Robert Allan JamesandClaude Sonnet 5
f6e2737f1e
capsule_mint_identity() (new capsule_mint.h/.c): mints a fresh identity onto a blank/unminted thumbdrive -- real Ed25519 keypair from virtio_rng, a fresh drive_uuid (independent random draw, not derived from the identity seed, per FABRIC-3.md §F.8 decision 3), a Zuse-signed DER cert in the CERTVERIFY format, and a small working default personality (a real WELCOME word, not a stub -- FABRIC-3.md §F.6/§F.8's own "default personality content" question stays open, but whatever mints today must actually do something when RUNCAP births it). Refuses to overwrite a drive that already reads as a recognized home-blocks drive, mirroring WRITE(10)'s own refuse-on-non-blank posture (decided now, not just "reasonable by analogy" as §F.8 left it). x509_build_user_cert() (x509_ed25519.h/.c): the encode-side counterpart to the existing decode functions (x509_extract_ed25519_pubkey(), x509_verify_signature(), x509_extract_serial()) -- a minimal DER TLV writer producing exactly the fields those functions read. Host-tested round-trip against the real decoder before trusting it in the kernel, including a high-bit-serial case that exercises the DER integer-padding rule; all assertions pass (pubkey/serial round-trip, signature verifies against the real issuer, correctly rejects the wrong key and a corrupted signature). New user_identity_seed_t (user_identity_seed.h): the on-disk record for a minted identity's own keypair, same magic+version+fields+pad-to-4096+ real-CRC convention as zuse_cert_devblock_t and homeblocks_sig_t. Fixed devblock layout: sig(1), cert(2), seed record(3), default personality(4). New MINT word (mama_forth_words.c) and a small accessor (sk_repl_get_attached_blk_dev(), repl.h/.c) exposing the currently attached USB device regardless of home-blocks recognition -- MINT's own target is a blank drive, which by definition never sets Phase D's sk_repl_get_homeblocks_dev(). Verified end-to-end live in QEMU: MINT on a genuinely blank test drive, then (after a detach/reattach so the sig cache picks up the fresh header -- a known workflow gap, not fixed here, flagged for whoever builds the real Console onboarding flow) RUNCAP birthed a VM from that drive's own newly-minted content, and VM-EXECing its WELCOME word printed the default personality banner. The full mint-to-birth Tripod identity flow works end to end for the first time. Clean 3-architecture regression boot confirms no side effects on normal boot. 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