MESH.md 7b: no message is lost without its sender being told, and no
node waits for ever. What v3 does, from the code, and what could not be
established. A refusal travels back as a NACK; Hera ends a wait on a
stuck node by killing it and tells the others it is gone; a line from the
console breaks a wait. Step 6c has the acceptance.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
It came from kmalloc, which does not clear what it hands out; only the
ramdrive beside it was cleared. A VM's BLOCK on blocks 0 to 2047 read
whatever had been in the kernel's heap. The v4 path already cleared its
own.
Accepted on the v3 configuration: amd64, aarch64 and riscv64 reach the
zuse prompt, no UNKNOWN WORD, PARITY:M7.1a hash 0x08873e0f44b7cb2a on all
three, as before. logs/20261007-140609, -140735, -140946.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
A node writing to a node that was stuck, and was then killed, stayed
blocked for ever: killing a stuck node could cost its neighbours. And on
the hosted and bare-metal products a write to an empty port, 5 7 PORT!,
ended the program with "the node stopped".
Now a node that can take an error, blocked writing to or reading from one
port that nothing is wired to -- nothing ever was, or what was there has
been killed or the wire cut -- has error 18, No one on that port, raised
on it and goes on. A bare node waits as on the fabric; so does a node
whose neighbour is asleep, and one reading "any port".
test_host_unit.c: Hera kills node 14 while node 12 is blocked writing to
it. It failed first: 12 stayed blocked. test_fabric.c: a bare node still
waits. hosted-check types 5 7 PORT! and goes on; it failed first too.
make -C v4 test, sanitize and hosted-check pass; amd64, aarch64 and
riscv64 boot, POST 538 of 538, dict_hash 0x5f0a949a6fc8ef2b on all six:
logs/20261007-121743, -122008, -122337.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Captain Bob was told that v3 leaves the words POST's cases define in the
dictionary, and ruled that v4 should. That was false: v3's run_test_suite
puts the dictionary back after each word's cases (test_common.c:333,
:365). Shown that, he ruled that POST leaves nothing. The boot now
seals the system, runs POST, and has the node do COLD, whose printing is
not shown; PARITY:V4_SYSTEM is the system as sealed.
A case the node does not come back from ends POST there, named, with how
many were not run: it would have stalled the boot for hours, where the
capsule had ended it. The runner's test of it now uses a word that
really never ends.
hosted-check also requires that RS1 and T{ are unknown after boot, and
boots a program whose POST has failing cases (tests/post_cases_fail.c):
PARITY:FAIL, POST: FAILED, no prompt, none of a case's printing shown.
Comments and documents that still named the POST capsule or its two
hooks are brought up to date; NUCLEUS.md 6.3 says what v3 does, with the
lines, and how the wrong ruling came about.
make -C v4 test, sanitize and hosted-check pass; amd64, aarch64 and
riscv64 boot, POST 538 of 538, word_count=314, dict_hash
0x220ab283a504a3b3 on all six: logs/20261007-112638, -112901, -113220.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Captain Bob, 2026-10-07. Rulings 6 and 8 of MESH.md 8.1 (a device
identity in the block header, a returning device's old numbers, release
by moving its blocks off, holes) were given without v3's design having
been shown. MESH.md 8.7 sets v3's design beside them: a removable drive
is a person's, known by its signature; WIREBIND; it joins at the tail and
only the tail leaves; EJECT flushes to the drive and kills the user's VM.
ENGINE.md steps 7 and 8 now say that is where it is built.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
The boot runs POST with the runner (v4/system/post.c) after the capsules:
it feeds the 538 cases to the node and judges them from outside. A
case's printing no longer reaches the console. What the cases define
stays in the dictionary, as in v3; the system is sealed after POST and
the boot prints PARITY:V4_SYSTEM word_count=N dict_hash=..., as v3 prints
its parity after POST.
Gone: capsules/v4/post79.4th and its blocks 7000 up; the harness words;
(CATCH) and (EMIT-HOOK), with what EMIT and the prompt loop did for them.
