build: the submodule is how libavr arrives; the era already carries it

The pin the whole history now encodes becomes the primary route: the
submodule default replaces FetchContent and the unpinned forge fallback,
LIBAVR_ROOT stays as the tandem-development override, the presets already
take the toolchain file from the submodule, and the Studio projects anchor
their include path there — correct by construction. The version tags and
the one-command historical build are documented beside the version map.

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

CMakeLists.txt

@@ -2,21 +2,19 @@ cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.28)
 
 project(tsb_libavr LANGUAGES CXX)
 
-# libavr from a local checkout (LIBAVR_ROOT) or the forge; the toolchain file
-# comes from the same checkout via CMakePresets.json.
-include(FetchContent)
+# libavr rides as the pinned submodule; LIBAVR_ROOT (cache or environment)
+# overrides it for tandem development against a working tree. The toolchain
+# file comes from the submodule via CMakePresets.json either way.
 if(NOT LIBAVR_ROOT AND DEFINED ENV{LIBAVR_ROOT})
 	set(LIBAVR_ROOT $ENV{LIBAVR_ROOT})
 endif()
 if(NOT LIBAVR_ROOT)
 	set(LIBAVR_ROOT ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/libavr)
 endif()
-if(LIBAVR_ROOT)
-	FetchContent_Declare(libavr SOURCE_DIR ${LIBAVR_ROOT})
-else()
-	FetchContent_Declare(libavr GIT_REPOSITORY git@git.blackmark.me:avr/libavr.git GIT_TAG main)
+if(NOT EXISTS ${LIBAVR_ROOT}/CMakeLists.txt)
+	message(FATAL_ERROR "libavr not found at ${LIBAVR_ROOT} — run: git submodule update --init libavr")
 endif()
-FetchContent_MakeAvailable(libavr)
+add_subdirectory(${LIBAVR_ROOT} libavr-build)
 
 if(PROJECT_IS_TOP_LEVEL)
 	add_compile_options(-Werror) # warnings are errors for the port's own code
@@ -97,6 +95,10 @@ endfunction()
 #   tsb_pure  — pure idiomatic libavr, one function per command, TU-local
 #                 (internal linkage), streaming (no SRAM page buffer): 836 B in
 #                 the 1 KB section.
+#   tsb_policy — the policy floor: pureboot's rules (no asm, no register
+#                 variables) with every pureboot lesson applied. 638 B in the
+#                 1 KB section — the measured evidence that the 512 B fit is a
+#                 property of the mechanisms philosophy #5 bans.
 #
 # add_tsb_variant(<name> <boot-section-bytes>)
 function(add_tsb_variant name bytes)
@@ -124,8 +126,13 @@ endfunction()
 # chips build pureboot alone.
 if(LIBAVR_MCU STREQUAL "atmega328p")
 	add_tsb_variant(tsb_asm 512)
+	add_tsb_variant(tsb_policy 1024)
 	add_tsb_variant(tsb_pure 1024)
 	add_tsb_variant(tsb_tricks 1024)
+	# The policy tier's floor is measured with the loop flags pureboot's size
+	# work found (a loader's loop bodies all contain calls); the other tiers
+	# keep the flag set their recorded floors were measured with — none.
+	target_compile_options(tsb_policy PRIVATE -fno-move-loop-invariants -fno-tree-ter)
 endif()
 
 # pureboot — the pure-constraint port (see pureboot/README.md): one source,
@@ -153,10 +160,17 @@ if(PROJECT_IS_TOP_LEVEL)
 	if(Python3_FOUND)
 		add_test(NAME pureboot.pi
 		         COMMAND ${Python3_EXECUTABLE} ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/test/check_pi.py
-		                 ${CMAKE_OBJDUMP} ${CMAKE_NM} $<TARGET_FILE:pureboot> ${PUREBOOT_BASE_HEX})
+		                 ${CMAKE_OBJDUMP} ${CMAKE_OBJCOPY} ${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER} ${LIBAVR_MCU}
+		                 $<TARGET_FILE:pureboot>
+		                 ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/CMakeFiles/pureboot.dir/pureboot/pureboot.cpp.obj
+		                 ${PUREBOOT_BASE_HEX})
 		add_test(NAME pureboot.planner
 		         COMMAND ${Python3_EXECUTABLE} ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/test/test_planner.py
 		                 ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/pureboot/pureboot.py)
+		add_test(NAME pureboot.handshake
+		         COMMAND ${Python3_EXECUTABLE} ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/test/test_handshake.py)
+		add_test(NAME pureboot.updatelink
+		         COMMAND ${Python3_EXECUTABLE} ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/test/test_update_link.py)
 	endif()
 
 	# The protocol test flashes this fixture through the loader with the real
@@ -234,12 +248,13 @@ if(PROJECT_IS_TOP_LEVEL)
 	endif()
 
 	# The size matrix: every configuration axis that could move the image
-	# size — the serial backend (different code), the clock and its ladder
-	# baud (different constants and divisor shapes), the USART instance
-	# (different register class) — each combination must still fit the
-	# chip's slot budget. Pins are size-neutral (port and bit are immediate
-	# operands) and the timeout is a constant, so neither adds an axis. The
-	# stock build is one point of this matrix and already has its test.
+	# size — the serial backend (different code), the USART instance
+	# (different registers), the clock (different constants), the baud
+	# through the shapes its bit timing takes, and the pins through the one
+	# thing they decide (whether a bit-banged link has to release the USART
+	# that owns them) — each combination must still fit the chip's slot
+	# budget. The timeout is a constant and adds no axis. The stock build is
+	# one point of this matrix and already has its test.
 	function(pureboot_size_variant name)
 		pureboot_add_loader(${name} ${ARGN})
 		add_test(NAME ${name}.size
@@ -247,14 +262,84 @@ if(PROJECT_IS_TOP_LEVEL)
 		                 -DLIMIT=${PUREBOOT_LIMIT} -P ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/test/check_size.cmake)
 	endfunction()
 
+	# The autobaud loader: one clock-agnostic image per chip, so it has no
+	# clock x baud axis of its own — the matrix below sweeps those for the
+	# fixed-baud builds, and this one binary has to serve all of them at run
+	# time. Size-tested against the same per-chip budget as every other variant.
+	pureboot_add_loader(pureboot_autobaud SERIAL autobaud)
+	add_test(NAME pureboot_autobaud.size
+	         COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -DSIZE_TOOL=${CMAKE_SIZE} -DELF=$<TARGET_FILE:pureboot_autobaud>
+	                 -DLIMIT=${PUREBOOT_LIMIT} -P ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/test/check_size.cmake)
+
+	# One point of the exhaustive matrix, named from its resolved parameters
+	# so the enumeration cannot collide with itself. `pins` is empty for the
+	# default pair, or the index of the USART whose own pins a bit-banged
+	# link sits on. Unreachable rates drop out here rather than aborting the
+	# configure.
+	function(pureboot_matrix_point hz baud link pins)
+		set(_name pbm_${hz}_${baud}_${link})
+		if(link STREQUAL "software")
+			pureboot_baud_feasible(${hz} ${baud} 1 _ok)
+			set(_args SERIAL software)
+			if(NOT pins STREQUAL "")
+				list(APPEND _args RX ${PUREBOOT_USART${pins}_RX} TX ${PUREBOOT_USART${pins}_TX})
+				set(_name ${_name}_on${pins})
+			endif()
+		else()
+			pureboot_baud_feasible(${hz} ${baud} 0 _ok)
+			set(_args USART ${link})
+		endif()
+		if(_ok)
+			pureboot_size_variant(${_name} CLOCK ${hz} BAUD ${baud} ${_args})
+		endif()
+	endfunction()
+
 	# Clock points: the shipped-fuse floor (CKDIV8), the calibrated RC, and
 	# the crystal the stock build assumes (the tiny13's ladder is its own RC
 	# menu — it has no crystal option).
 	if(LIBAVR_MCU MATCHES "^attiny13")
 		set(_matrix_clocks 1200000 4800000 9600000)
+		set(_full_clocks 128000 600000 1200000 4800000 9600000)
 	else()
 		set(_matrix_clocks 1000000 8000000 16000000)
+		set(_full_clocks 128000 1000000 1843200 2000000 3686400 4000000 7372800 8000000
+		                 11059200 12000000 14745600 16000000 18432000 20000000)
 	endif()
+
+	# The exhaustive cross product: every clock a deployment plausibly runs
+	# — the internal oscillators, the shipped CKDIV8 floor, the plain
+	# crystals and the UART crystals — against every rate, against every
+	# backend. Beyond the ladder the list carries the slow rates a
+	# sub-megahertz oscillator is left with, which no ladder rate reaches
+	# (16000 Bd is the only rate the 128 kHz oscillator holds exactly); at
+	# the fast clocks those same rates also select the software UART's
+	# 16-bit _delay_loop_2 bit spin (two words more setup at each of its five
+	# sites), the largest image the space produces and a shape the ladder
+	# default — always the *fastest* rate a clock reaches — never picks.
+	#
+	# Every chip runs the full cross product: the size-bearing classes (flash
+	# addressing, hand-over shape, page size, USART inventory) are what make
+	# the image differ, and a chip outside them is expected to match its class
+	# — but "expected" is what a matrix is for, and the whole sweep is cheap
+	# enough to run rather than reason about. PUREBOOT_FULL_MATRIX is what
+	# selects it; the compact matrix below is the per-commit default.
+	get_property(_full_bauds GLOBAL PROPERTY PUREBOOT_BAUD_LADDER)
+	list(APPEND _full_bauds 16000 4800 2400 1200)
+	if(DEFINED ENV{PUREBOOT_FULL_MATRIX})
+		foreach(_matrix_hz IN LISTS _full_clocks)
+			foreach(_matrix_baud IN LISTS _full_bauds)
+				pureboot_matrix_point(${_matrix_hz} ${_matrix_baud} software "")
+				if(PUREBOOT_HAS_USART)
+					pureboot_matrix_point(${_matrix_hz} ${_matrix_baud} software 0)
+					pureboot_matrix_point(${_matrix_hz} ${_matrix_baud} 0 "")
+				endif()
+				if(PUREBOOT_HAS_USART1)
+					pureboot_matrix_point(${_matrix_hz} ${_matrix_baud} software 1)
+					pureboot_matrix_point(${_matrix_hz} ${_matrix_baud} 1 "")
+				endif()
+			endforeach()
+		endforeach()
+	else()
 		foreach(_matrix_hz IN LISTS _matrix_clocks)
 			math(EXPR _matrix_khz "${_matrix_hz} / 1000")
 			if(PUREBOOT_HAS_USART OR NOT _matrix_hz EQUAL _pb_stock_hz)
@@ -263,11 +348,48 @@ if(PROJECT_IS_TOP_LEVEL)
 			if(PUREBOOT_HAS_USART AND NOT _matrix_hz EQUAL _pb_stock_hz)
 				pureboot_size_variant(pureboot_hw_${_matrix_khz}k CLOCK ${_matrix_hz} SERIAL hardware)
 			endif()
+			if(PUREBOOT_HAS_USART1 AND NOT _matrix_hz EQUAL _pb_stock_hz)
+				pureboot_size_variant(pureboot_usart1_${_matrix_khz}k CLOCK ${_matrix_hz} USART 1)
+			endif()
 		endforeach()
+		list(GET _matrix_clocks -1 _matrix_top_hz)
+		pureboot_size_variant(pureboot_sw_wide CLOCK ${_matrix_top_hz} BAUD 9600 SERIAL software)
+		# The pin axis at the widest software image — the slowest ladder rate
+		# against the fastest clock, whose bit spin needs the 16-bit delay
+		# loop — with the USART release on top of it. The exhaustive sweep
+		# above carries the same axis across its whole cross product.
+		if(PUREBOOT_HAS_USART)
+			pureboot_size_variant(pureboot_sw_wide_on_usart0 CLOCK ${_matrix_top_hz} BAUD 9600
+			                      SERIAL software RX ${PUREBOOT_USART0_RX} TX ${PUREBOOT_USART0_TX})
+		endif()
+		if(PUREBOOT_HAS_USART1)
+			pureboot_size_variant(pureboot_sw_wide_on_usart1 CLOCK ${_matrix_top_hz} BAUD 9600
+			                      SERIAL software RX ${PUREBOOT_USART1_RX} TX ${PUREBOOT_USART1_TX})
+		endif()
+	endif()
 	if(PUREBOOT_HAS_USART1)
 		pureboot_size_variant(pureboot_usart1 USART 1)
 	endif()
 
+	# The pin axis at its fixed points, in both matrix modes. The autobaud
+	# loader carries no clock and no baud, so the sweep has nothing to vary
+	# for it — yet it is the tightest image in the space, and on a USART's
+	# own pins it pays the release too: that combination is the one that
+	# overflowed the 1284's slot. The software build on those pins is the
+	# same deployment the mute test drives.
+	if(PUREBOOT_HAS_USART)
+		pureboot_size_variant(pureboot_sw_on_usart0 SERIAL software
+		                      RX ${PUREBOOT_USART0_RX} TX ${PUREBOOT_USART0_TX})
+		pureboot_size_variant(pureboot_autobaud_on_usart0 SERIAL autobaud
+		                      RX ${PUREBOOT_USART0_RX} TX ${PUREBOOT_USART0_TX})
+	endif()
+	if(PUREBOOT_HAS_USART1)
+		pureboot_size_variant(pureboot_sw_on_usart1 SERIAL software
+		                      RX ${PUREBOOT_USART1_RX} TX ${PUREBOOT_USART1_TX})
+		pureboot_size_variant(pureboot_autobaud_on_usart1 SERIAL autobaud
+		                      RX ${PUREBOOT_USART1_RX} TX ${PUREBOOT_USART1_TX})
+	endif()
+
 	# One configured deployment end to end — a real board's shape rather
 	# than the stock assumption: the ATmega328P on its shipped 1 MHz fuses,
 	# the software UART on hand-picked pins (TX = PB1, RX = PB5), the ladder
@@ -296,6 +418,33 @@ if(PROJECT_IS_TOP_LEVEL)
 		set_tests_properties(pureboot.custom PROPERTIES TIMEOUT 180)
 	endif()
 
+	# Hand-over with the USART that owns the loader's pins left enabled — the
+	# state an application reaches by jumping in without a reset, and the one
+	# that made a bit-banged loader on PD0/PD1 (where the Uno's USB bridge
+	# lands) receive and obey while answering nothing. Run where it was found
+	# on silicon; the runner supplies the pin ownership simavr has no model
+	# for, which is what lets this fail when the release is gone.
+	if(LIBAVR_MCU STREQUAL "atmega328p" AND DEFINED PB_DEVICE)
+		get_target_property(_mute_hz pureboot_sw_on_usart0 PUREBOOT_HZ)
+		get_target_property(_mute_baud pureboot_sw_on_usart0 PUREBOOT_BAUD)
+		get_target_property(_mute_link pureboot_sw_on_usart0 PUREBOOT_LINK)
+		add_executable(pbapp_handover test/pbapp.cpp)
+		target_link_libraries(pbapp_handover PRIVATE libavr)
+		target_compile_definitions(pbapp_handover PRIVATE PUREBOOT_CLOCK_HZ=${_mute_hz}
+		                           PUREBOOT_BAUD=${_mute_baud} PUREBOOT_HANDOVER)
+		add_custom_command(TARGET pbapp_handover POST_BUILD
+		                   COMMAND ${CMAKE_OBJCOPY} -O binary
+		                           $<TARGET_FILE:pbapp_handover> $<TARGET_FILE:pbapp_handover>.bin)
+		add_test(NAME pureboot.mute
+		         COMMAND ${Python3_EXECUTABLE} ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/test/pbmute.py
+		                 ${PB_DEVICE} $<TARGET_FILE:pureboot_sw_on_usart0> ${PUREBOOT_SIM_MCU} ${_mute_hz}
+		                 ${PUREBOOT_BASE_HEX} ${PUREBOOT_PAGE} ${_mute_baud}
+		                 $<TARGET_FILE:pbapp_handover>.bin
+		                 ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/pureboot/pureboot.py
+		                 ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/pbmute-work ${_mute_link})
+		set_tests_properties(pureboot.mute PROPERTIES TIMEOUT 180)
+	endif()
+
 	# The second USART, driven for real on one chip: instance selection is
 	# compile-checked everywhere, but only a live session proves the loader
 	# initialized and polls the USART it claims to. The fixture application
@@ -318,4 +467,28 @@ if(PROJECT_IS_TOP_LEVEL)
 		                 ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/pbusart1-work usart1)
 		set_tests_properties(pureboot.usart1 PROPERTIES TIMEOUT 180)
 	endif()
+
+	# The autobaud variants driven end to end over the software-UART bridge (both
+	# under review — pureboot/autobaud.md): the host sends the 0xC0 calibration
+	# pulse, the loader times it, locks, and programs. Run on the near-flash 328P
+	# and the word-addressed 1284P — the two flash-addressing classes — and each
+	# at two clocks with the one binary, which is the clock-agnostic property
+	# autobaud exists for (test/pbautobaud.py). The fixture application banners
+	# over the same software link at the first clock's rate.
+	if(LIBAVR_MCU MATCHES "^atmega(328p|1284p)$" AND DEFINED PB_DEVICE)
+		add_executable(pbapp_autobaud test/pbapp.cpp)
+		target_link_libraries(pbapp_autobaud PRIVATE libavr)
+		target_compile_definitions(pbapp_autobaud PRIVATE PUREBOOT_CLOCK_HZ=1000000
+		                           PUREBOOT_BAUD=9600 PUREBOOT_SOFT_SERIAL PUREBOOT_TX=pb1)
+		add_custom_command(TARGET pbapp_autobaud POST_BUILD
+		                   COMMAND ${CMAKE_OBJCOPY} -O binary
+		                           $<TARGET_FILE:pbapp_autobaud> $<TARGET_FILE:pbapp_autobaud>.bin)
+		add_test(NAME pureboot.autobaud
+		         COMMAND ${Python3_EXECUTABLE} ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/test/pbautobaud.py
+		                 ${PB_DEVICE} $<TARGET_FILE:pureboot_autobaud> ${PUREBOOT_SIM_MCU}
+		                 ${PUREBOOT_BASE_HEX} ${PUREBOOT_PAGE} $<TARGET_FILE:pbapp_autobaud>.bin
+		                 1000000 9600 ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/pureboot/pureboot.py
+		                 ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/pbautobaud-work)
+		set_tests_properties(pureboot.autobaud PROPERTIES TIMEOUT 240)
+	endif()
 endif()

ide/README.md

@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+# Atmel Studio
+
+`master` carries `bootloader.atsln`, so this branch does too: `ide/bootloader.atsln`
+builds the loaders from the same sources Ninja does, to a **byte-identical
+`.text`** — 404 B for the 328P pureboot loader, 510 B for the `tsb_asm` tier in
+its 512-byte section. CMake remains the build system; the solution is here so the
+port opens in Studio as its predecessor did.
+
+## The two projects, and why two
+
+pureboot is a chip × backend × clock × baud matrix — `pureboot_add_loader()`
+resolves a deployment into compile definitions — and a `.cppproj` is one binary
+at one set of flags, so a project can only ever be one point of it. `pureboot`
+is that point: the stock 328P deployment, USART0 at 115200 on a 16 MHz crystal,
+an 8-second activation window. `tsb_asm` is the TinySafeBoot tier that occupies
+the same 512-byte section `master`'s `tsb` project targeted.
+
+The other three tsb tiers (`tsb_pure`, `tsb_tricks`, `tsb_policy`) are not here.
+They differ from `tsb_asm` in their source file, their section size, and — for
+`tsb_policy` — two loop flags; nothing about that is a Studio concern, and what
+they exist to demonstrate is a size gradient only the CMake size tests measure.
+Adding one is a copy of `tsb_asm/tsb_asm.cppproj` in its own directory, with its
+name, its GUID, its source path and its `--section-start` changed (`0x7c00` for
+the 1 KiB tiers), plus four lines in the solution.
+
+`avrdevice` is a project property, so each project gets its own directory:
+Studio builds into `<project dir>/<Configuration>` whatever `OutputDirectory`
+says, and two projects sharing a directory would share one object file.
+
+## Debug keeps `-Os`
+
+Both configurations compile at `-Os`; Debug adds only `-gdwarf-4`. The `.text`
+is therefore identical in both, which is the point — a loader's section is a
+**correctness** bound and not a budget. `-Og` builds this same source to 590 B,
+and linking it at `--section-start=.text=0x7e00` on a 32 KiB part puts 78 bytes
+past flash end **without a diagnostic**: `rcall`/`rjmp` targets there wrap
+modulo flash size, so the image dies right after activation. A debug
+configuration that silently produces that is worse than none, and DWARF costs no
+flash, so the optimisation level stays where correctness needs it.
+
+## What Studio needs from the machine
+
+libavr from the **submodule**, found at
+`$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\..\..\libavr\include` — correct by construction, and
+anchored to the project because a plain relative path resolves against the
+generated makefile's directory (the configuration's output directory), not the
+project's. There is no `LIBAVR_ROOT` escape hatch: a variable exported in a
+shell is invisible to Studio launched from the Start menu, and the failure reads
+as a missing `libavr/libavr.hpp` — which is what the submodule answers.
+
+A GCC 16.1 toolchain registered as flavour `avr-g++-16.1.0`, nothing older
+reaching `-std=c++26`.
+
+## Generating and gating
+
+One generated file is required before a project will load at all, and one command
+per project checks the flags have not drifted (both from libavr's
+`tools/atmelstudio/`):
+
+```sh
+for name in pureboot tsb_asm; do
+    python libavr/tools/atmelstudio/componentinfo.py \
+        "ide/$name/$name.componentinfo.xml" --device ATmega328P
+    python libavr/tools/atmelstudio/check-flags.py \
+        --solution ide/bootloader.atsln --project "$name" --target "$name" \
+        --compile-commands build/atmega328p-generated/compile_commands.json \
+        --log "build/as-$name.log"
+done
+```
+
+`--project` because one reference describes one binary; `--target` because
+`pureboot.cpp` is compiled by every point of the size matrix and the flags
+differ per point, so the basename alone does not name a reference. Release is
+what the gate compares — the presets define no debug build, and Debug differs
+from Release only in `-gdwarf-4`.
+
+Legacy (the yazoalfa-era submodules) stays on `master`.

ide/bootloader.atsln

@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+
+Microsoft Visual Studio Solution File, Format Version 12.00
+# Atmel Studio Solution File, Format Version 11.00
+VisualStudioVersion = 14.0.23107.0
+MinimumVisualStudioVersion = 10.0.40219.1
+Project("{E66E83B9-2572-4076-B26E-6BE79FF3018A}") = "pureboot", "pureboot\pureboot.cppproj", "{99067222-32D5-49E3-B4F8-5ABA0F7722B7}"
+EndProject
+Project("{E66E83B9-2572-4076-B26E-6BE79FF3018A}") = "tsb_asm", "tsb_asm\tsb_asm.cppproj", "{6618D3BE-7EB3-49A2-9113-F128E396FF06}"
+EndProject
+Global
+	GlobalSection(SolutionConfigurationPlatforms) = preSolution
+		Debug|AVR = Debug|AVR
+		Release|AVR = Release|AVR
+	EndGlobalSection
+	GlobalSection(ProjectConfigurationPlatforms) = postSolution
+		{99067222-32D5-49E3-B4F8-5ABA0F7722B7}.Debug|AVR.ActiveCfg = Debug|AVR
+		{99067222-32D5-49E3-B4F8-5ABA0F7722B7}.Debug|AVR.Build.0 = Debug|AVR
+		{99067222-32D5-49E3-B4F8-5ABA0F7722B7}.Release|AVR.ActiveCfg = Release|AVR
+		{99067222-32D5-49E3-B4F8-5ABA0F7722B7}.Release|AVR.Build.0 = Release|AVR
+		{6618D3BE-7EB3-49A2-9113-F128E396FF06}.Debug|AVR.ActiveCfg = Debug|AVR
+		{6618D3BE-7EB3-49A2-9113-F128E396FF06}.Debug|AVR.Build.0 = Debug|AVR
+		{6618D3BE-7EB3-49A2-9113-F128E396FF06}.Release|AVR.ActiveCfg = Release|AVR
+		{6618D3BE-7EB3-49A2-9113-F128E396FF06}.Release|AVR.Build.0 = Release|AVR
+	EndGlobalSection
+	GlobalSection(SolutionProperties) = preSolution
+		HideSolutionNode = FALSE
+	EndGlobalSection
+EndGlobal

ide/pureboot/pureboot.cppproj

@@ -0,0 +1,118 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
+<Project DefaultTargets="Build" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003" ToolsVersion="14.0">
+  <PropertyGroup>
+    <SchemaVersion>2.0</SchemaVersion>
+    <ProjectVersion>7.0</ProjectVersion>
+    <ToolchainName>com.Atmel.AVRGCC8.CPP</ToolchainName>
+    <ProjectGuid>99067222-32d5-49e3-b4f8-5aba0f7722b7</ProjectGuid>
+    <avrdevice>ATmega328P</avrdevice>
+    <avrdeviceseries>none</avrdeviceseries>
+    <OutputType>Executable</OutputType>
+    <Language>CPP</Language>
+    <OutputFileName>$(MSBuildProjectName)</OutputFileName>
+    <OutputFileExtension>.elf</OutputFileExtension>
+    <OutputDirectory>$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\$(Configuration)</OutputDirectory>
+    <AssemblyName>pureboot</AssemblyName>
+    <Name>pureboot</Name>
+    <RootNamespace>pureboot</RootNamespace>
+    <ToolchainFlavour>avr-g++-16.1.0</ToolchainFlavour>
+    <KeepTimersRunning>true</KeepTimersRunning>
+    <OverrideVtor>false</OverrideVtor>
+    <CacheFlash>true</CacheFlash>
+    <ProgFlashFromRam>true</ProgFlashFromRam>
+    <RamSnippetAddress>0x20000000</RamSnippetAddress>
+    <UncachedRange />
+    <preserveEEPROM>true</preserveEEPROM>
+    <OverrideVtorValue>exception_table</OverrideVtorValue>
+    <BootSegment>2</BootSegment>
+    <ResetRule>0</ResetRule>
+    <eraseonlaunchrule>0</eraseonlaunchrule>
+    <EraseKey />
+    <AsfFrameworkConfig>
+      <framework-data xmlns="">
+  <options />
+  <configurations />
+  <files />
+  <documentation help="" />
+  <offline-documentation help="" />
+  <dependencies>
+    <content-extension eid="atmel.asf" uuidref="Atmel.ASF" version="3.52.0" />
+  </dependencies>
+</framework-data>
+    </AsfFrameworkConfig>
+  </PropertyGroup>
+  <PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)' == 'Release' ">
+    <ToolchainSettings>
+      <AvrGccCpp>
+        <avrgcc.common.Device>-mmcu=atmega328p</avrgcc.common.Device>
+        <avrgcc.common.outputfiles.hex>True</avrgcc.common.outputfiles.hex>
+        <avrgcc.common.outputfiles.lss>True</avrgcc.common.outputfiles.lss>
+        <avrgcc.common.outputfiles.eep>True</avrgcc.common.outputfiles.eep>
+        <avrgcc.common.outputfiles.srec>True</avrgcc.common.outputfiles.srec>
+        <avrgcc.common.outputfiles.usersignatures>False</avrgcc.common.outputfiles.usersignatures>
+        <avrgcccpp.compiler.symbols.DefSymbols>
+          <ListValues>
+            <Value>NDEBUG</Value>
+            <Value>PUREBOOT_CLOCK_HZ=16000000</Value>
+            <Value>PUREBOOT_BAUD=115200</Value>
+            <Value>PUREBOOT_TIMEOUT=8</Value>
+          </ListValues>
+        </avrgcccpp.compiler.symbols.DefSymbols>
+        <avrgcccpp.compiler.directories.IncludePaths>
+          <ListValues>
+            <Value>$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\..\..\libavr\include</Value>
+          </ListValues>
+        </avrgcccpp.compiler.directories.IncludePaths>
+        <avrgcccpp.compiler.optimization.level>Optimize for size (-Os)</avrgcccpp.compiler.optimization.level>
+        <avrgcccpp.compiler.optimization.PrepareFunctionsForGarbageCollection>True</avrgcccpp.compiler.optimization.PrepareFunctionsForGarbageCollection>
+        <avrgcccpp.compiler.optimization.PrepareDataForGarbageCollection>True</avrgcccpp.compiler.optimization.PrepareDataForGarbageCollection>
+        <avrgcccpp.compiler.warnings.AllWarnings>True</avrgcccpp.compiler.warnings.AllWarnings>
+        <avrgcccpp.compiler.miscellaneous.OtherFlags>-std=c++26 -Wextra -Werror -mrelax -fno-exceptions -fno-rtti -fno-threadsafe-statics -fno-ivopts -fira-algorithm=priority -fno-tree-ter -fno-split-wide-types</avrgcccpp.compiler.miscellaneous.OtherFlags>
+        <avrgcccpp.linker.optimization.GarbageCollectUnusedSections>True</avrgcccpp.linker.optimization.GarbageCollectUnusedSections>
+        <avrgcccpp.linker.miscellaneous.LinkerFlags>-mrelax -nostartfiles -Wl,--section-start=.text=0x7e00 -Wl,--defsym=pureboot_app=0 -Wl,--pmem-wrap-around=32k</avrgcccpp.linker.miscellaneous.LinkerFlags>
+      </AvrGccCpp>
+    </ToolchainSettings>
+  </PropertyGroup>
+  <PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)' == 'Debug' ">
+    <ToolchainSettings>
+      <AvrGccCpp>
+        <avrgcc.common.Device>-mmcu=atmega328p</avrgcc.common.Device>
+        <avrgcc.common.outputfiles.hex>True</avrgcc.common.outputfiles.hex>
+        <avrgcc.common.outputfiles.lss>True</avrgcc.common.outputfiles.lss>
+        <avrgcc.common.outputfiles.eep>True</avrgcc.common.outputfiles.eep>
+        <avrgcc.common.outputfiles.srec>True</avrgcc.common.outputfiles.srec>
+        <avrgcc.common.outputfiles.usersignatures>False</avrgcc.common.outputfiles.usersignatures>
+        <avrgcccpp.compiler.symbols.DefSymbols>
+          <ListValues>
+            <Value>DEBUG</Value>
+            <Value>PUREBOOT_CLOCK_HZ=16000000</Value>
+            <Value>PUREBOOT_BAUD=115200</Value>
+            <Value>PUREBOOT_TIMEOUT=8</Value>
+          </ListValues>
+        </avrgcccpp.compiler.symbols.DefSymbols>
+        <avrgcccpp.compiler.directories.IncludePaths>
+          <ListValues>
+            <Value>$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\..\..\libavr\include</Value>
+          </ListValues>
+        </avrgcccpp.compiler.directories.IncludePaths>
+        <avrgcccpp.compiler.optimization.level>Optimize for size (-Os)</avrgcccpp.compiler.optimization.level>
+        <avrgcccpp.compiler.optimization.PrepareFunctionsForGarbageCollection>True</avrgcccpp.compiler.optimization.PrepareFunctionsForGarbageCollection>
+        <avrgcccpp.compiler.optimization.PrepareDataForGarbageCollection>True</avrgcccpp.compiler.optimization.PrepareDataForGarbageCollection>
+        <avrgcccpp.compiler.warnings.AllWarnings>True</avrgcccpp.compiler.warnings.AllWarnings>
+        <avrgcccpp.compiler.miscellaneous.OtherFlags>-std=c++26 -Wextra -Werror -mrelax -fno-exceptions -fno-rtti -fno-threadsafe-statics -fno-ivopts -fira-algorithm=priority -fno-tree-ter -fno-split-wide-types -gdwarf-4</avrgcccpp.compiler.miscellaneous.OtherFlags>
+        <avrgcccpp.linker.optimization.GarbageCollectUnusedSections>True</avrgcccpp.linker.optimization.GarbageCollectUnusedSections>
+        <avrgcccpp.linker.miscellaneous.LinkerFlags>-mrelax -nostartfiles -Wl,--section-start=.text=0x7e00 -Wl,--defsym=pureboot_app=0 -Wl,--pmem-wrap-around=32k</avrgcccpp.linker.miscellaneous.LinkerFlags>
+      </AvrGccCpp>
+    </ToolchainSettings>
+  </PropertyGroup>
+  <ItemGroup>
+    <Compile Include="..\..\pureboot\pureboot.cpp">
+      <SubType>compile</SubType>
+      <Link>pureboot\pureboot.cpp</Link>
+    </Compile>
+  </ItemGroup>
+  <ItemGroup>
+    <Folder Include="pureboot" />
+  </ItemGroup>
+  <Import Project="$(AVRSTUDIO_EXE_PATH)\Vs\Compiler.targets" />
+</Project>

ide/tsb_asm/tsb_asm.cppproj

@@ -0,0 +1,112 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
+<Project DefaultTargets="Build" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003" ToolsVersion="14.0">
+  <PropertyGroup>
+    <SchemaVersion>2.0</SchemaVersion>
+    <ProjectVersion>7.0</ProjectVersion>
+    <ToolchainName>com.Atmel.AVRGCC8.CPP</ToolchainName>
+    <ProjectGuid>6618d3be-7eb3-49a2-9113-f128e396ff06</ProjectGuid>
+    <avrdevice>ATmega328P</avrdevice>
+    <avrdeviceseries>none</avrdeviceseries>
+    <OutputType>Executable</OutputType>
+    <Language>CPP</Language>
+    <OutputFileName>$(MSBuildProjectName)</OutputFileName>
+    <OutputFileExtension>.elf</OutputFileExtension>
+    <OutputDirectory>$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\$(Configuration)</OutputDirectory>
+    <AssemblyName>tsb_asm</AssemblyName>
+    <Name>tsb_asm</Name>
+    <RootNamespace>tsb_asm</RootNamespace>
+    <ToolchainFlavour>avr-g++-16.1.0</ToolchainFlavour>
+    <KeepTimersRunning>true</KeepTimersRunning>
+    <OverrideVtor>false</OverrideVtor>
+    <CacheFlash>true</CacheFlash>
+    <ProgFlashFromRam>true</ProgFlashFromRam>
+    <RamSnippetAddress>0x20000000</RamSnippetAddress>
+    <UncachedRange />
+    <preserveEEPROM>true</preserveEEPROM>
+    <OverrideVtorValue>exception_table</OverrideVtorValue>
+    <BootSegment>2</BootSegment>
+    <ResetRule>0</ResetRule>
+    <eraseonlaunchrule>0</eraseonlaunchrule>
+    <EraseKey />
+    <AsfFrameworkConfig>
+      <framework-data xmlns="">
+  <options />
+  <configurations />
+  <files />
+  <documentation help="" />
+  <offline-documentation help="" />
+  <dependencies>
+    <content-extension eid="atmel.asf" uuidref="Atmel.ASF" version="3.52.0" />
+  </dependencies>
+</framework-data>
+    </AsfFrameworkConfig>
+  </PropertyGroup>
+  <PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)' == 'Release' ">
+    <ToolchainSettings>
+      <AvrGccCpp>
+        <avrgcc.common.Device>-mmcu=atmega328p</avrgcc.common.Device>
+        <avrgcc.common.outputfiles.hex>True</avrgcc.common.outputfiles.hex>
+        <avrgcc.common.outputfiles.lss>True</avrgcc.common.outputfiles.lss>
+        <avrgcc.common.outputfiles.eep>True</avrgcc.common.outputfiles.eep>
+        <avrgcc.common.outputfiles.srec>True</avrgcc.common.outputfiles.srec>
+        <avrgcc.common.outputfiles.usersignatures>False</avrgcc.common.outputfiles.usersignatures>
+        <avrgcccpp.compiler.symbols.DefSymbols>
+          <ListValues>
+            <Value>NDEBUG</Value>
+          </ListValues>
+        </avrgcccpp.compiler.symbols.DefSymbols>
+        <avrgcccpp.compiler.directories.IncludePaths>
+          <ListValues>
+            <Value>$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\..\..\libavr\include</Value>
+          </ListValues>
+        </avrgcccpp.compiler.directories.IncludePaths>
+        <avrgcccpp.compiler.optimization.level>Optimize for size (-Os)</avrgcccpp.compiler.optimization.level>
+        <avrgcccpp.compiler.optimization.PrepareFunctionsForGarbageCollection>True</avrgcccpp.compiler.optimization.PrepareFunctionsForGarbageCollection>
+        <avrgcccpp.compiler.optimization.PrepareDataForGarbageCollection>True</avrgcccpp.compiler.optimization.PrepareDataForGarbageCollection>
+        <avrgcccpp.compiler.warnings.AllWarnings>True</avrgcccpp.compiler.warnings.AllWarnings>
+        <avrgcccpp.compiler.miscellaneous.OtherFlags>-std=c++26 -Wextra -Werror -mrelax -fno-exceptions -fno-rtti -fno-threadsafe-statics</avrgcccpp.compiler.miscellaneous.OtherFlags>
+        <avrgcccpp.linker.optimization.GarbageCollectUnusedSections>True</avrgcccpp.linker.optimization.GarbageCollectUnusedSections>
+        <avrgcccpp.linker.miscellaneous.LinkerFlags>-mrelax -nostartfiles -Wl,--section-start=.text=0x7e00 -Wl,--defsym=tsb_app=0 -Wl,--pmem-wrap-around=32k</avrgcccpp.linker.miscellaneous.LinkerFlags>
+      </AvrGccCpp>
+    </ToolchainSettings>
+  </PropertyGroup>
+  <PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)' == 'Debug' ">
+    <ToolchainSettings>
+      <AvrGccCpp>
+        <avrgcc.common.Device>-mmcu=atmega328p</avrgcc.common.Device>
+        <avrgcc.common.outputfiles.hex>True</avrgcc.common.outputfiles.hex>
+        <avrgcc.common.outputfiles.lss>True</avrgcc.common.outputfiles.lss>
+        <avrgcc.common.outputfiles.eep>True</avrgcc.common.outputfiles.eep>
+        <avrgcc.common.outputfiles.srec>True</avrgcc.common.outputfiles.srec>
+        <avrgcc.common.outputfiles.usersignatures>False</avrgcc.common.outputfiles.usersignatures>
+        <avrgcccpp.compiler.symbols.DefSymbols>
+          <ListValues>
+            <Value>DEBUG</Value>
+          </ListValues>
+        </avrgcccpp.compiler.symbols.DefSymbols>
+        <avrgcccpp.compiler.directories.IncludePaths>
+          <ListValues>
+            <Value>$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\..\..\libavr\include</Value>
+          </ListValues>
+        </avrgcccpp.compiler.directories.IncludePaths>
+        <avrgcccpp.compiler.optimization.level>Optimize for size (-Os)</avrgcccpp.compiler.optimization.level>
+        <avrgcccpp.compiler.optimization.PrepareFunctionsForGarbageCollection>True</avrgcccpp.compiler.optimization.PrepareFunctionsForGarbageCollection>
+        <avrgcccpp.compiler.optimization.PrepareDataForGarbageCollection>True</avrgcccpp.compiler.optimization.PrepareDataForGarbageCollection>
+        <avrgcccpp.compiler.warnings.AllWarnings>True</avrgcccpp.compiler.warnings.AllWarnings>
+        <avrgcccpp.compiler.miscellaneous.OtherFlags>-std=c++26 -Wextra -Werror -mrelax -fno-exceptions -fno-rtti -fno-threadsafe-statics -gdwarf-4</avrgcccpp.compiler.miscellaneous.OtherFlags>
+        <avrgcccpp.linker.optimization.GarbageCollectUnusedSections>True</avrgcccpp.linker.optimization.GarbageCollectUnusedSections>
+        <avrgcccpp.linker.miscellaneous.LinkerFlags>-mrelax -nostartfiles -Wl,--section-start=.text=0x7e00 -Wl,--defsym=tsb_app=0 -Wl,--pmem-wrap-around=32k</avrgcccpp.linker.miscellaneous.LinkerFlags>
+      </AvrGccCpp>
+    </ToolchainSettings>
+  </PropertyGroup>
+  <ItemGroup>
+    <Compile Include="..\..\tsb\tsb_asm.cpp">
+      <SubType>compile</SubType>
+      <Link>tsb\tsb_asm.cpp</Link>
+    </Compile>
+  </ItemGroup>
+  <ItemGroup>
+    <Folder Include="tsb" />
+  </ItemGroup>
+  <Import Project="$(AVRSTUDIO_EXE_PATH)\Vs\Compiler.targets" />
+</Project>

pureboot/CMakeLists.txt

@@ -1,27 +1,16 @@
-# pureboot as a consumable CMake unit: the per-chip geometry, the default
-# baud ladder, and pureboot_add_loader() — the one way a loader target is
-# created, both by this port's own build and by a downstream project. A
-# downstream project brings its usual libavr setup (the `libavr` target and
+# pureboot as a consumable CMake unit: the per-chip geometry, the default baud
+# ladder, and pureboot_add_loader() — the one way a loader target is created.
+# A downstream project brings its usual libavr setup (the `libavr` target and
 # the LIBAVR_MCU toolchain preset), adds this directory, and states its
-# deployment:
+# deployment; every argument is optional (README.md):
 #
 #   add_subdirectory(bootloader/pureboot)
 #   pureboot_add_loader(myboot CLOCK 1000000 SERIAL software TX pb1 RX pb5)
-#
-# Every argument is optional — CLOCK defaults to the family assumption
-# below, BAUD to the fastest standard rate the clock reaches within 2.5 %
-# (the ladder), SERIAL to the chip's hardware USART where it has one
-# (`hardware`/`software` force a backend, USART 1 picks the second
-# instance), RX/TX to pb0/pb1 for the software UART, TIMEOUT to 8 s.
-# Infeasible picks fail the build by name: libavr's baud-error and
-# software-UART cycle-floor static asserts re-check whatever is passed.
 
