| # Task: Repair The Log Timeline Sorter | |
| The files for this task are under `/root/task`. | |
| The operations team needs the server logs in chronological order, but the current sorter in | |
| `/root/task/process_logs.py` is still using the export-facing date representation too directly. | |
| What you should do: | |
| 1. Fix the existing sorting logic so `/root/task/server_logs.csv` is ordered oldest first. | |
| 2. Keep the output complete and save the sorted rows to `/root/task/output.json`. | |
| 3. Preserve all rows and keep the sort grounded in actual dates, not display strings. | |
| Please update the code in `/root/task` in place. | |
| ## Required Output Schema | |
| Write `/root/task/output.json` as a JSON object with: | |
| - `row_count` (integer): number of log rows retained. | |
| - `first_date` (string): display date of the first sorted record. | |
| - `last_date` (string): display date of the last sorted record. | |
| - `records` (array of objects): all log records in chronological order, preserving the original record fields. | |
| Design contract: parse `M/D/YYYY` and `MM/DD/YYYY` strings as dates before sorting. Sort by parsed date, then time, then `log_id` for deterministic ties using a stable sort such as pandas `kind="mergesort"`. Do not sort directly on the raw date string. | |