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>
mkpost.py writes v4/system/post_cases.c where it wrote the capsule: for
each case its name, its lines, and what it must do -- end in an error, or
leave v3's stack and print v3's output, which is now held in full where
the capsule held its length and a checksum.
The same 538 cases: checked against capsules/v4/post79.4th case by case --
names, lines, stacks, and the length and checksum of each output -- with
no difference. The capsule is still what the boot runs.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
The boot is now nucleus, forth79.4th, POST, prompt, on both products.
- forth79.4th: U* and U/MOD, the capsule's first colon definitions. They
are in the FORTH-79 Required Word Set and neither v3 nor v4 had them.
- post79.4th: 550 cases, 126 of the 130 required words. 443 are v3's with
v3's result. The rest follow three rulings (2026-10-05): address-
dependent cases are checked for count, not value; where v3 departs from
FORTH-79 the standard's result is expected; words v3 has no case for get
cases written by hand. v4/tools/post79_rules.py holds each exception
with its reason and docs/v4.0.0/POST79.md lists them all.
- every case starts from an empty stack, DECIMAL and FORTH DEFINITIONS
- the boot requires POST's tally line with fail=0
Verified: tests=550 pass=550 fail=0 and identical PARITY lines on hosted
amd64, aarch64 and riscv64 (make -C v4 hosted-check) and on bare metal,
clean qemu with STARFORTH_V4=1, on the same three (logs/20261005-1619xx,
-1621xx, -1625xx). A U/MOD broken on purpose fails five cases and stops
the boot. make -C v4 test passes.
Not shown: all words but those two are still assembled, so POST has so far
tested the assembled words. Nothing was typed at a bare-metal prompt.
Open: PAD 42 OVER ! faults on v4 (D-1).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
capsules/v4/post79.4th: 537 of v3's POST cases for the FORTH-79 Required
Word Set, each carrying what the hosted v3 binary did with the same line
(error or not, the stack, the length and checksum of what it printed).
Written by v4/tools/mkpost.py. The harness is FORTH-79 plus the two
nucleus hooks. docs/v4.0.0/NUCLEUS.md section 6.
- NODE-ERROR has a FORTH name: how a definition in FORTH raises an error
- the boot passes POST only on seeing its tally line with fail=0
- POST is not in the boot yet (V4_POST_AT_BOOT=0); make -C v4 post runs it
Result: tests=537 pass=439 fail=98. The 98 are not yet sorted into v4
defects and differences needing a ruling; v4/README.md has a first reading.
Verified: make -C v4 test passes; hosted-check passes on three ISAs; clean
qemu with STARFORTH_V4=1 on amd64, aarch64 and riscv64 reaches ok> with the
same hashes as hosted (logs/20261005-1601xx..1604xx). Nothing was typed at
a bare-metal prompt.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
