mirror of
https://github.com/RetroPortingToolKit/psxrecomp
synced 2026-10-25 18:05:12 -04:00
Matthew Stanley
e6ce5006b4
The repository root carried seven markdown files that were not onboarding
material, plus two that had been superseded by the code they described. This
sorts them: reader-facing docs to docs/, working notes to docs/internal/, and
the two superseded ones merged into the docs that replaced them.
Moved to docs/: WIDESCREEN.md, ENHANCEMENTS.md, TCP_COMMANDS.md
Moved to docs/internal/: PRINCIPLES.md, ISSUES.md, DEBUG.md, GTE_LM_FIX.md,
and from docs/: bios-hardening.md, overlay-status.md,
overlay-plan.md, overlay-recompilation-design.md,
overlay-discovery.md, TOMBA2_EXC_CONSULT_RESPONSE.md,
CASE_A_AOT_GAP.md, audit_inventory.md
Moved to docs/internal/upstream/: UPSTREAM_2026-08-20.md
The root keeps only what belongs there: README.md, CONTRIBUTING.md, LICENSE,
CLAUDE.md, THIRD_PARTY_ATTRIBUTION.md, RELEASE_NOTES.md, the dotfiles and
psxrecomp_cli.py.
MERGES
SPLITGEN_MIGRATION.md folded into docs/BUILDING.md as "Split generated C". Its
migration instructions were stale in a way that mattered: it told every game
repo to hand-edit its CMakeLists and add a file(GLOB ...) over
<serial>_full*.c, but runtime/runtime.cmake now does that itself. GEN_FULL_GLOB
is a multi-value argument of psxrecomp_add_game_runtime(); the loop at
runtime.cmake:1985 makes each pattern absolute against CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR,
expands it with file(GLOB), and concatenates the hits into
GAME_GENERATED_FULL_C. So a title names the pattern and gets however many shards
a regeneration produced. The rewritten section describes that, the two-step
fallback when the globs match nothing (GEN_FULL_FALLBACK, else <serial>_full.c
derived from the dispatch marker by substituting _dispatch.c), and the one
caveat the code actually has: that file(GLOB) is plain, not CONFIGURE_DEPENDS,
so a regeneration which changes the shard COUNT needs a re-configure to be seen.
psxrecomp-toml-readme.md folded into docs/GAME_PROJECT_SETUP.md as "EXE-only
autofill (psxrecomp-toml)", placed after "Disc autofill (probe_disc.py)" and
before "Project Studio" so the two autofill paths sit together. Its documented
flags were checked against the usage text in recompiler/src/main_toml.cpp:28-42
and against the argument parser at :150-165 -- all seven options match with no
drift, so the flag list is reproduced as-is. Added a pointer that probe_disc.py
is preferable when a cue exists, since that tool does the same EXE-header work
plus disc identity and netplay gates.
FUNCTIONAL FIXES
tools/gen_tcp_commands.py wrote to REPO/"TCP_COMMANDS.md". After the move that
path does not exist, so the generator would have created a new stray root file
and --check would have failed against it forever. Retargeted to
REPO/"docs"/"TCP_COMMANDS.md", along with the seven docstring and message
strings that name the path.
Running it surfaced two further problems, both fixed here:
* The doc was genuinely stale -- pre-existing drift, not introduced by this
commit (the moved file is byte-identical to origin/master, and no
debug-server command table is touched here). Four commands registered since
the last regeneration were missing from the index -- cdrom_timing_dump,
savestate_status, ws_ui_groups, xprobe_watch -- and scanline had gained a
backend. Regenerated: 307 -> 311 commands, and the change is confined to the
AUTOGEN block (the hand-written head and tail are byte-identical to master).
tools/gen_tcp_commands.py --check now exits 0.
* DOC.write_text() has no newline argument, so Python translated every newline
to os.linesep. On Windows that rewrote all 585 lines of the file to CRLF and
turned a four-line index update into a whole-file diff -- measured: 589 CRLF
/ 0 LF after a run, against 0 CRLF / 585 LF in the repo. Now written through
an explicit newline="" handle, verified to leave the file at 0 CRLF.
runtime/include/debug_server.h:9 and runtime/src/debug_server.c:8 cited "TCP.md
and DEBUG.md". TCP.md has never existed in this repo under that name; both now
name docs/TCP_COMMANDS.md and docs/internal/DEBUG.md.
