fix(decoder): give the container the Canary it is supposed to run

The database mount below was one of three ways the decoder could not reach its
own oracle. The other two are here.

`run-canary` never looked in `Checked/`. It tried `Release/` then `Debug/`, and
both of those exist on this box -- an Aug 28 binary and a Jul 19 one. They boot
the game perfectly well and carry NO `audit_61` branch probe, so a probe run
against either returns zero hits that read as a finding about the game rather
than as a stale binary. Configuration is now the outer loop and location the
inner one, so a `Checked` build anywhere beats a `Release` build anywhere;
`$XENIA_BIN` still overrides everything. Measured here: `Checked` has
`audit_61_branch_probe_pcs`, `Release` and `Debug` do not.

The launcher also now says which instrumentation is missing BEFORE the run,
because the alternative is reading an empty log afterwards and guessing.

`build-canary` built `$PROJECT_DIR/xenia-canary`, which does not exist in this
container -- the source is bind-mounted at `/canary` and the launcher already
exports `XENIA_SRC=/canary`. CONTAINER-NOTES has carried that defect since
2026-08-29 with a symlink workaround and a warning to remember to delete the
symlink afterwards. It now reads `$XENIA_SRC` first, so there is nothing to
remember. Its default configuration moves Release -> Checked to match what
`run-canary` picks; the old default spent a full build on a binary nothing ran.

Two documented blockers are refuted rather than deleted, since the sequence of
wrong readings is what makes the right one checkable: the CONTAINER-NOTES
symlink dance (the warm build volume it was configured against is gone too,
removed in the 2026-09-18 cleanup, so the next build configures cleanly against
`/canary`), and `upstream-baseline.md`'s "`version.h` is never generated" --
`CMakeLists.txt` generates it at configure time now, with a stub fallback.

`decoder-loop.md` claimed the oracle was at `Linux/Release/` and that the probe
was on two side branches; both were true when written and neither is now.

Verified: five pick_bin cases against the extracted function body, and `strings`
on all three real binaries.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

.github/workflows/ci.yml

@@ -31,6 +31,24 @@ env:
 # So: one job, on the machine that exists, building for the machine that exists.
 # If a second architecture is ever wanted here it needs a second RUNNER, not a
 # second matrix row.
+#
+# ── The toolchain is PINNED, in three places, deliberately ───────────────────
+#
+# All three jobs used `dtolnay/rust-toolchain@stable`, which resolves to whatever
+# stable is on the day the job runs. A lint gate that floats is not a gate: the
+# same tree goes green or red depending on the date, and this repo has already
+# produced a disagreement between two people reading the same commit (#15).
+# `collapsible_else_if` is the example — `warn` on 1.92.0, `allow`-by-default
+# pedantic on 1.98.1, so a clean local run and a red CI run were both correct.
+#
+# `1.98.1` is the version run 206 resolved, and `docker/ci/Dockerfile` pins the
+# same one, so `docker/ci/run cargo clippy …` on a desktop is a true stand-in for
+# this workflow rather than an approximation of it.
+#
+# To bump: change all three `dtolnay/rust-toolchain@` refs here AND the `FROM
+# rust:<version>-bookworm` in `docker/ci/Dockerfile` in one commit, so the two
+# can never drift apart silently. A bump is a change to the gate and belongs in
+# its own PR, where the new lints it turns on are the diff.
 
 jobs:
   # ── Native build, on the one runner there is ────────────────────────────────
@@ -42,13 +60,15 @@ jobs:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
       - name: Install Rust toolchain
-        # `stable` installs a MINIMAL profile: rustc, cargo, rust-std and no
+        # Pinned — see the toolchain note at the top of this file.
+        #
+        # This action installs a MINIMAL profile: rustc, cargo, rust-std and no
         # more. Components have to be named. Without this line the Clippy step
         # below dies on "'cargo-clippy' is not installed for the toolchain
         # 'stable-aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu'" — which is not a lint result, it
         # is the step never having run. The `fmt` job below always got this
         # right; this one never did.
-        uses: dtolnay/rust-toolchain@stable
+        uses: dtolnay/rust-toolchain@1.98.1
         with:
           components: clippy
 
@@ -78,7 +98,7 @@ jobs:
         run: cargo test --workspace
 
       # The tally above cannot tell you what it verified. `cargo test` reports
-      # the same 207/0/14 whether the disc corpus was exercised or entirely
+      # the same count whether the disc corpus was exercised or entirely
       # absent -- a gated suite that skips still counts as passed, and the
       # `ignored` column is a static count of `#[ignore]` attributes that cannot
       # move at runtime. Issue #16. This prints what the run ACTUALLY had, from
@@ -114,7 +134,7 @@ jobs:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
       - name: Install Rust toolchain + WASM target
-        uses: dtolnay/rust-toolchain@stable
+        uses: dtolnay/rust-toolchain@1.98.1
         with:
           targets: wasm32-unknown-unknown
 
@@ -161,7 +181,7 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
-      - uses: dtolnay/rust-toolchain@stable
+      - uses: dtolnay/rust-toolchain@1.98.1
         with:
           components: rustfmt
       - run: cargo fmt --all -- --check

Cargo.lock

@@ -221,7 +221,7 @@ version = "1.1.5"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "40c48f72fd53cd289104fc64099abca73db4166ad86ea0b4341abe65af83dadc"
 dependencies = [
- "windows-sys 0.61.2",
+ "windows-sys 0.60.2",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -232,7 +232,7 @@ checksum = "291e6a250ff86cd4a820112fb8898808a366d8f9f58ce16d1f538353ad55747d"
 dependencies = [
  "anstyle",
  "once_cell_polyfill",
- "windows-sys 0.61.2",
+ "windows-sys 0.60.2",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -2507,7 +2507,7 @@ source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "39cab71617ae0d63f51a36d69f866391735b51691dbda63cf6f96d042b63efeb"
 dependencies = [
  "libc",
- "windows-sys 0.61.2",
+ "windows-sys 0.52.0",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -3824,7 +3824,7 @@ version = "0.50.3"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "7957b9740744892f114936ab4a57b3f487491bbeafaf8083688b16841a4240e5"
 dependencies = [
- "windows-sys 0.61.2",
+ "windows-sys 0.59.0",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -4818,7 +4818,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "errno",
  "libc",
  "linux-raw-sys 0.12.1",
- "windows-sys 0.61.2",
+ "windows-sys 0.52.0",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -5116,7 +5116,7 @@ source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "3a766e1110788c36f4fa1c2b71b387a7815aa65f88ce0229841826633d93723e"
 dependencies = [
  "libc",
- "windows-sys 0.61.2",
+ "windows-sys 0.60.2",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -5197,7 +5197,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "colored",
  "image",
  "indicatif",
- "sylpheed-formats 0.1.0",
+ "sylpheed-formats",
  "texpresso",
  "tokio",
  "tracing",
@@ -5213,7 +5213,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "image",
  "serde",
  "serde_json",
- "sylpheed-formats 0.1.0 (git+https://git.mc02.dev/fabi/Sylpheed.git?tag=formats-pin-2026-09-01)",
+ "sylpheed-formats",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -5234,25 +5234,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "xdvdfs",
 ]
 
-[[package]]
-name = "sylpheed-formats"
-version = "0.1.0"
-source = "git+https://git.mc02.dev/fabi/Sylpheed.git?tag=formats-pin-2026-09-01#1cd5b8b1cb1f02eefc0865e1a1fe280e44831c9d"
-dependencies = [
- "anyhow",
- "binrw",
- "flate2",
- "futures",
- "rayon",
- "serde",
- "serde_json",
- "thiserror 2.0.18",
- "tokio",
- "tracing",
- "ttf-parser 0.24.1",
- "xdvdfs",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "sylpheed-ppc"
 version = "0.1.0"
@@ -5276,7 +5257,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "image",
  "rfd",
  "rodio",
- "sylpheed-formats 0.1.0",
+ "sylpheed-formats",
  "thiserror 2.0.18",
  "tracing",
  "tracing-subscriber",
@@ -5417,7 +5398,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "getrandom 0.3.4",
  "once_cell",
  "rustix 1.1.4",
- "windows-sys 0.61.2",
+ "windows-sys 0.52.0",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -5776,7 +5757,7 @@ checksum = "f2f6fb2847f6742cd76af783a2a2c49e9375d0a111c7bef6f71cd9e738c72d6e"
 dependencies = [
  "memoffset",
  "tempfile",
- "windows-sys 0.61.2",
+ "windows-sys 0.60.2",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -6294,7 +6275,7 @@ version = "0.1.11"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "c2a7b1c03c876122aa43f3020e6c3c3ee5c05081c9a00739faf7503aeba10d22"
 dependencies = [
- "windows-sys 0.61.2",
+ "windows-sys 0.48.0",
 ]
 
 [[package]]

crates/sylpheed-export/Cargo.toml

@@ -55,33 +55,19 @@ license.workspace = true
 # a squash-merge can orphan, and no way for the exporter to be built against a
 # decoder it was never tested with. A decoder change and the exporter change it
 # requires now land in the same commit or not at all.
-# PINNED BY TAG, which is what MISSION section 2 prescribes and what the tagging
-# rule exists for: "the RE agent tags when it lands something you need and tells
-# you over the message channel -- that is how you stay current without floating."
-# That is exactly what happened here.
+# ✅ UNPINNED 2026-09-20. The pin above was deliberate and carried its own exit
+# condition -- "revert to the path dependency the day the tag is an ancestor of
+# `main`" -- because while it held, `sylpheed-cli` built from the WORKSPACE crate
+# and the exporter from the tag, so `tools/port/verify-screen` compared two eras
+# instead of detecting drift. `formats-pin-2026-09-01` is now an ancestor of
+# `main` (measured), so the two read one decoder again.
 #
-# The tag carries the CORRECTED keyframe association: a placement group is an
-# 8-byte header then `frames` x {u32 time; 36-byte pose}, so pose 0's time is the
-# group's lead-in word and EVERY POSE IS TIMED, including the last. The working
-# tree's copy still has the retired `SYLPHEED_KF_TIME_SHIFT` knob -- a superseded
-# partial fix that got the association right but left pose 0 untimed, which is
-# why testing it moved the untimed frame from last to first instead of removing
-# it. The old reading is behind `SYLPHEED_KF_TIME_LEGACY=1` here.
-#
-# 🔴 THE COST, STATED: `sylpheed-cli` builds from the WORKSPACE crate, so until
-# this lands on `main` the exporter and the reference renderer read DIFFERENT
-# decoders and `tools/port/verify-screen` is comparing two eras rather than
-# detecting drift. `tools/port/verify-capture` is unaffected -- it compares the
-# port against oracle CAPTURES and never touches the CLI -- and it is the check
-# that matters. Revert to the path dependency the day the tag is an ancestor of
-# `main`.
-# Bumped c -> d 2026-08-29. What I wanted from the new state: `d` carries parser
-# and `audio.rs` changes on top of `c`. ⚠️ Its headline change -- Reborn's
-# renderer drawing `rotation_deg`, and `compose` drawing a leaf that carries
-# geometry -- does NOT reach this port from here: `sylpheed-cli` builds from the
-# WORKSPACE crate, so the reference renderer stays unrotated until the tag lands
-# on `main`. This bump is for the parser, not for the renderer.
-sylpheed-formats = { git = "https://git.mc02.dev/fabi/Sylpheed.git", tag = "formats-pin-2026-09-01" }
+# 🔴 AND THE PIN HAD A COST NOBODY PRICED IN: it made this repository depend on
+# its OWN history by tag. The issue-#49 history rewrite replaced every commit,
+# the locked rev vanished, and the build broke for every clean checkout while
+# still working on the machine that did the rewrite, because its `~/.cargo/git`
+# still held the old object (PR #60). A path dependency cannot fail that way.
+sylpheed-formats = { path = "../sylpheed-formats" }
 
 serde      = { version = "1", features = ["derive"] }
 serde_json = "1"

crates/sylpheed-export/examples/bank_chunks.rs

@@ -7,7 +7,8 @@ use std::process::Command;
 use sylpheed_formats::media;
 
 fn main() {
-    let disc = std::env::var("SYLPHEED_DISC").unwrap_or_else(|_| "/disc".into());
+    let disc =
+        std::env::var("SYLPHEED_DISC").expect("set SYLPHEED_DISC to the extracted disc root");
     let src = media::DirectorySource::new(&disc);
     for bank in ["BGM_103.slb", "BGM_102.slb", "BGM_001.slb"] {
         match media::sound_bank_riffs(&src, bank) {

crates/sylpheed-export/examples/bgm_size_census.rs

@@ -18,7 +18,8 @@
 use sylpheed_formats::media;
 
 fn main() {
-    let root = std::env::var("SYLPHEED_DISC").unwrap_or_else(|_| "/disc".into());
+    let root =
+        std::env::var("SYLPHEED_DISC").expect("set SYLPHEED_DISC to the extracted disc root");
     let src = media::DirectorySource::new(&root);
     const WANT: [usize; 2] = [3_876_864, 3_930_112];
     let (mut found, mut matches) = (0usize, Vec::new());

