chore(release): v0.6.0 — RFC 019: actor stack reserve & shrink

Per-actor stack shapes on every spawn surface (SpawnOpts stack_reserve/
guard_size, Config defaults, pool rule: only default-shaped recycle);
sampled stack high-water + MADV_FREE shrink at actor-park (THRESHOLD
256 KiB, COOLDOWN 64 parks, redzone 1 page); pool-recycle MADV_DONTNEED
above the retained 64 KiB entry end; SIGSEGV overflow diagnostics
(two-tier: in-guard definitive / 1 MiB overshoot 'stepped over', prior
handler chained for foreign faults) with per-scheduler sigaltstack; and
the per-actor introspection surface (ActorInfo.stack: reserve, guard,
sampled depth, parks_since_shrink, shrinks).

Amendments ratified during implementation, for the RFC changelog:
- DEFAULT_STACK_GUARD 64 KiB -> 1 MiB, following the kernel's post-Stack-
  Clash stack_guard_gap convention; PROT_NONE width is VA-only and free.
- §7's motivating segfault was a cargo-vendored gz build, not SQLite as
  the RFC text says (cc-built C lacks -fstack-clash-protection; distro
  libraries have it — the risky class is vendored builds).
- §4 hibernate() deferred to the jar (bolt-on: force-flag on the §3
  shrink path, ~10 lines when wanted).

Gates (jobrunner box, 2026-08-08): reclaim gate PASS at c3 and again at
tip (3.0 MiB LazyFree -> kernel reclaim -> Rss to one live page ->
re-spike bit-identical, live data intact; MADV_PAGEOUT stands in for
memcg — cgroup2 is RO in the job container — driving the same reclaim
path). E1 interleaved A/B vs v0.5.0: every ka cell (the E1 subject)
within +0.3..+2.9% at tip; close-mode control cells within noise except
t8-c4 close, which is bistable (~40-44k vs ~46-49k modes for BOTH
variants, base self-disagrees by 11% across rounds); 6 rounds across two
runs are inconclusive there and a 10-round focused run is noted in the
handoff as deferred follow-up, accepted for this release.

No breaking API changes since v0.5.0: SpawnOpts fields and ActorInfo
gained members (exhaustive-construction downstream will need the new
ActorInfo.stack field; urus does not construct it).

Cargo.toml

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [package]
 name = "smarm"
-version = "0.4.0"
+version = "0.6.0"
 edition = "2021"
 rust-version = "1.95"
 
@@ -39,6 +39,9 @@ rq-mutex = []
 rq-mpmc = []
 rq-striped = []
 
+[build-dependencies]
+cc = "1"
+
 [dependencies]
 libc = "0.2"
 

build.rs

@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+fn main() {
+    // RFC 019 §7 test canary (agreed Q3): compiled without stack-clash
+    // protection so its 96 KiB local is a genuine one-displacement guard
+    // jumper; distro-hardened compilers would otherwise probe it page-wise
+    // and defeat the test's purpose.
+    cc::Build::new()
+        .file("canary/canary.c")
+        .flag_if_supported("-fno-stack-clash-protection")
+        .compile("smarm_canary");
+    println!("cargo:rerun-if-changed=canary/canary.c");
+}

canary/canary.c

@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+/* RFC 019 §7 FFI canary: an honest unprobed C frame with a 96 KiB local,
+ * touched from its LOW end first — the exact "one sub rsp steps over a small
+ * guard" pattern the RFC's motivating incident hit (a cargo-vendored gz
+ * build; cc-invoked builds do not enable -fstack-clash-protection, and this
+ * file pins that off explicitly so the canary stays a canary even on
+ * hardened-default toolchains). */
+void smarm_canary_burn(void) {
+    volatile char buf[96 * 1024];
+    buf[0] = 1; /* deepest address first */
+    for (unsigned i = 0; i < sizeof buf; i += 4096) {
+        buf[i] = (char)i;
+    }
+    buf[sizeof buf - 1] = 1;
+}

docs/BENCHMARKS_AND_TUNING.md

@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ genuine advantage over tokio's task abort model.
 
