# NousResearch/hermes-agent · Update command failures and ancestry probe handling

## Open now

- Nothing open on GitHub.

One bug report describes an update failing so that a new install was needed, and two fix PRs change how the update logic handles a merge-base/ancestry probe that hangs or cannot answer (falling back to GitHub, or treating the relation as unknown). The titles suggest these are related, but they do not confirm that the PRs address the reported bug.

## TL;DR

- 4 member(s): 0 open issue(s), 1 closed issue(s), 0 open PR(s), 1 merged PR(s), 2 PR(s) closed without merging.
- A fix was merged to main in PR #139079. Verify it addresses your case.
- **Recommended:** read PR #139079 (and any competing PRs below) before filing. Confirm the merged change covers your symptom.

## Maintainer resolution verdict

- Internal-tracker verdict over this cluster's issue members: `unresolved`. This is distinct from the fix status above. Weigh it yourself.

## How this cluster was grouped

- Link evidence (`STRUCTURAL_SPANNING`): every member is connected by structural evidence: shared changed files, or a closing/superseded reference.
- Pairwise link density `0.50`: the share of member pairs that carry a link, counting a structural link in full and a relevance-only link at 0.36. `1.00` means every pair is linked.

## Closed / duplicate issues

- #138716: \[Bug\]: update failed, must new install

## Prior & competing PRs

- **#139079: hermes update no longer refuses the stable channel when git is slow to find the unfetched release (#137646, salvage #137649)**. merged to main · fix tier `verified`
  - maintainer direction: category `merged`
  - files: `contributors/emails/[redacted:email]`, `hermes_cli/source_releases.py`, `tests/hermes_cli/test_gateway_chat_native.py`, `tests/hermes_cli/test_stable_forward_only_shallow.py`
- **#138722: fix(update): treat an ancestry probe that cannot answer as an unknown relation**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `partial_fix`; implication `needs_llm`; refs `#137649`, `#138427`, `#138404`
- **#138724: fix(update): a hung merge-base probe falls back to GitHub instead of aborting**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `implemented_elsewhere`; implication `superseded`; refs `3bdb82d6ec`, `#139079`, `#137649`

## Fix status

- Merged to main in PR #139079 (cited above). No release data is tracked. Verify downstream.
- Fix last verified (merged) `2026-10-15`.
- Subsystem: `hermes_cli`