This test used to be the pin on the
+  // `absolute-colspan-discouraged` wording — it asserted the finding fired on
+  // `colSpan: 2` and that the hint said `span: 'full'`. Both halves were
+  // measured wrong in Chromium at the three surface widths the message named:
+  // the renderer clamps the span to the section's column count, so an absolute
+  // `colSpan` is grid-aligned at EVERY width (0px overflow in every
+  // configuration), and `span: 'full'` — the recommended alternative — compiles
+  // to the same class as `colSpan: 4` and renders pixel-identical to authoring
+  // nothing at the modal width. The rule was withdrawn. What the pin asserts
+  // now is that withdrawal, and it is deliberately PAIRED with a live finding
+  // on the same section: a bare `expect([])` here would keep passing if the
+  // walk stopped reaching this site at all.
+  it('[#17328] an absolute colSpan is no longer a finding — the rule was withdrawn', () => {
     const stack = {
       objects,
       views: [
@@ -85,42 +96,70 @@ describe('validateFormLayout (#2578)', () => {
         },
       ],
     };
-    const findings = validateFormLayout(stack);
-    expect(findings).toHaveLength(1);
-    expect(findings[0].rule).toBe(FORM_COLSPAN_ABSOLUTE);
-    expect(findings[0].hint).toContain("span: 'full'");
-    expect(findings[0].path).toBe('views[0].sections[0].fields[1].colSpan');
-  });
+    expect(validateFormLayout(stack)).toEqual([]);
 
-  it('reports both rules for the same field independently', () => {
-    const stack = {
+    // POSITIVE CONTROL on the identical shape: the walk does reach
+    // `sections[0].fields[1]`, so the empty result above is a verdict about
+    // `colSpan` and not about an unread site.
+    const reached = validateFormLayout({
       objects,
       views: [
         {
           name: 'contract_form',
           data: { provider: 'object', object: 'contract' },
-          sections: [{ columns: 2, fields: [{ field: 'ghost', colSpan: 3 }] }],
+          sections: [{ columns: 2, fields: ['name', { field: 'ghost_amount', colSpan: 2 }] }],
         },
       ],
-    };
-    const rules = validateFormLayout(stack).map(f => f.rule).sort();
-    expect(rules).toEqual([FORM_COLSPAN_ABSOLUTE, FORM_FIELD_UNKNOWN].sort());
+    });
+    expect(reached.map((f) => `${f.rule}@${f.path}`)).toEqual([
+      `${FORM_FIELD_UNKNOWN}@views[0].sections[0].fields[1]`,
+    ]);
   });
 
-  it('skips reference-checking when the bound object cannot be resolved', () => {
+  // [#17328] RE-JUDGED, not deleted. The same fixture used to earn TWO findings
+  // (`form-field-unknown` + `absolute-colspan-discouraged`). With the colSpan
+  // rule withdrawn the surviving assertion is the one that still carries
+  // information: a `colSpan` on an entry does not suppress, duplicate or
+  // relocate the reference finding the entry independently earns.
+  it('a colSpan on the entry does not disturb the reference finding it earns', () => {
     const stack = {
       objects,
       views: [
         {
-          name: 'orphan_form',
-          data: { provider: 'object', object: 'does_not_exist' },
-          sections: [{ columns: 2, fields: ['whatever', { field: 'x', colSpan: 2 }] }],
+          name: 'contract_form',
+          data: { provider: 'object', object: 'contract' },
+          sections: [{ columns: 2, fields: [{ field: 'ghost', colSpan: 3 }] }],
         },
       ],
     };
-    const findings = validateFormLayout(stack);
-    // No form-field-unknown (object unresolved), but colSpan is still flagged.
-    expect(findings.map(f => f.rule)).toEqual([FORM_COLSPAN_ABSOLUTE]);
+    expect(validateFormLayout(stack).map((f) => `${f.rule}@${f.path}`)).toEqual([
+      `${FORM_FIELD_UNKNOWN}@views[0].sections[0].fields[0]`,
+    ]);
+  });
+
+  // [#17328] RE-JUDGED, not deleted. The old assertion was
+  // `[FORM_COLSPAN_ABSOLUTE]` — the colSpan rule was the only thing that could
+  // still speak on an unresolvable binding, which is what made this test
+  // non-empty. With that rule withdrawn the verdict is `[]`, so the test is
+  // PAIRED with the same stack under a resolvable binding; otherwise a walk
+  // that stopped visiting orphan views entirely would look identical.
+  it('skips reference-checking when the bound object cannot be resolved', () => {
+    const sections = [{ columns: 2, fields: ['whatever', { field: 'x', colSpan: 2 }] }];
+    expect(validateFormLayout({
+      objects,
+      views: [{ name: 'orphan_form', data: { provider: 'object', object: 'does_not_exist' }, sections }],
+    })).toEqual([]);
+
+    // POSITIVE CONTROL: the identical sections, bound to an object that DOES
+    // resolve, report both dangling names — so the silence above is the
+    // unresolved binding, not an unvisited site.
+    expect(validateFormLayout({
+      objects,
+      views: [{ name: 'bound_form', data: { provider: 'object', object: 'contract' }, sections }],
+    }).map((f) => `${f.rule}@${f.path}`)).toEqual([
+      `${FORM_FIELD_UNKNOWN}@views[0].sections[0].fields[0]`,
+      `${FORM_FIELD_UNKNOWN}@views[0].sections[0].fields[1]`,
+    ]);
   });
 
