Robert Allan JamesandClaude Sonnet 5
3c2daf50d1
Scoping the workload-into-factorial design's placement-mode factor led to a real architectural improvement: rather than EXEC-ing a workload capsule into an already-running, ACL-locked identity's own persistent dictionary (filesystem-shaped, doesn't dodge the block- collision exposure just traced in §XXIV), a workload now runs as a fresh ephemeral child VM, BIRTH'd per trial and reaped after -- matching the project's own stated principle of automanagement over imposed policy. CAPSULE-BIRTH already passes vm->stadium_vm_id (who is birthing this VM) as the new child's parent, not a hardcoded Hera constant, confirmed by reading the C -- so a workload trial genuinely inherits the specific identity's own lineage when that identity does the birthing. Which surfaced a real premise: only Hera could call BIRTH/ CAPSULE-BIRTH at all (registered only in register_mama_forth_words(), confirmed directly, not part of the earlier §XX messaging-symmetry fix which deliberately kept this as one of her remaining privileges). Extended symmetrically now, agreed explicitly before touching code: - mama_forth_words.c: BIRTH and CAPSULE-BIRTH added to register_child_vm_words(), matching §XX's own pattern. - acl-std79.4th: ' BIRTH , ' CAPSULE-BIRTH , added to ACL-STD79-LIST (new block 4048) -- a deliberate, explicit, named exception to the lockdown's own "standard words only" guarantee, not a silent one. Symmetric registration alone can't weaken any lockdown on its own: ACL-LOCKDOWN-STD79 is allowlist-based, deny-by-default, so a newly registered word is auto-denied there unless explicitly added. Verified: clean build on all 3 architectures, zero new warnings. Hera's own dict_hash unchanged (expected); Hermes/Artemis show the same new dict_hash on all 3 architectures. Live-tested against a real attached std79-locked identity: CAPSULE-BIRTH executes correctly (returns vm_uuid_none() for a deliberately out-of-range capsule-id, zero fault, zero ACL denial). Found, and explicitly stopped short of fixing, a separate pre- existing gap while verifying the above: MSG-STATUS and MSG-K (messaging.4th words, not on the std79 allowlist) execute for a locked identity instead of being denied. ACL-LOCKDOWN-STD79 is confirmed to actually run; something more specific isn't reaching messaging.4th's dictionary entries. Root cause not traced -- needs its own investigation into vm_core.c's dictionary-link mechanics and whichever capsule actually loads messaging for these identities. Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com> Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01EXieurDfDSsDFdnSyusuWo
disk/
QEMU disk images used for Artemis (block-storage VM) persistence testing.
Mounted via Makefile.starkernel's ARTDISK variable (default
disk/artemis.img) as a virtio-blk-pci device on all three
architectures' kernel QEMU boots — not scripts/rundisk.sh, which targets
a separate, currently-unused disks/ (plural) directory for the hosted
VM's --disk-img= flag instead.
artemis.img— standard Artemis persistence test disk. Reformatted 2026-08-02: this image had been stuck in a corrupted state (validLithosAnankemagic header, but data not matching whatART-READ-TESTexpects) since before this repo's own git history begins (git logshows it already broken at the initial commit, carried over from the pre-split monorepo). Chasing down the resulting persistentFAIL: persist-readtraced to the data, not the code — the write→reboot→read round trip works correctly on a fresh image (seeartemis-debug-roundtrip.imgbelow). Reformatted by blanking the file and letting a normal boot format+write-test it; verifiedPASS: persist-readon amd64, aarch64, and riscv64 against the same image afterward (cross-arch resume, matching the arch-neutral on-disk format.claude/ARTEMIS.mdspecifies).artemis-debug-roundtrip.img— round-trip regression fixture created during that investigation. Known-good: format → self-test → write-test → reboot → resume →PASS: persist-read, confirmed 3 times in a row. Keep this in a passing state; if a future change breaks it, that's a real regression, not a stale-fixture artifact likeartemis.imgwas.artemis-persist-test.img— persistence round-trip test image (pre-existing; history/state not re-verified during the above investigation).artemis-poison.img— a separate test image (exact scenario not documented elsewhere in the repo as of this writing; name suggests an adversarial/corruption test, not confirmed).artemis-unrecognized-test.img— exercisesART-HALT-UNRECOG(.claude/ARTEMIS.mdacceptance criterion #6). Regenerated 2026-08-02: the previous copy of this file had itself been silently reformatted by a since-fixed bug in the generic block subsystem (src/block_subsystem.c) — it carried a valid low-level'STFR'/v2 header despite being meant to represent foreign disk content, direct forensic evidence of the bug described in.claude/ARTEMIS.md's Build Status item 6. Regenerated as 30MB of a repeatingPOISON-UNRECOGNIZED-DISK-TEST-FIXTURE--NOT-BLANK-NOT-STFR-NOT-ARTEMIS--ASCII pattern — deliberately neither blank, nor the block subsystem's own'STFR'magic, nor Artemis's"ARTEMIS\0"marker. Verified on amd64 and riscv64 post-fix: boot correctly halts (ARTEMIS HALT: unrecognized disk content) and the file's sha256 is now byte-for-byte identical before and after boot. Keep this fixture in this poisoned state — if a future change makes its sha256 change across a boot, that is exactly the regression this fixture exists to catch.
