LithosAnanake/FABRIC-3.md

# FABRIC-3.md — bare metal boot

**Status:** Living working document, opened 2026-09-04 as the successor to `FABRIC-2.md`
(now closed/archival — see its own header). Topic for this document, per direct instruction:
**bare metal boot** — getting LithosAnanke to actually boot on real hardware, not just QEMU.
`FABRIC-2.md` §I.6 (Milestone 8) already named this as the one item that pass couldn't close
from a coding session at all, for exactly this reason — it needs a real machine and a human
physically present. This document is where that work, and everything downstream of it, gets
tracked.

**How to use this document going forward.** New findings, new punch-list items, and new
decisions for bare-metal-boot work get added here, not to `FABRIC-2.md`. Same discipline every
prior document in this series used: write the decision and its reasoning down before building,
close items with a dated note citing real evidence, never silently drop a stale claim.

---

## I.1 — Task 1: merge `v2.0.1` into `master`, verify build/function equivalence

**Written up before executing**, per direct instruction and this series' own standing
discipline.

**Why this is task 1.** `FABRIC-2.md`'s entire 7-step closure pass (§I.1–§I.5, §I.7, plus
today's FABRIC-series rename) happened on the `v2.0.1` branch, not `master`. Before any real
bare-metal-boot work starts, that work needs to land where `.claude/CLAUDE.md` says the
project's sole production line actually lives: `master`. Doing this first, cleanly, before
starting new work avoids ever having two divergent lines to reconcile later.

**Investigated before writing this up, not assumed:**
- `git merge-base --is-ancestor master v2.0.1` — **true**. `master` (local HEAD `d2a0305`) is
  a strict ancestor of `v2.0.1` (HEAD `b031b80`) — `v2.0.1` is exactly `master` plus 47 commits
  forward, no divergent history on either side. This means the "merge" is a pure **fast-forward**,
  not a real three-way merge — nothing to resolve, no conflict possible.
- `origin/master` carries exactly one commit beyond local `master` (`58c59e8`, "Initial
  commit") that local `master` hadn't fetched yet — confirmed already contained in `v2.0.1`'s
  own history (`git merge-base --is-ancestor 58c59e8 v2.0.1` — true), so it introduces no
  discrepancy either.
- `master`'s own tree still has the *old* `FABRIC.md`/`FABRIC-2.md`/`FABRIC-3.md` naming
  (unrenamed) — expected, since today's rename commit (`b031b80`) only exists on `v2.0.1` so
  far. The fast-forward brings the rename to `master` along with everything else; nothing
  separate needs doing for it.

**Plan:**
1. Fast-forward `master` to `v2.0.1`'s tip (`git checkout master && git merge --ff-only v2.0.1`)
   — refuses loudly instead of silently doing a real merge if the ancestor relationship somehow
   isn't what the investigation above found, so this step re-verifies its own precondition.
2. Push `master` to `origin`.
3. **Verify build/function equivalence on a genuinely clean tree**, not by inference: `git clean`
   (after confirming nothing untracked-but-wanted is present), then the full acceptance sequence
   `.claude/CLAUDE.md` already mandates for any kernel change — `clean qemu` on all three
   architectures, in the foreground, one at a time, each reaching `ok>` and shutting down
   cleanly. Since the tree is byte-identical to `v2.0.1`'s post-fast-forward, this is expected
   to reproduce exactly what `v2.0.1`'s own last acceptance pass already showed — the point of
   re-running it here is to confirm that expectation holds on `master` itself, not to assume it
   from the fast-forward alone.
4. Return to `v2.0.1` as the working branch afterward (`.claude/CLAUDE.md`'s own rule: always
   return to the correct working branch after any out-of-branch work), unless told otherwise.

**DONE 2026-09-04, exactly as planned:**
1. Committed the write-up above on `v2.0.1` first (`72c14cb`), pushed. This became `v2.0.1`'s
   new tip.
2. `git checkout master && git merge --ff-only v2.0.1` — **Fast-forward**, `d2a0305..72c14cb`,
   confirming the investigated ancestor relationship held exactly as expected; no conflict, no
   merge commit.
3. `git push origin master` — `origin/master` moved `58c59e8..72c14cb`.
4. **Verified on a genuinely clean `master` tree**, not inferred from the fast-forward:
   - Hosted build (`make clean && make`): clean compile, zero warnings, same as `v2.0.1`.
   - Full 3-arch kernel acceptance (`clean qemu`, amd64/aarch64/riscv64, each in the foreground):
     all three reached `(zuse) ok>`/`ok>` and shut down cleanly, zero build errors, zero
     unexpected warnings — identical outcome to `v2.0.1`'s own last acceptance pass, confirmed
     directly rather than assumed. Logs: `logs/20260904-113208/amd64/`,
     `logs/20260904-113320/aarch64/`, `logs/20260904-113552/riscv64/`.
5. `master` and `v2.0.1` are now identical (`72c14cb` on both, `origin` and local). Returned to
   `v2.0.1` as the working branch per plan step 4.

**Task 1 closed.** `master` genuinely is the production line again, current through today's
FABRIC-series rename and the full `FABRIC-2.md` §I closure. Bare-metal-boot work (this
document's actual topic) starts from here.

## I.2 — Task 2: version correction — the `v2.0.1` bump and `v2.0.0` tag were premature

**Direct instruction, 2026-09-04**: the `LITHOS_VERSION` bump to `2.0.1` (and the branch name
that followed it) got ahead of the real state — per `Makefile.starkernel`'s own versioning
policy (`v2.0.0` = QEMU release, even major/LTS; `v2.0.1` = the SER5 hardware-track *line*,
RDRAND backend + thumbdrive image goal), claiming `2.0.1` implies hardware-track progress that
was never actually verified on real hardware — that verification is precisely `FABRIC-3.md`'s
whole open topic (§I.6 in the closed `FABRIC-2.md`). The current `master` HEAD is, correctly,
still a `v2.0.0`-class QEMU-only release. "Nothing harmful" — a version-label correction, not a
functional rollback.

**Found and fixed while correcting this, not left half-done:**
- A real gap in the FABRIC-series rename from earlier today: `Makefile.starkernel`,
  `Kconfig.kernel`, `scripts/bleach_zuse_img.sh`, four `proof/*.thy` files, and
  `src/starkernel/arch/amd64/isr.S` all still had stale `FABRIC.md`/`FABRIC-2.md`/`FABRIC-3.md`
  citations — the original sweep's file-list only matched `--include=*.md/*.c/*.h/*.4th`, which
  silently skipped every file without one of those four extensions. Found by re-grepping with
  the extensions excluded instead of included. Fixed with the same safe placeholder-substitution
  technique the original rename used (each file, one pass, ordered `FABRIC-3→2→1→0` placeholders
  then resolved) — verified no double-shifted or broken references remained afterward.
  `.claude/settings.local.json`'s own historical Bash-permission-grant log (literal past command
  strings naming the file as it was called *at the time*) was deliberately left alone — rewriting
  it would falsify an audit trail, not fix a stale citation.
- `ClaudeEXPORT/memories.json`/`conversations.json` also still reference the old names — left
  untouched on purpose, same reasoning as the memory note on that archive: it's a frozen export,
  mining material, not live documentation to keep in sync.

**Changes:**
1. `Makefile.starkernel`: `LITHOS_VERSION ?= 2.0.1` → `2.0.0`.
2. The rename-gap fix above (7 files).
3. Verified 3-arch boot (`clean qemu`, amd64/aarch64/riscv64, each in the foreground): all three
   show `LithosAnanke v2.0.0` in the boot banner (confirmed directly in each serial log, not
   assumed from the Makefile edit alone), zero build errors, zero unexpected warnings, clean
   shutdown.
4. Moved the existing `v2.0.0` git tag (previously at `2efd7fe`, the original QEMU-release
   milestone commit — that commit and its own message stay fully intact in history, only the
   tag pointer moves) to the current `master`/`v2.0.1`-branch HEAD, per explicit instruction —
   the prior tag placement was itself part of the same "got ahead of myself" correction, not a
   separate decision. No remote tag existed yet (`git ls-remote --tags origin` was empty for
   `v2.0.0`), so no destructive remote operation was needed, only a local move-and-push.
5. **Follow-up, same day**: `v2.0.1` (the working branch this and Task 1 happened on) deleted,
   local and `origin` — confirmed a strict ancestor of `master`'s new HEAD first, so nothing
   was lost. `master` is the repo's only branch from here on.

---

## II. Three architectures, three different hardware scopes

Per direct instruction, 2026-09-04. The real-hardware targets are **not** symmetric across
architectures — each gets its own section below because the actual scope of "done" is
different for each:

- **amd64 — genericity is the goal, not just the SER5.** The Beelink SER5 is the machine in
  hand and the development/reference target, but the real requirement is broader: this needs
  to boot on *any* x86_64 machine — laptop, desktop, tower, or mini PC — not just one vendor's
  quirks. SER5-only success is necessary but not sufficient; anything that works only because
  of an SER5-specific assumption (a particular ACPI table shape, a specific UEFI
  implementation's quirks) is a bug against this goal, not a deferred nice-to-have.
- **aarch64 — Raspberry Pi 5, and only the Raspberry Pi 5.** No genericity requirement across
  aarch64 boards — this is the one and only target for this architecture.
- **riscv64 — Milk-V Mars, and only the Milk-V Mars.** Same as aarch64: one specific board,
  not a generic riscv64-SBC goal.

**How to use sections III–V below.** Same discipline as everything else in this series: plan
before building, one section at a time, iterating — not all three architectures in parallel,
and not front-loading a complete plan before any real hardware is in front of us. Each section
starts with what's already true (existing repo infrastructure, already-decided policy) and
what's still genuinely unknown, not assumed.

## III. amd64 — generic x86_64 bare metal (reference hardware: Beelink SER5)

**Already true, not to be re-derived:**
- `ROADMAP.md`'s "Board-by-board hardware rollout" already names this `v2.2.0`'s gate: the
  generic GPT/FAT32 thumbdrive image (`make -f Makefile.starkernel ARCH=amd64 thumbdrive`,
  already built — `Makefile.starkernel:1018`) flashes to and boots on the real SER5 via its
  real UEFI, reaching POST + `ok>`, with the amd64 RDRAND entropy backend
  (`src/starkernel/rng/rng.c`, already built and part of `master`) serving live entropy.
- `iso-usb` (`Makefile.starkernel:1060`) is the alternate, novice-friendly path (UEFI
  isohybrid ISO for tools like GNOME Disks "Restore Disk Image...") — same underlying image,
  different flashing UX.
- `FABRIC-2.md` §I.6's own 8-step physical-boot sequence (build ISO, identify the target
  device, flash it, physically boot, decide an observation method, confirm POST, confirm
  `ok>`, document) is the closest thing to an existing plan — but it predates the genericity
  requirement and was written with no hardware in hand yet.

**Decided in conversation, 2026-09-04:**
- **Observation: HDMI (interactive) + serial (logged transcript), both.** The kernel's own
  VT100 framebuffer console (`console.c`/`vt100.c`/`framebuffer.c`) already gives a real
  interactive display over HDMI — no new code needed there. Serial capture, if the SER5
  exposes a UART header, uses the Raspberry Pi's own GPIO UART as the USB-serial bridge
  (already available hardware, not a purchase blocker) — this needs the SER5's own UART pins
  physically identified first (not yet confirmed it has an accessible header at all).
- **Genericity is verified by standards-compliance, not a second machine** — no second x86_64
  box is available right now. The bar is: nothing in the boot path may depend on an
  SER5-specific assumption (a particular ACPI table shape, a specific UEFI implementation's
  quirk) — argued by code audit against real UEFI/ACPI standards, not by testing on a second
  board, until one becomes available. This is a real constraint on the punch list below (item
  6), not a deferred nice-to-have.
- **Secure Boot: already disabled on this SER5.** No signed-loader work needed for this pass —
  "Secure Boot disabled in firmware setup" is the supported path, documented as such rather
  than built around.

**Punch list, this cadence's actual next steps:**
1. Build the generic thumbdrive image: `make -f Makefile.starkernel ARCH=amd64 thumbdrive`.
2. Flash it to a USB stick (`dd`, per the target's own existing usage message).
3. Physically inspect the SER5 for an exposed UART header/pins; if present, wire the
   Raspberry Pi's GPIO UART to it as the serial bridge. If absent, HDMI-only for this pass —
   not a blocker, just a scope note for step 7's log.
4. Connect HDMI + keyboard to the SER5.
5. Boot the SER5 from the flashed stick (firmware boot-order menu as needed — Secure Boot
   already disabled, confirmed above, so no signing prompt expected).
6. **Code audit pass — DONE, 2026-09-04.** Reviewed `src/starkernel/boot/uefi_loader.c` and
   every file in `arch/amd64/` (`arch.c`, `apic.c`, `ioapic.c`, `interrupts.c`, `i8042.c`,
   `timer.c`) for anything that assumes SER5-specific hardware rather than standard UEFI/ACPI.
   Report only, per this project's own "identify, don't fix unless asked" rule — nothing
   below was changed.