crates/sylpheed-export/examples/dialog_pairs.rs

@@ -20,7 +20,8 @@ use std::collections::BTreeSet;
 use sylpheed_formats::{pak, ratc, ui_layout};
 
 fn main() {
-    let root = std::env::var("SYLPHEED_DISC").unwrap_or_else(|_| "/disc".into());
+    let root =
+        std::env::var("SYLPHEED_DISC").expect("set SYLPHEED_DISC to the extracted disc root");
     let ar = pak::PakArchive::open(format!("{root}/dat/GP_DIALOG.pak")).expect("GP_DIALOG.pak");
     let sets: Vec<Option<BTreeSet<String>>> = ar
         .entries()

crates/sylpheed-export/examples/dialog_rows.rs

@@ -17,7 +17,8 @@
 use sylpheed_formats::{pak, ratc, ui_layout};
 
 fn main() {
-    let root = std::env::var("SYLPHEED_DISC").unwrap_or_else(|_| "/disc".into());
+    let root =
+        std::env::var("SYLPHEED_DISC").expect("set SYLPHEED_DISC to the extracted disc root");
     // 🔴 WIDENED 2026-08-31 to every pak, to check the Decoder's rival search
     // independently. They report zero four-button builds within 6 px of
     // 259/329/399/469 anywhere on the disc, which turns "another dialog with

crates/sylpheed-export/examples/rat_leaf.rs

@@ -8,7 +8,8 @@
 use sylpheed_formats::{pak::PakArchive, ui_layout};
 
 fn main() {
-    let disc = std::env::var("SYLPHEED_DISC").unwrap_or_else(|_| "/disc".into());
+    let disc =
+        std::env::var("SYLPHEED_DISC").expect("set SYLPHEED_DISC to the extracted disc root");
     let ar = PakArchive::open(format!("{disc}/dat/GP_TITLE.pak")).expect("open");
     let e = &ar.entries()[4]; // entry 4 = the English title
     let bundle = ar.read(e).expect("read");

crates/sylpheed-export/examples/record_loop_control.rs

@@ -48,7 +48,8 @@ fn main() {
         .unwrap_or(8);
     unsafe { OFFSET = off };
     println!("  reading the loop length at header +0x{off:02x}");
-    let root = std::env::var("SYLPHEED_DISC").unwrap_or_else(|_| "/disc".into());
+    let root =
+        std::env::var("SYLPHEED_DISC").expect("set SYLPHEED_DISC to the extracted disc root");
     let mut paks: Vec<_> = std::fs::read_dir(format!("{root}/dat"))
         .expect("dat/")
         .flatten()

crates/sylpheed-export/examples/record_population.rs

@@ -11,7 +11,8 @@
 use sylpheed_formats::{pak, ratc, ui_layout};
 
 fn main() {
-    let root = std::env::var("SYLPHEED_DISC").unwrap_or_else(|_| "/disc".into());
+    let root =
+        std::env::var("SYLPHEED_DISC").expect("set SYLPHEED_DISC to the extracted disc root");
     let mut paks: Vec<_> = std::fs::read_dir(format!("{root}/dat"))
         .expect("dat/")
         .flatten()

crates/sylpheed-export/examples/static_with_cycle.rs

@@ -11,7 +11,8 @@
 use sylpheed_formats::{pak, ratc, ui_layout};
 
 fn main() {
-    let root = std::env::var("SYLPHEED_DISC").unwrap_or_else(|_| "/disc".into());
+    let root =
+        std::env::var("SYLPHEED_DISC").expect("set SYLPHEED_DISC to the extracted disc root");
     let ar = pak::PakArchive::open(format!("{root}/dat/GP_TITLE.pak")).expect("GP_TITLE.pak");
     let (mut total, mut hits, mut multipose) = (0usize, 0usize, 0usize);
     for (i, e) in ar.entries().iter().enumerate() {

crates/sylpheed-export/examples/voice_chunks.rs

@@ -7,7 +7,8 @@ use std::process::Command;
 use sylpheed_formats::{media, slb::VoiceLang};
 
 fn main() {
-    let disc = std::env::var("SYLPHEED_DISC").unwrap_or_else(|_| "/disc".into());
+    let disc =
+        std::env::var("SYLPHEED_DISC").expect("set SYLPHEED_DISC to the extracted disc root");
     let src = media::DirectorySource::new(&disc);
     for movie in ["ADV", "S00A", "RT01A"] {
         let Some((s, e)) = media::resolve_movie_voice_region(&src, movie, VoiceLang::English)

crates/sylpheed-formats/examples/_pbafc.rs

@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 use sylpheed_formats::{pak, ratc, ui_layout};
 fn main() {
-    let root = std::env::var("SYLPHEED_DISC").unwrap_or_else(|_| "/disc".into());
+    let root =
+        std::env::var("SYLPHEED_DISC").expect("set SYLPHEED_DISC to the extracted disc root");
     let ar = pak::PakArchive::open(format!("{root}/dat/GP_READY_ROOM.pak")).unwrap();
     for (i, e) in ar.entries().iter().enumerate() {
         let Ok(by) = ar.read(e) else { continue };

crates/sylpheed-formats/examples/correlate_capture.rs

@@ -16,8 +16,7 @@
 //! Usage:
 //!   SYLPHEED_ISO=... cargo run --release --example correlate_capture -- \
 //!       <capture.log> <Stage_SNN> <ship_id> [ref_part_substr] [--emit]
-//! e.g. SYLPHEED_ISO="/home/fabi/RE - Project Sylpheed/Project Sylpheed - Arc of
-//!      Deception (USA, Europe) (En,Ja).iso" \
+//! e.g. SYLPHEED_ISO="/path/to/Project Sylpheed - Arc of Deception (USA, Europe) (En,Ja).iso" \
 //!      cargo run --release --example correlate_capture -- \
 //!      xenia_ship_capture.log Stage_S01 e106 bdy_04 --emit
 

crates/sylpheed-formats/examples/focus_alpha_census.rs

@@ -11,7 +11,8 @@
 use sylpheed_formats::{pak, ratc, ui_layout};
 
 fn main() {
-    let root = std::env::var("SYLPHEED_DISC").unwrap_or_else(|_| "/disc".into());
+    let root =
+        std::env::var("SYLPHEED_DISC").expect("set SYLPHEED_DISC to the extracted disc root");
     let mut paks: Vec<_> = std::fs::read_dir(format!("{root}/dat"))
         .expect("dat/")
         .flatten()

crates/sylpheed-formats/examples/prm_alpha_census.rs

@@ -15,7 +15,8 @@ use std::collections::BTreeMap;
 use sylpheed_formats::{pak, ratc, ui_layout};
 
 fn main() {
-    let root = std::env::var("SYLPHEED_DISC").unwrap_or_else(|_| "/disc".into());
+    let root =
+        std::env::var("SYLPHEED_DISC").expect("set SYLPHEED_DISC to the extracted disc root");
     let mut paks: Vec<_> = std::fs::read_dir(format!("{root}/dat"))
         .expect("dat/")
         .flatten()

crates/sylpheed-formats/examples/prm_colour_census.rs

@@ -6,7 +6,8 @@
 use std::collections::BTreeMap;
 use sylpheed_formats::{pak, ratc, ui_layout};
 fn main() {
-    let root = std::env::var("SYLPHEED_DISC").unwrap_or_else(|_| "/disc".into());
+    let root =
+        std::env::var("SYLPHEED_DISC").expect("set SYLPHEED_DISC to the extracted disc root");
     let mut paks: Vec<_> = std::fs::read_dir(format!("{root}/dat"))
         .expect("dat/")
         .flatten()

crates/sylpheed-formats/examples/prm_forced_first.rs

@@ -14,7 +14,8 @@
 use sylpheed_formats::{pak, ratc, ui_layout};
 
 fn main() {
-    let root = std::env::var("SYLPHEED_DISC").unwrap_or_else(|_| "/disc".into());
+    let root =
+        std::env::var("SYLPHEED_DISC").expect("set SYLPHEED_DISC to the extracted disc root");
     let mut paks: Vec<_> = std::fs::read_dir(format!("{root}/dat"))
         .expect("dat/")
         .flatten()

crates/sylpheed-formats/examples/prm_occlusion_check.rs

@@ -33,7 +33,8 @@ fn opaque_span(el: &ui_layout::Element, thr: u32, tmax: u32) -> Vec<(f64, f64)>
 }
 
 fn main() {
-    let root = std::env::var("SYLPHEED_DISC").unwrap_or_else(|_| "/disc".into());
+    let root =
+        std::env::var("SYLPHEED_DISC").expect("set SYLPHEED_DISC to the extracted disc root");
     let mut paks: Vec<_> = std::fs::read_dir(format!("{root}/dat"))
         .expect("dat/")
         .flatten()

crates/sylpheed-formats/examples/prm_span_sensitivity.rs

@@ -58,7 +58,8 @@ fn forced(b: &ui_layout::UiBuild, el: &ui_layout::Element, tmax: u32, hold: bool
 }
 
 fn main() {
-    let root = std::env::var("SYLPHEED_DISC").unwrap_or_else(|_| "/disc".into());
+    let root =
+        std::env::var("SYLPHEED_DISC").expect("set SYLPHEED_DISC to the extracted disc root");
     let mut paks: Vec<_> = std::fs::read_dir(format!("{root}/dat"))
         .expect("dat/")
         .flatten()

crates/sylpheed-formats/examples/record_loop_length.rs

@@ -20,7 +20,8 @@ use std::collections::BTreeMap;
 use sylpheed_formats::{pak, ratc, ui_layout};
 
 fn main() {
-    let root = std::env::var("SYLPHEED_DISC").unwrap_or_else(|_| "/disc".into());
+    let root =
+        std::env::var("SYLPHEED_DISC").expect("set SYLPHEED_DISC to the extracted disc root");
     let mut paks: Vec<_> = std::fs::read_dir(format!("{root}/dat"))
         .expect("dat/")
         .flatten()

crates/sylpheed-formats/tests/ui_forced_backdrop_disc.rs

@@ -16,10 +16,8 @@ use std::path::PathBuf;
 
 use sylpheed_formats::{pak::PakArchive, ratc, ui_layout};
 
-fn disc_root() -> Option<PathBuf> {
-    let p = PathBuf::from(std::env::var("SYLPHEED_DISC").ok()?);
-    p.join("dat").is_dir().then_some(p)
-}
+mod common;
+use common::disc_root;
 
 fn build(ar: &PakArchive, i: usize) -> (Vec<u8>, ui_layout::UiBuild) {
     let by = ar.read(&ar.entries()[i]).expect("entry");

crates/sylpheed-formats/tests/ui_keyframe_record_disc.rs

@@ -26,21 +26,8 @@ use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
 
 use sylpheed_formats::{pak::PakArchive, ratc, ui_layout};
 
-fn disc_root() -> Option<PathBuf> {
-    if let Ok(p) = std::env::var("SYLPHEED_DISC") {
-        let p = PathBuf::from(p);
-        if p.join("dat").is_dir() {
-            return Some(p);
-        }
-    }
-    let default = Path::new(
-        "/home/fabi/RE - Project Sylpheed/Project Sylpheed - Arc of Deception (USA, Europe) (En,Ja)",
-    );
-    if default.join("dat").is_dir() {
-        return Some(default.to_path_buf());
-    }
-    None
-}
+mod common;
+use common::disc_root;
 
 fn for_each_build(root: &Path, mut f: impl FnMut(&str, &[u8])) {
     let mut paks: Vec<PathBuf> = std::fs::read_dir(root.join("dat"))

crates/sylpheed-formats/tests/ui_record_loop_length_disc.rs

@@ -22,10 +22,8 @@ use std::path::PathBuf;
 
 use sylpheed_formats::{pak::PakArchive, ratc, ui_layout};
 
-fn disc_root() -> Option<PathBuf> {
-    let p = PathBuf::from(std::env::var("SYLPHEED_DISC").ok()?);
-    p.join("dat").is_dir().then_some(p)
-}
+mod common;
+use common::disc_root;
 
 /// Read a nested record's declared length and its largest keyframe time.
 fn record_len_and_maxt(bundle: &[u8], off: usize, size: usize) -> Option<(i64, i64)> {

crates/sylpheed-formats/tests/ui_settle_time_disc.rs

@@ -25,15 +25,8 @@ use std::path::PathBuf;
 
 use sylpheed_formats::{pak::PakArchive, ratc, ui_layout};
 
-fn disc_root() -> Option<PathBuf> {
-    if let Ok(p) = std::env::var("SYLPHEED_DISC") {
-        let p = PathBuf::from(p);
-        if p.join("dat").is_dir() {
-            return Some(p);
-        }
-    }
-    None
-}
+mod common;
+use common::disc_root;
 
 /// The case that found the bug, asserted end to end.
 #[test]

docker/ci/run

@@ -21,23 +21,68 @@ IMAGE="${SYLPH_CI_IMAGE:-sylph-ci:local}"
 CPUS="${SYLPH_CI_CPUS:-6}"
 MEM_GB="${SYLPH_CI_MEM_GB:-7}"
 
