Robert Allan JamesandClaude Sonnet 5
b0f12710bb
Console sessions now route through the same general VM-to-VM messaging system (Phase C) any VM can already use for its own reasons -- not a synchronous shortcut. Per direct instruction: real async MSG-SEND/ MSG-DELIVER (Option B), not a VM-EXEC-based synchronous relay, because messaging is a general capability, not a console-specific mechanism. New CONSOLE-CMD-EVENT message type (common:messaging.4th). New sk_repl_dispatch_line() (repl.c), called from both sk_repl_step and sk_repl_run in place of a direct vm_interpret(): if the active VM's own name has a live "<name>~user" counterpart registered, the raw input line is wrapped as an S"-embedded CONSOLE-CMD-EVENT MSG-SEND and interpreted on the console VM instead of being run directly -- the console's own next MSG-TICK (Hera's idle pump) delivers it into the paired user VM via VM-EXEC, same mechanism every other message already uses. Falls back to direct interpretation if there's no pairing, or if the line contains a `"` (known v1 limitation, warned about explicitly rather than silently mishandled). New capsule_console_birth() (capsule_console.h/.c): a bare VM whose only content is loading common:messaging.4th -- the console side of a pairing, parallel in shape to RUNCAP's user-VM birth but with fixed embedded content instead of a devblock read (no identity, no thumbdrive involved). New PAIR-TEST diagnostic word (mama_forth_words.c, matches RUNCAP-TEST's own precedent): births both halves of a pairing and registers the "<name>~user" mapping. Not the real pairing call site -- that's the eventual attach/onboarding flow -- this exists to exercise the relay live before that flow exists. Found and fixed a real, serious bug live: console_set_vm_name() stored the caller's raw pointer instead of copying it. mama_word_use() (USE) passes a VMRegistryEntry field living on its own stack frame -- once USE returns, that pointer dangles, corrupting every console tag after the first USE (observed directly as garbled "[[]" / binary-looking prefixes instead of "[CaptBob]"). Fixed at the source: console_set_ vm_name() now copies into internal storage. That surfaced a second, related bug across every console_get_vm_name()-based save/restore call site in mama_forth_words.c (BIRTH, VM-STEP, VM-EXEC, CONNECT-HERMES, CONNECT-ARTEMIS): saving just a pointer into the single internal buffer meant an intervening console_set_vm_name() call silently corrupted the saved value before the restore ever ran. New console_save_vm_name() copies into caller-owned storage; every save/restore site updated. Verified end-to-end, live in QEMU: typed WELCOME at a paired console VM -- it did not execute directly (no UNKNOWN WORD), printed ok immediately (queued, async), and on the next idle tick "[CaptBob~user] Minted identity -- default personality" appeared on its own -- genuine delivery and execution in the paired user VM through the real MSG-SEND/MSG-DELIVER pipeline. Console tags confirmed clean (no garbling) across all three architectures' full regression boot. Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com> Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_019ZGkimpfyh63EZyRkNbkPD
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