-# Per-family geometry: flash/page/EEPROM sizes and the linker wrap the PC
-# modulo needs, the loader slot (each chip's smallest boot sector — 1 KiB on
-# the word-addressed 1284s), and the deployment defaults (crystal assumption
-# on the megas, calibrated RC on the tinies). The USART flags mirror the
-# hardware inventory the loader's own static asserts check (the plain 644 is
-# the x4 family's one single-USART die, Atmel-2593).
+# Per-family geometry, deployment defaults, and the linker wrap the PC modulo
+# needs. The slot is 512 bytes on every chip. The USART flags mirror the
+# hardware inventory the loader's own static asserts check — the plain 644 is
+# the x4 family's one single-USART die (Atmel-2593).
 set(_pb_has_usart 1)
 set(_pb_has_usart1 0)
 if(LIBAVR_MCU MATCHES "^attiny13a?$")
@@ -91,10 +80,9 @@ elseif(LIBAVR_MCU MATCHES "^atmega324(a|p|pa)$")
 	set(_pb_eeprom 1024)
 	set(_pb_has_usart1 1)
 elseif(LIBAVR_MCU MATCHES "^atmega644(a|p|pa)?$")
-	# 64 KiB is exactly the 16-bit byte space: plain LPM reaches everything,
-	# and the smallest boot section (1 KiB) holds the loader and its staging
-	# slot together (see README.md). The plain 644 is the family's one
-	# single-USART die.
+	# 64 KiB is exactly the 16-bit byte space, so plain LPM still reaches
+	# everything and the wire stays byte-addressed. The plain 644 is the
+	# family's one single-USART die.
 	set(_pb_flash 65536)
 	set(_pb_wrap -Wl,--pmem-wrap-around=64k)
 	set(_pb_page 256)
@@ -104,38 +92,41 @@ elseif(LIBAVR_MCU MATCHES "^atmega644(a|p|pa)?$")
 		set(_pb_has_usart1 1)
 	endif()
 elseif(LIBAVR_MCU MATCHES "^atmega1284p?$")
-	# 128 KiB: wire flash addresses are word addresses, reads go through
-	# ELPM, and the PC's modulo wrap exceeds what --pmem-wrap-around models.
-	# The slot is 1 KiB — this chip's own smallest boot sector; the far
-	# machinery cannot fit 512 B (see README.md).
+	# 128 KiB: wire addresses are words, reads go through ELPM, and the PC's
+	# modulo wrap exceeds what --pmem-wrap-around models.
 	set(_pb_flash 131072)
 	set(_pb_wrap "")
 	set(_pb_page 256)
 	set(_pb_hz 16000000)
 	set(_pb_eeprom 4096)
-	set(_pb_slot 1024)
-	set(_pb_limit 1024)
 	set(_pb_has_usart1 1)
 else()
 	message(FATAL_ERROR "pureboot: no geometry for ${LIBAVR_MCU}")
 endif()
-if(NOT DEFINED _pb_slot)
-	set(_pb_slot 512)
-endif()
+set(_pb_slot 512)
 math(EXPR _pb_base "${_pb_flash} - ${_pb_slot}")
 math(EXPR _pb_base_hex "${_pb_base}" OUTPUT_FORMAT HEXADECIMAL)
 # Patched-vector chips hand over through the trampoline word below the slot,
 # which is also the slot's own last word — their budget is slot − 2.
 if(LIBAVR_MCU MATCHES "^atmega" AND NOT LIBAVR_MCU MATCHES "^atmega48")
 	set(_pb_app 0)
-	if(NOT DEFINED _pb_limit)
 	set(_pb_limit ${_pb_slot})
-	endif()
 else()
 	math(EXPR _pb_app "${_pb_base} - 2")
 	math(EXPR _pb_limit "${_pb_slot} - 2")
 endif()
 
+# The pins each USART owns. A bit-banged link deployed on them has to release
+# that USART before it can drive the line, and those instructions are the one
+# way the choice of pins moves the image — so a size matrix needs them as an
+# axis even though pins are otherwise immediate operands. Uniform across every
+# mega libavr covers: USART0 (the classics' un-numbered USART included) on
+# PD0/PD1, USART1 on PD2/PD3.
+set(_pb_usart0_rx pd0)
+set(_pb_usart0_tx pd1)
+set(_pb_usart1_rx pd2)
+set(_pb_usart1_tx pd3)
+
 # simavr names its cores after the base dies; the A revisions run on them
 # (the 644PA on the 644P core).
 set(_pb_sim_mcu ${LIBAVR_MCU})
@@ -153,6 +144,8 @@ set_property(GLOBAL PROPERTY PUREBOOT_WRAP "${_pb_wrap}")
 set_property(GLOBAL PROPERTY PUREBOOT_DEFAULT_HZ ${_pb_hz})
 set_property(GLOBAL PROPERTY PUREBOOT_HAS_USART ${_pb_has_usart})
 set_property(GLOBAL PROPERTY PUREBOOT_HAS_USART1 ${_pb_has_usart1})
+set_property(GLOBAL PROPERTY PUREBOOT_USART0_TX ${_pb_usart0_tx})
+set_property(GLOBAL PROPERTY PUREBOOT_USART1_TX ${_pb_usart1_tx})
 
 # The port's own build (tests, the size matrix) reads the geometry from the
 # parent scope; a downstream consumer gets the same variables for free.
@@ -165,18 +158,24 @@ set(PUREBOOT_DEFAULT_HZ ${_pb_hz} PARENT_SCOPE)
 set(PUREBOOT_HAS_USART ${_pb_has_usart} PARENT_SCOPE)
 set(PUREBOOT_HAS_USART1 ${_pb_has_usart1} PARENT_SCOPE)
 set(PUREBOOT_SIM_MCU ${_pb_sim_mcu} PARENT_SCOPE)
+set(PUREBOOT_USART0_RX ${_pb_usart0_rx} PARENT_SCOPE)
+set(PUREBOOT_USART0_TX ${_pb_usart0_tx} PARENT_SCOPE)
+set(PUREBOOT_USART1_RX ${_pb_usart1_rx} PARENT_SCOPE)
+set(PUREBOOT_USART1_TX ${_pb_usart1_tx} PARENT_SCOPE)
 
-# The fastest standard rate the clock reaches within 2.5 % — the same
-# best-of-U2X-and-plain divisor search libavr's solve_baud runs, so a
-# default never trips the compile-time error it is checked against. A
-# software build additionally requires the polled receiver's 100-cycles-a-bit
-# floor (its own static assert): at low clocks the U2X divisor still reaches
-# rates the bit-banged sampler cannot, so the backend gates the ladder.
-function(pureboot_default_baud clock software outvar)
-	foreach(baud 115200 57600 38400 19200 9600)
+# The rates a default may pick, fastest first.
+set_property(GLOBAL PROPERTY PUREBOOT_BAUD_LADDER 115200 57600 38400 19200 9600)
+
+# Whether <baud> is reachable from <clock> within 2.5 %, by the same
+# best-of-U2X-and-plain divisor search libavr's solve_baud runs, so a build
+# never trips the compile-time error it is checked against. A software build
+# also needs the polled receiver's 100-cycles-a-bit floor: at low clocks the
+# U2X divisor reaches rates the bit-banged sampler cannot.
+function(pureboot_baud_feasible clock baud software outvar)
+	set(${outvar} 0 PARENT_SCOPE)
 	math(EXPR _cycles "${clock} / ${baud}")
 	if(software AND _cycles LESS 100)
-			continue()
+		return()
 	endif()
 	foreach(divisor 8 16)
 		math(EXPR _step "${divisor} * ${baud}")
@@ -191,23 +190,41 @@ function(pureboot_default_baud clock software outvar)
 		endif()
 		math(EXPR _error_bp "${_delta} * 10000 / ${baud}")
 		if(_error_bp LESS_EQUAL 250)
+			set(${outvar} 1 PARENT_SCOPE)
+			return()
+		endif()
+	endforeach()
+endfunction()
+
+# The fastest ladder rate the clock reaches.
+function(pureboot_default_baud clock software outvar)
+	get_property(_ladder GLOBAL PROPERTY PUREBOOT_BAUD_LADDER)
+	foreach(baud ${_ladder})
+		pureboot_baud_feasible(${clock} ${baud} ${software} _ok)
+		if(_ok)
 			set(${outvar} ${baud} PARENT_SCOPE)
 			return()
 		endif()
 	endforeach()
-	endforeach()
-	message(FATAL_ERROR "pureboot: no standard baud rate fits a ${clock} Hz clock within 2.5 %")
+	message(FATAL_ERROR "pureboot: no standard baud rate fits a ${clock} Hz clock within 2.5 % "
+	        "— pass BAUD <rate> to deploy a non-standard one")
 endfunction()
 
 # pureboot_add_loader(<name> [CLOCK <hz>] [BAUD <bd>]
-#                     [SERIAL auto|hardware|software] [USART <n>]
+#                     [SERIAL auto|hardware|software|autobaud] [USART <n>]
 #                     [RX <pin>] [TX <pin>] [TIMEOUT <s>])
 #
-# Creates the loader target plus its flashable images (<name>.hex for a
-# programmer, <name>.bin for --update-loader) and stamps the resolved
-# deployment on the target: the PUREBOOT_HZ, PUREBOOT_BAUD and PUREBOOT_LINK
-# properties (the link as usart0/usart1/sw:<RX>,<TX> — what a test harness
-# needs to speak to the build).
+# The loader target plus its flashable images (<name>.hex for a programmer,
+# <name>.bin for --update-loader). The resolved deployment is stamped on the
+# target as PUREBOOT_HZ / PUREBOOT_BAUD / PUREBOOT_LINK (the link spelled
+# usart0, usart1, or sw:<RX>,<TX> with a trailing @<n> where those pins are a
+# USART's own) — what a test harness speaks to it with.
+#
+# SERIAL autobaud measures the host's bit timing at run time, so the image
+# carries no clock and no baud: CLOCK and BAUD are not build parameters there,
+# and one binary per chip serves every F_CPU and every rate. The stamped
+# PUREBOOT_HZ/PUREBOOT_BAUD then record what a harness should *drive* it at,
+# not what it was built for.
 function(pureboot_add_loader name)
 	cmake_parse_arguments(PB "" "CLOCK;BAUD;SERIAL;USART;RX;TX;TIMEOUT" "" ${ARGN})
 	if(PB_UNPARSED_ARGUMENTS)
@@ -229,8 +246,8 @@ function(pureboot_add_loader name)
 	if(NOT PB_SERIAL)
 		set(PB_SERIAL auto)
 	endif()
-	if(DEFINED PB_USART AND PB_SERIAL STREQUAL "software")
-		message(FATAL_ERROR "pureboot_add_loader(${name}): USART ${PB_USART} contradicts SERIAL software")
+	if(DEFINED PB_USART AND NOT PB_SERIAL MATCHES "^(auto|hardware)$")
+		message(FATAL_ERROR "pureboot_add_loader(${name}): USART ${PB_USART} contradicts SERIAL ${PB_SERIAL}")
 	endif()
 	if(DEFINED PB_USART)
 		set(PB_SERIAL hardware)
@@ -259,7 +276,7 @@ function(pureboot_add_loader name)
 				set(PB_SERIAL software)
 			endif()
 		endif()
-		if(PB_SERIAL STREQUAL "software")
+		if(PB_SERIAL MATCHES "^(software|autobaud)$")
 			if(NOT PB_RX)
 				set(PB_RX pb0)
 			endif()
@@ -271,13 +288,26 @@ function(pureboot_add_loader name)
 					message(FATAL_ERROR "pureboot_add_loader(${name}): pin '${_pin}' is not of the form pb1")
 				endif()
 			endforeach()
+			if(PB_SERIAL STREQUAL "autobaud")
+				set(_serial_defines PUREBOOT_AUTOBAUD PUREBOOT_RX=${PB_RX} PUREBOOT_TX=${PB_TX})
+			else()
 				set(_serial_defines PUREBOOT_SOFT_SERIAL PUREBOOT_RX=${PB_RX} PUREBOOT_TX=${PB_TX})
-			# The link spec a test harness drives a GPIO bridge with: sw:<RX>,<TX>
-			# as the port letter and bit, the loader's own pin naming upcased.
+			endif()
+			# sw:<RX>,<TX> as port letter and bit, upcased — with @<n> where
+			# the TX pin is a USART's own TXD, since a harness driving that
+			# link has to know the USART owns the pin until the loader
+			# releases it.
 			string(SUBSTRING ${PB_RX} 1 2 _rx_pin)
 			string(SUBSTRING ${PB_TX} 1 2 _tx_pin)
 			string(TOUPPER "sw:${_rx_pin},${_tx_pin}" _link)
 			string(REPLACE "SW" "sw" _link ${_link})
+			get_property(_tx0 GLOBAL PROPERTY PUREBOOT_USART0_TX)
+			get_property(_tx1 GLOBAL PROPERTY PUREBOOT_USART1_TX)
+			if(_usart AND PB_TX STREQUAL _tx0)
+				set(_link "${_link}@0")
+			elseif(_usart1 AND PB_TX STREQUAL _tx1)
+				set(_link "${_link}@1")
+			endif()
 		endif()
 	endif()
 	if(NOT PB_BAUD)
@@ -288,27 +318,34 @@ function(pureboot_add_loader name)
 		endif()
 	endif()
 
+	if(PB_SERIAL STREQUAL "autobaud")
+		# No clock and no baud reach the image; the window is a poll budget.
+		set(_defines ${_serial_defines})
+	else()
 		set(_defines PUREBOOT_CLOCK_HZ=${PB_CLOCK} PUREBOOT_BAUD=${PB_BAUD} PUREBOOT_TIMEOUT=${PB_TIMEOUT}
 		    ${_serial_defines})
+	endif()
 
 	add_executable(${name} ${CMAKE_CURRENT_FUNCTION_LIST_DIR}/pureboot.cpp)
 	target_link_libraries(${name} PRIVATE libavr)
 	target_compile_definitions(${name} PRIVATE ${_defines})
-	# Codegen shaping for the loader TU only, worth ~40 B on every chip and
-	# what carries the far-flash 1284 build under 512. At -Os GCC otherwise
-	# rewrites the byte-stream loops' counters into end-pointer forms that
-	# cost registers (-fno-ivopts, -fno-split-wide-types), leaves register
-	# pressure on the table with the default allocator
-	# (-fira-algorithm=priority), and spends bytes on rewrites a
-	# straight-line loader gains nothing from.
+	# Codegen shaping for the loader TU only. At -Os GCC otherwise rewrites the
+	# byte-stream loops' counters into end-pointer forms that cost registers
+	# (-fno-ivopts, -fno-split-wide-types), leaves register pressure on the
+	# table with the default allocator (-fira-algorithm=priority), and keeps
+	# expression temporaries in registers (-fno-tree-ter) — but every loop body
+	# here contains a call, so a register held across it costs more than the
+	# load-immediate it saves. The set is fitted to the loader's body and has to
+	# be re-measured when that body changes: -fno-move-loop-invariants belonged
+	# here while the command loop carried four transfer bodies and costs bytes
+	# now that it carries one.
 	target_compile_options(${name} PRIVATE
-	    -fno-ivopts -fira-algorithm=priority -fno-expensive-optimizations -fno-split-wide-types)
+	    -fno-ivopts -fira-algorithm=priority -fno-tree-ter -fno-split-wide-types)
 	target_link_options(${name} PRIVATE -nostartfiles -Wl,--section-start=.text=${_base_hex}
 	                    -Wl,--defsym=pureboot_app=${_app} ${_wrap})
 	add_custom_command(TARGET ${name} POST_BUILD COMMAND ${CMAKE_SIZE} $<TARGET_FILE:${name}>)
-	# The ELF is a container (symbols, section headers), never flashed; the
-	# flashable forms sit beside it: .hex for a programmer, .bin (the slot's
-	# bare bytes) for the host tool's raw path and --update-loader.
+	# The ELF is a container, never flashed: .hex for a programmer, .bin (the
+	# slot's bare bytes) for --update-loader.
 	add_custom_command(TARGET ${name} POST_BUILD
 	                   COMMAND ${CMAKE_OBJCOPY} -O ihex -R .eeprom
 	                           $<TARGET_FILE:${name}> $<TARGET_FILE:${name}>.hex
@@ -317,3 +354,4 @@ function(pureboot_add_loader name)
 	set_target_properties(${name} PROPERTIES PUREBOOT_HZ ${PB_CLOCK} PUREBOOT_BAUD ${PB_BAUD}
 	                      PUREBOOT_LINK ${_link})
 endfunction()
+

pureboot/README.md

@@ -2,52 +2,73 @@
 
 A serial bootloader on [libavr](https://git.blackmark.me/avr/libavr), pure by
 constraint: one C++ source, no inline assembly, no global register variables
-(attributes and compiler flags allowed), built for **every chip libavr
-targets — all 37 — in 512 bytes each**: 434 B on the tiny13s, 438–442 B on
-the tiny25/45/85, 412–452 B across the megas, and 506 B on the
-ATmega1284/1284P, whose far-flash machinery (ELPM reads, RAMPZ page commands,
-word-addressed wire) is the heaviest. Those are the stock deployments;
-choosing the software UART where the chip has a USART costs 8–46 B more (a
-bit-bang against a peripheral), which every chip still absorbs inside its
-slot — on the 1284s that means their 1 KiB boot sector, where the
-software-serial image lands at 546 B. Bringing the 1284's default build
-under 512 at all is what the loop-placement attributes on the byte streamers
-(`pureboot.cpp`) and the codegen flags on the loader TU (`CMakeLists.txt`)
-are for; measured against each chip's own budget the tightest is the
-ATmega328P, 50 B spare. Clock, baud, serial backend and
-pins are per-build configuration (below); the size matrix in the test suite
-holds every combination inside its slot. The device speaks primitives; every
-composite — verify, erase, reset-vector surgery, updating the loader itself —
-lives in the host tool (`pureboot.py`).
-
-The 1284s still *deploy* in a 1 KiB slot, their smallest boot sector being
-512 words; at 506 B the image would also fit the 644's
-two-512-byte-slots-per-boot-sector geometry.
+(attributes and compiler flags allowed), **512 bytes on every chip libavr
+targets — all 37**. The device speaks primitives; every composite — verify,
+erase, reset-vector surgery, updating the loader itself — lives in the host
+tool (`pureboot.py`).
 
 The image is **position-independent**: control flow is PC-relative, the
-read/write paths take wire addresses, the write guard protects the slot the
-code is *running* in (from the runtime return address), the info block is
-addressed from that same anchor, and the application jump is an indirect
-call to an absolute entry. The identical binary therefore runs from any
-slot with every command intact — which makes pureboot **its own staging
-loader**: the host installs the same binary one slot below the resident,
-jumps into it, and lets it rewrite the resident. The slot is 512 bytes
-(1 KiB on the word-addressed large chips, matching their boot-sector
-minimum); on the tinies the budget is 510, not 512: a slot's last word
-belongs to the host-managed trampoline (below).
+transfer paths take wire addresses, the write guard protects the slot the code
+is *running* in (from the runtime return address), nothing else is
+flash-resident to address at all, and the application jump is an indirect call
+to an absolute entry. The identical binary therefore runs from any slot with
+every command intact, which makes pureboot **its own staging loader**: the host
+installs the same binary one slot below the resident, jumps into it, and lets
+it rewrite the resident. The lint holds it to that literally — the image must
+come out byte-identical linked at a different base.
+
+## Chips
+
+Sizes are the default configuration: the hardware USART0 at 115200 8N1 on a
+16 MHz crystal, or the software UART on RX = PB0 / TX = PB1 at 57600 8N1 on
+the tinies' RC oscillator (9.6 MHz on the t13s, 8 MHz above). Every axis moves
+per build — see *Configuration*. The autobaud column is the clock-free build,
+which is the largest the space produces and the tightest fit in the matrix;
+it carries the calibration machinery and no clock at all.
+
+| Chip | Flash | Loader at | Link | Stock | Autobaud |
+|---|---|---|---|---|---|
+| ATtiny13, ATtiny13A † | 1 KiB | 0x0200 | software | 394 B | 464 B |
+| ATtiny25 † | 2 KiB | 0x0600 | software | 398 B | 468 B |
+| ATtiny45 † | 4 KiB | 0x0e00 | software | 402 B | 472 B |
+| ATtiny85 † | 8 KiB | 0x1e00 | software | 402 B | 472 B |
+| ATmega8, 8A | 8 KiB | 0x1e00 | USART0 | 364 B | 478 B |
+| ATmega16, 16A | 16 KiB | 0x3e00 | USART0 | 366 B | 482 B |
+| ATmega32, 32A | 32 KiB | 0x7e00 | USART0 | 366 B | 482 B |
+| ATmega48, 48A, 48P, 48PA † | 4 KiB | 0x0e00 | USART0 | 392 B | 468 B |
+| ATmega88, 88A, 88P, 88PA | 8 KiB | 0x1e00 | USART0 | 402 B | 478 B |
+| ATmega168, 168A, 168P, 168PA | 16 KiB | 0x3e00 | USART0 | 404 B | 482 B |
+| ATmega328, 328P | 32 KiB | 0x7e00 | USART0 | 404 B | 482 B |
+| ATmega164A, 164P, 164PA | 16 KiB | 0x3e00 | USART0 | 404 B | 482 B |
+| ATmega324A, 324P, 324PA | 32 KiB | 0x7e00 | USART0 | 404 B | 482 B |
+| ATmega644, 644A, 644P, 644PA | 64 KiB | 0xfe00 | USART0 | 398 B | 476 B |
+| ATmega1284, 1284P | 128 KiB | 0x1fe00 | USART0 | 424 B | 502 B |
+
+† No hardware boot section: the host patches the reset vector, and the budget
+is 510 bytes, since the slot's last word is the trampoline.
+
+The tightest fit in the whole space is the 1284s' autobaud build deployed on a
+USART's own pins, 506 of its 512 — they alone carry the far-flash machinery
+(ELPM reads, RAMPZ page commands), autobaud alone carries the calibration loop,
+and a bit-banged link on a USART's pins alone has to release it (below). The
+same build on the default pins is 502. The flash bank riding in a transfer's
+selector byte keeps even those chips' addressing the same 16-bit form every
+other chip uses, which is why they are no longer the outlier they were.
+
+The software UART enables the RX pull-up; TX idles high. All multi-byte wire
+quantities are little-endian.
 
 ## Configuration
 
-Every deployment axis is a build parameter, resolved by the CMake function
-`pureboot_add_loader()` (in `pureboot/CMakeLists.txt`) — the one way a
-loader target is created, by this repo's own build and by a downstream
-project alike:
+Every deployment axis is a build parameter of `pureboot_add_loader()` (in
+`pureboot/CMakeLists.txt`) — the one way a loader target is created, by this
+repo's build and by a downstream project alike:
 
 | Argument | Meaning | Default |
 |---|---|---|
 | `CLOCK <hz>` | the clock the board runs | 16 MHz megas, 8 MHz t25/45/85, 9.6 MHz t13s |
 | `BAUD <bd>` | the wire rate | the ladder below |
-| `SERIAL auto\|hardware\|software` | the link backend | `auto`: the hardware USART where the chip has one |
+| `SERIAL auto\|hardware\|software\|autobaud` | the link backend | `auto`: the hardware USART where the chip has one |
 | `USART <n>` | the USART instance (x4 megas carry two) | 0 |
 | `RX <pin>`, `TX <pin>` | software-UART pins | `pb0`, `pb1` |
 | `TIMEOUT <s>` | the activation window | 8 |
@@ -55,15 +76,53 @@ project alike:
 The default baud is the fastest of 115200/57600/38400/19200/9600 the clock
 reaches within 2.5 % — the same U2X-included divisor search libavr's baud
 solver runs — and on a software build additionally within the polled
-receiver's 100-cycles-a-bit floor. 16 MHz lands 115200, 8 MHz 57600,
-1 MHz 9600. Whatever is picked or overridden is re-checked in the compile:
-an infeasible clock/baud/backend combination, or a USART the chip does not
-have, fails with a named static assert.
+receiver's 100-cycles-a-bit floor. Whatever is picked or overridden is
+re-checked in the compile: an infeasible combination, or a USART the chip does
+not have, fails with a named static assert.
 
-A downstream project brings its usual libavr setup (the `libavr` target,
-the chip via the `LIBAVR_MCU` toolchain preset), consumes this directory,
-and states its deployment — for example an ATmega328P on its shipped
-1 MHz fuses with the software UART on hand-picked pins:
+Putting a bit-banged link on a USART's own pins is a supported deployment, and
+the usual one where a board's USB bridge is wired to RXD/TXD: the link's `init`
+clears that USART's `UCSRnB` first, because while its `TXEN` is set the USART —
+not the port register — owns the TX pin, and a loader entered from an
+application that left it enabled would receive and obey while answering nothing
+(§20.2). It costs four bytes, and only on those pins.
+
+`SERIAL autobaud` takes neither: the loader **measures** the host's bit timing
+at run time, so `CLOCK` and `BAUD` are not build parameters there and one
+binary per chip serves every clock and every rate. It is for the deployments
+whose clock is not known at build time and does not hold still — the internal
+RC oscillator, ±10 % from the factory and moving with supply and temperature —
+where a fixed-baud software build has to be rebuilt per clock and still drifts
+out of tolerance. The cost is that it is software-serial only (a hardware USART
+needs its divisor programmed) and that activation counts poll iterations rather
+than seconds, since there is no clock to convert them against
+(`PUREBOOT_AUTOBAUD_POLLS`, default 4,000,000).
+
+**Pick the rate by cycles a bit, and leave the oscillator room.** What the
+calibration can measure is bounded by how many clock cycles one bit lasts, so a
+rate is only ever sensible relative to the clock. Two different floors matter:
+
+| | cycles a bit |
+|---|---|
+| the logic's floor — exact clock, simulated | solid to ~36, fails outright by ~31 (`pureboot.autobaud` gates a point here) |
+| a factory-trimmed internal RC, measured on an ATtiny13A | reliable at ~118; already locking 1 attempt in 5 by ~59 |
+
+The gap is the oscillator's own jitter, and no exact-clock simulation shows it.
+So on an RC part, **budget about 100 cycles a bit** — the same order as the
+fixed-baud software receiver's floor — rather than the logic's ~36. Measured
+envelope on that ATtiny13A, with an application resident: 9.6 and 4.8 MHz reach
+115200, 1.2 MHz reaches 9600, 600 kHz reaches 4800, 128 kHz reaches 2400.
+
+One trap in testing this: on a patched-vector chip an **erased** application
+region walks straight back up into the loader, so every expired window opens
+another one and the host's retries eventually catch the pulse. That reads as far
+more reliable than the same part with an application resident, which gets one
+window per reset. Measure with an application in place.
+
+A downstream project brings its usual libavr setup (the `libavr` target, the
+chip via the `LIBAVR_MCU` toolchain preset), consumes this directory, and
+states its deployment — an ATmega328P on its shipped 1 MHz fuses with the
+software UART on hand-picked pins, say:
 
 ```cmake
 FetchContent_Declare(bootloader GIT_REPOSITORY git@git.blackmark.me:avr/bootloader.git GIT_TAG main)
@@ -74,149 +133,195 @@ pureboot_add_loader(myboot CLOCK 1000000 SERIAL software TX pb1 RX pb5)
 ```
 
 The function emits the ELF plus `myboot.hex` (the programmer artifact) and
-`myboot.bin` (the self-update image), prints the size, and stamps the
-resolved deployment on the target as the `PUREBOOT_HZ`, `PUREBOOT_BAUD`
-and `PUREBOOT_LINK` properties — what a flashing script or test harness
-needs to speak to the build. This exact example deployment runs the full
-protocol suite in CI (`pureboot.custom`).
-
-## Link
-
-The stock builds assume the family's natural deployment; any axis moves
-per build (above).
-
-| Chip | Serial | Baud | Clock assumed |
-|---|---|---|---|
-| every ATmega | the hardware USART (USART0), RXD/TXD per pinout | 115200 8N1 | 16 MHz crystal |
-| ATtiny25/45/85 | software UART, RX = PB0, TX = PB1 | 57600 8N1 | 8 MHz internal RC |
-| ATtiny13/13A | software UART, RX = PB0, TX = PB1 | 57600 8N1 | 9.6 MHz internal RC |
-
-The software-UART RX pin has its pull-up enabled; TX idles high. All
-multi-byte quantities on the wire are little-endian.
+`myboot.bin` (the self-update image), prints the size, and stamps the resolved
+deployment on the target as the `PUREBOOT_HZ`, `PUREBOOT_BAUD` and
+`PUREBOOT_LINK` properties — what a flashing script or test harness needs to
+speak to the build. This exact deployment runs the full protocol suite in CI
+(`pureboot.custom`).
 
 ## Activation
 
-Reset enters the loader (BOOTRST on the boot-sectioned megas; the patched
-reset vector on the tinies and the boot-section-less m48s) — except a
-watchdog reset, which hands straight to the application (the application
-owns its watchdog; it must clear WDRF itself, which also releases the
-WDRF-forced WDE).
+Reset enters the loader (BOOTRST on the boot-sectioned megas, the patched
+reset vector elsewhere) — except a watchdog reset, which hands straight to the
+application with no activation window, since the application owns its watchdog.
+This is deliberate: it lets an application reboot itself instantly rather than
+sit through the window. The application must clear WDRF itself (libavr's
+`watchdog::disable()` does). **Gotcha:** WDRF is sticky (cleared only by
+software, not by a later reset), so an application that watchdog-resets and
+never clears it diverts *every* subsequent reset — external ones included —
+past the window too, and the loader becomes reachable only through an external
+programmer until the flag is cleared. A serial recovery path therefore assumes
+the application clears WDRF on its own reset path.
 
-The host then has one activation window per awaited byte to knock: `p` then
-`b`. Each awaited byte gets a fresh window; any other byte is discarded and
-awaited again (line noise cannot lock the loader, only delay it). A window
-expiring with an idle line boots the application.
+The host then knocks `p` then `b`, each awaited byte under a fresh activation
+window; any other byte is discarded and awaited again, so line noise can delay
+the loader but never lock it. A window expiring on an idle line boots the
+application.
 
-The window length is a compile-time constant — 8 s by default, another
-value via `pureboot_add_loader(... TIMEOUT <s>)` (the stock target keeps
-the `PUREBOOT_TIMEOUT` cache variable) — so the whole EEPROM belongs to
-the application; pureboot never uses it for its own state. Re-timing a
-deployed loader is a self-update with a re-timed build (below).
+An autobaud build opens differently, because it has to learn the rate before it
+can read a byte at all: the host sends the **calibration byte 0xC0** — a start
+bit plus six zero data bits form one low pulse of seven bit-times — and the
+loader times that pulse into its bit period. A single `p` then activates; the
+pulse has already proven a host is present, which the two-byte knock exists to
+establish elsewhere. Both waits are bounded, so a stray low pulse with no host
+behind it costs one window and then boots the application rather than holding
+the loader.
+
+The window is a compile-time constant (`TIMEOUT`, 8 s by default), so the whole
+EEPROM belongs to the application — pureboot keeps no state of its own.
+Re-timing a deployed loader is a self-update with a re-timed build. An autobaud
+build counts poll iterations instead (`PUREBOOT_AUTOBAUD_POLLS`), there being
+no clock to turn into seconds.
 
 ## Session
 
 After the knock the loader stays in its command loop until `J` jumps away or
 the chip resets. Before reading each command it waits for any pending EEPROM
-write to finish and sends the prompt `+` (0x2b) — the prompt is therefore
-also the completion ack of the previous command. A session is: await `+`,
-send a command, read its reply, repeat.
+write and sends the prompt `+` (0x2b), which is therefore also the previous
+command's completion ack. A session is: await `+`, send a command, read its
+reply, repeat.
 
-On chips whose flash exceeds 64 KiB (the 1284s — info-block flag bit 1) the
-`R`/`W` flash addresses are **word** addresses; everywhere else they are byte
-addresses (the 644s' 64 KiB is exactly the 16-bit byte space and stays
-byte-addressed). EEPROM addresses are always bytes, counts always bytes.
+Addresses are **byte addresses within a 64 KiB bank**, and the bank rides in
+the command's selector byte, so no command has to speak word addresses. `J` is
+the exception: it takes a word address, because that is what the hardware's own
+jump takes. EEPROM and data-space addresses and all counts are bytes.
+
+The loader trusts the host to keep addresses in range: it does not bound them
+against the chip. **Gotcha:** a write (or read) that runs past `E2END` wraps —
+EEAR is only as wide as the array, so an address past the end truncates onto
+low EEPROM and the write silently overwrites it. Keeping transfers within the
+real sizes is the host's job (the shipped tool does); the flash budget is
+better spent on features than on re-checking a bound the host already holds.
 
 | Cmd | Arguments | Reply |
 |---|---|---|
-| `b` | — | the 12-byte info block |
-| `R` | addr16, n8 | n flash bytes (n = 0 means 256) |
-| `W` | addr16, then one page of data | — (completion = next prompt) |
-| `r` | addr16, n8 | n EEPROM bytes (n = 0 means 256) |
-| `w` | addr16, n8, then n data bytes | `+` per byte, sent once its write has begun |
-| `F` | — | 4 bytes: low fuse, lock, extended fuse, high fuse |
+| `b` | — | 4 bytes: the pureboot version, then the three signature bytes |
+| `G` | sel8, addr16, n8 | n bytes from the selected space (n = 0 means 256) |
+| `g` | sel8, addr16, n8, then n data bytes | `+` per byte, sent once its write has begun |
+| `W` | sel8, addr16, then one page of data | — (completion = next prompt) |
 | `J` | word address (16-bit) | `+`, then execution continues there |
 | other | — | ignored; the loop re-prompts (send a junk byte, await `+`, to resync) |
 
-`W` streams exactly one SPM page (size from the info block) into the buffer,
-then erases and programs; the address must be page-aligned. Pages inside the
-512-byte slot the loader is *running* in are drained but never programmed — a
-broken host cannot brick the running copy, and a staged copy may rewrite the
-resident slot.
+`G` and `g` are one letter in two cases, which is the whole command set for
+every memory: the **selector** byte's low nibble names the space and its high
+nibble carries the flash bank.
 