 ### Spawn-heavy workloads (19–70×)
 
-Every smarm actor `mmap`s a 64 KiB stack with a guard page. This is
+Every smarm actor `mmap`s a 64 KiB stack reserve with a 64 KiB PROT_NONE guard below (both per-actor configurable since RFC 019; the reserve is demand-paged). This is
 a syscall. Tokio tasks are heap-allocated state machines — no stack,
 no syscall, ~100 bytes each. For workloads that spawn thousands of
 short-lived actors per second, this is a structural disadvantage.

src/gen_server.rs

@@ -182,7 +182,7 @@ use crate::channel::{channel, select, select_timeout, Receiver, RecvTimeoutError
 use crate::monitor::{demonitor, monitor, Down, Monitor};
 use crate::pid::Pid;
 use crate::registry::{register_with, resolve_named_sender, RegisterError};
-use crate::scheduler::{cancel_timer, request_stop, send_after_to, spawn, spawn_under};
+use crate::scheduler::{cancel_timer, request_stop, send_after_to};
 use crate::timer::TimerId;
 use std::cell::Cell;
 use std::collections::HashMap;
@@ -643,11 +643,17 @@ pub struct GenServerBuilder<G: GenServer> {
     state: G,
     infos: Vec<Receiver<G::Info>>,
     supervisor: Option<Pid>,
+    stack_opts: crate::scheduler::SpawnOpts,
 }
 
 impl<G: GenServer> GenServerBuilder<G> {
     pub fn new(state: G) -> Self {
-        GenServerBuilder { state, infos: Vec::new(), supervisor: None }
+        GenServerBuilder {
+            state,
+            infos: Vec::new(),
+            supervisor: None,
+            stack_opts: crate::scheduler::SpawnOpts::default(),
+        }
     }
 
     /// Add an out-of-band channel; messages arriving on it are dispatched to
@@ -665,6 +671,14 @@ impl<G: GenServer> GenServerBuilder<G> {
         self
     }
 
+    /// Stack shape for the server actor (RFC 019) — see
+    /// [`SpawnOpts`](crate::SpawnOpts). Useful for servers that recurse
+    /// deeply or call into FFI with large C frames.
+    pub fn stack_opts(mut self, opts: crate::scheduler::SpawnOpts) -> Self {
+        self.stack_opts = opts;
+        self
+    }
+
     /// Spawn the server actor and hand back its [`GenServerRef`]. The server's
     /// lifetime is governed by its refs, not by joining, so the backing join
     /// handle is dropped.
@@ -686,10 +700,16 @@ impl<G: GenServer> GenServerBuilder<G> {
     /// under the name before returning.
     fn spawn_server(self) -> GenServerRef<G> {
         let (tx, rx) = channel::<Envelope<G>>();
-        let GenServerBuilder { state, infos, supervisor } = self;
+        let GenServerBuilder { state, infos, supervisor, stack_opts } = self;
         let handle = match supervisor {
-            Some(sup) => spawn_under(sup, move || server_loop::<G>(rx, state, infos)),
-            None => spawn(move || server_loop::<G>(rx, state, infos)),
+            Some(sup) => {
+                crate::scheduler::spawn_under_with(sup, stack_opts, move || {
+                    server_loop::<G>(rx, state, infos)
+                })
+            }
+            None => crate::scheduler::spawn_with(stack_opts, move || {
+                server_loop::<G>(rx, state, infos)
+            }),
         };
         GenServerRef { tx, pid: handle.pid() }
     }
@@ -758,6 +778,12 @@ impl<G: GenServer> NamedGenServerBuilder<G> {
         self
     }
 
+    /// Stack shape for the server actor (see [`GenServerBuilder::stack_opts`]).
+    pub fn stack_opts(mut self, opts: crate::scheduler::SpawnOpts) -> Self {
+        self.builder = self.builder.stack_opts(opts);
+        self
+    }
+
     /// Spawn the server and bind its name in one step. Fallible: returns
     /// [`RegisterError::NameTaken`] if the name is already held by a different
     /// live server.

src/gen_statem.rs

@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@
 
 use crate::channel::{channel, select, Receiver, Sender};
 use crate::pid::Pid;
-use crate::scheduler::{cancel_timer, send_after_to, spawn as spawn_actor};
+use crate::scheduler::{cancel_timer, send_after_to};
 use crate::timer::TimerId;
 use std::collections::{HashMap, VecDeque};
 use std::marker::PhantomData;
@@ -434,8 +434,21 @@ impl<M: Machine> GenStatemRef<M> {
 ///
 /// Panics if called outside `Runtime::run()`.
 pub fn spawn<M: Machine>(machine: M) -> GenStatemRef<M> {
+    spawn_with(crate::scheduler::SpawnOpts::default(), machine)
+}
+
+/// [`spawn`] with per-actor stack shape overrides (RFC 019) for the machine's
+/// actor — see [`SpawnOpts`](crate::SpawnOpts). gen_statem has no builder
+/// (its one-shot `spawn(machine)` shape predates RFC 019), so the opts ride
+/// a `_with` variant like the scheduler's own spawns.
+///
+/// Panics if called outside `Runtime::run()`.
+pub fn spawn_with<M: Machine>(
+    opts: crate::scheduler::SpawnOpts,
+    machine: M,
+) -> GenStatemRef<M> {
     let (tx, rx) = channel::<M::Ev>();
-    let handle = spawn_actor(move || statem_loop(rx, machine));
+    let handle = crate::scheduler::spawn_with(opts, move || statem_loop(rx, machine));
     GenStatemRef { tx, pid: handle.pid() }
 }
 