The generator runs v3 on the lines as the kernel sends them, without the
capsule's "T| ". One expected result follows from that: >IN.initial
prints 6, not 9.
make -C v4 test, sanitize and hosted-check pass; amd64, aarch64 and
riscv64 boot, POST 538 of 538, word_count=411, dict_hash
0x6fb1d09418b189ee on all six: logs/20261007-105118, -105335, -105651.
T{ is unknown at the prompt; RS1 prints 42 42 before and after COLD. A
scratch build with one expectation changed names the case and ends
PARITY:FAIL, POST: FAILED.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
NUCLEUS.md 6.3 and section 7 as approved 2026-10-07: the kernel holds the
cases as a table and feeds them to the node; a runner judges from outside;
what the cases define stays, as in v3; a PARITY:V4_SYSTEM line after POST.
The capsule harness and its two nucleus variables are withdrawn (6.3a
keeps what they were). MESH.md step 6b has the acceptance.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Ruled 2026-10-07. BLOCK, BUFFER, UPDATE, SAVE-BUFFERS and EMPTY-BUFFERS
are each one kernel request on port 0, by block number only. The node
has a window of four slots in its memory, as a v3 VM has; the kernel
copies blocks into it, keeps the record of which block is in which slot,
and decides when a block is written (v4/system/blocks.c). The node keeps
no record and gives the kernel no address, so a request cannot overwrite
the node's code. When a block is written stays FORTH-79's: UPDATE marks
it. When the chain of devices changes the slots are let go, as in v3.
The window is 512 cells more than the two buffers were; the dictionary
space ends that much lower, at 13824.
MESH.md 8.5 had said, from the review, that a v3 VM's BLOCK is the
kernel's buffer. It is not, and the section now says what was reported,
what v3 does, and what was ruled.
make -C v4 test, sanitize and hosted-check pass; amd64, aarch64 and
riscv64 boot, POST 538 of 538, the same hashes on all six:
logs/20261007-092835, -093112, -093456.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
It said a v3 VM's BLOCK gives the kernel's buffer. It does not: each v3
VM has a window of four slots in its own memory, and BLOCK copies the
kernel's block into one. The entry now says what v3 does and where v4
differs from it.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
A block request with fewer than two values on the stack is refused; it
had acted on whatever the stack ring held and stopped the node.
Bare metal: when the kernel's chain takes the place of POST's block RAM
the node's two buffers are emptied, so it no longer holds POST's copy of
a block; and the chain's fast RAM is cleared, so a node cannot read what
was in the kernel's heap.
blocks.c is built with each test under that test's own warnings and
sanitizers; it had been left out of both. The hosted link cleans its
object directory first: it had linked the withdrawn store_v3.o left there
from the day before.
node.h and DECOMPOSITION.md D-19 no longer describe the message device or
the four registers as current. MESH.md 8.5 records two findings for
ruling: a node's own copy of a block, and a block read over a node's code.
From a clean build: make -C v4 test, sanitize and hosted-check pass;
amd64, aarch64 and riscv64 boot, POST 538 of 538, same hashes, blocks 1
and 2047 clean at the prompt: logs/20261007-085017, -085254, -085636.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
MESH.md step 6 as built, what is not as intended yet, and step 6b for
POST becoming the kernel's. README and V3-PARITY.md brought up to date.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Ruled 2026-10-07 (Captain Bob): POST on every node, nodes without
storage, and block requests passed from node to node had left v3's
design. MESH.md section 8 is rewritten: a block is a kernel request, as
ENGINE.md 3.3 already had it; every node has blocks; there is one chain.
Private drives and the message device are withdrawn, and listed in 8.5
so that they are not proposed again. Acceptance 1 and 3 change with it.
A born node is not POSTed, and the kernel is to hold POST's cases.
The plan for step 6 is revised to match.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
blk_subsys_init loses its unused VM argument (ruled). Block done has a
fourth answer, no such block. MESH.md 8.4 says which chain a number
means, that storage has a number like a node, and that a block number is
not signed.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
MESH.md section 8 is no longer a proposal. Ten rulings (Captain Bob,
2026-10-06), the design of step 6 as approved, what it leaves out, and
one case left open. Step 6a is added for chains that change while
running; its acceptance is still to be approved.
