gasm-sdk/docs/DECISIONS.md

# Deferred decisions

Design decisions deliberately postponed, with enough context to pick them up
again without re-deriving the analysis.  Each entry records what is deferred,
why, the options on the table, and the trigger that should reopen it.

---

## GOOBJ external (cross-package) symbol references

**Status:** resolved (v0.29.0+, 2026-08-07).

**Approach taken.**  Instead of parsing the compiler's iexport data (which
would have required either `golang.org/x/tools` or an in-house parser), the
resolver reads the **GOOBJ data directly** from the target package's `.a`
archive.  The `.a` file contains a `_go_.o` member whose GOOBJ s is the
same one gasm writes — the parser reuses the same layout (`blkSymdef`,
`blkNonpkgdef`, the string table), so no new dependency was needed.

**How it works.**

1. `go list -json -export <pkg>` finds the target package's `.a` file.
2. `extractGOOBJ` reads the ar archive, finds the `_go_.o` member, skips
   the `"go object …\n!\n"` preamble and parses the GOOBJ header.
3. `goobjFile.symbols()` walks `blkSymdef` and `blkNonpkgdef` in definition
   order — the same order the linker uses — to build the symbol → index
   mapping.
4. `resolveExternalSymbols` wires the resolved `{PkgIdx, SymIdx}` into the
   GOOBJ emission.

The resolver is invoked automatically when `img.Externals` is non-empty; it
runs `go list` as a subprocess (consistent with `toolchainObjectPreamble`
which already calls `go tool asm`).  All symbol data is cached per package
for the lifetime of the GOOBJ emission.

## 2026-08-29 tooling round

- `lint abi0-register-args`: flags kernels whose `// func` parameters are
  never read from the FP frame.  Motivated by a real latent bug: kernels
  reading arguments from registers pass every test while the autogenerated
  `F.abi0` wrapper happens to leave the caller's register values intact, and
  break on a toolchain upgrade.
- `lint nonportable-register-name`: the RAX/EAX register spellings are a gasm
  extension; go tool asm rejects them, so files using them only link through
  the gasm goobj path.
- `lint unencodable-instruction`: a mnemonic in the architecture table that
  `asm.Encodable` rejects is flagged at edit time instead of failing at
  assembly time.
- `audit-instructions`: black-box diff of the encoder against go tool asm.
  As of this round the tables fully overlap on names; the audit exists to
  catch drift in both directions (future supersets and future gaps).
- `scaffold differential`: generates the direct-call differential skeleton
  (two independent seed sets, output and in-place buffer comparison) that a
  pipeline-level fuzz can never replace.
- `verify --args`: scalar arguments for `-call`, closing the repro gap where
  only buffers could be supplied.
- `debug --script/--timeout/--cover`: headless debugging with a watchdog
  armed before the ptrace attach (untracing sandboxes hang the attach), and
  label-level block coverage for the "did my test ever enter that branch"
  question.
- Superset policy remains: gasm may accept spellings and encodings go tool
  asm lacks, but such kernels ship only via `gasm asm --format goobj`; the
  audit reports the superset surface.  The register-alias superset is warned
  about by lint because the default `go build` path cannot consume it.