Add the core regression harness to the repo and CI - #51
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The headless harness that verified the portability refactors (PRs #39/#48/#49/#50) lived in /tmp; it now lives in core/test/ with checked-in baselines and a CI job, so every PR proves the core's behavior unchanged — or shows an explicit baseline diff when a change is intentional. `make -C core/test check` builds the core with the system compiler and diffs per-virtual-second FNV hashes of semantic machine state (register values, RAM, LCD gddram — never raw struct bytes, so the hash survives layout changes) against two baselines: - a BIOS-only boot (the embedded BIOS runs its no-cartridge loop) - a synthetic peripheral workout: since BIOS idle leaves the cartridge-driven hardware cold, the harness scripts the bus directly — patterned tiles/OAM in RAM, blitter map+sprite rendering with LCD copy, all three timers in both widths with compares feeding audio, and per-second input wiggles for edge IRQs Cartridge-driven code paths still need a real ROM locally (`core/test/harness rom.min 30`); documented in CLAUDE.md along with the baseline-regeneration workflow for intentional changes. Both baselines verified byte-identical between g++ and clang builds, and deterministic across repeated runs. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
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Summary
The headless harness that proved every portability refactor bit-identical (PRs #39/#48/#49/#50) lived only in
/tmp— one reboot from vanishing. It now lives incore/test/with checked-in baselines and a third CI job.make -C core/test checkbuilds the core natively and diffs per-virtual-second FNV hashes of semantic machine state (register values + RAM + LCD gddram — never raw struct bytes, so hashes survive layout changes) against two 30-second baselines:Workflow: an intentional behavior change regenerates with
make -C core/test baselineand the baseline diff appears in the PR — behavior changes become explicit and reviewable. Real-ROM verification (core/test/harness rom.min 30) remains the local gold standard for cartridge-driven paths; documented in CLAUDE.md.Verification
make -C core/test check(notable.h, no binary) passes — same path CI takes; the newCore regressionjob on this PR is the live proof🤖 Generated with Claude Code