   **Clean (verified standards-correct, not just "worked in QEMU"):**
   - `uefi_loader.c`: COM1 presence is probed (scratch-register readback + bounded THRE spin)
     before any code trusts it, so a board with no legacy serial decode — the documented SER5
     case — degrades to silently dropping bytes rather than hanging. The ACPI table search
     does two explicit passes (2.0 GUID first, 1.0 only as fallback) rather than a single
     first-match loop, avoiding a real bug class (silently preferring the RSDT-only 1.0
     pointer). `GetMemoryMap`/`ExitBootServices` follows the UEFI "golden path" (nothing
     between the two calls) with the required `EFI_INVALID_PARAMETER` retry loop. GOP
     framebuffer degrades to `PixelBltOnly` cleanly when no linear framebuffer exists.
   - `apic.c`: LAPIC presence, x2APIC-vs-xAPIC mode, and the APIC timer's own tick rate are
     all determined at runtime (MSR read, empirical TSC-timed calibration) — no hardcoded
     bus-frequency assumption anywhere in the timer path.
   - `ioapic.c`: I/O APIC base and GSI base come from the ACPI MADT, not a hardcoded address.
   - `timer.c`'s PM_TMR_BLK port: already fixed correctly (`fadt_find_pm_tmr_port()`,
     2026-08-11 per this file's own comment) — discovered from the FADT, not assumed from a
     single machine type's legacy port.

   **Findings (real, not fixed — reported per policy):**
   1. **HPET base address hardcoded, same bug class as the already-fixed PM_TMR port.**
      `timer.c`'s `HPET_PHYS_BASE 0xFED00000` is never cross-checked against the ACPI `"HPET"`
      table (confirmed absent — no `"HPET"` signature lookup exists anywhere in the tree,
      unlike the FADT/`"FACP"` walk `fadt_find_pm_tmr_port()` already does and could extend to
      reach it with the same RSDP→XSDT→table-by-signature walk). 0xFED00000 is the
      near-universal legacy convention, not a guaranteed one — this file's own comment already
      documents the *identical* failure mode for the PM Timer port and how it was fixed;
      the same reasoning was never applied to HPET.
   2. **LAPIC relocation: MADT data already parsed one file over, never plumbed through.**
      `apic_init()`'s own doc comment self-flags `boot_info` as unused, "reserved for future
      use (e.g., reading the ACPI MADT for the physical LAPIC base address)" — always uses
      `LAPIC_DEFAULT_PHYS = 0xFEE00000`. Narrower than "unimplemented": `ioapic.c`'s
      `MadtHeader.local_apic_address` field is already read into a parsed struct by
      `parse_madt()`, just never passed to `apic.c`. `parse_madt()` also only handles MADT
      entry types 1 (I/O APIC) and 2 (Interrupt Source Override) — type 5 (Local APIC Address
      Override), the entry that matters on a system that actually relocates it, isn't parsed
      at all.
   3. **i8042 PS/2 controller poked unconditionally, no presence check.** `i8042_init()` and
      `i8042_drain_stale()` read/write ports 0x60/0x64 with no probe of any kind — contrast
      with this same codebase's own `raw_serial_init()`, which explicitly probes COM1's
      scratch register before trusting it exists. The ACPI FADT carries an IA-PC
      boot-architecture flags field that reports 8042 presence; it is never consulted. Same
      root gap in `pic_disable()` (`interrupts.c`): unconditionally masks the legacy 8259 PIC
      at ports 0x21/0xA1 with no corresponding FADT check.
   4. **`arch_cold_reset()` uses the legacy i8042 reset-pulse hack instead of the ACPI Reset
      Register.** Confirmed live, not dormant: called directly from `BYE`
      (`mama_forth_words.c:1437`, Hera-only cold restart). Pulses port 0x64 with 0xFE — the
      pre-ACPI convention that assumes the same i8042 controller finding #3 already flags —
      instead of the FADT's `RESET_REG`/`RESET_VALUE` fields, which are the actual
      standards-defined generic reset mechanism (confirmed absent from the tree — no
      `RESET_REG` reference exists anywhere) and don't depend on i8042 existing at all.
      Degrades gracefully (falls through to a `cli;hlt` spin loop, doesn't hang) if the
      pulse has no effect — the honest risk here is a silent no-op reset on an i8042-less
      board, not a hang.

   None of these four are certain to actually bite on the real SER5 — the near-universal
   conventions they assume (0xFED00000, 0xFEE00000, i8042-at-0x60/0x64) hold on the large
   majority of real PC-compatible x86_64 systems including consumer mini-PCs, and only
   finding 4 has a confirmed live call path. Recorded here because the decision above
   requires arguing genericity from standards compliance, not from "it booted" — these are
   the concrete gaps between what the code assumes and what UEFI/ACPI actually guarantees.
7. Capture the boot: confirm POST reaches the same `1012/0/0` result QEMU shows, confirm
   `ok>`/`zuse)ok>`, confirm `rng: backend = rdrand` (live entropy, not the QEMU-only
   `virtio-rng` path), save the serial transcript (if wired) the same way `logs/` already
   keeps QEMU's.
8. Mint a Zuse identity on a second thumbdrive on the real SER5, confirm it re-attaches —
   the same real-hardware round-trip `ROADMAP.md`'s `v2.2.0` gate already names.
9. Update this section with results — pass/fail per step, any SER5-specific or genuinely
   generic-UEFI finding either way, before moving to aarch64.

## IV. aarch64 — Raspberry Pi 5

**Already true:** `ROADMAP.md` names this `v2.4.0`'s gate: boots on the real board, aarch64
peripheral-RNG backend live, Zuse mint/attach on real media. The peripheral-RNG backend itself
is **not yet built** — today's `rng_get_bytes()` (`src/starkernel/rng/rng.c`) only has a
`virtio-rng` path, real on QEMU, meaningless on real Pi 5 hardware (no virtio device there).

**Decided in conversation, 2026-09-04:**
- **Observation: HDMI-only for this board's own bring-up.** No second Pi, no dedicated
  USB-serial adapter available. The Milk-V Mars could in principle serve as a GPIO-UART
  bridge once it arrives (same 40-pin-header shape as the SER5 plan), but using it to observe
  the Pi 5 before the Mars has been independently validated itself would be a chicken-and-egg
  dependency, not a real plan. Revisit serial capture later if genuinely needed, once at least
  one board is proven working — not a blocker for this pass.
- **Both boards (Pi 5, Milk-V Mars) arrive 2026-09-17.** Real runway exists to finish the
  design/code work below *before* any hardware is in hand — "plan well before doing," per
  direct instruction.

**Still genuinely open, not yet decided:**
- **A pinned GPIO VM, theory-stage** — see `FABRIC-4.md` §2. Raised in conversation, not yet
  scoped; downstream of §IV.1's own native-boot-flow work (a GPIO VM needs GPIO addresses
  from the DTB the same way the rest of this bring-up does).

### IV.1 — Boot-chain decision: UEFI vs. native, researched 2026-09-04

**Researched, not assumed** (web search, current as of this session):

**UEFI option investigated and found weak.** A real UEFI+ACPI firmware for Pi 5 exists —
[`rpi5-uefi`](https://github.com/worproject/rpi5-uefi) (TF-A + EDK2, SBBR-compliant). But:
it's **archived as of 2025-02-04**, support ended because newer Pi EEPROM firmware broke
compatibility with it; its own README says ACPI support is "under development and limited to
a few devices"; RP1 Ethernet/GPIO/PWM/EEPROM don't work under it. This kernel's whole
aarch64 boot path (`boot/uefi_loader.c`, `BootInfo->acpi_table`) assumes UEFI+ACPI the same
way amd64 and the QEMU aarch64 target do — but that assumption may not hold on a real,
current-firmware Pi 5 at all.

**Native boot flow — the real alternative, researched concretely:**
- Boot partition needs `bcm2712-rpi-5-b.dtb`, `config.txt`, and the kernel image itself —
  Pi 5 firmware defaults to loading `kernel_2712.img`, falling back to `kernel8.img` if that's
  absent.
- `config.txt` needs `os_check=0` for a non-Linux image, or the firmware assumes Linux and
  loads from `0x200000` instead of the classic Pi bare-metal load address `0x80000`.
- Entry protocol: `x0` = 32-bit DTB pointer (upper 32 bits of the 64-bit register
  unspecified — must mask before use), `x1`–`x3` reserved/zero. **No UEFI PE loader, no ACPI
  at all** — a completely different entry shape from `boot/uefi_loader.c`.
- Framebuffer: the VideoCore **mailbox property interface** (channel 8) — a real, different
  mechanism from UEFI GOP, no precedent anywhere in this codebase today.

**Decision, per direct instruction 2026-09-04: native boot flow.** Not UEFI. The archived,
partially-working UEFI project is too fragile a foundation to build a real-hardware release
on top of.

**What this actually means for the codebase, named honestly rather than estimated small:**
- A **new, non-UEFI entry path** for aarch64 real hardware — this kernel's boot sequence
  currently assumes `uefi_loader.c`'s PE-loader shape unconditionally on aarch64; a Pi 5
  native boot needs its own entry point (linked at `0x80000`, receiving `x0` = DTB pointer
  directly, no `BootInfo` from UEFI at all).
- A **DTB-driven `BootInfo` equivalent** replacing ACPI-sourced data for this path — memory
  map, peripheral addresses (UART, etc.) all come from the devicetree instead.
- **One real, genuine piece of reusable groundwork**: `starkernel/hal/fdt.c`/`fdt.h`, the
  minimal FDT reader already built for riscv64's `timebase-frequency` lookup
  (`arch/riscv64/timer.c`), is directly extensible for this — parsing `bcm2712-rpi-5-b.dtb`
  for peripheral addresses is the same kind of lookup, not a new mechanism.
- A **new mailbox-property-interface framebuffer driver** — genuinely new code, no existing
  precedent in this codebase, needed before the VT100 console framework
  (`console.c`/`vt100.c`/`framebuffer.c`) has anything to draw onto for this board.
- This is a real architectural fork for aarch64, not a small per-board addition — QEMU
  aarch64 keeps its existing UEFI+ACPI path unchanged; Pi 5 real hardware gets a second,
  parallel entry path. **Not yet scoped into a punch list** — that's the next step, once this
  fork's own shape (how much of `kernel_main.c`'s post-entry sequence can stay shared between
  the two paths vs. needs its own branch) is thought through.

### IV.2 — Peripheral RNG: unresolved, not just under-researched

`ROADMAP.md` names an "aarch64 peripheral-RNG backend" as part of `v2.4.0`'s gate. Researched
directly rather than assumed still-TODO: Broadcom's `iproc-rng200` block (real, on Pi 4/BCM2711
as `brcm,bcm2711-rng200`) has **no `bcm2712` compatible-string entry anywhere in current
mainline Linux** (checked the actual driver's `of_device_id` table directly). The RP1
companion chip's own published peripheral list (GPIO/USB/Ethernet/DMA/ADC/PLLs/SRAM/
UARTs/SPIs) doesn't mention an RNG either. Two real possibilities, not yet distinguished:
BCM2712 still has the RNG200 block but Linux hasn't wired it into a devicetree binding yet, or
it genuinely isn't exposed to the ARM cores this generation. No public register address exists
to target right now — this needs either a Broadcom datasheet (if one becomes available) or
direct hardware probing once the board is in hand (scan the known BCM2711 RNG200 offset region
on the BCM2712 memory map and see if anything responds — risky without a datasheet confirming
it's safe to touch, so likely a "board in hand, careful probe" task, not a today task).
Deliberately **not a blocker for the first native boot** — reaching `ok>` doesn't require a
live entropy backend; `rng_get_bytes()` already has a "no entropy backend available" WARNING
path (`rng.c`) rather than a hard failure, so this can land after boot succeeds.

### IV.3 — Punch list: design/code work, no hardware needed (before 2026-09-17)

Traced against real code before writing this, not estimated: `boot_info->acpi_table`'s only
aarch64-relevant consumers today are `pci_init()` (`kernel_main.c:589`, unconditional, not
amd64-gated — relevant because RP1 is PCIe-attached on real Pi 5 hardware) and this session's
own `running_under_hypervisor()` (`arch/aarch64/timer.c`, already degrades safely to "not a
hypervisor" when `acpi_table` is `NULL` — no fix needed there).
`ioapic_init()`/`i8042_init()` are `#ifdef ARCH_AMD64`-gated, irrelevant here.
`arch/aarch64/apic.c` (GIC init) already only ever tries `boot_info->dtb`, never
`acpi_table` — its own doc comment already anticipated DTB-based discovery, just blocked
until now because QEMU's own UEFI firmware never publishes one; Pi 5 native boot removes that
blocker for free.

