rajamesandClaude Opus 5.5
9af442f793
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word, then every write with a reader waiting being handed over - DECOMPOSITION.md section 6: four named ports withdrawn for V4_PORTS numbered ones and wiring as data, as ruled Verified: tests/test_fabric.c, 53 checks at both widths: two nodes exchange words; an empty node is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>
v4/
StarForth v4: the 32-instruction F18-derived core. The design lives in
docs/v4.0.0/JUSTIFICATION.md (why) and docs/v4.0.0/DECOMPOSITION.md
(every v3 word mapped to a v4 fate).
The first deliverable is the hosted C99 golden model (JUSTIFICATION.md §10,
step 1). It must pass POST and hold K≡1.0 with 32- and 64-bit cells on all
three host ISAs.
Acceptance (JUSTIFICATION.md §16): v4 must be equivalent to v3 at any point
in time, with the same vocabularies and behaviour, on the F18-derived engine;
and every ISA, hosted and bare metal, must still reach its ok prompt.
make -C v4 test passing is a development check, not acceptance.
What exists so far is the single node: registers, circular stacks, memory, all
32 opcodes, per-opcode and per-call-target heat, and three console
registers (CONSOLE-TX, which captures output, and CONSOLE-RX and CONSOLE-STATUS, which hand out
input a test feeds) standing in for the console node until the mesh exists. The tests load definitions
onto a node either opcode by opcode (v4/include/v4/asm.h) or as text in the notation DECOMPOSITION.md
uses (v4/include/v4/text.h). make -C v4 test builds
and runs the tests at both cell widths; make -C v4 sanitize repeats them
under ASan and UBSan. There is no POST and no K measurement yet.
The system: nucleus, capsules, prompt
docs/v4.0.0/NUCLEUS.md is the design. A v4 system is four things:
| Part | Where | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Engine | v4/src |
The golden model of the 32-opcode node |
| Nucleus | v4/capsule/*.v4, built by v4/tools/mkimage.c |
The assembled words, as a memory image linked into the binary |
| Capsules | capsules/v4/*.4th, baked by tools/mkcapsule.c |
FORTH source, loaded when the system comes up |
| Boot | v4/system/boot.c |
Starts the nucleus, checks and loads each capsule, prints the parity lines, gives the prompt |
Two products link the same four and differ only in the console:
- Hosted Linux,
v4/tools/hosted.c:make -C v4 hostedbuildsv4/build/starforth4-amd64,-aarch64and-riscv64, static, 64-bit cells. - Bare metal,
kernel/src/v4/sk_v4.c:make -f kernel/Makefile ARCH=<arch> STARFORTH_V4=1.
A boot prints:
PARITY:V4_NUCLEUS words=292 image_hash=0x...
PARITY:V4_CAPSULE name=v4:forth79.4th capsule_id=0x... capsule_hash=0x... dict_hash=0x...
PARITY:OK
ok>
Every build of one commit prints the same hashes. make -C v4 hosted-check
boots the three hosted binaries (the two foreign ones under user-mode QEMU)
and fails unless their output is identical and ends in PARITY:OK.
A capsule line the node does not answer ok to ends the boot, naming the
capsule, block and line, with PARITY:FAIL and POST: FAILED.
State, 2026-10-05, after ENGINE.md step 1: all six builds start the nucleus,
load v4:forth79.4th, pass POST and reach ok>, with the same lines:
PARITY:V4_NUCLEUS words=298 image_hash=0xd982cf093aadb8b9
PARITY:V4_CAPSULE name=v4:forth79.4th capsule_id=... dict_hash=...
PARITY:V4_POST tests=550 pass=550 fail=0
PARITY:V4_CAPSULE name=v4:post79.4th capsule_id=... dict_hash=...
PARITY:OK
POST: PASSED
ok>
Bare-metal logs: logs/20261006-074907/amd64/, logs/20261006-075150/aarch64/,
logs/20261006-075532/riscv64/. On each, seven lines were then typed at the
prompt through the serial port — a definition, its use with the capsule's
U*, COLD, the capsule word again, a FORGET of it (refused), a kernel
word no one serves, and BYE — and each was answered as the hosted binary
answers it. The
capsules were unsigned (no signing key on this machine).