LINK AND REFERENCE FIXES
Every inbound reference to a moved file was located by grepping each basename
across the whole tracked tree, not just the markdown. Markdown hrefs in
README.md, CONTRIBUTING.md, docs/ARCHITECTURE.md, docs/COMPILING_OVERLAYS.md,
docs/AOT_OVERLAY_PLAN.md, docs/RELOCATION_MANIFEST_FORMAT.md,
docs/config_schema.md, docs/OVERLAY_XREF.md, docs/TCP_COMMANDS.md and several
docs/internal/ files now point at the new locations; where two files became
siblings under docs/internal/ the path was shortened rather than lengthened
(bios-hardening.md's reference to overlay-discovery.md, for instance).
docs/COMPILING_OVERLAYS.md's "in this folder" phrasing was wrong once two of the
three files it listed moved, so it now names internal/ explicitly.
24 source-comment mentions of ENHANCEMENTS.md sections G1.x across 19 files
(recompiler, runtime, cmake) were retargeted to docs/ENHANCEMENTS.md with the
section numbers untouched. docs/SHADOW_ENHANCEMENTS.md is a DIFFERENT file and
was deliberately excluded.
20 rationale strings citing docs/CASE_A_AOT_GAP.md across the four
recompiler/seeds/*.json files were updated. Done as a byte-level substring
replacement rather than a JSON round-trip: two of those files are stored with
CRLF endings and two with LF, and re-serializing them reformatted 5,700 lines.
The byte-level version changes exactly 20 lines and each file still parses.
References that look similar but point elsewhere were deliberately left alone,
and are worth naming so a future pass does not "fix" them:
* "recomp-template PRINCIPLES.md" / "NES recomp template PRINCIPLES.md" in
CLAUDE.md:43, docs/SHADOW_ENHANCEMENTS.md:28,
docs/internal/HLE_SCHEDULER_CARVEOUT_PLAN.md:5,
runtime/src/debug_server.c:4934 and tools/parity_diff.py:8 are a different
repository's file. Only the five that mean this repo's PRINCIPLES.md were
updated.
* Every remaining bare ISSUES.md mention is a GAME repo's tracker
(MegaManX6Recomp 2/7/8/9, TombaRecomp 6), not this repo's.
* docs/disc-speed.md:4,54,56 and docs/internal/bios-hardening.md:5 name
overlay-discovery as a BRANCH, not a file, so no path applies.
INDEXES
README.md's "New here?" table gains rows for docs/WIDESCREEN.md,
docs/ENHANCEMENTS.md and docs/TCP_COMMANDS.md. docs/internal/README.md gains
sections indexing all fourteen documents that moved in, plus an "Upstream
contributor reviews" section describing upstream/ and the new sweep file, plus a
"Removed" bullet for CYCLE_TIMING_ARCH.md (deleted in the previous commit)
pointing at FAITHFUL_TIMING_PLAN.md, CYCLE_MODEL_BEETLE.md and
PRECISE_IRQ_SLICE.md -- following the SLJIT_PERSIST_CACHE.md precedent already
in that file.
docs/ENHANCEMENTS.md:7 claimed framework bugs live in "game repos' ISSUES.md
until a framework tracker exists". A framework tracker does exist; it now says
so and names the Beads epic.
VERIFICATION
A link checker was written to scan every tracked *.md for relative links,
resolving each against the tree being scanned. Baseline at origin/master: 129
files, 137 relative links, 3 broken. After both commits: 127 files, 159 relative
links, 3 broken -- the SAME three, all pre-existing and untouched here:
docs/DATA_SHARDS.md -> INSTANT_LOADS_PARKED.md (never existed)
docs/DATA_SHARDS.md -> INSTANT_LOADS_SPIKE2.md (never existed)
docs/NETPLAY.md -> ../lib/recomp-net/README.md (inside a submodule)
Zero new broken links. The checker's own coverage was checked against a raw grep
for markdown link openers: the 3-link difference is C++ lambdas inside code
blocks, correctly not treated as links.
