`node_modules/.bin/dpdm` is an npm shell wrapper, so `node <that path>` crashed with `SyntaxError: missing ) after argument list` and the advisory circular-deps gate in ci.yml (job quality-extended) reported an error instead of a result on every run. Pointing DPDM_BIN at `node_modules/dpdm/lib/bin/dpdm.js` restores it: the gate now completes and reports circularDeps=154 (exit 0).
Scope reduced during merge — the branch was 522 commits behind and carried three base-drift files that were reconciled back to the release tip: open-sse/services/combo.ts (reverted routing code + a @/lib/localDb barrel import, Hard Rule #2), config/quality/eslint-suppressions.json (dropped ~45% of the frozen suppressions), and tests/unit/cli-env-inline-comment-10100.test.ts (replaced a working module import with new Function() source scraping, Hard Rule #3). Rationale documented in the PR discussion.
Verified: check:circular-deps crashes on the pure tip and completes on the merged branch; tests/unit/cli-env-inline-comment-10100.test.ts 5/5 green against the restored version.
Thanks @benzntech for catching the dpdm breakage.
Release v3.8.24 — see CHANGELOG.md [3.8.24] for the full notes and the PR description for the contributors hall. Integration of release/v3.8.24 into main.