1. **Entry stub — DONE 2026-09-04.** New
   `src/starkernel/arch/aarch64/native_rpi5_entry.S` / `include/starkernel/rpi5_native_entry.h`:
   `rpi5_native_start` masks `x0` down to the documented 32-bit DTB-pointer range (§IV.1: the
   firmware leaves the upper 32 bits of the register unspecified), stores it into
   `g_rpi5_dtb_ptr` for item 2's still-open constructor to read, then switches `sp` to a
   dedicated 2 MiB BSS stack (this path has no EDK2 boot stack to inherit — there is no EDK2 at
   all here, unlike every other entry path this codebase has). Intentionally halts (`wfe`/`b`
   loop) afterward rather than tail-calling into item 2's constructor, which doesn't exist yet.
   **Not yet linked at `0x80000`** — that needs its own linker script/build target (item 6's own
   `config.txt` work is the sibling piece; the separate-image build itself is not scoped into
   this item). Now tail-calls item 2's constructor (below) instead of halting — updated
   2026-09-04 when that item landed. Verified 3-arch boot to `ok>`/`zuse)ok>` —
   `Makefile.starkernel`'s `KERNEL_ASM` wildcards every `*.S` in `arch/aarch64/`, so this file
   compiles and links into the existing QEMU/UEFI acceptance build as dead code (unreferenced
   symbol, nothing there ever branches to it), same as `rpi5_dtb.c`/`rpi5_mailbox.c` before it.
2. **DTB → `BootInfo` constructor — DONE 2026-09-04.** New
   `include/starkernel/rpi5_native_boot.h` / `src/starkernel/arch/aarch64/rpi5_native_boot.c`:
   `rpi5_native_boot()` populates the *existing* `BootInfo` struct from the devicetree instead
   of UEFI protocols (`dtb` = the real pointer, `acpi_table`/`runtime_services` = `NULL`,
   `kernel_stack_base` = `NULL`/BSS-fallback — aarch64 has no `kernel_entry.S` trampoline at
   all, so item 1's own BSS stack already *is* the stack `kernel_main_impl` runs on),
   `args` via `/chosen`'s `bootargs` fed straight into the *existing*
   `cmdline_parse_ascii()` (pure C99, no UEFI coupling — confirmed before reusing it, not
   assumed), `framebuffer` via item 3's `rpi5_mailbox_get_framebuffer()` at a fixed
   1920x1080x32 default (no EDID query exists in this codebase — flagged, not guessed past
   this comment, revisit once real hardware and a real attached display are in hand), then
   calls the **existing, unmodified** `kernel_main()` — this is the crux of why most of M1–M9
   stays shared. `memory_map` comes from `/memory`'s own `reg`, honoring the *root* node's
   `#address-cells`/`#size-cells` (confirmed against `bcm2712.dtsi`'s actual root node — `<2>`/
   `<2>` — not assumed; a hardcoded-wrong cell width here would compile clean and boot clean in
   QEMU while silently corrupting the real memory map on real silicon, so this was verified
   from the source rather than recalled). Required a new `fdt_find_node_by_device_type()`
   (`fdt.c`/`fdt.h`) since `/memory` is identified by `device_type = "memory"` per DT spec
   §3.4, not `compatible`. Required a Makefile fix: `boot/cmdline.c` was only in `LOADER_SRCS_BASE`
   (the `.efi` target), not `KERNEL_SRCS_BASE` (the separate `.elf` target `arch/aarch64/*.c`
   also wildcards into) — added it there too, a real link failure caught before it could ship.
   **`/reserved-memory` carving — DONE 2026-09-04.** Originally deferred here as needing
   interval-splitting logic written blind against hardware not yet in hand — revisited once an
   actual reservation was confirmed to exist rather than assumed either way: fetched
   `bcm2712-ds.dtsi` directly and found a real `reserved-memory` node with one static child
   (`atf@0`, `reg`-addressed, ARM Trusted Firmware's own region) and one dynamic child
   (`linux,cma`, `size`/`alloc-ranges` only, no fixed address — skipped, nothing fixed to carve
   and no allocator this early to service it against anyway). `collect_reserved_ranges()`
   walks `reserved-memory`'s children via two new `fdt.c` primitives —
   `fdt_find_node_by_name()` (needed since `/reserved-memory` has neither `compatible` nor
   `device_type` per DT spec §3.5.4) and `fdt_next_child_node()` (one exported symbol, not the
   two-primitive general sibling-walker originally sketched — collapsed after review, since
   this codebase's only real use is "iterate one node's direct children," not general tree
   navigation) — reading each child's own `#address-cells`/`#size-cells` with a fallback to
   root's only if absent (confirmed necessary, not just defensive:
   `reserved-memory`'s own declared `<2>`/`<1>` genuinely differs from root's `<2>`/`<2>`).
   `emit_region_with_carveouts()` clips a sorted reserved-range list against each RAM region,
   emitting alternating `EfiConventionalMemory` gaps and `EfiReservedMemoryType` carve-outs
   (insertion sort, not `qsort` — freestanding, no libc). `no-map`/`reusable` flags are not
   distinguished; every static reservation is excluded from `EfiConventionalMemory` regardless.
   `RPI5_MAX_MEMMAP_ENTRIES` is the exact worst-case count
   (`RAM_REGIONS * (2*RESERVED_RANGES + 1)`), recomputed rather than estimated — the
   `rpi5_mailbox.c` buffer-size bug is the standing lesson for this pattern. Verified 3-arch
   boot to `ok>`/`zuse)ok>` — compile-only, same caveat as every item in this list: nothing in
   the existing UEFI/QEMU path calls `rpi5_native_boot()`, so this cannot be exercised until
   real hardware.
3. **Mailbox-property-interface framebuffer driver — DONE 2026-09-04.** New
   `include/starkernel/rpi5_mailbox.h` / `src/starkernel/arch/aarch64/rpi5_mailbox.c`:
   `rpi5_mailbox_get_framebuffer()` builds and sends one property-tag buffer (phys size, virt
   size, depth, pixel order, virtual offset, allocate-buffer, get-pitch), populating an
   `Rpi5FramebufferInfo` kept in exact field-for-field sync with `uefi.h`'s `FramebufferInfo`
   so `console.c`/`vt100.c`/`framebuffer.c` need no changes downstream. Register layout
   (`+0x00`/`+0x18` MBOX0 read/status, `+0x20`/`+0x38` MBOX1 write/status) confirmed against a
   Pi-5-specific bare-metal reference (main.lv), independently cross-checked against this
   codebase's own `rpi5_dtb.c` translated base address — two independent sources agreeing. A
   real buffer-overflow bug was found and fixed before compiling (the static request buffer
   was sized 32 words against an actual 35-word requirement, recomputed exactly rather than
   re-estimated; resized to 40 words for margin). **Two things flagged, not guessed, as
   genuinely unverified against real hardware:** the `TAG_ALLOCATE_BUFFER` tag's request-size
   field value (set to the response size, matching common practice across surveyed reference
   implementations, not a single spec-quoted number); and whether the allocate-buffer
   response address needs the classic `& 0x3FFFFFFF` bus-alias masking on Pi 5 specifically —
   kept defensively even though the same Pi-5-specific send-side reference found no bus-alias
   bit in play there. Verified 3-arch boot to `ok>`/`zuse)ok>` (compile-only — no caller yet;
   that's the entry-stub/DTB-constructor items above, still open).
4. **`fdt.c`/`fdt.h` extension — DONE 2026-09-04.** Added `fdt_find_node_by_compatible()`
   (matches any entry in a node's NUL-separated `compatible` list, first match in document
   order) and `fdt_find_prop_in_node()` (scoped to that one node's own direct properties only
   — stops at the first child node or the node's own end, never descends or continues into a
   sibling). Same minimal, non-tree-building style as the existing reader — no new state, no
   allocation, one linear scan per call. Verified 3-arch boot to `ok>`.

