Root-caused a heap-corruption bug that reliably failed WIREBIND identity attach on the third attach/detach cycle in one boot. sk_console_readline() and sk_console_getkey() captured `active_vm` once from their caller and kept passing that same (possibly long-stale) pointer to sk_repl_idle() on every idle tick serviced while blocked waiting for input. If the VM it pointed at was killed (WIREBIND detach) mid-block, the existing bailout only checked a generic "is anyone attached" boolean -- masked as soon as a different identity attached next -- so blk_vm_flush_all() kept writing into a freed VM struct sitting on kmalloc's own free list, corrupting the free list's linked-list metadata itself. Both idle branches now re-resolve the live active VM fresh from g_repl_active_vm on every tick, matching the dispatch-side fix already made for the sibling bug in §XII.3. Verified: rebuilt amd64, reran the exact three-cycle repro that reliably corrupted the heap before the fix -- free-list census stayed stable through the same idle window that previously collapsed to zero. All three architectures (amd64/aarch64/riscv64) boot clean to the zuse)ok> prompt. kmalloc_debug_census()/kmalloc_debug_census_bytes() kept as permanent diagnostic infrastructure; every other temporary probe added during the investigation was reverted. Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com> Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01EXieurDfDSsDFdnSyusuWo
src/starkernel/
LithosAnanke — the bare-metal UEFI kernel that boots StarForth directly on
hardware (amd64/aarch64/riscv64). Built only via Makefile.starkernel; the
only valid acceptance test is the three-arch QEMU boot (see
.claude/CLAUDE.md), never make test.
kernel_main.c— kernel entry point, driving the boot milestones (console init, PMM, VMM, interrupts, timers, kmalloc heap, VM bootstrap).repl.c— kernel REPL.doe_log.c— kernel-side DoE (Design of Experiments) metrics logging.
Subdirectories:
arch/{amd64,aarch64,riscv64}/— per-architecture support (APIC/GIC/ PLIC interrupt controller, timers, boot/ISR assembly).boot/— UEFI loader, ELF loading, kernel command-line parsing.capsule/— capsule birth/run/load/validate pipeline.hal/— hardware-abstraction-layer implementation (console, framebuffer, VT100, memory, host services).hash/— XXHash64 content-addressing implementation.math/— kernel-build Q48.16 fixed-point arithmetic.memory/— physical/virtual memory managers and the kernel heap.pci/— PCI bus enumeration.virtio/— VirtIO block device driver.vm/— kernel VM subsystem (bootstrap, core interpreter, parity logging, capsule arena).
See include/starkernel/README.md for the corresponding headers.