Robert Allan JamesandClaude Sonnet 5
2c1dc1753a
Real finding, caught before building release on a foundation that
couldn't support it: task 2.2's first cut of sk_hermes_alloc() pulled
reservoir heat but never admitted a real Stadium-floor patron -- just a
local in_use flag. FABRIC-3.5.md SXXXIII.4 item 1 says MSG-FREE-NODE
returns heat "via STADIUM-EVICT", which only means something if
allocation admitted something. SXL.4's own invariant, Sigma(resident
patron heat) + reservoir + consumed == Q48_ONE, cannot balance if held
heat is invisible to every term while held. Flagged to Captain Bob
before proceeding; authorized to correct 2.2 in the same pass as
building 2.3 on top of the fix.
sk_hermes_alloc() now calls stadium_admit() with heat = the pulled
amount, behaviour = STADIUM_BEHAVIOUR_DELIVER (matching messaging.4th's
own SB-DELIVER STADIUM-ADMIT exactly), and identity = the message's own
slot index (matching the FORTH precedent -- caught live in the first
boot of this fix that omitting this made stadium_dispatch()'s existing
DELIVER diagnostic print msg_idx=0 for every message instead of a
distinct value). The returned cell index is stored in the message's
own stadium_cell field. Stadium-floor refusal (independent of reservoir
affordability) rolls back the pull the same way the other refusal
paths already do.
sk_hermes_release() -- the function task 2.3 actually asks for -- calls
stadium_evict() on that cell, which itself returns the departing
patron's remaining heat to its owning VM's reservoir, matching
MSG-FREE-NODE's exact shape. Release does not touch the reservoir
directly.
Self-test (kernel_main.c) extended: keeps every allocated message's
pointer, allocates to exhaustion as before, releases all of them, and
checks the reservoir returns to precisely its starting value.
"Undecayed" is true by construction (no decay/TTL logic exists yet,
task 2.5) -- exact restoration, not approximate.
Three-arch boot clean: amd64/aarch64/riscv64 all reach [zuse@Hera] ok>,
zero UNKNOWN WORD, dict_hash unmoved from task 2.2. All three print
identical PASS arithmetic: reservoir0=65536, reservoir_after_alloc=0,
reservoir_final=65536. No compiler warnings.
stadium_dispatch()'s DELIVER-case console output (one line per
eviction) is pre-existing instrumentation, not new -- confirmed real
and load-bearing per stadium.c's own comment, verbose but expected.
Authorized by Captain Bob ("yes").
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