# Solid Pill Boot Flow (C Vere)

## Investigation Summary

Tracked the solid pill boot flow through C Vere to understand how `-B solid.pill` works.

## Call Chain

```
1. king.c:_boothack_doom()
   ↓ Creates boot command: [%boot bot pill_spec path]

2. king.c:_king_doom()
   ↓ Routes to _king_fake() for fake ships

3. king.c:_king_fake()
   ↓ Creates message: [%boot pill vent props]
   ↓ Calls u3_lord_boot() with jammed message

4. lord.c:u3_lord_boot()
   ↓ Spawns worker process with "boot" protocol
   ↓ Jams and sends boot message to worker

5. main.c:_cw_boot()
   ↓ Worker process receives boot message
   ↓ Sets up u3_mars_boot as message handler

6. mars.c:u3_mars_boot()
   ↓ Cues the boot message
   ↓ Calls _mars_boot_make() to prepare events

7. mars.c:_mars_boot_make()
   ↓ Calls _mars_sift_pill() to parse pill
   ↓ Builds timestamped event list
   ↓ Writes events to disk

8. mars.c:_mars_sift_pill()  <-- KEY FUNCTION
   ↓ Parses pill structure

9. mars.c:_mars_do_boot()
   ↓ Reads events from disk
   ↓ Calls u3v_boot(eve)

10. vortex.c:u3v_boot()
    ↓ Calls u3v_life(eve)

11. vortex.c:u3v_life()
    ↓ Runs lifecycle formula [2 [0 3] [0 2]]
```

## Pill Structure

### Ivory Pill
```
[%ivory core]
```
- Tag: %ivory
- Content: The compiled kernel core directly

### Solid Pill
```
[%pill %solid bot mod use]
```
Which expands to:
```
[%pill [%solid [bot [mod [use nil]]]]]
```

From `mars.c:1629`:
```c
if ( c3n == u3r_qual(dat, &typ, bot, mod, use) ) {
```

Where `dat` is the second element after %pill tag, containing `[%solid bot mod use]`.

## Event List Construction

From `mars.c:1832-1866`, the event list is built as:

1. **Bot events** (3 events): NO timestamp, bare events
2. **Mod events** (0 in pill + 4 synthesized): WITH timestamps
   - Synthesized events added at lines 1758-1774:
     - `wack`: entropy (16 random words)
     - `whom`: ship identity
     - `verb`: verbose flag
     - Version negotiation card
3. **Use events** (3-5 depending on pill): WITH timestamps

The final structure passed to `u3v_boot(eve)`:
```
[bare_bot_1 bare_bot_2 bare_bot_3 [ts mod_1] [ts mod_2] ... [ts use_1] ...]
```

A MIXED list: some bare events, some timestamped pairs!

## Key Findings

1. **Ivory rejection**: `_mars_sift_pill` line 1608-1611 REJECTS ivory pills:
   ```c
   if ( c3y == u3r_sing_c("ivory", tag) ) {
     fprintf(stderr, "boot: failed: unable to boot from ivory pill\r\n");
     return c3n;
   }
   ```

2. **Pill tag value**: `c3__pill` = 0x6c6c6970 = 1819044208 (NOT 1819633778!)

3. **u3v_life formula**: `[2 [0 3] [0 2]]` is applied to the ENTIRE event list
   - Works on the full mixed list (bot + mod + use)
   - NOT just bot events!

4. **My solid.pill has**:
   - Bot: 3 events (bare)
   - Mod: 0 events (empty list in pill)
   - Use: 5 events
   - Total: 8 events
   - But C Vere adds 4 synthetic mod events → 12 total

## Current Problem

The lifecycle formula `[2 [0 3] [0 2]]` is failing on my 8-event list with `Nock.Exit`.

This formula means:
- `[0 2]`: get slot 2 (head) = first event/formula
- `[0 3]`: get slot 3 (tail) = rest of events
- `[2 formula subject]`: nock(subject formula)

So it's trying to: `nock(rest-of-events first-event)`

The first event should be a FORMULA (executable code), but my bot events might just be data!

## Next Steps

Need to understand what the bot events actually contain - are they formulas or data?