Fix pathological migration scan that stalled WIREBIND identity attach

Root cause (found by a fresh subagent after an extended live-debugging
investigation into "identity 00 attaches slowly/stalls when Zuse never
attached first this boot"): blk_migration_idle_check() was generalized
earlier today to walk every attached device slot uniformly instead of
hardcoding first_disk_slot() (Artemis's own disk). But its per-slot scan
can only early-exit once it finds a devblock that is BOTH "hot" (claimed
and worn) AND "free" -- and a just-attached, never-claimed USB identity
drive can never satisfy the "hot" half by design (claiming only ever
happens via blk_firsttouch_claim(), which only ever targets
first_disk_slot()). So the scan ran to completion -- the drive's entire
~16,000 devblocks, mostly cache misses over slow emulated USB/BOT --
every single idle tick, forever, blocking sk_repl_idle() (and therefore
the console and the storage-attach message round-trip) each time.

Fix, in src/block_subsystem.c: a new has_ever_claimed flag on
blk_dev_slot_t (set in blk_set_meta(), the single choke point every
BLK_FLAG_CLAIMED transition passes through) skips the scan entirely,
O(1), for any slot nothing has ever claimed -- the common case for a
freshly-attached drive. A new migration_scan_lbn resume cursor bounds
*any* slot's per-tick cost to MIGRATION_SCAN_BUDGET (256) devblocks
examined, picking up where the previous tick left off instead of
restarting from start_lbn every time -- restores this function's own
documented "coarse cadence, cheap early-exit" design intent for every
device, not just the one it used to hardcode.

Also along the way (kept, all real improvements, verified live):
- src/starkernel/usb/xhci.c: xhci_wait_bit()/xhci_bot_wait_for_idle()
  had zero yield hints in their MMIO-polling loops; added arch_relax()
  to both (matches virtio_blk.c below) -- a tight loop of nothing but
  MMIO reads can starve TCG's own host-side timer injection under QEMU.
- src/starkernel/virtio/virtio_blk.c: vblk_io()'s spin bound was 33M
  iterations with zero logging on timeout; a single real (still not
  fully root-caused) timeout cost 31+ minutes of CPU before this was
  caught. Reduced to 1M and added a log line naming the failing sector,
  turning a silent, effectively-unbounded stall into a fast, loud
  failure -- callers already tolerate BLKIO_EIO.
- src/starkernel/repl.c: blk_migration_idle_check() deferred for any
  idle tick where a storage-attach message round-trip is still pending,
  to keep the two block-subsystem-touching paths from interleaving; the
  existing MSG-TICK pump now checks the target VM's own dictionary for
  MSG-TICK (vm_find_word + acl_allow) before VM-EXECing into it, instead
  of spamming "VM-EXEC: ERROR" every tick for a VM that doesn't have --
  or isn't allowed -- the word (e.g. a FORTH-79/83-locked-down identity);
  fixed a real -Wunused-variable build break in the EMERGENCY_CONSOLE_
  ENABLED=1 path (unused today, but needed live to reproduce this bug
  with no identity attached at all).
- src/starkernel/capsule/capsule_mint.c: dropped the dead
  S" common:messaging.4th" EXEC / MSG-CD-INIT lines from
  MINT_RESTRICTED_PERSONALITY -- a FORTH-79/83-locked-down identity has
  no legitimate use for a messaging vocabulary it can never call.

Status: the pathological CPU-climbing scan is confirmed fixed (verified
live: CPU stays flat across an extended run instead of climbing without
bound). The WIREBIND storage-attach message round-trip still does not
complete promptly in the "Zuse never attached, other identity attaches
first" scenario -- a separate, still-open issue in the message-delivery
path itself, not the scan. Tracked as follow-on work.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_014Ec88YKxxhZGG1RNnune78

capsules/BLOCK_MAP.md

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 # Capsule Block Manifest — Auto-generated
-<!-- Generated by mkcapsule --manifest  2026-09-08T01:19:50Z -->
+<!-- Generated by mkcapsule --manifest  2026-09-09T15:57:24Z -->
 <!-- DO NOT EDIT — re-run mkcapsule --manifest to refresh.  -->
 <!-- Hand-written justifications and immutability notes live  -->
 <!-- in MANIFEST.md alongside this auto-generated index.      -->

src/block_subsystem.c

@@ -152,6 +152,17 @@ struct blk_dev_slot {
     /* BAM: one entry per user block, heap-allocated at attach time */
     blk_bam_entry_t   *bam;
 
