docs: catalog second-order GROUP BY traps (wrap-is-the-bug classes)

A full audit of the loose-GROUP-BY fixes found four recurring mistakes in the fixes themselves: incoherent Max/Min pairs over coupled columns, NULL-skipping Max on discriminators, Sum(x)*Max(y) fabricated arithmetic, and wrong-bound picks. Add them to the compatibility catalog (new 3.1) and to the Greptile review instructions so future PRs get flagged.
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Mihir Kandoi
2026-07-05 19:00:47 +05:30
parent 00e6b44701
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@@ -150,6 +150,34 @@ Add it only when it is functionally dependent on the existing select columns; ot
SQL `ORDER BY` and **sort in Python** (`key=str.casefold`, per §2) so the distinct row set is
unchanged.
### 3.1 Second-order traps — when the `Max()`/`Min()` wrap itself is the bug
The wrap is only a no-op when the column is provably single-valued per group (**"`Max()` means
provably constant"**). When the column can genuinely vary, the wrap is a decision, and a full
audit of these fixes found four recurring mistakes:
- **Incoherent pair** — two semantically-coupled columns (a flag + a link:
`is_phantom_item` + `bom_no`; a discriminator + its value) aggregated with *independent*
`Max()`/`Min()` can pair values from **different rows** — a chimera row that never existed.
MariaDB's loose pick was at least row-coherent. Fix: group by the pair (when consumers
tolerate the extra rows), or select one **representative row** (`Min(child.name)` subquery +
join-back) so every column comes from the same line.
- **NULL-skipping** — `MAX`/`MIN` ignore NULLs, so `Max()` over a mostly-NULL discriminator
(an `original_item`-style column) *deterministically* returns the non-NULL value where
MariaDB could return NULL — deterministically wrong where the old behavior was only
intermittently wrong. Flag it wherever "no value" is a meaningful state (fallback gates,
dict keys).
- **Fabricated arithmetic** — `Sum(x) * Max(y)` where `y` varies within the group invents a
number no row ever had (and `Max` biases it upward) — poisonous when it feeds validation,
budgets, valuation, or GL/stock values. Fix per-row: `Sum(x * y)`.
- **Wrong bound** — where the value has a semantic, pick the bound deliberately:
`Min(schedule_date)` for a "required by", `Min(idx)` for first-line ordering, a qty-weighted
average for a rate. A blind `Max` can understate urgency or overstate a figure.
Review heuristic: **if choosing between `Max` and `Min` would change the answer, the column is
not functionally dependent** — wrapping either is the wrong fix. Group by it, restructure, or
pick a bound for a stated reason, and cover the varying-group case with a test.
---
## 4. False positives — do NOT flag these

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