BFM-decomp/phase-ends/CURRENT_PHASE.md

CURRENT PHASE — Phase 29: The Family Campaign (cores + members)

Opened: 2026-07-16 · Effort: Max · Generation: Gen2 (21st phase of the arc) · Baseline: PhaseEnd_Phase28 (v1.27.0) · Roadmap: docs/roadmap-to-100.md §3 P29 Plan approved (P3 gate 1): 2026-07-16. Full plan mirror: ~/.claude/plans/max-effort-plan-mode-mutable-castle.md (out-of-repo; this file is the in-repo authority + crash-recovery log).

Fleet at open: 68.9% instr-weighted / 49.5% distinct-code / 83.94% fn-count · 140/140 byte-identical · 0 NON_MATCHING · dedup 1840/0.

Drew's Phase-Start decisions (2026-07-16):

• Fable5 = reserved for NEW wall classes only (default cheap-Opus + permuter). Window ~7/19.
• Scope = a longer multi-session campaign (drive both tracks substantially down before closing; ROI-gated on per-session yield floors; velocity + 3 metrics reported each session).

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The one question this phase must answer first

The swing number: does the legacy PURE-non-jr h_seq tier (~95 families / ~7,993 members / ~478k ins, ~3.6 pp) template mechanically (⇒ one exemplar crack banks ×137) or not? Phase-28 measured ~3% as-tooled with 274 genuine gate-DIFF members that are byte-PURE (reloc-only) at the same vram — so either (a) the remap is incomplete (fixable; ceiling ≫ 3%) or (b) it's a TU-context regalloc wall (3% real). Task 1's disambiguating probe decides it before any yield arithmetic scales (R14/R35). Every prior "structural wall" (B2, SC07, pin-crash) resolved to (a).

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Standing invariants (every task)

• Whole-binary byte-gate is the sole arbiter (G3/P9); match_one/closeness/h_seq are candidates.
• R22 clean-fleet per banked batch: make clean && make extract-all && make check-all → 140/140.
• make tools-health green + fail-closed before matching (corpus · cdecl · audit-binaries(R36) · report/lint/dedup-check).
• §53 carve law: has_mid_jr families → jtbl_family_bank.py, never carve-less family_sweep.
• Predictions gate-validated on a SAMPLE before scaling; verify the TOOL before trusting its scan.
• Flywheel: idioms → cookbook + tooling in-session (R16/R30); pivots → decision-log (R31).
• Effort/model transitions prompted, never assumed (R26/R27) — STOP + WAIT for the toggle.
• One commit per task after this file's update; Drew pushes (R6/R20). R23 no-op on db.*.gbf.

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Task checklist (current-task pointer = ▶)

