@openmixer/plugin-qualify 0.18.4 → 0.19.1

package/src/qualify-adapter-pass.ts

@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ import { basename, join } from "node:path";
 
 import { ADAPTER_HOST, ADAPTER_SILENT_CODE, SPAWNED_ADMISSIONS, admitUnderAdapter, type AdmissionRuns, type HostAdmission } from "./host-admission.js";
 import { HOSTD_ENV } from "./hostd-pin-files.js";
+import { freeDeadJackSlots } from "./jack-registry.js";
 import { cellKey, type GridCell } from "./measurement-grid.js";
 import { defaultAddressSpaceLimit } from "./direct-limit.js";
 import { PROBE_OK } from "./probe-output.js";
@@ -36,7 +37,9 @@ export const NO_PRIVATE_SERVER = `${ADAPTER_HOST}.no-private-server`;
 const RECORD_SUFFIX = ".qualification.json";
 const SERVER_WAIT_MS = 5000;
 const SERVER_SETTLE_MS = 300;
-const SERVER_STOP_MS = 2000;
+// a TERM is waited for this long: jackd on a Pi can take seconds to end, and a jackd that is KILLed keeps its row in
+// JACK's server table for good (jack-registry.ts)
+const SERVER_STOP_MS = 10000;
 
 /** What a program answers to `--version`: its last word on the line that says `version`. */
 export function parseVersion(text: string): string | undefined {
@@ -78,14 +81,18 @@ const sleepSync = (ms: number): void => {
 /**
  * jackd under a shell that waits for it. A pass is synchronous, so this process cannot reap a child; an unreaped jackd
  * that had a client stays in JACK's server table as alive, and the next start under its name reads "server already active".
- * The shell outlives jackd whatever happens: a TERM reaches jackd once, and HUP is how a stop that gives up kills jackd alone.
- * Killed with its group, the shell could not reap it.
+ * The shell outlives jackd whatever happens: a TERM to the shell is passed to jackd's own pid, and HUP is how a stop that
+ * gives up kills jackd alone. Killed with its group, the shell could not reap it. A TERM to the group does not do: a jackd
+ * that is not its group's leader keeps running after it (measured on a Raspberry Pi 5 and on CI), and the stop's KILL then
+ * left its row in JACK's registry.
  */
-const REAPING_JACKD = `trap : TERM; trap 'kill -KILL $p 2>/dev/null' HUP; jackd "$@" & p=$!; while kill -0 $p 2>/dev/null; do wait $p; done`;
+const REAPING_JACKD = `trap 'kill -TERM $p 2>/dev/null' TERM; trap 'kill -KILL $p 2>/dev/null' HUP; jackd "$@" & p=$!; while kill -0 $p 2>/dev/null; do wait $p; done`;
 
 /** `jackd` on a name of its own and the dummy driver, at the cell's rate and quantum; `undefined` when none came up. */
 export const startPrivateJack: JackStarter = (cell) => {
   const name = `omx-qualify-${String(process.pid)}-${String(cell.quantum)}`;
+  // the rows of servers of ours that were killed, freed before this one asks for a row
+  freeDeadJackSlots();
   let child: ChildProcess;
   let ended = false;
   try {
@@ -110,7 +117,11 @@ export const startPrivateJack: JackStarter = (cell) => {
     }
   };
   const stop = (): void => {
-    signal("SIGTERM");
+    try {
+      if (child.pid !== undefined) process.kill(child.pid, "SIGTERM");
+    } catch {
+      // already gone
+    }
     const until = Date.now() + SERVER_STOP_MS;
     while (running() && Date.now() < until) sleepSync(20);
     if (running()) {
@@ -124,6 +135,8 @@ export const startPrivateJack: JackStarter = (cell) => {
     }
     signal("SIGKILL");
     for (const d of serverDirs(name)) rmSync(d, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    // a jackd that had to be KILLed left its row: it is freed now, not by the next start
+    freeDeadJackSlots();
   };
   const until = Date.now() + SERVER_WAIT_MS;
   while (Date.now() < until) {

package/src/qualify-declarations.ts

@@ -107,6 +107,10 @@ export const LV2_HOST_PROBE_TOOL_ENV = "OMX_LV2_HOST_PROBE";
 export const ISOLATED_SIGNAL_TOOL_ENV = "OMX_ISOLATED_SIGNAL";
 /** `native/jack-peak.c`, the level of an instrument under a held note in the adapter run (`tools/mod-host-admit.mjs`). */
 export const JACK_PEAK_TOOL_ENV = "OMX_JACK_PEAK";
+/** `native/rt-watch.c`, the interposer's window put around a JACK host's process callback: the host comparison's RT watch. */
+export const RT_WATCH_ENV = "OMX_RT_WATCH";
+/** `native/jack-compare.c`, the host comparison's ports, latency and stimulus on the JACK graph. */
+export const JACK_COMPARE_TOOL_ENV = "OMX_JACK_COMPARE";
 