+CARGO_VOL="${SYLPH_CI_CARGO_VOL:-sylph-ci-cargo}"
+TARGET_VOL="${SYLPH_CI_TARGET_VOL:-sylph-ci-target}"
+
+# 🔴 Docker on the dev boxes is ROOTFUL, so without `--user` every byte the build
+# writes into the bind-mounted repo is owned by root — and the user then needs
+# `sudo` to delete their own artifacts. The regen command in the workspace
+# `CLAUDE.md` writes `sylpheed.db` straight into /work, so it lands root-owned,
+# and a stray root-owned file is exactly what survived the last cleanup and had
+# to be sudo'd away.
+#
+# The catch is that the daemon creates a named volume root-owned, so a `--user`
+# container cannot write /cargo or /target at all. Take ownership once — and
+# only when it is actually wrong, because a recursive chown across a ~36 GB
+# target volume is not something to repeat on every invocation.
+RUN_UID="$(id -u)"
+RUN_GID="$(id -g)"
+
+docker volume create "$CARGO_VOL"  >/dev/null
+docker volume create "$TARGET_VOL" >/dev/null
+
+# Both volumes, not just one: they are chowned together but can drift apart if an
+# older root-owned run created only one of them.
+vol_owner="$(docker run --rm -v "$CARGO_VOL:/cargo" -v "$TARGET_VOL:/target" "$IMAGE" \
+             stat -c %u /cargo /target 2>/dev/null | sort -u | tr '\n' ' ' || echo unknown)"
+if [ "$vol_owner" != "$RUN_UID " ]; then
+  echo "docker/ci/run: chowning the cargo/target volumes to $RUN_UID:$RUN_GID (one-off)" >&2
+  docker run --rm \
+    -v "$CARGO_VOL:/cargo" -v "$TARGET_VOL:/target" \
+    "$IMAGE" chown -R "$RUN_UID:$RUN_GID" /cargo /target
+fi
+
 args=(
   --rm
   --cpus "$CPUS"
   --memory "${MEM_GB}g"
   --memory-swap "${MEM_GB}g"
   --pids-limit 2048
+  # Run as the invoking user so build output in /work is owned by them, not root.
+  --user "$RUN_UID:$RUN_GID"
   -v "$REPO:/work"
   # Named volumes, not bind mounts: the host tree keeps a 32 GB `target/` from
   # earlier host-side builds, and mixing the two produces rebuilds that look
   # like cache misses and are actually two toolchains fighting over one directory.
-  -v sylph-ci-cargo:/cargo   -e CARGO_HOME=/cargo
-  -v sylph-ci-target:/target -e CARGO_TARGET_DIR=/target
+  -v "$CARGO_VOL:/cargo"   -e CARGO_HOME=/cargo
+  -v "$TARGET_VOL:/target" -e CARGO_TARGET_DIR=/target
   -w /work
 )
 
-# The disc, read-only, when a disc-backed test or the exporter needs it.
+# The corpora, read-only, when a disc-backed test or the exporter needs them.
+#
+# All three, not just the disc: a suite whose corpus is absent self-skips and
+# still counts as passed, so mounting one of three made an in-container run look
+# like a full one while `res3d` and `iso` suites silently sat out (#16). Each is
+# mounted only when it exists, and `target/sylpheed-corpus-report.txt` says which
+# ones the run actually had.
 DISC="${SYLPHEED_DISC:-$REPO/../sylph_extract}"
 [ -d "$DISC" ] && args+=(-v "$DISC:/disc:ro" -e SYLPHEED_DISC=/disc)
 
+RES3D="${SYLPHEED_RES3D:-}"
+[ -n "$RES3D" ] && [ -d "$RES3D" ] && args+=(-v "$RES3D:/res3d:ro" -e SYLPHEED_RES3D=/res3d)
+
+ISO="${SYLPHEED_ISO:-}"
+[ -n "$ISO" ] && [ -f "$ISO" ] && args+=(-v "$ISO:/disc.iso:ro" -e SYLPHEED_ISO=/disc.iso)
+
 exec docker run "${args[@]}" "$IMAGE" "$@"

docker/decoder/bin/build-canary

@@ -10,11 +10,22 @@
 # AVAILABLE MEMORY as well as core count — a full-parallel build of this tree
 # has OOM-killed the host outright.
 #
-#   build-canary [Release|Debug]  [extra cmake --build args]
+# `Checked` is the default, and should stay it: it is what the host builds and
+# what `run-canary` picks first, so the two agree by construction. Building
+# `Release` here instead leaves a second binary that `run-canary` will not use
+# -- hours of CPU for something nothing runs. `Checked` is optimised, with
+# assertions left in.
+#
+#   build-canary [Checked|Release|Debug]  [extra cmake --build args]
 set -euo pipefail
 
-CONFIG="${1:-Release}"; shift || true
-SRC="${PROJECT_DIR:-/work}/xenia-canary"
+CONFIG="${1:-Checked}"; shift || true
+# $XENIA_SRC FIRST. In this container the Canary source is bind-mounted at
+# `/canary`, and `$PROJECT_DIR/xenia-canary` does not exist -- so the old default
+# made this script unusable here, and the documented workaround was to symlink
+# `/canary` into the repository and remember to delete it again (CONTAINER-NOTES
+# §"The toolchain is real"). The launcher already exports the right path; read it.
+SRC="${XENIA_SRC:-${PROJECT_DIR:-/work}/xenia-canary}"
 BUILD="${XENIA_BUILD_DIR:-/sylph-home/re/canary-build}"
 JOBS="${SYLPH_JOBS:-2}"
 

docker/decoder/bin/run-canary

@@ -48,14 +48,25 @@ fi
 PROJECT_DIR="${PROJECT_DIR:-/work}"
 
 # ── Binary ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+# `Checked` FIRST. All three configurations can be built, but `Checked` is the
+# one this project actually builds, so it is the one carrying our
+# instrumentation; the `Release/` and `Debug/` binaries beside it are months-old
+# leftovers that still run and still boot the game, which is exactly what makes
+# them dangerous -- a probe run against one reports zero hits and reads as a
+# finding about the game. Measured on this box 2026-09-21: `Checked` has
+# `audit_61_branch_probe_pcs`, `Release` (Aug 28) and `Debug` (Jul 19) do not.
 pick_bin() {
   [ -n "${XENIA_BIN:-}" ] && { echo "$XENIA_BIN"; return; }
-  for c in \
-      "${XENIA_BUILD_DIR:-/sylph-home/re/canary-build}/bin/Linux/Release/xenia_canary" \
-      "${XENIA_BUILD_DIR:-/sylph-home/re/canary-build}/bin/Linux/Debug/xenia_canary" \
-      "$PROJECT_DIR/xenia-canary/build/bin/Linux/Release/xenia_canary" \
-      "$PROJECT_DIR/xenia-canary/build/bin/Linux/Debug/xenia_canary"; do
-    [ -x "$c" ] && { echo "$c"; return; }
+  # Configuration is the OUTER loop, location the inner one: a `Checked` build
+  # anywhere beats a `Release` build anywhere. The other order picks a stale
+  # container `Release` over a fresh instrumented repo `Checked`, which is the
+  # exact mistake this is here to stop.
+  for cfg in Checked Release Debug; do
+    for c in \
+        "${XENIA_BUILD_DIR:-/sylph-home/re/canary-build}/bin/Linux/$cfg/xenia_canary" \
+        "$PROJECT_DIR/xenia-canary/build/bin/Linux/$cfg/xenia_canary"; do
+      [ -x "$c" ] && { echo "$c"; return; }
+    done
   done
 }
 BIN="$(pick_bin)"
@@ -64,6 +75,13 @@ if [ -z "${BIN:-}" ]; then
   exit 1
 fi
 
+# Say what is in the binary before the run, not after reading an empty log.
+# A missing probe is a build that predates it, never a quiet game.
+for sym in audit_61_branch_probe_pcs RE-DRAW; do
+  grep -aqm1 -- "$sym" "$BIN" \
+    || echo "run-canary: ⚠ $BIN has NO '$sym' -- it predates that instrumentation. Rebuild with: build-canary" >&2
+done
+
 # ── ISO ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 ISO="${SYLPH_ISO:-}"
 if [ -z "$ISO" ]; then

docker/decoder/sylph-decoder

@@ -122,11 +122,28 @@ docker_args() {
     # (file offset = VA - 0x82000000), which removes the need to boot the
     # emulator and scrape /dev/shm to get at it. An earlier belief that this
     # file was STALE was tested and refuted -- it is current.
-    -v "${SYLPH_XENIA_RS:-$PROJECT/xenia-rs}:/xenia-rs:ro"
     -v "${SYLPH_PE:-$PROJECT/Project Sylpheed - Arc of Deception (USA, Europe) (En,Ja).pe}:/image/sylpheed.pe:ro"
-    -e "SYLPHEED_DB=/xenia-rs/sylpheed.db"
+    # 🔴 THE DISASSEMBLY DATABASE. This used to be read from the xenia-rs clone
+    # (`SYLPHEED_DB=/xenia-rs/sylpheed.db`). That repo is retired, its directory
+    # is gone, and the mount that served it was removed -- so the variable named
+    # a path that did not exist and `zq.py` had nothing to open. The database now
+    # lives beside the repo as a build artefact; mounted at the container's repo
+    # root, which is where `zq.py` looks when `$SYLPHEED_DB` is unset.
+    #
+    # Read-only on purpose: the host owns it, DuckDB takes an exclusive lock to
+    # write, and two agents plus the human sharing one file would corrupt it.
+    # Regenerating means writing elsewhere and pointing `$SYLPHEED_DB` at it.
     -e "SYLPHEED_PE=/image/sylpheed.pe"
     -e "SYLPHEED_IMAGE_BASE=0x82000000"
+    # 🔴 EVIDENCE IS SHARED, NOT COMMITTED (issue #49). Each agent works in its
+    # OWN clone, so a gitignored capture written in one container is invisible to
+    # the other and to the human -- git used to be the transport and no longer is.
+    # One host directory, bind-mounted into both agents, is: all three see the
+    # same files live, every `docs/re/captures/...` citation resolves everywhere,
+    # and nothing can reach git history. Read-write on purpose -- showing each
+    # other a screenshot is the point.
+    -v "${SYLPH_CAPTURES:-$PROJECT/Sylpheed/docs/re/captures}:/work/docs/re/captures"
+
     # The shared exchange: transient files with provenance, outside git history.
     -v "sylpheed-exchange:/exchange"
     -e "PROJECT_DIR=/work"
@@ -268,6 +285,20 @@ docker_args() {
     echo "==> NOTE: no ISO at $_iso -- Canary has nothing to boot." >&2
   fi
 
+  # The disassembly database. `zq.py` looks at the repo root when $SYLPHEED_DB
+  # is unset, so mounting it there needs no environment variable at all -- which
+  # is what the dead `/xenia-rs/sylpheed.db` variable taught: a path in an env
+  # var and a path in a mount drift apart silently.
+  _db="${SYLPH_DB:-$PROJECT/Sylpheed/sylpheed.db}"
+  if [ -f "$_db" ]; then
+    _out+=(-v "$_db:/work/sylpheed.db:ro")
+  else
+    echo "==> NOTE: no sylpheed.db at $_db -- /sylph-dis and zq.py cannot run." >&2
+    echo "    build one:  cargo run --release -p sylpheed-xexdb --bin sylph-xexdb -- \\" >&2
+    echo "                  dis \"\$SYLPH_ISO\" --db sylpheed.db --analyze sql --quiet" >&2
+    echo "    then re-apply the RE names with tools/apply_re_symbols.sql" >&2
+  fi
+
   # ── GPU ──
   # Three distinct cases, and conflating them is how you end up believing you
   # have hardware Vulkan while actually running llvmpipe:

docker/port/sylph-port

@@ -67,6 +67,14 @@ docker_args() {
     -v "sylpheed-port-claude:/sylph-home/port/.claude"
     -v "${SYLPH_CLAUDE_HOME:-$HOME/.claude}:/sylph-home/port/.claude.seed:ro"
     -v "${SYLPH_CLAUDE_JSON:-$HOME/.claude.json}:/sylph-home/port/.claude.host.json:ro"
+    # 🔴 EVIDENCE IS SHARED, NOT COMMITTED (issue #49). Each agent works in its
+    # OWN clone, so a gitignored capture written in one container is invisible to
+    # the other and to the human -- git used to be the transport and no longer is.
+    # One host directory, bind-mounted into both agents, is: all three see the
+    # same files live, every `docs/re/captures/...` citation resolves everywhere,
+    # and nothing can reach git history. Read-write on purpose -- showing each
+    # other a screenshot is the point.
+    -v "${SYLPH_CAPTURES:-$WORKSPACE/Sylpheed/docs/re/captures}:/work/docs/re/captures"
     -v "sylpheed-exchange:/exchange"
     -e "PROJECT_DIR=/work"
     # Same guardrail as the decoder, added the same day and for its reason: the

docs/agents/CONSOLIDATION.md

@@ -1,3 +1,27 @@
+# ✅ CLOSED 2026-09-20 — every phase done, and the two human decisions taken
+
+Nothing on this page is outstanding. It is kept as the record of how the two-repo
+layout was reached; **where it describes the repository's present state it is
+now out of date on purpose**, and the notes below say how.
+
+| the page says | what is true now |
+|---|---|
+| "**Still open, for the human**: the history fork" | **Taken: full purge.** `git filter-repo` stripped 182 assets from every commit; force-pushed 2026-09-19. `main` `2a93be99` → `e16556dc`, `.git` **217 MB → 114 MB**, **0** assets anywhere in history, verified from an independent fresh clone. Backups + runbook: `~/sylph-repo-backup-2026-09-19/` |
+| "`docs/re/captures/` is 118 MB of game screenshots inside a public repository" | **Decided (#49): no game assets in the repos.** Captures live on disk, gitignored, shared between the host and both agents by bind mount; derived measurements (csv/tsv/txt/log/json/npy) stay tracked. PR #59 |
+| "all six repos are `private=False`" | Still true, and now deliberate — there is nothing game-derived in them |
+| "`ai-agent-*.md`, `scratch/`, `_voice_span.rs` — keep or drop" | `scratch/` and `_voice_span.rs` dropped in the 2026-09-18 cleanup; the `ai-agent-*.md` files are the human's and stay |
+| the four archived repos | unchanged: `Sylpheed-Godot`, `xenia-rs`, `xex2tractor` archived read-only, `Syplheed-Reborn` deleted. ⚠️ Their local clones are **gone from this machine** too, and `sylph-decoder` no longer mounts `xenia-rs` |
+
+🔴 **The one thing this page got right and nobody acted on.** It named
+`crates/sylpheed-export`'s dependency on **this repository by tag** as the hard
+blocker for a rewrite. It was not re-checked before the purge, the locked rev
+vanished, and the build broke for every clean checkout while still working on the
+machine that did the rewrite — its `~/.cargo/git` still held the old object.
+Fixed in PR #60 (re-lock) and PR #61 (path dependency, which removes the class).
+**Before any future history rewrite, grep for a dependency on the repo's own URL.**
+
+---
+
 # Consolidating six repositories into two
 