V3-PARITY.md 1d stands: the mapper is the kernel's block subsystem.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
MESH.md step 5, in the fabric under test; the products are still one
node each until steps 8 and 9.
manage.c: what Hera asks of whoever holds the fabric, eleven requests by
KERNEL-WORD -- NODE-ME -BORN -WIRE -UNWIRE -SLEEP -WAKE -KILL -PARITY and
CAPSULE-OPEN -CELL -LINE. Nucleus: PORT!, SEND-ON, AWAIT, (SEAL).
capsules/v4/hera.4th: BIRTH and UNIT, the unit rule in FORTH and nowhere
else. The dictionary hash moves to the engine (v4_image_dict_hash).
test_host_unit.c, 34 checks, 64-bit: Hera is born empty, takes the
nucleus through her port, FORTH-79, POST and her capsule; 10 UNIT; four
nodes are born, each takes the nucleus and FORTH-79 through its port from
Hera and passes POST 538/538; four parities, one dictionary hash; they
talk, and a message between two corners not wired goes by Hera.
All v4 tests at both widths and under ASan+UBSan. hosted-check on three
ISAs. Bare metal: logs/20261006-143934 (amd64), -144204 (aarch64),
-144601 (riscv64).
Open, recorded in MESH.md: not run at 32 bits; a node that never answers
leaves Hera waiting; the capsules are read from files in the test, not
from the baked directory.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
MESH.md step 4, the fault found there, as ruled (section 7a): a node
writes only to a neighbour that is reading, keeps what it takes in
meanwhile, and loses and counts what it has no room for.
Engine: two more addresses after a node's ports -- which ports have a
neighbour waiting to write to it, which to read from it. Nucleus: (GATE)
before every message; the messages waiting, a ring of 400 cells, dealt
with when the node is idle. Of two neighbours the lower number may wait
to write (ruled after it was built); NEIGHBOUR tells a node who is on
each port.
test_host_mesh.c, 44 checks: the case that stopped the nodes passes; six
messages from each node to each at once all arrive; 800 at once, the
nodes come to rest and every message arrived or was counted (287 arrived,
714 of all kinds let go). test_fabric.c: the two looks. Both widths,
ASan+UBSan.
POST: twelve cases handed HERE, a cell address on v4, to words that take
a byte address, and so wrote into or read from the nucleus's code at cell
HERE/4. Ruled: left out, marked OPEN, until HERE and the byte words are
made to agree as its own step. POST is 538 cases.
hosted-check on three ISAs, 538/538. Bare metal: logs/20261006-134817
(amd64), -135044 (aarch64), -135440 (riscv64).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
MESH.md step 4. Each node has a table of destinations and the port toward
each, and a port for everything else (ROUTE, DEFAULT-ROUTE, NO-ROUTES). A
message not for this node is passed on whole; one with nowhere to go is
dropped and counted. What text prints and how it ended go back to the node
it came from by the same table. SEND sends text to another node.
test_host_mesh.c: three StarForth nodes in a row behind a console, 28
checks at both widths and under ASan+UBSan. hosted-check on three ISAs.
Bare metal: logs/20261006-115225 (amd64), -115501 (aarch64), -115849
(riscv64).
NOT DONE. Two neighbours that write to each other at once wait for ever:
a write blocks until the neighbour reads, and a node that is writing is
not reading. The last check in test_host_mesh.c shows it (KNOWN FAULT).
MESH.md section 7a sets out the ways out; none is chosen.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
MESH.md step 3. The ports are the transport; the message is what is
transported: to, from, type, heat and TTL, ACL tag, sequence, length, then
text four characters to a word.
