Every production close of a SessionDB goes through hermes_state_registry.release_or_close,
whose teardown swallows any exception from close() at DEBUG. With the capture in place that
meant a RetiredGenerationCaptureError (disk full, permissions) left the handle open silently
and, on Python 3.11, skipped the retention pin: the raise happened before the pin, so the
interpreter's exit still ran sqlite3_close's implicit checkpoint and wrote the stale frames
over the newer generation (probe: 302 rows -> 4 after exit, worse than main).
- close() now decides retention first and takes the pin BEFORE attempting the capture on
runtimes without setconfig; the capture failure is logged at ERROR and re-raised, so a
later close() retries it while the pin already protects the newer generation.
- The registry logs RetiredGenerationCaptureError at ERROR instead of DEBUG (other teardown
errors stay quiet). Same treatment on the release_or_close fallback path.
- The lost-generation settlement moves out of close() into _settle_lost_generation_locked();
the sticky _close_checkpoint_disabled attribute and the dead "setconfig exists but failed"
late-bind block are gone (_disable_close_time_checkpoint returns the call's outcome).
Regression test drives release_or_close with a failing capture: no raise, error text in the
log, pin taken exactly once (3.11), retry closes cleanly. Red on the salvaged head on both
3.11 and 3.12, green here.
kshitijk4poor
d87bf0d07e