 /** The file names of the native tools, in every place they are looked for. */
 export const CLAP_QUALIFY_TOOL_NAME = "clap-qualify";
@@ -115,6 +119,8 @@ export const LV2_MEASURE_TOOL_NAME = "lv2_measure";
 export const RT_INTERPOSE_NAME = "rt_interpose.so";
 export const LV2_HOST_PROBE_TOOL_NAME = "lv2_host_probe";
 export const JACK_PEAK_TOOL_NAME = "jack_peak";
+export const RT_WATCH_NAME = "rt_watch.so";
+export const JACK_COMPARE_TOOL_NAME = "jack_compare";
 
 /**
  * The ONE list of the native tools the packages install, each with the setting that names it.
@@ -127,6 +133,8 @@ export const NATIVE_TOOLS: readonly { readonly name: string; readonly env: strin
   { name: LV2_HOST_PROBE_TOOL_NAME, env: LV2_HOST_PROBE_TOOL_ENV },
   { name: ISOLATED_SIGNAL_TOOL_NAME, env: ISOLATED_SIGNAL_TOOL_ENV },
   { name: JACK_PEAK_TOOL_NAME, env: JACK_PEAK_TOOL_ENV },
+  { name: RT_WATCH_NAME, env: RT_WATCH_ENV },
+  { name: JACK_COMPARE_TOOL_NAME, env: JACK_COMPARE_TOOL_ENV },
 ];
 
 /**

package/src/qualify-isolated.ts

@@ -18,9 +18,10 @@ import { basename, join } from "node:path";
 
 import { ADAPTER_PASS_CELLS, startPrivateJack, type JackStarter } from "./qualify-adapter-pass.js";
 import type { GridCell } from "./measurement-grid.js";
-import type { PinEntry } from "./pins-file.js";
+import { clapPinUri, type PinEntry } from "./pins-file.js";
 import { PROBE_OK, readProbeOutput } from "./probe-output.js";
-import type { IsolatedFigures, QualificationRecord, RunBlock, RunStep } from "./qualification-record.js";
+import { HOSTING_CODE } from "./hosting-codes.js";
+import type { IsolatedFigures, QualificationRecord, RecordVerdict, RunBlock, RunStep } from "./qualification-record.js";
 import { ISOLATED_SIGNAL_TOOL_ENV, ISOLATED_SIGNAL_TOOL_NAME } from "./qualify-declarations.js";
 import { locateNativeTool, toolsDir } from "./tool-paths.js";
 import { writeFileWhole } from "./whole-file.js";
@@ -97,9 +98,34 @@ function figuresOf(run: IsolatedRunFacts): IsolatedFigures | undefined {
   };
 }
 