src/introspect.rs

@@ -179,6 +179,34 @@ pub struct ActorInfo {
     /// `budget-accounting` feature is enabled, since measuring it costs a
     /// timestamp read on every resume.
     pub budget_cycles: u64,
+    /// RFC 019 §8 — this actor's stack, as the runtime sees it. All fields
+    /// are lock-free atomic reads, coherent for this incarnation via the
+    /// same generation check as the counters above. Exact RSS is
+    /// deliberately absent: `mincore` is debug tooling, never a runtime
+    /// path.
+    pub stack: StackInfo,
+}
+
+/// RFC 019 §8 — per-actor stack introspection. Sizes are page-rounded, as
+/// [`Stack::new`](crate::stack::Stack::new) rounds them.
+#[derive(Debug, Clone, Copy, PartialEq, Eq)]
+pub struct StackInfo {
+    /// Usable stack size ([`SpawnOpts::stack_reserve`]
+    /// (crate::SpawnOpts::stack_reserve) or the Config/default).
+    pub reserve: usize,
+    /// PROT_NONE guard below the usable region.
+    pub guard: usize,
+    /// Sampled high-water depth in bytes: `top − lowest saved sp`. Sampled,
+    /// not exact — the context save at yields/parks/preemptions is the
+    /// sampler (RFC 019 §2), so a spike the actor never yielded inside is
+    /// invisible. 0 depth means "never descheduled at any depth", not
+    /// "never ran".
+    pub depth_high_water: usize,
+    /// Parks on this incarnation since its last shrink (or since install if
+    /// it has never shrunk) — the §3 cooldown counter, live.
+    pub parks_since_shrink: u32,
+    /// §3 shrinks performed on this incarnation.
+    pub shrinks: u32,
 }
 
 /// A snapshot of every actor in the runtime at (approximately) one moment.
@@ -220,6 +248,22 @@ pub fn snapshot() -> RuntimeSnapshot {
 /// slot was reused by another), out of range, or was never a real pid at
 /// all. Unlike [`snapshot`], every field of the result describes the same
 /// instant, since there is only one actor to read.
+/// The stack shape `(reserve, guard)` of a live actor, page-rounded — the
+/// RFC 019 introspection surface's first field (depth sampling and shrink
+/// counters land with the shrink machinery). `None` if `pid` no longer names
+/// a live actor. Takes the actor's cold lock briefly; debugging/assertion
+/// use, not a hot-path call.
+pub fn stack_shape(pid: Pid) -> Option<(usize, usize)> {
+    with_runtime(|inner| {
+        let slot = inner.slot_at(pid)?;
+        let cold = slot.cold.lock();
+        if slot.generation() != pid.generation() {
+            return None;
+        }
+        cold.actor.as_ref().map(|a| a.stack.shape())
+    })
+}
+
 pub fn actor_info(pid: Pid) -> Option<ActorInfo> {
     with_runtime(|inner| {
         let slot = inner.slot_at(pid)?;
@@ -265,6 +309,14 @@ fn read_slot(slot: &Slot, idx: u32, mail: Option<&MailboxInfo>) -> Option<ActorI
     drop(cold);
 
     // Counters are plain atomics, read lock-free.
+    let (reserve, guard, top, hwm, parks_since_shrink, shrinks) = slot.stack_introspect();
+    let stack = StackInfo {
+        reserve,
+        guard,
+        depth_high_water: top.saturating_sub(hwm),
+        parks_since_shrink,
+        shrinks,
+    };
     let overruns = slot.overruns();
     let messages_received = slot.messages_received();
     let budget_cycles = slot.budget_cycles();
@@ -290,6 +342,7 @@ fn read_slot(slot: &Slot, idx: u32, mail: Option<&MailboxInfo>) -> Option<ActorI
         overruns,
         messages_received,
         budget_cycles,
+        stack,
     })
 }
 

src/lib.rs

@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 //! See `LOOM.md` for the design intent and the deferred-for-later list.
 
