Robert Allan JamesandClaude Sonnet 5
b24a5a6e25
Root cause of the aarch64 BYE cold-restart exception (present since at least 2026-08-08, ESR_EL1=0x02000000/EC=0 "Unknown reason"), found via live gdb single-stepping through the actual crash: arch_cold_reset() issued PSCI SYSTEM_RESET via `smc #0`, but QEMU's aarch64 virt machine booted with AAVMF (UEFI firmware, no genuine EL3/TrustZone secure monitor) serves PSCI via HVC, not SMC -- nothing exists to answer an SMC call, so it trapped as an illegal instruction straight into the kernel's own exception handler. Not memory corruption, not a race -- a wrong conduit for this boot configuration. Fix: smc #0 -> hvc #0. Function ID and calling convention unchanged. Getting to this required first discovering that starkernel_kernel.elf is not the binary that actually runs -- MONOLITHIC_BUILD links kernel_main() directly into starkernel_loader.efi, a completely separate, differently-linked build artifact. Every earlier gdb breakpoint attempt this session failed because it used addresses from the wrong file. Real addresses (UEFI-chosen ImageBase + linker-map RVA) let gdb catch the crash live for the first time. Verified: full aarch64 acceptance pass, 30/30 stress-campaign reps PASS (unaffected -- this bug only manifested on BYE), and BYE now exits cleanly with no exception for the first time in this investigation. Full writeup in FABRIC-2.md Section I. Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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