-The loader never clears the SPM buffer before a fill, so **one `W` may
-program the wrong bytes, and the host is what fixes it**. The buffer is
-write-once per word until cleared, and two things leave words in it: a
-refused page (drained, never programmed) and — where SPM runs from anywhere,
-the tinies and the m48s — an application that self-programmed before
-entering. The next `W` takes those stale words, and clears them: a page write
-auto-erases the buffer (§26.2.1; §19.2 on the tinies), so repeating it
-programs correctly. The host therefore verifies every page it writes and
-rewrites what comes back wrong (three retries, then it stops); a host that
-programs without reading back cannot trust the first `W` after either event.
+| Space | | |
+|---|---|---|
+| 0 | flash | read-only here; it is written through `W` and the SPM space |
+| 1 | EEPROM | |
+| 2 | data | SRAM — and with it the register file and every I/O register, which share the data address space on AVR |
+| 3 | fuse and lock | index 0..3 in the hardware's own Z order: low, lock, extended, high |
+| 4 | SPM | write-only: the byte goes to SPMCSR and fires the instruction at the address |
 
-`w` is host-paced: send the next byte only after the previous
-byte's `+`. `F` returns the bytes in the hardware's Z order; on a chip
-without an extended fuse byte (the ATtiny13A) that slot carries no meaning.
-Fuse *writing* does not exist: SPM reaches flash (and, on the mega, lock
-bits) only — fuse bytes are external-programming territory by hardware.
+The data space is worth more than it looks. pureboot keeps **zero static RAM**
+and pushes no register, so at loader entry an application's SRAM is still
+whatever the application left there, bar the handful of bytes of return-address
+stack — which makes `G` over space 2 a post-mortem of a running application,
+not just a poke hole. The same address space carries the register file and the
+I/O registers, so peripheral state is readable too; reading some of those has
+side effects (reading UDR clears its flags), which is the host's business to
+know.
 
-`J` is the one control-transfer primitive: the host uses it to run the
-application (word 0 on the mega, the trampoline word on the tinies — both
-known from the info block) and to move between loader copies during a
-self-update. A jump to a loader slot's base re-enters that copy's own
-startup; it must then be knocked afresh.
+Programming a page is therefore `W` to fill the buffer, then a `g` to the SPM
+space for the erase, another for the write, and on a boot-sectioned chip a
+third to re-enable the RWW section — `0x03`, `0x05` and `0x11`, the SPMCSR
+encodings every part pureboot targets shares. The loader carries no page-commit
+logic of its own, and the same primitive reaches every other SPM operation,
+lock bits included.
 
-The info block (`b`):
+The SPM store and the SPM instruction must issue within four cycles of each
+other (§26.2), which no host can hit across a serial link — so this one
+primitive is *fused* rather than being a poke of SPMCSR followed by a poke of
+something else. That four-cycle window is the floor on how low-level a
+bootloader's primitives can go; it is not a byte-count decision.
 
-| Offset | Content |
-|---|---|
-| 0–2 | `'P'`, `'B'`, protocol version (1) |
-| 3–5 | device signature |
-| 6 | SPM page size in bytes (0 means 256) |
-| 7–8 | loader base — application flash ends here (a word address when bit 1 is set) |
-| 9–10 | EEPROM size |
-| 11 | bit 0: host must patch the reset vector (no hardware boot section); bit 1: flash wire addresses are word addresses |
+An SPM command aimed at the 512-byte slot the loader is **running in** is
+dropped, so a broken host cannot brick the running copy, while a staged copy
+one slot lower may rewrite the resident — which is what a self-update is.
 
-Composites are the host's job: verify = read back and compare, erase =
-write `0xff` (per page for flash, per byte for EEPROM).
+The loader never clears the SPM buffer before a fill, so **one `W` may program
+the wrong bytes, and the host is what fixes it**. The buffer is write-once per
+word until cleared, and two things leave words in it: a refused page, and —
+where SPM runs from anywhere, the tinies and the m48s — an application that
+self-programmed before entering. The next page write takes those stale words
+and clears them, since a page write auto-erases the buffer (§26.2.1; §19.2 on
+the tinies), so repeating it programs correctly. The host therefore verifies
+every page it writes and rewrites what comes back wrong (three retries, then it
+stops).
+
+`g` is host-paced: send the next byte only after the previous byte's `+`. Fuse
+*writing* does not exist — SPM reaches flash and boot lock bits only.
+
+`J` is the one control-transfer primitive: it runs the application (word 0 or
+the trampoline word, both derived from the chip) and moves between loader
+copies during a self-update. A jump to a slot's base re-enters that copy's own
+startup, which must then be knocked afresh.
+
+`b` answers with the loader's identity — its version and the chip's signature —
+and nothing else. Everything else the host needs (page size, loader base,
+EEPROM size, whether the reset vector must be patched, how many flash banks)
+follows from the signature, and the host holds that table; the loader derived
+the same facts from its own chip database at build time, so nothing is guessed,
+it is simply not sent twice.
+
+An update image, though, is a bare 512-byte slot with no device to ask, and
+installing one built for another chip bricks the target. Every loader image
+therefore carries a six-byte **stamp** — `'P'`, `'B'`, the version, the three
+signature bytes — which the loader itself never reads and the host tool refuses
+to install a mismatch against.
+
+## Version
+
+`b`'s first byte is the **pureboot version** — the loader's one identity
+number, and the only way to tell what a deployed loader is. Nothing else is
+numbered: the wire protocol has no version, a pureboot version implies it, and
+the host tool holds that map. The tool states the window of loader versions it
+speaks (`OLDEST_LOADER`/`NEWEST_LOADER` in `pureboot.py`), and a version that
+changes the protocol becomes the new floor there. A loader newer than the tool
+is refused by name rather than decoded on the assumption that nothing moved.
+
+Two generations exist. **1 through 4** speak one session — a 12-byte info block
+from `b`, and a command per memory (`R`/`W` flash, `r`/`w` EEPROM, `F` fuses).
+**5** replaced those with the single `G`/`g` pair over selector-named spaces
+above; the shipped tool speaks both, choosing on the version it reads, so a
+deployed pureboot 4 stays drivable and self-updatable to 5.
+
+Every closed generation is tagged in this repo at its era's last commit — the
+commit just before the next version bump, so a tag holds everything its
+version ever gained — and each tag carries the `libavr/` submodule pinned to
+the libavr that loader was built against, as the whole libavr era does commit
+by commit. `git checkout v3 && git submodule update --init libavr` followed by
+the usual preset build therefore reproduces the v3 loader exactly; the open
+generation is `main`.
+
+Collapsing four command bodies into one transfer loop is what paid for the
+version: the data space, the host-issued SPM operations and the fuses now share
+the loop, the cursor and the argument decode that `R`/`r`/`w` each carried a
+copy of. The loader shrank while gaining all three.
+
+The tool carries its own version, free to drift; `--version` prints it and the
+window.
 
 ## Deployment
 
 The build leaves three artifacts per chip. The ELF is a container for the
-tests and objcopy — never flashed. The **.hex is the programmer artifact**:
-it carries its own addresses and lands the loader in its top slot,
-touching nothing else. The **.bin is the self-update image** — the slot's
-bare bytes with no addressing, which a programmer would put at address 0.
-On a boot-sectioned mega a copy at 0 is dead weight (SPM only executes
-from the boot section, so it cannot even heal itself — reflash the .hex);
-on the patched-vector chips it *runs* (the image is position-independent
-and reset enters word 0), reports its canonical geometry, and the ordinary
-`--update-loader` flow re-homes a build into the top slot from any
-position — the staging install and the word-0 redirect execute from
-copies outside page 0's slot, and a copy sitting in the staging slot
-itself is recognized as the installed staging copy and left in place (it
-streams the new resident like any staged copy, so an older build installs
-a newer one). `pureboot.rehome` is the acceptance test for both
-positions. Flashing the application afterwards overwrites the stale copy,
-vector surgery included.
+tests and objcopy, never flashed. The **.hex is the programmer artifact**: it
+carries its own addresses and lands the loader in its top slot, touching
+nothing else. The **.bin is the self-update image** — the slot's bare bytes.
 
-**Boot-sectioned megas**: program the loader at `flash − slot` with an
-external programmer. Every such mega has a BOOTSZ step whose boot section
-is exactly the loader slot — 512 B, the second-smallest step on the 8 KiB
-and 16 KiB chips (m8, m88, m16, m168, m164), the smallest on the 32 KiB
-ones (m32, m328, m324); on the 1284s that step is the smallest, 512 words,
-which is why their slot is 1 KiB — so the ATmega328P profiles below apply
-to every one of them with its own addresses and slot size; the per-chip
-BOOTSZ ladders live in the host tool (`BOOT_FUSE`). The 1284s' numbers:
-standalone = BOOTSZ 512 words (reset at the loader base 0x1fc00);
-self-update = 1024 words, covering both 1 KiB slots, the loader-first
-reset landing at 0x1f800 — the staging slot, walked across when erased.
+**Boot-sectioned megas**: program the loader at `flash − 512` with an external
+programmer. Every such mega has a BOOTSZ step whose boot section is exactly
+the 512-byte slot — the second-smallest step on the 8 KiB and 16 KiB chips,
+the smallest on the 32 KiB ones — so the ATmega328P profiles below apply to
+every one of them with its own addresses; the per-chip BOOTSZ ladders live in
+the host tool (`BOOT_FUSE`).
 
-The **644s** are the geometry's sweet spot: their smallest boot section
-(512 words = 1 KiB) is exactly *two* 512-byte slots, so the resident and
-its staging slot both live inside the minimum section — self-update needs
-no fuse step up, and the standalone profile does not exist (reset lands at
-0xfc00, one erased slot below the loader: the loader-first walk built in).
+The **644s and 1284s** are the geometry's sweet spot: their smallest boot
+section (512 words = 1 KiB) is exactly *two* slots, so the resident and its
+staging slot both live inside the minimum section. Self-update needs no fuse
+step up, and the standalone profile does not exist — reset lands one erased
+slot below the loader (0xfc00 / 0x1fc00) and walks up into it.
 
 ATmega328P profiles (addresses for its 32 KiB):
 
@@ -226,154 +331,256 @@ ATmega328P profiles (addresses for its 32 KiB):
 | 512 words (1 KB) | unprogrammed | *Self-update, app-first*: reset always boots the application, which owns all 31.5 KB and must offer its own jump to 0x7e00 to reach the loader (a virgin chip reaches it by reset across erased flash). Updates are power-fail-safe except mid-rewrite of the resident slot itself (no reset path leads to the staging copy then). |
 | 512 words (1 KB) | programmed | *Self-update, loader-first*: reset lands at 0x7c00 — the staging slot, normally erased, so execution walks up into the loader; during an update it is the staging copy itself, so a mid-rewrite power loss recovers by reset. The loss windows move to the staging install/retire page writes instead (page-write scale). The host keeps `[0x7c00, 0x7e00)` clear of application data (`--force` overrides). |
 
-Applications are flashed unmodified — word 0 stays the application's own
+Applications are flashed unmodified here — word 0 stays the application's own
 reset vector, and the hand-over jumps to 0.
 
-**Patched-vector chips — the tinies and the m48s** (no boot section; the
-m48s' SPM runs from the entire flash, Atmel-8271 §26): program the loader
-at `flash − 512`; erased flash below it walks up into the loader, so a
-virgin chip activates. When flashing an application the host performs
-reset-vector surgery: word 0 is rewritten to `rjmp` to the loader base, and
-the application's own entry is re-encoded as a trampoline `rjmp` in the
-word just below the loader (`base − 2`, where the hand-over jumps). Every
-other vector stays the application's. The patched page 0 and the trampoline
-page are written *first*, so from the first write on an interrupted flash
-still resets into the loader; an erase runs top-down for the same reason.
-The m48s speak this profile over their hardware USART — no fuse preflight,
-BOOTRST does not exist there.
+**Patched-vector chips — the tinies and the m48s** (no boot section; the m48s'
+SPM runs from the entire flash, Atmel-8271 §26): program the loader at
+`flash − 512`; erased flash below it walks up into the loader, so a virgin
+chip activates. Flashing an application then takes reset-vector surgery: word
+0 becomes an `rjmp` to the loader base, and the application's own entry is
+re-encoded as a trampoline `rjmp` in the word just below the loader
+(`base − 2`, where the hand-over jumps). Every other vector stays the
+application's. The patched page 0 and the trampoline page are written *first*
+and an erase runs top-down, so from the first write on an interruption still
+resets into the loader.
+
+A .bin programmed at address 0 by mistake is dead weight on a boot-sectioned
+mega (SPM only executes from the boot section — reflash the .hex), but *runs*
+on a patched-vector chip, and the ordinary `--update-loader` flow re-homes it
+into the top slot from there (`pureboot.rehome`).
 
 ## Updating the loader
 
 `pureboot.py --update-loader new_pureboot.bin` replaces the resident loader
-with any pureboot build — a re-timed window, a newer protocol — using the
+with any pureboot build — a re-timed window, a newer version — using the
 loader itself as its own staging loader. The image is the loader's own 512
-bytes as a raw binary, or the Intel HEX the build emits beside it, which
-links the loader at its base inside an otherwise blank flash image:
+bytes as a raw binary, or the Intel HEX the build emits beside it.
 
-The preflight refuses an image built for another chip: the info block
-embedded in every pureboot binary (signature, page size, loader base,
-EEPROM size, flags) must match the device's own, and the error names both.
-Die revisions share their base signature and geometry, so their images are
-interchangeable — as the silicon is. `loader_image()` also accepts a
-padded image (a raw .bin padded from 0, or a whole-flash read-back with
-the loader resident) and peels it to the slot content by the embedded base.
+One thing the image cannot tell the host: **which link it speaks.** The update
+works by entering copies of the *new* image (steps 3 and 4 below), so a build
+made for another baud or another backend answers on that one and not on the
+session's — and 512 bytes of position-independent code carry no header to read
+it from. Where the new image's link differs, name it:
 
-1. The staging slot `[base−slot, base)` is saved to a host-side state file
-   (on the 1 KB tiny13s that is the whole application, vectors included).
-2. The resident installs the identical update image there. On the
-   patched-vector chips the host composes the slot's last word — the same
-   address as the resident's trampoline — as a jump to the resident base,
-   so even an abandoned staging copy times out into a loader, never into
-   garbage. A loader already sitting whole in the staging slot (its info
-   block in place, the slot unchanged since the update began) is left as
-   the staging copy instead — rewriting it would only meet its own
-   running-slot guard.
-3. `J` enters the staging copy, which rewrites the resident slot. On the
-   patched-vector chips whose staging slot sits away from page 0 the host
-   first re-aims word 0 at the staging copy, so a power loss mid-rewrite
-   still resets into a loader; on the tiny13s the staging slot carries the
-   reset vector itself.
+```sh
+# a 57600 fixed-baud resident, replaced by an autobaud build
+pureboot.py --port … --baud 57600 --update-loader ab.bin --staged-autobaud
+# …or by a 38400 build of the same backend
+pureboot.py --port … --baud 57600 --update-loader sw38400.bin --staged-baud 38400
+```
+
+The host retunes on the open port, so no DTR pulse resets the copy it is talking
+to. Omit them against a changed link and the update stops after installing the
+staging copy, saying so and naming this as the cause.
+
+The preflight refuses an image built for another chip: the stamp every pureboot
+binary carries must resolve to the device's own geometry, and the error names
+both. Die revisions share their base signature and geometry, so their images
+are interchangeable — as the silicon is.
+
+1. The staging slot `[base−512, base)` is saved to a host-side state file (on
+   the 1 KB tiny13s that is the whole application, vectors included).
+2. The resident installs the update image there. On the patched-vector chips
+   the host composes the slot's last word as a jump to the resident base, so
+   even an abandoned staging copy times out into a loader. A loader already
+   sitting whole in the staging slot is left as the staging copy instead —
+   rewriting it would only meet its own running-slot guard.
+3. `J` enters the staging copy, which rewrites the resident slot. Where a
+   patched reset vector routes through the resident, the host first re-aims
+   word 0 at the staging copy, so a power loss mid-rewrite still resets into a
+   loader; on the tiny13s the staging slot carries the reset vector itself.
 4. `J` enters the new resident, which restores the staging slot's saved
-   content (word 0 and the trampoline with it) and the state file is
-   discarded.
+   content, and the state file is discarded.
 
-Every phase is idempotent and keyed off the actual flash state: re-running
-the same command after any interruption resumes and completes. The state
-file carries the only bytes not recoverable from the device; if it is lost
-mid-update the update still completes, and the staging region is restored by
-reflashing the application. A boot-sectioned mega needs its fuses for the
-preflight (BOOTSZ gate, profile notes) — read from the device, or supplied
-with `--assume-fuses` where reading is impossible (simulators); the
-patched-vector chips need none.
+Every phase is idempotent and keyed off the actual flash state, so re-running
+the same command after any interruption resumes and completes — with one
+qualification, which is the link again: from step 2 on, the copy the re-run has
+to reach is the *new* image, so a resumed run needs the same `--staged-*` as the
+first one. On a patched-vector part step 3 also re-aims word 0 at the staging
+copy, so after that point a reset reaches the new image's link and **only** that
+one; a re-run on the resident's link finds nothing at all. The state file carries
+the only bytes not recoverable from the device; losing it mid-update still
+completes the update, and the staging region comes back by reflashing the
+application. A boot-sectioned mega needs its fuses for the preflight — read
+from the device, or supplied with `--assume-fuses` where reading is impossible
+(simulators).
 
 ## Host tool
 
 `pureboot.py` — Python 3, standard library only. The port layer is the one
-platform-specific part: termios drives any tty on POSIX (a USB adapter as
-well as a simavr pty), the Win32 serial API through `ctypes` drives a COM
-port on Windows (`--port COM6`; the `\\.\` form for two-digit ports is
-supplied by the tool). Opening the port asserts DTR and RTS on both, so a
-board that wires DTR to reset gets its reset pulse and opens the activation
-window by itself.
+platform-specific part: termios drives any tty on POSIX (a USB adapter as well
+as a simavr pty), the Win32 serial API through `ctypes` drives a COM port on
+Windows (`--port COM6`; the `\\.\` form for two-digit ports is supplied by the
+tool). Opening the port asserts DTR and RTS on both, so a board that wires DTR
+to reset gets its reset pulse and opens the activation window by itself.
 
     pureboot.py --port /dev/ttyUSB0 --baud 57600 \
         --info --fuses --flash app.hex
 
 Operations run in a fixed order within one session: info, fuses, loader
-update, flash (erase / program / read / verify), EEPROM (erase / program /
-read / verify) — then the loader hands over to the application; `--stay`
-keeps the session alive instead, and a later invocation reconnects into it
-(the knock converges there too). `--flash` and `--eeprom` verify by
-read-back unless `--no-verify`, and a flash page that reads back wrong is
-rewritten up to three times before the run stops — the loader leaves one
-recoverable way for a page to land wrong (see `W` above), and rewriting is
-what clears it. `--verify-flash` only reports. Images are raw binary, or
-Intel HEX by extension. `--force` overrides the refusable safety checks (today: flashing
-application data into a mega's reset walk region).
+update, flash (erase / program / read / verify), EEPROM (the same), then
+`--peek`/`--poke` — then the loader hands over to the application. `--stay` keeps the session alive
+instead, and a later invocation reconnects into it. `--flash` and `--eeprom`
+verify by read-back unless `--no-verify`, and a flash page that reads back
+wrong is rewritten up to three times before the run stops (see `W` above).
+`--verify-flash` only reports. Images are raw binary, or Intel HEX by
+extension. `--force` overrides the refusable safety checks — today, flashing
+application data into a mega's reset walk region.
 
-Readouts come one fact per line: `--info` prints the decoded info block
-field by field, `--fuses` each fuse byte on its own line — plus, on a
-boot-sectioned mega, the decoded meaning (where the BOOTSZ section starts,
-what BOOTRST does to reset). Transfers that take wire time — programming,
-reading, erasing, verifying, the update phases — draw a transient progress
-bar on stderr when it is a tty; logs and pipes see only the summary lines.
-`-v`/`--verbose` adds the decisions as they happen: knock counts, the
-programming plan (vector-surgery targets, skipped blank pages), update
-state handling and per-phase page counts.
+`--autobaud` opens with the calibration pulse instead of the plain knock, for a
+loader built `SERIAL autobaud`; the rest of the session is identical, at
+whatever `--baud` the host chose.
+
+`--peek ADDR[:N]` and `--poke ADDR:HEX` reach the data space (pureboot 5) —
+SRAM, and through the same address space the register file and every I/O
+register. Reading an I/O register can have side effects (reading UDR clears its
+flags), which is the caller's business to know.
+
+Reads are safe anywhere; **two small regions cannot be written without ending the
+session,** because they are what the loader is standing on:
+
+- the **top of SRAM**, where its stack lives — a handful of bytes below RAMEND;
+- on an **autobaud** build, the **two bytes at RAMSTART**: the measured bit
+  period, in `.noinit`, which is the whole of that loader's static RAM. Overwrite
+  it and its next reply is timed against garbage. On an ATtiny13A that is
+  `0x60..0x61`, and the symptom is a mangled prompt byte rather than any error —
+  the loader is fine, it simply is no longer speaking the agreed rate.
+
+Both are self-inflicted rather than defects, and a reset clears them. Note also
+that `--poke` can write OSCCAL, which does take effect — but a session can only
+survive a step or two of it before the clock walks the link out of the rate
+autobaud locked to, and OSCCAL reverts on reset regardless.
+
+Readouts come one fact per line: `--info` prints the device's version and
+signature and the geometry that follows from them, `--fuses` each fuse byte
+plus, on a boot-sectioned mega, its decoded meaning. Transfers that take wire time draw a transient progress bar on stderr
+when it is a tty. `-v`/`--verbose` adds the decisions as they happen: knock
+counts, the programming plan, update state handling and per-phase page counts.
 
 ## Tests
 
-`tools/check.sh` runs every chip's workflow (`tools/check.sh --full` adds
-the reflect-mode builds of libavr's spot set; `tools/make_presets.py`
-regenerates the presets). Per chip preset, `ctest` runs:
+libavr rides as the `libavr/` submodule (`git submodule update --init libavr`);
+`LIBAVR_ROOT` (cache or environment) overrides it for tandem development
+against a working tree. `tools/check.sh` runs every chip's workflow (`--full`
+adds the reflect-mode builds of libavr's spot set; `tools/make_presets.py`
+regenerates the presets).
+Per chip preset, `ctest` runs:
 
-- `pureboot.size` — the 510-byte (tinies) / 512-byte (mega) budget;
-- `pureboot_*.size` — the size matrix: the serial backends × the clock
-  ladder (1/8/16 MHz; the t13s' own RC menu), plus the USART1 build on the
-  x4 chips — every configuration axis that could move the image, each
-  variant against the same slot budget (pins are immediate operands and the
-  timeout is a constant: size-neutral);
-- `pureboot.custom` (328P) — the configured-deployment acceptance test: the
-  1 MHz software-serial TX=PB1/RX=PB5 build from the configuration example
-  drives the full protocol suite through the runner's GPIO bridge, fixture
-  application included;
-- `pureboot.usart1` (644A) — the same protocol suite over the second
-  hardware USART: instance selection is compile-checked everywhere, but
-  only a live session proves the loader polls the USART it claims;
-- `pureboot.pi` — the position-independence lint: no absolute `jmp`/`call`
-  in the image, the info block within its first 256 bytes;
-- `pureboot.planner` — the host tool's pure logic: programming orders and
-  their recovery properties, the surgery, the staging composition, the
-  boot-fuse decode, the update preflight's error/warning matrix over
-  synthetic fuse bytes, and the repairing verify against a fake device — one
-  bad write repaired in a single rewrite, a page that never comes good
-  stopping after exactly three;
+- `pureboot.size` — the 510-byte (patched-vector) / 512-byte budget;
+- `pureboot_*.size` — the size matrix: the serial backends × the clock ladder
+  (1/8/16 MHz; the t13s' own RC menu), the USART1 instance across that same
+  ladder on the x4 chips, and `pureboot_sw_wide`, the slowest ladder rate at
+  the fastest clock — where a software UART's per-bit spin outgrows its
+  one-register delay loop and takes the 16-bit one. That is the largest image
+  the configuration space produces, and a shape the ladder default (always the
+  *fastest* rate a clock reaches) never picks. Pins are an axis for one reason
+  only, and it is enough: a bit-banged link on a USART's own pins has to
+  release that USART, so `pureboot_{sw,autobaud}_on_usart{0,1}` build there
+  too. The timeout is a constant and is no axis;
+- `pureboot_autobaud.size` — the clock-free build, which has no clock or baud
+  axis of its own: one binary per chip has to serve every point the matrix
+  below sweeps;
+- `pbm_*.size` — with `PUREBOOT_FULL_MATRIX=1`, the exhaustive cross product
+  replacing that compact matrix, on **every** chip: every plausible oscillator
+  (the internal ones, the CKDIV8 floor, the plain and the UART crystals) ×
+  every rate reachable from it × every backend, unreachable combinations
+  dropping out rather than aborting the configure. Thousands of points per
+  chip, and cheap enough to run rather than reason about;
+- `pureboot.pi` — the position-independence lint: no absolute `jmp`/`call`, no
+  flash-resident section but `.text`, and the image byte-identical when linked
+  at a different base — which is position independence itself rather than a
+  proxy for it;
+- `pureboot.handshake` — the host tool's activation must not hang on a target
+  that never falls quiet: the drain after a prompt is bounded by the handshake
+  deadline, and a well-behaved loader still connects;
+- `pureboot.updatelink` — an update whose image changes the baud or the backend
+  must follow the staging copy onto *its* link, since that copy is the new image;
+  and where nothing was declared, the failure must name the link rather than
+  report a bare activation timeout, because by then the staging slot is written
+  and on a 1 KiB tiny that was the application;
+- `pureboot.planner` — the host tool's pure logic: programming orders and their
+  recovery properties, the surgery, the staging composition, the boot-fuse
+  decode, the update preflight over synthetic fuse bytes, and the repairing
+  verify against a fake device;
 - `pureboot.protocol` — end to end against a simavr device
-  (`test/pureboot_device.c` — a hardware USART as a pty, or a cycle-timed
-  GPIO⇄pty bridge for a software-UART build, selected with `-l` to match
-  the loader's link; plus the SPM/NVM module simavr's tiny cores lack)
-  driven by the real host tool through
-  knock-from-reset, program + verify of both memories, session reconnect, an
-  external reset through the patched vector, and the hand-over to a fixture
-  application whose banner proves the launch — cross-checked against the
-  simulator's ground-truth memory dumps and an independent decode of the
-  surgery's rjmp words;
-- `pureboot.reloc` — the identical image installed one slot below the
-  resident serves the complete command set from there (the
-  position-independence acceptance test);
-- `pureboot.dirty` (328P) — entering the loader from a running application
-  with no reset between, over an SPM page buffer the fixture deliberately
-  dirtied: the case the loader declines to guard against. A bare verify must
-  see the corruption, the repairing verify must fix it in one rewrite, and a
-  plain verify afterwards must pass. On the boot-sectioned megas hardware
-  forbids the state outright (SPM runs only from the boot section, and reset
-  erases the buffer), but simavr dispatches SPM from anywhere — which is what
-  makes the path constructible at all;
-- `pureboot.update` — the full `--update-loader` flow to a re-timed build,
-  then every power-fail phase: the device is killed mid-write, restarted
-  from its flash dump, and a re-run must complete the update with the
-  application intact throughout.
+  (`test/pureboot_device.c`: a hardware USART as a pty, or a cycle-timed
+  GPIO⇄pty bridge for a software-UART build, plus the SPM/NVM module simavr's
+  tiny cores lack) driven by the real host tool through knock-from-reset,
+  program + verify of both memories, session reconnect, an external reset
+  through the patched vector, and the hand-over to a fixture application whose
+  banner proves the launch — cross-checked against the simulator's
+  ground-truth memory dumps and an independent decode of the surgery;
+- `pureboot.reloc` — the identical image one slot below the resident serves the
+  complete command set from there;
+- `pureboot.rehome` (t85) — a loader programmed at address 0 or in the staging
+  slot re-homes into the top slot through the ordinary update flow;
+- `pureboot.custom` (328P) — the configuration example's 1 MHz software-serial
+  build driving the full protocol suite, proving the plumbing produces a
+  working loader and not just one that fits;
+- `pureboot.usart1` (644A) — the same suite over the second hardware USART:
+  instance selection is compile-checked everywhere, but only a live session
+  proves the loader polls the USART it claims;
+- `pureboot.mute` (328P) — a software link on USART0's own pins, entered from an
+  application that handed over with that USART still enabled: the loader must
+  still answer, which it does only because it releases it. The pin ownership is
+  the runner's, not simavr's — simavr wires a USART through IRQs and never takes
+  the pin from the port, so without that model the state under test could not
+  arise at all;
+- `pureboot.dirty` (328P) — entering the loader from a running application over
+  an SPM buffer it deliberately dirtied, the case the loader declines to guard:
+  a bare verify must see the corruption and the repairing verify must fix it in
+  one rewrite. Hardware forbids the state here, but simavr dispatches SPM from
+  anywhere, which is what makes the path constructible;
+- `pureboot.update` — the full `--update-loader` flow, then every power-fail
+  phase: the device is killed mid-write, restarted from its flash dump, and a
+  re-run must complete the update with the application intact;
+- `pureboot.autobaud` (328P, 1284P) — the clock-free build over the GPIO⇄pty
+  bridge: the calibration handshake, a flash + EEPROM + fuse round trip against
+  the simulator's own memory, a data-space round trip, the hand-over — then the
+  same binary again at double the clock, which is the property the backend
+  exists for. A lone calibration pulse with no knock behind it must still let
+  the application boot, so no wait in activation can be unbounded.
 
-`size`, `pi`, and `planner` are host logic and run anywhere; the
-simulator-driven targets need simavr and a pty, so they are POSIX-only —
-on Windows the tool is exercised against real hardware.
+`size`, `pi`, `planner` and `handshake` are host logic and run anywhere; the
+simulator-driven targets need simavr and a pty, so they are POSIX-only.
+
+## Hardware
+
+The suite above proves the protocol on every chip; it cannot prove a *board*.
+Two things live only on silicon: an RC oscillator that is not on its nominal, and
+a reset edge that has to come from somewhere. `tools/pbrig.py` and
+`tools/pbhw.py` cover that, and know nothing per-board — every deployment fact
+is a flag or a `PUREBOOT_*` environment variable.
+
+```sh
+export PUREBOOT_PROGRAMMER=atmelice_isp PUREBOOT_PART=t13 PUREBOOT_PORT=COM6
+tools/pbrig.py backup rig-backup/          # verified, before anything is written
+tools/pbhw.py --autobaud --loader build/ab.bin --app build/pbapp.hex --marker APP
+```
+
+`pbrig.py` is the primitives — `signature`, `reset`, `flash`, `fuses`, `backup`,
+`rate` — and the module `pbhw.py` builds on. Two rig facts are encoded in it
+because neither is guessable: an **ISP access is the reset edge** (the part runs
+the moment the programmer releases it, which is the only edge available when the
+adapter's DTR is not wired to reset, so a session begins with an ISP touch and
+knocks immediately after), and **avrdude splits `-U` on colons**, so a Windows
+path's drive letter breaks the spec and every file is passed as a bare name with
+avrdude run in its own directory.
+
+`pbrig.py rate` is the one that turns "the loader is silent, so the wiring must
+be wrong" into a number. Against a fixture built with `PUREBOOT_HEARTBEAT` — a
+*fixed* cycles-per-bit transmitter — it sweeps the host rate, and the band where
+the marker still decodes brackets the part's true bit rate; with the clock the
+image was built for, that is the clock the part is really running at. No
+instrument beyond the adapter already attached. An ATtiny13A measured this way
+came out at 9.072 MHz against its 9.6 MHz nominal, −5.5 % — inside the
+datasheet's ±10 % and outside what an 8N1 frame survives, which is the whole
+case for the autobaud backend on such a part.
+
+`pbhw.py` takes its bounds from the info block the loader reports, so one run
+covers a 1 KiB tiny and a 128 KiB mega alike: identity, the EEPROM round trip
+and erase, an application flashed and verified and then *seen running*, the
+application region read and erased, the loader slot proven intact across that
+erase by an independent ISP read, and an oversized image refused. It overwrites
+the application flash and EEPROM, which is why `backup` comes first.

pureboot/pureboot.cpp

@@ -1,28 +1,14 @@
-// pureboot — a serial bootloader on libavr, pure by constraint: one C++
-// source with no inline assembly and no global register variables, built for
-// every chip libavr targets, 512 bytes on each. The device speaks primitives
-// — read/program flash, read/write EEPROM, fuse bytes, an info block, a jump
-// — and everything composite (verify, erase, reset-vector surgery, updating
-// the loader itself) lives in the host tool. Protocol reference: README.md
-// next to this file.
+// pureboot — a serial bootloader on libavr: one C++ source, no inline
+// assembly, no global register variables, 512 bytes on every chip libavr
+// targets. The device speaks primitives; every composite (verify, erase,
+// reset-vector surgery, self-update) lives in the host tool. Protocol,
+// deployment and configuration: README.md next to this file.
 //
-// The image is position-independent: control flow is PC-relative, the write
-// and read paths take wire addresses, the write guard refuses the 512-byte
-// slot the code is *running* in (taken from the runtime return address), the
-// info block is read relative to that same anchor, and the application jump
-// is an indirect call to an absolute entry. The identical binary therefore
-// runs from any 512-byte slot with every command intact: flashed one slot
-// below the resident loader it becomes the staging loader that rewrites the
-// resident — how pureboot updates itself, host-driven, with no other
-// firmware involved.
-//
-// Entry: reset lands in avr::startup::entry below (BOOTRST on the
-// boot-sectioned megas; the patched reset vector — or erased flash walking
-// up into the loader — on the tinies and the boot-section-less m48s). A
-// watchdog reset hands straight to the application. Otherwise the
-// host has one activation window per awaited knock byte ("pb"); an idle line
-// boots the application. A session then stays in the command loop until 'J'
-// jumps away or the chip resets.
+// The image is position-independent — PC-relative control flow, wire
+// addresses in, the write guard and the info block both anchored on the
+// runtime return address — so the identical binary runs from any slot. That
+// is what makes a copy one slot below able to rewrite the resident one, and
+// every change here has to keep it (test/check_pi.py).
 