 **Set by the human, 2026-09-13.** The end state is **two** repositories:

docs/agents/CONTAINER-NOTES.md

@@ -12,13 +12,20 @@ already went wrong once.
 * **The toolchain is real.** `tools/re-capture/rebuild_canary.sh` exists because
   the old box had no cmake/ninja/clang and only runtime sonames, so it hand-
   relinked object files. **Do not use it here.** Use `build-canary`.
-  🔴 **But `build-canary` does not work in this container as it stands
+  ✅ **FIXED 2026-09-21 — `build-canary` now reads `$XENIA_SRC` first**, which the
+  launcher already sets to `/canary`, so there is no symlink to make and none to
+  forget. The two paragraphs below are kept because they are how the defect was
+  found and refuted, but **neither describes the script any more.**
+
+  🔴 ~~**`build-canary` does not work in this container as it stands
   (2026-08-29).** It builds `${PROJECT_DIR:-/work}/xenia-canary`, which **does
   not exist here** — the Canary source is at **`/canary`** (`$XENIA_SRC`). The
   warm 235 MB tree at `/sylph-home/re/canary-build` is configured with
   `CMAKE_HOME_DIRECTORY=/work/xenia-canary`, also missing, and its
   `build-Release.ninja` carries **no per-file rules** — it wants to re-run CMake
-  first, which would fail on the absent source root.
+  first, which would fail on the absent source root.~~ The warm tree is gone too:
+  every `sylph-*` volume was removed in the 2026-09-18 cleanup, so the next build
+  configures from scratch against `/canary` and caches the right source root.
 
   ✅ **The conclusion drawn from all that is REFUTED (2026-08-31).** The note went
   on to say *"any Canary change is a full reconfigure against `/canary` plus a full
@@ -38,9 +45,10 @@ already went wrong once.
   warm 235 MB tree is otherwise intact and the ninja re-run resolves its rules
   from the symlink.
 
-  ⚠️ **Remove the symlink when you are done.** `/work` is the repository, and
-  `xenia-canary` is not in `.gitignore`, so it shows up as untracked and can be
-  swept into a `git add -A`.
+  ⚠️ ~~**Remove the symlink when you are done.**~~ No longer needed — but if you
+  ever make one by hand, note that `/work` is the repository and `xenia-canary`
+  is not in `.gitignore`, so it shows up as untracked and can be swept into a
+  `git add -A`.
 * **numpy and Pillow are installed.** `entities2.py`, `flight_probe.py` and the
   image oracles work. Their absence used to look like a logic bug.
 

docs/agents/CONTAINERS-AND-AGENTS.md

@@ -88,6 +88,42 @@ sylph-agent-canary-build                         the warm 235 MB Canary build tr
 sylpheed-exchange                                agent -> agent files, read-only in
 ```
 
+**Plus one bind mount, which is not a volume on purpose** — the host's
+`Sylpheed/docs/re/captures/`, mounted read-write into both agents at
+`/work/docs/re/captures`:
+
+```
+-v "${SYLPH_CAPTURES:-<workspace>/Sylpheed/docs/re/captures}:/work/docs/re/captures"
+```
+
+🔴 **Why it has to exist.** Each agent works in its OWN clone, so before issue
+#49 the transport for evidence was *git*: commit the screenshot, the other agent
+pulls it. #49 removed that — captures are gitignored now — and without a
+replacement a capture written in one container is invisible to the other agent,
+to the human, and to `check-capture-citations`, which would call every citation
+dangling. One host directory shared by all three restores it: the same file is
+live everywhere, every `docs/re/captures/...` citation resolves, and nothing can
+reach git history. Read-write on both, because showing each other a screenshot
+is the point.
+
+Verified rather than assumed: container A wrote a `.png` there, a **separate**
+container B read it back, the host saw it, and `git status` reported **0**
+changes.
+
+⚠️ **Evidence that must cross MACHINES still cannot go this way** — a bare clone
+on the other desktop has no captures at all. Attach it to the issue or PR; that
+is the only channel that travels.
+
+⚠️ **The agent volumes were all deleted in the 2026-09-18 cleanup** and Docker
+recreates them empty on next launch. Nothing was lost — both agent clones were
+verified clean with nothing unpushed, and the exchange held only spent artefacts.
+One side effect is welcome: the empty `*-claude` volumes mean the next launch
+starts a **fresh** session, which is the documented workaround for the
+"resumes the old brief" defect below.
+
+⚠️ **`sylph-decoder` used to mount `xenia-rs` read-only. That repo is retired and
+the directory is gone**, so the mount pointed at nothing; removed.
+
 **Credentials** — three files on the host, `chmod 600`, mounted read-only:
 
 ```

docs/agents/HANDOFF-2026-09-06.md

@@ -395,3 +395,15 @@ non-test code does not use tokio, so moving it to `dev-dependencies` is sound an
 the `examples/` targets keep compiling. **Claim survives** — recorded because a
 survived challenge is stronger than an unchallenged one, not because it changed
 anything.
+
+---
+
+## Superseded in part — see `HANDOFF-2026-09-18.md`
+
+Two things in this document have since stopped being true:
+
+* **A plain `git clone` works again** (measured 2026-09-17: 56 s, 114 MB, `main` plus tags). The
+  `--filter=blob:none` advice above was about the branch that carried 545 MB of game-content history,
+  and that branch was deleted in the consolidation cleanup.
+* The baseline numbers quoted here are two baselines old. The current one, with all three corpora
+  present, is in `CLAUDE.md` and in `HANDOFF-2026-09-18.md`.

docs/agents/HANDOFF-2026-09-18.md

@@ -0,0 +1,108 @@
+# Hand-off — 2026-09-18, from the second desktop back to the original machine
+
+Written for whoever resumes on `fabi-Hyrican-PC`. It covers what changed between 2026-09-16 and
+2026-09-18 on `fabi-MS-7C37`, what is on the server, and what cannot travel through git.
+
+Method and rules are unchanged: `docs/agents/PROTOCOL.md`. The cold-start doc is still
+`docs/agents/HANDOFF-2026-09-06.md`, with the corrections at the end of this file.
+
+## Where the work stands
+
+| | |
+|---|---|
+| `main` | `e732557` |
+| baseline, all three corpora present, measured 2026-09-17 in `docker/ci/run` | **45 suites / 377 passed / 0 failed / 14 ignored** |
+| open PRs | **#53** (closes #16), **#54** (closes #15) — both `state/needs-human`, neither merged |
+| open issues | #3, #4 (F2 audio gains) · #6, #7 (re-propose the port work) · #9, #25 (F6 residue) · #28 (input) · #49, #50 (decisions) · #51 (loop briefs) · #52 (kanji-only strings) |
+| fork | issue **#1** — the branch probe exists only on `auto/canary-instrumentation-snapshot-2026-07-28` |
+
+Branches on `fabi/Sylpheed`: `main`, `fix/corpus-mounts-and-paths` (#53), `fix/ci-pin-toolchain` (#54),
+`recover/options-menu`, `recover/port-f5-f6`.
+
+## What changed since 2026-09-16
+
+**The consolidation closed.** PRs #46–#48 merged; 34 server branches deleted; about 55 GB freed
+locally. `Sylpheed` and the `Xenia-Canary` fork are the only live repos — see
+`docs/agents/CONSOLIDATION.md`.
+
+**Work from a deleted branch was recovered.** `auto/port-p6-audio` (tip `0148cb8`, 366 commits, never
+in a PR) held what issues #6 and #7 ask to re-propose. It is back as two snapshot commits parented on
+the branch's fork point `e53d687`:
+
+* `recover/port-f5-f6` — all 84 files the branch changed, i.e. `0148cb8`'s tree minus the 854 exported
+  game assets it carried. Verified to differ from the original tip by exactly those assets.
+* `recover/options-menu` — the nine files of the 2026-09-03 OPTIONS commits. A review slice, not a
+  buildable tree: the two efforts interleaved commit by commit and do not separate by file.
+
+The 366 original commits were **not** kept — reachable history must not carry game assets. They still
+exist unreferenced in the server's object store, so `0148cb8` can be fetched by SHA for as long as the
+server keeps it. Both issues carry the details.
+
+**The tracker was brought in line with reality.** #8 closed (its corpus is on `main`), #26 closed as
+obsolete (the container tooling is parked for a from-scratch redo and still names the archived
+`Syplheed-Reborn`), stale `state/*` labels dropped from closed issues, and four decisions that had been
+living in session notes were filed: #49 (screenshots in public repos), #50 (require CI before merge),
+#51 (loop briefs, from sylph-pi's note on #38), #52 (kanji-only Shift_JIS strings).
+
+**The corpus control got honest** (#53): one `disc_root()`, no machine-specific fallbacks, and
+`docker/ci/run` mounts `$SYLPHEED_RES3D` and `$SYLPHEED_ISO` as well as the disc. Before that an
+in-container run silently sat out two corpora while looking like a full one.
+
+**The CI toolchain is pinned** (#54): `dtolnay/rust-toolchain@1.98.1` in all three jobs, matching the
+version `docker/ci` already pins, so a local clippy run is a true stand-in for CI.
+
+**The gated launchers are in the repo now** — `tools/run-canary-safe.sh` (Wine),
+`tools/run-canary-native-safe.sh` (native), `tools/run-canary-native.sh` (interactive, hardware Vulkan),
+plus `asound-null.conf`, `diagnose-freeze.sh`, `live-guest-state.sh`, `heaptrack-wrap.sh`. They used to
+live in the workspace root, outside git, hardcoding one machine's absolute paths. They now derive the
+workspace from their own location and honour `$SYLPHEED_ISO` and `$CANARY_BIN`. Both safe launchers were
+run from their new location before this was committed: the native one reached content in 20 s
+(`VERDICT: HEALTHY`), the Wine one ran 25 s and logged 4 `ADV.wmv` hits.
+
+## What cannot travel through git
+
+Ask the outgoing machine for these; none of them belong in a repository.
+
+| what | where it was | note |
+|---|---|---|
+| agent memory | `~/.claude/projects/-home-fabi-RE---Project-Sylpheed/memory/` | 11 files + `MEMORY.md`, ~48 KB. The project's accumulated feedback and reference notes. |
+| workspace instructions | `CLAUDE.md`, `README.md` at the workspace root | `CLAUDE.md` is what every session reads first. |
+| Claude settings, skills, agent | `.claude/` at the workspace root | `settings.json` (the Stop hooks), `settings.local.json`, `skills/sylph-dis`, `skills/sylph-canary`, `agents/sylph-static.md`. |
+| corpus paths | `Sylpheed/.env` | Three variables: `SYLPHEED_DISC`, `SYLPHEED_RES3D`, `SYLPHEED_ISO`. Rewrite for the machine rather than copy. |
+| game data | the ISO, the extract, the flat `.pe`, the `.xex.json`, `sylph_extract` → the extract | Never in git. |
+| the Gitea token | `~/.sylph-gitea-token`, chmod 600 | Prefer minting a fresh one on the other machine to moving it. |
+| Canary builds | `xenia-canary/build-cross/…/Debug` (Wine, 190 MB) and `xenia-canary-native/build` | **The Wine build is the only binary that accepts `--audit_61_branch_probe_pcs`** — see fork #1. Rebuilding from `sylpheed-re` loses the probe. |
+| official Canary oracles | `~/xenia_canary_windows/xenia_canary.exe` (`b86414957`), `~/Downloads/xenia_canary_linux/xenia_canary` (`de10b9ef9`) | The builds the game was played on; use them to bisect a regression in the fork. |
+
+Rebuildable, do not copy: `sylpheed.db` (~2.5 min, command in `CLAUDE.md`), `target/`, the
+`sylph-ci:local` image and its volumes, `.trunk-bin`.
+
+## Traps this machine paid for
+
+* **The branch probe is not on the fork's default branch.** `run-canary-safe.sh` and the `/sylph-canary`
+  skill pass `--audit_61_branch_probe_pcs`, defined only on `auto/canary-instrumentation-snapshot-2026-07-28`
+  (`30d05ee97`). `sylpheed-re` is 232 commits ahead of that branch, so porting it is a cherry-pick with
+  a build check, not a merge. Fork issue #1.
+* **One suite dominates the test wall time.** `twin_pairs_do_not_share_a_buffer` takes ~19 of the ~36
+  minutes. Budget for it; it is not a hang.
+* **Nothing requires CI to pass before a merge** (#50), and CI has no disc, so its green is parser-only.
+* **The tally cannot tell you what it verified.** Read `target/sylpheed-corpus-report.txt` (#16).
+* `git gc` on this machine will eventually drop the unreferenced `0148cb8`; the server keeps its own
+  copy independently.
+
+## First moves on the other machine
+
+1. Clone, set `.env`, then `docker build -t sylph-ci:local docker/ci` (~6 min) and re-run the baseline
+   through `docker/ci/run` with all three corpora. Compare against 45 / 377 / 0 / 14.
+2. Review #53 and #54 — both were measured here, neither was merged, because merging is the human's.
+3. Answer #49 and #50; both block nothing technically and both shape what comes next.
+4. If dynamic RE is next, resolve fork #1 before rebuilding Canary, or carry the Wine build across.
+
+## Corrections to `HANDOFF-2026-09-06.md`
+
+* **§ "clone" — a plain `git clone` works again.** Measured 2026-09-17: 56 s, 114 MB, `main` plus tags.
+  The `--filter=blob:none` advice was for the branch carrying 545 MB of game-content history, which was
+  deleted in the consolidation cleanup.
+* The `~/.sylph-*` agent credentials and the agent images it describes exist on the original machine
+  only; the second desktop never had them, and the agent and container tooling is parked for a
+  from-scratch redo.

