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Levers — the register pins and compiler hints, what they cost, and what to do about them

What this is. The living record of every compiler-forcing construct in this decompilation: how many there are, how they got in, how they come out, and — the part that outlives the project — whether a decomp should refuse them from its first bank or clean them up at the end. The numbers below are generated (R75); the argument is written from them.

Maintained: updated at the close of every Phase-36 task (tools/lever_progress.py --snapshot "<task>", which also re-renders the tables here). Sources: tools/lever_census.py for the counts, .run/P36/delever/ledger.jsonl for the campaign, docs/lever-progress.tsv for the series a chart is drawn from.

Audiences: the post-100% chart and the project story · the wiki (a "Levers" page) · decomp-architect/ (the day-one kit: the rule a new project should adopt at its first bank, §"What we would do from day one").

1. What a lever is

A lever is a construct that exists only to force the compiler's output — it says nothing about what the program does. This project's C is full of them because bytes were the only thing being optimised:

class what it looks like why a drafter reached for it
A register pin register s32 x __asm__("$16"); name the register the allocator must use
B1 barrier __asm__ __volatile__("" ::: "memory"); stop the scheduler moving code across a point
B2 launder __asm__("" : "=r"(x) : "0"(x)); break a value's history so cse/combine cannot see through it
B3 keep-alive __asm__("" : : "r"(x)); keep a dead value live
B4 hand-placed instruction __asm__("addu %0,%1,$zero" …) emit exactly this instruction
B5 GTE op __asm__("lwc2 …") behind a per-TU macro not a lever — Sony's coprocessor idiom; consolidated, not removed
C volatile *(volatile s32 *)(p + 4) force a reload
D bare register register int i; a hint gcc 2.7.2 at -O2 ignores
E asm-label alias extern u16 aD800B9A02 __asm__("D_800B9A02"); a second typed view of one symbol
F builtin __builtin_memcpy(&a, &b, N) a struct assignment in disguise
G attribute __attribute__((packed)) a layout the type layer should carry

Classes A and B are the ones this phase drives to zero. C and D stay if the bytes need them (ordinary C, ledgered and counted, not marked). E, F and G belong to the canonical type layer and are the types phase's work (R95).