 #include <libavr/libavr.hpp>
 
@@ -33,24 +19,24 @@ namespace ee = avr::eeprom;
 namespace pureboot {
 namespace {
 
-// Purely polled — interrupts stay off, every guard folds to nothing.
+// Purely polled: every interrupt guard folds to nothing.
 constexpr auto off = avr::irq::guard_policy::unused;
 
 constexpr std::uint8_t ack = '+';
 
-// Per-deployment personality, passed in by the build — pureboot_add_loader()
-// (the CMake function next to this file) resolves the defaults: the clock the
-// board actually runs, the wire baud, the serial backend and its pins. The
-// device signature needs no configuring — it comes from the chip database
-// (avr::hw::db.signature), the only universal source, since the tiny13A
-// cannot even read its signature row from code.
-#if !defined(PUREBOOT_CLOCK_HZ) || !defined(PUREBOOT_BAUD)
+// Deployment parameters come from the build (pureboot_add_loader()). The
+// signature is not one of them: the chip database is the only universal
+// source — a tiny13A cannot read its own signature row from code. An autobaud
+// build carries no clock and no baud at all; it measures both.
+#if !defined(PUREBOOT_AUTOBAUD) && (!defined(PUREBOOT_CLOCK_HZ) || !defined(PUREBOOT_BAUD))
 #error \
-    "PUREBOOT_CLOCK_HZ and PUREBOOT_BAUD select this build's clock and baud — create loader targets with pureboot_add_loader() (README.md)"
+    "PUREBOOT_CLOCK_HZ and PUREBOOT_BAUD select this build's clock and baud — create loader targets with pureboot_add_loader(), or PUREBOOT_AUTOBAUD for a clock-free one (README.md)"
 #endif
 
+#if !defined(PUREBOOT_AUTOBAUD)
 using dev = avr::device<{.clock = avr::hertz_t{PUREBOOT_CLOCK_HZ}}>;
 constexpr avr::baud_t wire_baud{PUREBOOT_BAUD};
+#endif
 
 // The watchdog reset flag's home: MCUSR, or the classic megas' MCUCSR.
 consteval std::int16_t wdrf_field()
@@ -59,73 +45,115 @@ consteval std::int16_t wdrf_field()
 	return avr::hw::db.field_index(reg, "WDRF");
 }
 
-// Geometry: the resident loader owns the top slot of flash — 512 bytes,
-// except on the >64 KiB chips whose own smallest boot sector is 1 KiB (the
-// 1284s): there the slot is 1 KiB, matching the hardware boundary the
-// 512-byte figure comes from everywhere else. The word below the slot is
-// the trampoline (the application's relocated reset vector) on chips
-// without a hardware boot section — the tinies and the m48s, whose SPM
-// runs from anywhere (Atmel-8271 §26). A boot section also means the CPU
-// runs on while the RWW section programs; everywhere else it halts through
-// the operation.
-constexpr std::uint16_t slot_bytes = spm::flash_bytes > 65536 ? 1024 : 512;
-constexpr std::uint32_t base = spm::flash_bytes - slot_bytes;
+// The loader owns the top 512 bytes; a staging copy goes in the slot below.
+// Chips without a hardware boot section — the tinies and the m48s, whose SPM
+// runs from anywhere (Atmel-8271 §26) — keep the application's relocated
+// reset vector in the word under the slot.
+constexpr std::uint16_t slot_bytes = 512;
 constexpr std::uint16_t page = spm::page_bytes;
 constexpr bool boot_section = avr::hw::curated::has_boot_section();
 
-// Past 64 KiB a byte address no longer fits the wire's 16 bits, so on the
-// large chips every flash address on the wire — and all slot arithmetic —
-// is a word address instead ('J' always was one). A slot spans the same
-// wire-high-byte pair in either unit (512 B = 2 x 256 bytes, 1 KiB =
-// 2 x 256 words), so the slot index is the high byte with its low bit
-// dropped everywhere.
-constexpr bool word_flash = spm::flash_bytes > 65536;
-constexpr std::uint16_t wire_base =
-    word_flash ? static_cast<std::uint16_t>(base / 2) : static_cast<std::uint16_t>(base);
-constexpr std::uint16_t wire_page_mask = word_flash ? (page / 2 - 1) : (page - 1);
+// Past 64 KiB one bank of flash does not cover the chip, so a transfer's
+// selector byte carries the bank and the wire address stays a byte address
+// within it. 'J' is the exception: it is a word address everywhere, because
+// that is what the hardware's own jump takes.
+constexpr bool banked_flash = spm::flash_bytes > 65536;
 
-// The activation window, in seconds, is a compile-time constant (the build
-// may override it): the whole EEPROM belongs to the application, and
-// re-timing the loader is a bootloader self-update with a re-timed binary.
+// A compile-time window, so the whole EEPROM belongs to the application;
+// re-timing a deployed loader is a self-update with a re-timed build. An
+// autobaud build has no clock to convert seconds against and counts polls.
 #if !defined(PUREBOOT_TIMEOUT)
 #define PUREBOOT_TIMEOUT 8
 #endif
 constexpr std::uint8_t timeout_seconds = PUREBOOT_TIMEOUT;
 
-// The 12-byte info block the host reads with the 'b' command, flash-resident
-// through flash_table (there is no crt to copy a .data image, and its storage
-// carries the word alignment 'b' needs to halve the address on the large
-// chips). The page byte is the wire count convention: 0 means 256.
-inline constexpr avr::flash_table<std::array<std::uint8_t, 12>{
-    'P',
-    'B',
-    1, // magic, protocol version
+#if !defined(PUREBOOT_AUTOBAUD_POLLS)
+#define PUREBOOT_AUTOBAUD_POLLS 4000000
+#endif
+constexpr avr::uint24_t autobaud_budget = PUREBOOT_AUTOBAUD_POLLS;
+
+// The loader's one identity number. The protocol carries none of its own —
+// a version implies it, and the host tool holds that map (README.md).
+constexpr std::uint8_t version = 5;
+
+// The image's identity stamp, for the host tool rather than for the wire: an
+// update image is a bare 512-byte slot, and without this nothing in it says
+// which chip it was built for. The tool refuses to install an image whose
+// stamp does not match the device — flashing a foreign loader bricks the
+// target, and the loader itself cannot check what has already replaced it.
+//
+// Never read from flash by the loader — 'b' answers out of this array, but at
+// constant indices, so those fold to immediates and no runtime address of it
+// is ever formed. `used` keeps the compiler from dropping the copy the host
+// needs and `retain` keeps --gc-sections from collecting it.
+// clang-format off
+[[gnu::used, gnu::retain, gnu::section(".text.stamp")]]
+inline constexpr std::uint8_t identity_stamp[]{
+    'P', 'B',                      // the magic the host scans an image for
+    version,                       // and from here on, exactly what 'b' answers
     avr::hw::db.signature[0],
     avr::hw::db.signature[1],
     avr::hw::db.signature[2],
-    static_cast<std::uint8_t>(page),
-    wire_base & 0xff,
-    wire_base >> 8, // app flash ends here; resident loader base (a word address on large chips)
-    avr::hw::db.mem.eeprom_size & 0xff,
-    avr::hw::db.mem.eeprom_size >> 8,
-    // bit 0: host must patch the reset vector (no hardware boot section);
-    // bit 1: flash wire addresses are word addresses
-    static_cast<std::uint8_t>((boot_section ? 0 : 1) | (word_flash ? 2 : 0)),
-}>
-    info_data;
+};
+// clang-format on
+// Where the identity proper starts: past the magic the host scans for.
+constexpr std::uint8_t stamp_identity = 2;
 
-// The serial link. PUREBOOT_USART forces a hardware USART instance,
-// PUREBOOT_SOFT_SERIAL the polled software UART (no vector — the table
-// belongs to the application) on PUREBOOT_RX/PUREBOOT_TX; with neither, the
-// chip's first USART where it has one and the software UART elsewhere. Both
-// are class templates on the clock so only the selected backend is ever
-// instantiated. pending() is the cheap line test the activation window
-// polls; rx() then picks the byte up; drain() holds until the last
-// transmitted frame is fully on the wire (the jump hand-over must not let
-// the target's re-init clip the ack).
+// The address spaces a transfer can name, in a selector byte's low nibble.
+// Flash is 0 so it is the cheapest to select.
+//
+// spm_ops is the one that is not memory: a write there hands its byte to
+// SPMCSR and fires the instruction at the transfer's address, which is how
+// page erase, page write and RWW re-enable reach the wire without the loader
+// carrying a command for each. The hardware's four-cycle store-to-SPM window
+// is why this is one fused primitive and not a poke of SPMCSR — no host can
+// hit that window across a serial link.
+enum : std::uint8_t { sp_flash = 0, sp_eeprom = 1, sp_data = 2, sp_fuse = 3, sp_spm = 4 };
+
+// A selector's high nibble is the flash bank — the address bits above the
+// 16-bit wire address, RAMPZ on the chips that have one. Keeping it here
+// rather than widening the wire address is what lets one 16-bit cursor serve
+// every space: a 24-bit cursor would pay its extra byte on EEPROM and data
+// reads that can never need it.
+[[gnu::always_inline]] inline std::uint8_t space_of(std::uint8_t selector)
+{
+	return selector & 0x0f;
+}
+
+[[gnu::always_inline]] inline std::uint8_t bank_of(std::uint8_t selector)
+{
+	return static_cast<std::uint8_t>(selector >> 4);
+}
+
+// The slot a flash address falls in, as one byte. A slot is half as many words
+// as bytes, so the word address's high byte is exactly this index — which is
+// what lets the write guard compare a single byte, and what the running copy's
+// own return address yields for free.
+constexpr std::uint8_t slot_shift = std::countr_zero(slot_bytes);
+constexpr std::uint8_t bank_shift = 16 - slot_shift;
+
+[[gnu::always_inline]] inline std::uint8_t slot_of([[maybe_unused]] std::uint8_t bank, std::uint16_t at)
+{
+	const auto within = static_cast<std::uint8_t>(at >> slot_shift);
+	if constexpr (banked_flash)
+		return static_cast<std::uint8_t>((bank << bank_shift) | within);
+	else
+		return within;
+}
+
+// The serial link, per the build's PUREBOOT_USART / PUREBOOT_SOFT_SERIAL /
+// PUREBOOT_AUTOBAUD, defaulting to the chip's USART0 where it has one. The
+// software receiver is the polled one: the vector table belongs to the
+// application. Templates on the clock, so only the selected backend
+// instantiates. pending() is the cheap line test the activation window polls;
+// drain() holds until the last frame is off the wire, so a hand-over cannot
+// let the target's re-init clip the ack.
 #if defined(PUREBOOT_SOFT_SERIAL) && defined(PUREBOOT_USART)
 #error "PUREBOOT_SOFT_SERIAL and PUREBOOT_USART select opposing serial backends"
 #endif
+#if defined(PUREBOOT_AUTOBAUD) && defined(PUREBOOT_USART)
+#error "PUREBOOT_AUTOBAUD measures a software link; it cannot drive a hardware USART"
+#endif
 #if !defined(PUREBOOT_RX)
 #define PUREBOOT_RX pb0
 #endif
@@ -138,9 +166,30 @@ constexpr char usart_digit = '0' + PUREBOOT_USART;
 constexpr char usart_digit = '0';
 #endif
 
-template <avr::hertz_t C>
+// Release a hardware USART the application may have left enabled onto a
+// bit-banged link's pins. A software transmitter drives its TX pin through the
+// port register, but while that USART's TXEN is set the USART owns the pin and
+// the port write does nothing — the loader would receive and obey yet never
+// answer. Writing UCSRnB zero hands the pin back to the port. Guarded on the
+// pin actually being a USART's TXD, so a link on non-USART pins emits nothing.
+template <char Inst, avr::io::pin Tx>
+[[gnu::always_inline]] inline void release_usart_on()
+{
+	if constexpr (avr::uart::has_usart<Inst>())
+		if constexpr (avr::uart::detail::usart_pin<Inst>("TXD") == Tx)
+			avr::hw::reg_impl<avr::uart::detail::ureg<Inst, "UCSR#B">()>::write(0);
+}
+
+template <avr::io::pin Tx>
+[[gnu::always_inline]] inline void release_usarts_on()
+{
+	release_usart_on<'0', Tx>();
+	release_usart_on<'1', Tx>();
+}
+
+template <avr::hertz_t C, avr::baud_t B>
 struct hardware_link {
-	using uart = avr::uart::usart<usart_digit, C, {.baud = wire_baud, .max_baud_error = 2.5_pct}>;
+	using uart = avr::uart::usart<usart_digit, C, {.baud = B, .max_baud_error = 2.5_pct}>;
 
 	// The compiled idle poll: lds UCSR0A (2), sbrc skipping the exit (2),
 	// sbiw + sbci + sbci + brne (6).
@@ -172,10 +221,10 @@ struct hardware_link {
 	}
 };
 
-template <avr::hertz_t C>
+template <avr::hertz_t C, avr::baud_t B>
 struct software_link {
-	using rx_t = avr::uart::software_rx_polled<C, avr::PUREBOOT_RX, wire_baud>;
-	using tx_t = avr::uart::software_tx<C, avr::PUREBOOT_TX, wire_baud>;
+	using rx_t = avr::uart::software_rx_polled<C, avr::PUREBOOT_RX, B>;
+	using tx_t = avr::uart::software_tx<C, avr::PUREBOOT_TX, B>;
 
 	// The compiled idle poll: sbis skipping the exit (2), sbiw + sbci +
 	// sbci + brne (6).
@@ -184,6 +233,7 @@ struct software_link {
 	static void init()
 	{
 		avr::init<rx_t, tx_t>();
+		release_usarts_on<avr::PUREBOOT_TX>();
 	}
 
 	static bool pending()
@@ -207,22 +257,51 @@ struct software_link {
 	}
 };
 
-#if defined(PUREBOOT_USART)
+// The clock-free link: the bit period is measured from the host's calibration
+// pulse instead of derived from a clock, so one image serves every F_CPU and
+// every rate. Activation differs in kind from the other two — there is no
+// clock to time a window against — so this backend brings its own, below.
+struct autobaud_link {
+	using uart = avr::uart::software_autobaud<avr::PUREBOOT_RX, avr::PUREBOOT_TX>;
+
+	static void init()
+	{
+		avr::init<uart>();
+		release_usarts_on<avr::PUREBOOT_TX>();
+	}
+
+	static std::uint8_t rx()
+	{
+		return uart::template read<off>();
+	}
+
+	static void tx(std::uint8_t byte)
+	{
+		uart::template write<off>(byte);
+	}
+
+	static void drain()
+	{
+		uart::drain();
+	}
+};
+
+#if defined(PUREBOOT_AUTOBAUD)
+using link = autobaud_link;
+#elif defined(PUREBOOT_USART)
 static_assert(avr::uart::has_usart<usart_digit>(), "PUREBOOT_USART selects a hardware USART this chip does not have");
-using link = hardware_link<dev::clock>;
+using link = hardware_link<dev::clock, wire_baud>;
 #elif defined(PUREBOOT_SOFT_SERIAL)
-using link = software_link<dev::clock>;
+using link = software_link<dev::clock, wire_baud>;
 #else
-using link =
-    std::conditional_t<avr::uart::has_usart<usart_digit>(), hardware_link<dev::clock>, software_link<dev::clock>>;
+using link = std::conditional_t<avr::uart::has_usart<usart_digit>(), hardware_link<dev::clock, wire_baud>,
+                                software_link<dev::clock, wire_baud>>;
 #endif
 
-// The application's entry, an absolute address the linker pins (--defsym in
-// CMakeLists.txt): 0x0000 on the mega (word 0 stays the application's own
-// vector — BOOTRST re-vectors a reset into the loader in hardware) and the
-// trampoline word at base - 2 on the tinies. Reaching it must not depend on
-// where this copy runs, so the jump goes through a pointer: [[gnu::noipa]]
-// keeps the constant from folding back into a PC-relative call.
+// The application's entry, pinned by the linker (--defsym): word 0 on a
+// boot-sectioned mega, the trampoline at base − 2 elsewhere. Reaching it must
+// not depend on where this copy runs, so the jump goes through a pointer, and
+// [[gnu::noipa]] keeps the constant from folding back into a relative call.
 extern "C" [[noreturn]] void pureboot_app();
 
 [[gnu::noipa, noreturn]] void jump(void (*target)())
@@ -236,10 +315,29 @@ extern "C" [[noreturn]] void pureboot_app();
 	jump(pureboot_app);
 }
 
-// One activation window is a single 32-bit poll countdown. The divisor is
-// the backend's counted poll-loop cycles (its own comment reads them off the
-// compiled loop); whole-second precision is all the window promises, so the
-// nearest cycle count is plenty.
+// Activation: a bounded wait for the host, then the knock. Both forms boot the
+// application when the window closes on an idle line, and both bound *every*
+// wait — a knock awaited without a deadline would let one stray edge hold an
+// unattended device in the loader forever.
+#if defined(PUREBOOT_AUTOBAUD)
+// The window is a fixed poll budget: with no clock, whole seconds cannot be
+// timed. A uint24_t holds it — a fourth byte would cost two words at every
+// countdown step for range never used.
+void await_host()
+{
+	for (;;) {
+		if (!link::uart::calibrate(autobaud_budget))
+			run_app();
+		// The calibration pulse has already proven a host is there, so one
+		// byte activates. A knock that never arrives falls back to calibrate(),
+		// whose own budget then boots the application.
+		if (link::uart::template read<off>(autobaud_budget) == 'p')
+			return;
+	}
+}
+#else
+// The window as one 32-bit countdown, divided by the backend's counted
+// poll-loop cycles. Whole seconds is all it promises.
 consteval std::uint32_t window_polls()
 {
 	return timeout_seconds * static_cast<std::uint32_t>(dev::clock.hz / link::poll_cycles);
@@ -255,8 +353,8 @@ bool pending_before_deadline()
 	return false;
 }
 
-// A knock byte under the activation deadline: an idle line means no host is
-// there, and the application runs.
+// A knock byte under the deadline: an idle window means no host, so the
+// application runs.
 std::uint8_t rx_deadline()
 {
 	if (!pending_before_deadline())
@@ -264,226 +362,186 @@ std::uint8_t rx_deadline()
 	return link::rx();
 }
 
-// Inlined into its call sites: reading two bytes across a call otherwise
-// strands the first in a call-saved register the caller must push/pop; folded
-// into the (noreturn) command loop that cost disappears.
+void await_host()
+{
+	// 'p' then 'b', each under a fresh window; anything else is line noise.
+	while (rx_deadline() != 'p' || rx_deadline() != 'b') {
+	}
+}
+#endif
+
+// Inlined: read across a call, the first byte strands in a call-saved
+// register the caller has to push and pop.
 [[gnu::always_inline]] inline std::uint16_t rx16()
 {
 	std::uint16_t low = link::rx();
 	return static_cast<std::uint16_t>(low | (link::rx() << 8));
 }
 
-// The streamers take the count in the wire's 8-bit form: 0 means 256.
-//
-// Two functions, because they want opposite placement and placement is an
-// attribute: the byte-addressed loop is small enough to inline into both
-// callers, the word-addressed one stays out of line but flattened — a call to
-// the transmit inside it would strand the 24-bit cursor in callee-saved
-// registers. `word_flash` picks at the call site.
-[[maybe_unused, gnu::always_inline]] inline void send_flash_near(std::uint16_t address, std::uint8_t count)
+// The wire's byte pair as the word it is — AVR is little-endian too, so the
+// cast is the identity a shift-and-or spelling makes the compiler rediscover.
+// Callers read into named variables first: the wire order is a sequence of
+// reads, not an argument order.
+[[gnu::always_inline]] inline std::uint16_t word_of(std::array<std::uint8_t, 2> pair)
 {
-	do
-		link::tx(avr::flash_load(reinterpret_cast<const std::uint8_t *>(address++)));
-	while (--count);
+	return std::bit_cast<std::uint16_t>(pair);
 }
 
-// The 24-bit cursor as the machine holds it: the RAMPZ byte and a 16-bit Z,
-// carried explicitly (the reassembled 32-bit address folds away inside the
-// inlined far load).
-[[maybe_unused, gnu::flatten, gnu::noinline]] void send_flash_far(std::uint16_t address, std::uint8_t count)
+// Out of line: several sites send it, and a call is shorter than a
+// load-immediate at each.
+[[gnu::noinline]] void tx_ack()
 {
-	std::uint8_t rampz = static_cast<std::uint8_t>(address >> 15);
-	std::uint16_t z = static_cast<std::uint16_t>(address << 1);
-	do {
-		link::tx(avr::flash_load_far<std::uint8_t>((static_cast<std::uint32_t>(rampz) << 16) | z));
-		// The protocol never reads across 64 KiB, but carrying the wrap is
-		// smaller than the flat 32-bit cursor GCC builds without it.
-		if (++z == 0)
-			++rampz;
-	} while (--count);
-}
-
-[[gnu::always_inline]] inline void send_flash(std::uint16_t address, std::uint8_t count)
-{
-	if constexpr (word_flash)
-		send_flash_far(address, count);
-	else
-		send_flash_near(address, count);
-}
-
-void send_eeprom(std::uint16_t address, std::uint8_t count)
-{
-	do
-		link::tx(ee::read(address++));
-	while (--count);
-}
-
-// EEPROM write, host-paced: each ack goes out once the byte's write has
-// begun, so the next byte arrives while it completes and the following
-// write's own ready-wait sees an idle line. Nothing is ever missed, on
-// either serial backend, without a buffer.
-void store_eeprom(std::uint16_t address, std::uint8_t count)
-{
-	do {
-		ee::write<off>(address++, link::rx());
 	link::tx(ack);
-	} while (--count);
 }
 
-// One flash page: stream the bytes into the SPM buffer as little-endian
-// words, then erase and program — except the 512-byte slot this code runs
-// in, which is drained but never programmed, so a copy can never erase
-// itself. `slot_high` is the high byte of that running slot's base (run()
-// derives it); a broken host thus cannot brick the running loader, and a
-// copy flashed one slot lower may rewrite the slot above it — how pureboot
-// updates itself.
-void program_flash(std::uint16_t wire_address, std::uint8_t slot_high)
+// A wire address and its selector's bank as the flash address they name.
+[[gnu::always_inline]] inline spm::flash_address_t flash_address([[maybe_unused]] std::uint8_t bank, std::uint16_t at)
 {
-	// No discard before the fill: the buffer is write-once per word
-	// (§26.2.1), so filling over one a refused page or an application left
-	// dirty programs stale words — but a page write auto-erases the buffer
-	// (§26.2.1; §19.2 on the tinies), so that write clears the condition and
-	// the host's read-back rewrites the page.
+	if constexpr (banked_flash)
+		return (static_cast<spm::flash_address_t>(bank) << 16) | at;
+	else
+		return at;
+}
 
-	// One induction either way. On the byte-addressed chips the wire address
-	// itself walks the page (aligned, so the offset bits wrap to zero); on
-	// the word-addressed large chips the wire word address becomes a 32-bit
-	// byte cursor once, and their 256-byte page makes its low byte the whole
-	// in-page offset. The slot index is one high byte of the wire address —
-	// two values on byte-addressed chips (the & ~1), bits 16:9 re-packed on
-	// the large ones.
-	spm::flash_address_t address;
-	std::uint8_t page_high;
-	if constexpr (word_flash) {
-		// Pages are aligned, so one page never crosses a 64 KiB boundary:
-		// RAMPZ is a per-page constant and the fill cursor is a 16-bit Z
-		// whose low byte is the whole in-page offset (256-byte pages). The
-		// slot index is simply the wire word address's high byte.
-		const std::uint8_t rampz = static_cast<std::uint8_t>(wire_address >> 15);
-		const std::uint16_t z0 = static_cast<std::uint16_t>(wire_address << 1);
-		std::uint16_t z = z0;
+// One byte out of any space. Every accessor shares the transfer's cursor, its
+// loop and its call site, so a space costs only its own instruction rather
+// than a body, a loop and a dispatch arm of its own.
+[[gnu::always_inline]] inline std::uint8_t load(std::uint8_t space, [[maybe_unused]] std::uint8_t bank,
+                                                std::uint16_t at)
+{
+	if (space == sp_eeprom)
+		return ee::read(at);
+	if (space == sp_data)
+		return *reinterpret_cast<volatile std::uint8_t *>(at);
+	if (space == sp_fuse)
+		return spm::read_fuse<off>(static_cast<spm::fuse>(at));
+	if constexpr (banked_flash)
+		return avr::flash_load_far<std::uint8_t>(flash_address(bank, at));
+	else
+		return avr::flash_load(reinterpret_cast<const std::uint8_t *>(at));
+}
+
+// One byte into a writable space. Flash is not one of them — it arrives a
+// page at a time through 'W' and is committed through sp_spm — and the fuses
+// are not writable at all: SPM reaches flash and boot lock bits only.
+[[gnu::always_inline]] inline void store(std::uint8_t space, std::uint8_t bank, std::uint16_t at, std::uint8_t value,
+                                         std::uint8_t slot_high)
+{
+	if (space == sp_data) {
+		*reinterpret_cast<volatile std::uint8_t *>(at) = value;
+		return;
+	}
+	if (space == sp_spm) {
+		// The running-slot write guard. An SPM command aimed at the slot this
+		// code executes from is dropped, so a broken host cannot brick the
+		// running loader — while a copy one slot lower may still rewrite the
+		// resident one, which is what a self-update is. Guarding the commit
+		// rather than the page fill covers erase and write both, and leaves a
+		// refused page's words in the buffer: harmless, since the next page
+		// write auto-erases it (§26.2.1).
+		if (slot_of(bank, at) != slot_high)
+			spm::command<off>(value, flash_address(bank, at));
+		// Only a boot-sectioned mega runs on while its RWW section programs;
+		// everywhere else the CPU halts through erase and write, so the wait
+		// is already over by the time it returns.
+		if constexpr (boot_section)
+			spm::wait();
+		return;
+	}
+	// Host-paced: the ack goes out once the write has begun, so the next byte
+	// arrives while it completes and nothing is missed without a buffer.
+	ee::write<off>(at, value);
+}
+
+// One page into the SPM buffer, and only that: the erase and the write that
+// commit it are host-issued sp_spm stores, which reach the same fused
+// store-and-SPM pair through the transfer path's own address and data.
+//
+// Nothing discards the buffer first: it is write-once per word (§26.2.1), so
+// filling over a refused page or an application's leavings programs stale
+// words — but a page write auto-erases it (§26.2.1; §19.2 on the tinies), so
+// that write clears the condition and the host's read-back rewrites the page.
+void fill_page(std::uint8_t bank, std::uint16_t at)
+{
+	// The address names a page, so its in-page bits are dropped and the walk
+	// starts at the page base; the low byte of the cursor is the whole in-page
+	// offset, since a page is aligned and never crosses a bank.
+	std::uint16_t z = at & ~static_cast<std::uint16_t>(page - 1);
 	do {
 		std::uint8_t low = link::rx();
 		std::uint8_t high = link::rx();
-			spm::fill<off>((static_cast<spm::flash_address_t>(rampz) << 16) | z,
-			               static_cast<std::uint16_t>(low | (high << 8)));
+		spm::fill<off>(flash_address(bank, z), word_of({low, high}));
 		z += 2;
-		} while (static_cast<std::uint8_t>(z));
-		address = (static_cast<spm::flash_address_t>(rampz) << 16) | z0;
-		page_high = static_cast<std::uint8_t>(wire_address >> 8) & 0xfe;
-	} else {
-		address = static_cast<spm::flash_address_t>(wire_address);
-		do {
-			std::uint8_t low = link::rx();
-			std::uint8_t high = link::rx();
-			spm::fill<off>(address, static_cast<std::uint16_t>(low | (high << 8)));
-			address += 2;
-		} while (static_cast<std::uint8_t>(address) & (page - 1));
-		address -= 2; // back inside the page — erase and write ignore the word bits
-		page_high = static_cast<std::uint8_t>(address >> 8) & 0xfe;
-	}
-	if (page_high != slot_high) {
-		// The tinies and the m48s halt the CPU through the erase and the
-		// write, so only the boot-sectioned megas — running on while their
-		// RWW section programs — wait.
-		spm::erase_page<off>(address);
-		if constexpr (boot_section)
-			spm::wait();
-		spm::write_page<off>(address);
-		if constexpr (boot_section)
-			spm::wait();
-	}
-	// The megas program with their RWW section disabled; reads need it back
-	// on. The same store discards the buffer (§26.2.2), so they never meet
-	// the stale-word case above. boot_section implies an RWW section.
-	if constexpr (boot_section)
-		spm::rww_enable<off>();
-}
-
-// The four fuse/lock bytes in the hardware's own Z order: low, lock,
-// extended, high. Writing fuses is not a thing self-programming can do on
-// AVR — SPM reaches flash (and boot lock bits) only.
-void send_fuses()
-{
-	std::uint8_t which = 0;
-	do
-		link::tx(spm::read_fuse<off>(static_cast<spm::fuse>(which)));
-	while (++which & 3);
+	} while (static_cast<std::uint8_t>(z) & (page - 1));
 }
 
 [[noreturn]] void run()
 {
-	// A watchdog reset belongs to the application (whose watchdog stays
-	// forced on until it clears WDRF) — no activation window in its way.
-	// The flag register is MCUSR, or the classic megas' MCUCSR.
+	// A watchdog reset belongs to the application, whose watchdog stays forced
+	// on until it clears WDRF — no activation window in its way.
 	if (avr::hw::field_impl<wdrf_field()>::test())
 		run_app();
 
 	link::init();
 
-	// The high byte of the 512-byte-aligned base this copy runs at: the
-	// return address is a word address, whose high byte is the 256-word slot
-	// index — on byte-addressed chips doubled back into byte terms.
-	// program_flash refuses this one slot and the info block is addressed
-	// from it, so both follow wherever the code was flashed. The high byte is
-	// spelled as byteswap's low byte: the builtin's value is itself built by
-	// swapping the two stacked bytes, and the double swap folds to the single
-	// byte pick a hand assembler writes — `>> 8` leaves the swap materialized.
-	const std::uint16_t ra_words = reinterpret_cast<std::uint16_t>(__builtin_return_address(0));
-	const std::uint8_t ra_high = static_cast<std::uint8_t>(std::byteswap(ra_words));
-	const std::uint8_t slot_high = word_flash ? ra_high & 0xfe : static_cast<std::uint8_t>(ra_high << 1);
+	// The slot this copy runs in, which the write guard follows: the return
+	// address is a word address and a slot is half as many words as bytes, so
+	// its high byte is the slot index outright. No absolute address is ever
+	// formed, so the image stays position-independent.
+	const auto slot_high = avr::startup::caller_page();
 
-	// The knock: 'p' then 'b', each under a fresh window; any other byte is
-	// line noise and waits again. Falling out of a window runs the app.
-	while (rx_deadline() != 'p' || rx_deadline() != 'b') {
-	}
+	await_host();
 
 	for (;;) {
-		// No prompt while an EEPROM write runs: a pending write blocks SPM
-		// and fuse reads (§26.2.1), and the ack tells the host all is done.
+		// No prompt while an EEPROM write runs: it blocks SPM and fuse reads
+		// (§26.2.1), and the prompt is the previous command's completion ack.
 		ee::wait();
-		link::tx(ack);
+		tx_ack();
 		const std::uint8_t command = link::rx();
 		switch (command) {
-		case 'b': { // info block, read relative to the running slot
-			// The block sits in the image's first 256 bytes (the build lint
-			// asserts it), and slots are 512-aligned — so the low byte of its
-			// link address (in wire units: bytes, or words on the large
-			// chips) is its offset in any slot, and the high byte of its
-			// runtime address is the running slot's. Composed from the two
-			// bytes — the high half is runtime data, so no absolute address
-			// is ever materialized.
-			const auto link_low = reinterpret_cast<std::uint16_t>(info_data.storage.data());
-			const std::uint8_t low =
-			    word_flash ? static_cast<std::uint8_t>(link_low >> 1) : static_cast<std::uint8_t>(link_low);
-			send_flash(static_cast<std::uint16_t>(low | (slot_high << 8)), static_cast<std::uint8_t>(info_data.size()));
-			break;
-		}
 		case 'J': { // jump to a wire word address: hand-over and staging transfer
 			auto target = reinterpret_cast<void (*)()>(rx16());
-			link::tx(ack);
+			tx_ack();
 			link::drain();
 			jump(target);
 		}
-		case 'R':   // read flash: addr16, n8 (0 = 256)
-		case 'r':   // read EEPROM: addr16, n8
-		case 'w': { // write EEPROM: addr16, n8, then n bytes each acked
-			std::uint16_t address = rx16();
-			std::uint8_t count = link::rx();
-			if (command == 'R')
-				send_flash(address, count);
-			else if (command == 'r')
-				send_eeprom(address, count);
-			else
-				store_eeprom(address, count);
+		case 'b': // identity: the version, then the three signature bytes
+			// Straight out of the stamp, so the wire and the image can never
+			// disagree about what this loader is. The indices are constant and
+			// the array is constexpr, so these are immediates, not flash reads:
+			// nothing here needs the stamp's runtime address.
+			for (std::uint8_t at = stamp_identity; at != sizeof identity_stamp; ++at)
+				link::tx(identity_stamp[at]);
+			break;
+		case 'W':   // fill one flash page buffer: sel8, addr16, then page bytes
+		case 'G':   // read:  sel8, addr16, n8 (0 = 256)
+		case 'g': { // write: sel8, addr16, n8, then n bytes, each acked
+			// One decode, one cursor and one loop for every space and both
+			// directions: a command per memory would carry a copy of all three
+			// each. 'W' joins the same decode rather than keeping an address
+			// form of its own, so flash addressing is uniform across every
+			// command that names it.
+			const std::uint8_t selector = link::rx();
+			const std::uint8_t space = space_of(selector);
+			const std::uint8_t bank = bank_of(selector);
+			std::uint16_t at = rx16();
+			if (command == 'W') {
+				fill_page(bank, at);
 				break;
 			}
-		case 'W': // program one flash page: addr16, page bytes
-			program_flash(rx16(), slot_high);
-			break;
-		case 'F': // fuse and lock bytes
-			send_fuses();
+			std::uint8_t count = link::rx();
+			do {
+				// Read and write are one letter apart in case, so the direction
+				// is a single bit and the loop picks it with a one-word skip.
+				if (command & 0x20) {
+					store(space, bank, at, link::rx(), slot_high);
+					tx_ack();
+				} else
+					link::tx(load(space, bank, at));
+				++at;
+			} while (--count);
 			break;
+		}
 		default: // unknown bytes are ignored; the loop re-acks
 			break;
 		}

pureboot/pureboot.py

@@ -1,24 +1,13 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python3
-"""pureboot host tool — the smart half of the pureboot protocol (README.md).
+"""pureboot host tool — the smart half of the protocol (README.md).
 
-The device exposes primitives; this tool composes them: image loading (raw
-binary or Intel HEX), flash programming with read-back verification, erase as
-writing 0xff, EEPROM programming, fuse and info readout, the hand-over jump,
-and — on chips without a hardware boot section — the reset-vector surgery
-that re-homes the application's entry through the trampoline word below the
-loader. Page 0 and the trampoline are written first, so every interruption
-point of a flash leaves the chip reset-recoverable into the loader.
+The device exposes primitives; everything composite is here: HEX/raw images,
+programming with repairing read-back verification, the reset-vector surgery
+the boot-section-less chips need, and the self-update that stages the loader
+one slot lower and lets it rewrite the resident.
 
-It also updates the loader itself (--update-loader): pureboot's image is
-position-independent, so the tool installs the identical binary one 512-byte
-slot below the resident loader, jumps into that staging copy, lets it rewrite
-the resident slot, and restores what the staging slot held — resumable at
-every phase from the flash state plus a host-side state file carrying the
-saved bytes.
-
-Python standard library only; the serial port is driven with termios on POSIX
-and the Win32 serial API (through ctypes) on Windows, so any tty or COM port
-works — a USB adapter as well as a simavr pty.
+Standard library only. The port is termios on POSIX and the Win32 serial API
+through ctypes on Windows, so any tty or COM port works.
 """
 
 import argparse
@@ -35,16 +24,79 @@ else:
     import termios
 
 PROMPT = b"+"
-PROTOCOL_VERSION = 1
-SLOT = 512  # the loader slot on byte-addressed chips; word-addressed ones (>64 KiB) use 1 KiB — their own smallest boot sector
+VERSION = 5  # this tool's own version — free to drift from a loader's
+# The loader versions this tool speaks. A pureboot version implies its wire
+# protocol, which carries no number of its own, so this window is where that
+# map lives: every version so far speaks the same protocol, and one that
+# changes it becomes the new floor here.
+OLDEST_LOADER = 1
+NEWEST_LOADER = 5
+SLOT = 512  # the loader slot, on every chip
 RETRIES = 3  # rewrites of a page that reads back wrong, before the run stops
 
+# pureboot 5 replaced the four per-memory commands with one pair: 'G' reads and
+# 'g' writes, each taking a selector byte, a 16-bit address and a count, over
+# the spaces below. The loader carries one transfer loop instead of four bodies
+# — which is what buys the data space and the host-issued SPM operations.
+UNIFIED_LOADER = 5
+SP_FLASH, SP_EEPROM, SP_RAM, SP_FUSE, SP_SPM = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4
+
+# A selector's high nibble is the flash bank — the address bits above the 16-bit
+# wire address — so a transfer names a byte address within one 64 KiB bank and
+# no command has to speak word addresses. No single transfer may cross a bank
+# boundary; the host chunks to keep that true.
+def selector(space, address):
+    return space | ((address >> 16) << 4)
+
+
+# The SPM operations pureboot 5 leaves to the host: a write to SP_SPM hands its
+# byte to SPMCSR and fires the instruction at the selected flash address. Every
+# part pureboot targets agrees on these encodings.
+SPM_ERASE, SPM_WRITE, SPM_RWWSRE = 0x03, 0x05, 0x11
+
+# Calibration byte for an autobaud loader: 0xC0 is a start bit plus six zero
+# data bits — one low pulse of seven bit-times, which the loader times into its
+# per-bit unit. Sent at whatever baud the host chose; the loader locks to it.
+CALIBRATE = 0xC0
+
+# pureboot 5 answers 'b' with its version and the chip signature; the host
+# derives the rest of the geometry from the signature rather than reading a
+# table off the device. flash, page, eeprom, patch-vector per distinct
+# signature, over every chip pureboot targets (the loader computes the same
+# from its chip database at build time). Die revisions that share a signature
+# share this row, as they share the silicon.
+CHIP_GEOMETRY = {
+    #  signature  : (flash, page, eeprom, patch_vector)
+    (0x1E, 0x90, 0x07): (1024, 32, 64, True),      # ATtiny13/13A
+    (0x1E, 0x91, 0x08): (2048, 32, 128, True),     # ATtiny25
+    (0x1E, 0x92, 0x06): (4096, 64, 256, True),     # ATtiny45
+    (0x1E, 0x93, 0x0B): (8192, 64, 512, True),     # ATtiny85
+    (0x1E, 0x92, 0x05): (4096, 64, 256, True),     # ATmega48/48A
+    (0x1E, 0x92, 0x0A): (4096, 64, 256, True),     # ATmega48P/48PA
+    (0x1E, 0x93, 0x07): (8192, 64, 512, False),    # ATmega8/8A
+    (0x1E, 0x93, 0x0A): (8192, 64, 512, False),    # ATmega88/88A
+    (0x1E, 0x93, 0x0F): (8192, 64, 512, False),    # ATmega88P/88PA
+    (0x1E, 0x94, 0x03): (16384, 128, 512, False),  # ATmega16/16A
+    (0x1E, 0x94, 0x06): (16384, 128, 512, False),  # ATmega168/168A
+    (0x1E, 0x94, 0x0B): (16384, 128, 512, False),  # ATmega168P/168PA
+    (0x1E, 0x94, 0x0A): (16384, 128, 512, False),  # ATmega164P/164PA
+    (0x1E, 0x94, 0x0F): (16384, 128, 512, False),  # ATmega164A
+    (0x1E, 0x95, 0x02): (32768, 128, 1024, False), # ATmega32/32A
+    (0x1E, 0x95, 0x0F): (32768, 128, 1024, False), # ATmega328P
+    (0x1E, 0x95, 0x14): (32768, 128, 1024, False), # ATmega328
+    (0x1E, 0x95, 0x08): (32768, 128, 1024, False), # ATmega324P
+    (0x1E, 0x95, 0x11): (32768, 128, 1024, False), # ATmega324PA
+    (0x1E, 0x95, 0x15): (32768, 128, 1024, False), # ATmega324A
+    (0x1E, 0x96, 0x09): (65536, 256, 2048, False), # ATmega644/644A
+    (0x1E, 0x96, 0x0A): (65536, 256, 2048, False), # ATmega644P/644PA
+    (0x1E, 0x97, 0x05): (131072, 256, 4096, False),# ATmega1284P
+    (0x1E, 0x97, 0x06): (131072, 256, 4096, False),# ATmega1284
+}
+
 VERBOSE = False
 
 
 def verbose(message):
-    """Detail printed only under --verbose: decisions and derived facts, not
-    per-byte chatter — the progress bar carries the bulk transfers."""
     if VERBOSE:
         print(f"  {message}")
 
@@ -54,11 +106,9 @@ class Error(Exception):
 
 
 class Progress:
-    """A transient in-place bar on stderr for the operations that take wire
-    time. Drawn only when stderr is a tty — logs, pipes and the test harness
-    see nothing — and erased once done; the summary line each operation
-    prints afterwards is the persistent record. A zero total (or no label)
-    disables it, so callers can pass one through unconditionally."""
+    """A transient bar on stderr, drawn only for a tty and erased when done —
+    logs and pipes see only the summary line each operation prints. No label
+    or a zero total disables it, so callers can pass one unconditionally."""
 
     def __init__(self, label, total, unit="pages"):
         self.label, self.total, self.unit = label, total, unit
@@ -96,6 +146,13 @@ class Progress:
 class PosixPort:
     """A raw serial port with deadline-based reads, over termios."""
 