-/** Whether a record's outcome calls for the isolated step: rated `conditional` by some host, or a probe that crashed or hung. */
+/**
+ * A verdict whose only gap is memory nobody measured: it reads `unknown` and every reason that is not `suitable` is
+ * `hosting.memory.unmeasured`. Nothing says the plugin is unfit, so it is hosted in a worker of its own until its
+ * footprint is measured, and the isolated step is what shows it running alone.
+ */
+export function memoryGapOnly(v: Pick<RecordVerdict, "measured" | "rating" | "reasons">): boolean {
+  if (!v.measured || v.rating !== "unknown") return false;
+  const open = v.reasons.filter((r) => r.rating !== "suitable");
+  return open.length > 0 && open.every((r) => r.code === HOSTING_CODE.memoryUnmeasured);
+}
+
+/** Whether a record's outcome calls for the isolated step: rated `conditional` by some host, a memory gap and nothing else, or a probe that crashed or hung. */
 export function owesIsolated(record: QualificationRecord): boolean {
-  return PROBE_FAILED_HARD.has(record.probe.outcome) || record.verdicts.some((v) => v.measured && v.rating === "conditional");
+  return PROBE_FAILED_HARD.has(record.probe.outcome) || record.verdicts.some((v) => v.measured && (v.rating === "conditional" || memoryGapOnly(v)));
+}
+
+/**
+ * The pin a record can give back to a plugin whose state lost it: the bytes the probe pinned, and the word of a decided
+ * isolated step (`isolated` or `refused`). `undefined` when the record holds no whole pin or the step decided nothing.
+ */
+export function pinFromRecord(record: QualificationRecord): PinEntry | undefined {
+  const step = record.run?.steps.find((s) => s.step === RUN_STEP.isolated);
+  if (step === undefined || step.result === ISOLATED_RESULT.notRun) return undefined;
+  const { files, layout } = record.binary;
+  if (files === undefined || files.length === 0 || layout === undefined) return undefined;
+  const sorted = [...files].sort((a, b) => (a.path < b.path ? -1 : a.path > b.path ? 1 : 0));
+  const uri = record.plugin.format === "clap" ? clapPinUri(record.binary.path, record.plugin.id) : record.plugin.id;
+  return pinAfterStep({ uri, integrity: { files: sorted, layout } }, step);
 }
 
 /** Whether the isolated step saw this plugin running alone. A record's word alone never says so. */
@@ -180,7 +206,7 @@ export function pinAfterStep(pin: PinEntry | undefined, step: RunStep): PinEntry
 }
 
 /** The run id of a record from before the steps: its probe output's, read from the copy beside it. */
-function runIdOf(record: QualificationRecord, dir: string): string | undefined {
+export function runIdOf(record: QualificationRecord, dir: string): string | undefined {
   if (record.run !== undefined) return record.run.id;
   if (record.rejudged !== undefined) return record.rejudged.figures.runId;
   try {

