Preserve configured values and relax only derived inputs

When compatibility or location logic needs flexibility, keep configured or externally supplied values authoritative and unchanged. Apply any normalization, prerelease relaxation, or interpretation only to the current/derived side. In particular, never relax a configured minVersion, never normalize controller-provided names, and use exact identity/path matching for repositories and workspaces. Treat missing configuration and unmatched paths according to their explicit fallback semantics rather than coercing them into a different identity.