2. The numbers

Milestones — the count, at each moment a census ran

date milestone pins asm class A+B sites bodies distinct GTE levers per-TU asm macros C D E F G HEAD
2026-09-09 T6 r1 (rung R's first class) 20512 13445 33957 12578 1758 462 314 1722 50 7428 445 76 1761a3125
2026-09-09 T6 d1 (rung D's four exemplars) 20508 13445 33953 12574 1758 462 314 1722 50 7428 445 76 8fac96651
2026-09-09 T6 p1 (four classes propagated) 19982 13445 33427 12048 1755 462 314 1722 50 7428 445 76 a2da99b13
2026-09-09 S101 rung G g1 (the guided search's first run: 1 of 16 exemplars, 132 bodies) 19982 13313 33295 11916 1754 462 314 1590 50 7428 445 76 623e55340
2026-09-09 S101 rung G g2 (wider beam + R10/R12/R13/R8-cse: 1 of 16, 132 bodies) 19718 13313 33031 11784 1753 462 314 1590 50 7428 445 76 584031c71
2026-09-09 S101 rung G g3 (the next 64 classes: 13 of 64, 1,516 bodies) 18442 12583 31025 10268 1740 462 314 1590 50 7428 445 76 5ae0b5ceb
2026-09-09 S101 rung G g4s (the 13 explained names, 38 classes: 3 of 38, 133 bodies) 18309 12583 30892 10135 1737 462 314 1590 50 7428 445 76 068781ae0
2026-09-09 S101 rung G g5 (the head re-drawn wide: 5 of 70, 62 bodies) 18261 12545 30806 10073 1732 462 314 1590 50 7428 445 76 1ec67f667
2026-09-09 S101 rung G g6 + g6b (the tail: 47 + 63 of 400 small classes, 93 + 186 + 47 bodies) 17954 12404 30358 9747 1624 462 314 1590 50 7428 445 76 2f3ce92a1
2026-09-10 S102 T7 a1 — func_80156044 closed by an agent (merge-point expression sunk into the if/else arms, both $2/$3 pins gone); 130 bodies banked (1 + 129 propagated) 17694 12404 30098 9617 1623 462 314 1590 50 7428 445 76 5a8bd1021
2026-09-10 S102 T7 s1 — the R15 sweep of the head: 6 exemplars closed by the sink alone (267 bodies), no drafting tokens 17427 12270 29697 9350 1617 462 314 1590 50 7428 445 76 861dd0651
2026-09-10 S102 T7 a2 — func_80168828: the constant-holder pin deleted and one adjacent swap closes it (125 bodies, 1 of 2 pins off; the $4 pin is forced by the header's (void) declaration) 17302 12270 29572 9350 1617 462 314 1590 50 7428 445 76 c00ffe5d4
2026-09-10 S102 T7 s3 (partial, the run crashed in propagate) — the constant-holder draw: 10 bodies closed 17266 12267 29533 9326 1594 462 314 1590 50 7428 445 76 975850ff8
2026-09-10 S102 T7 s3b — the constant-holder draw re-run after the propagate fix: 1 of 80, 6 bodies; 59 of 80 hit the compile budget 17260 12267 29527 9320 1593 462 314 1590 50 7428 445 76 5603a114c
2026-09-10 S102 T7 s5 — the first broad TAIL sweep with R15/R16/R17/R18: 285 of 800 bodies closed lever-free, no drafting tokens 17029 12175 29204 9035 1308 462 314 1590 50 7428 445 76 449acd8cb
2026-09-10 S102 T7 s6 — the last never-attempted exemplars: 25 of 337; the fresh pool is now empty 16996 12152 29148 9010 1283 462 314 1590 50 7428 445 76 67e91ad4d
2026-09-10 S102 T7 s7 (stopped early to restore agent cadence) — 5 of 207 judged at the wider width 16989 12151 29140 9005 1280 462 314 1590 50 7428 445 76 724c68859
2026-09-10 S102 T7 a7 — func_801287B8: a truncated local extern was faking a pin; the missing call argument restored through a function-pointer cast (127 bodies) 16862 12151 29013 8878 1279 462 314 1590 50 7428 445 76 bb0e95c7c
2026-09-10 S102 T7 a4 — func_8016C49C: one do-while on the function's LAST statement doubles a loop-note reference weight and flips allocno_compare (126 bodies) 16736 12151 28887 8752 1278 462 314 1590 50 7428 445 76 9f5b22176
2026-09-10 S102 T7 burst — a8/a12/a18/a19 banked (132+118+119+134 bodies): the call-arity class twice, a MEM_IN_STRUCT_P alias flip, and a sequence-point split 15965 12019 27984 8249 1275 462 314 1590 50 7428 445 76 fb6c857f7
2026-09-10 S102 T7 burst — a5/a9/a11/a16/a25 banked; the MISSING CALL ARGUMENT class confirmed six times independently (m2c dropped arguments at unprototyped and indirect call sites) 15324 11390 26714 7612 1271 462 314 1590 50 7428 445 76 c6b380fcd
2026-09-10 S102 T7 burst — a22 banked (126); a14 REFUSED as an invented zero term; a6/a10/a15 read without closing 15198 11264 26462 7486 1270 462 314 1590 50 7428 445 76 374c8a0e9