package/src/qualify-pool.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,318 @@
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-3.0-or-later
+// Copyright (C) 2026 Pau Aliagas <linuxnow@gmail.com>
+/**
+ * The pool step: the one place that grants a plugin the CLAP thread pool. omx-clap-host sizes a pool of helper threads
+ * from its worker's cpu set, and plugin-hostd starts a worker with it only for a plugin whose pin says `pool=cores`
+ * (plugin-db's `PLUGIN_DB_PIN_POOLS`: "measured real-time safe and faster at the quantum"). That word is the plugin's
+ * qualification to give, so nothing writes it but this step.
+ *
+ * A plugin that does not offer `clap.thread-pool` is never asked: its record says `not-asked` and its pin has no pool
+ * word, so it runs serial. A plugin that does is first run by the prober with real helper threads under the interposer
+ * (`clap-qualify --pool`, which counts what the plugin's tasks do on a thread that is not the audio thread); one that
+ * allocates, locks or makes a system call there is `off`. Then it is run twice in a worker of its own on a private JACK
+ * server at the host's rate and quantum, with the same notes held, once under `pool=off` and once under `pool=cores`
+ * (`tools/pool-step.mjs`), each mode twice in turn and judged by its best window, because what else runs on the machine can
+ * only make a window worse. The pool is granted when, with it on,
+ *
+ *  - its tasks, run on the helpers under the interposer, allocated nothing, took no lock and made no system call,
+ *  - the worker really started with the pool (a daemon that does not apply the word decides nothing),
+ *  - the output is finite and not silent, and the worker lived through the window,
+ *  - the window took no more xruns than the same window without the pool, and
+ *  - the server's DSP load, which is the share of the cycle the plugin's block takes, fell to at most
+ *    {@link POOL_GAIN} of the load without the pool and by at least {@link POOL_MIN_GAIN} points of the cycle (a plugin
+ *    with next to nothing to do has too little to run in parallel for a ratio to mean anything).
+ *
+ * A plugin that is measured and fails any of these gets `pool=off`: the word says it was looked at. A machine that could
+ * not run the step decides nothing, and the sync tries again.
+ */
+import { spawnSync } from "node:child_process";
+import { existsSync } from "node:fs";
+import { availableParallelism } from "node:os";
+import { join } from "node:path";
+
+import type { GridCell } from "./measurement-grid.js";
+import type { PinEntry, PinPool } from "./pins-file.js";
+import type { PoolFigures, QualificationRecord, RunBlock, RunStep } from "./qualification-record.js";
+import { ADMIT_STEP_MS_ENV, CLAP_QUALIFY_TOOL_NAME, ISOLATED_SIGNAL_TOOL_ENV, ISOLATED_SIGNAL_TOOL_NAME, RT_INTERPOSE_NAME } from "./qualify-declarations.js";
+import { ISOLATED_RESULT, RUN_STEP, baseSteps, pinFromRecord, runIdOf } from "./qualify-isolated.js";
+import { startPrivateJack, type JackStarter } from "./qualify-adapter-pass.js";
+import { locateNativeTool, toolsDir } from "./tool-paths.js";
+import { writeFileWhole } from "./whole-file.js";
+
+/** The name of the step in a record's run. It is not one of `RUN_STEP`: a record is complete without it (a plugin that does not ask for the pool, or a machine that cannot run the step, has none). */
+export const POOL_STEP = "pool";
+
+/** The server's DSP load with the pool may be at most this fraction of the load without it. */
+export const POOL_GAIN = 0.85;
+
+/**
+ * The load must also fall by at least this many points of the cycle. The server's load has a floor of its own (the signal
+ * client, the ports, the worker's routing), so a plugin with next to nothing to do can fall by a good ratio of a small
+ * difference, and a pool for it would cost the cores it holds.
+ */
+export const POOL_MIN_GAIN = 3;
+
+/**
+ * The pool's helpers must have been on a cpu this many nanoseconds in the busiest window with the pool (20 ms of a 3 s
+ * window, across all of them): a worker that holds the pool and whose plugin asks for tasks every block keeps them
+ * busy for a good part of it, and a few microseconds is a start-up, not a pool at work.
+ */
+export const POOL_HELPERS_IDLE_NS = 20_000_000;
+
+export const POOL_RESULT = { cores: "cores", off: "off", notAsked: "not-asked", notRun: "not-run" } as const;
+
+/** Why the step decided what it did, or why it could not run. */
+export const POOL_CODE = {
+  noHost: "pool.no-host",
+  noServer: "pool.no-private-server",
+  notAdded: "pool.not-added",
+  windowFailed: "pool.window-failed",
+  unwatched: "pool.not-watched",
+  notRtSafe: "pool.not-rt-safe",
+  notApplied: "pool.not-applied",
+  crashed: "pool.crashed-with-pool",
+  unsafeOutput: "pool.unsafe-output",
+  xruns: "pool.more-xruns",
+  notFaster: "pool.not-faster",
+  helpersIdle: "pool.helpers-idle",
+} as const;
+
+/** What one window saw, with the pool as the word set it. */
+export interface PoolWindowFacts {
+  readonly problem?: string;
+  readonly alive?: boolean;
