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+# 44.5.0 — a queue, not a plan
+
+Status: queued 2026-10-03 from the 44.4.0 release-week close-out. Nothing
+below is started or approved. Whether a 44.5.0 is cut at all depends on
+Fedora 45: the versioning rule (docs/contract.md) has the major naming
+the base — 44.x tracks Fedora 44, and **45.0.0 is the Fedora 45 rebase**
+(notes/fedora-45-rebase.md, researched against the F45 beta: two cheap
+breaks — greetd's PAM stack moving out of `/etc/pam.d`, and
+bootc-image-builder archived into `osbuild/image-builder` — plus the
+oo7/gnome-keyring decision). F45 GA targets October 2026, so the window
+for a 44.x minor is short and the rebase is the likeliest next release.
+
+What would ride 44.5.0 if it happens:
+
+## The idle-settings pair (standing rule)
+
+The idle settings and the doctor text ship in the same release — the
+image is one version number, so the declaration's keys and the shell
+that obeys them cannot land apart. The split: kumaOS owns the
+declaration's idle keys (new, optional) and the doctor's text about
+them; kumaui owns the read path — `idle.rs`'s clocks (lock at 15
+minutes, screens off a minute later) are hardcoded today and become
+the settings' defaults. Not started; needs the go.
+
+## The sway promotion (candidate)
+
+kuma-shell carries the sway adapter for session state (kumaui a282459,
+shipped through the kuma-shell pin; the niri path CI-verified). kuma
+itself has no sway declaration and no boot tier: promoting sway to a
+tested desktop means a declaration, a desktops.md section, and a CI
+leg. Whether sway enters the first class here or stays an experiment
+is undecided.
+
+## The kumaui pin's head start
+
+The published `:niri` image bakes the shell at 6bf413b — the
+displayless fix and the memory seams. The pin already names a282459
+(the sway adapter, the session seam, the comment corrections), so the
+next image build — a 44.4.1 retag, a 44.5.0, or 45.0.0 — carries the
+sway-era shell with no further action.