docs/agents/PROTOCOL.md

@@ -129,10 +129,18 @@ exchange volume carries the working artefacts.
 | kind | where | why |
 |---|---|---|
 | code, decoded knowledge | **git** | history, review, permanence |
-| evidence cited by a finding | **git** | it is the proof |
+| evidence cited by a finding — a screenshot, a frame, a savegame | **`docs/re/captures/`, present but NEVER committed** | it is the proof, but it is game content. The directory is gitignored and shared between the host and both agents, so all three see the same file; `tools/re/check-capture-citations` fails if a citation has no file, and fails again if an asset is tracked |
+| a measurement you derived — csv, tsv, txt, log, json | **git** | our own numbers, not game content, and most findings rest on them |
+| evidence that must cross machines | **attached to the issue or PR** | captures are local-only now, so a bare clone has none of them. Attaching is the only channel that reaches the other desktop or a reviewer |
 | **evidence a human must look at** — the screenshot or film behind a `state/needs-human` item | **attached to that issue** | it travels *with* the item, a person sees it in a browser, and it cannot be orphaned from the claim it supports |
 | exploratory captures, work in progress, "look at this" | **`share`** → `/exchange` | no history; would bloat the repo forever |
 
+⚠️ **This table's first row used to say "git", and that is how 76 MB of
+screenshots accumulated** — directly above the rule forbidding exactly that. The
+two contradicted each other for months and the table won, because it was the one
+that told you what to *do*. Issue #49 settled it and the history was rewritten;
+if you find yourself reaching for `git add -f` on a capture, the answer is no.
+
 🔴 **Never commit game content.** Not sprites, not audio, not transcoded video,
 not a capture of the running game — under *any* directory name. On 2026-09-04
 this rule was live, and freshly tightened, while **545 MB of extracted disc

docs/agents/decoder-loop.md

@@ -56,11 +56,28 @@ rather than left in a document you might not reach.
 | path | what | env |
 |---|---|---|
 | `/image/sylpheed.pe` | the decompressed executable image | `SYLPHEED_PE` |
-| `/xenia-rs/sylpheed.db` | a disassembly database, 586 MB | `SYLPHEED_DB` |
+| `sylpheed.db` at the repo root | the disassembly database, 337 MB | — (`zq.py` finds it; `$SYLPHEED_DB` only to override) |
+| `/canary/build/bin/Linux/Checked/xenia_canary` | the built oracle, inside the `/canary` mount | — |
 | `/disc` | the extracted disc | `SYLPHEED_DISC` |
 | `/iso/game.iso` | the retail ISO Canary boots | `SYLPH_ISO` |
 | `/canary` | the Canary source, read-write | `XENIA_SRC` |
 
+⚠️ **The database is read-only and is NOT in git** — it is a build artefact, and
+`docs/re/captures/` is the same (issue #49). If either is missing the launcher
+says so and prints the command that builds it. Query the database with
+`python3 tools/zq.py …`, never by reading a disassembly dump.
+
+⚠️ **Take the oracle from `Checked/`, not `Release/`.** `Checked` is what this
+tree actually builds (optimised, with assertions); the `Release/` binary beside
+it is a stale August build with no `audit_61` probe in it. `strings` on the two
+is how that was found, and is how to check any binary before quoting a run from
+it.
+
+The `Checked` build carries all three instrumentations — `RE-INPUT`, `RE-DRAW`
+and the `audit_61` guest-PC branch probe (fork PR #2 brought the probe onto
+`sylpheed-re`; before it, the probe lived only on `phase-a-tracing`). Verified
+by `strings` on the binary, not assumed.
+
 **The `.pe` is a flat VA dump**: file offset = `VA - 0x82000000`. Reading
 `0x820A1630` is `seek(0xA1630)`. No XEX decrypt, no LZX, **no booted emulator** —
 dumping guest memory works but makes the whole static corpus depend on a running

docs/re/INDEX.md

@@ -5,7 +5,8 @@ Confidence: ✅ `CONFIRMED` · 🟡 `PROBABLE` · ❔ `HYPOTHESIS`. See [README]
 Also durable, and worth reading before proposing anything:
 [`REFUTED.md`](REFUTED.md) — what has already been tested and died ·
 [`METHOD.md`](METHOD.md) — the traps this corpus has already paid for ·
-[`BACKLOG.md`](BACKLOG.md) — what is still open.
+[`BACKLOG.md`](BACKLOG.md) — what is still open ·
+[`disc-contents.md`](disc-contents.md) — what files the disc actually holds, and where.
 
 Formats we've already reversed are, for now, **documented by their parser + disc round-trip
 tests** (the executable spec) rather than a prose file — the "Spec" column points there.
@@ -72,6 +73,7 @@ files, which is how the same ground got covered twice.
 | [`autopilot-memory-driven.md`](autopilot-memory-driven.md) | Memory-driven autopilot — build log and current state | 🟢 IT FLIES, KILLS AND SURVIVES — but it loses the mission anyway. |
 | [`canary-scripted-input-traps.md`](canary-scripted-input-traps.md) | Getting past the title screen in the container — three traps and one blocker |  ✅ CONFIRMED for the three traps (each reproduced, and two of them |
 | [`challenge-mission-gate.md`](challenge-mission-gate.md) | Challenge / EX missions — the stage set, the GamePart graph, and the kind field |  ✅ for the static structure (stage set, GamePart ids, the config-section |
+| [`disc-contents.md`](disc-contents.md) | What is actually on the disc, and where | ✅ CONFIRMED — layout, counts and `media_id` re-measured against the retail extract 2026-09-18; `resource3d/` is in `hidden/`, not `dat/` |
 | [`dynamic-re-state-restore.md`](dynamic-re-state-restore.md) | The container's dynamic-RE state is not durable — how to rebuild it | ✅ CONFIRMED by rebuilding it (2026-08-23). Everything the dynamic |
 | [`flight-controls-runtime.md`](flight-controls-runtime.md) | In-flight control mapping — measured, not assumed |  ✅ for the weapon bindings (ammo counters move), 🟡 for the rest (HUD |
 | [`flight-speed-law.md`](flight-speed-law.md) | The throttle is a TARGET-SPEED selector — measured against the definition (2026-08-13) | ✅ for the shape of the law, 🟡 for the unit scale. |

docs/re/README.md

@@ -18,6 +18,22 @@ A wrong-but-confident note is worse than no note: someone builds on it and the b
 for weeks. Every entry therefore carries an explicit **confidence** and its **evidence**.
 This mirrors the project method — *measure the oracle, never infer; refute before believing.*
 
+### Captures are local-only (issue #49)
+
+The repository carries **code, tooling and docs**. Screenshots and savegame
+blobs are game-derived, so since 2026-09-19 they live in `docs/re/captures/`
+on disk and are **gitignored** — the pages' relative links still resolve on a
+machine that has them, and nothing ships.
+
+Derived measurements (`csv`, `tsv`, `txt`, `log`, `json`, `jsonl`, `npy`) are
+our own numbers rather than game content, and stay tracked — they are what most
+claims here actually rest on.
+
+`tools/re/check-capture-citations` enforces both halves: a cited capture must be
+**present**, and a game asset must **not be tracked**. ⚠️ A fresh clone has no
+captures, so its citations will not resolve until the captures are copied in;
+that is expected, and the checker is a local gate rather than a CI one.
+
 ### Clean-room firewall
 
 - ✅ Allowed: behaviour descriptions, field offsets/types, formulas, state machines,

docs/re/captures/.gitignore

@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+# Game-derived assets stay on disk and ship nowhere (issue #49).
+#
+# The pages' relative links still resolve on a machine that has the captures,
+# so the evidence stays followable where it exists — it is simply not committed.
+# `tools/re/check-capture-citations` enforces both halves: a cited capture must
+# be PRESENT here, and an asset must NOT be tracked.
+#
+# Derived measurements (csv, tsv, txt, log, json, jsonl, npy) are our own
+# numbers rather than game content, and remain tracked.
+*.png
+*.jpg
+*.jpeg
+*.bin

docs/re/disc-contents.md

@@ -0,0 +1,104 @@
+# What is actually on the disc, and where
+
+**Status:** ✅ `CONFIRMED` for the layout and the counts — every figure below was
+re-measured against the retail extract on 2026-09-18, not copied from the source
+document. ✅ `CONFIRMED` for `media_id`, read from the XEX header.
+
+This page exists because the corpus never had one: it documents formats in depth
+(see [INDEX](INDEX.md)) but nowhere said **what files the disc holds and where they sit**.
+It is adopted from a pre-RE-era `GAME_CONTENTS.md` that lived homeless in the workspace
+root through the repository consolidation. **Only the measured parts were carried over** —
+see [What was dropped](#what-was-dropped-and-why) at the end, which matters more than the
+rest of the page.
+
+Extracted from the XISO image with [extract-xiso](https://github.com/XboxDev/extract-xiso).
+
+---
+
+## Identity
+
+| Field | Value | Source |
+|---|---|---|
+| `media_id` | `0x2D2E2EEB` | XEX `execution_info`, via `.xex.json` |
+| `title_id` | `0x53512D14` (`"SQ"` + `0x2D14`) | XEX `execution_info` |
+| `disc_number` / `disc_count` | 1 / 1 | XEX `execution_info` |
+
+---
+
+## Top-level layout
+
+```
+<extract root>/
+├── default.xex        ← the game executable (XEX2, PowerPC BE)
+├── config.ini         ← language table (Shift-JIS comments)
+├── $SystemUpdate/     ← su20076000_00000000 (dashboard update, not game data)
+├── dat/               ← 71 entries
+└── hidden/            ← 5 entries
+```
+
+⚠️ **`resource3d/` is in `hidden/`, not in `dat/`.** So are `DefTables` and `MiscBin`.
+The source document placed all three under `dat/`; that is wrong, and it is the reason
+this page re-measured rather than transcribed. `SYLPHEED_RES3D` points at
+`hidden/resource3d` for exactly this reason.
+
+### `dat/` — 71 entries
+
+| Group | Count | Note |
+|---|---|---|
+| `*.pak` + `*.p00` pairs | 33 + 33 | the IPFB archives — format ✅ decoded, see [INDEX](INDEX.md) |
+| `sound.pak` + `sound.p00`–`.p04` | 6 | one archive whose payload is split across five chunks |
+| `movie/` | 109 entries | |
+
+`dat/movie/` holds **97 `.wmv`** files plus **six language packs** as `.pak`/`.p00`
+pairs (`deu eng esp fra ita jpn`). ⚠️ Those packs carry **subtitles and fonts, not voice** —
+all voice and SFX live in `sound.pak`. That trap is recorded separately; do not go looking
+for dialogue audio in the movie directory.
+
+### `hidden/` — 5 entries
+
+| Entry | Size | Note |
+|---|---|---|
+| `resource3d/` | 166 files | `.xpr` texture/model containers (`Base.xpr`, `BG_*.xpr`, stage and ship sets) |
+| `DefTables.pak` / `.p00` | 17 596 B / 3 058 037 B | balance and definition tables |
+| `MiscBin.pak` / `.p00` | 496 B / 22 553 238 B | |
+
+---
+
+## `config.ini`
+
+Plain-text INI, **Shift-JIS** comments (they render as mojibake in a UTF-8 reader — the
+file is not corrupt). `[SYSTEM]` is present but empty; `[LANGUAGE]` maps the Xbox 360
+locale constants onto the disc's three-letter directory names, with `eng` as the default:
+
+```ini
+[LANGUAGE]
+        = eng   ;   default
+#0x01   = eng   ;   XC_LANGUAGE_ENGLISH
+#0x02   = jpn   ;   XC_LANGUAGE_JAPANESE
+#0x03   = deu   ;   XC_LANGUAGE_GERMAN
+```
+
+Those keys are why the six-language pack naming above is what it is.
+
+---
+
+## What was dropped, and why
+
+The source document was written **before** the formats were reversed, and roughly half of
+it was speculation phrased as status. Carrying that forward would have put claims into the
+corpus that the corpus itself has already refuted — the precise failure mode
+[README](README.md) warns about ("a wrong-but-confident note is worse than no note").
+Dropped:
+
+- **A "Known File Formats" status table** marking `dat/*.pak` as *"⏳ Unknown — magic bytes
+  TBD"*, and `.XWB`/`.XSB` as *"⏳ TODO"*. The `.pak` container is ✅ decoded disc-wide.
+  [INDEX](INDEX.md) is the authority on format status; a second table would only drift.
+- **A "PAK Archive Structure (TBD)" section** guessing each archive's contents from its
+  name ("`GP_BUNK.pak` — likely barracks/crew quarters UI"). Those are guesses, and the
+  real contents are known.
+- **An "RE Entry Points" section** recommending loading `default.xex` into Ghidra to find
+  the loaders. Static analysis now goes through `sylpheed.db` (see the workspace
+  `CLAUDE.md` and `/sylph-dis`).
+
+Nothing measured was dropped. The layout, the counts, the identity fields and the language
+table are all re-verified above.