+  readonly workers?: number;
+  /** hostd's `worker_list` field for the worker: `on` for a worker started with the pool. */
+  readonly poolOfWorker?: string;
+  readonly xruns?: number;
+  readonly finite?: boolean;
+  readonly silent?: boolean;
+  readonly dspLoad?: number;
+  /** Nanoseconds the worker's pool helpers were on a cpu in the window (the busiest of the windows taken): little means the worker held the pool and its helpers ran next to nothing. */
+  readonly helperBusyNs?: number;
+}
+
+/** What the plugin did on the helper threads of a real pool under the interposer. */
+export interface PoolRtFacts {
+  readonly helpers: number;
+  /** The tasks the helpers ran; none means the pool was not exercised, and nothing was seen of it. */
+  readonly tasksOnHelpers: number;
+  readonly allocations: number;
+  readonly locks: number;
+  readonly syscalls: number;
+}
+
+/** What one run of the step saw. A run that never reached the plugin says `started: false`, and `problem`. */
+export interface PoolRunFacts {
+  readonly started: boolean;
+  readonly problem?: string;
+  /** Whether the plugin offers clap.thread-pool. */
+  readonly asks?: boolean;
+  /** The plugin's tasks on helper threads, counted by the interposer (the prober's `--pool`); absent when it could not be watched. */
+  readonly rt?: PoolRtFacts;
+  readonly added?: boolean;
+  readonly off?: PoolWindowFacts;
+  readonly on?: PoolWindowFacts;
+  /** The worker under `pool=cores` was started with the pool and the one under `pool=off` was not. */
+  readonly poolApplied?: boolean;
+}
+
+export type PoolRunner = (uri: string, cell: GridCell, env: Readonly<Record<string, string | undefined>>) => PoolRunFacts;
+
+function figuresOf(run: PoolRunFacts): PoolFigures | undefined {
+  const { off, on, rt } = run;
+  const watched = rt === undefined ? {} : { allocationsOn: rt.allocations, locksOn: rt.locks, syscallsOn: rt.syscalls, tasksOnHelpers: rt.tasksOnHelpers };
+  const timed = off?.dspLoad === undefined || on?.dspLoad === undefined ? {} : { dspLoadOff: off.dspLoad, dspLoadOn: on.dspLoad, xrunsOff: off.xruns ?? 0, xrunsOn: on.xruns ?? 0 };
+  return Object.keys(watched).length === 0 && Object.keys(timed).length === 0 ? undefined : { ...watched, ...timed };
+}
+
+/** The decision table of the step, with the figures it took. Pure. */
+export function judgePoolRun(run: PoolRunFacts): RunStep {
+  const step = (result: string, code?: string, detail?: string): RunStep => {
+    const pool = figuresOf(run);
+    return { step: POOL_STEP, result, ...(code === undefined ? {} : { code }), ...(detail === undefined ? {} : { detail }), ...(pool === undefined ? {} : { pool }) };
+  };
+  if (!run.started) return step(POOL_RESULT.notRun, POOL_CODE.noHost, run.problem);
+  if (run.asks === false) return step(POOL_RESULT.notAsked);
+  // the plugin on helper threads comes first: a plugin that allocates or locks there is refused the pool whatever it gains,
+  // and one nobody could watch there decides nothing
+  const { rt } = run;
+  if (rt === undefined || rt.tasksOnHelpers < 1) return step(POOL_RESULT.notRun, POOL_CODE.unwatched, run.problem ?? "the plugin's tasks were not seen on helper threads under the interposer");
+  if (rt.allocations + rt.locks + rt.syscalls > 0) {
+    return step(POOL_RESULT.off, POOL_CODE.notRtSafe, `${String(rt.allocations)} allocations, ${String(rt.locks)} locks and ${String(rt.syscalls)} system calls while its tasks ran on ${String(rt.helpers)} helper threads`);
+  }
+  if (run.added !== true) return step(POOL_RESULT.notRun, POOL_CODE.notAdded, run.problem);
+  const { off, on } = run;
+  // the window without the pool is the reference: a plugin that does not even run alone says nothing about the pool
+  if (off === undefined || off.problem !== undefined || off.alive !== true || off.finite !== true) return step(POOL_RESULT.notRun, POOL_CODE.windowFailed, off?.problem ?? "the window without the pool did not run");
+  if (on === undefined) return step(POOL_RESULT.notRun, POOL_CODE.windowFailed, "the window with the pool did not run");
+  if (run.poolApplied !== true) return step(POOL_RESULT.notRun, POOL_CODE.notApplied, "the daemon did not start the worker with the thread pool");
+  if (on.alive !== true) return step(POOL_RESULT.off, POOL_CODE.crashed, on.problem);
+  if (on.problem !== undefined) return step(POOL_RESULT.notRun, POOL_CODE.windowFailed, on.problem);
+  if (on.finite !== true || on.silent !== false) return step(POOL_RESULT.off, POOL_CODE.unsafeOutput);
+  // the worker held the pool and its helpers ran nothing: the plugin's requests never reached them, so the window with the
+  // pool measured the window without it again, and no gain was seen because there was nothing to see
+  if (on.helperBusyNs !== undefined && on.helperBusyNs < POOL_HELPERS_IDLE_NS) return step(POOL_RESULT.off, POOL_CODE.helpersIdle, "the worker's pool helpers ran no task in the window with the pool");
+  if ((on.xruns ?? 0) > (off.xruns ?? 0)) return step(POOL_RESULT.off, POOL_CODE.xruns);
