Files
LithosAnanake/docs/lithosananke
Robert Allan JamesandClaude Sonnet 5 0fa9bd730e Document the riscv64 kernel stack trampoline fix
Write-up of the 2026-08-02 riscv64 boot crash investigation and fix
(commit 7366275), in the same style as docs/lithosananke/amd64-isr-fix.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-08-02 07:05:17 -04:00
..
2026-08-01 07:49:56 -04:00

LithosAnanke — StarForth Kernel Branch

Branch: lithosananke Status: M7 Complete (VM Parity Validation) Parent: master (hosted StarForth)


What is LithosAnanke?

LithosAnanke is the kernel branch of StarForth — a UEFI-bootable microkernel with the StarForth VM as its native execution engine.

Etymology: Lithos (stone/foundation) + Ananke (necessity/inevitability)

The name reflects the project's nature: a necessary foundation for StarshipOS.


Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  UEFI Firmware                                              │
│  • ExitBootServices → handoff to kernel                     │
└─────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────┘
                      │
                      ↓
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  LithosAnanke Boot (M0)                                     │
│  • UEFI loader collects BootInfo                            │
│  • Memory map, ACPI tables, framebuffer                     │
└─────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────┘
                      │
                      ↓
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  LithosAnanke HAL (M1-M6)                                   │
│  • PMM: Physical Memory Manager (bitmap)                    │
│  • VMM: Virtual Memory Manager (4-level paging)             │
│  • IDT: Interrupt Descriptor Table                          │
│  • APIC: Timer + IRQ routing                                │
│  • Heap: kmalloc/kfree                                      │
│  • Console: Serial UART                                     │
└─────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────┘
                      │
                      ↓
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  StarForth VM (M7+)                                         │
│  • 295 FORTH-79 words                                       │
│  • Parity validation (hash=0x684bbf2fa1d96d55)              │
│  • Physics-driven adaptive runtime                          │
│  • Init capsule system (M7.1)                               │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Current Milestones

Milestone Description Status
M0 UEFI Boot + Serial Output Complete
M1 Physical Memory Manager Complete
M2 Virtual Memory Manager Complete
M3 IDT + Interrupts Complete
M4 APIC Timer Complete
M5 Timer Calibration Complete
M6 Kernel Heap Complete
M7 VM Parity Validation Complete
M7.1 Init Capsule Architecture Design Complete
M8 REPL + Interactive Forth Planned
M9 Block Storage Planned

Build & Run

# Build kernel with VM integration
make -f Makefile.starkernel ARCH=amd64 STARFORTH_ENABLE_VM=1

# Run in QEMU
make -f Makefile.starkernel ARCH=amd64 STARFORTH_ENABLE_VM=1 qemu

Output artifacts:

  • build/amd64/kernel/starkernel_loader.efi — UEFI loader
  • build/amd64/kernel/starkernel_kernel.elf — Kernel binary

Documentation

Core Design

Document Description
M7.1.md Init Capsule Architecture
ROADMAP.md Milestone roadmap
amd64-isr-fix/README.md APIC timer ISR fix + kernel 3-arch acceptance test
hosted-acceptance-test/README.md Hosted VM 3-arch acceptance test (amd64 native, aarch64/riscv64 under QEMU user-mode)

HAL (Hardware Abstraction Layer)

Document Description
hal/overview.md HAL architecture and principles
hal/interfaces.md HAL interface specifications
hal/lithosananke-integration.md Kernel-specific HAL implementation
hal/platform-implementations.md Platform implementation guide
hal/migration-plan.md Migration from hosted to kernel

Key Concepts

One Truth Per VM

Every VM has exactly one birth capsule — its identity and provenance.

PARITY:BIRTH vm_id=42 capsule_id=0xA13F mode=p capsule_hash=0x... dict_hash=0x...

DOMAIN vs PERSONALITY

DOMAIN is a construction concept that exists only in Mama FORTH. It's how Mama classifies, composes, and selects capsules. DOMAIN is never visible to baby VMs.

PERSONALITY is the result of executing a production (p) INIT capsule. It's what the baby VM is — its vocabulary, invariants, capabilities. PERSONALITY is immutable and defines the VM's entire worldview.

Production (p) vs Experiment (e)

  • (p) capsules are truth-bearing — they can birth VMs
  • (e) capsules are Mama-only workloads — experiments that never touch babies

A baby VM never sees, executes, or knows about (e) capsules.

Content-Addressed Capsules

Capsules are identified by content hash, not names. Names lie. Hashes don't.

Mama FORTH

The root VM that holds all truths, manages child VMs, and enforces the birth protocol. Mama:

  • Maintains the capsule directory
  • Selects (p) capsules for birth
  • Executes (e) capsules for experimentation
  • Logs all births and runs for provenance

Directory Structure

src/starkernel/
├── boot/               # UEFI loader, ELF loader
├── hal/                # Console, host services
├── memory/             # PMM, VMM, kmalloc
├── arch/amd64/         # x86_64 specific (APIC, IDT, timer)
├── vm/                 # VM integration
│   ├── arena.c         # VM memory arena
│   ├── parity.c        # Parity validation
│   ├── bootstrap/      # sk_vm_bootstrap
│   └── host/           # Host services shim
└── kernel_main.c       # Entry point

Contributing

The lithosananke branch is experimental. Changes should:

  1. Maintain parity validation (M7 baseline)
  2. Pass QEMU boot test
  3. Not break hosted StarForth (master branch)

References