+    @staticmethod
+    def _speed(baud):
+        try:
+            return getattr(termios, f"B{baud}")
+        except AttributeError:
+            raise Error(f"unsupported baud rate {baud}") from None
+
     def __init__(self, path, baud):
         self.fd = os.open(path, os.O_RDWR | os.O_NOCTTY)
         attrs = termios.tcgetattr(self.fd)
@@ -103,14 +160,20 @@ class PosixPort:
         attrs[1] = 0  # oflag
         attrs[2] = termios.CREAD | termios.CLOCAL | termios.CS8  # cflag
         attrs[3] = 0  # lflag
-        try:
-            speed = getattr(termios, f"B{baud}")
-        except AttributeError:
-            raise Error(f"unsupported baud rate {baud}") from None
-        attrs[4] = attrs[5] = speed
+        attrs[4] = attrs[5] = self._speed(baud)
         attrs[6][termios.VMIN] = 0
         attrs[6][termios.VTIME] = 0
         termios.tcsetattr(self.fd, termios.TCSANOW, attrs)
+        self.baud = baud
+
+    def set_baud(self, baud):
+        """Retune the port without closing it — the fd stays open, so no DTR
+        pulse and no reset. That matters: the only caller is mid-session with a
+        loader copy that a reset would throw away."""
+        attrs = termios.tcgetattr(self.fd)
+        attrs[4] = attrs[5] = self._speed(baud)
+        termios.tcsetattr(self.fd, termios.TCSANOW, attrs)
+        self.baud = baud
 
     def close(self):
         os.close(self.fd)
@@ -239,6 +302,7 @@ if os.name == "nt":
                 # timeout would otherwise stay at the driver's default — which
                 # may be "wait forever" — until the first read.
                 self._deadline(_GAP_MS, 1000)
+                self.baud = baud
             except Error:
                 # An open port outlives the exception otherwise, and a COM
                 # handle is exclusive: the next attempt would meet its own
@@ -246,6 +310,21 @@ if os.name == "nt":
                 self.close()
                 raise
 
+        def set_baud(self, baud):
+            """Retune the port on its live handle — SetCommState only, so the
+            handle is never reopened and DTR never drops. That matters: the only
+            caller is mid-session with a loader copy a reset would throw away."""
+            if baud < 50:
+                raise Error(f"unsupported baud rate {baud}")
+            dcb = _DCB()
+            dcb.DCBlength = ctypes.sizeof(_DCB)
+            if not _k32.GetCommState(self.handle, ctypes.byref(dcb)):
+                _fail("cannot read the port state")
+            dcb.BaudRate = baud
+            if not _k32.SetCommState(self.handle, ctypes.byref(dcb)):
+                _fail(f"cannot retune the port to {baud} baud")
+            self.baud = baud
+
         def close(self):
             _k32.CloseHandle(self.handle)
 
@@ -310,27 +389,62 @@ Port = WindowsPort if os.name == "nt" else PosixPort
 class Info:
     """The 12-byte info block."""
 
+    @classmethod
+    def from_identity(cls, raw):
+        """pureboot 5's reply: the version and the chip signature. The rest of
+        the geometry is looked up from the signature — the loader derived the
+        same facts from its chip database at build time, so nothing is guessed,
+        it is simply not sent. Reconstructs a block in the older layout, so
+        every derived attribute below is shared with the loaders that do send
+        one.
+
+        The base is where application flash ends, which is a property of the
+        chip and not of the copy answering: a loader staged one slot lower
+        reports the same geometry the resident one does, exactly as the loaders
+        that send a block do. Which slot a copy runs in matters only to its own
+        write guard, which is the loader's business."""
+        if len(raw) != 4:
+            raise Error(f"bad identity reply: {raw.hex()}")
+        version, signature = raw[0], tuple(raw[1:4])
+        geometry = CHIP_GEOMETRY.get(signature)
+        if geometry is None:
+            sig = " ".join(f"{b:02x}" for b in signature)
+            raise Error(f"unknown signature {sig} — this tool has no geometry for it")
+        flash, page, eeprom, patch = geometry
+        base = flash - SLOT
+        word_flash = flash > 0x10000
+        wire_base = base // 2 if word_flash else base
+        flags = (1 if patch else 0) | (2 if word_flash else 0)
+        raw12 = bytes((ord("P"), ord("B"), version, *signature, page & 0xFF,
+                       wire_base & 0xFF, wire_base >> 8, eeprom & 0xFF, eeprom >> 8, flags))
+        return cls(raw12)
+
     def __init__(self, raw):
         if len(raw) != 12 or raw[0:2] != b"PB":
             raise Error(f"bad info block: {raw.hex()}")
-        if raw[2] != PROTOCOL_VERSION:
-            raise Error(f"protocol version {raw[2]}, tool speaks {PROTOCOL_VERSION}")
+        self.version = raw[2]
+        if not OLDEST_LOADER <= self.version <= NEWEST_LOADER:
+            raise Error(
+                f"pureboot {self.version}: this tool (version {VERSION}) speaks pureboot "
+                f"{OLDEST_LOADER}..{NEWEST_LOADER} — a newer loader needs a newer tool"
+            )
         self.raw = bytes(raw)
         self.signature = raw[3:6]
         self.page = raw[6] or 256  # the wire count convention: 0 means 256
         self.patch_vector = bool(raw[11] & 1)
-        # Large chips speak word addresses for flash (bit 1); the host keeps
-        # every address in bytes and converts at the wire.
+        # Bit 1: the flash runs past what one 16-bit address covers. Through
+        # pureboot 4 that made flash addresses words on the wire; pureboot 5
+        # keeps them bytes and carries the bank in the selector instead. Every
+        # address in this tool stays a byte address either way and converts at
+        # the wire.
         self.word_flash = bool(raw[11] & 2)
         scale = 2 if self.word_flash else 1
         self.base = (raw[7] | (raw[8] << 8)) * scale
         self.eeprom_size = raw[9] | (raw[10] << 8)
-        self.slot = 1024 if self.word_flash else SLOT
-        self.flash_size = self.base + self.slot
-        self.stage = self.base - self.slot  # where a staging copy of the loader goes
-        # The hand-over target, as the word address 'J' takes: the trampoline
-        # below the loader (tinies), or word 0 (mega — the application's own
-        # reset vector; BOOTRST re-vectors a reset into the loader instead).
+        self.flash_size = self.base + SLOT
+        self.stage = self.base - SLOT  # where a staging copy of the loader goes
+        # The hand-over target as 'J' takes it: the trampoline below the
+        # loader, or word 0 where BOOTRST re-vectors reset in hardware.
         self.app_entry_word = (self.base - 2) // 2 if self.patch_vector else 0
 
     def describe(self):
@@ -343,17 +457,18 @@ class Info:
         )
 
     def lines(self):
-        """The info block as one fact per line — what --info prints."""
+        """One fact per line — what --info prints."""
         if self.patch_vector:
             hand_over = f"host-patched reset vector, trampoline at {self.base - 2:#06x}"
         else:
             hand_over = "hardware boot section, jump to word 0"
         return (
+            f"version      pureboot {self.version}",
             f"signature    {' '.join(f'{b:02x}' for b in self.signature)}",
             f"flash        {self.flash_size} B, {self.page} B pages"
-            + (", word-addressed wire" if self.word_flash else ""),
+            + (", past one 16-bit bank" if self.word_flash else ""),
             f"application  0x0000..{self.base - 1:#06x} ({self.base} B)",
-            f"loader       {self.base:#06x} ({self.slot} B slot)",
+            f"loader       {self.base:#06x} ({SLOT} B slot)",
             f"staging      {self.stage:#06x}",
             f"EEPROM       {self.eeprom_size} B",
             f"hand-over    {hand_over}",
@@ -361,36 +476,85 @@ class Info:
 
 
 class Loader:
-    """A pureboot session. Between commands the loader has prompted `+` and
-    awaits a command byte; every method restores that invariant — except
-    jump(), after which the target must be knocked afresh."""
+    """A session. Between commands the loader has prompted and awaits a
+    command byte; every method restores that, except jump() — after which the
+    target must be knocked afresh."""
 
     def __init__(self, port):
         self.port = port
         self.info = None
+        # Set once a session is established over an autobaud link, so a
+        # re-entry after 'J' repeats the handshake that worked.
+        self.autobaud = False
+        # The link this session is speaking. It moves when the host follows a
+        # staging copy built for another one (enter_copy).
+        self.baud = getattr(port, "baud", None)
+        self._link_declared = False
 
-    def connect(self, wait):
-        """Knock until the activation window answers, then read the info
-        block. Also converges when the loader already sits in its command
-        loop: the knock bytes are ignored-or-executed there, and the drain
-        absorbs whatever they produced."""
-        self.port.flush_input()
+    def _read_identity(self):
+        """The 'b' reply, in either of the two layouts a loader may send.
+        pureboot 5 answers with its version and the signature; older loaders
+        answer with a 12-byte block. The version byte cannot be mistaken for
+        the older block's 'P', so four bytes are enough to tell them apart."""
+        head = self.port.read_exact(4, 2.0)
+        if head[0:2] == b"PB":
+            return Info(head + self.port.read_exact(8, 2.0))
+        return Info.from_identity(head)
+
+    def _handshake(self, wait, knock, what):
+        """One activation, retried until the loader answers or the window
+        closes. The identity reply is what proves the loader is listening — a
+        prompt byte alone does not, since one left over from a previous session
+        can still be in the pipeline while the port opening resets the device
+        into a fresh window, where a command without its knock is discarded.
+        Each attempt is therefore the whole handshake. This also converges into
+        an already-live session: the knock bytes are ignored there and the
+        drain absorbs whatever they produced."""
         deadline = time.monotonic() + wait
         knocks = 0
         while True:
-            self.port.write(b"pb")
+            self.port.flush_input()
+            self.port.write(knock)
             knocks += 1
             if PROMPT in self.port.read_available(0.4):
+                # Settle: absorb a real loader's trailing bytes before asking
+                # for the identity. Bounded by the deadline so a target that
+                # never falls quiet — a board stuck in a reset loop, whose
+                # garbage carries a stray prompt — cannot spin here forever.
+                while self.port.read_available(0.3):
+                    if time.monotonic() > deadline:
                         break
+                self.port.write(b"b")
+                try:
+                    # A version the tool cannot speak is the loader's own
+                    # answer, not a failed knock: Info reports it rather than
+                    # sending the tool round the loop again.
+                    self.info = self._read_identity()
+                except Error as failed:
+                    if "pureboot" in str(failed):
+                        raise
+                    self.info = None
+                if self.info is not None:
+                    self._expect_prompt()
+                    verbose(f"loader answered {what} {knocks}; identity read")
+                    return self.info
             if time.monotonic() > deadline:
                 raise Error("no answer — reset the device within its activation window")
-        while self.port.read_available(0.3):
-            pass
-        self.port.write(b"b")
-        self.info = Info(self.port.read_exact(12, 2.0))
-        self._expect_prompt()
-        verbose(f"loader answered knock {knocks}; info block read")
-        return self.info
+
+    def connect(self, wait):
+        """Knock 'p' then 'b' and read the identity."""
+        return self._handshake(wait, b"pb", "knock")
+
+    def connect_autobaud(self, wait):
+        """The autobaud handshake. In place of the p+b knock the host sends the
+        calibration pulse — one seven-bit-time low pulse at the host's chosen
+        baud, which the loader times into its per-bit unit — then a single 'p'
+        the loader decodes at the rate it just measured. A lost pulse, or a
+        knock landing while the loader is mid-frame, simply fails to answer and
+        leaves the measurement loop waiting for the next pulse, so the retry in
+        _handshake covers it."""
+        self.autobaud = True
+        return self._handshake(wait, bytes((CALIBRATE, ord("p"))), "calibration")
 
     def _expect_prompt(self, timeout=2.0):
         byte = self.port.read_exact(1, timeout)
@@ -414,7 +578,58 @@ class Loader:
             count -= chunk
         return data
 
+    @property
+    def unified(self):
+        """pureboot 5 and later: one 'G'/'g' pair over selector-named spaces."""
+        return self.info is not None and self.info.version >= UNIFIED_LOADER
+
+    def _read_space(self, space, address, count):
+        """A run out of any space, chunked to 256 bytes and to bank bounds."""
+        data = b""
+        while count:
+            chunk = min(count, 256, 0x10000 - (address & 0xFFFF))
+            head = bytes((ord("G"), selector(space, address), address & 0xFF,
+                          (address >> 8) & 0xFF, chunk & 0xFF))
+            data += self._command(head, chunk, 5.0)
+            address += chunk
+            count -= chunk
+        return data
+
+    def _write_space(self, space, address, data, progress=None):
+        """A run into any space. Each byte is acked as its write begins — an
+        EEPROM cell and an SPM operation both need that pacing, and the ack is
+        what the loader sends in place of a completion status."""
+        offset = 0
+        while offset < len(data):
+            chunk = data[offset : offset + min(256, 0x10000 - (address & 0xFFFF))]
+            head = bytes((ord("g"), selector(space, address), address & 0xFF,
+                          (address >> 8) & 0xFF, len(chunk) & 0xFF))
+            self.port.write(head)
+            for byte in chunk:
+                self.port.write(bytes((byte,)))
+                self._expect_prompt()
+                if progress:
+                    progress.step()
+            self._expect_prompt()  # the next command prompt
+            address += len(chunk)
+            offset += len(chunk)
+
+    def spm(self, operation, address):
+        """One SPM operation at a flash address — the erase, write and RWW
+        re-enable that pureboot 4 ran inside 'W' and pureboot 5 leaves here."""
+        self._write_space(SP_SPM, address, bytes((operation,)))
+
+    def read_ram(self, address, count):
+        """Data space: SRAM, and with it the register file and every I/O
+        register, which share the address space on AVR. New in pureboot 5."""
+        return self._read_space(SP_RAM, address, count)
+
+    def write_ram(self, address, data):
+        self._write_space(SP_RAM, address, data)
+
     def read_flash(self, address, count):
+        if self.unified:
+            return self._read_space(SP_FLASH, address, count)
         if not self.info.word_flash:
             return self._stream_read("R", address, count)
         # Word-addressed wire: widen to even bounds and never let one read
@@ -432,15 +647,32 @@ class Loader:
         return data[address - start : address - start + count]
 
     def read_eeprom(self, address, count):
+        if self.unified:
+            return self._read_space(SP_EEPROM, address, count)
         return self._stream_read("r", address, count)
 
     def write_page(self, address, data):
         assert len(data) == self.info.page and address % self.info.page == 0
+        if self.unified:
+            # 'W' fills the page buffer and stops there; the erase and the write
+            # are host-issued SPM operations. Only a chip with a boot section
+            # has RWW to re-enable — on the others bit 4 of SPMCSR means
+            # something else entirely, so it must not be sent.
+            head = bytes((ord("W"), selector(SP_FLASH, address), address & 0xFF, (address >> 8) & 0xFF))
+            self._command(head + data, 0, 2.0)
+            self.spm(SPM_ERASE, address)
+            self.spm(SPM_WRITE, address)
+            if not self.info.patch_vector:
+                self.spm(SPM_RWWSRE, address)
+            return
         wire = address // (2 if self.info.word_flash else 1)
         head = bytes((ord("W"), wire & 0xFF, wire >> 8))
         self._command(head + data, 0, 2.0)
 
     def write_eeprom(self, address, data, progress=None):
+        if self.unified:
+            self._write_space(SP_EEPROM, address, data, progress)
+            return
         offset = 0
         while offset < len(data):
             chunk = data[offset : offset + 256]
@@ -456,21 +688,50 @@ class Loader:
             offset += len(chunk)
 
     def read_fuses(self):
+        if self.unified:
+            return self._read_space(SP_FUSE, 0, 4)
         return self._command(b"F", 4, 2.0)
 
     def jump(self, word_address):
-        """'J': the device acks, then execution continues at the word
-        address — a loader slot's base (whose copy must then be knocked
-        afresh) or the application entry."""
+        """The device acks, then execution continues at the word address."""
         self.port.write(bytes((ord("J"), word_address & 0xFF, word_address >> 8)))
         self._expect_prompt()
 
-    def enter_copy(self, byte_address, wait):
-        """Jump into the loader copy at `byte_address` and knock it. Ending
-        up in the copy addressed is guaranteed by construction: a jump to a
-        slot base lands in that slot's entry stub."""
+    def enter_copy(self, byte_address, wait, link=None):
+        """Jump into the loader copy at `byte_address` and knock it — a slot
+        base is that copy's entry stub, so it can only land there.
+
+        `link` is that copy's own `(baud, autobaud)`, for when it is not this
+        session's. A staging copy *is* the new image, so it speaks the rate and
+        backend it was built for; the host has to be told which, because 512
+        bytes of position-independent code carry no header to read it from.
+        Retuning goes through the open port, so no DTR pulse resets the copy that
+        is now running — and the session keeps the new link afterwards, since
+        every later jump lands in the same image.
+        """
+        baud, autobaud = link if link is not None else (self.baud, self.autobaud)
+        if link is not None:
+            self._link_declared = True
         self.jump(byte_address // 2)
-        return self.connect(wait)
+        if baud is not None and baud != self.baud:
+            self.port.set_baud(baud)
+            self.baud = baud
+        self.autobaud = autobaud
+        try:
+            return self.connect_autobaud(wait) if autobaud else self.connect(wait)
+        except Error as unheard:
+            if self._link_declared:
+                raise
+            # The bare activation timeout sends the operator to look at wiring,
+            # while on a patched-vector part the application region is already
+            # gone. Name the one cause that fits: the copy answers on its own
+            # link, not the resident's.
+            raise Error(
+                f"the copy at {byte_address:#06x} did not answer on this session's "
+                f"link ({baud} Bd, {'autobaud' if autobaud else 'fixed baud'}). An "
+                f"image built for another baud or backend speaks that one instead — "
+                f"say which with --staged-baud / --staged-autobaud"
+            ) from unheard
 
     def run_application(self):
         self.jump(self.info.app_entry_word)
@@ -564,15 +825,14 @@ def plan_flash(image, info):
 
 
 def covered(pages, info, skip_blank):
-    """Pages in programming order; optionally dropping all-0xff pages (sound
-    only over erased flash) — never a load-bearing one.
+    """Pages in programming order, optionally dropping all-0xff ones (sound
+    only over erased flash, and never a load-bearing page).
 
-    With a patched vector (tinies), the patched page 0 goes first and the
-    trampoline page second: from the first write on, a reset lands in the
-    loader and the loader's own fall-through lands on the application entry,
-    so every interruption point of the flash is recoverable. With a hardware
-    boot section a reset re-vectors to the loader regardless; ascending
-    order, page 0 last, maximizes what an interrupted image retains."""
+    A patched vector puts page 0 first and the trampoline page second, so from
+    the first write on a reset lands in the loader and its fall-through on the
+    application entry — every interruption point recoverable. A hardware boot
+    section re-vectors reset regardless; page 0 goes last there, which
+    maximizes what an interrupted image retains."""
     trampoline_page = info.base - info.page if info.patch_vector else None
     first = [0, trampoline_page] if info.patch_vector else []
     rest = [a for a in sorted(pages) if a not in first]
@@ -638,18 +898,35 @@ def mega_boot(info, fuse_bytes):
 
 
 def image_info(image):
-    """The info block embedded in a pureboot binary, or None."""
-    at = image.find(b"PB" + bytes((PROTOCOL_VERSION,)))
-    return Info(image[at : at + 12]) if 0 <= at <= len(image) - 12 else None
+    """What a pureboot binary says about itself, or None.
+
+    An update image is a bare slot: nothing about it names the chip it was
+    built for, and installing a foreign one bricks the target — so every
+    loader carries a stamp for this. Through pureboot 4 the stamp is the
+    12-byte info block the device also serves; pureboot 5 serves its identity
+    from immediates and carries a 6-byte stamp (magic, version, signature)
+    that only this exists for, from which the geometry is looked up exactly as
+    it is for a live device.
+
+    Searched once per known version, so the magic stays three selective bytes
+    rather than two that code could carry by chance."""
+    for version in range(OLDEST_LOADER, NEWEST_LOADER + 1):
+        at = image.find(b"PB" + bytes((version,)))
+        if at < 0:
+            continue
+        if version >= UNIFIED_LOADER:
+            if at <= len(image) - 6:
+                return Info.from_identity(image[at + 2 : at + 6])
+        elif at <= len(image) - 12:
+            return Info(image[at : at + 12])
+    return None
 
 
 def loader_image(path):
-    """A loader update image, as the slot's own content. A raw binary is that
-    already; an Intel HEX links the loader at its base inside an otherwise
-    blank flash image, and load_image() anchors every image at zero, so the
-    blank below the base is dropped here. The base comes from the image's own
-    info block rather than the device's, so an image built for somewhere else
-    survives intact and the preflight can say so."""
+    """An update image as the slot's own content: a raw binary already is,
+    while a HEX carries the blank below the loader's base, which is peeled off
+    here. The base comes from the image's own block, not the device's, so a
+    foreign image survives intact for the preflight to reject by name."""
     image = load_image(path)
     embedded = image_info(image)
     if embedded and len(image) > embedded.base:
@@ -658,18 +935,17 @@ def loader_image(path):
 
 
 def staging_content(image, info):
-    """The 512-byte staging-slot content: the image, padding, and — on
-    chips whose hand-over jumps through the word below the resident loader —
-    that word, which for a staging copy is the slot's own last word: an rjmp
-    to the resident base. The staging copy's fall-through and 'J'-free exit
-    both land in a loader instead of garbage."""
-    slot = info.slot
-    if len(image) > (slot - 2 if info.patch_vector else slot):
-        raise Error(f"loader image is {len(image)} B, the slot holds {slot - 2 if info.patch_vector else slot}")
-    content = bytearray(image) + bytearray([0xFF] * (slot - len(image)))
+    """The staging slot's content: the image, padding, and — where the
+    hand-over jumps through the word below the resident — that word, which for
+    a staging copy is its own last one. Composed as an rjmp to the resident,
+    so an abandoned staging copy still falls through into a loader."""
+    budget = SLOT - 2 if info.patch_vector else SLOT
+    if len(image) > budget:
+        raise Error(f"loader image is {len(image)} B, the slot holds {budget}")
+    content = bytearray(image) + bytearray([0xFF] * (SLOT - len(image)))
     if info.patch_vector:
         through = rjmp_to((info.base - 2) // 2, info.base // 2, info.flash_size // 2)
-        content[slot - 2], content[slot - 1] = through & 0xFF, through >> 8
+        content[SLOT - 2], content[SLOT - 1] = through & 0xFF, through >> 8
     return bytes(content)
 
 
@@ -677,7 +953,10 @@ def update_preflight(image, info, fuse_bytes):
     """Errors and warnings before any flash is touched. Returns warnings."""
     embedded = image_info(image)
     if embedded is None:
-        raise Error("no pureboot info block in the update image — not a pureboot binary?")
+        raise Error(
+            "no pureboot info block in the update image — not a pureboot binary, "
+            f"or a version this tool ({VERSION}) does not know"
+        )
     if embedded.raw[3:] != info.raw[3:]:
         raise Error(
             f"update image is for another target: it declares "
@@ -692,7 +971,7 @@ def update_preflight(image, info, fuse_bytes):
             raise Error(
                 f"cannot self-update: the staging slot {info.stage:#06x} lies below the "
                 f"boot section ({bls_start:#06x}) where SPM is disabled "
-                f"— a boot section of at least two slots ({2 * info.slot} B, BOOTSZ) is "
+                f"— a boot section of at least two slots ({2 * SLOT} B, BOOTSZ) is "
                 f"required, and only an external programmer can change fuses"
             )
         if not bootrst:
@@ -734,7 +1013,7 @@ class UpdateState:
         self.data = {
             "signature": info.signature.hex(),
             "base": info.base,
-            "staging": loader.read_flash(info.stage, info.slot).hex(),
+            "staging": loader.read_flash(info.stage, SLOT).hex(),
             "page0": loader.read_flash(0, info.page).hex() if info.patch_vector else "",
         }
         with open(self.path, "w") as f:
@@ -753,9 +1032,8 @@ class UpdateState:
 
 
 def write_differing(loader, base, content, order=None, label=None):
-    """Program the pages of `content` at `base` that differ from flash —
-    idempotent, so a resumed phase redoes only what an interruption left.
-    A label puts the compare-and-program loop on the progress bar."""
+    """Program the pages of `content` at `base` that differ from flash, so a
+    resumed phase redoes only what an interruption left."""
     page = loader.info.page
     offsets = list(order) if order is not None else list(range(0, len(content), page))
     written = 0
@@ -768,9 +1046,8 @@ def write_differing(loader, base, content, order=None, label=None):
             bar.step()
     if label:
         verbose(f"{label}: {written} of {len(offsets)} pages differed")
-    # Page-wise read-back with the same bounded repair as verify_pages: this
-    # is the loader-update path, where a page left wrong is a half-written
-    # loader slot.
+    # The same bounded repair as verify_pages: here a page left wrong is a
+    # half-written loader slot.
     for retry in range(RETRIES + 1):
         bad = [
             offset
@@ -792,8 +1069,8 @@ def write_differing(loader, base, content, order=None, label=None):
 
 
 def patch_word0(loader, page0, target_base):
-    """Rewrite page 0 with its word 0 re-aimed at `target_base` — the
-    resume insurance around rewriting a loader slot the reset path uses."""
+    """Re-aim word 0 at `target_base` — the resume insurance around
+    rewriting a loader slot the reset path goes through."""
     info = loader.info
     patched = bytearray(page0)
     word = rjmp_to(0, target_base // 2, info.flash_size // 2)
@@ -802,17 +1079,24 @@ def patch_word0(loader, page0, target_base):
     return bytes(patched)
 
 
-def op_update_loader(loader, wait, path, state_path, fuse_bytes):
-    """Replace the resident loader with `path`, using the loader itself as
-    its own staging loader. Every phase is idempotent and keyed off the
-    actual flash state, so a re-run after any interruption resumes; the
-    state file carries the bytes the staging slot held."""
+def op_update_loader(loader, wait, path, state_path, fuse_bytes, staged_link=None):
+    """Replace the resident loader with `path`, using the loader as its own
+    staging loader. Every phase is idempotent and keyed off the flash state,
+    so a re-run resumes; the state file carries what the staging slot held.
+
+    `staged_link` is the new image's own `(baud, autobaud)` where it differs from
+    this session's — the copies the host enters *are* that image, so they answer
+    on its link and not the resident's. Note what this does to the idempotence
+    above: once the staging copy is installed, the resumable state is only
+    reachable on the new link, so a re-run has to name it too."""
     info = loader.info
     image = loader_image(path)
     for warning in update_preflight(image, info, fuse_bytes):
         print(f"note: {warning}")
+    update = image_info(image)  # the preflight proved it is there
+    verbose(f"installing pureboot {update.version} over pureboot {info.version}")
     staged = staging_content(image, info)
-    resident = bytes(image) + bytes([0xFF] * (info.slot - len(image)))
+    resident = bytes(image) + bytes([0xFF] * (SLOT - len(image)))
     page = info.page
 
     state = UpdateState(state_path)
@@ -822,40 +1106,34 @@ def op_update_loader(loader, wait, path, state_path, fuse_bytes):
         verbose(f"saving the staging slot to {state_path}")
     state.load_or_save(loader)
 
-    # Install the staging copy — unless a loader already sits whole in the
-    # staging slot (a build programmed there by hand): that copy IS the
-    # installed staging copy, and rewriting it would only trip its own
-    # running-slot guard on the composed through-word. Any pureboot with
-    # the device's own info block serves — the staged copy just streams
-    # pages, so an older build installs a newer resident all the same. Two
-    # checks make "already a loader" mean a *complete* one: the block must
-    # sit where every image carries it (within the slot's first 256 bytes
-    # — the build's position lint), matching the device's block byte for
-    # byte, and the slot must be unchanged since this update began (the
-    # state file's snapshot) — a resumed, half-written install differs
-    # from its snapshot and takes the install path below, which completes
-    # it page by page.
-    current = loader.read_flash(info.stage, info.slot)
-    staged_loader = image_info(current[:268])
+    # A loader already sitting whole in the staging slot IS the staging copy:
+    # rewriting it would only meet its own running-slot guard. Any pureboot
+    # with the device's info block serves, since a staged copy only streams
+    # pages. "Whole" needs both checks — the block where every image carries
+    # it and matching byte for byte, and the slot unchanged since this update
+    # began, so a half-written install takes the path below instead.
+    current = loader.read_flash(info.stage, SLOT)
+    # The whole slot is searched: a loader's stamp sits wherever its image put
+    # it, which is the end of the code on pureboot 5 and the front of it
+    # before that.
+    staged_loader = image_info(current)
     if staged_loader is not None and staged_loader.raw == info.raw and current == state.staging:
         print("staging slot already holds a loader — left in place")
     else:
-        # On a chip whose staging slot starts at address 0 (the 1 KB
-        # tiny13s), its first page carries the reset vector: written last,
-        # so any earlier interruption still resets into the old resident,
-        # and from then on resets enter the staging copy.
-        order = list(range(0, info.slot, page))
+        # Where the staging slot starts at address 0 (the 1 KB tiny13s) its
+        # first page carries the reset vector, so it goes last: until then a
+        # reset still reaches the old resident.
+        order = list(range(0, SLOT, page))
         if info.stage == 0:
             order = order[1:] + [0]
         if write_differing(loader, info.stage, staged, order, label="staging copy"):
             print(f"staging copy installed at {info.stage:#06x}")
 
-    # Enter it and let it rewrite the resident slot. Where a patched reset
-    # vector routes through the resident (a tiny with the staging slot away
-    # from page 0), word 0 is re-aimed at the staging copy around the
-    # rewrite, so a power failure mid-rewrite still resets into a loader.
+    # Enter it and let it rewrite the resident. Where a patched reset vector
+    # routes through the resident, word 0 is re-aimed at the staging copy for
+    # the rewrite, so a power loss mid-rewrite still resets into a loader.
     verbose(f"entering the staging copy at {info.stage:#06x}")
-    loader.enter_copy(info.stage, wait)
+    loader.enter_copy(info.stage, wait, link=staged_link)
     redirect = info.patch_vector and info.stage != 0
     if redirect:
         verbose("word 0 re-aimed at the staging copy for the rewrite")
@@ -871,20 +1149,19 @@ def op_update_loader(loader, wait, path, state_path, fuse_bytes):
     if redirect:
         verbose("word 0 restored")
         write_differing(loader, 0, state.page0)
-    order = list(range(0, info.slot, page))
+    order = list(range(0, SLOT, page))
     if info.stage == 0:
         order = [0] + order[1:]
     write_differing(loader, info.stage, state.staging, order, label="staging restore")
 
     state.discard()
-    print(f"loader updated: {len(image)} B at {info.base:#06x}, staging region restored")
+    print(f"loader updated: pureboot {update.version}, {len(image)} B at {info.base:#06x}, staging region restored")
 
 
 def check_walk_region(pages, info, fuse_bytes, force):
-    """With BOOTRST programmed but targeting below the loader, reset reaches
-    the loader only by walking across erased flash from the boot-section
-    start; application data in that span would divert reset into itself.
-    Only checkable when the fuses are known (--fuses or --assume-fuses)."""
+    """BOOTRST programmed below the loader means reset reaches it only by
+    walking across erased flash; application data in that span would divert
+    reset into itself. Needs the fuses (--fuses or --assume-fuses)."""
     if info.patch_vector or fuse_bytes is None:
         return
     bootrst, bls_start = mega_boot(info, fuse_bytes)
@@ -903,10 +1180,9 @@ def check_walk_region(pages, info, fuse_bytes, force):
 
 
 def op_erase_flash(loader):
-    """0xff over the whole application area. Descending on a patched-vector
-    chip: page 0 — the patched reset vector — goes last, so an interrupted
-    erase still resets into the loader, and once it is gone the whole area
-    is erased and the reset walk reaches the loader anyway."""
+    """0xff over the application area, descending where the reset vector is
+    patched: page 0 goes last, so an interrupted erase still resets into the
+    loader — and once it is gone, the erased walk reaches it anyway."""
     blank = bytes([0xFF] * loader.info.page)
     addresses = range(0, loader.info.base, loader.info.page)
     with Progress("erase", len(addresses)) as bar:
@@ -942,11 +1218,10 @@ def op_flash(loader, path, erase, verify, fuse_bytes=None, force=False):
 
 
 def verify_pages(loader, pages, repair=False):
-    """Read every page back and compare. With `repair`, a mismatched page is
-    rewritten and re-read, up to RETRIES times before it is raised: a page
-    filled over a dirty SPM buffer takes stale words, and the write that took
-    them cleared the buffer, so one rewrite settles it. Anything still wrong
-    after three is not that, and stops the run."""
+    """Read every page back and compare. With `repair`, a mismatch is
+    rewritten and re-read up to RETRIES times first: a page filled over a
+    dirty SPM buffer takes stale words, and the write that took them cleared
+    the buffer, so one rewrite settles it. Anything still wrong is not that."""
     repaired = 0
     with Progress("verify", len(pages)) as bar:
         for address in sorted(pages):
@@ -1024,6 +1299,37 @@ def op_read_eeprom(loader, path):
     print(f"read EEPROM: {len(data)} B -> {path}")
 
 
+def _require_unified(loader, what):
+    if not loader.unified:
+        raise Error(f"{what} needs pureboot {UNIFIED_LOADER} or later; this loader is {loader.info.version}")
+
+
+def _peek_spec(spec):
+    """ADDR[:N] — addresses and counts in any Python integer base."""
+    address, _, count = spec.partition(":")
+    return int(address, 0), int(count, 0) if count else 1
+
+
+def op_peek(loader, spec):
+    _require_unified(loader, "--peek")
+    address, count = _peek_spec(spec)
+    data = loader.read_ram(address, count)
+    for offset in range(0, len(data), 16):
+        row = data[offset : offset + 16]
+        text = "".join(chr(b) if 0x20 <= b < 0x7F else "." for b in row)
+        print(f"{address + offset:#06x}  {row.hex(' '):<47}  {text}")
+
+
+def op_poke(loader, spec):
+    _require_unified(loader, "--poke")
+    address, _, payload = spec.partition(":")
+    if not payload:
+        raise Error("--poke needs ADDR:HEX, for example 0x200:deadbeef")
+    data = bytes.fromhex(payload.replace(" ", ""))
+    loader.write_ram(int(address, 0), data)
+    print(f"poke: {len(data)} B at {int(address, 0):#06x}")
+
+
 def op_fuses(loader):
     low, lock, extended, high = loader.read_fuses()
     print("fuses:")
@@ -1052,13 +1358,27 @@ def main():
     parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
         description="pureboot host tool", epilog="operations run in the order listed above"
     )
+    parser.add_argument("--version", action="version", version=f"%(prog)s {VERSION} "
+                        f"(speaks pureboot {OLDEST_LOADER}..{NEWEST_LOADER})")
     parser.add_argument("--port", required=True, help="serial device: COM6, /dev/ttyUSB0, or a simavr pty")
     parser.add_argument("--baud", type=int, default=115200, help="115200 mega, 57600 tinies")
     parser.add_argument("--wait", type=float, default=30.0, help="seconds to keep knocking")
+    parser.add_argument("--autobaud", action="store_true",
+                        help="drive an autobaud loader: send the 0xC0 calibration pulse and a single "
+                             "knock, and take geometry from the signature (no clock/baud baked in)")
     parser.add_argument("--info", action="store_true", help="print the device info block")
     parser.add_argument("--fuses", action="store_true", help="read the fuse and lock bytes")
     parser.add_argument("--update-loader", metavar="FILE", help="replace the loader with this pureboot binary")
     parser.add_argument("--state", metavar="FILE", help="update state file (default: FILE.pbstate)")
+    # The update enters the staging copy, which is the new image and so speaks
+    # the link *it* was built for. Nothing in the image says which, so where it
+    # differs from this session's these name it and the host follows.
+    parser.add_argument("--staged-baud", metavar="BD", type=int,
+                        help="the baud the --update-loader image was built for, where it "
+                             "differs from --baud")
+    parser.add_argument("--staged-autobaud", action=argparse.BooleanOptionalAction, default=None,
+                        help="whether that image is an autobaud build, where it differs "
+                             "from --autobaud")
     parser.add_argument("--assume-fuses", metavar="HEX8", help="fuse bytes low,lock,ext,high as 8 hex digits "
                         "(overrides reading them — e.g. under a simulator that cannot)")
     parser.add_argument("--erase-flash", action="store_true", help="0xff over the application flash")
@@ -1070,6 +1390,10 @@ def main():
     parser.add_argument("--eeprom", metavar="FILE", help="program the EEPROM (bin or ihex)")
     parser.add_argument("--read-eeprom", metavar="FILE", help="dump the EEPROM")
     parser.add_argument("--verify-eeprom", metavar="FILE", help="compare EEPROM against an image")
+    parser.add_argument("--peek", metavar="ADDR[:N]", help="read N bytes of data space (SRAM, registers, "
+                                                          "I/O) — pureboot 5 and later")
+    parser.add_argument("--poke", metavar="ADDR:HEX", help="write hex bytes into data space — "
+                                                          "pureboot 5 and later")
     parser.add_argument("--force", action="store_true", help="override refusable safety checks")
     parser.add_argument("--stay", action="store_true", help="leave the loader in its session")
     parser.add_argument("-v", "--verbose", action="store_true",
@@ -1092,7 +1416,7 @@ def main():
     verbose(f"{args.port}: {args.baud} Bd 8N1, DTR/RTS asserted")
     try:
         loader = Loader(port)
-        info = loader.connect(args.wait)
+        info = loader.connect_autobaud(args.wait) if args.autobaud else loader.connect(args.wait)
         if args.info:
             print("device:")
             for line in info.lines():
@@ -1104,7 +1428,14 @@ def main():
                 fuse_bytes = read
         if args.update_loader:
             state = args.state or args.update_loader + ".pbstate"
-            op_update_loader(loader, args.wait, args.update_loader, state, fuse_bytes)
+            staged_link = None
+            if args.staged_baud is not None or args.staged_autobaud is not None:
+                staged_link = (
+                    args.staged_baud if args.staged_baud is not None else args.baud,
+                    args.staged_autobaud if args.staged_autobaud is not None else args.autobaud,
+                )
+            op_update_loader(loader, args.wait, args.update_loader, state, fuse_bytes,
+                             staged_link)
         if args.flash:
             op_flash(loader, args.flash, args.erase_flash, not args.no_verify, fuse_bytes, args.force)
         elif args.erase_flash:
@@ -1121,6 +1452,10 @@ def main():
             op_read_eeprom(loader, args.read_eeprom)
         if args.verify_eeprom:
             op_verify_eeprom(loader, args.verify_eeprom)
+        if args.poke:
+            op_poke(loader, args.poke)
+        if args.peek:
+            op_peek(loader, args.peek)
         if args.stay:
             print("loader stays in its session (reset to leave)")
         else:

test/check_pi.py

@@ -1,53 +1,75 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python3
-"""Position-independence lint for the pureboot image.
+"""Position-independence lint: the property that lets the identical image run
+from any slot, asserted from the built ELF and its object.
 