+  if (off.dspLoad === undefined || on.dspLoad === undefined) return step(POOL_RESULT.notRun, POOL_CODE.windowFailed, "the server's load was not read");
+  if (on.dspLoad > off.dspLoad * POOL_GAIN || off.dspLoad - on.dspLoad < POOL_MIN_GAIN) return step(POOL_RESULT.off, POOL_CODE.notFaster);
+  return step(POOL_RESULT.cores);
+}
+
+/** The pool word a step grants, or `undefined` for a step that decided nothing or granted none. */
+export function poolWordOf(step: RunStep | undefined): PinPool | undefined {
+  if (step?.step !== POOL_STEP) return undefined;
+  return step.result === POOL_RESULT.cores ? "cores" : step.result === POOL_RESULT.off ? "off" : undefined;
+}
+
+/** The pool step of a run, if it has one. */
+export function poolStepOf(run: QualificationRecord["run"]): RunStep | undefined {
+  return run?.steps.find((s) => s.step === POOL_STEP);
+}
+
+/** The pin once the step has spoken: its pool word follows the step, and a step that decided nothing leaves none. A refused pin carries none. Pure. */
+export function pinAfterPool(pin: PinEntry | undefined, step: RunStep | undefined): PinEntry | undefined {
+  if (pin === undefined) return undefined;
+  const { pool: _had, ...rest } = pin;
+  const word = poolWordOf(step);
+  return word === undefined || pin.verdict === "refused" ? rest : { ...rest, pool: word };
+}
+
+/** Whether a step ended with a decision: `not-run` is the machine's, and the sync asks again. */
+export const poolDecided = (s: RunStep): boolean => s.step === POOL_STEP && s.result !== POOL_RESULT.notRun;
+
+/**
+ * Whether a record owes the pool step: a CLAP plugin judged in a pass with steps, not refused, with no decided pool step.
+ * A record from before the steps owes the isolated step first, which gives it a run; the pool is for a plugin that runs,
+ * and a refused one never is.
+ */
+export function owesPool(record: QualificationRecord): boolean {
+  if (record.plugin.format !== "clap" || record.run === undefined) return false;
+  const steps = record.run.steps;
+  if (steps.some(poolDecided)) return false;
+  if (steps.some((s) => s.step === RUN_STEP.isolated && s.result === ISOLATED_RESULT.refused)) return false;
+  return record.verdicts.some((v) => v.measured && v.rating !== "unsuitable");
+}
+
+/** How long each window plays, and what the step may take beyond the two: the host's start and its answers. */
+const POOL_WINDOW_MS = 3000;
+const POOL_ROUNDS = 2;
+const POOL_STEP_SLACK_MS = 120000;
+
+/** Whether the plugin of a `clap:<path>#<id>` uri offers clap.thread-pool, by the prober's own `--asks-thread-pool`; `undefined` when it could not be asked. */
+export function asksForPool(prober: string, uri: string, env: Readonly<Record<string, string | undefined>>): boolean | undefined {
+  const m = /^clap:(.*)#([^#]*)$/s.exec(uri);
+  if (m === null) return undefined;
+  const r = spawnSync(prober, ["--asks-thread-pool", m[1]!, m[2]!], { encoding: "utf8", timeout: 60000, killSignal: "SIGKILL", env: { ...env } });
+  if (r.status !== 0) return undefined;
+  try {
+    return (JSON.parse(r.stdout) as { threadPool?: unknown }).threadPool === true;
+  } catch {
+    return undefined;
+  }
+}
+
+/** The most helper threads the prober's pool makes (`POOL_HELPERS_MAX` in native/clap-qualify.c). */
+const POOL_HELPERS_MAX = 7;
+
+/** How many blocks the prober's sweeps run: the sync's own, so a plugin that needs a few blocks to settle is seen settled. */
+const WATCH_BLOCKS = 512;
+
+/**
+ * What the plugin does on helper threads: the prober run with a real pool of one helper per core of this process's set but
+ * one (at most seven), under the interposer, which counts what any thread does while a sweep runs. The pool must have
+ * been used: a run whose tasks all ran on the calling thread saw nothing of the helpers.
+ */
+export function watchOnHelpers(prober: string, interposer: string, uri: string, cell: GridCell, env: Readonly<Record<string, string | undefined>>): { readonly rt: PoolRtFacts } | { readonly problem: string } {
+  const m = /^clap:(.*)#([^#]*)$/s.exec(uri);
+  if (m === null) return { problem: `${uri} is no clap uri` };
+  const helpers = Math.min(POOL_HELPERS_MAX, availableParallelism() - 1);
+  if (helpers < 1) return { problem: "this machine has one core, and a pool of one core is no pool" };
+  const preload = [interposer, env["LD_PRELOAD"]].filter((x) => x !== undefined && x !== "").join(" ");
+  const r = spawnSync(prober, ["--rates", String(cell.rate), "--block", String(cell.quantum), "--blocks", String(WATCH_BLOCKS), "--pool", String(helpers), m[1]!, m[2]!], {
+    encoding: "utf8",
+    timeout: 120000,
+    killSignal: "SIGKILL",
+    env: { ...env, LD_PRELOAD: preload },
+  });
+  if (r.error !== undefined || r.status !== 0) return { problem: `${CLAP_QUALIFY_TOOL_NAME} --pool: ${r.error?.message ?? `exit ${String(r.status)}`}` };
+  const line = r.stdout.split("\n").filter((l) => l.startsWith("{")).pop();
+  if (line === undefined) return { problem: `${CLAP_QUALIFY_TOOL_NAME} --pool printed no line` };
+  try {
