Wheels 4.0.2 released — migration reconciliation for shared dev databases, native apt/yum repos

[bpamiri]

Wheels 4.0.2 is out, a week after 4.0.1. It's a patch release (no breaking changes), and unlike the broad 4.0.1 shakeout it has a clear center of gravity: the database migrator.

Migrations on a shared dev database. The wheels_migrator_versions tracking table records which migrations have run. When a team shares one development database, that table can drift from the files in your checkout — a teammate applies a migration, the version gets recorded, but the file isn't on your branch yet. We call that an orphan version. Before 4.0.2, an orphan at the top of the table fooled wheels migrate latest into thinking you were rolling back, so it silently did nothing. Now the migrator detects orphans, warns you (naming the versions), and applies your pending local migrations instead.

There are also three new reconciliation subcommands, modeled on Flyway's validate/repair:

• wheels migrate doctor — a read-only health report: orphan versions, pending migrations, applied count. Prints yellow when something needs attention.
• wheels migrate forget <version> --yes — removes a stale tracking row without running down() (refuses if a matching file exists).
• wheels migrate pretend <version> --yes — records a version as applied without running up() (refuses if already applied or no file matches).

Both forget and pretend are dry-run unless you pass --yes. The tracking table also gained name and applied_at columns (added automatically on upgrade) so migrate info can show you what an orphan was and when a peer applied it.

Other highlights:

• Fixed a class of silent migration rollbacks on SQL Server: model writes inside up()/down() could vanish because Model opened a nested transaction on top of the migrator's outer one. The migrator now signals ownership and Model skips the nested transaction.
• t.references() and t.primaryKey() now accept columnNames like every other column helper (the legacy referenceNames / name forms still work).
• wheels upgrade check gained an advisory tier — opt-in recommendations separate from breaking-change warnings.
• Reserved-word column names (key, order, group) now work in SELECT/GROUP BY, not just WHERE/ORDER BY.
• Native signed apt.wheels.dev / yum.wheels.dev repositories. Linux install and upgrade is now a one-liner — apt install wheels / dnf install wheels, apt upgrade wheels / dnf upgrade wheels — no GitHub-release download step.

Upgrade with brew upgrade wheels, scoop update wheels, apt upgrade wheels, or dnf upgrade wheels. No code changes required.

Full release notes: https://blog.wheels.dev/posts/wheels-4-0-2-released