A node is handed a line (docs/v4.0.0/ENGINE.md 3.1). It does not read
its own command line and prints no prompt. Its host puts the text in the
node's input buffer and starts it at (LINE); the node interprets the text
and stops at (IDLE), leaving in (LINE-STATUS) how it ended. The host says
ok or ERROR and prompts, as the kernel's REPL does for a v3 VM. A line
may be 1024 characters, a block. v4_line_begin, v4_line_done and
v4_line_status (v4/include/v4/image.h) are that interface;
v4_boot_line (v4/system/boot.c) is the one loop the hosted binary, the
kernel and the capsule loader all run it with.
A node asks its kernel by writing to its port (ENGINE.md 3.3). The
write blocks the node until it has been served. A kernel word is a
dictionary entry made by n KERNEL-WORD name, whose body writes n to the
port; its arguments and results are on the data stack. BYE is the one
kernel word so far. A node can be stopped between any two instruction
words and is blocked while it waits at its port, which is what a system of
many users and tasks, preemptive and cooperative, needs of it
(ENGINE.md 3a).
The two products have parted (ENGINE.md 3c). They share the engine,
the FORTH-79 capsule and its POST; their nuclei may differ. The hosted
product is its own and may become a hosted SDK. The bare-metal product is
to be LithosAnanke with the node in the StarForth VM's place, and
everything about word records, the fleet and identity is its alone.
Nodes that talk (docs/v4.0.0/MESH.md) are the next step, ahead of
making v4 equal v3 on bare metal. Its first part is built and tested in
the engine: a node has V4_PORTS ports; a read from one blocks until the
neighbour writes and a write until the neighbour reads; a node is born
empty with P at its ports and executes what a neighbour sends it; and
the fabric (v4/src/fabric.c) is the nodes there are and the table of how
their ports are wired, both of which change while they run. The products
below are still one node each; they become the five nodes at MESH.md
steps 8 and 9.
This is still the lone node. On bare metal kernel_main.c starts it
before the fleet tables, beside the kernel's own system and not in the VM's
place. ENGINE.md sets out the steps from here; step 1 is done and step 2 is
part done. V3-PARITY.md records the rulings it is built from.
What this does not yet show. forth79.4th holds two definitions, U*
and U/MOD. Every other word is still in the assembled nucleus, so POST is
so far a test of the assembled words. Moving them to the capsule, a group at
a time with POST after each, is the next step (NUCLEUS.md section 8).
POST
capsules/v4/post79.4th: 550 cases in blocks 7000 up, covering 126 of the
130 words of the FORTH-79 Required Word Set. 443 are v3's cases with what
the hosted v3 binary did as the expected result. The other 107, and the 27
v3 cases left out, are listed with reasons in docs/v4.0.0/POST79.md.
make -C v4 postboots the amd64 system: the quick check after a change.make -C v4 hosted-checkboots all three hosted ISAs and compares them.make -C v4 post79writes the capsule again (tools/mkpost.py,tools/post79_rules.py); it needs the hosted v3 binary.
POST is FORTH: a harness of FORTH-79 words and two nucleus hooks, (CATCH)
and (EMIT-HOOK). It forgets itself when it has finished. The boot passes
only on seeing POST's tally line with fail=0 (v4/system/boot.c). A colon
definition broken on purpose (U/MOD without its last SWAP) fails five
cases and the boot stops with POST: FAILED.
Not tested: KEY, EXPECT, QUERY (the keyboard) and QUIT (it returns
without ok).
Open: PAD 42 OVER ! faults on v4, because PAD is a byte address and !
takes a cell address (D-1). FORTH-79 expects it to work. The v3 case for it
is left out until that is ruled.
The Required Word Set list in tools/mkpost.py was written from memory of
the standard and has not been checked against the document.