Also verified: py_compile over all 113 tracked tools/*.py plus psxrecomp_cli.py;
all four seed JSONs still parse; the test-registration guard still reports 123
test files all registered; recompiler/tests/test_coverage_vault.py still passes;
and no file in this commit had its line endings flipped (checked mechanically
across all 50 modified files, after two files were caught and redone).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5.1 <noreply@anthropic.com>
197 lines
3.1 KiB
Markdown
197 lines
3.1 KiB
Markdown
# PRINCIPLES.md
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Global Debugging & Reverse Engineering Principles
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This document is the SINGLE source of truth for all rules.
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All other files reference this. Nothing overrides this.
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---
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# 1. CORE PHILOSOPHY
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We do not guess.
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We do not explore blindly.
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We do not fix symptoms.
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We identify:
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1. The exact point of divergence
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2. The exact state difference
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3. The exact instruction or function responsible
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Then we fix that — and only that.
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---
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# 2. STATE OVER THEORY
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If two systems behave differently, then their state differs.
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All debugging reduces to:
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- Capturing state
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- Comparing state
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- Finding the first difference
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Do not theorize causes without state evidence.
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---
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# 3. FIRST DIVERGENCE (CRITICAL)
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Never debug the final symptom.
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Always find:
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> The FIRST moment where expected != actual
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If you are not identifying the first divergence, you are doing it wrong.
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---
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# 4. TEMPORAL DEBUGGING
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Bugs are about WHEN, not WHAT.
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Reason in time:
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- What happened before this?
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- What changed?
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---
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# 5. WRITE VS READ BUGS
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Determine the class:
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Write-time:
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- Wrong data written
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Read-time:
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- Correct data, wrong usage
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Do not mix these.
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---
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# 6. TRACE THE WRITER
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When state differs, find:
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- WHO wrote it
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- WHEN it was written
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- WHY it differs
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---
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# 7. FIX THE SOURCE
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Invalid:
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- Clamping
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- Skipping logic
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- Hardcoding values
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Valid:
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- Fixing the producing logic
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- Fixing execution order
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- Reproducing missing state
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---
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# 8. MINIMAL FIXES
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The correct fix:
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- Smallest possible change
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- Matches original system behavior
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---
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# 9. STRUCTURED DATA ONLY
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Use:
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- Ring buffers
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- State snapshots
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- Structured JSON artifacts
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Avoid:
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- printf spam
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- unstructured logs
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- log files of any kind
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---
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# 10. BUILD TOOLS, NOT GUESSWORK
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If you cannot answer something:
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-> build a tool to answer it
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---
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# 11. NEVER DEBUG BLIND
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If you say:
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- "maybe"
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- "likely"
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You are missing data.
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Stop and gather it.
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---
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# 12. STUBS (ABSOLUTE RULE)
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NO STUBS — EVER
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If execution reaches unknown code:
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1. STOP
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2. Identify target
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3. Fix discovery/codegen
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Never simulate behavior.
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---
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# 13. FUNCTION DISCOVERY
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A dispatch miss is a graph failure.
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Fix:
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- function finder
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- codegen
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Never patch output.
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---
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# 14. SUCCESS DEFINITION
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A bug is fixed only when:
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1. Root cause identified
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2. Divergence explained
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3. Fix addresses cause
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4. Behavior matches reference
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---
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# 15. DISTRUST TOOLING
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At the start of every session, validate that tools are doing what you
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think they're doing. Run a known-good query, check the output by hand,
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verify file paths resolve where you expect.
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Never trust:
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- That a previous session's tool still works the same way
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- That generated output matches what you asked for
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- That a grep/awk pipeline found all matches
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When you build a new tool or instrument, verify its FIRST output manually
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before relying on it for analysis.
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---
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# 16. ORACLES
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Truth comes from two sources:
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- Ghidra for what the code is supposed to do (static analysis)
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- DuckStation for what real PS1 hardware does at runtime (dynamic oracle)
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Use both, never just one. Don't guess. Don't say "probably". If you
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cannot answer a question from Ghidra or DuckStation, the answer is
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"I don't know yet" — not a confident guess.
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