• Task 1 — T3b disambiguating probe: build tools/diff_regions.py + the swing verdict [Max] ✅ VERDICT: (a) TOOLING — an -O0 compile-flag artifact, NOT a regalloc wall. The two families supplying ~272 of the 274 DIFF (0x8013c964, 0x8013c938) are -O0 functions; family_sweep --hseq compiled them -O2 (member stub files are -O2). Compiled -O0 they masked-MATCH. 106-member sample (nins 2..133): O0-FLAG 45 · already-banked 29 · TEMPLATES 17 · type-lift-plumbing 15 · REGALLOC 0. Ceiling ≫ 3%; the pool is back on the table. → calibration.md + decision-log.md. (masked-MATCH = candidate; whole-binary bank is Task 2a's gate, §52b.)
• ▶ Task 2 — Act on the verdict [Max/xHigh] — branch = 2a (tooling). Build the -O0-cluster split rollout (adapt rollout_whale_o0.py → per-overlay [0x13410,c,<ov>_o0] carve, -O0 Makefile rule) + teach family_sweep --hseq per-member opt-level awareness; WHOLE-BINARY gate one overlay (convert the verdict to a banked fact), then fleet + the type-lift sweep. member_adapt.py NOT needed for this pool. Originally: (2a) extend family_remap.symbol_map + re-run the legacy-PURE family_sweep --hseq (the ~478k-ins mechanical win); OR (2b) build tools/member_adapt.py (exemplar→member delta engine + per-member delta briefs); OR both.
• Task 3 — Core-crack track: fresh exemplar + B3 near-miss cracks [Ultracode/xHigh/Max] — top substantial stub exemplars (non-jr 0x80176734/0x80176218/0x8013faf8/0x8014d820/ 0x801670e4/0x80140958; jr via jtbl_family_bank 0x8013f350/0x80131340/0x80159c84/ 0x8013c414) + B3 high-close near-miss cores (func_8014F4C0 127, func_80137DD4 107, func_8014E284 83, func_80177940 65, func_801387B8 50, func_8014ADE0 19, func_801325B8 4). FRESH re-drafts only (0/958 stored are dead). Add a family_sweep has_mid_jr interlock. Fable5 for NEW walls only (prompt Drew).
• Task 4 — Member harvest behind each crack + grinder family-warm-start [xHigh/Ultracode] — propagate members per Task-2's mechanism; build the grinder family-warm-start + 2 Phase-22 bug-fixes (split-file-blind lookup; churn-without-blacklist).
• Task 5 — Fleet Ghidra-C prefetch (JIT drafting fuel) [xHigh; MCP: R23/R29 — prompt /mcp] — built only when Task-3 waves exhaust the ~300-fn cache.
• Task 6 — Mechanical mass: tiny-IMM mega-pools + permuter backlog sweep [Ultracode/permuter] — 0x80131eec (2,887×15) + 0x80130d0c (2,679×15) via imm_map; the 550 close-1..4 backlog drafts via grinder/permuter_ils.
• Task 7 — Burn-down tracker + velocity/3-metric report + ROI-gated close [Max] — close when per-session yield across both tracks floors out; Roadmap delta; hand P30 an honest frontier.

OUT of scope: parallel gate farm (bulk_harvest already is it) · family-adapt fine-tune (bounded, conditional) · main-EXE/B9 + GLM/B6 + resident's 14 walls (P30) · behemoths B7 + walls B8 (P31).

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Blockers

(none — Arm B substantial-band sweep running in background as of 2026-07-16)

Task 2 progress (in flight)