- quit.v4: a node with nothing to do is blocked reading "any port"; text
for it is interpreted; (FINISH) sends what it printed and then how the
text ended, and it waits again
- core.v4: EMIT keeps what is printed, (FLUSH-OUT) and (HDR) send it to the
sender on the port the message came on. EMIT still needs one free data
cell and no more; it works on the return stack and in A and B
- message.h/.c: the same format for whatever is on a port and is not a node
- boot.c: the boot is the node's console on port 1 and its kernel on port 0
- the prompt tests are a console that speaks messages
- gone: v4_line_begin, v4_line_done, v4_line_status; writing a node's input
buffer and setting its P from outside; any use of CONSOLE-TX
Verified: make -C v4 test (test_host_quit.c 1283 checks, the full-stack
figures unchanged) and make -C v4 sanitize pass; hosted-check passes on
three ISAs with POST 550 of 550; clean qemu with STARFORTH_V4=1 passes POST
and answers lines typed at each prompt on amd64, aarch64 and riscv64
(logs/20261006-110551, -111621, -111341). -110837 is an aarch64 run ended
by the test wrapper's limit while still in UEFI firmware; it shows nothing
about v4.
Not done: KEY, EXPECT and QUERY still read the console's input registers;
a message not for this node is let go (step 4).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
MESH.md step 2. A capsule of F18 code is the words a neighbour writes to a
node's port: for each stretch of memory, "@p a! @p push", the address and
count, "@p !+ unext" and the words; then a jump to the start. A node born
empty executes that from its port, so it needs nothing in it beforehand.
- capsule.h/.c: v4_capsule_write, any node's memory as such a capsule
- mkimage writes the nucleus so, to capsules/v4/nucleus-64.f18, and the
addresses a host needs as a C file; the memory image is no longer linked
into either product
- mkcapsule is unchanged: the nucleus capsule is a built file kept under
capsules/, as BLOCK_MAP.md is, and is baked, hashed and signed with the
rest
- boot: the node is born empty (v4_image_born); the nucleus capsule is
found, its hash and signature checked, and given to the node a word at a
time as it reads its port; PARITY:V4_NUCLEUS carries its name and hash
Verified: test_fabric.c (59 checks, both widths, and under ASan and UBSan):
a memory with a programme and scattered words arrives word for word in an
empty node and runs. The nucleus capsule rebuilds byte for byte.
hosted-check passes on three ISAs; clean qemu with STARFORTH_V4=1 on amd64,
aarch64 and riscv64 takes the nucleus in, passes POST (550 of 550) and
answers lines typed at each prompt (logs/20261006-102421, -102706,
-103048).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
MESH.md step 1, in the engine, which knows nothing of StarForth or of any
kernel.
- node: V4_PORTS ports (8), a build parameter; "any port" and the port the
last such read came from; a read blocks until the neighbour writes, as a
write blocks until the neighbour reads; v4_node_born: empty, P at "any
port"
- exec: a fetch from a port -- @ @b @+ @p, or of an instruction word when P
is a port -- waits for a word; a node executes what arrives at a port
without advancing P; a blocked node goes on from the slot it stopped at
- fabric: the nodes there are and the table of how their ports are wired,
both changed while the nodes run; devices on a port; asleep and awake; a
step is every unblocked node executing one instruction word, then every
write with a reader waiting being handed over
- DECOMPOSITION.md section 6: four named ports withdrawn for V4_PORTS
numbered ones and wiring as data, as ruled
Verified: tests/test_fabric.c, 53 checks at both widths: two nodes exchange
words; an empty node is filled through its port by a device, and by another
node, and runs what it was sent; a word is passed on by a node in between;
a waiting node executes nothing; the wiring is changed while they run; a
node is put to sleep, woken and removed while looping; a node is born while
others run; the fabric is given more room. make -C v4 test and make -C v4
sanitize pass. The single-node products are unchanged: hosted-check on
three ISAs, and clean qemu with STARFORTH_V4=1 on amd64, aarch64 and
riscv64 with lines typed at each prompt (logs/20261006-074907, -075150,
-075532).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
From Captain Bob's rulings of 2026-10-05 and -06 (ENGINE.md 3d) and the
acceptance he approved. Ports with blocking reads and writes, a node born
empty that executes what arrives at its port, a fabric of nodes and wiring
that change at run time, capsules of F18 code, messages, finding the way,
storage, birth and Hera; nine steps. Marks which parts are rulings and
which are proposals.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
