f:fast-usdc a3p tests are failing but CI still passes

[anilhelvaci]

Context

The reason why I raise this as a "Discussion" question is that I'm not sure if this is the intended behavior and worth opening an issue for it. So please let me know if this is an issue, I'll convert to it immediately.

Problem Definition

a3p tests for f:fast-usdc currently check that agoricNames.instance has a property called fastUsdc. In the current version of master (a66f6a1408016746f4f480241f3d6efa53732841) start-fast-usdc.js core eval fails so fastUsdc does not end up in agoricNames.instance.

I have noticed that this behavior goes unnoticed when yarn test -m fast-usdc is run. I also noticed that in the CI as well. Here's a recent CI run that passed however f:fast-usdc/test.sh fails.

https://github.com/Agoric/agoric-sdk/actions/runs/12225954791/job/34100571062?pr=10643#step:10:179

Same thing in #10609 => https://github.com/Agoric/agoric-sdk/actions/runs/12225957386/job/34100576932?pr=10609#step:10:178

When set -ueo pipefail added on top of test.sh, yarn test -m fast-usdc fails.

Next Steps

Please let me know if this is intended or deserves an issue. @dckc @turadg @Chris-Hibbert

[dckc]

a fix is underway in

• chore(fast-usdc): limited operation before connecting to noble #10641

I'd like to think a new issue isn't worthwhile unless I neglect to land that in the next day or so.

[dckc]

oh. meanwhile, #10641 isn't linked to an issue, so maybe it would help to convert this one right away

[anilhelvaci]

Done. See #10657

[anilhelvaci]

Also update #10641 description as well