   **4a. UART + mailbox address lookup — DONE 2026-09-04.** New
   `include/starkernel/rpi5_dtb.h` / `src/starkernel/arch/aarch64/rpi5_dtb.c`:
   `rpi5_uart_base()`/`rpi5_mailbox_base()`, each `fdt_find_node_by_compatible()` (`"arm,pl011"`
   / `"brcm,bcm2835-mbox"`) → `fdt_find_prop_in_node(..., "reg", ...)`. **A real translation
   gap found and fixed before this could have been silently wrong**: confirmed directly
   against `bcm2712.dtsi` (raspberrypi/linux) that both peripherals live under one `soc`
   simple-bus node whose `ranges` property adds a fixed `0x10_0000_0000` offset to every
   child `reg` value — `fdt.c`'s reader deliberately does not apply `ranges` translation
   generally (not a general devicetree library), so this file applies that one, fixed,
   SoC-wide offset explicitly by name (`BCM2712_SOC_RANGES_OFFSET`), documented with the exact
   devicetree excerpt that confirmed it. Verified 3-arch boot to `ok>` (compile-only — these
   two functions have no caller yet; that's the entry-stub/framebuffer-driver items above,
   still open).
5. **`pci_init()` DTB path — RE-SCOPED 2026-09-04, this item's own original text was wrong.**
   Investigated before writing any code (per this document's own discipline) rather than
   building the originally-assumed "swap the ACPI MCFG lookup for a DTB one, same flat-ECAM
   access underneath" version — that assumption does not hold, confirmed against three primary
   sources, not guessed:
   - `bcm2712-rpi-5-b.dts` (real board file): RP1 is attached under `pcie2`
     (`pcie2: pcie@1000120000`, `compatible = "brcm,bcm2712-pcie"`) via
     `rp1_target: &pcie2 { status = "okay"; };`.
   - `pcie2`'s own `reg` is `<0x10 0x00120000 0x00 0x9310>` — a ~37 KB window, far too small to
     be a flat 256 MB ECAM region (256 buses × 1 MB) the way `pci.c`'s existing `ecam_*`
     functions assume.
   - The real Linux driver for `"brcm,bcm2712-pcie"` (`drivers/pci/controller/pcie-brcmstb.c`)
     confirms why: `brcm_pcie_map_bus()` computes a standard ECAM-shaped offset
     (`PCIE_ECAM_OFFSET(bus, devfn, 0)`) but does **not** read/write it directly — it writes
     that offset to an `IDX_ADDR` index register, then accesses the config data through a small
     windowed `DATA_ADDR` region. Root-complex-local accesses (`devfn == 0` on the root bus)
     skip the indirection and hit `base + PCIE_ECAM_REG(where)` directly; every downstream
     device access (RP1 included) goes through the index/data window.
   - This is a real **third config-access mechanism**, not a bigger version of "find the ECAM
     base in the DTB instead of ACPI." `pci.c`'s `cfg_read32`/`cfg_write32` family
     (`pci.c:188–232`) today dispatches exactly two ways, selected by `#ifdef ARCH_AMD64` vs.
     everything else (flat `ecam_*`) — and that `#ifdef` selection is itself now wrong for this
     case: QEMU aarch64 (flat ECAM via ACPI MCFG, real and working) and Pi 5 aarch64
     (Broadcom indirect windowing) are the **same build** (`ARCH=aarch64`), so the dispatch
     must become a runtime choice, not a compile-time one — a real change to a shared file all
     three architectures currently boot clean through, not a small addition.
   - **Secondary finding, corrected 2026-09-05 — not a current blocker.** This item originally
     claimed native boot's lack of a UEFI identity map means "**any** PCIe work on this path...
     needs its own explicit `vmm_map_range()` call." Traced against actual source rather than
     assumed: `arch_mmu_init()` is a stub on both non-amd64 ISAs (aarch64 and riscv64 alike,
     `arch/{aarch64,riscv64}/arch.c`), `vmm.c`'s own `load_cr3()` is a no-op outside
     `__x86_64__`, and — confirmed directly by this session's own riscv64 satp fix (§V.3
     item 7) — `satp` is explicitly left at Bare mode on that ISA. **No non-amd64 ISA ever
     turns its own MMU on today**, native or QEMU/UEFI boot alike; with translation off,
     VA==PA everywhere and there is nothing for a mapping call to do. The concern is real but
     conditional — it becomes a genuine prerequisite only once a future milestone actually
     brings up aarch64/riscv64 paging (`arch_mmu_init()`'s own stub comment: "deferred to a
     later milestone"), not before.
   - **Also checked while re-scoping, not previously stated: no silent-wrong-answer risk
     today.** With no ACPI table on the native Pi 5 boot path, `pci_init()`'s existing MCFG
     parse fails cleanly (`rc != 0`) and aarch64 takes no ECAM fallback (unlike riscv64's own
     QEMU-constant fallback) — it already prints `"PCI: MCFG parse failed on aarch64 — no
     ECAM"` and stops, rather than misreading RP1's 37 KB indirect-window `reg` as if it were
     flat 256 MB ECAM. No diagnostic gap to close here.
   - **Still not implemented, and the runtime-dispatch prerequisite re-examined 2026-09-05 —
     not separable from the Broadcom mode itself.** Considered building the "make dispatch
     runtime, not compile-time" half alone (reusing the DTB node-scoped lookup primitive that
     closed the aarch64 GIC base and riscv64 PLIC base findings, §IV.3/§V.3 item 7 and item 3)
     — rejected on inspection, not scope: `portio_read32()` and its siblings use `outl`/`inl`
     inline asm that cannot exist in an aarch64 or riscv64 translation unit at all, so any
     `case PCI_CFG_MODE_PORTIO:` referencing them must itself stay `#ifdef ARCH_AMD64`-gated.
     That leaves exactly one reachable case per architecture's build either way — an enum
     wearing the same compile-time selection, fixing nothing. The dispatch can only become
     genuinely runtime once a second real non-amd64 mechanism is actually compiled in, which
     means this "prerequisite" and the Broadcom mode below are one change, not two sequenceable
     ones.
   - **Broadcom indirect access: not implemented, reason is unverifiability and incompleteness,
     not size.** No QEMU model exists for `"brcm,bcm2712-pcie"` — no boot on this system can
     execute a new branch built for it, so unlike the GIC/PLIC DTB-discovery fixes (guard
     exercised, success branch pending hardware) this would be *zero* branches ever exercised
     before 2026-09-17. Separately, config-space access alone is not sufficient for RP1 to
     enumerate: `pcie-brcmstb.c`'s real driver does controller bring-up (link training, PERST,
     inbound/outbound window setup) before `brcm_pcie_map_bus()` returns anything but
     `0xFFFFFFFF` — implementing only the `IDX_ADDR`/`DATA_ADDR` index-window mechanism would
     compile and boot cleanly while silently never working, exactly the half-finished
     implementation this project's own conventions rule out. Recording the real shape remains
     this pass's deliverable; building it needs real Pi 5 + RP1 hardware to verify against, not
     available until 2026-09-17.
6. **`config.txt` contents — DONE, 2026-09-04.** Written to `boot_media/rpi5/config.txt`
   (new directory — `configs/` is Kconfig defconfigs, `img/` is banners/docs, neither fits).
   Researched against the official current `config.txt` reference
   (raspberrypi.com/documentation/computers/config_txt.html) and one real, working Pi 5
   bare-metal project's own checked-in `config.txt` (`leopoldch/BatMetal`), not assumed from
   general Pi knowledge. Final contents, with the reasoning as comments in the file itself:
   - `kernel=kernel_2712.img` — the real Pi-5-specific default filename firmware looks for
     first (falls back to `kernel8.img` if absent); naming our image this exactly removes
     ambiguity, so the item's own `kernel8.img`/`os_check=0` fallback alternative wasn't
     needed.
   - `os_check=0` — official docs name "bare-metal development" as the explicit use case for
     this flag. Kept despite BatMetal's own config.txt *not* setting it and still booting —
     recorded as an open discrepancy rather than silently resolved; no hardware in hand yet to
     confirm which behavior is actually gated.
   - `device_tree=bcm2712-rpi-5-b.dtb` — pins the DTB explicitly rather than relying on
     board-revision auto-selection (confirmed via WebSearch of `config.txt` syntax docs).
   - `enable_uart=1` — **correction to this item's own original text, which didn't have
     this.** Added per review: costs nothing when nothing is listening, and is the only
     diagnostic channel that survives a framebuffer failure on the first real boot (the
     mailbox framebuffer path, `rpi5_native_boot.c`, has two documented-unverified details
     and has never run on silicon). Enables the Pi 5's dedicated JST debug UART, not the
     GPIO 14/15 header (`dtoverlay=uart0`, deliberately left out — needs a USB-serial
     adapter this HDMI-only bring-up doesn't have). `rpi5_uart_base()` already exists
     and is currently uncalled — this is the hook a UART fallback console would use.
   - `arm_64bit=1` — **dropped, correction to this item's own original text.** Official
     docs: "Models that only support a 64-bit kernel ignore this flag" — confirmed inert on
     Pi 5, not wrong to include, just meaningless.
   - `dtparam=pciex1` — researched (BatMetal's own comment: "Required for RP1 access"), not
     included. Community-reported only, not confirmed against official docs, and surprising
     if true (RP1 is normally always-on). Not needed yet — item 5's real RP1/PCIe work is
     still re-scoped, not implemented. Revisit if that work needs it.
   - `boot_media/rpi5/README.md` also added, noting the one remaining gap this item's
     `config.txt` exposes but doesn't itself close: `kernel_2712.img` names a file nothing
     currently builds — item 1's separate-image build target (linking at `0x80000`) is still
     outstanding future work, same gap that item's own text already flagged.

7. **Code audit pass — DONE, 2026-09-04.** Reviewed `arch/aarch64/apic.c`, `arch.c`,
   `timer.c`, `interrupts.c` for the same class of QEMU-virt-vs-real-hardware assumption
   §III item 6's amd64 audit looked for. Report-only by default, per this project's own
   "identify, don't fix unless asked" rule — **all three findings below were fixed in code
   across two follow-up rounds, each named specifically by direct instruction after this
   audit landed**: the GIC base address (severe), the stale VBAR_EL2 doc comment (doc-only),
   and the hardcoded HVC PSCI conduit. §V.3's own parallel audit found a fourth finding of
   this same class (riscv64's `satp`-clear reasoning, lowest severity of the whole set) that
   remains report-only, not asked for. See each finding's own
   own text for what changed.

   **Finding — severe, confirmed live, blocked reaching `ok>` on real hardware as the code
   stood — FIXED 2026-09-04, per direct instruction (this item's own findings are normally
   report-only; this one was explicitly asked for by name).** `apic.c`'s own file header
   already self-documented `GICD_BASE_PA`/`GICC_BASE_PA` (`0x08000000`/`0x08010000`) as
   "QEMU-virt-machine constants... a deliberate, recorded exception," reasoned correctly at
   the time it was written: no DTB was ever available to discover them from, because QEMU's
   own aarch64 UEFI firmware doesn't forward one. That premise no longer held — the native
   boot path (item 2, DONE) receives a real DTB directly and calls the same, unmodified
   `kernel_main()` M4 sequence, which calls `apic_init(boot_info)` unconditionally
   (confirmed: `kernel_main.c:413`, no arch- or boot-path gating) — `apic_init()` itself
   ignored `boot_info` entirely and always programmed the QEMU addresses. The real BCM2712
   GIC-400 is at `0x10_7fff9000` (distributor) / `0x10_7fffa000` (CPU interface 0) —
   confirmed directly against `bcm2712.dtsi`'s own `axi`/`gicv2` nodes
   (`compatible = "arm,gic-400"`, `#address-cells = <2>`/`#size-cells = <2>`, `axi`'s own
   `ranges` identity-mapping this region — no offset needed, unlike `rpi5_dtb.c`'s
   1-cell/offset `soc` peripherals), not recalled.
   **Fix**: `apic.c` now tries `gic_bases_from_dtb()` first — `fdt_valid(dtb)` →
   `fdt_find_node_by_compatible(dtb, "arm,gic-400")` → `fdt_find_prop_in_node(..., "reg",
   ...)`, reading the first two 2-address-cell/2-size-cell entries (GICD, then GICC — the
   standard arm,gic-400 binding order) — and falls back to the QEMU constants only when no
   DTB or no matching node is found, so the existing QEMU/UEFI path's behaviour (verified via
   the mandatory 3-arch boot) is unchanged. `GICD_BASE_PA`/`GICC_BASE_PA` became
   `s_gicd_base`/`s_gicc_base` (module-static `uintptr_t`, not `#define`s, since they're no
   longer compile-time constants on this path) — every MMIO call site (`apic_init()`,
   `apic_spi_enable()`, `apic_read_iar()`, `apic_eoi_intid()`) now reads through them.
   The 3-arch acceptance run exercised the *guard*, not just compiled it: `apic_init()`'s
   `gic_bases_from_dtb()` call runs unconditionally on every aarch64 boot, including this
   one, and its `fdt_valid()` check correctly returned 0 on this system's QEMU/UEFI firmware
   — confirmed via the boot log's own `GICv2: no DTB GIC node -- using QEMU virt-machine
   defaults` line, followed by the unchanged `distributor+CPU interface enabled, PPI 30`.
   What remains genuinely unexercised is the *success* branch (a real DTB with a matching
   `"arm,gic-400"` node) — that needs a devicetree this build never has, so it stays
   unverified until real Pi 5 hardware, same caveat as every other native-path item in this
   list.
   **Finding — doc-only, not a functional gap — FIXED (comment corrected) 2026-09-04, per
   direct instruction naming it specifically.** `arch_interrupts_init()`'s own doc comment
   in `interrupts.c` claimed "`VBAR_EL1` is written unconditionally regardless of the
   detected level... if EL2, this is a known gap" — checked against `isr.S`
   (`aarch64_install_vectors`, lines 124–146) and found **stale**: the actual implementation
   already branches on `aarch64_current_el()` and writes `vbar_el2`/`vbar_el1` correctly,
   with `el2_mode_flag` threading the same answer through the IRQ trampoline for
   `ELR_EL1`/`SPSR_EL1` vs `ELR_EL2`/`SPSR_EL2` selection. Rewrote the doc comment and the
   matching runtime console message (which made the identical stale claim — "not yet
   wired, see item 0.5/0.7") to describe what `isr.S` actually does, and fixed a
   same-vintage one-word staleness in `arch.c`'s own `aarch64_install_vectors` extern
   comment ("installs `VBAR_EL1`" → EL-aware) caught while touching this. No behavior
   changed anywhere — this was purely three comments correcting themselves to match code
   that was already right. Which EL the Pi 5's ATF hands the kernel off at under the native
   path is itself still unconfirmed (the `atf@0` reserved-memory region found during item
   2's work only establishes that EL3 firmware exists, not which EL the kernel lands at) —
   moot for this specific fix now that both paths are correctly wired regardless of which EL
   is chosen, but worth knowing for other EL-dependent code.
   **Finding — same defect class as amd64's `arch_cold_reset()` finding, on the QEMU side of
   this arch specifically — FIXED 2026-09-04, per direct instruction naming it
   specifically.** `arch/aarch64/arch.c`'s `arch_cold_reset()` issued PSCI `SYSTEM_RESET` via
   `HVC` unconditionally — a fix already documented in-file as a QEMU-specific workaround,
   because QEMU's AAVMF firmware has no genuine EL3/TrustZone secure monitor to answer an
   `SMC`. The Pi 5's real ATF (confirmed present via the `atf@0` reservation) is exactly the
   kind of genuine EL3 firmware PSCI's `SMC` conduit assumes — confirmed further this pass:
   `bcm2712.dtsi`'s own `/psci` node declares `method = "smc"` directly, not inferred from
   ATF's mere presence. **Fix**: new `aarch64_psci_conduit_init(dtb)` (`arch.c`) —
   `fdt_valid(dtb)` → `fdt_find_node_by_compatible(dtb, "arm,psci-1.0")` →
   `fdt_find_prop_in_node(..., "method", ...)` — sets a module-static `s_psci_use_smc` flag
   to 1 only when the DTB's own `method` property reads exactly `"smc"`; every other
   outcome (no DTB, no PSCI node, `method="hvc"`, property absent) leaves it at its default
   0, preserving the exact HVC behaviour this system's QEMU boot already relies on.
   `arch_cold_reset()` now branches on that flag between the `smc #0`/`hvc #0` trap
   instructions; the function ID and calling convention are identical either way, matching
   the file's own existing comment about that. Called once from `apic_init()`
   (`arch/aarch64/apic.c`), the one point in boot with `boot_info->dtb` already in hand —
   collocated in `arch.c`, not `apic.c`, because `arch_cold_reset()` is the actual consumer
   and has no `boot_info` of its own by the time it runs (called from deep in VM execution,
   via `BYE`). Riscv64's equivalent (`arch/riscv64/arch.c`, SBI SRST) remains the one cold-
   reset implementation across all three architectures that never needed this kind of fix —
   still worth naming as the standard the other two moved toward, one now fixed, amd64's
   i8042-pulse version still open. 3-arch acceptance exercised the guard (this system's QEMU
   AAVMF forwards no DTB, so `aarch64_psci_conduit_init()` hits its own "no DTB" branch and
   `arch_cold_reset()` keeps using HVC, unchanged) but not the `SMC` success branch itself —
   that stays unverified until real Pi 5 hardware runs `BYE`.