docs/re/upstream-baseline.md

@@ -19,12 +19,13 @@ The instrumented branch stops at the Stage 02 briefing under a storm of
 behind `upstream/canary_experimental` (`a5a18f5c7`); our branch carries 50 of its
 own.
 
-* **`version.h` is never generated.** The build fails on
-  `trace_writer.cc:17: fatal error: 'version.h' file not found`. Upstream's
-  `xenia-build.py` writes it from git HEAD; the container's `build-canary`
-  wrapper does not invoke it, and our tree only builds because a stale copy from
-  an old `sylpheed-re` build sits in the build directory. Regenerated by hand in
-  exactly the format that script emits.
+* ~~**`version.h` is never generated.**~~ ✅ **FIXED — `CMakeLists.txt` now
+  generates it at configure time**, calling `xenia-build.py`'s
+  `generate_version_h()` and falling back to a stub if that fails, so a
+  CMake-direct build no longer depends on a stale copy in the build directory.
+  It used to fail on `trace_writer.cc:17: fatal error: 'version.h' file not
+  found`, and the fix had to exist before the 2026-09-18 cleanup deleted the
+  build volume that was carrying that stale copy.
 * **`build-canary` reports success on a failed build.** The harness recorded
   "completed (exit code 0)" while ninja had stopped with `1 error generated`.
   Only the missing binary gave it away.

tools/asound-null.conf

@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+# ALSA config for HEADLESS Xenia-Canary boot-check runs (run-canary-native-safe.sh).
+#
+# Why: the ALSA apu driver opens PCM "default". Passing --apu=nop instead (to get
+# silence) leaves the guest's XAudio render client NULL, and Project Sylpheed then
+# dereferences null+0x3C at guest PC 0x824D7C40 -> a FALSE boot crash that does NOT
+# happen in interactive runs with real audio. So we must keep the ALSA apu ALIVE
+# (guest gets a valid client) but route its output to the null device: fully
+# silent, snd_pcm_open("default") still succeeds, no false crash.
+#
+# Point ALSA at this file via env: ALSA_CONFIG_PATH=<path>/asound-null.conf
+pcm.!default {
+    type null
+}
+ctl.!default {
+    type null
+}

tools/diagnose-freeze.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Freeze autopsy for a LIVE (hung) Xenia-Canary process.
+#
+# When the game or the emulator freezes, DO NOT kill it. Run this instead: it
+# attaches gdb to the running process and dumps a backtrace of every thread,
+# which names exactly who is stuck and on what (the guest audio callback, a
+# kernel lock, the GPU present, an XMA context lock, ...).
+#
+# The Release binary is NOT stripped, so we get real function names.
+#
+# Usage:  ./diagnose-freeze.sh [output_file]
+# Safe: read-only. gdb detaches afterwards and the process keeps running, so
+# you can dump twice and diff -- if two dumps 10s apart are identical, it is a
+# true deadlock, not slow progress.
+set -u
+
+OUT="${1:-/tmp/canary_freeze_$(date +%H%M%S).txt}"
+
+PID=$(pgrep -x xenia_canary | head -1)
+if [ -z "$PID" ]; then
+  echo "No running xenia_canary process found (is it still up? don't kill it!)."
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+command -v gdb >/dev/null || { echo "ABORT: gdb not installed."; exit 4; }
+
+echo "Attaching to xenia_canary (pid $PID) -- read-only, it keeps running."
+{
+  echo "=== xenia_canary freeze autopsy  pid=$PID  $(date) ==="
+  echo
+  echo "--- /proc/$PID/status ---"
+  grep -E "^(State|Threads)" "/proc/$PID/status" 2>/dev/null
+  echo
+  echo "--- per-thread kernel wait channel (who is blocked, cheap) ---"
+  for t in /proc/"$PID"/task/*; do
+    tid=$(basename "$t")
+    printf "  tid %-7s state=%-2s wchan=%-24s %s\n" \
+      "$tid" \
+      "$(awk '{print $3}' "$t/stat" 2>/dev/null)" \
+      "$(cat "$t/wchan" 2>/dev/null || echo '-')" \
+      "$(cat "$t/comm" 2>/dev/null)"
+  done
+  echo
+  echo "--- all thread backtraces (gdb) ---"
+} > "$OUT"
+
+gdb -p "$PID" -batch \
+    -ex "set pagination off" \
+    -ex "set confirm off" \
+    -ex "thread apply all bt" \
+    -ex "detach" 2>&1 | tee -a "$OUT" > /dev/null
+
+echo "Wrote: $OUT"
+echo
+echo "--- threads that look blocked ---"
+grep -E "^Thread |pthread_cond_wait|futex|__lll_lock|Wait|Acquire" "$OUT" | head -40
+echo
+echo "Full dump: $OUT   (run again in ~10s and diff to confirm a true deadlock)"

tools/heaptrack-wrap.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Wrapper so run-canary-native.sh runs xenia under heaptrack (host-malloc leak
+# profiler). Usage:
+#   sudo apt install heaptrack        # one-time
+#   CANARY_BIN="$PWD/tools/heaptrack-wrap.sh" tools/run-canary-native.sh
+# Then: boot -> into a menu/READY ROOM (or a short mission) so RSS climbs a few
+# hundred MB, then QUIT xenia normally (window close / menu quit) so heaptrack
+# flushes its dump. Output: /tmp/xenia-heaptrack.*.zst (or .gz). Tell Claude and
+# it will run heaptrack_print/analyze to name the leaking call stacks.
+set -u
+HERE="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)"
+WORKSPACE="$(cd "$HERE/../.." && pwd)"
+REAL_BIN="${CANARY_REAL_BIN:-$WORKSPACE/xenia-canary-native/build/bin/Linux/Release/xenia_canary}"
+exec heaptrack -o /tmp/xenia-heaptrack "$REAL_BIN" "$@"

tools/live-guest-state.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Read the GUEST state of a live (hung) xenia_canary — who is the guest spinning
+# on, and what is it waiting for.
+#
+# In JIT code the x64 backend keeps:
+#     rsi = PPCContext*      rdi = guest membase
+# (x64_emitter.cc: GetContextReg()=rsi, GetMembaseReg()=rdi)
+# PPCContext offsets (computed against this build's header):
+#     r[0..31] @ +40 (8B each)   ctr @ +296   lr @ +304
+#     thread_state @ +2704       virtual_membase @ +2712
+#
+# Needs ptrace: sudo sysctl -w kernel.yama.ptrace_scope=0   (restore with =1)
+# Read-only: gdb detaches, the process keeps running.
+#
+# Usage: ./live-guest-state.sh ["Thread Name"]   (default: Main XThread)
+set -u
+
+WANT="${1:-Main XThread}"
+PID=$(pgrep -x xenia_canary | head -1)
+[ -n "$PID" ] || { echo "no xenia_canary running"; exit 1; }
+
+if [ "$(cat /proc/sys/kernel/yama/ptrace_scope 2>/dev/null)" != "0" ]; then
+  echo "ABORT: ptrace is locked (yama ptrace_scope != 0). Run once:"
+  echo "    sudo sysctl -w kernel.yama.ptrace_scope=0"
+  exit 3
+fi
+
+RAW=$(mktemp /tmp/guest_state_XXXX.txt)
+
+gdb -p "$PID" -batch \
+  -ex "set pagination off" -ex "set confirm off" \
+  -ex "thread find $WANT" \
+  -ex "thread apply all -ascending printf \"@@TH %d %s\\n\", \$_thread, \$_gthread" \
+  2>/dev/null | grep -E "Thread .* has name|@@TH" > "$RAW"
+
+# gdb "thread find" prints e.g.:  Thread 34 has target name 'Main XThread (F...'
+GTH=$(grep -m1 "has .*name" "$RAW" | sed -E 's/.*Thread ([0-9]+) has.*/\1/')
+[ -n "$GTH" ] || { echo "could not locate a thread named '$WANT'"; cat "$RAW"; exit 4; }
+echo "gdb thread #$GTH == '$WANT'  (pid $PID)"
+
+gdb -p "$PID" -batch \
+  -ex "set pagination off" -ex "set confirm off" \
+  -ex "thread $GTH" \
+  -ex "echo \n=== host frame ===\n" \
+  -ex "printf \"host rip = %#lx\\n\", \$rip" \
+  -ex "bt 8" \
+  -ex "echo \n=== guest registers (PPCContext @ rsi) ===\n" \
+  -ex "set \$ctx = (unsigned long)\$rsi" \
+  -ex "printf \"ctx  = %#lx\\n\", \$ctx" \
+  -ex "printf \"lr   = %#lx\\n\", *(unsigned long*)(\$ctx+304)" \
+  -ex "printf \"ctr  = %#lx\\n\", *(unsigned long*)(\$ctx+296)" \
+  -ex "printf \"r1(sp)= %#lx\\n\", *(unsigned long*)(\$ctx+40+8*1)" \
+  -ex "printf \"r3   = %#lx\\n\", *(unsigned long*)(\$ctx+40+8*3)" \
+  -ex "printf \"r4   = %#lx\\n\", *(unsigned long*)(\$ctx+40+8*4)" \
+  -ex "printf \"r5   = %#lx\\n\", *(unsigned long*)(\$ctx+40+8*5)" \
+  -ex "printf \"r6   = %#lx\\n\", *(unsigned long*)(\$ctx+40+8*6)" \
+  -ex "printf \"r7   = %#lx\\n\", *(unsigned long*)(\$ctx+40+8*7)" \
+  -ex "printf \"r8   = %#lx\\n\", *(unsigned long*)(\$ctx+40+8*8)" \
+  -ex "printf \"r9   = %#lx\\n\", *(unsigned long*)(\$ctx+40+8*9)" \
+  -ex "printf \"r10  = %#lx\\n\", *(unsigned long*)(\$ctx+40+8*10)" \
+  -ex "printf \"r11  = %#lx\\n\", *(unsigned long*)(\$ctx+40+8*11)" \
+  -ex "printf \"r12  = %#lx\\n\", *(unsigned long*)(\$ctx+40+8*12)" \
+  -ex "printf \"membase = %#lx\\n\", *(unsigned long*)(\$ctx+2712)" \
+  -ex "echo \n=== guest stack bytes @ r1 (BE; look for 82xxxxxx = code) ===\n" \
+  -ex "set \$mb = *(unsigned long*)(\$ctx+2712)" \
+  -ex "set \$sp = *(unsigned long*)(\$ctx+40+8*1)" \
+  -ex "x/128xb \$mb + \$sp" \
+  -ex "detach" 2>&1 | grep -vE "^\[|Reading symbols|no debugging symbols|Detaching"
+
+rm -f "$RAW"
+echo
+echo "Guest code addresses look like 0x82xxxxxx — feed lr / stack hits to zq.py fn <pc>."

tools/re-capture/.gitignore

@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+
+# Game-derived digit templates for ob_read.py — pixels from the game (issue #49).
+ob_digits.png

tools/re/check-capture-citations

@@ -10,10 +10,17 @@
 largest thing in the repository, and the one place a file can be added, never
 cited, and never noticed.
 