2026-09-10 S102 T7 s8 — the first R19 sweep: 3 of 55 classes closed by restoring a dropped call argument, 2 compiles each 15193 11263 26456 7483 1267 462 314 1590 50 7428 445 76 f3de70fce
2026-09-10 S102 — 16,759 lying call declarations repaired free (3,439 units, R22 218/218); levers unchanged, truth improved 15193 11263 26456 7483 1267 462 314 1590 50 7428 445 76 51028a78d
2026-09-10 S102 T7 b1 — func_801651B8: the hand-walked pointer folded back into the index, one induction variable instead of two (127 bodies) 15066 11136 26202 7356 1266 462 314 1590 50 7428 445 76 8c0e7c549
2026-09-10 S102 T7 b3 — func_8016CBC0: two counter chains narrowed TOGETHER (128 bodies); single declarations could never reach it 14938 11136 26074 7228 1265 462 314 1590 50 7428 445 76 acba5c59d
2026-09-10 S102 T7 wave b — b2/b5/b5s/b6 banked plus R19 and R20's own closes (766 bodies): a chained assignment, a symbol alias defeating cross-jump, and the store hoisted above its copy 14541 10374 24915 6577 1259 462 314 1590 50 7680 445 76 9d78fc408
2026-09-10 S102 T7 b7 — func_80166690: four accumulators retyped short in ONE edit, the truncation temps deleted, the colour temp typed to its destination field (126 bodies) 14415 10374 24789 6451 1258 462 314 1590 50 7680 445 76 17d192d24
2026-09-10 S102 T7 b8 — func_80135888: a guarded do-while defeating cross-jump, a duplicated block replaced by goto to shed one loop-weighted reference, and a two-arm temp inlined (134 bodies, the largest class) 13879 10240 24119 6317 1257 462 314 1590 50 7680 445 76 0d92d1029
2026-09-10 S102 wave b close — 8 agent closes banked (b1/b2/b3/b5/b5s/b6/b7/b8), b4/b9 read without closing; R19/R20/R21 added; fleet 218/218 13879 10240 24119 6317 1257 462 314 1590 50 7680 445 76 f96af3e48
2026-09-10 S103 c2: func_8013D8FC closed by agent c2 (the walked-pointer merge, now generator R22), 131 bodies 13748 10240 23988 6186 1256 462 314 1590 50 7680 445 76 82da34b39
2026-09-10 S103 wave c: c4/c6/c1/c7/c3/c5/c8 closed (two new generators R22/R23) + func_8017EEC0's parameter; 8 classes, ~1,000 bodies 11271 8935 20206 5277 1249 462 314 1590 50 7680 445 76 205331765
2026-09-10 S103: c12 twins func_80148E54/D44 + c10 func_80135A4C (395 bodies) 10873 8403 19276 4879 1246 462 314 1590 50 7680 445 76 2e61220bd
2026-09-10 S103: c11 func_80175AB8 (124 bodies) 10623 8153 18776 4754 1245 462 314 1590 50 7680 445 76 e6a8f3505
2026-09-10 S103: c14 func_801670E4 + c16 func_8013D178 (261 bodies); R23 widened 10227 7488 17715 4491 1243 462 314 1590 50 7680 445 76 625251626
2026-09-10 S103: delever_regen R22+R23 over the whole residue — 17 classes / 22 bodies with no agent (header-TU scoring fixed) 10204 7488 17692 4469 1226 462 314 1590 50 7680 445 76 a06070572
2026-09-10 S103: c18 func_80176734 (128 bodies) 9172 7101 16273 4340 1225 462 314 1590 50 7680 445 76 164825b5d
2026-09-10 S103: c20 re-draw func_8013DD68 (128 bodies) 8914 7101 16015 4211 1224 462 314 1590 50 7680 445 76 9f2b6b24a
2026-09-10 S103: generator R24 (word-read addPrim) + its regen pass (2 classes, one a 140-object header) 8912 7101 16013 4209 1222 462 314 1590 50 7680 445 76 5eb46b267
2026-09-10 S103: c15 func_80135EB0 (128 bodies; a do-while on the a4 precedent) 8654 6585 15239 4080 1221 462 314 1590 50 7680 445 76 a620e1880
2026-09-10 S103: re-draws c24 func_8012956C + c23 func_80133784 (252 bodies) 7765 6077 13842 3826 1219 462 314 1590 50 7680 445 76 ae87bf75a
2026-09-10 S103: re-draws c25 func_80166F58 + c26 func_80133CD4 (254 bodies); R25 regen 3; propagate's stale-hash fix 7512 5571 13083 3567 1215 462 314 1590 50 7680 445 76 96820256c
2026-09-10 S103: re-draw c21 func_801397B0 (125 bodies; do-while ref-weight) 7386 5571 12957 3441 1214 462 314 1590 50 7680 445 76 44f7f8ddb
2026-09-10 S103: re-draw c30 func_8017B614 (125 bodies) 7260 5319 12579 3315 1213 462 314 1590 50 7680 445 76 5ddbc3a7f
2026-09-10 S103: c33 func_80169058 + func_80168D94 (12 bodies) 7236 5295 12531 3303 1211 462 314 1590 50 7680 445 76 a2a1fc186
2026-09-10 S103: c36 + c35 (four ov_SC07_006/ov_SC06_010 classes, 39 bodies); R19 reads cast arity 7186 5295 12481 3260 1207 462 314 1590 50 7680 445 76 dd5e44c24
