Robert Allan JamesandClaude Sonnet 5
9d129fdb1c
The piece FABRIC-3.5.md SXXXIII.6 calls "what remains genuinely hard,"
built and proven first per its own recommendation. Added
src/starkernel/vm/kernel_hermes.c (wired into Makefile.starkernel's
LOADER_EXTRA_SRCS -- this repo lists vm/*.c files explicitly, no glob)
and sk_hermes_alloc()'s declaration in kernel_hermes.h.
Checks stadium_reservoir_peek(vm_id) >= SK_HERMES_Q_SLOT before
touching the reservoir at all -- refusal this way needs no rollback,
since nothing was pulled -- with an explicit rollback path
(stadium_reservoir_push) kept defensively for the pull-then-short case,
though nothing in this single-core kernel is expected to reach it.
SK_HERMES_Q_SLOT = Q48_ONE / SK_HERMES_MSG_MAX (2048), deliberately
simpler than messaging.4th's own formula, which reserves a Q.1/3 floor
for COMMON-CH's own Stadium heat -- kernel-Hermes has no such object
(SXXXIII.4/SXXXIII.5's flat membership list carries no heat of its
own), so there is nothing left for that floor to protect.
Self-test in kernel_main.c, same diagnostic-only synthetic-VM pattern
as the existing Stadium quota grant self-test (lo=3, distinct from
that test's lo=1): reads back the actual granted reservoir rather than
assuming a number, derives expected_n from it, allocates to refusal,
and checks the refusal lands at exactly expected_n, the reservoir
doesn't move on the refused attempt (rollback proven, not assumed),
and the final reservoir is exactly reservoir0 minus got_n times
Q_SLOT.
Three-arch boot clean: amd64/aarch64/riscv64 all reach [zuse@Hera] ok>,
zero UNKNOWN WORD, dict_hash unmoved from task 2.1 (pure C, no FORTH
touched). All three print identical self-test arithmetic: reservoir0=
65536 Q_SLOT=2048 expected_n=32 got_n=32 reservoir_after=0. No compiler
warnings.
Noted, not fixed: Q_SLOT's divisor and SK_HERMES_MSG_MAX are the same
32, so reservoir and arena exhaustion land at exactly the same count by
construction -- this test can't distinguish which refusal reason
fired, only that refusal is correct and rolls back correctly.
Deliberately not evidence for stadium_conserved(): allocating alone
(no release yet, task 2.3) leaves pulled heat held off the Stadium
floor, so the two-term check would correctly read false right now if
run mid-hold. That's expected, not a bug -- Stage B (task 2.7) is
defined as "before and after the alloc/free cycle," not "continuously
during." This task's self-test checks reservoir arithmetic directly
instead.
Authorized by Captain Bob ("Yes continue").
Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
LithosAnanke v2.0.1
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