-The self-staging design lets the identical binary run from any 512-byte
-slot, which holds only if nothing in the image addresses itself absolutely.
-Two link-time facts guarantee it, both asserted here from the built ELF:
+  1. No absolute jmp/call — -mrelax normally guarantees it, but a branch that
+     grows out of relaxation range would break it silently.
+  2. Nothing flash-resident to address: the image is .text alone, so there is
+     no table whose runtime address has to be reconstructed.
+  3. The image is byte-identical when linked at a different base. This is
+     position independence itself rather than a proxy for it — an absolute
+     address anywhere in the image would move with the link and show up as a
+     differing byte.
 
-  1. No absolute jmp/call opcodes — all control flow is PC-relative
-     (rjmp/rcall/ijmp/icall). -mrelax normally guarantees this; a code
-     change that grows a branch out of relaxation range would break it
-     silently.
-  2. The info block sits within the image's first 256 bytes: the 'b'
-     command rebuilds its address as (running slot high byte : low byte of
-     the link address), which needs the offset to fit that low byte.
-
-Usage: check_pi.py <objdump> <nm> <elf> <text_start_hex>
+Usage: check_pi.py <objdump> <objcopy> <cxx> <mcu> <elf> <object> <text_start_hex>
 """
 
+import os
 import re
 import subprocess
 import sys
+import tempfile
+
+
+def fail(message):
+    print(f"FAIL: {message}")
+    sys.exit(1)
 
 
 def main():
-    objdump, nm, elf, text_start = sys.argv[1:]
+    objdump, objcopy, cxx, mcu, elf, obj, text_start = sys.argv[1:]
     text_start = int(text_start, 0)
 
     listing = subprocess.run([objdump, "-d", elf], capture_output=True, text=True, check=True).stdout
-    absolute = [
-        line
-        for line in listing.splitlines()
-        if re.search(r"\t(jmp|call)\t", line)
-    ]
+    absolute = [line for line in listing.splitlines() if re.search(r"\t(jmp|call)\t", line)]
     if absolute:
-        print("FAIL: absolute control flow in the image:")
-        print("\n".join(absolute))
-        sys.exit(1)
+        fail("absolute control flow in the image:\n" + "\n".join(absolute))
 
-    symbols = subprocess.run([nm, "-C", elf], capture_output=True, text=True, check=True).stdout
-    info = [line for line in symbols.splitlines() if "flash_table" in line and "::storage" in line]
-    if len(info) != 1:
-        print(f"FAIL: expected one info-block storage symbol, found {len(info)}")
-        sys.exit(1)
-    address = int(info[0].split()[0], 16)
-    offset = address - text_start
-    if not 0 <= offset < 256:
-        print(f"FAIL: info block at image offset {offset:#x}, must sit in the first 256 bytes")
-        sys.exit(1)
+    # Allocated flash beyond .text would be data the running copy has to find.
+    # Only ALLOC sections reach the device at all; .comment and the debug
+    # sections ride along in the ELF container and are never flashed. objdump
+    # prints each section's flags on the line following its header.
+    headers = subprocess.run([objdump, "-h", elf], capture_output=True, text=True, check=True).stdout.splitlines()
+    for index, line in enumerate(headers):
+        fields = line.split()
+        if len(fields) < 6 or not fields[0].isdigit():
+            continue
+        name, size = fields[1], int(fields[2], 16)
+        flags = headers[index + 1] if index + 1 < len(headers) else ""
+        if "ALLOC" not in flags or not size:
+            continue
+        if name not in (".text", ".noinit", ".bss"):
+            fail(f"flash-resident section {name} ({size} bytes): the image must be .text alone")
 
-    print(f"PI lint: control flow PC-relative, info block at offset {offset:#x}")
+    # Relink at a different base and compare the bytes.
+    with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as work:
+        elsewhere = text_start - 0x200 if text_start >= 0x200 else text_start + 0x200
+        images = []
+        for base, tag in ((text_start, "here"), (elsewhere, "there")):
+            relinked = os.path.join(work, f"{tag}.elf")
+            binary = os.path.join(work, f"{tag}.bin")
+            subprocess.run(
+                [cxx, f"-mmcu={mcu}", "-nostartfiles", f"-Wl,--section-start=.text={base:#x}",
+                 "-Wl,--defsym=pureboot_app=0", "-mrelax", obj, "-o", relinked],
+                check=True, capture_output=True)
+            subprocess.run([objcopy, "-O", "binary", relinked, binary], check=True)
+            images.append(open(binary, "rb").read())
+        if images[0] != images[1]:
+            differing = [i for i, (a, b) in enumerate(zip(*images)) if a != b]
+            fail(f"the image changes when linked at {elsewhere:#x} instead of {text_start:#x}: "
+                 f"{len(differing)} byte(s) differ, first at offset {differing[0]:#x}")
+
+    print(f"PI lint: control flow PC-relative, .text only, identical linked at {text_start:#x} and {elsewhere:#x}")
 
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":

test/device.c

@@ -65,6 +65,15 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 		fprintf(stderr, "device: cannot read %s\n", argv[1]);
 		return 1;
 	}
+	// An image that runs past flash end cannot execute on hardware, and a
+	// naive copy of it would smash the heap beyond avr->flash — after which
+	// the simulation misbehaves in ways that point everywhere but here.
+	// Refuse it loudly instead.
+	if (boot_base + fw.flashsize > avr->flashend + 1) {
+		fprintf(stderr, "device: %u B at 0x%x runs past flash end 0x%x — image does not fit its slot\n",
+		        (unsigned)fw.flashsize, boot_base, avr->flashend);
+		return 1;
+	}
 	memcpy(avr->flash + boot_base, fw.flash, fw.flashsize);
 	avr->pc = boot_base;
 	avr->codeend = avr->flashend;

test/pbapp.cpp

@@ -11,6 +11,10 @@
 // reset reaches those loaders through the patched vector (or the runner
 // models BOOTRST), so the application owes them nothing.
 //
+// PUREBOOT_HANDOVER drops the listening and jumps straight in, leaving the
+// USART enabled behind it — the hand-over state a loader bit-banging on that
+// USART's own pins has to survive.
+//
 // The fixture speaks the deployment its loader was built for: the same
 // PUREBOOT_* defines configure it, and without them it assumes the stock
 // deployment (the crystal/RC clock table below, the chip's natural link).
@@ -64,15 +68,29 @@ struct link {
 	{
 		tx_t::write(static_cast<std::uint8_t>(c));
 	}
+	// The loader sits in the top slot — 512 bytes on every chip. The jump
+	// takes a word address, which is what makes the >64 KiB chips' entry
+	// reachable through a 16-bit pointer at all.
+	static void enter_loader()
+	{
+		constexpr std::uint32_t slot = 512;
+		reinterpret_cast<void (*)()>(static_cast<std::uint16_t>((avr::hw::db.mem.flash_size - slot) / 2))();
+	}
+
 	[[noreturn]] static void idle()
 	{
-		// 'L' hands back to the loader at the top slot — 512 bytes, or the
-		// 1 KiB the >64 KiB chips use.
-		constexpr std::uint32_t slot = avr::hw::db.mem.flash_size > 65536 ? 1024 : 512;
+#if defined(PUREBOOT_HANDOVER)
+		// Hand back at once, with this USART still enabled — the state that
+		// leaves a bit-banged loader on its pins mute unless the loader
+		// releases it. Unconditional because there is no command wire to
+		// wait on: that loader's link is the pins, not this peripheral.
+		enter_loader();
+		__builtin_unreachable();
+#else
 		for (;;) {
 			auto command = tx_t::read_blocking();
 			if (command == 'L')
-				reinterpret_cast<void (*)()>(static_cast<std::uint16_t>((avr::hw::db.mem.flash_size - slot) / 2))();
+				enter_loader();
 			// 'D' leaves every word of the SPM page buffer dirty, so that a
 			// following 'L' enters the loader with the buffer it never clears.
 			if (command == 'D') {
@@ -81,6 +99,7 @@ struct link {
 				tx('D');
 			}
 		}
+#endif
 	}
 };
 
@@ -98,8 +117,27 @@ struct link<C, false> {
 	}
 	[[noreturn]] static void idle()
 	{
+#if defined(PUREBOOT_HEARTBEAT)
+		// Repeat the banner forever, which turns the fixture into a fixed
+		// cycles-per-bit transmitter: `tools/pbrig.py rate` sweeps the host rate
+		// against it to find the part's true bit rate, and from that the clock
+		// its RC oscillator is really running at. Only the *bit* timing carries
+		// the measurement — the delay merely spaces the lines out, so its own
+		// error does not matter. Software link only: the hardware-link idle owes
+		// the self-update tests a command loop, and a crystal deployment has
+		// nothing to measure.
+		while (true) {
+			tx('A');
+			tx('P');
+			tx('P');
+			tx('\r');
+			tx('\n');
+			dev::delay<50_ms>();
+		}
+#else
 		while (true) {
 		}
+#endif
 	}
 };
 
@@ -108,8 +146,13 @@ struct link<C, false> {
 int main()
 {
 	avr::init<typename link<dev::clock>::tx_t>();
+#if !defined(PUREBOOT_HANDOVER)
 	link<dev::clock>::tx('A');
 	link<dev::clock>::tx('P');
 	link<dev::clock>::tx('P');
+#endif
+	// The hand-over fixture stays silent: nothing is listening on the USART it
+	// brings up — the loader it hands to speaks those pins directly — so its
+	// banner would be a write into a peer that does not exist.
 	link<dev::clock>::idle();
 }

test/pbautobaud.py

@@ -0,0 +1,186 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+"""End-to-end autobaud test: drive an autobaud loader in simavr through the
+calibration handshake and a flash + EEPROM + fuse round-trip, cross-checked
+against the simulator's ground-truth memory — then repeat at a second F_CPU with
+the *same* loader binary, which is the property autobaud exists for: one
+clock-agnostic image that locks onto whatever rate the host sends.
+
+Usage: pbautobaud.py <device_bin> <loader_elf> <mcu> <base_hex> <page>
+                     <app_bin> <app_hz> <app_baud> <tool_py> <workdir>
+
+The loader is a software-serial build on PB0/PB1 (pureboot_add_autobaud's
+default), so the runner drives it over the GPIO⇄pty bridge (-l sw:B0,B1). The
+app fixture is built for (app_hz, app_baud); the hand-over is checked at that
+point, and a second point at half the clock proves the lock is measured, not
+baked in.
+"""
+
+import os
+import sys
+import time
+
+
+def fail(message):
+    print(f"FAIL: {message}")
+    sys.exit(1)
+
+
+def main():
+    (device_bin, elf, mcu, base_hex, page, app_bin, app_hz, app_baud, tool, workdir) = sys.argv[1:]
+    base, page, app_hz, app_baud = int(base_hex, 0), int(page), int(app_hz), int(app_baud)
+    sys.path.insert(0, os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(tool)))
+    sys.path.insert(0, os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))
+    import pbsim
+    import pureboot as pb
+
+    os.makedirs(workdir, exist_ok=True)
+    ee_image = bytes(range(0xA0, 0xB0))
+    ee_path = os.path.join(workdir, "ee.bin")
+    open(ee_path, "wb").write(ee_image)
+
+    # The geometry the surgery planner needs, from the chip class the runner is
+    # told — the same derivation pbtest.py makes: the boot-sectioned megas need
+    # no vector surgery, the tinies and the boot-section-less m48s do, and the
+    # large chips speak word addresses.
+    mega = mcu.startswith("atmega")
+    patch = not mega or mcu.startswith("atmega48")
+    word_flash = base + pb.SLOT > 0x10000
+    wire_base = base // 2 if word_flash else base
+    flags = (1 if patch else 0) | (2 if word_flash else 0)
+    ground_truth = pb.Info(bytes([ord("P"), ord("B"), pb.NEWEST_LOADER, 0, 0, 0, page & 0xFF,
+                                  wire_base & 0xFF, wire_base >> 8, 0, 0, flags]))
+
+    def round_trip(hz, baud, label, hand_over):
+        """One clock point: reset, calibrate + knock, program, verify against the
+        simulator's own flash, and (at the app's point) hand over to the fixture."""
+        dump = os.path.join(workdir, f"flash_{label}.bin")
+        device = pbsim.Device(device_bin, elf, mcu, str(hz), base_hex, page, baud, dump, link="sw:B0,B1")
+        try:
+            # The host tool, in autobaud mode, sends the 0xC0 calibration pulse
+            # and a single knock at `baud`; the loader locks to it.
+            out = pbsim.run_tool(tool, device.pty, baud, "--autobaud", "--info", "--fuses",
+                                 "--flash", app_bin, "--eeprom", ee_path, "--stay")
+            for needed in ("version", "signature", "fuses", "verify:", "stays"):
+                if needed not in out:
+                    fail(f"{label}: session output lacks {needed!r}\n{out}")
+            # Read both memories back over the locked link and check them.
+            read_flash = os.path.join(workdir, f"rf_{label}.bin")
+            read_eeprom = os.path.join(workdir, f"re_{label}.bin")
+            out = pbsim.run_tool(tool, device.pty, baud, "--autobaud", "--verify-flash", app_bin,
+                                 "--verify-eeprom", ee_path, "--read-flash", read_flash,
+                                 "--read-eeprom", read_eeprom, "--stay")
+            if out.count("verify:") != 2:
+                fail(f"{label}: did not verify both memories\n{out}")
+            if open(read_eeprom, "rb").read()[: len(ee_image)] != ee_image:
+                fail(f"{label}: EEPROM read-back mismatch")
+
+            if hand_over:
+                # Regression: a calibration pulse with no knock behind it must
+                # not wedge the loader. The knock's edge wait used to be
+                # unbudgeted, so one stray low pulse — EMI, or a host that opens
+                # the port and never knocks — held the loader forever and the
+                # application never ran. The whole activation is bounded now, so
+                # the window closes and the app boots; the banner is the proof.
+                # (The pause lets the loader reach its measurement loop, so the
+                # pulse is genuinely seen and the test cannot pass vacuously.)
+                device.reset()
+                port = pb.Port(device.pty, baud)
+                try:
+                    time.sleep(0.2)
+                    port.write(bytes((pb.CALIBRATE,)))
+                    # Accumulate rather than match exactly: the reset leaves the
+                    # idle line a framing artefact ahead of the banner, which is
+                    # noise here — the question is only whether the app ran.
+                    seen = b""
+                    deadline = time.monotonic() + 180.0
+                    while b"APP" not in seen and time.monotonic() < deadline:
+                        seen += port.read_available(1.0)
+                    if b"APP" not in seen:
+                        fail(f"{label}: lone calibration pulse wedged the loader — app never bannered, saw {seen!r}")
+                    print(f"  {label}: lone calibration pulse does not wedge the loader")
+                finally:
+                    port.close()
+
+                device.reset()
+                port = pb.Port(device.pty, baud)
+                try:
+                    loader = pb.Loader(port)
+                    live = loader.connect_autobaud(15)
+                    if not pb.OLDEST_LOADER <= live.version <= pb.NEWEST_LOADER:
+                        fail(f"{label}: loader reports pureboot {live.version}")
+                    if loader.unified:
+                        # pureboot 5's data space. 0x0200 is clear of the
+                        # loader's own .noinit unit at the bottom of SRAM and of
+                        # the stack at the top. Reading it back over the same
+                        # locked link proves both directions of the new space.
+                        probe = bytes(range(0x30, 0x40))
+                        loader.write_ram(0x0200, probe)
+                        if loader.read_ram(0x0200, len(probe)) != probe:
+                            fail(f"{label}: RAM round-trip mismatch")
+                        # The register file and the I/O space share the data
+                        # address space on AVR, so the same command reaches a
+                        # peripheral register. SPMCSR reads back as idle here.
+                        verbose_ram = loader.read_ram(0x0200, 4)
+                        print(f"  {label}: RAM read/write ok ({verbose_ram.hex()})")
+                    loader.run_application()
+                    banner = port.read_exact(3, 5.0)
+                    if banner != b"APP":
+                        fail(f"{label}: application banner was {banner!r}")
+                finally:
+                    port.close()
+        finally:
+            device.stop()
+
+        # Ground truth (read after the runner exits and writes its dump): what
+        # the tool programmed must be what the simulator actually holds.
+        pages = pb.plan_flash(open(app_bin, "rb").read(), ground_truth)
+        flash_true = open(dump, "rb").read()
+        for address, data in pages.items():
+            if flash_true[address : address + page] != data:
+                fail(f"{label}: simulator flash differs from the programmed image at {address:#06x}")
+        print(f"  {label}: locked at {hz} Hz / {baud} Bd, flash+EEPROM verified"
+              + (", hand-over ok" if hand_over else ""))
+
+    def must_lock(hz, baud, label):
+        """The calibration alone, at a tight bit period. Nothing is programmed —
+        the question is only whether the loader can still measure the pulse."""
+        dump = os.path.join(workdir, f"flash_{label}.bin")
+        device = pbsim.Device(device_bin, elf, mcu, str(hz), base_hex, page, baud, dump,
+                              link="sw:B0,B1")
+        try:
+            port = pb.Port(device.pty, baud)
+            try:
+                live = pb.Loader(port).connect_autobaud(15)
+                if live.version != pb.NEWEST_LOADER:
+                    fail(f"{label}: loader reports pureboot {live.version}")
+            finally:
+                port.close()
+        finally:
+            device.stop()
+        print(f"  {label}: locked at {hz} Hz / {baud} Bd ({hz / baud:.0f} cycles a bit)")
+
+    # The app fixture is built for one clock; the hand-over banners there. A
+    # second point at double that clock, same loader binary, proves the lock is
+    # measured, not baked in — the whole point of autobaud. (Doubling keeps the
+    # bit period healthy; halving would drop it below the software UART's floor.)
+    round_trip(app_hz, app_baud, "clock-a", hand_over=True)
+    round_trip(app_hz * 2, app_baud, "clock-b", hand_over=False)
+
+    # Both points above sit near 100 cycles a bit, which is comfortable. The
+    # calibration's real floor is far tighter, and it is worth a gate: measured
+    # here, the lock is solid down to ~36 cycles a bit and fails outright by ~31
+    # — a sharp edge, not a fraying one. This pins the tightest standard rate the
+    # fixture's clock reaches, so a change that raises the floor is caught.
+    #
+    # It does *not* bound what a real deployment can use. On silicon the
+    # oscillator's own jitter costs roughly a factor of two: an ATtiny13A on its
+    # factory RC trim was reliable at ~118 cycles a bit and already locking only
+    # 1 attempt in 5 by ~59, which no exact-clock simulation can show. The
+    # deployable envelope is a README matter; this is the logic's floor.
+    must_lock(app_hz, app_baud * 2, "tight-bit")
+    print("pbautobaud: calibration lock and flash/EEPROM/fuse round-trip pass at both clocks, "
+          "and the tight bit period still locks")
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    main()

test/pbdirty.py

@@ -1,15 +1,13 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python3
-"""Dirty-page-buffer acceptance test: the loader carries no buffer discard,
-so a page filled over words an earlier writer left behind programs those
-instead. This asserts the whole contract — the corruption is real and a bare
-verify sees it, the repairing verify fixes it in one rewrite (the write that
-took the stale words auto-erased the buffer), and it stays fixed.
+"""Dirty-page-buffer acceptance test: with no discard in the loader, a page
+filled over words an earlier writer left takes those instead. The whole
+contract is asserted — a bare verify sees the corruption, the repairing
+verify fixes it in one rewrite, and it stays fixed.
 
-The state is reached the way the loader cannot prevent: an application
-dirties the buffer and jumps in with no reset between. Real boot-sectioned
-megas forbid that outright — SPM executes only from the boot section
-(Atmel-8271 §26.2) — but simavr dispatches SPM from anywhere, which is what
-makes the path constructible at all.
+The state is reached the one way the loader cannot prevent: an application
+dirties the buffer and jumps in with no reset between. Boot-sectioned megas
+forbid that outright (SPM runs only from the boot section, Atmel-8271 §26.2),
+but simavr dispatches SPM from anywhere, which is what makes it constructible.
 
 Usage: pbdirty.py <device_bin> <pureboot_elf> <mcu> <hz> <base_hex> <page>
                   <baud> <app_bin> <tool_py> <workdir>

test/pbmute.py

@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+"""Hand-over with a USART left enabled on the loader's own pins.
+
+A software or autobaud link deployed on a USART's TxD is mute if an
+application hands over with that USART still enabled: TXEN keeps the USART
+owning the pin, so the bit-banged transmitter's port writes go nowhere and the
+loader receives and obeys while answering nothing. The link's init releases it.
+
+The state is reached the way silicon reaches it — an application that sets up
+its USART and jumps in with no reset between, so nothing clears UCSRnB for it.
+The pin ownership itself is modelled by the device runner: simavr wires a
+USART through IRQs alone and never takes the pin from the port, so without
+that the mute could not happen here at all (test/pureboot_device.c).
+
+Usage: pbmute.py <device_bin> <pureboot_elf> <mcu> <hz> <base_hex> <page>
+                 <baud> <app_bin> <tool_py> <workdir> <link>
+"""
+
+import os
+import sys
+
+
+def fail(message):
+    print(f"FAIL: {message}")
+    sys.exit(1)
+
+
+def main():
+    device_bin, elf, mcu, hz, base_hex, page, baud, app_bin, tool, workdir, link = sys.argv[1:]
+    page, baud = int(page), int(baud)
+    sys.path.insert(0, os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(tool)))
+    sys.path.insert(0, os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))
+    import pbsim
+    import pureboot as pb
+
+    if "@" not in link:
+        fail(f"the link {link} names no owning USART — nothing would be under test")
+
+    os.makedirs(workdir, exist_ok=True)
+    dump = os.path.join(workdir, "dump.bin")
+
+    device = pbsim.Device(device_bin, elf, mcu, hz, base_hex, page, baud, dump, link=link)
+    try:
+        port = pb.Port(device.pty, baud)
+        loader = pb.Loader(port)
+        loader.connect(25)
+        resident = loader.info.version
+
+        # Install the fixture and let it take over. It brings up the USART
+        # that owns these pins and jumps straight back in.
+        pb.op_flash(loader, app_bin, erase=False, verify=True)
+        loader.run_application()
+
+        # The loader is running again with that USART enabled behind it. Only
+        # the release makes it audible; without it the connect times out.
+        loader = pb.Loader(port)
+        try:
+            loader.connect(25)
+        except pb.Error as error:
+            fail(f"the loader never answered after the hand-over — the USART still owns its TX pin ({error})")
+        if loader.info.version != resident:
+            fail(f"identity changed across the hand-over: {resident} then {loader.info.version}")
+
+        # Answering is not enough: it has to still be a working loader.
+        pb.verify_pages(loader, pb.plan_flash(open(app_bin, "rb").read(), loader.info))
+        port.close()
+    finally:
+        device.stop()
+    print("pbmute: a loader on a USART's own pins answers after a hand-over that left it enabled")
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    main()

test/pbrehome.py

@@ -1,19 +1,13 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python3
-"""Re-homing acceptance test: a pureboot image programmed somewhere other
-than its canonical top slot must still be a working loader —
-position-independent, guarding its accidental slot — and the ordinary
+"""Re-homing acceptance test: an image programmed somewhere other than its
+canonical slot must still be a working loader, and the ordinary
 --update-loader flow must put a build into the top slot from there.
 
-Two positions are exercised. Address 0 (a raw .bin handed to a programmer,
-which defaults to offset 0): the staging install and the word-0 redirect
-both run from copies whose slots are not page 0's, so the running-slot
-guard never blocks the flow. The staging slot itself: a loader already
-sitting there IS the installed staging copy — the tool recognizes it by
-its embedded info block and leaves it in place instead of tripping the
-copy's own guard on the composed through-word — and that (older) copy
-streams the new resident like any staged copy. In both cases flashing an
-application through the healed resident overwrites the stale copy, vector
-surgery included, and the banner proves the launch.
+Two positions. Address 0, a raw .bin handed to a programmer: the staging
+install and the word-0 redirect run from copies outside page 0's slot, so the
+running-slot guard never blocks them. And the staging slot itself, where a
+loader already sitting there IS the staging copy — recognized by its embedded
+block and left in place, then streaming the new resident like any staged copy.
 
 Usage: pbrehome.py <device_bin> <pureboot_elf> <update_bin> <mcu> <hz>
                    <base_hex> <page> <baud> <app_bin> <tool_py> <workdir>
@@ -90,7 +84,7 @@ def main():
     # The staging slot: erased flash with the loader sitting exactly where
     # a staging copy would — the tool must leave it in place and let it
     # stream the (different) update build into the resident slot.
-    stage = base - 512
+    stage = base - pb.SLOT
     rehome_from(pbsim, pb, device_bin, elf, hex(stage), hex(stage), update_bin, base, page, baud, app_bin, workdir,
                 mcu, hz)
     print("re-home from the staging slot: converged")

test/pbreloc.py

@@ -1,11 +1,9 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python3
-"""Position-independence acceptance test: the identical pureboot binary,
-flashed one slot below the resident loader, must serve the complete command
-set from there. The resident installs it (through-word composed by the host
-layer), 'J' transfers control, and every command is exercised against the
-staged copy — the info block must come back byte-identical, the write guard
-must protect the staged copy's own slot and permit the resident's, and the
-staged copy must be able to rewrite the resident slot verbatim.
+"""Position-independence acceptance test: the identical binary, flashed one
+slot below the resident, must serve the complete command set from there. The
+info block must come back byte-identical, the write guard must refuse the
+staged copy's own slot and permit the resident's, and the staged copy must be
+able to rewrite the resident verbatim.
 
 Usage: pbreloc.py <device_bin> <pureboot_elf> <mcu> <hz> <base_hex> <page>
                   <baud> <tool_py> <workdir>
@@ -83,7 +81,7 @@ def main():
 
         # Restore the resident image through the staged copy, then 'J' back
         # into it and prove it lives.
-        resident = image + b"\xff" * (info.slot - len(image))
+        resident = image + b"\xff" * (pb.SLOT - len(image))
         pb.write_differing(loader, base, resident)
         back_info = loader.enter_copy(base, 25)
         if back_info.raw != resident_info:

test/pbtest.py

@@ -1,15 +1,13 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python3
-"""End-to-end pureboot protocol test: spawn the simavr device, then drive it
-with the real host tool (pureboot.py, as a subprocess over the device's pty)
-through flash + EEPROM + fuse + hand-over scenarios, and cross-check
-the tool's view against the simulator's ground-truth memory dumps.
+"""End-to-end protocol test: drive the simavr device with the real host tool
+over its pty through flash, EEPROM, fuse and hand-over scenarios, and
+cross-check the tool's view against the simulator's ground-truth dumps.
 
 Usage: pbtest.py <device_bin> <pureboot_elf> <mcu> <hz> <base_hex> <page>
                  <baud> <eeprom_size> <app_bin> <tool_py> <workdir> [link]
 
-The optional link is the runner's -l spec (usart1, sw:B5,B1, ...) for a
+The optional link is the runner's -l spec (usart1, sw:B5,B1, ...), for a
 loader built off the chip's natural serial default.
-Exits 0 if every scenario passes.
 """
 
 import os
@@ -57,11 +55,17 @@ def main():
     # the page byte is the wire's 0-means-256.
     mega = mcu.startswith("atmega")
     patch = not mega or mcu.startswith("atmega48")
-    word_flash = base + 512 > 0x10000
+    # Where SRAM begins: the x8 and x4 megas push it past their extended I/O
+    # space, everything else starts right after the plain I/O registers. The
+    # loader keeps no statics and its stack sits at RAMEND, so the first SRAM
+    # byte is free for the data-space probe below.
+    classic = mcu in ("atmega8", "atmega8a", "atmega16", "atmega16a", "atmega32", "atmega32a")
+    ram_base = 0x0100 if mega and not classic else 0x0060
+    word_flash = base + pb.SLOT > 0x10000
     wire_base = base // 2 if word_flash else base
     flags = (1 if patch else 0) | (2 if word_flash else 0)
     info = pb.Info(
-        bytes([ord("P"), ord("B"), 1, 0, 0, 0, page & 0xFF])
+        bytes([ord("P"), ord("B"), pb.NEWEST_LOADER, 0, 0, 0, page & 0xFF])
         + bytes([wire_base & 0xFF, wire_base >> 8, eeprom_size & 0xFF, eeprom_size >> 8])
         + bytes([flags])
     )
@@ -71,16 +75,24 @@ def main():
         # Session 1: knock from reset, identify, program everything, stay.
         out = pbsim.run_tool(tool, device.pty, baud, "--info", "--fuses", "--flash", app_bin,
                              "--eeprom", ee_path, "--stay")
-        for needed in ("signature", "fuses", "verify:", "stays"):
+        for needed in ("version", "signature", "fuses", "verify:", "stays"):
             if needed not in out:
                 fail(f"session 1 output lacks {needed!r}")
 
-        # Session 2: reconnect into the live session, verify, dump, hand over
-        # is deferred — the pty must be reopened for the APP banner first.
+        # Session 2: reconnect into the live session, verify, dump, exercise
+        # the data space; hand over is deferred — the pty must be reopened for
+        # the APP banner first.
+        probe = "c0ffee"
         out = pbsim.run_tool(tool, device.pty, baud, "--verify-flash", app_bin, "--verify-eeprom", ee_path,
-                             "--read-flash", read_flash, "--read-eeprom", read_eeprom, "--stay")
+                             "--read-flash", read_flash, "--read-eeprom", read_eeprom,
+                             "--poke", f"{ram_base:#x}:{probe}", "--peek", f"{ram_base:#x}:3", "--stay")
         if out.count("verify:") != 2:
             fail("session 2 did not verify both memories")
+        # What went into SRAM must come back out of it: the data space is one
+        # more selector on the same transfer as flash and EEPROM, so a wrong
+        # selector decode would show up here and nowhere else.
+        if probe not in out.replace(" ", ""):
+            fail(f"data-space round trip at {ram_base:#x} did not read back {probe}\n{out}")
 
         eeprom_back = open(read_eeprom, "rb").read()
         if eeprom_back[: len(ee_image)] != ee_image:
@@ -101,7 +113,30 @@ def main():
         port = pb.Port(device.pty, baud)
         try:
             loader = pb.Loader(port)
-            loader.connect(15)
+            live = loader.connect(15)
+            # The loader built from this tree must report a version the tool
+            # beside it speaks — a bump the tool was never told about is a
+            # loader it would refuse to talk to. Not equality with the newest:
+            # the tool now spans two loader generations, the fixed-baud one
+            # here and the unified autobaud loader that follows it.
+            if not pb.OLDEST_LOADER <= live.version <= pb.NEWEST_LOADER:
+                fail(f"loader reports pureboot {live.version}, the tool speaks "
+                     f"{pb.OLDEST_LOADER}..{pb.NEWEST_LOADER}")
+
+            # A W addressed inside a page rather than at its base must still
+            # consume exactly one page and prompt. The loader's own slot is the
+            # target — the guard refuses to commit it — and the payload is
+            # erased-state bytes, so the probe can disturb neither the image nor
+            # the page buffer it leaves behind. Hand-built rather than through
+            # write_page(), which would follow the fill with its erase and
+            # write; the point here is that the fill alone consumes exactly one
+            # page whatever the address's low bits say.
+            wire = base + 1
+            port.write(bytes((ord("W"), pb.selector(pb.SP_FLASH, wire), wire & 0xFF, (wire >> 8) & 0xFF))
+                       + b"\xff" * page)
+            if port.read_exact(1, 5.0) != pb.PROMPT:
+                fail("unaligned W did not return to the prompt")
+
             loader.run_application()
             banner = port.read_exact(3, 5.0)
             if banner != b"APP":
@@ -122,7 +157,7 @@ def main():
     # loader, the trampoline on the application's own entry (patched-vector
     # chips only — a boot-sectioned mega's word 0 stays the application's).
     if patch:
-        flash_words = (base + 512) // 2
+        flash_words = (base + pb.SLOT) // 2
         app = open(app_bin, "rb").read()
         word0 = flash_true[0] | (flash_true[1] << 8)
         if rjmp_decode(word0, 0, flash_words) != base // 2:

test/pbupdate.py

@@ -1,17 +1,12 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python3
-"""Self-update end-to-end: an application is flashed, then the loader
-replaces itself with a re-timed build through the host tool's
---update-loader — and the power-fail phases of that update are rehearsed by
-killing the simulated device mid-write, restarting it from its flash dump,
-and letting a re-run complete the update.
+"""Self-update end-to-end: an application is flashed, the loader replaces
+itself with a re-timed build, and every power-fail phase is rehearsed by
+killing the device mid-write, restarting it from its flash dump, and letting
+a re-run complete the update.
 
-The boot-sectioned megas run the BOOTRST-unprogrammed profile (reset boots
-the application; the fixture application's 'L' jump is the application-owned
-loader entry), with --assume-fuses standing in for the fuse read simavr
-cannot model. The patched-vector chips — the tinies and the m48s — reset
-into a loader at every phase by construction: the t13a because its staging
-slot carries the reset vector itself, the others through the word-0 redirect
-the tool plants around the resident rewrite.
+The boot-sectioned megas run the BOOTRST-unprogrammed profile — reset boots
+the application, whose 'L' is the application-owned loader entry — with
+--assume-fuses standing in for the fuse read simavr cannot model.
 
