Robert Allan JamesandClaude Sonnet 5
2035ebeac0
Corrected substrate: this OS is anti-POSIX, anti-file by design -- the prior "dedicated system-identity disk" framing was wrong vocabulary, caught before any code was written (saved as feedback_no_files_anti_posix.md). The real primitives are content-addressed capsules and raw LBN blocks, never a filesystem. Design (agreed on request): a growable metadata fence at the TOP of a device's block space, mirroring block_subsystem.c's existing bottom BAM reservation from the opposite end -- the two grow toward each other, never colliding, same shape as a stack/heap. Starts at BLK_META_FENCE_INIT (128 blocks), explicitly never RAM-backed. Reuses Artemis's already-attached, already-proven virtio-blk device -- no new device. Rejected reusing BAM's own reserved zone directly: those blocks are fully claimed by BAM bookkeeping, not free space. Step 1 only: new meta_fence_blocks field in blk_volume_meta_t, appended after reloc_devblocks and carved from _pad[] -- identical graceful- default technique reloc_devblocks already established (a pre-existing volume reads it back as 0, not a format break). Added a compile-time _Static_assert on the struct's total size, same discipline homeblocks_sig.h uses -- caught a real bug immediately: the hand-summed _pad[] formula was off by 4 bytes (a compiler alignment gap the manual count missed), found via offsetof() rather than re-deriving by hand. Worked against disposable clones throughout, never the real disk/artemis.img (ARTDISK is ?=-overridable) -- artemis-metafence-fresh.img (blank, fresh-format path) and artemis-metafence-test.img (copy of the pre-existing artemis.img, graceful-default-on-reload path), kept as regression fixtures matching disk/README.md's existing convention. Verified independently via direct byte reads of the disk image, not the kernel's own log output (log_message(LOG_INFO,...) doesn't reach serial in this build -- unrelated pre-existing gap): fresh format writes 128 at header offset 184, a reboot without reformatting preserves it, the old pre-fence image reads back 0. Full 3-arch acceptance boot against the real, untouched disk/artemis.img also clean. Allocator (user_blocks math) and zone read/write accessors both still open -- next steps, documented in FABRIC-3.md. Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com> Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01U14ET9CWAtbQMbYqomKgXd
LithosAnanke v1.5.4
UEFI-bootable FORTH microkernel. Boots from firmware, initialises memory and interrupts, then runs the StarForth VM as its sole userspace runtime. No libc. No OS. Just stone and necessity.
Lithos (foundation) + Ananke (necessity) — the kernel under StarshipOS.
Status — M7.1 (Capsule System · Multi-VM Fleet)
| Milestone | Status | |
|---|---|---|
| M0–M6 | UEFI boot · PMM · VMM · IDT · APIC · heap · framebuffer VT100 console (v1.5.1-FINAL) | ✅ Complete |
| M7 | StarForth VM integration + parity validation | ✅ Complete |
| M7.1 | Capsule birth protocol · Mama FORTH vocabulary · Tripod multi-VM fleet (Hermes/Artemis) · Word-level ACL (Phases 1–7) | 🔄 In Progress |
| M8 | REPL — keyboard input, interactive Forth | Planned |
| M9 | Block storage — AHCI driver | Planned |
POST at boot: parity hash verified across amd64/aarch64/riscv64 · Mama capsule dictionary: 453 words
What's live in M7.1
- Tripod — a named multi-VM fleet (Hera the Mama VM, Artemis, two Hermes instances) births, runs, and re-births independently, verified booting live pre-REPL on all three architectures.
- Hermes — a 17-block inter-VM messaging/channel layer between fleet members, with async delivery and channel negotiation.
- Artemis — a Block Allocation Map (BAM) storage subsystem with Q48.16
block-heat tracking and cooldown/reclamation (
ART-COOL/ART-REAP). - Word-level ACL — every dictionary entry carries a TTL/allow/mode/pin
access-control record. Strict, TTL, and pinned modes; two console layers
(emergency
ok>and superuserzuse)ok>). Phases 1–7 complete (C infrastructure, FORTH policy layer,zusebootstrap superuser, Isabelle proof stubs, kernel parity); Phase 8 (Ed25519 PKI / thumbdrive challenge-response) is the only item remaining. Measured overhead once active on every check: +0.0054%–+0.0088%, CV = 0.000%, across a 3×3 Latin-square DoE campaign (architecture × seed × 30 replicates) — three orders of magnitude below the measurement floor. - VM Fleet Attractor physics — the L8 Jacquard mode selector now has a real per-VM heat channel into fleet-wide tuning, replacing hardcoded compudynamics constants with a dynamically-inferred rate.
- Kconfig build configuration — every physics/heartbeat/pipelining/ kernel-only tuning knob (~40 total) is now a discoverable, optional Kconfig symbol shared with the hosted VM build. See Quick Start below.
Quick Start
# Build kernel (requires cross-compilation toolchain, or native gcc)
make -f Makefile.starkernel ARCH=amd64
# Run in QEMU with OVMF
make -f Makefile.starkernel qemu
# Other architectures
make -f Makefile.starkernel ARCH=aarch64 qemu
make -f Makefile.starkernel ARCH=riscv64 qemu
Artifacts: build/amd64/kernel/starkernel_loader.efi · build/amd64/kernel/starkernel_kernel.elf
For the hosted VM by itself (Linux, no cross-compiler needed, no bare-metal tooling): see
the separate StarForth repository — LithosAnanke used to be a branch inside that repo,
now it's its own project with its own master.
Build configuration (optional)
Every kernel-only knob (STARFORTH_ENABLE_VM, PARITY_MODE, the shared
physics/heartbeat family, etc.) is an optional Kconfig symbol — a plain
make -f Makefile.starkernel uses the same defaults it always has unless
you opt in:
make -f Makefile.starkernel ARCH=amd64 menuconfig
make -f Makefile.starkernel ARCH=amd64 kernel_amd64_defconfig
Documentation
| System Architecture | Full kernel + VM design |
| HAL Reference | Hardware abstraction layer interfaces |
| Capsule System — M7.1 | Capsule birth protocol design |
| VM Fleet Attractor design log | Tripod/Hermes/Artemis physics + build-system history |
| Getting Started / Kconfig reference | Full symbol reference for both build targets |
| Changelog | Milestone-level history |
| Roadmap | Milestone plan through self-hosting |
License
Starship License 1.0 (SL-1.0) — free for personal, research, and educational use. Commercial use requires a separate agreement. Attribution to R.A. James (Captain Bob) must be preserved in all distributions.
Patent pending. USPTO provisional filed December 2025 — physics-grounded self-adaptive runtime system. This license does not grant patent rights. Licensing inquiries: rajames440@gmail.com
Robert A. James (Captain Bob) · Systems Engineer · Hacking since 1973