**Hardware-dependent, after 2026-09-17 (not started until then):**
8. Build the boot media (SD card: `config.txt`, `bcm2712-rpi-5-b.dtb`, kernel image).
9. Connect HDMI + keyboard (observation decision above).
10. Boot; confirm `ok>`/`zuse)ok>` reached.
11. Mint a Zuse identity on real media, confirm re-attach — the `v2.4.0` gate's own
    requirement, same shape as amd64's.
12. Update this section with results before moving to riscv64's own hardware-dependent steps.

## V. riscv64 — Milk-V Mars

**Already true:** `ROADMAP.md` names this (generically, "Milk-V") as part of `v2.5.0`'s gate:
boots on the real board, the Zkr (RNDR) entropy backend live. Same gap as aarch64:
`rng_get_bytes()` has no riscv64 hardware-RNG path today, only `virtio-rng`.

### V.1 — Boot chain: resolved, researched 2026-09-04

**Resolved, not left open.** The Mars is a documented mainline U-Boot board target in its own
right ([U-Boot docs — Milk-V Mars](https://docs.u-boot.org/en/latest/board/starfive/milk-v_mars.html)),
and it uses **the exact same U-Boot binaries as the StarFive VisionFive 2** — same SoC
(StarFive JH7110), board identity detected at SPL time, devicetree patched accordingly, no
separate Mars-specific firmware. This directly answers §V's own previously-open question:
**U-Boot + OpenSBI + devicetree, not UEFI** — same fork this kernel already decided for
aarch64 (§IV.1), now confirmed for riscv64 too.

**Boot chain, concretely:**
1. BootROM (ZSBL), StarFive's on-chip loader at `0x2A000000`, selects boot media by GPIO pins.
2. U-Boot SPL (FSBL) — initializes DRAM, configures PLLs.
3. OpenSBI (`fw_dynamic.bin`) — M-mode runtime services.
4. U-Boot main, S-mode, depends on OpenSBI.
5. Boot media: QSPI flash (recommended) or UART XMODEM (recovery). SD/eMMC boot modes are
   deprecated in current U-Boot.

**Entry protocol, from real VisionFive 2 bare-metal work (same SoC, directly applicable per
§VI's own cross-reference):**
- Entry point `0x40000000`.
- Core identification via the `mhartid` CSR — the SiFive S7 monitor core is hart 0, the four
  U74 application cores are harts 1–4 (matches the QEMU riscv64 target's own hart numbering
  convention already assumed elsewhere in this codebase — worth double-checking, not
  assuming, once real hardware is in hand).
- UART at `0x10000000`, 115200 baud, already initialized by firmware before handoff.
- Custom bare-metal images package via `vf2-imager` (invokes U-Boot's `mkimage`) into a FIT
  image — same tooling should apply to the Mars, unconfirmed until tried.
- **Not yet found**: what registers carry the DTB pointer/hart ID at the actual kernel entry
  point under this specific chain (the source consulted covered the image-packaging tooling,
  not the OpenSBI→kernel handoff register convention). **Resolved 2026-09-04**: standard
  RISC-V SBI boot protocol, confirmed via OpenSBI's own docs — `a0`=hart ID, `a1`=DTB pointer,
  S-mode entry. Not chain-specific guesswork; this is the universal convention OpenSBI's
  `FW_DYNAMIC` firmware type uses regardless of vendor, so it applies to this chain directly.

**What this means for the codebase** — same shape of fork as aarch64 (§IV.1): a non-UEFI
entry path, a DTB-driven `BootInfo` equivalent (the existing `starkernel/hal/fdt.c` reader
extends here too, same as for the Pi 5), no ACPI.

**Decided in conversation, 2026-09-04: observation is HDMI-only**, same reasoning and same
constraint as the Pi 5 (§IV) — no bridge hardware available for this board's own first
bring-up either; the Mars has its own HDMI 2.0 output (§VI).

### V.2 — Peripheral RNG and Zkr: still genuinely open

- Zkr/RNDR instruction availability on the Mars's actual CPU (riscv64 Scalar Crypto extension
  support varies by implementation) — not yet confirmed; the VisionFive 2 bare-metal research
  above didn't surface this either, would need its own targeted look (or a real-hardware
  probe of `misa`/the Zkr extension discovery mechanism). Deliberately **not a blocker for
  first boot**, same reasoning as §IV.2's aarch64 RNG gap — `rng_get_bytes()` already
  WARNs rather than hard-fails with no backend.
- **Whether the Mars needs the same pinned-GPIO-VM treatment as the Pi 5** — explicitly
  **not decided either way**, per direct instruction ("same for Milk-V (? not sure here)").
  See `FABRIC-4.md` §2. The Mars does have its own 40-pin GPIO header (§VI), so the open
  question is the VM architecture around it, not whether the hardware exists.

### V.3 — Punch list: design/code work, no hardware needed (before 2026-09-17)

Traced against real code before writing this, same discipline as §IV.3: `pci_init()`
(`kernel_main.c:589`, unconditional) is the one real `acpi_table` consumer relevant here too
— the Mars's M.2 E-Key slot (§VI) is PCIe-attached, same shape of gap as the Pi 5's RP1.
`riscv64/timer.c` is **already** fully DTB-driven (both `timebase-frequency` and this
session's own hypervisor-detection check) — no further work needed there; it was built DTB-
first from the start, unlike aarch64's timer which needed a new ACPI-based check today.

**One real, already-flagged risk found while tracing this — FIXED 2026-09-05, see item 3
below.** `arch/riscv64/apic.c`'s own doc comment said the PLIC base address was "a constant,
not discovered from `boot_info->dtb`" — and `arch/riscv64/plic.c`'s own doc comment
(predating this document) already warned `PLIC_BASE`/`PLIC_CONTEXT_S` are "QEMU-virt-
specific... not assumed stable across" other configurations. That warning was concrete: the
JH7110's real PLIC address on the Mars was not confirmed to match QEMU-virt's, and the
interrupt controller would not have worked correctly if it didn't.

1. **Entry stub**: new native riscv64 entry point at `0x40000000` (§V.1), receiving `a0`=hart
   ID, `a1`=DTB pointer directly (now-confirmed SBI convention) — no UEFI, no PE loader.
2. **DTB → `BootInfo` constructor**: same shape as aarch64's (§IV.3 item 2) — `dtb`=real
   pointer, `acpi_table`=`NULL`, memory map from DTB `/memory`+`/reserved-memory`, `args` from
   `/chosen`/`bootargs`.
3. **PLIC base address: make it DTB-discovered — DONE 2026-09-05.** `plic_init()`
   (`arch/riscv64/plic.c`) now takes `boot_info->dtb`, passed through from `apic_init()`
   (`arch/riscv64/apic.c`), and tries `fdt_find_node_by_compatible(dtb, "sifive,plic-1.0.0")`
   → `fdt_find_prop_in_node(..., "reg", ...)` before falling back to the QEMU-virt constant —
   exactly the primitive built for the aarch64 GIC base fix (§IV.3 item 7), reused unchanged.
   `s_plic_base` is now a runtime `uintptr_t`, not a `#define`, same shape as apic.c's
   `s_gicd_base`/`s_gicc_base`. **Correction, same day**: this document's own text at this
   point originally predicted the success branch would run under QEMU, on the strength of a
   stale claim in `plic.c`'s own pre-fix header ("riscv64 DTB access does work, unlike
   aarch64") — checked against the actual boot log rather than trusted, and it doesn't hold
   for this system's QEMU/UEFI riscv64 firmware specifically: `timer.c`'s own
   `timebase-frequency` read falls back too (`"Timer: RISC-V time CSR @ 10000000 Hz
   (FALLBACK, no devicetree)"`), and the new PLIC line confirms the same thing —
   `"PLIC: no DTB PLIC node -- using QEMU virt-machine default (base=0x0c000000)"`. So this
   fix is evidentially in the same position as the GIC fix: the guard (no-DTB fallback) is
   exercised and correct, the success branch (a real DTB with a matching PLIC node) remains
   unverified until real hardware. The stale claim that misled this paragraph's first draft
   lived only in `plic.c`'s old header and was already replaced by this fix's own comment —
   not re-introduced. The Mars's real JH7110 `reg` value stays unconfirmed either way — the
   compatible string is architectural (SiFive PLIC-1.0.0 is a standard binding), not
   board-specific, but no
   hardware exists yet to check the Mars's own DTB against it.
4. **Framebuffer for HDMI output**: JH7110's display path is genuinely unresearched this
   pass — unlike the Pi 5's mailbox interface (well-documented, reused across many Pi bare-
   metal projects), no equivalent research done yet for JH7110's own display controller.
   Flagged here rather than assumed simple.
5. **`pci_init()` DTB path — the "shares §IV.3 item 5's code" framing is now wrong, corrected
   2026-09-04.** §IV.3 item 5's own investigation found the Pi 5's RP1 sits behind a
   Broadcom-specific indirect config-access window (`"brcm,bcm2712-pcie"`, confirmed against
   `pcie-brcmstb.c`), not flat ECAM — a SoC-specific mechanism with no reason to assume it
   matches JH7110's own PCIe controller. The "one implementation, two consumers" plan this line
   originally stated no longer holds; the Mars's M.2 E-Key slot needs its **own** primary-source
   check of JH7110's actual PCIe controller (compatible string, `reg` window size, and whether
   its Linux driver uses flat ECAM or its own indirect scheme) before any implementation
   decision, same discipline §IV.3 item 5 itself just applied. Not yet done.
6. **Boot image packaging**: `vf2-imager`/`mkimage`-based FIT image (§V.1) — confirm this
   tooling's actual invocation once building the first real image, not just cited from
   VisionFive 2 research.

7. **Code audit pass — DONE, 2026-09-04.** Reviewed `arch/riscv64/apic.c`, `plic.c`,
   `arch.c`, `interrupts.c`, `timer.c` for the same class of QEMU-virt-vs-real-hardware
   assumption §III item 6's amd64 audit and item 7 above's aarch64 audit looked for.
   Report-only by default — the `satp`-clear finding below was fixed in code, per direct
   instruction naming it specifically after this audit landed. The other findings (PLIC
   base, already tracked as item 3 above; the clean SBI/SBI-SRST findings) needed no code
   change either way.

   **Clean, and the most portable pattern of all three architectures**: the SBI timer path
   (`apic.c`) is genuinely hardware-independent — it probes for the TIME extension at
   runtime and reports loudly rather than assuming it's present, so it depends on nothing
   but OpenSBI itself, present on both QEMU and (per §V.1's own research) the Mars's real
   U-Boot+OpenSBI chain. `arch_cold_reset()` (`arch.c`) uses the SBI SRST extension — a real
   standards-defined mechanism, not a board-specific hack — making it the one of the three
   architectures' cold-reset implementations that does **not** need a finding here (contrast
   amd64's i8042-pulse hack and aarch64's HVC-hardcoded PSCI call, both flagged above/in
   §III). `timer.c` is confirmed DTB-first as this section's own preamble already stated:
   `timebase-frequency` is read via `fdt_prop_u32()` with a *named* QEMU-only fallback
   (`RISCV_TIMEBASE_HZ_FALLBACK`) used only when the DTB is absent or invalid.
   **Finding — already tracked, this pass confirms rather than discovers it**: `plic.c`'s
   `PLIC_BASE`/`PLIC_CONTEXT_S` hardcoded-to-QEMU-virt situation is exactly item 3 above,
   already flagged as "a real punch-list item, not a hypothetical" before this audit ran.
   Nothing new to add beyond confirming the file's own header comment is accurate and the
   risk is real, not overstated.
   **Finding — minor, reasoning didn't transfer to the native path — FIXED 2026-09-04, per
   direct instruction naming it specifically.** `arch_early_init()`'s explicit `satp` clear
   (Bare-mode switch) was justified in its own comment entirely by behavior *observed under
   QEMU's EDK2 RISC-V firmware* (confirmed `satp.MODE=10`/Sv57 live, kernel identity-mapped
   within it). Under the native boot path (U-Boot+OpenSBI, no UEFI/EDK2 at all per §V.1)
   that specific observation cannot apply — OpenSBI's S-mode handoff conventionally already
   leaves `satp=0` (Bare mode), most likely making the unconditional switch a harmless no-op
   there, but on an unverified assumption rather than a checked one.
   **Fix**: rather than build a general Sv39/Sv48/Sv57 page-table walker just to *prove* the
   running address is identity-mapped before switching (out of proportion to this finding's
   own severity), `arch_early_init()` now reads `satp.MODE` first and **skips the switch
   entirely when it's already 0** — the expected case on a from-Bare native boot, needing no
   safety argument at all since there's nothing to switch away from. The unconditional
   `csrw satp, x0`/`sfence.vma` pair still runs, unchanged, for the confirmed QEMU/EDK2 case
   (`mode != 0`), where the identity-mapping argument remains the actual justification it
   always was. If the native path somehow reaches the non-zero branch anyway (OpenSBI
   leaving a non-Bare `satp`, not confirmed either way), the code says so explicitly in its
   own comment now rather than silently relying on the QEMU-only observation. Verified against
   the riscv64 boot log's own `satp.MODE` print, not assumed: this system's QEMU/EDK2 boot
   shows `satp.MODE = 0x000000000000000a` (Sv57) at kernel entry, so the `mode != 0` branch
   ran and printed `satp cleared -- Bare mode, explicit` exactly as before the fix — the
   unconditional-switch path is unchanged on the one boot path that exercises it. amd64 and
   aarch64 don't compile this file at all, so their part of the 3-arch acceptance run is pure
   non-regression on files untouched by this fix, not evidence about the guard itself.

