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# M1 spikes (docs/WINDOWS_PORT.md §13)
Programs that answer questions the port is currently *guessing* at. They are checked in and
runnable on purpose: a spike whose answer nobody can reproduce six months later is a rumour.
They are deliberately **not** in `windows/Nucleic.sln`. The solution's broker contract tests must
keep running on any machine against `FakeWslc`; these need the `Microsoft.WSL.Containers` preview
NuGet and a real WSL stack, so they are built by path.
---
## `WslcApiDump` — what does the wslc API actually look like?
**Status: it has served its original purpose (docs/WINDOWS_PORT.md §13.1).** The real API is
known, and it was obtained without a Windows machine at all — the package is public, so the
`.nupkg` was downloaded, its projection assembly extracted, and its metadata read with
`MetadataLoadContext`. What this tool is *for* has therefore changed: its assumption list now
describes the surface actually observed in 2.9.3, so running it says **what the next package
version moved**, not what we guessed wrong.
**Why it is still reflection.** Same reason as before: a typed check fails to compile on the
first rename and reports one problem, where this reports all of them at once. That property is
worth keeping for a preview API whose next version can break anything.
Two facts it discovered that anything referencing this package needs:
- the assembly is **`wslcsdkcs.dll`**, not `Microsoft.WSL.Containers.dll` — loading it by package
name fails;
- the only published version is **2.9.3**, targeting `net8.0-windows10.0.19041.0`. The
`0.1.0-preview.1` pin this repo carried could never have restored.
```powershell
cd windows/spikes/WslcApiDump
dotnet run # dump the API + check every facade assumption
dotnet run -- --probe # + GetMissingComponents / GetVersion
dotnet run -- --session # + create a session, then a SECOND one with the same name
dotnet run -- --all-types # include the ABI/marshalling plumbing in the dump
```
**If it reports missing components** (`VirtualMachinePlatform`, `WslPackage`), the machine cannot
run wslc yet: `wsl --install`, reboot for the Virtual Machine Platform feature, and run again.
Everything that reaches the service fails with `REGDB_E_CLASSNOTREG` (0x80040154) until then, and
the tool says so rather than emitting a string of unexplained COM errors. `--session` is skipped
in that state instead of failing.
Note that the assumption check reads the **`Microsoft.WSL.Containers`** namespace only. That is
correctness, not tidiness: a C#/WinRT projection also exports `ABI.Microsoft.WSL.Containers.*`
marshalling types with the *same short names*, and matching on short name alone checks every
member against the marshalling struct — which reported 42 false MISSINGs, with `CreateMarshaler`
helpfully offered as the nearest name.
It writes the full public object model to `wslc-api-dump.txt` (`--out` to relocate) and prints an
`ok` / `MISSING` line per assumption, each with *why that member matters* and a nearest-name hint.
It exits 0 even when assumptions fail — a mismatch is the product, not an error. Only a genuinely
broken run (the assembly won't load) exits non-zero.
Every path in it has been exercised against a stand-in assembly carrying the observed 2.9.3 type
and member names — including the `ABI.` shadow types and a service that reports missing components
and throws `0x80040154` — so a failure on your machine is a finding about wslc, not about this
tool.
**What to send back:** the console output, and `wslc-api-dump.txt` if anything is MISSING —
which now means the package moved under us, not that we guessed wrong.
### Why `--session` earns its risk
`--session` creates a real wslc session named `nucleic-spike` under
`%LOCALAPPDATA%\Nucleic\spike\wslc`, starts it, and then **creates a second one with the same
name**. That second construction is the whole point, and it is the last open question D13 turns
on: the compat SDK exposes a `Session` *constructor* and no attach, so does constructing over an
existing name re-adopt it, or refuse?
- **Refused** (expect `WSLC_E_SESSION_RESERVED`, `0x80040607`) — D13's premise is confirmed on
hardware rather than inferred from an IDL, and session reattach genuinely requires
`IWSLCSessionManager::OpenSessionByName` on the internal interface.
- **Constructed** — the compat surface may re-adopt by name, and the session half of §2.3 reattach
may not need the internal interface at all. Check `wslc container ps` for the first session's
containers before believing it.
It leaves the session running on purpose, because that is the other half of the same question:
broker supervision assumes wslc state is **service-backed**, so a crashed `nucleic-brokerd` can
re-adopt rather than orphaning containers. If `wslc session ls` still shows `nucleic-spike` after
this process exits, that holds. Tear it down with `wslc` when you're done.
The gateway address is *not* what this probe is for any more — §13.1 established that no API
surfaces one, and D13 moves the control plane to hvsocket via `IWSLCVirtualMachine::GetId`.
### The three answers that change the design
Most mismatches are a one-line edit in `WslcFacade.cs` — that is exactly what the `IWslc` seam is
for, and nothing above it should move. These three are different:
| Finding | Consequence |
| --- | --- |
| No container enumeration, stats, pty or attach in the SDK | **Settled by D13.** `wslcsdk.dll` wraps `WSLCCompat.idl` (the stable SDK surface), which genuinely lacks them; they all exist on `wslc.idl`, the service-internal COM interface `wslc.exe` calls — `ListContainers`, `Stats`, `ResizeTty`, `OpenContainer`/`Attach`, `OpenSessionByName`, and `IWSLCVirtualMachine::GetId`. The broker binds both surfaces; no CLI. |
| No create-or-attach on `Session` | **Answered:** `IWSLCSessionManager::OpenSessionByName` / `EnterSession` / `ListSessions` on the internal interface. §2.3 reattach has its mechanism. |
| No gateway address anywhere on the API | **Skip TCP:** `IWSLCVirtualMachine::GetId` returns the VM GUID, so §5's AF_HYPERV/AF_VSOCK path (true vsock parity with macOS) should become primary at M1 (b). Gateway TCP stays as fallback, its address from `GetAdaptersAddresses` over `vEthernet (WSL)`. |
| No uid on `ProcessSettings` | Recoverable, and already planned for: exec wraps argv in `setpriv`/`su agent -c`. Interceptors and nash don't care about the numeric uid (§3.2). |
---
## Not yet written
- **`WslcSpike`** — the typed happy path: session → GHCR pull of `naros-agent` → container with an
NTFS `ContainerVolume` → `exec git status` in the bind-mounted worktree → stdio round-trip →
SIGTERM, plus the 9P latency numbers §15 wants (`git status` and `npm install` on a real repo,
mounted vs. in-VM). Deliberately held back until `WslcApiDump` has run: written now, against
guessed names, it would not compile, and fixing it blind is the mistake this whole approach
exists to avoid.
- **`HvSocketSpike`** — M1 (b), and now the *primary* control-plane spike rather than the
fallback one (D13): bind an AF_HYPERV listener on the VM GUID from
`IWSLCVirtualMachine::GetId` and dial AF_VSOCK from inside a wslc container. If vsock
traverses the container's namespaces, the Windows control plane gets true parity with macOS
and §5's firewall/NAT variance stops mattering. Measure gateway-TCP reachability in the same
run so the fallback stays evidenced.