+    /* FABRIC-3.md, 2026-09-09: blk_migration_idle_check()'s own doc
+     * comment on has_ever_claimed/migration_scan_lbn explains why these
+     * exist -- see that function. */
+    uint8_t   has_ever_claimed;  /* 1 once any devblock in this slot has
+                                   * ever been BLK_FLAG_CLAIMED; wear-
+                                   * leveling has nothing to do on a slot
+                                   * that's still 0. */
+    uint32_t  migration_scan_lbn; /* resume cursor for the bounded per-
+                                    * tick migration scan, absolute LBN,
+                                    * wraps at start_lbn+user_blocks. */
+
     blk_dev_slot_t    *next;
 };
 
@@ -1301,6 +1312,10 @@ int blk_set_meta(uint32_t block_num, const blk_meta_t *meta) {
     if (!c) return BLK_EIO;
     c->meta[slot_pbn_pack_offset(rel_pbn)] = *meta;
     c->meta_dirty = 1;
+    /* FABRIC-3.md, 2026-09-09: single choke point every BLK_FLAG_CLAIMED
+     * transition passes through -- see blk_migration_idle_check()'s own
+     * doc comment for why this flag exists. */
+    if (meta->flags & BLK_FLAG_CLAIMED) slot->has_ever_claimed = 1;
     return BLK_OK;
 }
 
@@ -1567,39 +1582,97 @@ int blk_meta_relocate_devblock(uint32_t home_devblock, uint32_t target_devblock)
  * trigger-detection call site is the remaining gap. */
 #define MIGRATION_WEAR_THRESHOLD 10000u
 
-void blk_migration_idle_check(void) {
+/* Devblocks actually read (blk_get_meta() calls, the expensive part --
-    blk_dev_slot_t *slot = first_disk_slot();
+ * real I/O on any cache miss) per slot, per idle tick. FABRIC-3.md,
-    if (!slot) return;
+ * 2026-09-09: blk_migration_idle_check_slot() used to scan a slot's
+ * *entire* range in one synchronous call with no bound but "found both
+ * halves of the exit condition" -- fine when this only ever ran against
+ * Artemis's own fast, small, resident, already-claimed disk
+ * (first_disk_slot()-only, pre-2026-09-09), but once generalized to walk
+ * every attached slot (below), an unclaimed removable drive can never
+ * satisfy the "hot" half (nothing on it is ever BLK_FLAG_CLAIMED -- see
+ * has_ever_claimed's own doc comment on blk_dev_slot_t), so the scan ran
+ * to completion -- the ENTIRE drive, mostly cache misses over slow
+ * emulated USB/BOT -- every single idle tick, forever. Live-caught:
+ * this alone turned a WIREBIND identity's own thumbdrive attach into a
+ * many-real-minutes stall that never resolved on its own. Two
+ * independent fixes, both real hardening not just papering over the
+ * trigger: has_ever_claimed skips the scan entirely (O(1)) for any slot
+ * nothing has ever claimed (the common case for a just-attached drive);
+ * migration_scan_lbn bounds *any* slot's per-tick cost regardless, via a
+ * resume cursor that picks up where the previous tick left off instead
+ * of restarting from start_lbn every time -- restores this function's
+ * own "coarse cadence, cheap early-exit" design intent (this file's own
+ * older doc comment above) for every device, not just the one it used
+ * to hardcode. */
+#define MIGRATION_SCAN_BUDGET 256u
+
+/* Per-slot half of blk_migration_idle_check() -- extracted so the caller
+ * can walk every attached slot uniformly (below) instead of hardcoding
+ * first_disk_slot(). Bounded, resumable scan -- see MIGRATION_SCAN_
+ * BUDGET's own doc comment above for why. */
+static void blk_migration_idle_check_slot(blk_dev_slot_t *slot) {
+    if (!slot->has_ever_claimed) return;
+
+    uint32_t range_start = slot->start_lbn;
+    uint32_t range_end   = slot->start_lbn + slot->user_blocks;
+    if (range_end <= range_start) return;
+
+    if (slot->migration_scan_lbn < range_start || slot->migration_scan_lbn >= range_end) {
+        slot->migration_scan_lbn = range_start;
+    }
 
     uint32_t hot_lbn = 0, free_lbn = 0;
     int have_hot = 0, have_free = 0;
+    uint32_t lbn = slot->migration_scan_lbn;
+    uint32_t examined = 0;
 
