diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 43762d1d..6ab32d97 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ Sections dated before 2026-09-19 predate the cycle and stay as they are. Named m
 
 ## Unreleased
 
+- fix(script-owners): **the restatement guard now parses under macOS's default bash 3.2, so `exec.sh` no longer skips it silently** (guard added in #498). `exec.sh` runs `bash script-owners.sh check … 2>/dev/null || true`; under /bin/bash 3.2.57 the file failed to parse (an apostrophe in a comment inside `$(...)`, then `case` patterns without a leading `(`), so the call (and the ledger `record` call) printed nothing and warned nothing. Fixture `test-restatement-guard.sh` under /bin/bash 3.2.57: 16 of 58 pass before, 58 of 58 after; `bin/check-scripts.sh` now also parses every script with /bin/bash when the bash on PATH is a different one. — saingge
 - fix(facts-lock): **`check` no longer reports "N BRD(s) agree with all 0 frozen fact(s)" when nothing was compared** (#519). A corpus whose BRDs carry identifiers only under keys the harvest does not read (`domainEntities[].name`, `pages[].name`) froze an empty lock, and `check` printed what reads as a pass. With 0 frozen facts, `check` now prints `PENDING facts-lock: 0 identifiers found under any known key in N BRD(s): the lock is empty and check proves nothing (keys read: ...)`, or, when identifiers exist but no lock was built, `PENDING ... run build first; check compared nothing`; `build` prints the same empty-lock line when it froze 0 facts and found no conflicts. Exit codes are unchanged (an exit-3 "nothing measured" and harvesting `name` keys are left for a separate change). Fixture: `test-facts-lock.sh` (the issue's repro: 3 fail on master; 19/19). — AlvinnYeo (#519)
 - fix(journey-runner): **the RUNG 1 landing guard now waits up to its 12 s for `ui.ready`** (#536). It called `locator.isVisible({ timeout: 12000 })`, and Playwright ignores that timeout and answers at once, so a page that rendered more than 300 ms after the per-action settle (a progress bar, a microflow before the page opens, a step ending in a fixed `settleMs`) read `reached: FAIL` and every later rung of the step INVALID. It now uses `waitFor({ state: 'visible', timeout: 12000 })`, and the NOT-REACHED screenshot is taken after that wait. Only the landing guard changes; the same no-wait call in `act()` (`click`, lines 184/210/222), the named-control probe and `helpers.js`/`monkey.js`/`full-app-walkthrough.js` are left for a separate change. **Behaviour change to check in your project:** a journey whose ready selector never appears now spends 12 s per such step before it reports NOT-REACHED. Verified by inspection and a Playwright probe (hidden element shown after 2 s: `isVisible` false in 74 ms, `waitFor` true in 2.3 s); no fixture drives the runner's step loop. — AlvinnYeo (#536)
 - fix(build loop, exec): **the commit guidance stages `javasource/` and `javascriptsource/`, and `exec.sh` prints a staging hint when they changed** (#540). `create java action ... as $$` writes `javasource/<module>/actions/*.java` beside the model; the skill's example (`git add App.mpr mprcontents/ mdlsource/<script>.mdl`) committed the model without the body, which builds on the machine that ran exec and not in a clone. `iterative-build-loop.md` (both `git add` examples and the sentence after the exec one, +44 words, on-demand file: baseline 73828 before and after) now names both folders and says to drop one the app lacks (git refuses the whole add on a missing pathspec). After a clean exec, `exec.sh` runs one `git status --porcelain` over the model folder's `javasource/` and `javascriptsource/` and, when either has changes, prints `Action sources changed outside the model ...: stage them with the .mpr.` with up to 5 paths; never a failure, no mxcli call, exit codes unchanged. **Behaviour change to check in your project:** `exec.sh` success output can carry that hint. Fixture: `test-bug07-08.sh` A2/A3 (A2 fails on master; 48/48). — AlvinnYeo (#540)
diff --git a/bin/check-scripts.sh b/bin/check-scripts.sh
index 215e6187..906e2691 100755
--- a/bin/check-scripts.sh
+++ b/bin/check-scripts.sh
@@ -30,6 +30,15 @@ set -uo pipefail
 TOOLKIT_ROOT="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/.." && pwd)"
 PROJECT_DIR="${1:-}"
 