Note on incidental header churn: artemis.img picks up a few changed
header bytes on every ordinary boot even though no user data changes —
blk_subsys_attach_device() always records a fresh mounted_time on a
successfully recognized disk, which gets flushed at shutdown. This is
expected bookkeeping, not a bug; revert it before committing rather than
carrying timestamp noise in git history.
-
usb-thumbdrive-test.img— 64MB raw image backing a QEMUusb-storagedevice attached to the xHCI controller's bus (xhci0.0) for Milestone 2e/ 2h hotplug testing, added 2026-08-22. Blank (all zero) —blkio_usb.c+blk_subsys_attach_device()wiring (Milestone 2h, done 2026-08-25) attach it asBLK_FMT_PROVISIONALevery time, which is the intended, exercised state; not yetBLK_FMT_FORMATTEDviaBLK-CONFIRM-FORMAT. -
usb-thumbdrive-test2.img— 64MB raw image, added 2026-08-25 for Milestone 2h hot-detach/re-attach verification. Filled with a repeatingHOTDETACH-REATTACH-FIXTURE-2026-08-25--ASCII pattern, deliberately distinguishable fromusb-thumbdrive-test.img's all-zero content — the point is proving a block read after detachingusb-thumbdrive-test.imgand re-attaching this one actually returns this pattern rather than silently replaying the old device's cached (all-zero) content, which is exactly the class of bug a same-LBN-range device swap can cause if the VM block window cache (vm->blk_vm_cbuf[]) isn't re-validated on a hit. -
artemis-reloc-test.img— 64MB raw image, added 2026-08-25 for single-block relocation (RELOCATE-BLOCK) persistence verification. Blank at creation; a genuinely fresh volume was required (notartemis.img) because relocation-table capacity (reloc_start/reloc_devblocksinblk_volume_meta_t) is only reserved byblk_compute_fresh_geometry()on a fresh format —artemis.imgpredates the feature and correctly reads backreloc_devblocks=0from what was previously unused header padding. Attach viamake -f Makefile.starkernel ARTDISK=disk/artemis-reloc-test.img ...(the Makefile'sARTDISKvar is?=-overridable). Not yetBLK-CONFIRM-FORMAT-committed in the repo copy — commit that step live if reusing this fixture for further reloc-table testing. -
artemis-metafence-fresh.img— 30MB raw image, blank at creation, added 2026-08-26 for the top-of-device system-metadata fence (meta_fence_blocksinblk_volume_meta_t, FABRIC-2.md Phase 8 §C). Same reasoning asartemis-reloc-test.imgabove: the fence is only initialized toBLK_META_FENCE_INIT(128) byblk_compute_fresh_geometry()on a fresh format, so a genuinely blank volume was needed to exercise that path. Verified round-trip: fresh format writes 128 (confirmed via direct byte read at header offset 184, independent of kernel self-report), a second boot without reformatting reads it back unchanged. Keep in its formatted (meta_fence_blocks=128) state — a future change that resets or corrupts this on reload is a real regression. -
artemis-metafence-test.img— 30MB raw image, a direct copy of the pre-existing (pre-fence)artemis.img, added 2026-08-26 alongside the fixture above to verify the other direction: an old volume that predatesmeta_fence_blockscorrectly reads it back as 0 (graceful default via zeroed former padding, not corruption) rather than crashing or misreading adjacent fields. -
zuse.img— 64MB raw image simulating the physical Zuse superuser thumbdrive for QEMU testing (FABRIC-2.md, Phase 8:zuse.img"bleach" mechanism, added 2026-08-26). 64MB is only this fixture's size, not a constraint on real home-blocks thumbdrives (Captain Bob, 2026-08-26) — the design is not bound to any particular drive size;homeblocks_sig_t's ownmetadata_devblocksfield records whatever size is actually observed on a real drive, nothing in the format hardcodes one. 64MB here is purely an arbitrary QEMU-test convenience (matchingusb-thumbdrive-test.img's existing precedent for BOT driver testing scale); usescripts/bleach_zuse_img.sh --size-mb Nfor a different test size. Blank (all zero) at creation — reads back asHOMEBLOCKS_SIG_BLANKviahomeblocks_sig_check(), confirmed live (xhci: USB drive not recognized (blank or foreign media)), simulating a genuine first boot for exercising the still-to-be-built one-time mint-Zuse flow. "Bleach" it back to this pristine/unminted state withscripts/bleach_zuse_img.shbefore each first-boot test run, rather than hand-regenerating the file — same all-zero content either way, the script just makes the reset a single documented, repeatable command. Deliberately a flat/raw image, not GPT-partitioned, matchinghomeblocks_sig_check()'s current call site (repl.c,sig_start_fblock=0) — both will move to a real GPT-partition-relative offset together once a GPT parser exists, not attempted ahead of that.
Convention, standing as of 2026-08-22: every virtual disk/thumb-drive image
used for testing — Artemis persistence disks above, and USB Mass Storage
backing images alike — lives in this directory and is a tracked, committed
file, never scratchpad. This was already artemis.img's convention;
usb-thumbdrive-test.img and any future USB test images follow the same
rule. Confirmed no .gitignore in this repo excludes disk/*.img.
These are regenerable QEMU raw disk images, not source — see
.claude/ARTEMIS.md for the storage model they exercise.