+    const doc = JSON.parse(line) as { rtSafety?: { interposer?: boolean; allocationsInRun?: number; locksInRun?: number; syscallsInRun?: number }; noteSweep?: { interposer?: boolean; allocationsInRun?: number; locksInRun?: number; syscallsInRun?: number }; threadPool?: { tasksOnHelpers?: number } };
+    const sweeps = [doc.rtSafety, doc.noteSweep].filter((x) => x?.interposer === true);
+    if (doc.rtSafety?.interposer !== true) return { problem: "the interposer did not load in the prober" };
+    const sum = (key: "allocationsInRun" | "locksInRun" | "syscallsInRun"): number => sweeps.reduce((n, x) => n + (x?.[key] ?? 0), 0);
+    return { rt: { helpers, tasksOnHelpers: doc.threadPool?.tasksOnHelpers ?? 0, allocations: sum("allocationsInRun"), locks: sum("locksInRun"), syscalls: sum("syscallsInRun") } };
+  } catch {
+    return { problem: `${CLAP_QUALIFY_TOOL_NAME} --pool printed no JSON` };
+  }
+}
+
+/** The step as it runs on a device: a private server at the cell, and `tools/pool-step.mjs` under it. */
+export function spawnedPoolRunner(jack: JackStarter = startPrivateJack): PoolRunner {
+  return (uri, cell, env) => {
+    const prober = locateNativeTool(CLAP_QUALIFY_TOOL_NAME, env, existsSync).path;
+    if (prober === undefined) return { started: false, problem: `no ${CLAP_QUALIFY_TOOL_NAME}` };
+    // a plugin that does not offer the pool is not worth a JACK server and a daemon: ask the plugin first
+    const asks = asksForPool(prober, uri, env);
+    if (asks === undefined) return { started: false, problem: `${uri} could not be asked for clap.thread-pool` };
+    if (!asks) return { started: true, asks: false };
+    // then what it does on helper threads, which needs no server: a plugin that allocates there is refused without one
+    const interposer = locateNativeTool(RT_INTERPOSE_NAME, env, existsSync).path;
+    if (interposer === undefined) return { started: true, asks: true, problem: `no ${RT_INTERPOSE_NAME}` };
+    const watched = watchOnHelpers(prober, interposer, uri, cell, env);
+    if (!("rt" in watched)) return { started: true, asks: true, problem: watched.problem };
+    if (watched.rt.tasksOnHelpers < 1 || watched.rt.allocations + watched.rt.locks + watched.rt.syscalls > 0) return { started: true, asks: true, rt: watched.rt };
+    const signal = locateNativeTool(ISOLATED_SIGNAL_TOOL_NAME, env, existsSync).path;
+    if (signal === undefined) return { started: false, problem: `no ${ISOLATED_SIGNAL_TOOL_NAME}` };
+    const server = jack(cell);
+    if (server === undefined) return { started: false, problem: `${POOL_CODE.noServer} at ${String(cell.rate)}/${String(cell.quantum)}` };
+    try {
+      const r = spawnSync(process.execPath, [join(toolsDir(), "pool-step.mjs"), uri, String(POOL_WINDOW_MS)], {
+        encoding: "utf8",
+        timeout: 2 * POOL_ROUNDS * POOL_WINDOW_MS + POOL_STEP_SLACK_MS,
+        killSignal: "SIGKILL",
+        env: { ...env, JACK_DEFAULT_SERVER: server.name, [ISOLATED_SIGNAL_TOOL_ENV]: signal },
+      });
+      if (r.error !== undefined || r.status !== 0) return { started: false, problem: `pool-step: ${r.error?.message ?? `exit ${String(r.status)}`}: ${(r.stderr ?? "").trim()}` };
+      return { ...(JSON.parse(r.stdout) as PoolRunFacts), asks: true, rt: watched.rt };
+    } finally {
+      server.stop();
+    }
+  };
+}
+
+/** The step's environment: each of its commands has the sync's budget. */
+export const poolEnv = (env: Readonly<Record<string, string | undefined>>, budgetS: number): Readonly<Record<string, string | undefined>> => ({ ...env, [ADMIT_STEP_MS_ENV]: String(budgetS * 1000) });
+
+/**
+ * The steps of a run with the pool step added or replaced: a step that could not run takes the place of an earlier one
+ * that could not, and a decided step is never replaced here.
+ */
+export function withPoolStep(steps: readonly RunStep[], step: RunStep): RunStep[] {
+  return [...steps.filter((s) => s.step !== POOL_STEP), step];
+}
+
+/**
+ * The pin a record can give back to a plugin whose state lost it: what {@link pinFromRecord} gives, with the pool word
+ * of the record's pool step.
+ */
+export function pinFromRecordWithPool(record: QualificationRecord): PinEntry | undefined {
+  return pinAfterPool(pinFromRecord(record), poolStepOf(record.run));
+}
+
+/**
+ * The missing pool step of a record already judged: the run keeps its id and gains the step, and nothing else is
+ * measured. `undefined` when it owes none, or has no run id to extend. Writes the record whole.
+ */
+export function completePool(path: string, record: QualificationRecord, uri: string, cell: GridCell, runner: PoolRunner, env: Readonly<Record<string, string | undefined>>): { readonly record: QualificationRecord; readonly step: RunStep } | undefined {
+  if (!owesPool(record)) return undefined;
+  const id = runIdOf(record, join(path, ".."));
+  if (id === undefined) return undefined;
+  const step = judgePoolRun(runner(uri, cell, env));
+  const run: RunBlock = { id, steps: withPoolStep(record.run?.steps ?? baseSteps(record), step) };
+  const next = { ...record, run };
+  writeFileWhole(path, `${JSON.stringify(next, null, 2)}\n`);
+  return { record: next, step };
+}