2026-09-10 S103: extern-variant re-propagation (97), R19 cast regen (8 classes), c39 + c41 + c34 + c32 closes 6926 5107 12033 3090 1164 462 314 1590 50 7688 445 76 7d5964b27
2026-09-10 S103: c38 + c40 (four tier classes, 30 bodies) 6910 5093 12003 3060 1160 462 314 1590 50 7688 445 76 321b540e7
2026-09-10 S103: c42 func_80186A8C + func_80182058 (10 bodies) 6900 5088 11988 3050 1158 462 314 1590 50 7688 445 76 2a4f28f83
2026-09-10 S103: c46 minimum-lever (133 bodies, 23 -> 1), c43 + cross-address port (14+12), c44, c45 (+R26), c37 + 43 cross-address copies, port-scan 5893 4048 9941 2946 1144 456 314 1590 50 7713 445 76 8bc06a2cb
2026-09-10 S103: c50 func_80136824 zero levers (130); c49 func_8013F350 2 levers (133) 5500 3528 9028 2816 1144 456 314 1590 50 7713 445 76 aada3bdc2
2026-09-10 S103: c47 func_8013D9B0 2 GTE asm (133), c48 func_80140958 2 levers (133), c52 four R26 closes 3069 2323 5392 2662 1134 456 314 1590 50 7733 445 76 433aa0701
2026-09-10 S103: c56 ports func_8013D9B0 to ov_MAIN_012's class (7); c54 func_8017B238 (8) 3061 2315 5376 2654 1131 456 314 1590 50 7733 445 76 c02fc7cd5
2026-09-10 S103 end: R26 regen 28 classes (71 bodies) + c55/c53 five classes 2932 2299 5231 2569 1098 456 314 1590 50 7782 445 76 0ef49b515
2026-09-10 S103 end: c51 func_8012E364 2 levers (134); scrub of 46 orphan markers 2798 2299 5097 2569 1097 456 314 1590 50 7782 445 76 94520756e
2026-09-10 S104 T7: free sweep (5 classes) + agents d1–d9 (all 0; 8 with zero levers, d4 one marked do-while) 2730 2233 4963 2498 1077 456 314 1590 50 7782 445 76 910875139
2026-09-10 S104 T7: sweeps (all-families, R27) + agents d11–d19 all at 0 with zero levers 2578 2175 4753 2383 1019 456 314 1590 50 7780 445 76 91ae94a64
2026-09-10 S104 T7: d17 + R28–R33 pass (4) + R27 remainder 2565 2167 4732 2373 1011 456 314 1590 50 7780 445 76 13069c142
2026-09-10 S104 T7: agents d21–d27 (d29 parked) + the shared header 2515 2146 4661 2336 996 456 314 1590 50 7780 445 76 1d42fff3c
2026-09-10 S104 T7: d30–d33 + the R23/R34–R36 pass (16) 2478 2125 4603 2301 973 456 314 1590 50 7780 445 76 93e2a9170
2026-09-11 S104 T7: TU batches e1–e7 + regen passes 2394 2079 4473 2210 895 456 314 1590 50 7787 445 76 4de2fb06a
2026-09-11 S104 T7: TU batches e5–e13 (ov_SC02_017 TU at 0) 2370 2066 4436 2187 873 451 314 1589 50 7788 445 76 860ed9153
2026-09-11 S104 T7: TU batches e14–e25 2317 2023 4340 2118 806 451 314 1589 50 7788 445 76 b5b701750
2026-09-11 S104 T7: TU batches e18–e29 + R39b/R42 passes 2279 1993 4272 2090 780 451 314 1589 50 7790 445 76 edd427861
2026-09-11 S104 T7: e30–e34 batches 2257 1970 4227 2068 758 451 314 1589 50 7792 445 76 a4f043bc3
2026-09-11 S104 T7 close: e35–e38 resumed after the usage limit 2227 1925 4152 2033 727 451 314 1589 50 7800 445 76 765704ca5
2026-09-11 S105 f2 (4) + R44/R22 regen (3) 2217 1915 4132 2027 721 451 314 1589 50 7800 445 76 0076a9d2e
2026-09-11 S105 f1 (4) 2212 1913 4125 2025 719 451 314 1589 50 7800 445 76 389373f6d
2026-09-11 S105 f3 (4 + 1 proven) 2203 1908 4111 2021 715 451 314 1589 50 7800 445 76 cadb6cacc
2026-09-11 S105 f4 (5) + f5 (7) 2188 1889 4077 2009 703 451 314 1589 50 7800 445 76 4a503fce1
2026-09-11 S105 f7 (6) + R22 regen (1) 2179 1886 4065 2003 697 451 314 1589 50 7800 445 76 d85a4e387
2026-09-11 S105 f6 (6) 2172 1886 4058 2000 694 451 314 1589 50 7800 445 76 4bca24866
2026-09-11 S105 f8 (5) 2163 1883 4046 1995 689 450 314 1589 50 7801 445 76 36be9acef
2026-09-11 S105 comment-strip regen (2) 2163 1881 4044 1993 687 450 314 1589 50 7801 445 76 3d6111828
2026-09-11 S105 f9 (6) 2157 1875 4032 1989 683 450 314 1589 50 7802 445 76 c2455f5d3
2026-09-11 S105 f10 (4) 2152 1874 4026 1985 679 450 314 1589 50 7802 445 76 ff22c1fba
2026-09-11 S105 f11 (4 + 4 copies) — T7 ENDS 2141 1869 4010 1980 674 450 314 1589 50 7802 445 76 31cf8695f
2026-09-11 P36 close (T8/T9 done; the @unstuck retag) 2141 1869 4010 1980 674 450 314 1589 50 7802 445 76 60c4bb1cc
2026-09-11 P37 T1 — the lever census re-keyed (controls) and --strict made literal; 4,010 unchanged 2141 1869 4010 1980 674 450 314 1589 50 7802 445 76 23fc5d215