-    for (uint32_t lbn = slot->start_lbn;
+    while (examined < MIGRATION_SCAN_BUDGET && !(have_hot && have_free)) {
-         lbn < slot->start_lbn + slot->user_blocks && !(have_hot && have_free);
-         lbn++) {
         uint32_t rel_pbn = lbn_to_slot_pbn(slot, lbn);
-        if (slot_pbn_pack_offset(rel_pbn) != 0) continue;
+        if (slot_pbn_pack_offset(rel_pbn) == 0) {
-
+            blk_meta_t meta;
-        blk_meta_t meta;
+            if (blk_get_meta(lbn, &meta) == BLK_OK) {
-        if (blk_get_meta(lbn, &meta) != BLK_OK) continue;
+                if (!have_hot && (meta.flags & BLK_FLAG_CLAIMED) &&
-
+                    !(meta.flags & BLK_FLAG_MIGRATING) &&
-        if (!have_hot && (meta.flags & BLK_FLAG_CLAIMED) &&
+                    meta.write_count >= MIGRATION_WEAR_THRESHOLD) {
-            !(meta.flags & BLK_FLAG_MIGRATING) &&
+                    hot_lbn = lbn;
-            meta.write_count >= MIGRATION_WEAR_THRESHOLD) {
+                    have_hot = 1;
-            hot_lbn = lbn;
+                }
-            have_hot = 1;
+                if (!have_free && devblock_is_free(slot, lbn, &meta)) {
-        }
+                    free_lbn = lbn;
-        if (!have_free && devblock_is_free(slot, lbn, &meta)) {
+                    have_free = 1;
-            free_lbn = lbn;
+                }
-            have_free = 1;
+            }
+            examined++;
         }
+        lbn++;
+        if (lbn >= range_end) lbn = range_start;
     }
+    slot->migration_scan_lbn = lbn;
 
     if (have_hot && have_free && hot_lbn != free_lbn) {
         (void) blk_meta_relocate_devblock(hot_lbn, free_lbn);
     }
 }
 
+/* FABRIC-3.md, 2026-09-09: was hardcoded to first_disk_slot() (whichever
+ * device happened to attach first -- always Artemis's own virtio disk,
+ * kernel_main.c attaches her unconditionally before anything else can).
+ * Every other block_subsystem.c entry point (blk_subsys_attach_device()
+ * chief among them) treats every attached slot uniformly through the
+ * common blkio_dev_t/blkio_vtable_t interface (blkio.h), device type
+ * never inspected; this was the one place that didn't, a bespoke
+ * Artemis-disk special case bolted onto an otherwise device-agnostic
+ * file. Fixed to walk the full slot chain -- every attached device now
+ * gets the same wear-leveling scan, none hardcoded, none skipped. */
+void blk_migration_idle_check(void) {
+    blk_dev_slot_t *slot;
+    for (slot = g.head; slot; slot = slot->next) {
+        if (!slot->dev) continue;
+        blk_migration_idle_check_slot(slot);
+    }
+}
+
 /* ===== weak hook (for main.c) ===== */
 #if defined(__GNUC__) || defined(__clang__)
 __attribute__((weak))

src/starkernel/capsule/capsule_mint.c

@@ -67,8 +67,6 @@ static const char MINT_DEFAULT_PERSONALITY[] =
  * use of EXEC this VM will ever get. */
 static const char MINT_RESTRICTED_PERSONALITY[] =
     "Block 4998\n"
-    "S\" common:messaging.4th\" EXEC\n"
-    "MSG-CD-INIT\n"
     "S\" acl-std79.4th\" EXEC\n"
     "ACL-LOCKDOWN-STD79\n"
     ": WELCOME ( -- ) .\" Minted identity -- FORTH-79/83 standard words only\" CR ;\n"

src/starkernel/repl.c

@@ -522,8 +522,28 @@ static void sk_repl_idle(VM *active_vm)
      * rather than only on a failed write). See block_subsystem.c's own
      * doc comment on blk_migration_idle_check() for what's built (heat-
      * based relocation) vs. deliberately left open (overflow-triggered
-     * migration, needs a call site threaded from WIREBIND). */
+     * migration, needs a call site threaded from WIREBIND).
-    blk_migration_idle_check();
+     *
+     * FABRIC-3.md, 2026-09-09: skipped while any g_blk_attach_pending
+     * entry is still pending -- this scan and the storage-attach message
+     * round-trip (HERA-BLK-ATTACH-REQ/BLK-ATTACH-ACK) both touch the
+     * block subsystem/Artemis's own virtio-backed storage, and live-
+     * caught the two interleaving is where a real vblk_io() request stops
+     * getting a used-ring completion (root cause not fully isolated, see
+     * virtio_blk.c's own doc comment on vblk_io()'s reduced spin bound --
+     * that's the safety net; this is the actual avoidance). One deferred
+     * scan is harmless -- next idle tick retries, same as any other tick
+     * with nothing to do. */
+    {
+        int attach_in_flight = 0;
+        if (g_blk_attach_pending) {
+            uint32_t pi;
+            for (pi = 0; pi < g_usb_blk_dev_slot_count; pi++) {
+                if (g_blk_attach_pending[pi].pending) { attach_in_flight = 1; break; }
+            }
+        }
+        if (!attach_in_flight) blk_migration_idle_check();
+    }
 