• Verdict → branch 2a (tooling). Sized the fix: Arm A (-O0 cluster carve) = 9 families / 1,233 stub members / ~24k ins (~0.6pp), needs a per-overlay -O0 carve tool (adapt rollout_whale_o0.py; the -O0 cluster 0x13410..0x14834 is deferred-since-Phase-19). Arm B (-O2 type-lift sweep, EXISTING family_sweep --hseq --no-preclassify) = 398 families / 7,541 stub members / ~520k ins (~4pp) — the ROI winner; unbanked pool concentrates in the 4 newest (SC07) overlays.
• Arm B gate-probe (10 families): BANKED 32/40 = 80% — gate-validated (R14). Substantial band alone = 76 banks (size-dependent: substantial is pin/drift-limited, 1,799 pinned skips). Comprehensive --band all --allow-pins sweep then banked across ~140 overlays (891 src files) before a SIGTERM (exit 143) interrupted it mid-gate (during/after ov_SC07_006 346/570). Triage: 3 clean single-binary rebuilds all BYTE-IDENTICAL → the incremental banks survive R22.
• ✅ ARM B CHECKPOINT COMMITTED (2026-07-16). R22 clean-fleet verify = 136 PASS / 1 FAIL; the FAIL (ov_SC07_010, the SIGTERM mid-gate partial) reverted → byte-identical. 3,407 member-matches banked across 136 overlays. make check-all → 140/140 byte-identical; dedup-check 1840/0; audit-binaries OK; audit-cdecl green. Fleet: instr-weighted 68.9→70.2% (+1.3pp) · distinct-code 49.5→51.9% (+2.4pp) · fn-count 83.94→84.73% (+0.79pp); 0 NON_MATCHING (G4).
• ⚠️ LESSON: --band all sweeps are too long for one background pass (SIGTERM'd). Future Arm B runs go band-bounded + committed-per-batch (resumable). The comprehensive sweep still had residual FAILED members (pin/drift/plumbing) not yet re-attacked.
• ✅ ARM B TAIL FINISHED (2026-07-16). Band-bounded family_sweep --hseq --allow-pins in 3 clean bounded passes (substantial 53 + mid 372 + tiny 323 = 748 member-matches), the SIGTERM lesson applied (each band completed exit 0). All 748 confined to the 4 undermatched SC07 tail overlays (the files=1 ones): ov_SC07_010 897→516 (+381) · ov_SC07_011 797→436 (+361) · 006 457→454 (+3) · 007 595→592 (+3). Verified pure-reduction (0 NEW stubs, 0 dup INCLUDE_ASM). 006/007's residual is jr-families (§53 carve → Task 3) + plumbing/DIFF — the plain-sweep tail is drained. R22 clean-fleet 140/140 byte-identical; audit-binaries OK; dedup-check 1840/0; main 143dbb89. Fleet: instr 70.2→70.4% · distinct-code 51.9→52.3% · fn-count 84.73→84.94%; 0 NON_MATCHING linked (G4).
• ✅ ARM A: swing verdict CONFIRMED as a BANKED FACT (2026-07-16). Built tools/rollout_o0_cluster.py (the -O0-cluster carve, adapting rollout_whale_o0.py) + the Makefile O0_CLUSTER_OBJS -O0 wildcard. On ov_SC07_010 the carve is byte-neutral and family_sweep --hseq banked 9/9 of the -O0 exemplar families' members whole-binary (R22 clean-fleet 140/140) — so the -O0 cluster members DO bank at -O0, not just masked-MATCH (§52b candidate → fact; Phase-20's "func_8013B7AC overlay-local" also refuted). BUT the fleet-scale carve hits a splat-integration wall: the same carve on 006/007/011 byte-shifts the whole image (+0x20 data-symbol shift, 34% diff) from a CLEAN build — a splat %lo re-disassembly sensitivity (boundaries verified correct), the Phase-20 "-O0 split infra" wall now characterized. Full -O0 fleet rollout (~1,233 / ~0.6pp) DEFERRED on ROI: 3/4 sampled overlays walled + 134 overlays have the cluster inside the jr_801380E0 carve + bigger levers wait. Details → docs/decision-log.md. (c) opt-level awareness is moot — the -O0-ness is per-FILE via the Makefile rule; family_sweep/stub_map already route to the carved split. Hindsight fix logged: mirror the whale's shared-header _o0b shape.
• TASK 2 SUBSTANTIVELY COMPLETE. Arm B tail (748 members) + Arm A (verdict = banked fact). NEXT: Task 3 (core-cracks + B3 near-misses) and/or Task 6 (tiny-IMM mega-pools ~5,566 members) — the bigger levers.

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Per-task log

(appended after each task; the crash-recovery trail — becomes phase-ends/logs/Phase29.md at close, R19)

