Replaces the crashed NVRAM approach entirely. New
include/starkernel/zuse_cert_devblock.h: a standalone on-disk record
(magic + version + 32-byte seed + 32-byte pubkey + a real CRC-64/ISO
from day one, same discipline homeblocks_sig_t established) occupying
devblock_from_top=0 of the fence. Its own header, not inlined at the
boot call site, since the still-open MINT word will be a second
consumer of this exact format.
kernel_main.c's mint-or-load logic now reads the fence, installs an
existing valid cert, or mints fresh via virtio_rng+ed25519_keygen and
writes it. Runs right after virtio_rng_init(), before
capsule_birth_mama() -- unlike the crashed NVRAM attempt, raw block I/O
against Artemis's already-proven device has no boot-timing risk, so the
earlier "re-invoke ACL-ZUSE-BOOT after Mama birth" workaround is gone;
ACL.4th's self-activating ACL-ZUSE-BOOT sees a correct cert on its one
ordinary pass.
Verified independently across every real scenario, never trusting the
kernel's own report: fresh mint decodes correctly on disk with a CRC
confirmed by a from-scratch Python re-implementation of the algorithm;
a reboot without reformatting loads back byte-for-byte identical
seed/pubkey (genuinely "mint once, ever"); a pre-fence volume refuses
cleanly (no crash, no silent data loss, honest "not persistent"
reporting); the real, untouched disk/artemis.img exercises the same
graceful-refusal path identically on all three architectures.
Phase 8's core arc is now functionally complete: real entropy -> real
signing -> real anti-file block-native persistence -> a first-boot mint
that survives reboots. Still open: the ongoing MINT word for minting
additional regular users. Documented in FABRIC-3.md.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01U14ET9CWAtbQMbYqomKgXd