     /* FABRIC-2.md §I.2's own overflow trigger, closed 2026-09-05: the
      * call site named above, now built. Same cadence, same idle-tick
@@ -569,6 +589,22 @@ static void sk_repl_idle(VM *active_vm)
             if (capsule_vm_registry_get_by_index(i, &ent) != 0) continue;
             if (ent.state != VM_STATE_LIVE) continue;
             if (ent.vm_ptr == (void *)mama) continue;
+            /* FABRIC-3.md, 2026-09-09: a per-VM flag (e.g. "this one is
+             * std79-locked") doesn't generalize -- any VM whose own
+             * dictionary lacks MSG-TICK, for whatever reason (never
+             * loaded common:messaging.4th, a future personality that
+             * drops it, ACL denial), hits the identical failure. So
+             * check the actual target VM's own dictionary fresh every
+             * tick, the same source of truth the interpreter's own ACL
+             * enforcement uses (vm_core.c), rather than pre-flag specific
+             * personalities. Skip silently rather than spam "VM-EXEC:
+             * ERROR in <name>" every idle tick forever for a VM that
+             * plain doesn't have -- or isn't allowed -- MSG-TICK
+             * (live-caught 2026-09-07/09). */
+            {
+                DictEntry *msgtick = vm_find_word((VM *)ent.vm_ptr, "MSG-TICK", 8);
+                if (!msgtick || !msgtick->acl_allow) continue;
+            }
 
             static const char PFX[] = "S\" MSG-TICK\" S\" ";
             static const char SFX[] = "\" VM-EXEC";
@@ -1176,6 +1212,14 @@ void sk_repl_run(VM *vm)
         sk_print_prompt();
 
         int n = sk_console_readline(input, sizeof(input), active, 1);
+#if EMERGENCY_CONSOLE_ENABLED
+        /* n only consumed below under !EMERGENCY_CONSOLE_ENABLED (the
+         * logged-out-mid-read bailout doesn't apply when the emergency
+         * console bypasses login entirely) -- silence -Wunused-variable
+         * rather than drop the assignment (sk_console_readline()'s return
+         * value is still meaningful, just not acted on in this build). */
+        (void)n;
+#endif
 
 #if !EMERGENCY_CONSOLE_ENABLED
         /* n < 0: sk_console_readline() bailed out because the identity

src/starkernel/usb/xhci.c

@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 #include "starkernel/xhci_driver.h"
 #include "starkernel/kmalloc.h"
 #include "starkernel/timer.h"
+#include "starkernel/arch.h"
 #include "log.h"
 
 /* Conservative fixed BAR0 mapping size. xHCI has no self-describing
@@ -92,6 +93,16 @@ static int xhci_wait_bit(volatile uint32_t *reg, uint32_t mask, int want_set,
         if (heartbeat_ticks() - start >= max_ticks || spins >= 100000000ULL) {
             return -1;
         }
+        /* FABRIC-3.md, 2026-09-09: a tight loop of nothing but MMIO reads
+         * (no PAUSE/yield hint) can starve TCG's own host-side timer
+         * injection under QEMU -- live-caught heartbeat_ticks() itself
+         * (this loop's own timeout clock!) freezing for 30+ seconds
+         * straight during a real reproduction, confirmed via a clean,
+         * uninterfered-with measurement. That leaves only the 100M hard
+         * spin cap as a backstop, which is far too permissive on its own.
+         * arch_relax() (PAUSE on amd64) costs nothing on real hardware but
+         * gives TCG a natural yield point between MMIO polls. */
+        arch_relax();
     }
 }
 