• 2026-07-16 — Phase opened. Session Start Protocol complete (all 28 PhaseEnds + roadmap + calibration + decision-log read). 3 Explore surveys grounded the plan (tooling state, frontier data, idiom bank). Plan approved at Max/plan-mode. Beginning Task 1.
• 2026-07-16 — Task 1 DONE (the swing RESOLVED = (a) tooling). Built tools/diff_regions.py (composes family_remap.remap_hseq + match_one + masked_diff; auto-detects the exemplar's -O0 opt from the Makefile rules). Byte-proof: the 274-DIFF pool is dominated (~272) by two -O0 families the sweep compiled -O2; at -O0 they masked-MATCH. 106-member sample across nins 2..133 → 0 REGALLOC walls; all failure modes recoverable tooling (-O0 flag / already-banked / template / type-lift plumbing). Verdict + byte evidence → docs/calibration.md (swing RESOLVED section) + docs/decision-log.md (R31). §52b caveat: masked-MATCH is a candidate — Task 2a whole-binary-gates the -O0 split rollout. Run artifacts in .run/probe29/.
• 2026-07-16 — Task 2 (Arm B tail) DONE. Resumed the interrupted comprehensive --band all sweep as 3 band-bounded passes (substantial/mid/tiny, --allow-pins, each exit 0 — the SIGTERM lesson) → 748 member-matches banked across the 4 files=1 SC07 tail overlays (010 +381, 011 +361, 006 +3, 007 +3), each whole-binary-gated by harvest_verify (G3/P9). R22 clean-fleet 140/140 byte-identical; fleet instr 70.2→70.4% / distinct 51.9→52.3% / fn-count 84.73→84.94%; audit-binaries OK, dedup 1840/0, main 143dbb89, 0 NON_MATCHING (G4). Verified pure-reduction (0 new/dup stubs, R14/H5). Logs .run/armB_tail_{substantial,mid,tiny,checkall}.log. NEXT: Arm A (-O0 cluster carve) + item (c).
• ✅ 2026-07-16 — Task 6 tiny-IMM mega-pools CRACKED (+4,801 members). 0x80131eec (2887) + 0x80130d0c (2679) went from 1/4966 (0.0%) to pool1 2331/2470 (94%) + pool2 2470/2496 (99%) = 4,801 banked. Root cause (byte-proven after 3 masked-metric mis-reads — R14/R35, see decision-log): NOT a symbol-definition gap (my commit:0665 scout was WRONG) — it's a def-signature conflict: engine_core.h forward-declares the member (extern void func_8015FAAC(s32 *a0), a shared fn calls it) while family_remap copies the EXEMPLAR's sig (void *a0) → conflicting types → the member TU never compiles (invisible to standalone diff_regions/match_one AND to --reconcile). FIX: new family_sweep --fix-def-sig (header_sig_map + reconcile_def_sig, 1005 mapped fns) rewrites the member draft's def sig to the shared-header canonical — byte-neutral, gate-arbitrated (G3/P9); one member hand-verified byte-identical first. R22 clean-fleet 140/140; pure-reduction (0 new/dup stubs); fleet instr 70.4→71.0% · distinct 52.3→53.2% · fn-count 84.94→86.30%; dedup 1840/0; 0 NON_MATCHING. §54 cookbook + R31 decision-log. The 4th "reproduce the build step" instance (§53-carve, -O0-flag, now the member's canonical DECLARATION). --fix-def-sig likely should be default-on for the h_seq path.
• 2026-07-16 — broad --fix-def-sig harvest = TAPPED beyond the mega-pools (+19). Fleet-wide --band substantial (17) + --band tiny (2) with --fix-def-sig (all families, not just the 2 pools) = 19 more members banked (the def-sig conflict was highly concentrated in the 2 tiny-IMM mega-pools; 8491 tiny members now skip as not-stub). R22 clean-fleet 140/140; fleet instr 71.0% (steady) / distinct 53.2→53.3% / fn-count 86.30%. Task 6 mega-pool track COMPLETE. Remaining Task 6: the permuter backlog sweep (the 550 close-1..4 drafts via grinder/permuter_ils) — separate track, not yet run.
• 2026-07-16 — Task 2 (Arm A) DONE = swing verdict → banked fact + wall characterized. New tool tools/rollout_o0_cluster.py + Makefile O0_CLUSTER_OBJS -O0 wildcard. Carved 4 SC07 tail overlays; byte-neutrality gate (clean R22): ov_SC07_010 byte-identical, 006/007/011 FAIL (+0x20 splat data-symbol shift, boundaries verified — the Phase-20 splat "-O0 split infra" wall, not the compiler). Kept 010's carve, reverted the 3; family_sweep --hseq --only <9 -O0 exemplars> --band all banked 9/9 -O0 members in ov_SC07_010 whole-binary → the -O0 cluster masked-MATCHes ARE real banks (§52b fact). R22 clean-fleet 140/140 byte-identical; fleet 70.4% instr / 52.3% distinct / 84.94% fn-count; dedup 1840/0; main 143dbb89. Full -O0 fleet rollout DEFERRED (splat wall on 3/4 + jr-embedded on 134 + ROI vs Task 3/6). R31 writeup in docs/decision-log.md. Logs .run/armA_*.