Robert Allan JamesandClaude Sonnet 5
af267a52a6
blk_subsys_detach_device() (block_subsystem.c) walks the device chain, refuses removal of anything but the current tail (a mid-chain removal would corrupt every later slot's start_lbn -- this architecture's own doc already argues USB stays last specifically to avoid that), unlinks, shrinks total_user_lbn, closes and frees the slot. Discards rather than flushes dirty state -- the device is physically gone by the time this runs (PORTSC disconnect only). Trigger wiring mirrors the attach path: bot_msc_attached (set only once attach actually succeeds) gates a new bot_msc_detach_pending flag set at PORTSC disconnect (not Disable Slot completion, which is conditionally skipped and would miss concurrent connect/disconnect pairs), consumed in sk_repl_idle(). Advisor flagged the real hazard ahead of time: block_words.c's VM block window (blk_vm_lbn[]/blk_vm_cbuf[]) can go stale across a detach then a same-LBN re-attach, and suggested a pointer-identity re-check in blk_vm_load() as a minimal fix. That fix was implemented, then directly falsified by its own designed-for-this test: attach a blank device, read a block (populating the cache), detach, re-attach a device with distinct content at the identical LBN, read again -- served stale content from the first device. Root cause, confirmed live: glibc's allocator hands free(slot) straight back to the very next same-size calloc(), so the "fresh" and stale pointers were bitwise identical despite being two different devices. Fixed properly with a monotonic blk_subsys_epoch() counter (bumped on every attach/detach) checked by a new blk_vm_check_epoch() helper at the one choke point (blk_vm_find(), plus blk_vm_flush_all() which reads the same arrays directly) that covers every path touching the window cache -- unfooled by address reuse. Verified live with a new disk/usb-thumbdrive-test2.img fixture (distinct content from the existing blank test image): attach A, read (cache hit populated), detach, re-attach B at the same LBN, read again -- correctly ran a fresh device read and returned B's real content, not A's stale cached zeros. The failing pointer-comparison attempt's own capture log kept as evidence, not deleted. All three architectures re-verified clean. FABRIC-2.md Section X 2h marked complete -- enumeration through hot-detach all live and verified; only WRITE(10) (2g's own still-open item) remains unimplemented in the driver, not blocking anything here. Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com> Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01CXjAPTEKrgY2Mrk25KoLDn
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