Robert Allan JamesandClaude Sonnet 5
cc9521d2cc
Three tightly-coupled changes, verified together per Captain Bob's own "getting rid of the emergency cli" direction: 1. Zuse's identity is thumbdrive-resident, never system-resident. New zuse_genesis_marker_t (magic/version/zuse_pubkey[32]/crc) replaces zuse_cert_devblock_t's slot in the top-of-device fence -- the system now remembers only that a root identity exists and its pubkey, never a seed. zuse_cert_devblock_t is kept in the repo, marked superseded, no longer written by any code path. capsule_mint_identity() grows a genesis mode (issuer_vm=NULL): no cert is built or written (Zuse isn't verified against a separate signer -- she's recognized by pubkey match against the marker) and two new optional out-params (out_pubkey/out_seed) let the caller install the cert immediately after a genesis mint. New capsule_zuse_boot_try_attach() (capsule_zuse_boot.c), called from sk_repl_idle() on every fresh USB attach (the only point in the boot lifecycle a thumbdrive can actually be detected -- attach polling doesn't exist yet at kernel_main.c's old one-shot mint point, which is why that whole block is gone): no marker + blank drive -> genesis-mint; marker present + matching drive -> read its own user_identity_seed_t, install the cert. Either way, re-runs ACL-ZUSE-BOOT (zuse.4th) so zuse_session activates exactly like it always has for a same-boot cert install -- ACL-PIN only blocks redefinition, not re-execution, so no new C-side auth logic needed. 2. ACL.4th activated (capsules/init.4th) -- inactive all session until now. Found and fixed a real bug this immediately surfaced: zuse.4th's ACL-ZUSE-BOOT tried `['] ACL-ZUSE-BOOT ACL-PIN` from inside its own still-compiling definition -- the word isn't findable yet at that point, so the whole definition silently failed to compile every previous boot this session (dormant, since ACL.4th never loaded). Fixed: pin after the definition closes, not from within it -- it only needs to happen once anyway, and pinning doesn't block the re-invocation genesis/attach needs. 3. The unauthenticated emergency-CLI ACL bypass is retired (repl.c): `emergency_console = is_hera ? (zuse_session ? 0 : 1) : 0` deleted from both sk_repl_step and sk_repl_run. Every word run from Hera's own bare prompt now goes through ordinary ACL enforcement; emergency_console is driven only by the genuine C-level fault handler again. Added ZUSE-SESSION? (starforth_words.c), a read-only diagnostic matching ZUSE-PUBKEY@'s own precedent, to verify the whole chain directly rather than by inference. Verified end-to-end live in QEMU: fresh boot, no thumbdrive -> ZUSE-SESSION? reads 0. Attach a genuinely blank drive via QMP -> genesis mint fires automatically (no typing) -> ZUSE-SESSION? reads -1 (true). Hermes/Artemis both birth clean on all three architectures with ACL now actually enforced for the first time all session -- no denials, no UNKNOWN WORD beyond the deliberate POST self-test cases. Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com> Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_019ZGkimpfyh63EZyRkNbkPD
LithosAnanke v1.5.4
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