   it('ignores non-form views (no sections array)', () => {
@@ -295,9 +334,12 @@ describe('#6251 — the view CONTAINER ladder', () => {
         form: { data: { object: 'contract' }, groups: [{ fields: ['name', { field: 'ghost_g', colSpan: 3 }] }] },
       }],
     });
+    // [#17328] RE-JUDGED: the second row was the withdrawn
+    // `absolute-colspan-discouraged` finding on the same entry. The `colSpan: 3`
+    // is deliberately LEFT on the fixture — it is what proves the entry object
+    // shape is read here at all — but it no longer earns a row.
     expect(findings.map((f) => `${f.rule}@${f.path}`)).toEqual([
       `${FORM_FIELD_UNKNOWN}@views[0].form.groups[0].fields[1]`,
-      `${FORM_COLSPAN_ABSOLUTE}@views[0].form.groups[0].fields[1].colSpan`,
     ]);
   });
 
@@ -408,10 +450,13 @@ describe('#6251 — reachable on a REAL parsed app stack', () => {
 
   it('reports every planted defect on that stack — this is the assertion #6251 exists for', () => {
     const { value } = quietly(() => cliTierFor(structuredClone(appShape)));
+    // [#17328] RE-JUDGED: the third row was the withdrawn colSpan finding on
+    // the `ghost_named` entry. The other two rows are the ones #6251 exists for
+    // — one per container rung — and both still fire, so the traversal
+    // assertion this test carries is undiminished.
     expect(validateFormLayout(value!).map((f) => `${f.rule}@${f.path}`)).toEqual([
       `${FORM_FIELD_UNKNOWN}@views[0].form.sections[0].fields[2]`,
       `${FORM_FIELD_UNKNOWN}@views[0].formViews.create.sections[0].fields[1]`,
-      `${FORM_COLSPAN_ABSOLUTE}@views[0].formViews.create.sections[0].fields[1].colSpan`,
     ]);
   });
 
@@ -520,16 +565,26 @@ describe('#16168 — falls back to the container list binding', () => {
     })).toEqual([]);
   });
 
-  it('the colSpan rule is unconditional on the object binding — it already fired on a list-bound container before this fix', () => {
-    // Measured for the changeset: `absolute-colspan-discouraged` sits OUTSIDE
-    // the `known`-gated block (validate-form-layout.ts, the `(b)` comment) —
-    // it needs only `entry.colSpan != null`, never `objName` / `known`. So it
-    // was never actually dead on HotCRM's list-bound views; #16168 only fixes
-    // `form-field-unknown` and `form-section-group-unknown`.
-    const findings = validateFormLayout({
+  // [#17328] RE-JUDGED, not deleted. This was #16168's measurement that
+  // `absolute-colspan-discouraged` sat OUTSIDE the `known`-gated block — it
+  // needed only `entry.colSpan != null`, so it was never dead on HotCRM's
+  // list-bound views and #16168 only ever fixed the two reference rules. That
+  // rule is now withdrawn, so what the same fixture measures is the OTHER half
+  // of the same sentence: on a list-bound container a well-formed field with a
+  // `colSpan` is silent, while a dangling one is not — which is exactly the
+  // #16168 fix still holding, now with nothing riding alongside it.
+  it('[#17328] a list-bound container reports only its reference findings — the colSpan rule is gone', () => {
+    expect(validateFormLayout({
       objects,
       views: [listBoundContainer({ sections: [{ columns: 2, fields: [{ field: 'name', colSpan: 2 }] }] })],
-    });
-    expect(findings.map((f) => f.rule)).toEqual([FORM_COLSPAN_ABSOLUTE]);
+    })).toEqual([]);
+
+    // POSITIVE CONTROL — the #16168 fix itself: the same list-bound rung, a
+    // dangling reference, still reported. Without this the line above would
+    // pass on a container the walk never descends into.
+    expect(validateFormLayout({
+      objects,
+      views: [listBoundContainer({ sections: [{ columns: 2, fields: [{ field: 'ghost_lb', colSpan: 2 }] }] })],
+    }).map((f) => f.rule)).toEqual([FORM_FIELD_UNKNOWN]);
   });
 });