The campaign — every batch, from the ledger (derived on every render)

batch date rungs bodies first judged sites removed rewritten sites closed later bodies made lever-free
t3_tus1 2026-09-09 A,B 176 211 4 0 0
t3_scrub 2026-09-09 scrub 1 0 0 0 0
tus1 2026-09-09 A,B,replay 1,392 3,241 101 0 0
tus2 2026-09-09 A,B,replay 2,752 3,501 4 0 0
tus3 2026-09-09 A,B,replay 2,513 2,910 15 0 0
tus4 2026-09-09 A,B,replay 2,224 2,012 131 0 0
tus5 2026-09-09 A,B,replay 1,225 1,811 10 0 0
tus6 2026-09-09 A,B,replay 1,409 1,667 0 0 0
tus7 2026-09-09 A,B,replay 1,407 1,853 2 0 0
tus8 2026-09-09 A,B,replay 602 432 0 0 0
tus9 2026-09-09 A,B,replay 1,901 2,234 10 0 0
tus10 2026-09-09 A,B,replay 362 408 3 0 0
headers1 2026-09-09 A,B,replay 200 301 1 0 0
headers2 2026-09-09 A,B,replay 171 197 2 0 0
gte1 2026-09-09 gte 399 0 0 0 0
gte2 2026-09-09 gte 244 0 0 0 0
sweep1 2026-09-09 sweep 4 0 0 0 0
sweep2 2026-09-09 sweep 3 0 0 0 0
sweep3 2026-09-09 sweep 134 0 0 0 0
r1 2026-09-09 R 0 0 0 134 134
d1 2026-09-09 D 0 0 0 4 4
p1 2026-09-09 D 0 0 0 394 394
p1b 2026-09-09 D 0 0 0 132 132
g1 2026-09-09 G 0 0 0 2 1
g1p 2026-09-09 G 0 0 0 262 131
g2 2026-09-09 G 0 0 0 2 1
g2p 2026-09-09 G 0 0 0 262 131
g3 2026-09-09 G 0 0 0 17 13
g3p 2026-09-09 G 0 0 0 1,989 1,503
g4s 2026-09-09 G 0 0 0 3 3
g4sp 2026-09-09 G 0 0 0 130 130
g5 2026-09-09 G 0 0 0 7 5
g5p 2026-09-09 G 0 0 0 79 57
g6 2026-09-09 G 0 0 0 66 47
g6b 2026-09-09 G 0 0 0 72 63
g6bp 2026-09-09 G 0 0 0 39 30
g6p 2026-09-09 G 0 0 0 275 186
a1 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 2 1
a1p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 258 129
s1 2026-09-10 G 0 0 0 10 6
s1p 2026-09-10 G 0 0 0 391 261
a2 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 1 0
a2p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 124 0
s3 2026-09-10 G 0 0 0 39 24
s3b 2026-09-10 G 0 0 0 1 1
s3bp 2026-09-10 G 0 0 0 5 5
s4 2026-09-10 G 0 0 0 18 3
s5 2026-09-10 G 0 0 0 325 285
s6 2026-09-10 G 0 0 0 56 25
s7 2026-09-10 G 0 0 0 8 5
a7 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 1 1
a7p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 126 126
a4 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 1 1
a4p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 125 125
a8 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 2 1
a8p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 262 131
a12 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 1 1
a19 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 3 1
a18 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 1 1
a12p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 117 117
a19p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 399 133
a18p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 124 124
a5 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 4 1
a5p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 500 125
a9 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 2 1
a9p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 256 128
a25 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 2 1
a16 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 1 1
a25p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 250 125
a16p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 130 130
a11 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 1 1
a11p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 124 124
a22 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 2 1
a22p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 250 125
s8 2026-09-10 G 0 0 0 6 3
b1 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 2 1
b1p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 252 126
b3 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 1 1
b3p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 127 127
s10 2026-09-10 G 0 0 0 2 2
b2 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 3 1
b5 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 1 1
b6 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 3 1
b5s 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 1 1
b2p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 378 126
b5p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 125 125
b6p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 378 126
s10p 2026-09-10 G 0 0 0 128 128
s10q 2026-09-10 G 0 0 0 15 15
b5sp 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 125 125
b7 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 1 1
b7p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 125 125
b8 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 5 1
b8p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 665 133
c2 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 1 1
c2p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 130 130
c4 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 4 1
c4p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 532 133
c6 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 4 1
c6p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 516 129
c1 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 5 1
c1p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 625 125
c7 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 5 1
c7p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 665 133
c3 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 6 1
c3p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 786 131
c5 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 1 1
c5p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 125 125
c8 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 4 1
c8p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 504 126
c12 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 4 2
c12p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 524 262
c10 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 3 1
c10p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 399 133
c11 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 5 1
c11p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 620 124
c14 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 7 1
c14p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 924 132
c16 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 1 1
c16p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 129 129
s103_r22r23 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 15 14
s103_r22r23p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 4 4
s103_r22r23_hdr 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 3 3
s103_r22r23_hdrp 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 1 1
c18 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 11 1
c18p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 1,408 128
c20 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 2 1
c20p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 256 128
s103_r24 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 4 2
c15 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 6 1
c15p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 768 128
c24 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 4 1
c24p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 504 126
c23 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 7 1
c23p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 882 126
c25 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 5 1
c25p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 617 124
c26 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 1 1
c26p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 130 130
s103_r19r25 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 4 3
s103_r19r25p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 1 1
c21 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 1 1
c21p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 125 125
c30 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 3 1
c30p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 375 125
c33 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 8 2
c33p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 40 10
c36 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 3 2
c36p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 18 12
c35 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 2 2
c35p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 27 27
c34 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 4 2
c34p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 49 23
c32 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 1 1
c32p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 4 4
c39 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 11 2
c39p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 66 12
s103_extern_variants 2026-09-10 D,E,G 0 0 0 307 112
s103_r19cast 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 10 6
s103_r19castp 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 8 4
c41 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 2 1
c41p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 27 17
c38 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 2 2
c38p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 14 14
c40 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 2 2
c40p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 12 12
c42 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 3 2