**Hardware-dependent, after 2026-09-17:**
8. Build and flash the boot image to QSPI flash (or attempt UART XMODEM recovery boot if QSPI
   flashing isn't set up yet — both are real supported paths per §V.1).
9. Connect HDMI + keyboard.
10. Boot; confirm `ok>`/`zuse)ok>` reached.
11. Mint a Zuse identity on real media, confirm re-attach — the `v2.5.0` gate's own
    requirement.
12. Update this section with results.

---

## VI. Hardware identification reference

Per-board SoC/CPU facts, consolidated here so later sections don't have to re-derive them.
Researched 2026-09-04 (web search, sources cited); anything not directly confirmed against
the actual unit in hand is flagged as such rather than assumed.

### amd64 — Beelink SER5 (reference/development machine)

- **CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 family.** Beelink has shipped the "SER5" name with several different
  Ryzen 7 SKUs over its product life (5700U, 5800H, 7735HS all confirmed to exist under this
  branding) — **exact SKU on this unit not yet confirmed**; check `dmesg`/BIOS/the physical
  unit when convenient (`cat /proc/cpuinfo` or the BIOS splash screen under Linux/before
  LithosAnanke boots, since LithosAnanke itself has no CPU-identification word yet). Not
  load-bearing for this document's own genericity requirement (§III) — the boot path must not
  depend on which SKU this is, by design — but worth pinning down for this reference's own
  accuracy.
- **Architecture generation**: Zen2 (5700U/5800H) or Zen3 (7735HS) depending on the SKU above
  — matters for any future CPU-feature-detection work (e.g. RDRAND is present on all of
  these; that part's already confirmed live via `rng: backend = rdrand`, §III).
- Sources: [Gentoo wiki — SER5 5560U](https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Beelink_SER5_AMD_Ryzen_5_5560U_Mini_PC),
  [Starry Hope — SER5](https://www.starryhope.com/minipcs/models/beelink-ser5-mini-pc/),
  [Starry Hope — SER5 Pro](https://www.starryhope.com/minipcs/models/beelink-ser5-pro-mini-pc/),
  [Minixpc — SER5 Max](https://minixpc.com/blogs/news/beelink-ser5-max-review-powered-by-amd-ryzen7-5800h-processor).

### aarch64 — Raspberry Pi 5 (sole target)

- **SoC: Broadcom BCM2712.**
- **CPU**: quad-core 64-bit Arm Cortex-A76, 2.4 GHz, 512 KB per-core L2 cache, 2 MB shared L3.
- **GPU**: VideoCore VII, 12-core, 800 MHz, OpenGL ES 3.1 + Vulkan 1.2 (not relevant to
  LithosAnanke's own framebuffer work — that goes through the mailbox property interface,
  §IV.1 — but recorded here for completeness).
- **RAM**: LPDDR4X-4267, board variants at 1/2/4/8/16 GB, 32-bit memory interface, ~17 GB/s
  bandwidth.
- **I/O**: RP1 companion chip (PCIe 2.0 x4-attached) handles GPIO, USB 2.0/3.0, Gigabit
  Ethernet, CSI/DSI, analog video — confirmed separately (§IV.2) to have no RNG peripheral in
  its own published peripheral list.
- **Cortex-A76 and `FEAT_RNG` (ARMv8.5 `RNDR`/`RNDRRS`)**: not confirmed present — A76 is not
  among the cores that typically implement this feature (more common on newer cores like
  Cortex-X2/A710); if this matters for any future entropy-source decision, verify via `ID_AA64ISAR0_EL1`
  directly on the real board rather than assuming either way.
- Sources: [CNX Software — Pi 5 launch](https://www.cnx-software.com/2023/09/28/raspberry-pi-5-sbc-broadcom-bcm2712-quad-core-cortex-a76-soc/),
  [Raspberry Pi — Processors doc](https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/computers/processors.html),
  [sbcwiki — BCM2712](https://sbcwiki.com/docs/soc-manufacturers/broadcom/bcm2712/boards/rasperrypi-5/).

### riscv64 — Milk-V Mars (sole target)

- **SoC: StarFive JH7110**, 28 nm.
- **CPU**: 4× SiFive U74-MC application cores (RV64GC) + 1× SiFive S7 monitor core, up to
  1.5 GHz.
- **RAM**: up to 8 GB LPDDR4; storage via eMMC slot + microSD slot.
- **I/O**: 3× USB 3.0, 1× USB 2.0, HDMI 2.0 (4K), Gigabit Ethernet with PoE support, M.2 E-Key
  (WiFi/BT), 4-lane + 2-lane MIPI CSI, 40-pin GPIO header.
- **Physical**: designed to Raspberry Pi 3B dimensions — cases/heatsinks/fans for that form
  factor are compatible.
- **Multimedia**: H.264/H.265 4K@60fps decode, H.265 1080p@30fps encode (not relevant to
  LithosAnanke's own bring-up, recorded for completeness).
- Same JH7110 SoC as the StarFive VisionFive 2 — any VisionFive 2 bring-up material found
  while researching §V's own boot-chain question is likely directly applicable here too, worth
  checking first before assuming Mars-specific research is needed from scratch.
- Sources: [milkv.io — Mars overview](https://milkv.io/docs/mars/overview),
  [milkv.io — Mars product page](https://milkv.io/mars),
  [TinyComputers.io — Mars review](https://tinycomputers.io/posts/milk-v-mars-review.html).

### Noted for later, not yet in scope — BeagleBone Black

Added to this reference per direct instruction 2026-09-04, **recorded only — no work scoped
around it yet.** Genuinely different from the three targets above: the BeagleBone Black's
SoC is a **32-bit ARM** part, not aarch64 — a fourth architecture this kernel has no support
for at all today (amd64/aarch64/riscv64 only), not another board under an existing one.

- **SoC: TI Sitara AM335x.**
- **CPU**: single-core ARM Cortex-A8, 1 GHz, armv7-a (32-bit) — up to ~2000 MIPS.
- **RAM**: 512 MB DDR3L. Storage: 4 GB eMMC (default boot source) + microSD (secondary/
  overridable to primary).
- **Other on-die units**: PowerVR SGX530 3D GPU; 2× PRU (Programmable Realtime Unit) 32-bit
  200 MHz microcontrollers — real-time I/O coprocessors, no equivalent on any of the three
  boards above; crypto accelerators.
- **Boot modes**: eMMC, microSD, serial, USB.
- Sources: [element14 — BBB product page](https://www.element14.com/community/docs/DOC-84108/l/beaglebone-black-development-board-with-1ghz-am335x-arm%C3%A3%C3%A2-cortex-a8-processor),
  [TI.com — BEAGL-BONE-BLACK](https://www.ti.com/tool/BEAGL-BONE-BLACK).

### Noted for later, not yet in scope — Zynq-7000 (Puzhi PZ7010/PZ7020 "StarLite")

Added per direct instruction 2026-09-04, **recorded only — no work scoped around it yet.**
Unlike BeagleBone Black above, this one isn't a random addition: `ROADMAP.md` already names
**Zynq FPGA as the next big milestone beyond v2.5.0** — "the step where the battle-tested
amd64/aarch64/riscv64 story rides on configurable silicon," and the three-product split
decided alongside it names "hardware steady-state machinery with sealed executions,
HOL-proven" as the FPGA-native product this board would ultimately serve. This entry just
puts a concrete, purchasable board under that already-named milestone.

- **Board**: Puzhi PZ7010-StarLite (XC7Z010) or PZ7020-StarLite (XC7Z020) — same board design,
  two SoC variants. 90×60mm, black PCB, immersion gold finish.
- **SoC: Xilinx/AMD Zynq-7000**, combining a **Processing System (PS)** — dual-core ARM
  Cortex-A9, up to 667 MHz (`-1` speed grade) or 800 MHz (`-2`, XC7Z020 only) — with
  **Programmable Logic (PL)**, 28 nm Artix-7/Kintex-7-based FPGA fabric. Genuinely a fifth
  architecture class in this reference: ARMv7-A again (like BeagleBone Black), but a
  different core (Cortex-A9 vs. A8) *and* an FPGA fabric with no equivalent on any board
  above — this is the "configurable silicon" milestone `ROADMAP.md` already flagged as
  reshaping the hardware story (soft/hard CPU cores, PL fabric, non-standard memory map,
  custom peripherals), not a small per-board addition even in concept.
- **PS details** (identical between both variants): 256 KB on-chip memory, DDR3 controller,
  32 KB I-cache + 32 KB D-cache per core, 512 KB shared L2.
- **PL resources (the actual XC7Z010 vs. XC7Z020 difference)**: XC7Z010 — 4,400 logic slices,
  17,600 6-input LUTs, 35,200 flip-flops, 270 KB block RAM, 80 DSP slices. XC7Z020 — 13,300
  logic slices, 53,200 LUTs, 106,400 flip-flops, 630 KB block RAM, 220 DSP slices.
- **RAM/storage**: 512 MB/1 GB DDR3, QSPI flash, EEPROM, SD boot.
- **I/O**: JTAG, UART, HDMI out, Gigabit Ethernet, USB 2.0 host, 40-pin expansion; MIPI CSI on
  the 7020 variant only.
- Sources: [Puzhi — PZ7010-StarLite](https://www.en.puzhi.com/Product/AMD-FPGA-Development-Board/Zynq-7000-SoC/PZ7010-StarLite),
  [Puzhi — PZ7020-StarLite](https://www.en.puzhi.com/Product/AMD-FPGA-Development-Board/Zynq-7000-SoC/PZ7020-StarLite),
  [Xilinx/AMD — Zynq-7000 SoC Data Sheet (DS190)](https://www.mouser.com/datasheet/2/903/ds190-Zynq-7000-Overview-1595492.pdf),
  [PCBSync — XC7Z010 vs XC7Z020 comparison](https://pcbsync.com/xilinx-xc7z010/).

## VII. xHCI/BOT driver: single-device architecture must go multi-device — CLOSED 2026-09-05

**Closure note, 2026-09-05:** implemented and live-verified per §VII.6's punch list, items 1-5
and 7 (item 6, file consolidation, was explicitly optional and not done; item 8, resume
minting, is the next task). Per-slot registry (`xhci_msc_slot_t`/`dev->msc_slots`, sized off
`dev->max_slots`) now holds every persistent per-device field; the boot-time scan no longer
`break`s after the first connected port; a dropped connect/disconnect during a busy Command
Ring is now queued (`dev->pending_events[]`) and drained instead of lost;
`blkio_usb.c`/`repl.c`'s own singletons became per-slot registries the same way.

**A second, more severe bug found only through live multi-device testing, not scoped in the
original plan:** `transfer_purpose`/`pending_transfer_slot_id` and `next_action`/
`next_action_slot_id` were *also* single scalars shared across the whole controller, not just
the fields named in §VII.2's original inventory. With two devices genuinely enumerating
concurrently, a second device's own EP0/bulk completion could silently overwrite the first
device's still-outstanding one before its real hardware completion arrived — the first device
then stalled forever with no error, no timeout, nothing to see in the log except the *other*
device's own progress. Confirmed live: a two-device boot (Zuse's drive + a blank second drive)
hung indefinitely at the exact point this predicts, recovered by moving both fields to
`xhci_msc_slot_t` (`transfer_purpose`) and driving `next_action` dispatch as a per-slot scan
at the end of `xhci_poll_events()`, and — critically — reading the Transfer Event TRB's own
real Slot ID field (`XHCI_EVT_SLOT_ID(trb->control)`, xHCI 1.2 table 6-38) instead of trusting
external bookkeeping for which device a completion belongs to.

**Verified live, all three architectures, `clean qemu` (mandatory acceptance), single-device
path unchanged:** amd64/aarch64/riscv64 all reach `(zuse) ok>` with the existing single
`ZUSEDISK` attach path, no regression.