+# macOS ships bash 3.2 as /bin/bash and its $(...) scanner rejects things bash 5 accepts. When
+# the bash on PATH is a different one, parse with /bin/bash too — script-owners.sh shipped
+# unparseable on a Mac this way. `bash -n` there catches an apostrophe in a comment inside
+# $(...); it does not catch a case pattern without a leading "(" (that fails only when run).
+SYS_BASH=""
+if [ -x /bin/bash ] && [ "$(/bin/bash -c 'printf %s "$BASH_VERSION"' 2>/dev/null)" != "$BASH_VERSION" ]; then
+  SYS_BASH=/bin/bash
+fi
+
 FAIL=0
 SH_OK=0; SH_N=0
 JS_OK=0; JS_N=0
@@ -42,11 +51,11 @@ check_sh() { # check_sh LABEL GLOB...
   for f in "$@"; do
     [ -f "$f" ] || continue
     n=$((n + 1)); SH_N=$((SH_N + 1))
-    if OUT="$(bash -n "$f" 2>&1)"; then
+    if OUT="$(bash -n "$f" 2>&1)" && { [ -z "$SYS_BASH" ] || OUT="$("$SYS_BASH" -n "$f" 2>&1)"; }; then
       SH_OK=$((SH_OK + 1))
     else
       FAIL=$((FAIL + 1))
-      printf '  FAIL  %s does not parse under this bash:\n' "$f"
+      printf '  FAIL  %s does not parse under this bash (or /bin/bash):\n' "$f"
       printf '%s\n' "$OUT" | head -3 | sed 's/^/        /'
       if ! tr -d '\r' < "$f" | cmp -s - "$f"; then
         printf '        (file carries CRLF line endings — see doctor.sh "Line endings" for the fix)\n'
diff --git a/project-bin/script-owners.sh b/project-bin/script-owners.sh
index a66463d8..88ccfe31 100755
--- a/project-bin/script-owners.sh
+++ b/project-bin/script-owners.sh
@@ -243,11 +243,11 @@ case "$cmd" in
     [ -n "$PAIRS" ] || exit 0
     MY_SUP="$(so_header "$S" supersedes)"; MY_SUPBY="$(so_header "$S" superseded-by)"
     OUT="$(NL_SEEN=""; NL_DESC=0
-    # rc 0: O's work on doc $1 is not in the model; 1: it is (or unknown); 2: DESCRIBE cap reached.
+    # rc 0: the work of O on doc $1 is not in the model; 1: it is (or unknown); 2: DESCRIBE cap reached.
     not_live() {  # $1 = "KIND Module.Name", $2 = O
       local w live rc=1
       if [ "$S_RAN" = 0 ] && ! so_has_run "$ROOT" "$2"; then return 0; fi   # S is new
-      case "$NL_SEEN" in *"|$1="*) rc="${NL_SEEN#*"|$1="}"; return "${rc%%|*}" ;; esac
+      case "$NL_SEEN" in (*"|$1="*) rc="${NL_SEEN#*"|$1="}"; return "${rc%%|*}" ;; esac
       w="$(so_last_writer "$ROOT" "$1")"
       if [ -n "$w" ] && [ -n "$S_REL" ] && { [ "$w" = "$(so_sortkey "$S_REL")" ] || so_before "$w" "$S_REL"; }; then
         rc=0
@@ -263,9 +263,9 @@ case "$cmd" in
     revert() {  # $1 doc $2 O $3 message
       local r=0; not_live "$1" "$2" || r=$?
       case "$r" in
-        0) ;;
-        2) printf 'UNCHECKED\t%s\t%s\tCONFLICT (not checked: 5 DESCRIBE calls per exec) — %s\n' "$1" "$2" "$3" ;;
-        *) printf 'REVERT\t%s\t%s\t%s\n' "$1" "$2" "$3" ;;
+        (0) ;;
+        (2) printf 'UNCHECKED\t%s\t%s\tCONFLICT (not checked: 5 DESCRIBE calls per exec) — %s\n' "$1" "$2" "$3" ;;
+        (*) printf 'REVERT\t%s\t%s\t%s\n' "$1" "$2" "$3" ;;
       esac
     }
     while IFS='	' read -r d o; do