c42p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 12 8
c43 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 4 2
c43x 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 24 12
c46 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 14 0
c46p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 1,848 0
s103_port 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 11 7
c44 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 5 2
c44p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 37 14
c45 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 4 2
c45p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 51 23
s103_port2 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 4 2
c37 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 1 1
c37x 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 43 43
c50 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 6 1
c50p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 774 129
c49 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 1 0
c49p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 132 0
c47 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 25 1
c47p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 3,325 133
c52 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 4 4
c52p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 16 16
c48 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 2 0
c48p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 264 0
c54 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 2 1
c54p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 14 7
s103_r26b 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 27 27
s103_r26bp 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 22 22
c55 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 6 2
c55p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 24 8
c53 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 8 3
c53p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 58 23
s103_port4 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 4 2
s103_scrub 2026-09-10 scrub 3 0 0 0 0
c51 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 1 0
c51p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 133 0
s104_all_part1 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 6 5
s104_all_part1p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 14 12
s104_d2 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 40 8
s104_d1 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 10 10
s104_d3 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 4 4
s104_d5 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 4 4
s104_d6 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 24 8
s104_d8 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 4 4
s104_d9 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 6 6
s104_d7 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 18 6
s104_d4 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 4 4
s104_d10 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 35 7
s104_part2 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 50 38
s104_part2p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 56 38
s104_d11 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 8 4
s104_d12 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 20 4
s104_d13 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 5 5
s104_d15 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 12 4
s104_d18 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 9 9
s104_d14 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 9 3
s104_d19 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 3 3
s104_d16 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 10 5
s104_d17 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 8 4
s104_new5 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 5 4
s104_r27 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 10 3
s104_d22 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 4 4
s104_d24 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 16 4
s104_d23 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 21 7
s104_d25 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 3 3
s104_d26 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 7 7
s104_d21 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 14 7
s104_d27 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 6 5
s104_d30 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 7 7
s104_d33 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 12 4
s104_d31 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 12 4
s104_d32 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 9 3
s104_new4 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 17 16
s104_new4p 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 1 1
s104_d37 2026-09-10 E 0 0 0 8 4
s104_d35 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 12 4
s104_d38 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 2 2
s104_d39 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 6 3
s104_d34 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 14 7
s104_part3 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 44 37
s104_r31r35 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 7 3
s104_r31r35p 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 1 1
s104_e1 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 1 1
s104_e4 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 3 3
s104_e3 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 1 1
s104_e7 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 5 5
s104_e2 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 1 1
s104_e6 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 25 18
s104_e8 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 3 3
s104_e9 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 10 4
s104_e5 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 10 10
s104_e10 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 4 4
s104_e13 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 6 2
s104_e11 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 4 4
s104_e12 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 7 6
s104_e14 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 4 4
s104_e16 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 4 4
s104_e17 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 14 8
s104_r39 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 6 6
s104_e15 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 7 4
s104_r40r41 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 2 2
s104_e18 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 5 5
s104_e19 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 6 4
s104_e20 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 8 4
s104_e24 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 4 4
s104_e21 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 5 5
s104_e23 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 7 4
s104_e25 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 13 5
s104_e22 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 5 3
s104_e26 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 31 10
s104_e28 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 14 6
s104_e27 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 7 4
s104_e29 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 7 2
s104_r39b 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 1 1
s104_r42 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 3 2
s104_e33 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 5 4
s104_e34 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 8 4
s104_e30 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 8 3
s104_e31 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 13 5
s104_e32 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 9 5
s104_e36 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 15 8
s104_e35 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 6 3
s104_e38 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 1 1
s104_e37 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 53 23
s105_f2 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 6 3
s105_f2_minlever 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 1 0
s105_r44r22 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 13 3
s105_f1 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 4 2
s105_f1_minlever 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 3 0
s105_f3 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 14 4
s105_f4 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 13 5
s105_f5 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 20 7
s105_f7 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 9 5
s105_f7_minlever 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 2 0
s105_r22b 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 1 1
s105_f6 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 5 3
s105_f6_minlever 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 2 0
s105_f8 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 11 5
s105_comment6 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 2 2
s105_f9 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 12 4
s105_f10 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 6 4
s105_f11 2026-09-11 E 0 0 0 13 5
total 17,122 20,778 283 30,411 10,766