@@ -986,6 +997,12 @@ int xhci_bot_wait_for_idle(xhci_dev_t *dev, uint32_t max_iters)
     for (uint32_t i = 0; i < max_iters; i++) {
         if (dev->bot_cmd_kind == BOT_CMD_NONE) return (int)dev->bot_last_status;
         xhci_poll_events();
+        /* FABRIC-3.md, 2026-09-09: same TCG timer-starvation reasoning as
+         * xhci_wait_bit()'s own doc comment above -- xhci_poll_events()
+         * itself is a real MMIO-reading call, and max_iters (100000 from
+         * blkio_usb_open_msc()) is large enough that a starved host timer
+         * during a slow completion could stall for a very long time. */
+        arch_relax();
     }
     return BOT_STATUS_TIMEOUT;
 }

src/starkernel/virtio/virtio_blk.c

@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@
 #include "starkernel/kmalloc.h"
 #include "console.h"
 #include "blkio.h"
+#include "log.h"
+#include "starkernel/arch.h"
 
 /* -------------------------------------------------------------------------
  * Virtio 1.0 PCI capability structures
@@ -234,6 +236,7 @@ static inline void rmb(void) {
 static int vblk_io(int write, uint64_t sector, void *buf, uint32_t nbytes) {
     VirtBlkState *s = &g_vblk;
     VirtqDesc    *d = s->desc;
+    int           result;
 
     /* Fill request header */
     s->req_buf->type     = write ? VIRTIO_BLK_T_OUT : VIRTIO_BLK_T_IN;
@@ -275,18 +278,52 @@ static int vblk_io(int write, uint64_t sector, void *buf, uint32_t nbytes) {
     *doorbell = 0; /* queue index 0 */
     wmb();
 
-    /* Poll until device posts a used entry */
+    /* Poll until device posts a used entry.
-    uint32_t spin = 0x2000000u; /* ~seconds at ~1 GHz; QEMU is fast */
+     *
+     * FABRIC-3.md, 2026-09-09: live-caught a real request that never gets
+     * a used-ring completion -- root cause not yet isolated (every
+     * existing bounds check, vblk_read()'s own fblock vs total_forth_
+     * blocks and read_devblock_4k()'s own lba vs total_blkio_blocks_1k,
+     * already passed before reaching here, so it isn't a simple out-of-
+     * range request; disabling interrupts around this call was tried and
+     * made it strictly worse -- suggests QEMU's own device-model
+     * completion here depends on guest-visible time/interrupt progress in
+     * this TCG configuration, not a driver-side reentrancy bug -- so that
+     * approach was reverted). spin was 0x2000000 (~33M); at that bound a
+     * single such failure cost tens of real minutes (confirmed: 31+ CPU-
+     * minutes on one boot) because blk_migration_idle_check()'s own scan
+     * calls this per un-cached devblock, up to ~23,000 times a boot, and
+     * apparently more than one of those hits this failure mode. Cut by
+     * ~30x: still enormously generous for a real completion (confirmed
+     * live those return in a handful of iterations, not millions), but
+     * turns what was an effectively-unbounded stall into a fast, loud,
+     * logged failure instead -- callers already tolerate BLKIO_EIO
+     * (zero-fill and move on), they just couldn't afford the old wait to
+     * find that out. */
+    uint32_t spin = 0x100000u; /* ~1M iterations */
+    result = BLKIO_OK;
     while (s->used->idx == s->last_used_idx) {
         rmb();
-        if (!--spin) return BLKIO_EIO;
+        arch_relax(); /* FABRIC-3.md, 2026-09-09: xhci_wait_bit()'s own doc
+                        * comment (xhci.c) has the full reasoning -- a tight
+                        * MMIO-adjacent poll with no yield hint can starve
+                        * TCG's own host-side timer injection. */
+        if (!--spin) {
+            log_message(LOG_ERROR,
+                        "virtio_blk: vblk_io timed out (write=%d sector=%llu) -- "
+                        "queue never posted a used entry",
+                        write, (unsigned long long)sector);
+            result = BLKIO_EIO;
+            break;
+        }
+    }
+    if (result == BLKIO_OK) {
+        s->last_used_idx = s->used->idx;
+        uint8_t status = *s->status_buf;
+        if (status != (uint8_t)VIRTIO_BLK_S_OK) result = BLKIO_EIO;
     }
-    s->last_used_idx = s->used->idx;
 
-    uint8_t status = *s->status_buf;
+    return result;
-    if (status != (uint8_t)VIRTIO_BLK_S_OK) return BLKIO_EIO;
-
-    return BLKIO_OK;
 }
 
 /* -------------------------------------------------------------------------