Root-caused a heap-corruption bug that reliably failed WIREBIND identity attach on the third attach/detach cycle in one boot. sk_console_readline() and sk_console_getkey() captured `active_vm` once from their caller and kept passing that same (possibly long-stale) pointer to sk_repl_idle() on every idle tick serviced while blocked waiting for input. If the VM it pointed at was killed (WIREBIND detach) mid-block, the existing bailout only checked a generic "is anyone attached" boolean -- masked as soon as a different identity attached next -- so blk_vm_flush_all() kept writing into a freed VM struct sitting on kmalloc's own free list, corrupting the free list's linked-list metadata itself. Both idle branches now re-resolve the live active VM fresh from g_repl_active_vm on every tick, matching the dispatch-side fix already made for the sibling bug in §XII.3. Verified: rebuilt amd64, reran the exact three-cycle repro that reliably corrupted the heap before the fix -- free-list census stayed stable through the same idle window that previously collapsed to zero. All three architectures (amd64/aarch64/riscv64) boot clean to the zuse)ok> prompt. kmalloc_debug_census()/kmalloc_debug_census_bytes() kept as permanent diagnostic infrastructure; every other temporary probe added during the investigation was reverted. Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com> Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01EXieurDfDSsDFdnSyusuWo
capsules/
FORTH personality files loaded by the VM at boot. A capsule is an immutable, content-addressed payload; its XXHash64 hash is its identity. Any mutation changes the hash and the birth protocol rejects the image.
Key files
| File | Type | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
init.4th |
(m) MAMA_INIT |
Default Mama VM personality — loaded at LBN 2048 |
ACL.4th |
user | Word-level ACL system; self-activating at boot |
zuse.4th |
user | Bootstrap superuser; loaded by ACL.4th |
doe.4th |
user | DoE workload words (EXEC-DOE) — opt-in |
init-0.4th … init-9.4th |
(p) |
Numbered personality variants |
init-l8-*.4th |
(p) |
L8 Jacquard mode variants (stable/volatile/diverse/temporal/transition/omni) |
hermes/init.4th |
(p) |
Hermes baby VM personality |
artemis/init.4th |
(p) |
Artemis baby VM personality |
Block namespace
Block ranges are shared across all loaded capsules — collisions cause silent word-definition overwrites.
| Range | Owner |
|---|---|
| 2048–2099 | init.4th |
| 2100–2199 | doe.4th |
| 3000–3999 | workload capsules |
| 4000+ | user-defined (ACL.4th, zuse.4th, …) |
Each block is limited to 1024 bytes. Verify with wc -c before committing.
See also
experiments/bare_metal/README.md— DoE protocols and block namespace rulesdocs/03-architecture/word-acl/DESIGN.md— ACL system designtools/mkcapsule.c— assembles capsules intocapsule_generated.c- Project root