package/src/qualify-rejudge.ts

@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ import {
   type RunBlock,
 } from "./qualification-record.js";
 import { ISOLATED_RESULT, RUN_STEP, pinAfterStep, provenAlone } from "./qualify-isolated.js";
+import { pinAfterPool, poolStepOf } from "./qualify-pool.js";
 import { PI_CELLS, PROBE_MEMORY_ONLY_ENV, PROBE_NOTES_ENV } from "./qualify-declarations.js";
 import { SYNC_STATE_SCHEMA, digestFiles, recordStem, type SyncContext, type SyncEntry, type SyncPlugin, type SyncState } from "./qualify-sync.js";
 import type { SuitabilityRating } from "./rating.js";
@@ -270,6 +271,13 @@ const nameOf = (record: QualificationRecord): string => record.plugin.id;
 
 /** A state plugin with the verdict its record now holds for the host: the pin's files stay as they are, only its word follows. */
 function pluginWithVerdict(plugin: SyncPlugin, v: RecordVerdict, run?: RunBlock): SyncPlugin {
+  // the pool word is a figure of the record's pool step, not a rating: a re-judge keeps it
+  const judged = pluginWithVerdictOnly(plugin, v, run);
+  const step = poolStepOf(run);
+  return judged.pin === undefined || step === undefined ? judged : { ...judged, pin: pinAfterPool(judged.pin, step)! };
+}
+
+function pluginWithVerdictOnly(plugin: SyncPlugin, v: RecordVerdict, run?: RunBlock): SyncPlugin {
   const { pin, code: _code, ...rest } = plugin;
   const word = v.measured ? pinVerdictOf(v.rating as SuitabilityRating) : undefined;
   // a rating does not make a plugin isolated: a run seen alone does, and a re-judge measures nothing. A record from before