Console-VM + user-VM pair: real async message-passing relay

Console sessions now route through the same general VM-to-VM messaging
system (Phase C) any VM can already use for its own reasons -- not a
synchronous shortcut. Per direct instruction: real async MSG-SEND/
MSG-DELIVER (Option B), not a VM-EXEC-based synchronous relay, because
messaging is a general capability, not a console-specific mechanism.

New CONSOLE-CMD-EVENT message type (common:messaging.4th). New
sk_repl_dispatch_line() (repl.c), called from both sk_repl_step and
sk_repl_run in place of a direct vm_interpret(): if the active VM's own
name has a live "<name>~user" counterpart registered, the raw input
line is wrapped as an S"-embedded CONSOLE-CMD-EVENT MSG-SEND and
interpreted on the console VM instead of being run directly -- the
console's own next MSG-TICK (Hera's idle pump) delivers it into the
paired user VM via VM-EXEC, same mechanism every other message already
uses. Falls back to direct interpretation if there's no pairing, or if
the line contains a `"` (known v1 limitation, warned about explicitly
rather than silently mishandled).

New capsule_console_birth() (capsule_console.h/.c): a bare VM whose
only content is loading common:messaging.4th -- the console side of a
pairing, parallel in shape to RUNCAP's user-VM birth but with fixed
embedded content instead of a devblock read (no identity, no thumbdrive
involved). New PAIR-TEST diagnostic word (mama_forth_words.c, matches
RUNCAP-TEST's own precedent): births both halves of a pairing and
registers the "<name>~user" mapping. Not the real pairing call site --
that's the eventual attach/onboarding flow -- this exists to exercise
the relay live before that flow exists.

Found and fixed a real, serious bug live: console_set_vm_name() stored
the caller's raw pointer instead of copying it. mama_word_use() (USE)
passes a VMRegistryEntry field living on its own stack frame -- once
USE returns, that pointer dangles, corrupting every console tag after
the first USE (observed directly as garbled "[[]" / binary-looking
prefixes instead of "[CaptBob]"). Fixed at the source: console_set_
vm_name() now copies into internal storage. That surfaced a second,
related bug across every console_get_vm_name()-based save/restore call
site in mama_forth_words.c (BIRTH, VM-STEP, VM-EXEC, CONNECT-HERMES,
CONNECT-ARTEMIS): saving just a pointer into the single internal buffer
meant an intervening console_set_vm_name() call silently corrupted the
saved value before the restore ever ran. New console_save_vm_name()
copies into caller-owned storage; every save/restore site updated.

Verified end-to-end, live in QEMU: typed WELCOME at a paired console
VM -- it did not execute directly (no UNKNOWN WORD), printed ok
immediately (queued, async), and on the next idle tick
"[CaptBob~user] Minted identity -- default personality" appeared on
its own -- genuine delivery and execution in the paired user VM through
the real MSG-SEND/MSG-DELIVER pipeline. Console tags confirmed clean
(no garbling) across all three architectures' full regression boot.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_019ZGkimpfyh63EZyRkNbkPD

This commit is contained in:

Robert Allan James

2026-08-28 16:39:07 -04:00

co-authored by

Claude Sonnet 5

parent 71b6937deb

commit b0f12710bb

14 changed files with 46122 additions and 55 deletions

capsules/common/messaging.4th

View File

@@ -15,6 +15,10 @@ Block 5003
 CONSTANT MBR-MAX
 CONSTANT Q-DECAY
 CONSTANT MSG-DELIVERED
 Block 5038
 ( CONSOLE-CMD-EVENT: console-VM -> paired user-VM command )
 ( relay message type, async MSG-SEND/MSG-DELIVER. )
 CONSTANT CONSOLE-CMD-EVENT
 Block 5004
 ( StadiumBehaviour tags, match stadium.h's enum )
 CONSTANT SB-MIGRATE