**Verified live, amd64, the actual fix (item 7b):** Zuse's drive + a second blank drive
(`bob-thumb-ident.img`) both attached from boot (`-device usb-storage,bus=xhci0.0,...` twice).
Diagnostic probes (written, run, reverted — not committed) confirmed both slots independently
progress through Enable Slot → Address Device → GET_DEVICE_DESC → GET_CONFIG_DESC →
Configure Endpoint → SET_CONFIGURATION without either corrupting or stalling the other; Zuse's
own device completed the full chain, attached, and authenticated (`Zuse: identity confirmed
from attached thumbdrive`) while the second device was still independently mid-enumeration —
concurrent progress, not serialized-and-got-lucky. The second (blank) drive's own full
attach-to-completion was not separately confirmed to finish within the bounded test window
(TCG timing, not a correctness question) — not a red flag, since the property being tested
(no cross-device corruption/starvation) was already established by both devices advancing
independently.

**Not done, out of scope for this pass:** true simultaneous minting of all 8 identity drives
(§VII.6 item 8) — next task. Sequential QMP hot-swap (the original mint script) remains valid
too; simultaneous attach is now also an option, not the only one.


**Status 2026-09-05: design + punch list only. No code has been touched. Halted pending
Captain Bob's explicit "okay" to begin implementation** — this section exists to write the
decision down before building, per this project's own standing methodology
([[feedback_fabric_series_effective_methodology]]).

### VII.1 — How this surfaced

While scoping the identity-thumbdrive minting workflow (8 real WIREBIND/Zuse identities to
be minted from blank images in `disk/thumbdrives/`), the plan called for hot-swapping a
single USB slot via QMP because the kernel's xHCI/BOT stack tracks exactly one attached mass-
storage device at a time. Bob interrupted before that script ran: *"Wait! We can only have
one usb slot. is that a QEMU limitation?"* It is not — confirmed live via `qemu-xhci`'s own
multi-port root hub and this driver's own `port_slot_id[XHCI_MAX_TRACKED_PORTS]` (32 tracked
ports, `include/starkernel/xhci.h:515`), which is already multi-port-aware. Everything
*downstream* of port/slot correlation is a deliberate single-device singleton, dating to
Milestones 2e–2h. Bob's ruling: *"We MUST fix that! It was a deliberate choice at that time
and is no longer true, much in the same way a build flag for console."* — same class of
correction as the headless-console change (§ pending its own FABRIC writeup): a simplification
that was right when made, and is stale now that the project needs it to not be true.

### VII.2 — Exact scope of the singleton (full inventory, code-verified, not recalled)

`port_slot_id[]` (`xhci_driver.h:58`) is the only field in `xhci_dev_t` that is already an
array. Every field downstream of a successful Address Device is a single reused scalar, each
with an explicit "single-device scope" comment written at the time it was added:

**Connect / enumerate state machine:**
- `connect_state`, `pending_connect_port_id`, `pending_connect_slot_id` (`xhci_driver.h:59,70-79`)
- `input_ctx`, `device_ctx`, `ep0_ring` (`xhci_driver.h:91-95`) — "only ever addresses one
  device at a time"

**Control-transfer / descriptor state machine:**
- `transfer_purpose`, `pending_transfer_slot_id` (`xhci_driver.h:113-126`)
- `device_descriptor[18]`, `config_descriptor[128]` (`xhci_driver.h:127-128`) — "reused, not
  per-slot"
- `bulk_in_ep_addr`/`bulk_out_ep_addr`, `bulk_in_ring`/`bulk_out_ring`, endpoint max-packet
  fields (`xhci_driver.h:139-157`)

**BOT (Bulk-Only Transport / SCSI) state machine** (`xhci_driver.h:159-274`):
- `bot_cbw`/`bot_csw`, `bot_data_buf[1024]`, `bot_last_tag`, `bot_next_tag`
- `bot_cmd_kind`, `bot_last_status`, `bot_expected_data_len`
- `bot_read10_*`/`bot_write10_*` staging fields
- `bot_tur_retries`, `bot_tur_chain_target`
- `bot_cap_last_lba`/`bot_cap_block_size`
- Full stall-recovery sub-state-machine (`bot_stall_recoveries`, `stall_dci`, `stall_ep_addr`,
  `bot_reset_clear_remaining`, `stall_retry_action`) — "this driver runs exactly one bulk
  transfer at a time... there is no concurrency to serialize"
- `bot_msc_attach_pending`/`bot_msc_attach_slot_id`/`bot_msc_attached`/`bot_msc_detach_pending`
  — the flags `repl.c`'s own `static blkio_dev_t usb_blk_dev` (single-device scope,
  `repl.c:244`) and the two module-level pointers `g_homeblocks_dev` (`repl.c:122`) /
  `g_attached_blk_dev` (`repl.c:139`) all depend on.

**A third, previously-unlisted singleton point, found while tracing `xhci.c` for this
writeup:** `xhci_scan_ports_for_already_connected()` (`src/starkernel/usb/xhci.c:1343-1362`,
called once from `xhci_bringup()`) walks every tracked port looking for one already connected
at boot (needed because a device present on the QEMU command line before controller reset
never generates a Port Status Change *event* — confirmed against the xHCI event model, not
assumed) — and **`break`s after the first hit**, with its own comment stating why: "this
driver's real use case is exactly one thumbdrive already attached at boot, not several." A
second device already plugged in at boot (e.g. the mint workflow's Zuse-drive-plus-target-
drive scenario, both present from `qemu-xhci` at launch) would never be discovered by this
scan at all — not merely mishandled once found, genuinely invisible. This must be fixed
alongside the state-shape changes below, and is now folded into the punch list.

**A structural finding that narrows the fix, not widens it:** `xhci_handle_port_connected()`
(`xhci.c:1300-1327`) already gates new Enable Slot requests on `connect_state == XHCI_CONN_IDLE`
and *drops* (does not queue) a second simultaneous connect with `"xhci: enable slot already
pending -- dropped"` — the same pattern repeats for disconnect (`xhci.c:1531-1539`,
`"disable slot skipped -- command ring busy"`). This confirms §VII.3's category-2 in-flight
state genuinely never needs true concurrency: the driver's own connect/disconnect handling is
already built to serialize one command at a time and simply discard what it can't yet serve
— the fix for these two sites is to *not drop the second event*, not to make the driver
concurrent (see punch-list item 3).

**Also confirmed, a positive finding:** `block_subsystem.c`'s own attach layer
(`blk_subsys_attach_device()`, `block_subsystem.c:677`, and its `first_disk_slot()` device-slot
table) is **already multi-device-capable** — Artemis (virtio) and a USB MSC device already
coexist as independent attached devices there today. The bottleneck is confined to the xHCI
driver itself and the three singleton points immediately above it in `repl.c`
(`usb_blk_dev`/`g_homeblocks_dev`/`g_attached_blk_dev`) — `block_subsystem.c` itself needs no
change for this fix. This makes the fix smaller than initially framed in §VII.1/§VII.3.

Also confirmed: this driver runs on **all three architectures**, not just amd64 — `qemu-xhci`
is instantiated for amd64, aarch64, and riscv64 alike (`Makefile.starkernel` lines 819, 903,
993), and `xhci_find_and_map()`/`xhci_bringup()` are called unconditionally from
`kernel_main.c:653-656` (no `ARCH_*` guard). Any fix here is a three-architecture change, same
acceptance bar as everything else in this document.

### VII.3 — The distinction that makes this tractable: persistent vs. in-flight state

Not everything above needs to become concurrent. Two different categories:

1. **Per-slot persistent state — must become per-slot (arrays), full stop.** Endpoint
   addresses/max-packet, bulk rings, device/config descriptors, the `blkio_dev_t` (and its
   `usb_blk_dev` analogue in `repl.c`), and the MSC attach flags. If these stay singular, a
   second device attaching while a first is already open **corrupts the first's live state** —
   this is the actual bug being fixed, not a cosmetic one.

2. **Per-transfer in-flight state — stays single, gains a slot selector.** `connect_state`,
   `transfer_purpose`, `pending_transfer_slot_id`, `bot_cbw`/`bot_csw`, `bot_cmd_kind`, the
   stall-recovery sub-state-machine. Nothing in any real use case (present or planned) reads
   two drives at the literal same instant — the driver stays "one transfer in flight at a
   time," it just needs to know *which slot* that one transfer belongs to, instead of
   assuming there is only ever one possible answer.

This is the difference between a bounded, scoped refactor (make category 1 arrays, thread a
slot index through category 2) and a full concurrent rewrite of the driver's core state
machine. Only category 1 needs to change shape.

### VII.4 — Concurrency bound

Revised 2026-09-05 (Bob, second pass): the earlier framing on this page — "a small N,
matching a real xHCI root hub port count," floated with a proposed default of 4 — is
rejected. Bob's ruling: *"it might again, been true at one time, but we REALLY need to not
paint ourselves into ANY scale issues by taking an easier way out."* This is the exact
pattern this section itself exists to correct (a deliberate simplification, right when made,
now stale) — hardcoding a second small ceiling right next to the one just being removed would
just relocate the same mistake, not fix it.

**Corrected direction, and a correction to this page's own first draft of that direction:**
the per-slot registry (category 1 state, §VII.3) must not carry a small fixed-size array at
all — but the fix is not "start reading `HCSPARAMS1.MaxSlots`," because **that register is
already read, today**: `xhci_find_and_map()` (`xhci.c:68-71`) already does
`dev->max_slots = XHCI_HCSPARAMS1_MAX_SLOTS(hcs1)`, and `xhci_bringup()` already uses it
correctly — the DCBAA (`xhci.c:188-198`) is allocated at exactly `(dev->max_slots + 1) *
sizeof(uint64_t)` via `kmalloc_aligned()` (a real, hardware-sized heap allocation, not a fixed
array), and `dev->op->config` (`xhci.c:299`) is programmed with
`XHCI_CONFIG_MAX_SLOTS_EN(dev->max_slots)` to tell the controller the same number back. **The
slot-correlation layer of this driver is already correctly scaled to real hardware and needs
no change.** The bug is narrower and more specific than "the driver doesn't know how big the
hardware is": `dev->max_slots` is known and used correctly for the DCBAA, but the category-1
fields (§VII.3) never use it at all — they're scalars regardless of what `max_slots` says,
because they were written before per-slot addressing was a hardware value from anywhere
convenient to size against.

**Corrected punch-list direction:** size the new per-slot registry for category-1 state off
`dev->max_slots` — the same field already driving the DCBAA allocation — via the same
`kmalloc_aligned()`-at-bringup pattern the DCBAA itself already establishes as this driver's
precedent for hardware-sized allocation, rather than introducing a second, separately-derived
bound or a fixed-size array at all. (`XHCI_MAX_TRACKED_PORTS`, 32, `xhci.h:515`, is a
*different* table — port-to-slot correlation, sized as "comfortably covers any real root hub,"
by its own comment's admission a chosen convenience constant, not hardware-derived — and
should not be reused or treated as precedent for this one.)

### VII.5 — Bob's live suggestion: consolidate into one file, pass state explicitly

Raised mid-scoping: *"maybe refactor the driver into one single driver file and calling from
the dependency? Simplify the code."* Worth noting precisely what's already true and what
isn't, before this becomes a punch-list item:

- **Already true:** nearly every command-builder function (`xhci_cmd_*`, `xhci_bot_*`,
  `xhci_ep0_*`) already takes an explicit `xhci_dev_t *dev` parameter — this is already
  dependency-injection-shaped at the call-site level, not a global-variable design.
- **Not true — the actual singleton:** `xhci_poll_events()` itself takes **no** arguments and
  reads a module-static `xhci_dev_t *g_xhci_dev` (`xhci.c:1482`) set once by `xhci_bringup()`;
  `xhci_get_dev()` (returning that same static) is used by exactly two callers —
  `kernel_main.c`'s bring-up block and `repl.c`'s `sk_repl_idle()` (`repl.c:243`) — and
  everything else (the entire event-driven dispatch chain inside `xhci_poll_events()` itself)
  already has `dev` in hand as a real parameter, it just came from that one static originally.
  This static-singleton *retrieval* pattern is not actually the multi-device blocker (only one
  physical xHCI *controller* is ever supported or claimed to be — that premise is unchanged
  and correct, `virtio_blk.c` uses the identical single-controller-static precedent) — the
  blocker is entirely inside `xhci_dev_t`'s own fields (§VII.2/§VII.3), one controller struct
  holding scalar per-*device* state instead of per-slot arrays. Bob's "calling from the
  dependency" framing is already satisfied at the controller level; the fix below applies the
  same idea one level down, to the device slots living inside that one controller.
- **File consolidation (`xhci_driver.h` + `src/starkernel/usb/xhci.c` → one file):** a
  separate, smaller question from the state-shape fix above, genuinely optional. Current split
  is ordinary header/implementation separation, already followed throughout `src/starkernel/`
  (nothing else in the tree merges its public API header and its `.c` file). Recommend keeping
  the split and judging "simpler" by whether the *singleton* is gone, not by file count — but
  this is Bob's call, not a default to override. Tracked as punch-list item 6 (optional).

