diff --git a/goals/G-126-punkzip-accelerator.md b/goals/G-126-punkzip-accelerator.md
index 5ed3c0f0..459e958d 100644
--- a/goals/G-126-punkzip-accelerator.md
+++ b/goals/G-126-punkzip-accelerator.md
@@ -49,11 +49,11 @@ Toolchain is on hand: `bin/tools/` already carries unpacked zig 0.16.0 alongside
 0.15.2 and 0.14.1 (`bin/tools/zig` is currently 0.15.2), with `bin/punk-getzig.cmd` for
 per-version fetch.
 
-Upstream state at drafting: the 0.15.2 migration is IN PROGRESS and uncommitted
-(`build.zig`, `build.zig.zon`, `src/punkzip.zig`, `src/punkzip_test.zig`,
-`src/zipper.zig` modified; `AGENTS.md`, `ZIG_IO.md`, `ZIG_ARRAYLIST.md`,
-`refactor_2026-01-19.txt` untracked). Vendoring must take a deliberate, recorded upstream
-state rather than a working tree.
+Upstream state: the drafting-time 0.15.2 migration (then in progress and uncommitted) was
+completed, made fully green and committed 2026-07-27 as upstream e9b5b553, with the
+localtime banner restored dependency-free in 78453fc0 - see Notes for the pre-activation
+baseline record. Vendoring must take a deliberate, recorded upstream state rather than a
+working tree; one now exists.
 
 ## Approach
 
@@ -138,3 +138,28 @@ state rather than a working tree.
   `build` subcommand using `zipper.add_pathinfo_items`. Compression methods store,
   shrink, reduce, implode, deflate - the legacy methods are implemented in-tree, so it
   reads archives zlib-based readers cannot.
+- Pre-activation upstream baseline (user-directed, 2026-07-27): the maintained checkout
+  `c:/repo/jn/zig/punkzip` now carries commit e9b5b553 "zig 0.15.2 migration complete:
+  build + test green (122/122)" and 78453fc0 "restore localtime diagnostic banner,
+  dependency-free, on stderr". `zig build test` under the pinned 0.15.2 toolchain runs
+  all ten test modules - 122/122 tests green on Windows, including the previously
+  mis-wired `bitstream_test.zig` (its 4 tests had never run anywhere: build.zig pointed
+  test_bitstream at bits_test.zig) and the 13 exact-stdout CLI tests, whose expected
+  outputs now PIN the current human table listing and creating:/extracting: wording.
+  Port-order decision per Approach: UPSTREAM-FIRST, adopted in practice - port and
+  stabilise upstream, then vendor the ported state.
+- zeit decision (user, 2026-07-27): the zeit timezone dependency stays out - the
+  localtime diagnostic returns dependency-free instead (Windows kernel32
+  GetLocalTime/GetTimeZoneInformation with numeric offset + zone name; honest UTC line
+  elsewhere), emitted on STDERR. Contract worth keeping: stdout is the parseable
+  product, diagnostics go to stderr - the machine-readable listing mode this goal adds
+  must preserve that split. Fallback if real tz fidelity is ever wanted: zeit v0.9.0 is
+  zig-0.16-compatible, MIT, zero transitive deps - vendor it as a path dep (never a
+  build-time URL fetch, which conflicts with this goal's no-network-build premise).
+- Known upstream gaps carried into the goal work: the catenated/prefixed-zip
+  `base_offset` read path (`src/zip.zig`) - the fork's raison d'etre - has NO direct
+  zig-side test; add coverage alongside the machine-listing pin (the parity suite covers
+  it from the Tcl side only). The undocumented `build` subcommand remains unfinished
+  scaffolding (wrong arg indexing, writes only an EOCD; its finalize call was restored at
+  the checkpoint) - finish or remove it during the port. 0.16 first surfaced error
+  re-confirmed 2026-07-27: `std.process.argsAlloc` removed.