The host node starts in its ROM (entry 12), and the boot feeds it the
system's source through the console: capsules/v4/sys/map-64.f18, the
fourteen .f18 blobs and end.f18, each found, hash-checked and
signature-checked as any capsule, then EOT. The ROM assembles the system
and starts it at (IDLE); the host reads the image record
(v4_image_from_node) for what only the assembled system knows. A ROM
error is reported with its blob, line and meaning, then PARITY:FAIL.
Deleted: v4/tools/mkimage.c, capsules/v4/nucleus-64.f18, v4/capsule/*.v4,
v4/tools/v4tof18.py. The .f18 files are the source now.
- text.c speaks the rest of the ROM's language (set, here, store, start;
v4_text_value, v4_text_start), so the oracle reads the same source:
test_host_rom_nucleus compares the ROM against text.c on the .f18 files,
word for word, image record included. Host tests load the .f18 files.
- mkmap image writes v4_map_image (the map's description of the system);
hosted and the kernel link the ROM and the map instead of v4_image_64.c.
- Hera (Captain Bob's ruling, option 1): births stream the system the ROM
assembled, as assembled code; hera.4th is unchanged.
test_host_unit's host builds the system with the ROM.
- New parity lines: PARITY:V4_F18 per blob, PARITY:V4_ROM words=2049
rom_hash=0xa6c792b5821010b7 instructions=60725216.
Acceptance: amd64, aarch64, riscv64 boot to ok> with PARITY:V4_POST
tests=538 pass=538 fail=0, POST: PASSED, and PARITY:V4_SYSTEM
word_count=317 dict_hash=0xe5a57f3eb72ff94a on all three -- the same hash
as the prebuilt nucleus gave. make -C v4 test test-32 hosted-check: all
pass. Logs: logs/20261015-141648, -141938, -142350.
Startup cost under QEMU TCG, the ROM's assembly (last V4_F18 line to
V4_ROM): amd64 26.7 s of 132 s to ok>; aarch64 41.0 s of 195 s; riscv64
20.5 s of 101 s. Hosted native: +0.85 s.
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>