-Two failures, which are opposites and must not be conflated:
+⚠️ 2026-09-19, issue #49: **game assets are no longer committed.** Screenshots
+and savegame blobs live in the working tree and are gitignored, so the pages'
+relative links still resolve on a machine that has them while nothing ships.
+That inverts half of this check — "is it committed?" became "is it PRESENT?",
+and a NEW failure appeared: an asset that IS tracked. Both are below.
 
-  * a page cites a capture that **is not committed** — a reader following it
+Three failures, which are opposites and must not be conflated:
+
+  * a page cites a capture that **is not present** — a reader following it
     gets nothing. That is an error, exactly as in `check-citations`.
+  * a game asset that **is tracked by git** — issue #49 says it must not be.
   * a capture that **no page cites** — not an error. It may be evidence a page
     should have cited, and deleting on that basis would silently ratify the
     omission. Reported, counted, never failed on.
@@ -65,7 +72,16 @@ def committed() -> tuple[set[str], set[str]]:
     proposed. `tools/port/check-citations` uses the working tree for exactly
     this reason; so does this.
     """
-    files = {l for l in git("ls-files", ROOT).splitlines() if l}
+    # 🔴 NOT `git ls-files`: since #49 the assets are deliberately untracked, so
+    # the index no longer knows they exist. Presence is a question about the
+    # working tree, and asking git would report every screenshot as missing and
+    # fail on all 203 citations.
+    files = set()
+    for dirpath, _dirnames, filenames in os.walk(ROOT):
+        for fn in filenames:
+            if fn == ".gitignore":
+                continue
+            files.add(os.path.join(dirpath, fn).replace(os.sep, "/"))
     dirs = set()
     for f in files:
         parts = f.split("/")
@@ -74,6 +90,24 @@ def committed() -> tuple[set[str], set[str]]:
     return files, dirs
 
 
+ASSET_SUFFIXES = (".png", ".jpg", ".jpeg", ".bin")
+
+
+def tracked_assets() -> list[str]:
+    """Game assets that are committed — forbidden since issue #49.
+
+    The repo carries code, tooling and docs. A screenshot that sneaks back in
+    is invisible in review (a binary shows as "Bin 0 -> 1234567 bytes") and is
+    permanent once merged, because removing it later needs a history rewrite.
+    So this is the half of the check that has to be loud.
+    """
+    out = []
+    for l in git("ls-files").splitlines():
+        if l.lower().endswith(ASSET_SUFFIXES):
+            out.append(l)
+    return out
+
+
 def cited() -> set[str]:
     raw = git("grep", "-rhoE", CITE_ERE, "--", *SEARCH, SELF).splitlines()
     out = set()
@@ -141,7 +175,7 @@ def selftest() -> int:
     real_dir = next(iter(dirs), None)
     real_file = next(iter(files), None)
     if not real_dir or not real_file:
-        print("selftest: 🔴 no captures committed — nothing to test against")
+        print("selftest: 🔴 no captures present — nothing to test against")
         return 2
     cases = [
         ("planted dangling caught", "docs/re/captures/no-such-file-anywhere.png", False),
@@ -168,7 +202,15 @@ def selftest() -> int:
     print("  %-34s %s"
           % ("own fixtures not counted", "🔴 FAILED" if fixture_counted else "ok"))
 
-    ok = gathering_ok and not fixture_counted
+    # 🔴 THE #49 RULE NEEDS ITS OWN TICK. Presence now comes from the working
+    # tree, so a checkout with the captures present looks identical whether or
+    # not they are tracked — only this assertion can tell the difference.
+    stowaways = tracked_assets()
+    print("  %-34s %s%s"
+          % ("no game asset tracked", "ok" if not stowaways else "🔴 FAILED",
+             "" if not stowaways else "  (%d tracked)" % len(stowaways)))
+
+    ok = gathering_ok and not fixture_counted and not stowaways
     for name, path, want in cases:
         got = resolves(path.rstrip(".,;:)`"), files, dirs)
         mark = "ok" if got == want else "🔴 FAILED"
@@ -188,19 +230,48 @@ def main() -> int:
             print(f)
         return 0
 
-    print("captures committed          : %d" % len(files))
+    stowaways = tracked_assets()
+    print("captures present on disk    : %d" % len(files))
     print("  cited by a page or a tool : %d" % (len(files) - len(orphans)))
     print("  cited by nothing          : %d  (reported, not failed —" % len(orphans))
     print("                               an orphan may be evidence a page owes)")
+    # 🔴 A BARE CLONE HAS NO CAPTURES AT ALL, and that is not a defect.
+    # Since #49 the assets are never committed, so a fresh clone, a worktree or
+    # a CI checkout legitimately has none — and the naive check calls all 134
+    # citations dangling and exits 1. A gate that is red on every clean checkout
+    # is one people learn to ignore, which is how the last wrong-by-default
+    # check in this file cost a session. Distinguish "none here" from "this one
+    # is missing": with some assets present, a gap is real and still fails.
+    assets_here = sum(1 for f in files if f.lower().endswith(ASSET_SUFFIXES))
+    if assets_here == 0 and dangling:
+        print("  ⓘ no captures on this checkout: %d citations unresolved" % len(dangling))
+        print("     Expected — captures are local-only (#49) and a fresh clone has none.")
+        print("     Copy them in, or read the evidence on the issue it is attached to.")
+        print("  🔴 game assets TRACKED    : %d" % len(stowaways))
+        return 1 if stowaways else 0
+
+    rc = 0
     if dangling:
-        print("  🔴 cited but NOT committed: %d" % len(dangling))
+        print("  🔴 cited but NOT present  : %d" % len(dangling))
         for d in dangling:
             print("      %s" % d)
-        print("\n🔴 a reader following those gets nothing. Commit the capture, fix the")
+        print("\n🔴 a reader following those gets nothing. Restore the capture, fix the")
         print("   path, or drop the citation.")
-        return 1
-    print("  🔴 cited but NOT committed: 0")
-    return 0
+        rc = 1
+    else:
+        print("  🔴 cited but NOT present  : 0")
+
+    if stowaways:
+        print("  🔴 game assets TRACKED    : %d  (issue #49 — code, tooling, docs only)" % len(stowaways))
+        for a in stowaways[:10]:
+            print("      %s" % a)
+        if len(stowaways) > 10:
+            print("      … and %d more" % (len(stowaways) - 10))
+        print("\n🔴 run `git rm --cached` on those; they stay on disk and stay ignored.")
+        rc = 1
+    else:
+        print("  🔴 game assets TRACKED    : 0")
+    return rc
 
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":

tools/run-canary-native-safe.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,98 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# SAFE launcher for the NATIVE Linux Xenia-Canary build on THIS box.
+#
+# Same safety contract as run-canary-safe.sh (the Wine/Windows variant): the AMD
+# GPU + GPU-accelerated VS Code means a hardware-Vulkan render CRASHES VS Code.
+# This wrapper forces software Vulkan (lavapipe/llvmpipe) IN THE SAME process and
+# HARD-REFUSES to launch if any hardware Vulkan device is still visible.
+#
+# Difference vs run-canary-safe.sh: runs the native ELF directly (NO wine).
+#
+# Usage:  tools/run-canary-native-safe.sh [seconds]
+#   env:  CANARY_BIN     override binary (default = worktree Release build)
+#         CANARY_EXTRA_ARGS  space-separated extra cvars (values w/o spaces)
+# Output: /tmp/canary_native.stdout (+ xenia.log in the binary dir). Prints rc + ADV.wmv hits.
+set -u
+
+# --- force software Vulkan, belt-and-suspenders across loader/driver variants ---
+export VK_ICD_FILENAMES=/usr/share/vulkan/icd.d/lvp_icd.json
+export VK_DRIVER_FILES=/usr/share/vulkan/icd.d/lvp_icd.json
+export MESA_VK_DEVICE_SELECT=llvmpipe
+export LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE=1
+# --- keep background runs SILENT *without* killing the audio system ---
+# DO NOT use --apu=nop: with no audio system the guest's XAudio render client is
+# NULL and Project Sylpheed derefs null+0x3C at PC 0x824D7C40 -> a FALSE boot
+# crash that never happens in interactive runs. Instead keep the ALSA apu ALIVE
+# and route PCM "default" to the null device (see asound-null.conf): silent, but
+# snd_pcm_open succeeds so the guest is happy. --mute does NOT silence ALSA.
+export SDL_AUDIODRIVER=dummy
+export ALSA_CONFIG_PATH="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)/asound-null.conf"
+[ -f "$ALSA_CONFIG_PATH" ] || { echo "ABORT: asound-null.conf missing next to script"; exit 4; }
+
+# Paths derive from where this script sits — see the note in run-canary-safe.sh.
+HERE="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)"
+WORKSPACE="$(cd "$HERE/../.." && pwd)"
+BIN_DEFAULT="$WORKSPACE/xenia-canary-native/build/bin/Linux/Release/xenia_canary"
+BIN_EXE="${CANARY_BIN:-$BIN_DEFAULT}"
+ISO="${SYLPHEED_ISO:-$WORKSPACE/Project Sylpheed - Arc of Deception (USA, Europe) (En,Ja).iso}"
+[ -f "$ISO" ] || { echo "ABORT: no ISO at '$ISO' — set \$SYLPHEED_ISO"; exit 4; }
+SECS="${1:-95}"
+
+[ -x "$BIN_EXE" ] || { echo "ABORT: native binary not found/executable: $BIN_EXE"; exit 4; }
+
+# --- HARD PRE-FLIGHT GATE: only proceed if Vulkan exposes software devices ONLY ---
+devs="$(vulkaninfo --summary 2>/dev/null | grep -i deviceName || true)"
+if echo "$devs" | grep -qiE 'radv|amd|radeon|nvidia|geforce|intel\b'; then
+  echo "ABORT(pre-flight): a HARDWARE Vulkan device is still visible -> refusing (would crash VS Code):"
+  echo "$devs"
+  exit 3
+fi
+if ! echo "$devs" | grep -qiE 'llvmpipe'; then
+  echo "ABORT(pre-flight): llvmpipe not visible; lavapipe ICD missing? devs=[$devs]"
+  exit 3
+fi
+echo "pre-flight OK: software-only Vulkan -> $devs"
+
+# --- clean slate ---
+pkill -x xenia_canary 2>/dev/null; pkill -x Xvfb 2>/dev/null; sleep 1
+
+Xvfb :99 -screen 0 1280x720x24 -nolisten tcp >/tmp/xvfb.log 2>&1 &
+XVFB=$!
+sleep 2
+export DISPLAY=:99
+cd "$(dirname "$BIN_EXE")" || { echo "ABORT: bin dir missing"; kill "$XVFB" 2>/dev/null; exit 4; }
+rm -f xenia.log
+
+# Real ALSA apu (routed to null sink via ALSA_CONFIG_PATH) so the guest gets a
+# valid render client; --mute belt-and-suspenders. NEVER add --apu=nop here.
+args=(--log_level=3 --mute=true)
+if [ -n "${CANARY_EXTRA_ARGS:-}" ]; then
+  read -ra EXTRA <<< "$CANARY_EXTRA_ARGS"
+  args+=("${EXTRA[@]}")
+fi
+echo "launch (native, sw-vulkan, SILENT null-ALSA, ${SECS}s): $(basename "$BIN_EXE") ${args[*]}"
+# -k 5: xenia catches SIGTERM and can hang on shutdown; force-KILL 5s later.
+timeout -k 5 "$SECS" "$BIN_EXE" "$ISO" "${args[@]}" >/tmp/canary_native.stdout 2>&1
+rc=$?
+
+pkill -x xenia_canary 2>/dev/null; kill "$XVFB" 2>/dev/null; pkill -x Xvfb 2>/dev/null
+
+# --- trustworthy boot-health verdict (NOT log-line-count, NOT rc) ---
+# A healthy boot reaches actual content: title loaded + XMA audio decoding + NO
+# host-exception fault loop. rc=137 is EXPECTED (timeout -k kill), not a failure.
+faults=$(grep -ac 'Access Violation' /tmp/canary_native.stdout 2>/dev/null)
+gthrow=$(grep -ac 'GUEST-THROW' xenia.log 2>/dev/null)
+title=$(grep -ac 'Title name: PROJECT SYLPHEED' xenia.log 2>/dev/null)
+xma=$(grep -acE 'XmaContext|Processing context' xenia.log 2>/dev/null)
+echo "rc=$rc  logsize=$(wc -c < xenia.log 2>/dev/null)"
+echo "boot-health: title=$title xma=$xma faults=$faults guest_throw=$gthrow"
+if [ "$title" -ge 1 ] && [ "$xma" -ge 100 ] && [ "$faults" -eq 0 ] && [ "$gthrow" -eq 0 ]; then
+  echo "VERDICT: HEALTHY (reached content, no crash)"
+elif [ "$gthrow" -ge 1 ]; then
+  echo "VERDICT: GUEST-THROW CRASH (the real bug) -- see GUEST-THROW lines in xenia.log"
+elif [ "$faults" -ge 1 ]; then
+  echo "VERDICT: FAULT (host access-violation loop) -- crash PC:"
+  grep -aoE 'PC: 0x[0-9A-Fa-f]+' /tmp/canary_native.stdout | sort | uniq -c | head -3
+else
+  echo "VERDICT: INCOMPLETE (did not reach content in ${SECS}s -- raise timeout?)"
+fi

