diff --git a/changelog.d/8000-gc-strategy-define-header-pin.md b/changelog.d/8000-gc-strategy-define-header-pin.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a1528a5006
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/8000-gc-strategy-define-header-pin.md
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+### Codegen: pin the GC strategy onto the define line, in both root lowerings (#7982 follow-up)
+
+#7998 made `LlFunction::define_header` the single renderer of the `define … {`
+line, after the in-process native path's private copy silently lost
+`gc "statepoint-example"` — a natively-constructed module then got no RS4GC
+pass and therefore **no precise roots at all**, while verifying, linking and
+running correctly on any program that does not collect.
+
+The test that shipped with it does not actually pin that property, and the two
+attempts to fix it failed the same way the original bug did. Recorded because
+it is this change's own bug class occurring inside its own test:
+
+1. The `to_ir` == `define_header` agreement test **cannot** see a dropped
+   strategy: with one shared renderer both sides change identically. Sabotage
+   passed.
+2. A dedicated strategy test that branched on `native_stack_roots_enabled()`
+   never ran its ON arm under `cargo test` — no module has called
+   `set_native_roots_for_target`, so the predicate is false in the test
+   process. Sabotage passed again.
+3. Only pinning **both** lowerings with `NativeRootsPin::{native,shadow}`, and
+   asserting `stack_map_slot_count` in each arm first so neither can pass
+   vacuously, goes red on the sabotage.
+
+Native-roots must take the stack-map path AND name the strategy; shadow-stack
+must not take it AND must not name the strategy. The tests live in
+`function.rs`, which compiles WITHOUT the `llvm-inprocess` feature, so they run
+in per-PR `cargo-test` rather than only in the feature job.
+
+Sabotage-verified with the fix committed first, then restored and REBUILT: 935
+`perry-codegen` lib tests green under `--features llvm-inprocess`.
diff --git a/crates/perry-codegen/src/function.rs b/crates/perry-codegen/src/function.rs
index 8fc68f0208..78888e4e26 100644
--- a/crates/perry-codegen/src/function.rs
+++ b/crates/perry-codegen/src/function.rs
@@ -1022,6 +1022,80 @@ mod define_header_tests {
         }
     }
 
+    /// The property that was actually lost, asserted directly (#7982) — in
+    /// **both** lowerings, neither of them dark.
+    ///
+    /// The header/`to_ir` agreement test above cannot see this: with one shared
+    /// renderer, dropping `gc "statepoint-example"` changes both sides
+    /// identically and that test stays green. Verified by doing exactly that.
+    ///
+    /// The first version of this test read `native_stack_roots_enabled()` and
+    /// branched on it. Under `cargo test` that predicate is false — no module
+    /// has called `set_native_roots_for_target` — so the ON arm, the one that
+    /// matters, never executed and the same sabotage passed a second time. That
+    /// is the failure mode this whole change is about, reproduced inside its own
+    /// test. `NativeRootsPin` exists for precisely this; both arms now run every
+    /// time, and each carries a liveness assertion that its lowering was
+    /// actually selected.
+    #[test]
+    fn the_gc_strategy_appears_exactly_when_the_function_asks_for_a_stack_map() {
+        use crate::codegen::helpers::NativeRootsPin;
+        const STRATEGY: &str = "gc \"statepoint-example\"";
+
+        {
+            let _native = NativeRootsPin::native();
+            let plain = probe();
+            assert!(
+                !plain.define_header(false).contains(STRATEGY),
+                "a function that never reserved a stack-map slot must not claim \
+                 a GC strategy, even under the native-roots lowering"
+            );
+
+            let mut mapped = probe();
+            mapped.enable_shadow_frame(0);
+            assert!(
+                mapped.reserve_shadow_slot().is_some(),
+                "a shadow-framed function must yield a root slot"
+            );
+            assert_eq!(
+                mapped.stack_map_slot_count, 1,
+                "under the native-roots pin the reservation must take the \
+                 stack-map path — otherwise the assertion below is vacuous"
+            );
+            assert!(
+                mapped.define_header(false).contains(STRATEGY),
+                "a stack-map function's define line MUST name the GC strategy. \
+                 Without it RS4GC never runs on the module, which verifies, \
+                 links and executes correctly on any program that does not \
+                 collect while having NO precise roots at all — #7332's shape, \
+                 and exactly what the in-process native backend shipped until \
+                 #7982"
+            );
+        }
+
+        {
+            let _shadow = NativeRootsPin::shadow();
+            let mut mapped = probe();
+            mapped.enable_shadow_frame(0);
+            assert!(
+                mapped.reserve_shadow_slot().is_some(),
+                "a shadow-framed function must yield a root slot in this \
+                 lowering too"
+            );
+            assert_eq!(
+                mapped.stack_map_slot_count, 0,
+                "under the shadow-stack pin the reservation must NOT take the \
+                 stack-map path"
+            );
+            assert!(
+                !mapped.define_header(false).contains(STRATEGY),
+                "the shadow-stack lowering must NOT name a GC strategy — RS4GC \
+                 is not the backend in that build, and claiming it would run the \
+                 pass over IR that has no addrspace(1) roots to rewrite"
+            );
+        }
+    }
+
     /// `force_external` drops only the linkage keyword. The codegen-unit path
     /// depends on that and on nothing else changing.
     #[test]
diff --git a/gc-handoff/KNOBS-NOTES.md b/gc-handoff/KNOBS-NOTES.md
index 6d05f28be1..c22817ad39 100644
--- a/gc-handoff/KNOBS-NOTES.md
+++ b/gc-handoff/KNOBS-NOTES.md
@@ -129,6 +129,17 @@ Six shapes, each exposed by fixing the previous one:
    Fixed structurally (one `LlFunction::define_header`), pinned in `function.rs`
    which compiles WITHOUT the feature, so per-PR CI sees it.
 
+   ★ The pin took THREE attempts, and the first two failed the same way the bug
+   did. (a) The `to_ir == define_header` agreement test cannot see a dropped
+   `gc "statepoint-example"` at all — one renderer means both sides change
+   identically; sabotage passed. (b) A dedicated strategy test that BRANCHED on
+   `native_stack_roots_enabled()` never ran its ON arm under `cargo test`: no
+   module has called `set_native_roots_for_target`, so the predicate is false in
+   the test process and the sabotage passed again. Only (c), pinning both
+   lowerings with `NativeRootsPin::{native,shadow}` and asserting
+   `stack_map_slot_count` in each arm so neither is vacuous, goes red on the
+   sabotage. Reproduced this PR's own bug class twice inside its own test.
+
 ### Are the `.ll` corpora live or still frozen? — **LIVE**
 
 Refreshed to 497 / 1082 / 420 `addrspace(1)` sites (were 0/0/0). Two mechanisms