Generated by tools/lever_progress.py --render from .run/P36/census/lever_census.json and .run/P36/delever/ledger.jsonl; the series lives in docs/lever-progress.tsv (R75: published numbers are generated, never typed).

3. How they got in

Nobody sat down to write 34,000 levers. They arrived one bank at a time, over five phases, each time as the cheapest way past a real wall:

  • Phase 18 researched gcc 2.7.2's register allocator and produced the pin toolkit (cookbook §17). It worked: the wave close-rate went 33% → 56% → 90% in one phase. Pins were the difference between a wave that banked and a wave that did not.
  • Phases 19–29, the family campaign, scaled that: one cracked exemplar remapped across up to 134 overlays, and every lever in the exemplar was copied with it. This is why the count is in the tens of thousands and the distinct count is in the hundreds — 12,578 bodies carry class A/B sites, but only 1,758 distinct texts.
  • Phase 23's local-model tier and Phase 30–31's autonomous lanes drafted at a rate no human reviewed line by line; a pin that made the byte gate go green was, correctly for those phases, a win.
  • §501-E (Phase 32) then replaced pins with launders on some functions — trading one lever for another. That recipe is explicitly out of bounds in Phase 36.

Two facts about that history matter for the argument below. First, the knowledge needed to remove a lever did not exist when the lever was added — the §31 codegen map (Phase 23), the allocation-order reading (alloc_table.py, Phase 32) and the §501-P/Q/R producer censuses all came later. Second, Phase 32 measured the thing that makes this a debt rather than a cost: on the last four functions of the frontier, every pin came off byte-identical once the source shape was right (R73). A pin was rarely load-bearing. It was a shortcut around finding the shape.

4. How they come off — the ladder, and what each rung is worth

rung what it does cost measured yield
A strip-all remove every lever in a body at once, compile, compare 1 compile see the campaign table above
B greedy re-add sites one at a time to find the minimal needed set ≤ sites+1 compiles the residue after A
C exemplar/replay a multi-copy class judged once, replayed to every copy 1 compile per copy most of the fleet's copies
R recipes the cookbook's byte-neutral shape recipes, mechanically (R2 declaration order · R3 initializer split · R4 one declaration moved through the run · R5 operand order of one commutative operator · R6 a single-set temp inlined at its use · R7 one statement wrapped in a block) 1 compile per candidate 134 of 134 bodies in 6.0 min, 3,243 compiles (batch r1)
D permuter decomp-permuter seeded with the lever-free body against the target bytes ~12 min per exemplar 5 of 16 exemplars, 665 of 2,131 bodies behind them, 0.69 h
E agents one agent per surviving class exemplar, with the pack tokens Phase 36 T7

RUNG R IS A REPLICATION ENGINE, NOT A DISCOVERY ENGINE — measured, S99. On a class whose shape rung D had already found it closed 134 of 134 bodies in 6 minutes. On 300 residue bodies where nobody had found the shape yet it closed 0 of 300 at --cap 40 (12,110 compiles, 4.6 min) and 0 of 300 at --cap 400 (17,140 compiles, 6.0 min)`. Two things make that a real result rather than a budget problem: the instrument was checked on one body by hand (every candidate COMPILES and returns DIFFERS — nothing was erroring out silently), and 17,140 compiles over 300 bodies is ~57 candidates each, so the cap was never the binding constraint — ten times the depth produced 42% more candidates and closed nothing. The recipe rung banks a KNOWN shape across a class for free; it has nothing to say about a shape that is not in its list. Growing it means finding more shapes (rung D, then agents), and harvesting each one back into the rung so it sweeps the population for free.

The two rungs feed each other. Rung D's wins are not exotic: each is a small nameable source shape — a statement wrapped in a block (flag = 0; → do { flag = 0; } while (0);), a single-set temp inlined at its use. Every one of them became a rung-R recipe the same session, and rung R then banks the whole class mechanically, as a one-line diff in the real source, where banking the permuter's own output would paste a pycparser-reprinted body into a phase whose entire purpose is readability. Rung D is the scout; rung R is the harvest.

What the residue looks like. After rungs A–C the survivors split by the starting distance of the lever-free body from the target, not by how many sites they carry: exemplars 8–29 mismatched instructions away closed (5.9 s to 651 s); those 70–276 away did not close in 12 minutes, and every one of those is a body where removing a hand-placed instruction lever changed the instruction count and shifted everything after it. None is a wall — they improved 78→9, 52→3, 50→3, 37→2 — they are seeds for a longer run or for an agent.