tools/run-canary-native.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,130 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# INTERACTIVE launcher for the NATIVE Linux Xenia-Canary build.
+#
+# Opens a REAL window on your desktop (display :0) and — unlike
+# run-canary-native-safe.sh — uses HARDWARE Vulkan (the AMD GPU) and leaves
+# audio ON. This is for hands-on play/testing, not headless tracer runs.
+#
+# ⚠ WARNING: this renders on the same AMD GPU that drives your VS Code / desktop.
+#   The historical "crashes VS Code" issue was vkd3d-proton (D3D12->Vulkan under
+#   Wine); the native build talks to Vulkan directly, so it MAY be fine — but if
+#   the desktop glitches or VS Code dies, fall back to run-canary-native-safe.sh
+#   (software Vulkan) or set CANARY_SOFTWARE=1 below.
+#
+# Usage:  tools/run-canary-native.sh [seconds]        (no arg => runs until you close it)
+#   env:  CANARY_BIN         override binary (default = worktree Release build)
+#         CANARY_SOFTWARE=1  force software Vulkan (lavapipe) even here
+#         CANARY_MUTE=1      start muted / no audio device (--apu=nop)
+#         CANARY_GPU=<substr> pick a specific Vulkan device by name (e.g. radv, 6800)
+#         CANARY_EXTRA_ARGS  space-separated extra cvars
+#         DISPLAY            target X display (default :0 = your screen)
+# Output: /tmp/canary_native_interactive.stdout (+ xenia.log in the binary dir).
+set -u
+
+# Paths derive from where this script sits — see the note in run-canary-safe.sh.
+HERE="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)"
+WORKSPACE="$(cd "$HERE/../.." && pwd)"
+BIN_DEFAULT="$WORKSPACE/xenia-canary-native/build/bin/Linux/Release/xenia_canary"
+BIN_EXE="${CANARY_BIN:-$BIN_DEFAULT}"
+ISO="${SYLPHEED_ISO:-$WORKSPACE/Project Sylpheed - Arc of Deception (USA, Europe) (En,Ja).iso}"
+[ -f "$ISO" ] || { echo "ABORT: no ISO at '$ISO' — set \$SYLPHEED_ISO"; exit 4; }
+SECS="${1:-0}"                       # 0 => no timeout (interactive)
+export DISPLAY="${DISPLAY:-:0}"
+
+[ -x "$BIN_EXE" ] || { echo "ABORT: native binary not found/executable: $BIN_EXE"; exit 4; }
+
+# --- Vulkan device selection ---
+if [ "${CANARY_SOFTWARE:-0}" = "1" ]; then
+  export VK_ICD_FILENAMES=/usr/share/vulkan/icd.d/lvp_icd.json
+  export VK_DRIVER_FILES=/usr/share/vulkan/icd.d/lvp_icd.json
+  export MESA_VK_DEVICE_SELECT=llvmpipe
+  echo "GPU: forced software Vulkan (lavapipe)."
+else
+  # Hardware Vulkan. Optionally pin a device by substring (RADV AMD is default [0]).
+  [ -n "${CANARY_GPU:-}" ] && export MESA_VK_DEVICE_SELECT="$CANARY_GPU"
+  echo "GPU: HARDWARE Vulkan${CANARY_GPU:+ (pinned: $CANARY_GPU)}."
+  echo "     Visible devices:"; vulkaninfo --summary 2>/dev/null | grep -i deviceName | sed 's/^/       /'
+fi
+
+# --- logging: keep it QUIET so kernel/APU debug spam doesn't starve the audio
+#     worker thread. At --log_level=3 (Debug) the d>/A> firehose (piped through
+#     tee) stalls the ALSA pipeline and mission audio dies permanently — the
+#     exact "mission-audio silence" that commit f10484834 fixes in code; the
+#     log flood defeats the keepalive. log_mask=13 = suppress Kernel|Cpu|Gpu.
+#     (guest_audio_flags defaults to 0 = Digital Stereo, the Linux-safe path.)
+LOGLEVEL="${CANARY_LOGLEVEL:-1}"
+LOGMASK="${CANARY_LOGMASK:-13}"
+# --- audio ---
+args=(--log_level="$LOGLEVEL" --log_mask="$LOGMASK")
+if [ "${CANARY_MUTE:-0}" = "1" ]; then
+  export SDL_AUDIODRIVER=dummy
+  args+=(--mute=true --apu=nop)
+  echo "AUDIO: muted (apu=nop)."
+else
+  echo "AUDIO: on (ALSA)."
+fi
+
+# --- audio RE: capture true XMA per-stream params (channels/rate/head bytes) to
+#     xenia.log as you play. Deduped (one line per unique sound); logs at Warning
+#     so it shows at the audio-safe log level without spam. Off unless requested.
+if [ "${CANARY_XMA_PROBE:-0}" = "1" ]; then
+  args+=(--xma_param_probe=true)
+  echo "XMA-PARAM probe: ON (params captured to xenia.log)."
+fi
+
+# --- audio watchdog: when audio dies mid-mission and never returns, report
+#     WHICH pipeline stage stopped (guest callback blocked / no XMA decode /
+#     no frames submitted / host driver not writing). Near-silent while healthy.
+if [ "${CANARY_AUDIO_WD:-0}" = "1" ]; then
+  args+=(--audio_watchdog=true)
+  echo "AUDIO watchdog: ON (logs 'AUDIO-WD ...' when audio dies)."
+fi
+
+# --- hang watchdog: if the guest stops presenting frames for N seconds, the
+#     emulator dumps every guest thread's registers + guest call stack to
+#     xenia.log by itself. No debugger, no ptrace, no need to keep the window
+#     open -- the freeze autopsy is already in the log.
+if [ -n "${CANARY_HANG_WD:-}" ]; then
+  args+=(--hang_watchdog_secs="$CANARY_HANG_WD")
+  echo "HANG watchdog: ON (${CANARY_HANG_WD}s without a frame => guest dump to xenia.log)."
+fi
+
+if [ -n "${CANARY_EXTRA_ARGS:-}" ]; then
+  read -ra EXTRA <<< "$CANARY_EXTRA_ARGS"
+  args+=("${EXTRA[@]}")
+fi
+
+# --- CPU stress: the mid-mission audio death only shows up under host CPU load
+#     (the guest's audio callback misses its 5.33ms deadlines and the game tears
+#     its own audio client down). CANARY_STRESS=<n> spins n busy loops for the
+#     duration of the run so the bug reproduces on demand instead of by luck.
+#     They are killed when the run ends. Silent (no audio involvement).
+STRESS_PIDS=()
+stress_cleanup() {
+  if [ ${#STRESS_PIDS[@]} -gt 0 ]; then
+    kill "${STRESS_PIDS[@]}" 2>/dev/null
+    echo "stress: stopped ${#STRESS_PIDS[@]} load generators."
+  fi
+}
+trap stress_cleanup EXIT INT TERM
+if [ -n "${CANARY_STRESS:-}" ] && [ "${CANARY_STRESS}" -gt 0 ] 2>/dev/null; then
+  for _i in $(seq 1 "$CANARY_STRESS"); do
+    # Pure userspace spin; no I/O, no audio, no privileges.
+    ( while :; do :; done ) &
+    STRESS_PIDS+=($!)
+  done
+  echo "STRESS: ON -- ${CANARY_STRESS} busy loops competing for CPU (of $(nproc) cores)."
+fi
+
+pkill -x xenia_canary 2>/dev/null
+cd "$(dirname "$BIN_EXE")" || { echo "ABORT: bin dir missing"; exit 4; }
+rm -f xenia.log
+
+echo "launch (interactive, DISPLAY=$DISPLAY): $(basename "$BIN_EXE") ${args[*]}"
+if [ "$SECS" -gt 0 ] 2>/dev/null; then
+  timeout -k 5 "$SECS" "$BIN_EXE" "$ISO" "${args[@]}" 2>&1 | tee /tmp/canary_native_interactive.stdout
+else
+  "$BIN_EXE" "$ISO" "${args[@]}" 2>&1 | tee /tmp/canary_native_interactive.stdout
+fi
+rc=${PIPESTATUS[0]}
+echo "rc=$rc  ADV.wmv=$(grep -ac 'ADV.wmv' xenia.log 2>/dev/null)"

tools/run-canary-safe.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# SAFE Xenia-Canary launcher for THIS box (shared AMD GPU + GPU-accelerated VS Code).
+#
+# Canary's vkd3d-proton renders D3D12->Vulkan; if it picks the AMD GPU it CRASHES
+# VS Code. This wrapper forces software Vulkan (llvmpipe/lavapipe) IN THE SAME
+# process as wine (env vars do NOT survive across separate shells!), and REFUSES
+# to launch if any hardware Vulkan device is still visible (hard pre-flight gate).
+#
+# Usage:  tools/run-canary-safe.sh [audit61_pcs_csv] [seconds]
+#   e.g.  tools/run-canary-safe.sh 0x82507458,0x8250747c 95
+# Output: /tmp/canary_video.stdout (+ xenia.log in the binary dir). Prints rc + ADV.wmv hit count.
+set -u
+
+# --- force software Vulkan, belt-and-suspenders across loader/driver variants ---
+export VK_ICD_FILENAMES=/usr/share/vulkan/icd.d/lvp_icd.json
+export VK_DRIVER_FILES=/usr/share/vulkan/icd.d/lvp_icd.json
+export MESA_VK_DEVICE_SELECT=llvmpipe
+export DXVK_FILTER_DEVICE_NAME=llvmpipe
+export VKD3D_FILTER_DEVICE_NAME=llvmpipe
+export LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE=1
+
+# Paths come from where this script sits — tools/ inside the repo, whose parent
+# directory is the workspace holding the fork checkouts and the game data. Both
+# are overridable, so a machine that lays things out differently sets the env
+# var instead of editing the script. (This file used to hardcode one machine's
+# absolute paths, which is why it could not be checked in.)
+HERE="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)"
+WORKSPACE="$(cd "$HERE/../.." && pwd)"
+BIN="${CANARY_WINE_BIN_DIR:-$WORKSPACE/xenia-canary/build-cross/bin/Windows/Debug}"
+ISO="${SYLPHEED_ISO:-$WORKSPACE/Project Sylpheed - Arc of Deception (USA, Europe) (En,Ja).iso}"
+[ -f "$ISO" ] || { echo "ABORT: no ISO at '$ISO' — set \$SYLPHEED_ISO"; exit 4; }
+PROBES="${1:-}"
+SECS="${2:-95}"
+
+# --- HARD PRE-FLIGHT GATE: only proceed if Vulkan exposes software devices ONLY ---
+devs="$(vulkaninfo --summary 2>/dev/null | grep -i deviceName || true)"
+if echo "$devs" | grep -qiE 'radv|amd|radeon|nvidia|geforce|intel\b'; then
+  echo "ABORT(pre-flight): a HARDWARE Vulkan device is still visible -> refusing (would crash VS Code):"
+  echo "$devs"
+  exit 3
+fi
+if ! echo "$devs" | grep -qiE 'llvmpipe'; then
+  echo "ABORT(pre-flight): llvmpipe not visible; lavapipe ICD missing? devs=[$devs]"
+  exit 3
+fi
+echo "pre-flight OK: software-only Vulkan -> $devs"
+
+# --- clean slate ---
+pkill -x xenia_canary_i2d.exe 2>/dev/null; wineserver -k 2>/dev/null; pkill -x Xvfb 2>/dev/null; sleep 1
+
+Xvfb :99 -screen 0 1280x720x24 -nolisten tcp >/tmp/xvfb.log 2>&1 &
+XVFB=$!
+sleep 2
+export DISPLAY=:99
+cd "$BIN" || { echo "ABORT: bin dir missing"; kill "$XVFB" 2>/dev/null; exit 4; }
+rm -f xenia.log
+
+# Binary is overridable (default keeps the historical _i2d snapshot); extra
+# cvars pass through via CANARY_EXTRA_ARGS (space-separated, values w/o spaces).
+BIN_EXE="${CANARY_BIN:-xenia_canary_i2d.exe}"
+args=(--log_level=3 --mute=true)
+[ -n "$PROBES" ] && args+=("--audit_61_branch_probe_pcs=$PROBES")
+if [ -n "${CANARY_EXTRA_ARGS:-}" ]; then
+  read -ra EXTRA <<< "$CANARY_EXTRA_ARGS"
+  args+=("${EXTRA[@]}")
+fi
+echo "launch (sw-vulkan, muted, ${SECS}s): wine $BIN_EXE ${args[*]}"
+timeout "$SECS" wine "./$BIN_EXE" "$ISO" "${args[@]}" >/tmp/canary_video.stdout 2>&1
+rc=$?
+
+pkill -x xenia_canary_i2d.exe 2>/dev/null; wineserver -k 2>/dev/null; kill "$XVFB" 2>/dev/null; pkill -x Xvfb 2>/dev/null
+echo "rc=$rc  ADV.wmv=$(grep -ac 'ADV.wmv' xenia.log 2>/dev/null)  logsize=$(wc -c < xenia.log 2>/dev/null)"