### VII.6 — Punch list (numbered = proposed execution order; nothing here has been started;
each item names the exact functions/fields it touches, traced against real code, not estimated)

1. **New `xhci_msc_slot_t` per-slot record type, registry array sized off `dev->max_slots`.**
   Define one struct bundling every category-1 field currently scalar in `xhci_dev_t`
   (`xhci_driver.h:91-95` connect/enumerate: `input_ctx`, `device_ctx`, `ep0_ring`,
   `ep0_ring_cycle`, `ep0_ring_enq`; `xhci_driver.h:127-157` control/bulk: `device_descriptor`,
   `config_descriptor`, `config_total_length`, `bulk_in_ep_addr`/`bulk_out_ep_addr`,
   `bulk_in_max_packet`/`bulk_out_max_packet`, `bulk_in_ring`/`bulk_out_ring` +
   cycle/enqueue state; `xhci_driver.h:285-294` MSC attach: `bot_msc_attach_pending`,
   `bot_msc_attached`) plus a `uint32_t slot_id` tag (0 = unused slot). Add
   `xhci_msc_slot_t *msc_slots;` and `uint32_t msc_slot_count;` to `xhci_dev_t`, replacing the
   individual fields listed above (removed from the struct, not left dead alongside the new
   ones — this project's own no-dead-code convention). Allocate in `xhci_bringup()`
   immediately after `dev->max_slots` is known (`xhci.c:69`, already set by
   `xhci_find_and_map()` which always runs first) via `kmalloc_aligned(sizeof(xhci_msc_slot_t)
   * (dev->max_slots + 1), ...)`, zeroed — the exact same sizing input and allocation call
   `xhci.c:188-198`'s DCBAA already uses, so this item adds no new sizing policy, just a
   second allocation using the existing one's already-correct input.
2. **`xhci_msc_slot_for(dev, slot_id)` lookup, replacing every direct field access.** One
   function: bounds-check `slot_id <= dev->max_slots`, return `&dev->msc_slots[slot_id]` (or
   NULL out of range). Every one of the ~15 category-1 fields' current access sites across
   `xhci.c` (`xhci_cmd_address_device()` at `xhci.c:453` onward, `xhci_cmd_configure_endpoint()`
   at `xhci.c:554`, the `xhci_bot_*`/`xhci_ep0_*` families at `xhci.c:753-1266`, and the
   completion handlers inside `xhci_poll_events()` at `xhci.c:1480-2175`) changes from
   `dev->field` to `xhci_msc_slot_for(dev, slot_id)->field` — every one of these call sites
   already receives `slot_id` as a parameter today (confirmed: every `xhci_cmd_*`/`xhci_bot_*`/
   `xhci_ep0_*` function signature already takes `uint32_t slot_id`), so this item is a
   mechanical field-access rewrite, not a new parameter-threading exercise.
3. **Stop dropping simultaneous connect/disconnect instead of building real concurrency.**
   `xhci_handle_port_connected()` (`xhci.c:1300-1327`) currently drops a second connect with
   `"enable slot already pending -- dropped"` when `connect_state != XHCI_CONN_IDLE`; the
   disconnect path (`xhci.c:1531-1539`) drops the same way with `"disable slot skipped --
   command ring busy"`. Per §VII.2's finding, this in-flight state genuinely stays
   single-outstanding (one Command Ring, one command at a time, matching real xHCI command
   submission) — the fix is a **pending-request queue of depth `dev->max_slots`** (a small
   array of `{port_id, is_connect}` entries, not a state-machine rewrite): a dropped connect/
   disconnect is queued instead of discarded, and drained one entry at a time as
   `connect_state` returns to `XHCI_CONN_IDLE` (the same point that already exists at
   `xhci.c:1594`, `:1610`, `:1611` — add a "drain one queued request" call there). This
   directly fixes the currently-real bug where two thumbdrives connected close together (well
   within human/QMP timing) can silently lose the second one today, independent of the
   category-1 field-shape fix in items 1-2.
4. **Fix `xhci_scan_ports_for_already_connected()`'s single-hit `break` (`xhci.c:1343-1362`).**
   Remove the `break` at `xhci.c:1360` so the boot-time already-connected scan drives *every*
   tracked port with `CCS` set through `xhci_handle_port_connected()`, not just the first.
   Since item 3's queue now exists, a second (or third) already-connected device found here
   queues cleanly instead of needing its own separate handling — this item has no correctness
   force of its own once item 3 lands, it is purely "stop deliberately stopping early."
5. **Update `repl.c`'s three singleton points to arrays over `xdev->max_slots`.**
   `static blkio_dev_t usb_blk_dev` (`repl.c:244`), `static blkio_dev_t *g_homeblocks_dev`
   (`repl.c:122`), and `static blkio_dev_t *g_attached_blk_dev` (`repl.c:139`) all currently
   assume one attached USB MSC device. Convert `usb_blk_dev` to an array indexed the same way
   as item 1's `msc_slots` (by `slot_id`, bounds-checked against `xdev->max_slots`);
   `g_homeblocks_dev`/`g_attached_blk_dev`'s callers (`sk_get_homeblocks_dev()`/
   `sk_get_attached_blk_dev()`, whichever functions wrap `repl.c:127`/`:142` today) need to
   become "does a homeblocks/attached device exist for *this* identity/slot" rather than "the
   one homeblocks/attached device" — the real consumers are `capsule_zuse_boot_try_attach()`
   and `capsule_wirebind_try_attach()` (`repl.c:300`, `:311`), which is exactly the layer the
   identity-login (WIREBIND/Zuse) flow depends on and the reason this whole fix exists. Per
   §VII.2, `block_subsystem.c`'s own `blk_subsys_attach_device()`/`first_disk_slot()` layer
   needs **no** change — it already supports multiple simultaneously-attached devices; only
   the `repl.c` glue feeding it is the singleton.
6. *(Optional, Bob's call per §VII.5, not required for correctness)* — consolidate
   `xhci_driver.h` + `src/starkernel/usb/xhci.c` into one file, if items 1-5 together don't
   already read as "simple enough" on their own. Recommendation stands: keep the split, judge
   simplicity by whether the singleton is gone (it will be), not by file count.
7. **Three-architecture acceptance** (`clean qemu`, amd64 → aarch64 → riscv64, sequential,
   foreground, per this project's non-negotiable acceptance bar) confirming both directions:
   (a) **no regression** — existing single-device behavior (the mandatory `ZUSEDISK_QEMU_ARGS`
   attach path every current boot already exercises) is unchanged when only one device is ever
   attached; (b) **the actual fix** — two devices attached simultaneously (a second
   `-device usb-storage,bus=xhci0.0,drive=...` added to the existing QEMU launch args, or via
   QMP `device_add` against a second port on `xhci0.0` without an intervening `device_del`)
   both enumerate, both reach `SET_CONFIGURATION`, both open as BOT/SCSI devices via
   `blkio_usb_open_msc()`, and neither's `msc_slots[]` entry (item 1) shows corruption from the
   other's descriptors/rings/BOT state — verified by log inspection (each device's own
   `bot_cap_last_lba`/`bot_cap_block_size` reported correctly and independently), not just
   "both attached without crashing."
8. Only after item 7 passes: resume the identity-thumbdrive minting workflow — either via true
   simultaneous multi-device attach (Zuse's drive + a target drive both present at once, the
   scenario item 4's fix specifically enables) or the original QMP hot-swap sequencing (still
   valid, just no longer the only option) — Bob's call at that point, not assumed now.

**Halt point — lifted 2026-09-05:** Bob's go-ahead ("okay, go ahead and implement it") authorized
implementation; see the closure note at the top of this section for what shipped and what was
found along the way.

## VIII. Headless-until-login console policy, and the KILL/g_repl_active_vm dangling-pointer
fix — CLOSED 2026-09-05

Two smaller, unrelated fixes landed the same day as the xHCI work above and are documented
here together since they were committed in the same pass, per direct instruction.

### VIII.1 — Headless-until-login console

**Decision, live-directed by Bob mid-session:** *"you have to be sure that there is no
console for the running system unless a 'thumbdrive' is present. no thumbdrive, no prompt.
when a user logs in by inserting a thumbdrive a vm with the users identity. the USE word will
allow that user's console to attach to the human name for that vm"* and *"see, it should be
headless if no console vm is present."* Zuse's own login is nothing special except that she
has no ACLs (*"there should be nothing special about zuse as a user except zuse has no
acl's"*) — her attach path uses the exact same gate as a regular WIREBIND user.

**Design:** `EMERGENCY_CONSOLE_ENABLED` (`Kconfig.heartbeat`, default flipped `y`→`n`) is
reused and extended from its narrower original scope (VM-fault-handler recovery only) to also
gate boot-time console visibility. When `n` (production default): the kernel boots completely
silent — no banner, no prompt, nothing on the console — until a real identity logs in via an
attached thumbdrive (WIREBIND user or Zuse's own attach/genesis-mint, identical treatment),
and a runtime VM error halts rather than dropping to a recovery REPL (no fallthrough surface).
When `y` (debug/recovery builds only, opt-in): behavior is unchanged from before this fix —
console shows immediately at boot, REPL errors recover and continue.

**Mechanism:** `sk_console_mark_login()`/`sk_console_login_occurred()` (`repl.c`/`repl.h`) —
one shared flag, set by either login path (`capsule_wirebind.c`'s regular-user console-VM
birth call site, `capsule_zuse_boot.c`'s `install_and_activate()`, the shared success point
for both genesis-mint and re-attach). `sk_repl_headless_wait(VM *mama)` (new, `repl.c`) spins
on `heartbeat_service()` + `sk_repl_idle()` (so USB/WIREBIND detection keeps running) until
the flag is set, called from `kernel_main.c` immediately before the existing `sk_repl(mama)`
call, gated `#if !EMERGENCY_CONSOLE_ENABLED`. `sk_repl_run()`/`sk_repl_step()`'s error
branches were also wired to a previously-dead `sk_fault_handler()` (defined but never called
anywhere — confirmed via grep before flipping the default exposed the resulting
`-Werror=unused-function`), matching `sk_repl()`'s own doc comment's original, never-
implemented intent: `#if !EMERGENCY_CONSOLE_ENABLED` halts on error, `#else` recovers.

**Verified live, both directions, amd64:** positive — with a thumbdrive attached, console is
silent until login, first prompt shown is always pre-authenticated (`(zuse) ok>` or the
equivalent WIREBIND-user prompt), never a bare `ok>`. Negative — with `ZUSEDISK=` empty (no
thumbdrive at all), a 60-second bounded boot produced zero occurrences of "Emergency CLI" or
any `ok>` prompt in the serial log, and no leaked `qemu-system-*` process. Not yet verified on
aarch64/riscv64 specifically for the headless behavior (the 3-arch runs done this session all
used an attached Zuse drive) — the code path is architecture-generic (no `ARCH_*` gating), so
this is a documentation gap, not a known defect.

### VIII.2 — `KILL`/`g_repl_active_vm` dangling-pointer fix

**Bug** (flagged report-only in `project_dictionary_superpower_audit_20260903`, fixed now by
direct instruction): `mama_word_kill()`'s call site never checked whether the VM being killed
was the one the console's `USE` word had currently attached to
(`g_repl_active_vm`/`sk_repl_get_active_vm()`). `EJECT`/`UNCLEAN` (`capsule_wirebind.c`)
already reset-before-kill for this exact reason; plain `KILL` did not, leaving
`g_repl_active_vm` dangling — the next command dispatched through the console would fault
against a freed/retired VM.

**Fix** (`mama_forth_words.c`, `mama_word_kill()`): widened the existing `VMRegistryEntry
entry` lookup's scope slightly and added, immediately after the existing Hera-guarded
`vm_physics_retire()` call: `if (entry.vm_ptr && sk_repl_get_active_vm() == (VM *)
entry.vm_ptr) { sk_repl_set_active_vm((VM *) 0); }` — detaches the console back to Hera's own
dictionary before the killed VM's memory can be reused, same as the existing
`EJECT`/`UNCLEAN` precedent.

**Verified:** three-arch `clean qemu` acceptance (this session's runs, alongside the xHCI and
headless-console work) — no regression in existing `KILL`/`USE` behavior. Not separately
stress-tested against the specific dangling-pointer scenario (kill the actively-`USE`'d VM,
then dispatch another command) — the fix is small and directly addresses the confirmed gap,
but that specific repro was not re-run live after the fix landed.