 Usage: pbupdate.py <device_bin> <pureboot_elf> <update_elf> <mcu> <hz>
                    <base_hex> <page> <baud> <app_bin> <tool_py> <workdir>
@@ -50,7 +45,7 @@ def assumed_fuses(pb, image):
     image's embedded signature."""
     info = pb.image_info(image)
     which, ladder = pb.BOOT_FUSE[bytes(info.signature[1:3])]
-    bits = min((b for b in ladder if ladder[b] * 2 >= 2 * info.slot), key=lambda b: ladder[b])
+    bits = min((b for b in ladder if ladder[b] * 2 >= 2 * pb.SLOT), key=lambda b: ladder[b])
     fuses = bytearray((0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF))
     fuses[which] = 0xF8 | (bits << 1) | 1
     return bytes(fuses)
@@ -93,16 +88,13 @@ def main():
     # The m48s are megas without a boot section: patched vector, no fuse
     # preflight, and the same reset-to-0 the tinies get.
     patch = not mega or mcu.startswith("atmega48")
-    # Word-addressed (>64 KiB) chips use the 1 KiB slot; their loader base
-    # itself sits beyond the 16-bit byte space — the 644's base + slot only
-    # touches the 64 KiB boundary and stays byte-addressed.
-    slot = 1024 if base >= 0x10000 and mega else 512
     reset_hex = "0" if mega else None  # the boot-sectioned mega runs BOOTRST-unprogrammed here
     sys.path.insert(0, os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(tool)))
     sys.path.insert(0, os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))
     import pbsim
     import pureboot as pb
 
+    slot = pb.SLOT
     os.makedirs(workdir, exist_ok=True)
     objcopy = os.environ.get("PB_OBJCOPY", "avr-objcopy")
     images = {}

test/pureboot_device.c

@@ -10,7 +10,9 @@
 //
 // The link follows the chip's natural default (USART0 on the megas, the
 // software UART on PB0/PB1 elsewhere) unless -l overrides it: `-l usart1`
-// for the second instance, `-l sw:B5,B1` for a software build's RX,TX pins.
+// for the second instance, `-l sw:B5,B1` for a software build's RX,TX pins,
+// and `-l sw:D0,D1@0` where those pins are a USART's own — see the pin
+// ownership the bridge models below.
 //
 // simavr's tiny cores decode the SPM opcode but attach no NVM module — SPM
 // is a silent no-op (the mega's boot section has one, avr_flash). The
@@ -46,6 +48,7 @@ static int link_software;
 static char uart_digit = '0';
 static char sw_rx_port = 'B', sw_tx_port = 'B';
 static int sw_rx_bit = 0, sw_tx_bit = 1;
+static char sw_tx_owner = 0; // the USART whose TXD the software link sits on
 static const char *dump_path;
 static uint32_t reset_pc;
 static volatile sig_atomic_t reset_requested;
@@ -61,9 +64,13 @@ static int parse_link(const char *spec)
 		link_software = 1;
 		if (spec[2] == '\0')
 			return 0;
-		if (sscanf(spec + 2, ":%c%d,%c%d", &sw_rx_port, &sw_rx_bit, &sw_tx_port, &sw_tx_bit) == 4)
+		char owner = 0;
+		int fields = sscanf(spec + 2, ":%c%d,%c%d@%c", &sw_rx_port, &sw_rx_bit, &sw_tx_port, &sw_tx_bit, &owner);
+		if (fields == 4 || fields == 5) {
+			sw_tx_owner = owner;
 			return 0;
 		}
+	}
 	return -1;
 }
 
@@ -182,19 +189,66 @@ static avr_cycle_count_t tx_sample(avr_t *mcu, avr_cycle_count_t when, void *par
 {
 	(void)mcu;
 	(void)param;
+	if (tx_bit < 8) {
 		tx_shift = (uint8_t)((tx_shift >> 1) | (tx_level ? 0x80 : 0));
 		if (++tx_bit < 8)
 			return when + bit_cycles;
+		/* The byte is not delivered until its stop bit has passed. A real
+		 * receiver cannot answer sooner, and a host that did would put its
+		 * start bit on the wire while the device is still driving the stop
+		 * bit — which the device, transmitting, is not watching for. */
+		return when + bit_cycles;
+	}
 	if (write(pty_master, &tx_shift, 1) != 1)
 		fprintf(stderr, "device: pty write lost a byte\n");
 	tx_active = 0;
 	return 0;
 }
 
+// A USART owns its TxD pin whenever its transmitter is enabled, and the port
+// register cannot drive it (§20.2 / Atmel-8271 §19.2) — which is why a
+// bit-banged link deployed on those pins is mute until it clears UCSRnB.
+// simavr wires a USART entirely through IRQs and never touches the port pin
+// model, so the ownership does not exist there and the mute cannot happen:
+// supply it, or the very state this models is untestable. The link spec's
+// trailing @n names the USART; without one the pins are nobody's.
+static avr_uart_t *tx_owner;
+
+static int tx_pin_taken(void)
+{
+	return tx_owner && avr_regbit_get(avr, tx_owner->txen);
+}
+
+// simavr leaves TXEN set in UCSRnB out of reset, where silicon clears the
+// whole register (§20.11.3) — which would hand the pin to a USART no code has
+// enabled, making a freshly reset chip mute for reasons hardware does not
+// have. Reset it the way the datasheet does, so the ownership starts from
+// nobody's and only an application that really enables the USART takes it.
+static void reset_tx_owner(void)
+{
+	if (tx_owner)
+		avr_regbit_clear(avr, tx_owner->txen);
+}
+
+static void find_tx_owner(void)
+{
+	for (avr_io_t *io = avr->io_port; io; io = io->next)
+		if (io->kind && strcmp(io->kind, "uart") == 0 && ((avr_uart_t *)io)->name == sw_tx_owner) {
+			tx_owner = (avr_uart_t *)io;
+			reset_tx_owner();
+			return;
+		}
+	fprintf(stderr, "device: no USART%c to own the software link's TX pin\n", sw_tx_owner);
+}
+
 static void tx_hook(avr_irq_t *irq, uint32_t value, void *param)
 {
 	(void)irq;
 	(void)param;
+	if (tx_pin_taken()) { // the USART holds the line; the port write goes nowhere
+		tx_level = 1;
+		return;
+	}
 	int level = value & 1;
 	if (!tx_active && tx_level == 1 && level == 0) { // start edge
 		tx_active = 1;
@@ -317,7 +371,8 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 		fprintf(stderr,
 		        "usage: %s [-l link] <pureboot.elf> <mcu> <hz> <base_hex> <page> <baud> <flash_dump>"
 		        " [reset_hex] [resume_flash]\n"
-		        "  -l link:      usart0 | usart1 | sw[:B0,B1] (RX,TX); default: the chip's own\n"
+		        "  -l link:      usart0 | usart1 | sw[:B0,B1[@0]] (RX,TX, then the USART owning\n"
+		        "                them); default: the chip's own\n"
 		        "  reset_hex:    reset vector (default: base with a boot section, else 0)\n"
 		        "  resume_flash: raw full-flash image loaded instead of the ELF — a prior\n"
 		        "                run's dump, for power-fail resume tests\n",
@@ -403,6 +458,8 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 		printf("PB_PTY %s\n", uart_pty.pty.slavename);
 	} else {
 		bit_cycles = (avr->frequency + baud / 2) / baud; // matches uart.hpp's own rounding exactly
+		if (sw_tx_owner)
+			find_tx_owner();
 		rx_pin = avr_io_getirq(avr, AVR_IOCTL_IOPORT_GETIRQ(sw_rx_port), (unsigned)sw_rx_bit);
 		avr_irq_register_notify(avr_io_getirq(avr, AVR_IOCTL_IOPORT_GETIRQ(sw_tx_port), (unsigned)sw_tx_bit), tx_hook,
 		                        NULL);
@@ -440,6 +497,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 				avr_ioctl(avr, AVR_IOCTL_UART_SET_FLAGS(uart_digit), &flags);
 			} else {
 				bridge_reset();
+				reset_tx_owner();
 			}
 		}
 		if (link_software && ++since_poll >= 2000) {

test/test_handshake.py

@@ -0,0 +1,105 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+"""Host-tool activation handshake: it must not hang on a flooding target.
+
+`_handshake` drains the line after it sees a prompt, to absorb a real loader's
+trailing bytes before it asks for the identity. That drain must be bounded: a
+target that never falls quiet — a board stuck in a reset loop presents exactly
+this, ~60 reboots/s of UART-reset garbage in which a stray 0x2b reads as a
+prompt — otherwise spins the tool forever. Regression for that hang, plus a
+control that a well-behaved loader still connects.
+
+Stdlib only, no device: host-tool logic, so it runs on every chip's preset
+beside pureboot.planner.
+"""
+import importlib.util
+import pathlib
+import threading
+import time
+
+PB = pathlib.Path(__file__).resolve().parents[1] / "pureboot" / "pureboot.py"
+_spec = importlib.util.spec_from_file_location("pureboot", PB)
+pb = importlib.util.module_from_spec(_spec)
+_spec.loader.exec_module(pb)
+
+P = F = 0
+
+
+def check(name, ok):
+    global P, F
+    P, F = P + (1 if ok else 0), F + (0 if ok else 1)
+    print(f"  [{'PASS' if ok else 'FAIL'}] {name}")
+
+
+class FloodPort:
+    """A line that never falls quiet: read_available always returns bytes, and
+    they contain a prompt. No identity ever completes."""
+
+    def flush_input(self):
+        pass
+
+    def write(self, data):
+        pass
+
+    def read_available(self, wait):
+        time.sleep(0.01)  # a real read waits; keep the busy loop off a core
+        return b"+\x00\xff"
+
+    def read_exact(self, count, timeout):
+        raise pb.Error("no identity")
+
+
+class LoaderPort:
+    """A well-behaved pureboot 5: one prompt to the knock, then quiet, then the
+    slim identity (version 5 + m328p signature) and a closing prompt."""
+
+    def __init__(self):
+        self.reads = self.exacts = 0
+
+    def flush_input(self):
+        pass
+
+    def write(self, data):
+        pass
+
+    def read_available(self, wait):
+        self.reads += 1
+        return b"+" if self.reads == 1 else b""  # prompt once, then settle quiet
+
+    def read_exact(self, count, timeout):
+        self.exacts += 1
+        return b"\x05\x1e\x95\x0f" if self.exacts == 1 else b"+"  # identity, then prompt
+
+
+def terminates(port, wait, budget):
+    """Run connect_autobaud in a thread; True if it returns/raises within
+    `budget` seconds rather than hanging."""
+    done = threading.Event()
+
+    def run():
+        try:
+            pb.Loader(port).connect_autobaud(wait)
+        except Exception:
+            pass
+        finally:
+            done.set()
+
+    threading.Thread(target=run, daemon=True).start()
+    return done.wait(budget)
+
+
+def main():
+    # the hang: a flooding target must not spin the drain forever. With wait=0.5
+    # the whole handshake has to give up well inside a few seconds.
+    check("flooding target: handshake terminates, drain is bounded",
+          terminates(FloodPort(), wait=0.5, budget=4.0))
+
+    # the control: a real loader still connects and reads identity.
+    info = pb.Loader(LoaderPort()).connect_autobaud(2.0)
+    check("well-behaved loader still connects (version 5)", info.version == 5)
+
+    print(f"\n  {P} passed, {F} failed")
+    return 1 if F else 0
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    raise SystemExit(main())

test/test_planner.py

@@ -1,9 +1,8 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python3
-"""Host-tool unit tests — the pure planning and policy logic, no simulator:
-the flash-programming orders and their recovery properties, the reset-vector
-surgery, the staging-slot composition, the mega boot-fuse decode, and the
-update preflight's error/warning matrix (fuse combinations simavr cannot
-model reach it here as synthetic bytes).
+"""Host-tool unit tests — the planning and policy logic, no simulator:
+programming orders and their recovery properties, the reset-vector surgery,
+the staging composition, the boot-fuse decode, and the update preflight over
+fuse combinations simavr cannot model.
 
 Usage: test_planner.py <tool_py>
 """
@@ -27,14 +26,21 @@ def expect_error(what, fn, *needles):
     fail(f"{what}: no error raised")
 
 
-def info_of(pb, base, page, patch, flash, signature=(0x1E, 0x93, 0x0B), word_flash=False):
+def info_of(pb, base, page, patch, flash, signature=(0x1E, 0x93, 0x0B), word_flash=False, version=None):
     scale = 2 if word_flash else 1
     wire_base = base // scale
     flags = (1 if patch else 0) | (2 if word_flash else 0)
-    raw = bytes((0x50, 0x42, 1, *signature, page & 0xFF, wire_base & 0xFF, wire_base >> 8,
-                 0, 2, flags))
+    # The EEPROM size comes from the signature, as it must: pureboot 5 derives
+    # the whole geometry from the signature rather than sending it, so a
+    # synthetic block that disagreed with its own signature would describe a
+    # chip that cannot exist.
+    eeprom = pb.CHIP_GEOMETRY[signature][2]
+    raw = bytes((0x50, 0x42, pb.NEWEST_LOADER if version is None else version,
+                 *signature, page & 0xFF, wire_base & 0xFF, wire_base >> 8,
+                 eeprom & 0xFF, eeprom >> 8, flags))
     info = pb.Info(raw)
-    assert info.flash_size == flash
+    if info.flash_size != flash:
+        fail(f"info_of({base:#x}) decodes to {info.flash_size:#x} of flash, not {flash:#x}")
     return info
 
 
@@ -55,6 +61,21 @@ def main():
     tiny = info_of(pb, 0x1E00, 64, True, 0x2000)
     mega = info_of(pb, 0x7E00, 128, False, 0x8000, signature=(0x1E, 0x95, 0x0F))
 
+    # Versioning: the block's third byte is the loader's version, and the tool
+    # speaks a window of them. Every version in the window decodes, so an older
+    # deployed loader stays usable; one above the window is refused by name,
+    # since which version changed the protocol is knowledge only the tool
+    # holds, and it holds none about a version it has never heard of.
+    for version in range(pb.OLDEST_LOADER, pb.NEWEST_LOADER + 1):
+        if info_of(pb, 0x1E00, 64, True, 0x2000, version=version).version != version:
+            fail(f"pureboot {version} does not decode")
+    expect_error(
+        "unknown loader version",
+        lambda: info_of(pb, 0x1E00, 64, True, 0x2000, version=pb.NEWEST_LOADER + 1),
+        f"pureboot {pb.NEWEST_LOADER + 1}",
+        "newer tool",
+    )
+
     # mega_boot: BOOTSZ words and the BOOTRST sense per chip — the fuse byte
     # index (EXTENDED on the x8 line except the m328s' HIGH, HIGH elsewhere)
     # and the per-family ladders (Atmel-2486/2466/2503/2545/8271/DS40002065/
@@ -79,9 +100,7 @@ def main():
         ((0x1E, 0x97, 0x05), 0x20000, 3, {0b11: 0x1FC00, 0b10: 0x1F800, 0b01: 0x1F000, 0b00: 0x1E000}),  # 1284P
     )
     for signature, flash, which, ladder in cases:
-        # Word-addressed chips carry the 1 KiB slot (their smallest boot sector).
-        slot = 1024 if flash > 0x10000 else 512
-        chip = info_of(pb, flash - slot, 128 if flash < 0x20000 else 0, False, flash,
+        chip = info_of(pb, flash - pb.SLOT, 128 if flash < 0x20000 else 0, False, flash,
                        signature=signature, word_flash=flash > 0x10000)
         for bits, start in ladder.items():
             fuses = bytearray((0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF))
@@ -94,10 +113,12 @@ def main():
             if prog or at != start:
                 fail(f"mega_boot {signature[1]:02x}{signature[2]:02b} unprogrammed: {prog} {at:#07x}")
 
-    # Word-addressed info decode: the 1284P's base/page ride the wire scaled,
-    # and its slot is 1 KiB.
-    big = info_of(pb, 0x1FC00, 0, False, 0x20000, signature=(0x1E, 0x97, 0x05), word_flash=True)
-    if big.page != 256 or big.base != 0x1FC00 or big.stage != 0x1F800 or big.slot != 1024:
+    # Word-addressed info decode: the 1284P's base and page ride the wire
+    # scaled — a 17-bit base halved into the block's two bytes, a 256-byte page
+    # spelled 0 — and its slot is the same 512 bytes as everywhere else, so its
+    # staging slot lands inside the 1 KiB minimum boot section.
+    big = info_of(pb, 0x1FE00, 0, False, 0x20000, signature=(0x1E, 0x97, 0x05), word_flash=True)
+    if big.page != 256 or big.base != 0x1FE00 or big.stage != 0x1FC00:
         fail(f"word-addressed info decode: page {big.page}, base {big.base:#x}, stage {big.stage:#x}")
 
     # Surgery: word 0 lands on the loader, the trampoline on the original
@@ -147,13 +168,24 @@ def main():
         fail("mega staging content should be the bare image")
     expect_error("mega staging size", lambda: pb.staging_content(image + b"!", mega), "512")
 
-    # The embedded info block: found in a synthetic binary, absent in noise.
-    binary = bytes((0xAA,)) * 10 + tiny.raw + bytes((0xBB,)) * 10
+    # The image stamp: found in a synthetic binary, absent in noise. pureboot
+    # 5 stamps the magic, its version and the signature, and the geometry is
+    # looked up from there — so what comes back must equal what a live device
+    # of the same chip reports.
+    stamp = bytes((0x50, 0x42, pb.NEWEST_LOADER)) + bytes(tiny.signature)
+    binary = bytes((0xAA,)) * 10 + stamp + bytes((0xBB,)) * 10
     found = pb.image_info(binary)
     if found is None or found.raw != tiny.raw:
-        fail("image_info misses the embedded block")
+        fail(f"image_info misreads the v{pb.NEWEST_LOADER} stamp: "
+             f"{found.raw.hex() if found else None} != {tiny.raw.hex()}")
     if pb.image_info(bytes((0xAA,)) * 40) is not None:
         fail("image_info invents a block")
+    # An older loader's image stays readable, so a deployed build can be
+    # identified and installed like any other.
+    old = info_of(pb, 0x1E00, 64, True, 0x2000, version=pb.OLDEST_LOADER)
+    found_old = pb.image_info(bytes((0xAA,)) * 10 + old.raw)
+    if found_old is None or found_old.version != pb.OLDEST_LOADER:
+        fail("image_info misses an older loader's block")
 
     # loader_image must peel a padded image down to the slot content: a raw
     # .bin padded from address 0 (or a whole-flash read-back with the loader
@@ -194,6 +226,15 @@ def main():
     if pb.update_preflight(bytes((0xAA,)) * 8 + tiny.raw, tiny, None) != []:
         fail("tiny preflight should pass without fuses")
 
+    # The 1284s' smallest boot section (512 words) is exactly the resident
+    # slot plus its staging slot, so self-update is possible at the minimum
+    # BOOTSZ — no fuse step up, the 644's geometry. That holds only while a
+    # slot is 512 B: at 1 KiB the staging slot would fall outside the section
+    # and the preflight would refuse.
+    notes = pb.update_preflight(bytes((0xAA,)) * 8 + big.raw, big, fuses(0xFE))
+    if not any("staging slot" in n for n in notes):
+        fail(f"1284 minimum-BOOTSZ notes: {notes}")
+
     # The walk-region refusal: BOOTRST aimed below the loader plus app data
     # in the walk span errors without --force; erased spans and unprogrammed
     # BOOTRST pass.
@@ -250,6 +291,68 @@ def main():
     if device.writes != pb.RETRIES + 1:
         fail(f"unrepairable page took {device.writes} writes, expected {pb.RETRIES + 1}")
 
+    # The knock handshake against a device that is not listening yet — the
+    # state a port open leaves behind: it resets the chip into a fresh
+    # activation window while the previous session's prompt is still in
+    # flight, so the first knock is lost and a prompt arrives anyway.
+    class FakePort:
+        """A loader in its activation window, plus `lost` leading writes the
+        reset swallows and one stale prompt still on the wire."""
+
+        def __init__(self, info_raw, lost=0, stale=b"", active=False):
+            self.info_raw = info_raw
+            self.lost = lost
+            self.inflight = bytearray(stale)
+            self.rx = bytearray()
+            self.active = active
+            self.last = None
+
+        def flush_input(self):
+            self.rx.clear()
+
+        def write(self, data):
+            if self.lost:
+                self.lost -= 1
+                return
+            for byte in bytes(data):
+                if not self.active:
+                    self.active = self.last == ord("p") and byte == ord("b")
+                    self.last = byte
+                    if self.active:
+                        self.rx += pb.PROMPT
+                elif byte == ord("b"):
+                    self.rx += self.info_raw + pb.PROMPT
+                else:
+                    self.rx += pb.PROMPT
+
+        def read_available(self, wait):
+            self.rx = self.inflight + self.rx  # the stale prompt lands late
+            self.inflight.clear()
+            out, self.rx = bytes(self.rx), bytearray()
+            return out
+
+        def read_exact(self, count, timeout):
+            if len(self.rx) < count:
+                raise pb.Error(f"timeout: got {len(self.rx)} of {count} bytes")
+            out, self.rx = bytes(self.rx[:count]), self.rx[count:]
+            return out
+
+    raw = info_of(pb, 0x7E00, 128, False, 0x8000).raw
+    for what, port in (
+        ("clean window", FakePort(raw)),
+        ("stale prompt over a lost knock", FakePort(raw, lost=1, stale=pb.PROMPT)),
+        ("live session", FakePort(raw, active=True)),
+    ):
+        info = pb.Loader(port).connect(5)
+        if info.raw != raw:
+            fail(f"connect ({what}) returned {info.raw.hex()}")
+
+    # A device that never answers still says so, and a version the tool cannot
+    # speak is reported as such rather than retried into a timeout.
+    expect_error("dead device", lambda: pb.Loader(FakePort(raw, lost=99)).connect(0), "no answer")
+    old = bytes(raw[:2]) + bytes((pb.NEWEST_LOADER + 1,)) + bytes(raw[3:])
+    expect_error("unspeakable version", lambda: pb.Loader(FakePort(old)).connect(5), "needs a newer tool")
+
     print("test_planner: all planner and policy checks pass")
 
 

test/test_update_link.py

@@ -0,0 +1,167 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+"""Self-update across a link change: the host must follow the staging copy.
+
+`--update-loader` installs the new image in the staging slot and then *enters
+it* to have it rewrite the resident. That copy is the new image, so it speaks the
+new image's baud and backend — but the host was talking to the *resident*. Where
+the two differ, the host kept knocking at the old rate in the old mode, the
+staging copy never answered, and the update stranded: staging installed, resident
+untouched, and on a 1 KiB tiny the application region (which *is* the staging
+slot there) already gone.
+
+The wire cannot be probed for this — 512 bytes of position-independent code carry
+no header saying what rate they were built for — so the operator declares it, and
+a mismatch with nothing declared has to say so instead of reporting a bare
+timeout.
+
+Stdlib only, no device: host-tool logic, so it runs on every chip's preset beside
+pureboot.planner.
+"""
+import importlib.util
+import pathlib
+
+PB = pathlib.Path(__file__).resolve().parents[1] / "pureboot" / "pureboot.py"
+_spec = importlib.util.spec_from_file_location("pureboot", PB)
+pb = importlib.util.module_from_spec(_spec)
+_spec.loader.exec_module(pb)
+
+IDENTITY = b"\x05\x1e\x95\x0f"  # pureboot 5 + m328p signature
+P = F = 0
+
+
+def check(name, ok, detail=""):
+    global P, F
+    P, F = P + (1 if ok else 0), F + (0 if ok else 1)
+    print(f"  [{'PASS' if ok else 'FAIL'}] {name}" + (f" — {detail}" if detail else ""))
+
+
+class TwoLinkPort:
+    """A board whose resident and staging copy answer on different links.
+
+    Only the rate currently set decides who can be heard, which is the physical
+    truth: a loader's bit timing is a cycle count, so a copy built for another
+    rate is unreadable until the host retunes. The knock bytes carry the mode, so
+    a backend mismatch is caught the same way.
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self, resident=(57600, False), staged=(38400, False)):
+        self.resident, self.staged = resident, staged
+        self.baud = resident[0]
+        self.entered = False        # a 'J' has handed control to the staging copy
+        self.switches = []          # every retune the host asked for
+        self.pending = bytearray()  # what the device has queued to send
+
+    # --- the part under test needs this to exist at all
+    def set_baud(self, baud):
+        self.baud = baud
+        self.switches.append(baud)
+
+    def flush_input(self):
+        self.pending.clear()
+
+    def _audible(self, knock=None):
+        baud, autobaud = self.staged if self.entered else self.resident
+        if self.baud != baud:
+            return False
+        if knock is None:
+            return True
+        return knock == (bytes((pb.CALIBRATE, ord("p"))) if autobaud else b"pb")
+
+    def write(self, data):
+        data = bytes(data)
+        if data[:1] == b"J" and len(data) == 3:
+            # The resident acks the jump, then control moves to the copy.
+            if self._audible():
+                self.pending += pb.PROMPT
+            self.entered = True
+        elif data in (b"pb", bytes((pb.CALIBRATE, ord("p")))):
+            if self._audible(data):
+                self.pending += pb.PROMPT
+        elif data == b"b":
+            if self._audible():
+                self.pending += IDENTITY + pb.PROMPT
+
+    def read_available(self, wait):
+        out, self.pending = bytes(self.pending), bytearray()
+        return out
+
+    def read_exact(self, count, timeout):
+        if len(self.pending) < count:
+            raise pb.Error(f"timeout: got {len(self.pending)} of {count} bytes")
+        out, self.pending = bytes(self.pending[:count]), self.pending[count:]
+        return out
+
+
+def connected(port):
+    """A Loader already in session with the resident."""
+    loader = pb.Loader(port)
+    loader.connect(2.0)
+    return loader
+
+
+def main():
+    # The control first: where the staged image keeps the resident's link, the
+    # flow works and needs no retune. This is the case that always passed, and
+    # it is what made the bug look like "self-update is broken" rather than
+    # "self-update cannot change the link".
+    port = TwoLinkPort(resident=(57600, False), staged=(57600, False))
+    loader = connected(port)
+    try:
+        loader.enter_copy(0x7C00, 2.0)
+        check("same link: staging copy entered", True)
+    except pb.Error as error:
+        check("same link: staging copy entered", False, str(error))
+
+    # A baud change, declared. The host must retune before knocking.
+    port = TwoLinkPort(resident=(57600, False), staged=(38400, False))
+    loader = connected(port)
+    try:
+        loader.enter_copy(0x7C00, 2.0, link=(38400, False))
+        check("baud change declared: entered after retuning", 38400 in port.switches,
+              f"switches={port.switches}")
+    except (pb.Error, TypeError) as error:
+        check("baud change declared: entered after retuning", False, repr(error))
+
+    # A backend change, declared: the knock itself has to become the calibration
+    # pulse, or an autobaud staging copy never hears a thing.
+    port = TwoLinkPort(resident=(57600, False), staged=(57600, True))
+    loader = connected(port)
+    try:
+        loader.enter_copy(0x7C00, 2.0, link=(57600, True))
+        check("backend change declared: entered as autobaud", True)
+    except (pb.Error, TypeError) as error:
+        check("backend change declared: entered as autobaud", False, repr(error))
+
+    # Nothing declared against a changed link: it still cannot work, but the
+    # error has to name the cause. A bare "no answer" sent the operator looking
+    # at the wiring while the application region sat erased.
+    port = TwoLinkPort(resident=(57600, False), staged=(38400, False))
+    loader = connected(port)
+    try:
+        loader.enter_copy(0x7C00, 0.3)
+        check("undeclared mismatch: reported", False, "unexpectedly succeeded")
+    except pb.Error as error:
+        text = str(error).lower()
+        check("undeclared mismatch: error names the link, not just a timeout",
+              "link" in text or "baud" in text or "backend" in text, str(error))
+    except TypeError as error:
+        check("undeclared mismatch: error names the link, not just a timeout",
+              False, repr(error))
+
+    # The resident's own link must be restored for the caller: a declared
+    # staging link is for the copy, and the tool talks to the new resident after.
+    port = TwoLinkPort(resident=(57600, False), staged=(38400, False))
+    loader = connected(port)
+    try:
+        loader.enter_copy(0x7C00, 2.0, link=(38400, False))
+        check("session records the link it is now speaking", loader.baud == 38400,
+              f"loader.baud={getattr(loader, 'baud', None)}")
+    except (pb.Error, TypeError, AttributeError) as error:
+        check("session records the link it is now speaking", False, repr(error))
+
+    print(f"\n  {P} passed, {F} failed")
+    return 1 if F else 0
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    raise SystemExit(main())

tools/check.sh

@@ -2,12 +2,14 @@
 # The port's gate: every chip's generated workflow — build, size matrix, and
 # the simulator-driven protocol suites. --full adds the reflect-spot builds
 # (libavr's rule: reflect compiles are bounded to its spot set, never the
-# full matrix). LIBAVR_ROOT must point at the libavr checkout.
+# full matrix) and swaps the compact size matrix for the exhaustive
+# clock × baud × backend cross product. libavr resolves from the `libavr/`
+# submodule; LIBAVR_ROOT overrides it for a working tree.
 set -e
 cd "$(dirname "$0")/.."
 
 full=0
-[[ "$1" == "--full" ]] && { full=1; shift; }
+[[ "$1" == "--full" ]] && { full=1; shift; export PUREBOOT_FULL_MATRIX=1; }
 
 CHIPS=(attiny13 attiny13a attiny25 attiny45 attiny85
        atmega8 atmega8a atmega16 atmega16a atmega32 atmega32a

tools/pbhw.py

@@ -0,0 +1,210 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+"""Hardware acceptance suite for a pureboot deployment.
+
+`tools/check.sh` proves the protocol under simavr on every chip. This proves one
+*board*: that the loader actually installed on it answers, that the memories
+round-trip over the real link, that the application it flashes runs afterwards,
+and that the refusals which keep a 512-byte slot alive still fire. Run it once
+when a board is brought up, and again whenever the deployment moves — a new
+clock, a new backend, new pins.
+
+Every check derives its bounds from the info block the loader itself reports, so
+nothing here is per-chip: the same run covers a 1 KiB tiny whose application
+region is 510 usable bytes and a 128 KiB mega whose flash needs a bank in the
+selector.
+
+**This overwrites the board's application flash and EEPROM.** Capture them first
+with `pbrig.py backup`, which verifies what it captured.
+
+    tools/pbhw.py --programmer atmelice_isp --part t13 --port COM6 \
+                  --autobaud --loader build/ab.bin --app build/pbapp.hex \
+                  --marker APP
+"""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import argparse
+import pathlib
+import sys
+import tempfile
+
+sys.path.insert(0, str(pathlib.Path(__file__).resolve().parent))
+import pbrig  # noqa: E402
+
+
+class Suite:
+    def __init__(self, rig: pbrig.Rig, work: pathlib.Path):
+        self.rig = rig
+        self.work = work
+        self.results: list[tuple[str, bool, str]] = []
+
+    def check(self, name: str, ok: bool, detail: str = "") -> bool:
+        self.results.append((name, ok, detail))
+        print(f"  {'PASS' if ok else 'FAIL'}  {name}" + (f"   {detail}" if detail else ""))
+        return ok
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def _brief(text: str, limit: int = 78) -> str:
+        return " | ".join(l.strip() for l in text.splitlines() if l.strip())[:limit]
+
+    # ----------------------------------------------------------------- checks
+
+    def identity(self) -> object | None:
+        """The info block, which every later check takes its bounds from."""
+        module = pbrig.load_pureboot(self.rig.d.pureboot)
+        self.rig.reset()
+        port = module.Port(self.rig.d.port, self.rig.d.baud)
+        try:
+            loader = module.Loader(port)
+            if self.rig.d.autobaud:
+                loader.connect_autobaud(self.rig.d.wait)
+            else:
+                loader.connect(self.rig.d.wait)
+            info = loader.info
+            self.check("identity read", True, info.describe())
+            return info
+        except Exception as error:  # noqa: BLE001 — a dead link is a result
+            self.check("identity read", False, str(error)[:70])
+            return None
+        finally:
+            try:
+                port.close()
+            except Exception:
+                pass
+
+    def eeprom(self, info) -> None:
+        size = info.eeprom_size
+        if not size:
+            print("  skip  EEPROM (this part has none)")
+            return
+        # A pattern no erase or partial write could produce by accident.
+        pattern = bytes((i * 7 + 3) & 0xFF for i in range(size))
+        image = self.work / "ee.bin"
+        image.write_bytes(pattern)
+
+        rc, out = self.rig.pureboot("--eeprom", str(image), "--verify-eeprom", str(image))
+        self.check(f"EEPROM write + verify ({size} B)", rc == 0, self._brief(out))
+
+        back = self.work / "ee-back.bin"
+        rc, out = self.rig.pureboot("--read-eeprom", str(back))
+        got = back.read_bytes() if back.exists() else b""
+        self.check("EEPROM reads back what was written", got == pattern, f"{len(got)} B")
+
+        self.rig.pureboot("--erase-eeprom")
+        erased = self.work / "ee-erased.bin"
+        self.rig.pureboot("--read-eeprom", str(erased))
+        got = erased.read_bytes() if erased.exists() else b""
+        self.check("EEPROM erase leaves 0xff", got == b"\xff" * size, f"{len(got)} B")
+
+    def application(self, info, app: pathlib.Path, marker: str) -> None:
+        rc, out = self.rig.pureboot("--flash", str(app), "--verify-flash", str(app))
+        self.check(f"application flash + verify ({app.name})", rc == 0, self._brief(out))
+
+        if marker:
+            # The tool hands over as it ends its session, so the application is
+            # already running; opening the port does not reset a board whose DTR
+            # is unwired, so this simply listens.
+            data = self.rig.capture(seconds=2.5)
+            seen = marker.encode() in data
+            sample = "".join(chr(b) if 32 <= b < 127 else "." for b in data[:40])
+            self.check(f"application runs (emits {marker!r})", seen, f"|{sample}|")
+
+        back = self.work / "app-back.bin"
+        rc, out = self.rig.pureboot("--read-flash", str(back))
+        got = back.read_bytes() if back.exists() else b""
+        self.check("application flash reads back", rc == 0 and len(got) == info.base,
+                   f"{len(got)} B of {info.base}")
+
+    def erase_and_guard(self, info, loader_image: pathlib.Path | None) -> None:
+        rc, out = self.rig.pureboot("--erase-flash")
+        self.check("application region erases", rc == 0, self._brief(out))
+
+        # The slot must be untouched by an application erase, which only an
+        # independent read can show — so this one goes over ISP, not the link.
+        whole = self.work / "whole.bin"
+        if not self.rig.read_memory("flash", whole, "r"):
+            self.check("loader slot survives the erase", False, "ISP read failed")
+            return
+        image = whole.read_bytes()
+        image += b"\xff" * (info.flash_size - len(image))
+
+        # Erased application flash, up to the trampoline word the host composes
+        # on a patched-vector part.
+        limit = info.base - 2 if info.patch_vector else info.base
+        self.check("erased application region is 0xff",
+                   set(image[0:limit]) <= {0xFF}, f"0x0000..{limit:#06x}")
+
+        if loader_image and loader_image.exists():
+            want = loader_image.read_bytes()
+            got = image[info.base:info.base + len(want)]
+            self.check("loader slot survives the erase", got == want,
+                       f"{len(want)} B at {info.base:#06x}")
+        else:
+            print("  skip  loader slot comparison (pass --loader <image.bin>)")
+
+    def refusals(self, info) -> None:
+        # One word too many: a patched-vector part spends the slot's last word
+        # on the trampoline, so its application stops two bytes short.
+        limit = info.base - 2 if info.patch_vector else info.base
+        oversized = self.work / "oversized.bin"
+        oversized.write_bytes(bytes(limit + 2))
+        rc, out = self.rig.pureboot("--flash", str(oversized))
+        self.check(f"image over {limit} B refused", rc != 0, self._brief(out))
+
+    # ------------------------------------------------------------------- run
+
+    def run(self, app: pathlib.Path | None, loader_image: pathlib.Path | None,
+            marker: str) -> int:
+        print("identity")
+        info = self.identity()
+        if info is None:
+            print("\nthe loader never answered; nothing below can be trusted")
+            return 1
+
+        print("\nEEPROM")
+        self.eeprom(info)
+
+        if app:
+            print("\napplication")
+            self.application(info, app, marker)
+        else:
+            print("\nskip  application checks (pass --app <image.hex>)")
+
+        print("\nerase and the write guard")
+        self.erase_and_guard(info, loader_image)
+
+        print("\nrefusals")
+        self.refusals(info)
+
+        passed = sum(1 for _, ok, _ in self.results if ok)
+        print(f"\n{passed}/{len(self.results)} passed")
+        return 0 if passed == len(self.results) else 1
+
+
+def main(argv: list[str] | None = None) -> int:
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
+        description="hardware acceptance suite for one pureboot deployment",
+        epilog="overwrites the board's application flash and EEPROM — back them up first")
+    pbrig.Deployment.add_arguments(parser)
+    parser.add_argument("--app", type=pathlib.Path,
+                        help="application image to flash (test/pbapp.cpp built for this deployment)")
+    parser.add_argument("--loader", type=pathlib.Path,
+                        help="the resident loader's .bin, to prove the slot survives an erase")
+    parser.add_argument("--marker", default="",
+                        help="text the application emits when it runs, e.g. APP")
+    args = parser.parse_args(argv)
+
+    rig = pbrig.Rig(pbrig.Deployment.from_args(args))
+    print(f"rig: {args.part} on {args.programmer}, link {args.port} at {args.baud} Bd"
+          f"{' (autobaud)' if args.autobaud else ''}")
+    print("this overwrites the application flash and EEPROM\n")
+    with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory(prefix="pbhw-") as temporary:
+        return Suite(rig, pathlib.Path(temporary)).run(args.app, args.loader, args.marker)
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    try:
+        sys.exit(main())
+    except pbrig.Error as error:
+        print(f"error: {error}", file=sys.stderr)
+        sys.exit(2)