An instrument warning that cost two campaigns (cookbook §454): a search harness whose target is assembled from a disassembly listing is not measuring your code. objdump prints the pseudo-instruction move for addu rX,rY,$zero and GAS assembles move as or; a listing's %hi/%lo pairs come back resolved with no relocation. The scorer read 28 for a body that was byte-identical, so score 0 was unreachable and two campaigns reported "0 of 16" about a population that was fine. Seed any byte search with a body that already matches and require base score 0 before believing a yield.

5. The question that outlives the project: prevent, or clean up at the end?

The honest answer is neither extreme, and the evidence points at a specific middle.

What the numbers say. The mechanical rungs (A/B/C) removed or rewrote 21,061 sites across 17,119 bodies — the campaign table's own totals — against 33,957 still standing: 38% of the class A/B population came off with no understanding at all, by strip it, compile, compare. Those levers were never load-bearing. They were speculative, added by a drafter that had no cost signal for adding one, and a single compile at bank time would have refused them. That is the strongest measured claim in this document: more than a third of the debt would never have existed if banking a function had asked "does it still match without this?" once.

What the history says against blanket prevention. The pin toolkit is why Phase 18's waves closed at all, and the knowledge to replace a pin with the right source shape did not exist until Phases 23–32. A rule of "no levers, ever" adopted in Phase 18 would have stalled the project at ~56% for months, in exchange for a debt that a later phase paid off in weeks with better tools. Deferring was not obviously wrong; deferring silently was.

The rule we would actually adopt from day one — and the one the day-one kit should carry:

  1. A lever is allowed, and it is a marked, ledgered debt from the moment it is banked. One comment at the bank site naming the class and what it forces (// !FAKE: pin $16 — without it gcc allocates x to $17), and a census that counts them. Phase 36 had to re-derive that reason for 34,091 sites, function by function, years after the fact; writing it once at bank time is nearly free and is the difference between a debt and an archaeology project.
  2. The bank-time trial: compile the body once without the lever before accepting it. One compile. It would have refused ~37% of the population at the moment of creation, when the context was hot.
  3. Publish the count as a first-class metric next to the match percentage. A number nobody publishes is a number nobody pays down. This project's lever count was invisible until the phase that removed them.
  4. Levers get the harvest → toolify treatment, exactly like idioms. When a wave learns the shape that replaces a lever class, that shape becomes a mechanical recipe and sweeps the banked population — instead of the lever propagating with every family remap (which is how 1,758 distinct bodies became 12,578).
  5. Do NOT block a phase on lever-freedom. Keep the byte gate as the only gate; let the marker and the count carry the debt forward. A cleanup phase with mature tooling is genuinely cheap — rung A/B is a few hours of compute for a third of the population, and rung R banks a 134-copy class in six minutes.

In one line for the kit: ban the silence, not the lever.

6. For the wiki and the kit

  • Wiki page ("Levers") — sections 1, 2 and 5 of this document, plus the current chart. The count belongs beside the match percentage on the progress page: a project that is 100% matched and 34,091 levers deep is not finished, and saying so plainly is the difference between this decomp and the ones the community complains about (docs/gen3-standards.md).
  • decomp-architect/ — section 5's five rules, as a Phase-1 kernel (a lever is a marked debt; the bank-time trial; the published count; harvest→toolify for levers; never block the byte gate on it) with this document's measured numbers as the provenance. The taxonomy in section 1 transfers unchanged to any gcc-era PS1 decomp.
  • Parked for the endgame (Drew, 2026-09-09): train a gcc 2.7.2 LoRA on the final clean asm/C pairs and release it for other decompilations to use when cracking. Not now, and not on today's corpus: our 363,214 matched pairs are (asm → C-with-levers), so training on them teaches a model to PRODUCE pins. The corpus worth releasing is the one this phase creates — lever-free C beside its bytes — which is another reason to finish the removal before the project ships its dataset.
  • The story — the arc is: a toolkit that unlocked the project (P18) → a family engine that multiplied it 134× (P19–29) → a phase that measured the debt for the first time (P36 T1) → mechanical removal of a third of it (T4) → a scout-and-harvest loop for the rest (T6) → zero (T7). The interesting beat is not the cleanup; it is that the shortcut that made the project possible was also the thing it had to spend a whole phase undoing, and that both were the right call at the time.

7. Maintenance

Run at the close of every task that changes the count, and at every phase close:

.venv/bin/python tools/lever_census.py --sites --check -j 16     # the count, and 0 UNMARKED
.venv/bin/python tools/lever_progress.py --snapshot "T6 r1"      # appends the milestone row, re-renders §2

tools/lever_progress.py --check fails when the series' last row is not this tree — a stale series is a wrong chart.

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