Commit Graph

2 Commits

Author SHA1 Message Date
Kevin 3cbe6c1cde kernel-bless: publish install-slot ranges so patched BIOS bodies run native
The BIOS exception handler ran interpreted for the life of every process,
1.22 billion instructions and 44.6% of all interpreted work in Breath of
Fire III, even though it is compiled and even though the stub that
unblessed it sat at exactly the address bios/SCPH1001.toml already
declared as an install slot. Two mechanisms existed and did not compose:
the emitter hooked the declared slot PC, while the runtime's bless
verifier memcmp'd the whole body including that slot, so the body was
MISMATCH forever and native code never reached the hook.

Three parts, none of which pays off alone:

1. Publish the declared ranges to the runtime. The emitter emits a
   PsxKernelPatchRange table next to the kernel body table and routes it
   through the backend descriptor; the bless verifier compares a body in
   segments that skip them. CLEAN now means "every byte outside every
   declared range still matches ROM", which is the claim the native code
   actually depends on.

2. Generalise the slot model to what the patches are. The old model
   assumed a 4-word lui/addiu/jalr/nop stub written over ROM zeros and
   fired on `word != 0`. Measured against both images, only one of five
   observed shapes fits: patchers also plant a `jr` over real ROM
   instructions, rewrite an 11-word prologue and insert an `mfc0 Cause`,
   and NOP out a driver routine. A slot is now a range with a length and
   an explicit `resume` (jalr / fallthrough / none), detected by
   comparing every word against its ROM-baked value.

3. Hand back from the interpreter at the range end. Kernel page 0 is
   permanently dirty, because the handler saves registers there on every
   exception, so straight-line interpretation would run the whole
   function after the patch. The emitter registers the resume PC as a
   continuation key and dirty_ram_interp surfaces there.

A PC inside a declared range must never be a native dispatch key: the
compiled bytes there are not what executes. Seven pre-existing
jal-return continuations violated that and wedged the boot at frame 0 in
an infinite dispatch loop (OpenBIOS RAM 0x357C). The emitter now drops
continuation keys inside a range so dispatch misses through to the
interpreter, and refuses to emit if a range covers a function entry,
which would silently remove a callable function instead.

Both profiles declare their measured ranges, and SCPH1001.toml finally
pins [program.image] sha256 to v2.2 (CRC32 37157331) so a v2.0 dump
refuses to generate rather than producing phantom discovery gaps.

Measured on Breath of Fire III (SLPS-00990, Psy-Q SDK 3.70), headless,
matched frames, PSX_KERNEL_PATCH_RANGES=0 for the OFF side:

                      OpenBIOS            SCPH-1001 v2.2
  bless mismatch      21 -> 0             74 -> 0
  kernel bodies       -87.7%/frame        -97.8%/frame
  all interp insns    -42.6%/frame        -94.2%/frame

The residual kernel-body work is exactly declared-words x entries on
every range, so nothing leaks past the hook. The A0/B0/C0 vector
trampolines are unchanged (+0.2%, noise): the profile excludes them by
design and they are a separate job. Card read traces are byte-identical
across the A/B on both images, all 32 entries, which exercises the two
ranges that replace the kernel's card handler.

Rule 18 holds throughout: the guest's patched instructions still execute
as written on the dirty-RAM interpreter. Only the code around them
changes backend. Nothing is synthesised.

Tests: runtime/tests/test_kernel_patch_ranges.c (new, the verifier's
accept/reject behaviour and the hand-back predicate) and the install-slot
range invariants in recompiler/tests/bios_address_model_test.cpp.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-09-11 16:38:34 -04:00
Matthew Stanley 5b3c7dd08d phase4: freeze_check diagnostic + accumulated overnight infra
Today's session work
- runtime/src/debug_server.c: freeze_check TCP cmd snapshots all liveness
  counters (PC, exception entries, exception_reentry_blocks, dirty_ram
  blocks/insns, fn_entry total + top-K histogram, SIO IRQ pending +
  countdown, sio_stat/i_stat/i_mask, mc_max_state) for tight-loop
  diagnosis when the runtime hangs
- runtime/src/debug_server.c: wtrace slot 12 covering [0x72F0..0x72F4]
  (data-byte counter); measured peak=1 confirming setup_data_phase resets
  the counter mid-cycle
- runtime/src/interrupts.c: exception_entries_total + exception_reentry_blocks
  counters + psx_get_freeze_diag accessor
- runtime/src/sio.c: sio_get_freeze_diag accessor for IRQ pacing internals
- memory entries: phase4_card_gate_setup_writes_2026_04_28 (refutes the
  prior \"missing [0x7568+slot] clearer\" framing — setup functions write
  LSB=0 directly), phase4_72f0_one_byte_per_vblank_2026_04_28 (peak=1
  measurement)

Overnight session work bundled in
- runtime/src/dirty_ram_interp.{c,h}: small MIPS interpreter for
  install-at-runtime kernel RAM stubs (Rule 18; e.g., SIO data-byte
  handler the BIOS writes to RAM 0xCF0)
- recompiler/src/full_function_emitter.{cpp,h}: 3057 jal/jalr continuation
  return labels added to dispatch table (continuation fix); branch
  fall-through fix for conditional-branch delay slots
- recompiler/src/strict_translator.cpp: matching translator updates
- generated/: regenerated SCPH1001 dispatch + full C output reflecting
  the recompiler changes
- runtime/include/debug_server.h, src/memory.c: card_txn ring + SIO IRQ
  ring + EvCB walk ring + per-PC dirty_ram counters + always-on wtrace
  coverage for [0x755A], [0x7514], [0x7528], [0x7520], [0x74A4],
  [0x75C0..C8], [0x74B8..C0]
- recompiler/tests/, runtime/tests/: SIO/card protocol unit tests
- tools/: 60+ Python diagnostic scripts (chain_trace analysis, SIO trace
  diff, EvCB walker, wtrace dumpers, etc.)
- docs/: psx_bios_disasm reference + dynamic_handler_install rationale
- OVERNIGHT_2026_04_28.md, SUMMARY_20260412_2.md: session logs

Phase 4 status (still blocked, root cause better understood)
- BIOS card chain runs through R-handlers correctly (chain_trace shows
  R1..R11 cycling 26x); shell IS retriggering _card_read
- Install handler at ROM 0xBFC15F1C increments [0x72F0] correctly per
  SIO IRQ; gate at <0x80 / <0x7F is correct
- Bottleneck: SIO IRQ countdown is access-paced, fires ~1× per VBlank
  vs ~128× needed; setup_data_phase (called from outer coord on VBlank)
  zeroes [0x72F0] before counter reaches 128
- Both attempted fixes today caused freezes:
  * VBlank deferral on [0x75C0]==1 — pending VBlank already in i_stat
    delivered anyway; tighter dispatch gate also locked up
  * Cycle-paced sio_tick at rates 50, 200 (and gated on [0x75C0]==1) —
    runtime freezes once data phase activates, root cause unidentified
- delay=5 narrows the threshold (peak=2 vs peak=1, no freeze) but
  doesn't get to 0x80
- Real fix likely requires deeper instrumentation of the freeze (call
  stack / dispatch state at the moment of TCP starvation)

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-04-28 21:29:19 -07:00