From 917082ca0aa596f53272681ca26d65e796cbd07f Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Ramesh Padmanabhaiah <22363102+codeforester@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 2026 10:08:40 +0530
Subject: [PATCH] bug: enforce required repeatable positionals (#344)

---
 CHANGELOG.md                    |  2 ++
 lib/bash/cli/lib_cli.sh         |  5 +++--
 lib/bash/cli/tests/lib_cli.bats | 40 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 3 files changed, 45 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index c84c7e8..45d39ce 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@ and versions are tracked in the repo-root `VERSION` file.
 
 ### Fixed
 
+- Enforced required repeatable positional tails based on values consumed by the
+  repeatable itself, independent of earlier fixed positional arguments.
 - Made table-driven CLI declaration transactional so any late semantic error
   restores an existing model exactly or removes a partial new model.
 - Rejected unreachable CLI command routes and ancestor/child option collisions,
diff --git a/lib/bash/cli/lib_cli.sh b/lib/bash/cli/lib_cli.sh
index f9f8553..d88c412 100644
--- a/lib/bash/cli/lib_cli.sh
+++ b/lib/bash/cli/lib_cli.sh
@@ -1175,7 +1175,7 @@ __base_bash_libs_cli_apply_defaults_and_validate__() {
 }
 
 __base_bash_libs_cli_apply_positionals__() {
-    local model="$1" path="$2" value name index repeatable required default
+    local model="$1" path="$2" value name index repeatable required default repeat_start
 
     __base_bash_libs_cli_collect_positionals__ "$model" "$path"
     if ((${#__base_bash_libs_cli_positional_names[@]} == 0)); then
@@ -1191,12 +1191,13 @@ __base_bash_libs_cli_apply_positionals__() {
         required="$(__base_bash_libs_cli_positional_meta__ "$model" "$path" "$name" required)"
         default="$(__base_bash_libs_cli_positional_meta__ "$model" "$path" "$name" default)"
         if [[ "$repeatable" =~ ^(1|true|yes)$ ]]; then
+            repeat_start="$index"
             while ((index < ${#BASE_BASH_LIBS_CLI_RESULT_POSITIONALS[@]})); do
                 value="${BASE_BASH_LIBS_CLI_RESULT_POSITIONALS[index]}"
                 __base_bash_libs_cli_validate_value__ "$model" "$path" positional "$name" "$value" || return $?
                 ((index++))
             done
-            if ((index == 0)) && [[ "$required" =~ ^(1|true|yes)$ ]]; then
+            if ((index == repeat_start)) && [[ "$required" =~ ^(1|true|yes)$ ]]; then
                 __base_bash_libs_cli_error__ "required positional '$name' was not provided."
                 return $?
             fi
diff --git a/lib/bash/cli/tests/lib_cli.bats b/lib/bash/cli/tests/lib_cli.bats
index c6d3aeb..1d02d04 100644
--- a/lib/bash/cli/tests/lib_cli.bats
+++ b/lib/bash/cli/tests/lib_cli.bats
@@ -239,6 +239,46 @@ EOF
     [ "${BASE_BASH_LIBS_CLI_RESULT_POSITIONALS[1]}" = "--looks-like-option" ]
 }
 
+@test "required repeatable positionals count only their own consumed values" {
+    base_cli_model_init direct_repeat name=direct-repeat
+    base_cli_command direct_repeat run "Run"
+    base_cli_positional direct_repeat run target required=true
+    base_cli_positional direct_repeat run files required=true repeatable=true
+
+    bats_run base_cli_parse direct_repeat -- run target-only
+    [ "$status" -eq 2 ]
+    [[ "$output" == *"required positional 'files' was not provided"* ]]
+    base_cli_parse direct_repeat -- run target one
+    base_cli_parse direct_repeat -- run target one two
+
+    base_cli_model_init root_repeat name=root-repeat
+    base_cli_positional root_repeat '' items required=true repeatable=true
+    bats_run base_cli_parse root_repeat --
+    [ "$status" -eq 2 ]
+    base_cli_parse root_repeat -- one
+    base_cli_parse root_repeat -- one two
+
+    base_cli_model_init optional_repeat name=optional-repeat
+    base_cli_command optional_repeat run "Run"
+    base_cli_positional optional_repeat run target required=true
+    base_cli_positional optional_repeat run files repeatable=true
+    base_cli_parse optional_repeat -- run target-only
+}
+
+@test "quick declarations enforce required repeatable positional tails" {
+    base_cli_declare table_repeat \
+        'model|name=table-repeat' \
+        'command|path=run|description=Run' \
+        'positional|path=run|name=target|required=true' \
+        'positional|path=run|name=files|required=true|repeatable=true'
+
+    bats_run base_cli_parse table_repeat -- run target-only
+    [ "$status" -eq 2 ]
+    [[ "$output" == *"required positional 'files' was not provided"* ]]
+    base_cli_parse table_repeat -- run target one
+    base_cli_parse table_repeat -- run target one two
+}
+
 @test "run invokes handlers but help and version do not" {
     local handler_calls=0
     demo_handler() {