rajamesandClaude Opus 5.5
5d6043e37e
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>
v4/
StarForth v4: the 32-instruction F18-derived core. The design lives in
docs/v4.0.0/JUSTIFICATION.md (why) and docs/v4.0.0/DECOMPOSITION.md
(every v3 word mapped to a v4 fate).
The first deliverable is the hosted C99 golden model (JUSTIFICATION.md §10,
step 1). It must pass POST and hold K≡1.0 with 32- and 64-bit cells on all
three host ISAs.
Acceptance (JUSTIFICATION.md §16): v4 must be equivalent to v3 at any point
in time, with the same vocabularies and behaviour, on the F18-derived engine;
and every ISA, hosted and bare metal, must still reach its ok prompt.
make -C v4 test passing is a development check, not acceptance.
What exists so far is the single node: registers, circular stacks, memory, all
32 opcodes, per-opcode and per-call-target heat, and three console
registers (CONSOLE-TX, which captures output, and CONSOLE-RX and CONSOLE-STATUS, which hand out
input a test feeds) standing in for the console node until the mesh exists. The tests load definitions
onto a node either opcode by opcode (v4/include/v4/asm.h) or as text in the notation DECOMPOSITION.md
uses (v4/include/v4/text.h). make -C v4 test builds
and runs the tests at both cell widths; make -C v4 sanitize repeats them
under ASan and UBSan. There is no POST and no K measurement yet.
The system: nucleus, capsules, prompt
docs/v4.0.0/NUCLEUS.md is the design. A v4 system is four things:
| Part | Where | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Engine | v4/src |
The golden model of the 32-opcode node |
| Nucleus | v4/capsule/*.v4, built by v4/tools/mkimage.c |
The assembled words, as a memory image linked into the binary |
| Capsules | capsules/v4/*.4th, baked by tools/mkcapsule.c |
FORTH source, loaded when the system comes up |
| Boot | v4/system/boot.c |
Starts the nucleus, checks and loads each capsule, prints the parity lines, gives the prompt |
Two products link the same four and differ only in the console:
- Hosted Linux,
v4/tools/hosted.c:make -C v4 hostedbuildsv4/build/starforth4-amd64,-aarch64and-riscv64, static, 64-bit cells. - Bare metal,
kernel/src/v4/sk_v4.c:make -f kernel/Makefile ARCH=<arch> STARFORTH_V4=1.
A boot prints:
PARITY:V4_NUCLEUS words=292 image_hash=0x...
PARITY:V4_CAPSULE name=v4:forth79.4th capsule_id=0x... capsule_hash=0x... dict_hash=0x...
PARITY:OK
ok>
Every build of one commit prints the same hashes. make -C v4 hosted-check
boots the three hosted binaries (the two foreign ones under user-mode QEMU)
and fails unless their output is identical and ends in PARITY:OK.
A capsule line the node does not answer ok to ends the boot, naming the
capsule, block and line, with PARITY:FAIL and POST: FAILED.
State, 2026-10-05, after the POST work began: all six builds load
v4:forth79.4th and reach ok> with the same lines:
PARITY:V4_NUCLEUS words=295 image_hash=0x3ed5d5fc83f0b026
PARITY:V4_CAPSULE name=v4:forth79.4th capsule_id=0xa4b74bdc7deaf204 capsule_hash=0xa4b74bdc7deaf204 dict_hash=0x118de9d37e682ea4
PARITY:OK
ok>
Bare-metal logs: logs/20261005-160144/amd64/, logs/20261005-160234/aarch64/,
logs/20261005-160400/riscv64/. Each run was ended once the prompt was in the
log; nothing was typed at a bare-metal prompt, so keyboard input there is not
yet verified. The capsules were unsigned (no signing key on this machine).
forth79.4th holds no definitions yet: every word is still in the nucleus.
POST
capsules/v4/post79.4th is v3's POST cases for the FORTH-79 Required Word
Set, written by v4/tools/mkpost.py (make -C v4 post79): 537 cases in
blocks 7000–7112, covering 111 of the 130 required words. Each case carries
what the hosted v3 binary did with the same line — error or not, the stack,
the length and checksum of what was printed — and v4 must do the same.
POST does not pass yet, so it is not in the boot. make -C v4 post builds
the amd64 system with it (-DV4_POST_AT_BOOT=1) and boots it:
PARITY:V4_POST tests=537 pass=439 fail=98
PARITY:FAIL
POST: FAILED
The 98 are not yet sorted into v4 defects and differences that need a ruling. A first reading finds four kinds:
| Kind | About | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| The case prints or leaves a memory address, which differs between the two machines | 40 | HERE, PAD, 1 BLOCK, BL WORD, CONTEXT @ ., FIND |
| v3 departs from FORTH-79 and v4 follows the standard | 35 | PICK and ROLL count from 1; <# # #S #> take a double number; LEAVE ends the loop at the next LOOP; >R R> only inside a definition |
| The case assumes v3's byte address units, where a v4 address unit is a cell (D-1) | 8 | 42 , HERE 8 - @, PAD 42 OVER ! |
| Not yet understood | 15 | vocabulary cases, LIST's layout, 16 BASE ! 255 ., 321 EMIT, cases v3 ends in an error and v4 does not |
Required words with no v3 case, and so no POST case: U* U/MOD ?
EXECUTE KEY EXPECT QUERY U. CONVERT ' ." LITERAL STATE
COMPILE [COMPILE] ( QUIT BLK 79-STANDARD. U* and U/MOD are
in neither v3 nor v4.
Twelve v3 cases are left out: three read the keyboard, two forget a word of
the system, two store to the search order, and five leave v3 unable to
continue in one session (mkpost.py prints the list).
The boot passes POST only on seeing the tally line with fail=0
(v4/system/boot.c); that no line was refused is not enough.