tools/pbrig.py

@@ -0,0 +1,427 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+"""Hardware rig driver for pureboot: an ISP programmer beside a serial link.
+
+The simulated suites (`test/pb*.py`) prove the protocol; this drives the same
+loader on real silicon, where the things a cycle-exact simulator cannot model
+live — an RC oscillator off its nominal, a reset edge that has to come from
+somewhere, a serial bridge with its own idea of what a baud is.
+
+Nothing here knows a port name, a part or a programmer. Every deployment fact
+arrives from the command line or the environment, so the same script serves any
+board: see `Deployment`. As a module it is the reset/flash/talk primitives that
+`pbhw.py` builds its acceptance suite from; as a command it is the handful of
+one-shot operations worth having on a rig — most importantly `backup`, which is
+the only thing standing between a fuse experiment and an unrecoverable part.
+
+Two rig facts are encoded here because they are not guessable and cost a
+session each to learn:
+
+* **An ISP access resets the part**, and it runs again the moment the programmer
+  releases it. That is the only reset edge available when the serial adapter's
+  DTR is not wired to reset — so a loader session begins with an ISP touch and
+  knocks immediately after, which is what `Rig.pureboot()` does.
+* **avrdude splits `-U memory:op:file:format` on colons**, so a Windows path's
+  drive letter breaks the spec. Every file argument is therefore passed as a
+  bare filename with avrdude run in that file's own directory.
+"""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import argparse
+import dataclasses
+import importlib.util
+import os
+import pathlib
+import subprocess
+import sys
+import time
+
+HERE = pathlib.Path(__file__).resolve().parent
+DEFAULT_PUREBOOT = HERE.parent / "pureboot" / "pureboot.py"
+
+# Memories worth capturing before an experiment, and the format each is read in.
+# Fuses and lock are per-part: a part without an extended fuse simply fails that
+# one read, which `backup` reports and steps over rather than aborting on.
+BACKUP_MEMORIES = (
+    ("flash", "i", "hex"),
+    ("flash", "r", "bin"),
+    ("eeprom", "i", "hex"),
+    ("eeprom", "r", "bin"),
+    ("lfuse", "h", "hex"),
+    ("hfuse", "h", "hex"),
+    ("efuse", "h", "hex"),
+    ("lock", "h", "hex"),
+    ("calibration", "h", "hex"),
+)
+
+
+class Error(Exception):
+    pass
+
+
+def bitclock_for(hz: int) -> str:
+    """A safe ISP bitclock for a part *currently running* at `hz`.
+
+    SCK must stay under a quarter of the target clock, so the bitclock follows
+    the clock in force — not the one about to be fused in. Halving that ceiling
+    again costs nothing on a link that moves a few hundred bytes and buys margin
+    against an oscillator that is already known to be off its nominal.
+    """
+    ceiling = hz // 8
+    for candidate in (1000, 4000, 8000, 32000, 125000, 400000):
+        if candidate <= ceiling:
+            best = candidate
+        else:
+            break
+    else:
+        best = 400000
+    if ceiling < 1000:
+        raise Error(f"a part at {hz} Hz is too slow to reach over ISP safely")
+    return f"{best // 1000}kHz"
+
+
+@dataclasses.dataclass
+class Deployment:
+    """Everything about one board. No default names a real device."""
+
+    port: str = ""              # serial device the loader speaks on
+    baud: int = 57600           # host rate; for autobaud, the rate to drive
+    autobaud: bool = False      # send the calibration pulse instead of p+b
+    programmer: str = ""        # avrdude -c
+    part: str = ""              # avrdude -p
+    avrdude: str = "avrdude"
+    bitclock: str = "125kHz"    # see bitclock_for()
+    pureboot: pathlib.Path = DEFAULT_PUREBOOT
+    wait: int = 12              # seconds the host keeps knocking
+
+    @classmethod
+    def from_env(cls) -> "Deployment":
+        """Environment defaults, so a rig's facts live in one place per machine."""
+        return cls(
+            port=os.environ.get("PUREBOOT_PORT", ""),
+            baud=int(os.environ.get("PUREBOOT_BAUD", "57600")),
+            autobaud=os.environ.get("PUREBOOT_AUTOBAUD", "") not in ("", "0"),
+            programmer=os.environ.get("PUREBOOT_PROGRAMMER", ""),
+            part=os.environ.get("PUREBOOT_PART", ""),
+            avrdude=os.environ.get("AVRDUDE", "avrdude"),
+            bitclock=os.environ.get("PUREBOOT_BITCLOCK", "125kHz"),
+            pureboot=pathlib.Path(os.environ.get("PUREBOOT_TOOL", str(DEFAULT_PUREBOOT))),
+        )
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def add_arguments(parser: argparse.ArgumentParser) -> None:
+        """Deployment flags, shared by this tool and pbhw.py."""
+        env = Deployment.from_env()
+        parser.add_argument("--port", default=env.port, help="serial device the loader speaks on")
+        parser.add_argument("--baud", type=int, default=env.baud,
+                            help="host rate (for autobaud, the rate to drive)")
+        parser.add_argument("--autobaud", action="store_true", default=env.autobaud,
+                            help="send the calibration pulse instead of the p+b knock")
+        parser.add_argument("--programmer", default=env.programmer, help="avrdude -c, e.g. atmelice_isp")
+        parser.add_argument("--part", default=env.part, help="avrdude -p, e.g. t13 or m328p")
+        parser.add_argument("--avrdude", default=env.avrdude, help="path to avrdude")
+        parser.add_argument("--bitclock", default=env.bitclock, help="ISP bitclock, e.g. 125kHz or 8kHz")
+        parser.add_argument("--pureboot", type=pathlib.Path, default=env.pureboot,
+                            help="path to pureboot.py")
+        parser.add_argument("--wait", type=int, default=env.wait, help="seconds to keep knocking")
+
+    @classmethod
+    def from_args(cls, args: argparse.Namespace) -> "Deployment":
+        return cls(port=args.port, baud=args.baud, autobaud=args.autobaud,
+                   programmer=args.programmer, part=args.part, avrdude=args.avrdude,
+                   bitclock=args.bitclock, pureboot=args.pureboot, wait=args.wait)
+
+
+def load_pureboot(path: pathlib.Path = DEFAULT_PUREBOOT):
+    """The host tool as a module — its Port and Loader, not a subprocess.
+
+    Used where a subprocess cannot express what is needed: a poke followed by a
+    peek in the *same* session, or a raw read at an arbitrary baud.
+    """
+    spec = importlib.util.spec_from_file_location("pureboot", path)
+    if spec is None or spec.loader is None:
+        raise Error(f"cannot load the host tool from {path}")
+    module = importlib.util.module_from_spec(spec)
+    spec.loader.exec_module(module)
+    return module
+
+
+class Rig:
+    """One board: its programmer on one side, its serial link on the other."""
+
+    def __init__(self, deployment: Deployment):
+        self.d = deployment
+        if not deployment.programmer or not deployment.part:
+            raise Error("a rig needs --programmer and --part")
+
+    # ------------------------------------------------------------- programmer
+
+    def avrdude(self, *args: str, cwd: pathlib.Path | None = None,
+                bitclock: str | None = None, timeout: int = 300) -> subprocess.CompletedProcess:
+        command = [self.d.avrdude, "-c", self.d.programmer, "-p", self.d.part,
+                   "-B", bitclock or self.d.bitclock, *args]
+        return subprocess.run(command, capture_output=True, text=True,
+                              cwd=None if cwd is None else str(cwd), timeout=timeout)
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def _ok(result: subprocess.CompletedProcess) -> bool:
+        return result.returncode == 0
+
+    def reset(self, bitclock: str | None = None) -> None:
+        """An ISP access, which resets the part; it runs when avrdude exits."""
+        self.avrdude("-U", "signature:r:-:h", bitclock=bitclock)
+
+    def signature(self, bitclock: str | None = None) -> str:
+        result = self.avrdude("-U", "signature:r:-:h", bitclock=bitclock)
+        for line in reversed(result.stdout.splitlines()):
+            if line.strip().startswith("0x"):
+                return line.strip()
+        raise Error(f"no signature read: {(result.stderr or result.stdout).strip()[:200]}")
+
+    def read_memory(self, memory: str, destination: pathlib.Path, fmt: str = "r",
+                    bitclock: str | None = None) -> bool:
+        """Read `memory` into `destination`, whose directory avrdude runs in."""
+        destination = pathlib.Path(destination).resolve()
+        destination.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+        result = self.avrdude("-U", f"{memory}:r:{destination.name}:{fmt}",
+                              cwd=destination.parent, bitclock=bitclock)
+        # A memory the part does not have (a tiny's extended fuse) leaves avrdude
+        # happy and the file empty. An empty capture is a miss, not a backup.
+        return self._ok(result) and destination.exists() and destination.stat().st_size > 0
+
+    def write_memory(self, memory: str, source: pathlib.Path, fmt: str = "i",
+                     erase: bool = False, bitclock: str | None = None) -> bool:
+        source = pathlib.Path(source).resolve()
+        args = ["-U", f"{memory}:w:{source.name}:{fmt}"]
+        if erase:
+            args.insert(0, "-e")
+        result = self.avrdude(*args, cwd=source.parent, bitclock=bitclock)
+        return "verified" in (result.stdout + result.stderr)
+
+    def flash_hex(self, image: pathlib.Path, erase: bool = True,
+                  bitclock: str | None = None) -> bool:
+        return self.write_memory("flash", image, "i", erase=erase, bitclock=bitclock)
+
+    def read_fuses(self, bitclock: str | None = None) -> dict[str, str]:
+        out: dict[str, str] = {}
+        for fuse in ("lfuse", "hfuse", "efuse", "lock"):
+            result = self.avrdude("-U", f"{fuse}:r:-:h", bitclock=bitclock)
+            values = [l.strip() for l in result.stdout.splitlines() if l.strip().startswith("0x")]
+            if values:
+                out[fuse] = values[-1]
+        return out
+
+    def write_fuses(self, bitclock: str | None = None, **fuses: str) -> bool:
+        """Write named fuses. A fuse change moves the clock the *next* access is
+        timed against, so pass a bitclock safe for both sides of the change."""
+        args: list[str] = []
+        for name, value in fuses.items():
+            args += ["-U", f"{name}:w:{value}:m"]
+        if not args:
+            return True
+        result = self.avrdude(*args, bitclock=bitclock)
+        text = result.stdout + result.stderr
+        return "verified" in text or "written" in text
+
+    # ------------------------------------------------------------ backup
+
+    def backup(self, directory: pathlib.Path, prefix: str = "") -> dict[str, bool]:
+        """Capture every memory worth keeping, then prove it by a second read.
+
+        A backup nobody verified is a guess. Each memory is read twice and the
+        two reads compared; a mismatch is reported rather than quietly stored.
+        """
+        directory = pathlib.Path(directory).resolve()
+        directory.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+        stem = prefix or self.d.part
+        status: dict[str, bool] = {}
+        for memory, fmt, extension in BACKUP_MEMORIES:
+            name = f"{stem}-{memory}.{extension}"
+            if not self.read_memory(memory, directory / name, fmt):
+                status[f"{memory}.{extension}"] = False
+                continue
+            if extension == "bin":  # only the raw form is worth comparing byte-wise
+                again = directory / f".{name}.again"
+                self.read_memory(memory, again, fmt)
+                same = again.exists() and again.read_bytes() == (directory / name).read_bytes()
+                again.unlink(missing_ok=True)
+                status[f"{memory}.{extension}"] = same
+            else:
+                status[f"{memory}.{extension}"] = True
+        return status
+
+    # ------------------------------------------------------------ serial link
+
+    def pureboot(self, *args: str, reset_first: bool = True, baud: int | None = None,
+                 autobaud: bool | None = None, timeout: int = 300,
+                 bitclock: str | None = None) -> tuple[int, str]:
+        """Reset, then knock immediately — see the module docstring.
+
+        Returns the host tool's exit status and its combined output, so a caller
+        can assert on what it printed as well as on whether it succeeded.
+        """
+        if reset_first:
+            self.reset(bitclock=bitclock)
+        command = [sys.executable, str(self.d.pureboot), "--port", self.d.port,
+                   "--baud", str(self.d.baud if baud is None else baud),
+                   "--wait", str(self.d.wait)]
+        if self.d.autobaud if autobaud is None else autobaud:
+            command.append("--autobaud")
+        command += [str(a) for a in args]
+        try:
+            result = subprocess.run(command, capture_output=True, text=True, timeout=timeout)
+        except subprocess.TimeoutExpired as expired:
+            return 99, f"TIMEOUT after {timeout}s\n{expired.stdout or ''}{expired.stderr or ''}"
+        return result.returncode, (result.stdout or "") + (result.stderr or "")
+
+    def capture(self, seconds: float = 2.0, baud: int | None = None) -> bytes:
+        """Listen to whatever the board is saying, at an arbitrary rate.
+
+        Opening the port does not reset a board whose DTR is unwired, so this can
+        sample a running application repeatedly without disturbing it — which is
+        what makes the rate sweep below possible.
+        """
+        module = load_pureboot(self.d.pureboot)
+        port = module.Port(self.d.port, self.d.baud if baud is None else baud)
+        try:
+            data = b""
+            deadline = time.monotonic() + seconds
+            while time.monotonic() < deadline:
+                chunk = port.read_available(0.2)
+                if chunk:
+                    data += chunk
+            return data
+        finally:
+            try:
+                port.close()
+            except Exception:
+                pass
+
+
+def measure_rate(rig: Rig, marker: bytes, built_baud: int, nominal_hz: int | None = None,
+                 span_percent: float = 12.0, step_percent: float = 0.5,
+                 seconds: float = 0.75) -> dict:
+    """Find a transmitting board's true bit rate, using only the serial port.
+
+    The board must be emitting something recognisable at a *fixed* cycles-per-bit
+    — `test/pbapp.cpp` built with PUREBOOT_HEARTBEAT does. Since its bit timing is
+    a cycle count, its wire rate scales with its actual clock, so the host rates
+    at which `marker` still decodes bracket that rate; the centre of the band is
+    the answer, and with the clock the image was built for it gives the real one.
+
+    This is the measurement that turns "the loader is silent, so the wiring must
+    be wrong" into a number, and it needs no instrument beyond the adapter
+    already attached.
+    """
+    steps = int(span_percent / step_percent)
+    clean: list[int] = []
+    samples: list[tuple[int, int, bool]] = []
+    for index in range(-steps, steps + 1):
+        baud = int(round(built_baud * (1 + index * step_percent / 100.0)))
+        if baud <= 0:
+            continue
+        data = rig.capture(seconds=seconds, baud=baud)
+        hit = marker in data
+        samples.append((baud, len(data), hit))
+        if hit:
+            clean.append(baud)
+    result: dict = {"samples": samples, "clean": clean, "built_baud": built_baud}
+    if clean:
+        low, high = min(clean), max(clean)
+        centre = (low + high) / 2.0
+        result |= {"low": low, "high": high, "centre": centre,
+                   "half_width_percent": (high - low) / 2.0 / centre * 100.0,
+                   "error_percent": (centre / built_baud - 1.0) * 100.0}
+        if nominal_hz:
+            result["measured_hz"] = nominal_hz * centre / built_baud
+    return result
+
+
+# ------------------------------------------------------------------- command
+
+
+def main(argv: list[str] | None = None) -> int:
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
+        description="pureboot hardware rig: ISP reset/flash beside the serial link")
+    Deployment.add_arguments(parser)
+    sub = parser.add_subparsers(dest="command", required=True)
+
+    sub.add_parser("signature", help="read the part signature over ISP")
+    sub.add_parser("reset", help="reset the part (an ISP access) and let it run")
+    sub.add_parser("fuses", help="read the fuse and lock bytes")
+
+    p = sub.add_parser("flash", help="program a hex image over ISP")
+    p.add_argument("image", type=pathlib.Path)
+    p.add_argument("--no-erase", action="store_true", help="do not chip-erase first")
+
+    p = sub.add_parser("backup", help="capture and verify every memory")
+    p.add_argument("directory", type=pathlib.Path)
+    p.add_argument("--prefix", default="", help="filename stem (default: the part name)")
+
+    p = sub.add_parser("rate", help="measure the board's true bit rate and clock")
+    p.add_argument("--marker", default="APP", help="text the board emits (default: APP)")
+    p.add_argument("--built-baud", type=int, required=True,
+                   help="the baud the running image was built for")
+    p.add_argument("--nominal-hz", type=int, default=0,
+                   help="the clock the image was built for, to report the real one")
+    p.add_argument("--span", type=float, default=12.0, help="sweep +-this many percent")
+    p.add_argument("--step", type=float, default=0.5, help="sweep step in percent")
+    p.add_argument("--verbose", action="store_true", help="print every step")
+
+    p = sub.add_parser("bitclock", help="a safe ISP bitclock for a clock in force")
+    p.add_argument("hz", type=int)
+
+    args = parser.parse_args(argv)
+
+    if args.command == "bitclock":
+        print(bitclock_for(args.hz))
+        return 0
+
+    rig = Rig(Deployment.from_args(args))
+
+    if args.command == "signature":
+        print(rig.signature())
+    elif args.command == "reset":
+        rig.reset()
+        print("reset")
+    elif args.command == "fuses":
+        for name, value in rig.read_fuses().items():
+            print(f"{name:<6} {value}")
+    elif args.command == "flash":
+        ok = rig.flash_hex(args.image, erase=not args.no_erase)
+        print(f"{args.image.name}: {'verified' if ok else 'FAILED'}")
+        return 0 if ok else 1
+    elif args.command == "backup":
+        status = rig.backup(args.directory, args.prefix)
+        for name, ok in status.items():
+            print(f"  {'ok  ' if ok else 'FAIL'} {name}")
+        missing = [n for n, ok in status.items() if not ok]
+        # Fuses a part does not have are expected misses, not failures.
+        fatal = [n for n in missing if not n.startswith(("efuse", "calibration"))]
+        print(f"\n{len(status) - len(missing)}/{len(status)} captured into {args.directory}")
+        return 1 if fatal else 0
+    elif args.command == "rate":
+        result = measure_rate(rig, args.marker.encode(), args.built_baud,
+                              args.nominal_hz or None, args.span, args.step)
+        if args.verbose:
+            for baud, size, hit in result["samples"]:
+                print(f"  {baud:7d} Bd  {size:5d} B  {'MARKER' if hit else ''}")
+        if not result["clean"]:
+            print(f"no capture contained {args.marker!r} at any rate — is the board "
+                  f"transmitting, and on the pin this port is wired to?")
+            return 1
+        print(f"clean band  {result['low']}..{result['high']} Bd")
+        print(f"centre      {result['centre']:.0f} Bd "
+              f"(+-{result['half_width_percent']:.1f} %)")
+        print(f"vs built    {result['built_baud']} Bd ({result['error_percent']:+.1f} %)")
+        if "measured_hz" in result:
+            print(f"true clock  {result['measured_hz'] / 1e6:.3f} MHz")
+    return 0
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    try:
+        sys.exit(main())
+    except Error as error:
+        print(f"error: {error}", file=sys.stderr)
+        sys.exit(2)

tools/sizes.py

@@ -0,0 +1,160 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+"""What the loader images actually measure, and whether the README still agrees.
+
+The size matrix asserts every image fits its slot; it says nothing about the
+numbers the README prints, and those drift. Every row of that table was eight
+bytes stale once `startup::caller_page()` landed — common code, so every build
+moved at once and no test noticed, because none of them was over budget.
+
+Two questions, both answered from built trees:
+
+  sizes.py max            the largest image per chip, and anything over budget
+  sizes.py check-readme   the README's per-chip table against what is built
+
+Nothing here knows a chip's geometry. The (image, budget) pairs come from each
+build's own `CTestTestfile.cmake` — the same values the gate checks — so the
+slot rules stay where they belong, in `pureboot/CMakeLists.txt`, and a chip
+added or a budget changed needs no edit here. Only trees a configure preset
+still owns are read: a stale directory keeps its last build, and a loader built
+before a slot changed will happily report a size that was true once
+(`tools/prune-build-trees.sh` in libavr removes them).
+
+Sizes come from `avr-size`, and a target is only as current as its last build —
+run the gate first if you want the table checked against today's source.
+"""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import argparse
+import pathlib
+import re
+import shutil
+import subprocess
+import sys
+
+ROOT = pathlib.Path(__file__).resolve().parents[1]
+# add_test(<name>.size ... -DELF=<path> ... -DLIMIT=<n> ...) — the gate's own
+# pairing of an image with the budget it must fit.
+# ctest writes the name as a bracket argument ([=[name.size]=]) and quotes the
+# rest, so the name starts after the bracket and the path ends at the quote.
+SIZE_TEST = re.compile(r'add_test\(\s*\[=\[(?P<name>[^\]]+?)\.size\]=\][^\n]*?'
+                       r'-DELF=(?P<elf>[^"\s]+)[^\n]*?-DLIMIT=(?P<limit>\d+)')
+
+
+def avr_size() -> str:
+    for env in (ROOT / "../../toolchain").resolve().glob("avr-gcc-*/bin/avr-size"):
+        if env.is_file():
+            return str(env)
+    found = shutil.which("avr-size")
+    if not found:
+        sys.exit("no avr-size found (build the toolchain, or put it on PATH)")
+    return found
+
+
+def preset_dirs() -> list[pathlib.Path]:
+    """Build trees a configure preset still owns, newest-listed first."""
+    listing = subprocess.run(["cmake", "--list-presets"], cwd=ROOT, capture_output=True, text=True)
+    names = re.findall(r'^\s*"(.+)"$', listing.stdout, re.MULTILINE)
+    if not names:
+        sys.exit("cmake --list-presets returned nothing — run from a configured checkout")
+    return [d for d in (ROOT / "build" / n for n in names) if (d / "CTestTestfile.cmake").is_file()]
+
+
+def measure(paths: list[str], tool: str) -> dict[str, int]:
+    """.text per ELF, in one avr-size call per batch."""
+    sizes: dict[str, int] = {}
+    for start in range(0, len(paths), 400):
+        batch = [p for p in paths[start:start + 400] if pathlib.Path(p).is_file()]
+        if not batch:
+            continue
+        out = subprocess.run([tool, *batch], capture_output=True, text=True).stdout
+        for line in out.splitlines()[1:]:
+            fields = line.split()
+            if len(fields) >= 6 and fields[0].isdigit():
+                sizes[fields[5]] = int(fields[0])
+    return sizes
+
+
+def collect() -> dict[str, list[tuple[str, int, int]]]:
+    """chip -> [(target, text, limit)], from every owned build tree."""
+    tool = avr_size()
+    found: dict[str, list[tuple[str, str, int]]] = {}
+    for tree in preset_dirs():
+        chip = tree.name.split("-")[0]
+        for match in SIZE_TEST.finditer((tree / "CTestTestfile.cmake").read_text()):
+            found.setdefault(chip, []).append((match["name"], match["elf"], int(match["limit"])))
+    sizes = measure([elf for rows in found.values() for _, elf, _ in rows], tool)
+    measured = {
+        chip: sorted(((name, sizes[elf], limit) for name, elf, limit in rows if elf in sizes),
+                     key=lambda row: -row[1])
+        for chip, rows in sorted(found.items())
+    }
+    # A configured-but-unbuilt preset registers its tests with no images behind
+    # them; it is not a chip with nothing to say, it is a chip not built yet.
+    return {chip: rows for chip, rows in measured.items() if rows}
+
+
+def cmd_max(args) -> int:
+    measured = collect()
+    if not measured:
+        sys.exit("nothing built — configure and build a preset first")
+    over = []
+    print(f"{'chip':<13} {'largest image':<34} {'.text':>6} {'budget':>7}  headroom")
+    for chip, rows in measured.items():
+        name, text, limit = rows[0]
+        flag = "OVER" if text > limit else f"{limit - text:>5} B"
+        print(f"{chip:<13} {name:<34} {text:>6} {limit:>7}  {flag}")
+        over += [(chip, n, t, l) for n, t, l in rows if t > l]
+    total = sum(len(rows) for rows in measured.values())
+    print(f"\n{total} images across {len(measured)} chips")
+    if over:
+        print("\nOVER BUDGET:")
+        for chip, name, text, limit in over:
+            print(f"  {chip} {name}: {text} > {limit}")
+        return 1
+    tightest = min(((chip, n, t, l) for chip, rows in measured.items() for n, t, l in rows),
+                   key=lambda row: row[3] - row[2])
+    chip, name, text, limit = tightest
+    print(f"tightest fit: {chip} {name} — {text} of {limit}, {limit - text} B spare")
+    return 0
+
+
+def cmd_check_readme(args) -> int:
+    """The README's per-chip table, against the stock and autobaud builds."""
+    readme = (ROOT / "pureboot" / "README.md").read_text()
+    measured = collect()
+    rows = re.findall(r"^\|\s*(AT\w+[^|]*?)\s*\|[^|]*\|[^|]*\|[^|]*\|\s*(\d+) B\s*\|\s*(\d+) B\s*\|$",
+                      readme, re.MULTILINE)
+    if not rows:
+        sys.exit("no size table found in pureboot/README.md")
+    bad = skipped = 0
+    for chips, stock_doc, auto_doc in rows:
+        # "ATmega48, 48A, 48P, 48PA †" — the first name is the family's base.
+        chip = re.sub(r"[^a-z0-9]", "", chips.split(",")[0].strip().lower())
+        built = {name: text for name, text, _ in measured.get(chip, [])}
+        for target, documented in (("pureboot", stock_doc), ("pureboot_autobaud", auto_doc)):
+            if target not in built:
+                skipped += 1
+                continue
+            if built[target] != int(documented):
+                print(f"  {chip:<12} {target:<18} README says {documented} B, built is {built[target]} B")
+                bad += 1
+    if bad:
+        print(f"\n{bad} row(s) stale — update pureboot/README.md")
+        return 1
+    print(f"README size table matches every built image ({len(rows)} rows"
+          + (f", {skipped} not built" if skipped else "") + ")")
+    return 0
+
+
+def main() -> int:
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description=__doc__.splitlines()[0])
+    subs = parser.add_subparsers(dest="cmd", required=True)
+    subs.add_parser("max", help="largest image per chip, and anything over budget")
+    subs.add_parser("check-readme", help="the README's size table against what is built")
+    args = parser.parse_args()
+    return {"max": cmd_max, "check-readme": cmd_check_readme}[args.cmd](args)
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    raise SystemExit(main())

tsb/tsb_policy.cpp

@@ -0,0 +1,302 @@
+// TinySafeBoot on libavr — the policy floor: pureboot's rules, measured.
+//
+// The full TinySafeBoot feature set — watchdog bail, one-wire half-duplex,
+// config-page activation timeout, password gate, emergency erase, and
+// config/flash/EEPROM read-write — under philosophy #5 exactly as pureboot
+// obeys it: no assembly, no register variables; code, attributes, and flags
+// only. Every lesson pureboot's development produced is applied — the
+// library's half-duplex serial and startup entry, lean bring-up from reset
+// state, one merged send loop over both memories, oracle-shaped loop bounds,
+// locals threaded through noinline primitives, pureboot's codegen flags —
+// and the result is 638 bytes: 198 below the idiomatic tier, and 126 above
+// the 512 B boot section the tricks/asm tiers reach with the banned
+// mechanisms (526/510). This tier exists to keep that number an artifact
+// rather than a claim: the gap to 512 is the rent of policy-clean C++ —
+// helpers that hold a cursor across rx()/tx() pay push/pop and argument
+// threading where a global-register protocol pays nothing, and both
+// control-flow merges tried (a parametrized paged session, a merged store
+// loop) measured larger than the split cases they replaced. TSB's wire fixes
+// the per-command loop shapes on the device, so pureboot 5's one-transfer-
+// loop collapse has no purchase here.
+//
+// The wire protocol is strict request/response, which is what makes the
+// shared line safe: the device drives it only between a received command and
+// its reply, and releases it (the library's half-duplex choreography)
+// whenever it waits.
+
+#include <libavr/libavr.hpp>
+
+using namespace avr::literals;
+namespace spm = avr::spm;
+namespace ee = avr::eeprom;
+
+using dev = avr::device<{.clock = 16_MHz}>;
+// One-wire: RX and TX share the line, exactly as the native-UART TSB expects.
+using serial_t = dev::uart0<{.baud = 115200_Bd, .max_baud_error = 3_pct, .half_duplex = true}>;
+inline constexpr serial_t serial{};
+
+namespace tsb {
+namespace {
+
+// The loader is purely polled — it never enables interrupts — so every SPM and
+// EEPROM lock folds to nothing under this posture.
+constexpr auto off = avr::irq::guard_policy::unused;
+
+// The handshake bytes, identical across every TSB host.
+constexpr std::uint8_t confirm = '!';
+constexpr std::uint8_t request = '?';
+constexpr std::uint8_t knock = '@';
+
+// Boot geometry for the 1 KB boot section (BOOTSZ=10); the page size and the
+// flash/EEPROM extents are the chip database's to know. app_end is the config
+// page (TSB's LASTPAGE), one page below the boot section.
+constexpr std::uint16_t page = spm::page_bytes;
+constexpr std::uint16_t boot_bytes = 1024;
+constexpr std::uint16_t app_end = spm::flash_bytes - boot_bytes - page;
+constexpr std::uint16_t eeprom_end = avr::hw::db.mem.eeprom_size - 1;
+
+// Lockout-proof floor for the activation window (the oracle's F_CPU/1MHz).
+constexpr std::uint8_t act_min = 16;
+// Post-activation window: the host gets seconds, not milliseconds, mid-session.
+constexpr std::uint8_t comm_window = 200;
+
+// Firmware version stamp: YY*512 + MM*32 + DD, the encoding the host decodes.
+constexpr std::uint16_t build_date = 26 * 512 + 7 * 32 + 27;
+
+// The 16-byte device-info block, streamed out on activation.
+// clang-format off
+[[gnu::progmem]] constexpr std::uint8_t info[16] = {
+    'T', 'S', 'B',
+    build_date & 0xFF, build_date >> 8,
+    0xF3,             // status: native-UART fixed-baud lineage
+    avr::hw::db.signature[0], avr::hw::db.signature[1], avr::hw::db.signature[2],
+    page / 2,         // page size in words
+    (app_end / 2) & 0xFF, (app_end / 2) >> 8, // app-flash boundary, words
+    eeprom_end & 0xFF, eeprom_end >> 8,
+    0xAA, 0xAA,       // ATmega processor-type marker (bytes 14 == 15)
+};
+// clang-format on
+
+// The receive window, pre-floored where it is set. In .noinit: there is no
+// crt to clear a .bss image, and run() stores it before the first receive.
+[[gnu::section(".noinit")]] std::uint8_t window;
+
+const std::uint8_t *flash_ptr(std::uint16_t addr)
+{
+	return reinterpret_cast<const std::uint8_t *>(addr);
+}
+
+// Bounded byte receive: poll under nested countdowns, 0 on silence. The 0
+// then falls through every compare — not a knock, not a confirm, not a
+// command — so a silent host unwinds the loader to the application from
+// anywhere, and a mid-session cable pull cannot wedge it. The line release on
+// a direction change is the serial backend's.
+[[gnu::noinline]] std::uint8_t rx()
+{
+	std::uint16_t outer = static_cast<std::uint16_t>(window) << 8;
+	do {
+		std::uint8_t fine = 0;
+		do {
+			if (auto byte = serial.read())
+				return *byte;
+		} while (--fine);
+	} while (--outer);
+	return 0;
+}
+
+// One-wire transmit: the backend takes the line with a turn-around guard and
+// holds it until the whole frame is out.
+[[gnu::noinline]] void tx(std::uint8_t byte)
+{
+	serial.write(byte);
+}
+
+// '?', then hand back the host's reply for the callers' one-byte compare.
+[[gnu::noinline]] std::uint8_t rcnf()
+{
+	tx(request);
+	return rx();
+}
+
+// The one send loop: the info block, the config page, application flash and
+// EEPROM pages all stream through here.
+[[gnu::noinline]] void send_block(bool eep, std::uint16_t at, std::uint8_t count)
+{
+	do {
+		tx(eep ? ee::read(at) : avr::flash_load(flash_ptr(at)));
+		++at;
+	} while (--count);
+}
+
+// One EEPROM byte in — shared by the emergency wipe and the 'E' stream.
+[[gnu::noinline]] void eeput(std::uint16_t at, std::uint8_t value)
+{
+	ee::write<off>(at, value);
+}
+
+// Wait out a running SPM op, then re-open the RWW section — after every page
+// op and before handing over, as the oracle does.
+[[gnu::noinline]] void settle()
+{
+	spm::wait();
+	spm::rww_enable<off>();
+}
+
+// One host page straight into the erased flash page at `at` — through the SPM
+// word buffer (low byte then high), no SRAM staging — then committed. `at`
+// names a page base, so the cursor's low byte reaching the boundary ends the
+// walk.
+[[gnu::noinline]] void store_flash_page(std::uint16_t at)
+{
+	do {
+		std::uint8_t low = rx();
+		std::uint8_t high = rx();
+		spm::fill<off>(at, std::bit_cast<std::uint16_t>(std::array{low, high}));
+		at += 2;
+	} while (static_cast<std::uint8_t>(at) & (page - 1));
+	spm::write_page<off>(at - page);
+	settle();
+}
+
+extern "C" [[noreturn]] void tsb_app(); // the application's reset vector: --defsym=tsb_app=0
+
+[[noreturn]] void appjump()
+{
+	settle();
+	tsb_app();
+}
+
+// Step one page down and erase it — the erase shared by the whole-app walk,
+// the config rewrite and the emergency wipe; hands the stepped address back.
+[[gnu::noinline]] std::uint16_t erase_below(std::uint16_t at)
+{
+	at -= page;
+	spm::erase_page<off>(at);
+	settle();
+	return at;
+}
+
+// Erase the whole application, top-down like the oracle: the loop bound is a
+// compare with zero, and the returned 0 is the address every caller wants
+// next.
+[[gnu::noinline]] std::uint16_t erase_application()
+{
+	std::uint16_t at = app_end;
+	do {
+		at = erase_below(at);
+	} while (at != 0);
+	return at;
+}
+
+[[noreturn]] void run()
+{
+	// A watchdog reset hands straight back to the application, as the
+	// reference loader does, rather than re-entering the bootloader.
+	if (avr::hw::mcusr::wdrf.test())
+		appjump();
+
+	// Lean bring-up from reset state: UCSR0C already reads 8N1, UBRR0H reads
+	// 0, and the half-duplex write()/read() raise TXEN0/RXEN0 on first use —
+	// only the divisor low byte and U2X0 need a store. The solver still does
+	// the datasheet work; the asserts pin the reset-state assumptions.
+	{
+		constexpr auto sol = avr::uart::detail::solve_baud(dev::clock, 115200_Bd);
+		static_assert(sol.u2x && sol.ubrr < 256, "lean bring-up writes UBRR0L only, with U2X0");
+		avr::hw::reg<"UBRR0">::write(static_cast<std::uint8_t>(sol.ubrr));
+		avr::hw::ucsr0a::write(avr::hw::ucsr0a::u2x0(1));
+	}
+
+	// Activation: 3×'@', each inside the config page's timeout window
+	// (floored so a corrupt page cannot lock the loader out); anything else —
+	// including silence — hands over.
+	window = avr::flash_load(flash_ptr(app_end + 2)) | act_min;
+	for (std::uint8_t k = 3; k; --k)
+		if (rx() != knock)
+			appjump();
+	window = comm_window;
+
+	// Password gate (config page from app_end+3, 0xff-terminated; a blank
+	// page is no password). A wrong byte blanks the comparison and drains the
+	// line forever, so a wrong password can never fall through; a 0 requests
+	// emergency erase behind two confirms. On pass the info block goes out;
+	// the emergency path skips it and drops into the command loop.
+	std::uint16_t at = app_end + 3;
+	std::uint8_t mask = 0xff;
+	for (;;) {
+		std::uint8_t expected = avr::flash_load(flash_ptr(at)) & mask;
+		++at;
+		if (expected == 0xff) {
+			send_block(false, reinterpret_cast<std::uint16_t>(&info[0]), sizeof info);
+			break;
+		}
+		std::uint8_t got = rx();
+		if (got == 0) {
+			if (mask == 0)
+				continue;
+			if (rcnf() != confirm || rcnf() != confirm)
+				appjump();
+			std::uint16_t a = erase_application();
+			do {
+				eeput(a, 0xff);
+			} while (++a <= eeprom_end);
+			erase_below(app_end + page);
+			break;
+		}
+		if (got != expected)
+			mask = 0;
+	}
+
+	for (;;) {
+		tx(confirm); // Mainloop ready
+		const std::uint8_t command = rx();
+		switch (command) {
+		case 'f': // read application flash, one page per host '!'
+			for (std::uint16_t a = 0; a < app_end; a += page) {
+				if (rx() != confirm)
+					break;
+				send_block(false, a, page);
+			}
+			break;
+		case 'e': // read EEPROM, one page per host '!', until the host stops
+			for (std::uint16_t a = 0;; a += page) {
+				if (rx() != confirm)
+					break;
+				send_block(true, a, page);
+			}
+			break;
+		case 'F': { // erase the application, then take pages behind '?'
+			std::uint16_t a = erase_application();
+			for (; rcnf() == confirm; a += page)
+				store_flash_page(a);
+			break;
+		}
+		case 'E': // take EEPROM pages behind '?', each write host-paced
+			for (std::uint16_t a = 0; rcnf() == confirm;) {
+				std::uint8_t count = page;
+				do {
+					eeput(a, rx());
+					++a;
+				} while (--count);
+			}
+			break;
+		case 'c': // read the config page
+		read_config:
+			send_block(false, app_end, page);
+			break;
+		case 'C': // replace the config page, then echo it back to verify
+			if (rcnf() != confirm)
+				break;
+			store_flash_page(erase_below(app_end + page));
+			goto read_config;
+		default: // 'q' or any other byte runs the application
+			appjump();
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+} // namespace
+} // namespace tsb
+
+// Reset lands at the boot section base (BOOTRST): the entry stub in .vectors
+// is laid first and does the one line of crt a crt-less image needs.
+template struct avr::startup::entry<tsb::run>;