 pub mod stack;
+pub(crate) mod signal;
 pub mod context;
 pub mod preempt;
 pub mod pid;
@@ -64,7 +65,7 @@ pub use gen_statem::{
     CallError as GenStatemCallError, Cx, Machine, Reply, Resolution, SendError as GenStatemSendError,
     GenStatemRef,
 };
-pub use introspect::{
+pub use introspect::{StackInfo, 
     actor_info, snapshot, tree, tree_from, ActorInfo, ActorState, RuntimeSnapshot, RuntimeTree,
     TreeNode, SNAPSHOT_FORMAT_VERSION,
 };
@@ -83,8 +84,9 @@ pub use runtime::{init, Config, Runtime};
 pub use scheduler::{
     block_on_io, cancel_timer, request_stop, run, self_pid, send_after, send_after_named,
     send_after_named_wall, send_after_wall, sleep, sleep_wall,
-    spawn, spawn_addr, spawn_under, wait_readable, wait_readable_timeout, wait_writable,
-    wait_writable_timeout, yield_now, FdArm, JoinError, JoinHandle,
+    spawn, spawn_addr, spawn_addr_with, spawn_under, spawn_under_with, spawn_with,
+    wait_readable, wait_readable_timeout, wait_writable,
+    wait_writable_timeout, yield_now, FdArm, JoinError, JoinHandle, SpawnOpts,
 };
 pub use supervisor::{ChildSpec, OneForOne, Restart, Signal, Strategy};
 pub use timer::TimerId;

src/preempt.rs

@@ -98,10 +98,13 @@ pub(crate) fn clear_current_slot() {
     CURRENT_SLOT.with(|c| c.set(std::ptr::null()));
 }
 
-/// RFC 007 (`smarm-causal`) — raw pointer to the on-CPU actor's slot, null on
-/// the scheduler's own stack. Same lifetime argument as `note_overrun`: the
-/// slot is never reclaimed while its actor is on-CPU.
-#[cfg(feature = "smarm-causal")]
+/// Raw pointer to the on-CPU actor's slot, null on the scheduler's own
+/// stack. Same lifetime argument as `note_overrun`: the slot is never
+/// reclaimed while its actor is on-CPU. Consumers: the `smarm-causal`
+/// profiler (RFC 007) and — unconditionally — the SIGSEGV classifier
+/// (RFC 019 §7), which additionally relies on this being a plain load of a
+/// const-initialized TLS Cell (no lazy init, no allocation, no dtor): safe
+/// from a signal handler.
 #[inline]
 pub(crate) fn current_slot_ptr() -> *const crate::runtime::Slot {
     CURRENT_SLOT.with(|c| c.get())

src/runtime.rs

@@ -65,6 +65,8 @@
 //! word stores are `Release`, loads are `Acquire`. The chain that matters:
 //! the park path stores `sp` (Relaxed) *before* its Release transition; any
 //! later Acquire transition/load of the word therefore observes that `sp`.
+//! RFC 019's `hwm` (and the shrink that reads it) piggybacks this exact
+//! pattern in the same pre-Release window and adds no edges.
 //! The run-queue mutex independently provides the same edges today; the
 //! word's own ordering is what phase 3's lock-free queue will rely on.
 //!
@@ -160,6 +162,8 @@ pub struct Config {
     alloc_interval: u32,
     timeslice_cycles: u64,
     stack_pool_cap: usize,
+    stack_reserve: usize,
+    stack_guard: usize,
     max_actors: usize,
     wake_slot: bool,
     node_id: crate::pg::NodeId,
@@ -175,6 +179,8 @@ impl Config {
             alloc_interval: crate::preempt::DEFAULT_ALLOC_INTERVAL,
             timeslice_cycles: crate::preempt::DEFAULT_TIMESLICE_CYCLES,
             stack_pool_cap: n * 4,
+            stack_reserve: DEFAULT_STACK_RESERVE,
+            stack_guard: DEFAULT_STACK_GUARD,
             max_actors: DEFAULT_MAX_ACTORS,
             wake_slot: false,
             node_id: crate::pg::DEFAULT_NODE_ID,
@@ -194,6 +200,8 @@ impl Config {
             alloc_interval: crate::preempt::DEFAULT_ALLOC_INTERVAL,
             timeslice_cycles: crate::preempt::DEFAULT_TIMESLICE_CYCLES,
             stack_pool_cap: max * 4,
+            stack_reserve: DEFAULT_STACK_RESERVE,
+            stack_guard: DEFAULT_STACK_GUARD,
             max_actors: DEFAULT_MAX_ACTORS,
             wake_slot: false,
             node_id: crate::pg::DEFAULT_NODE_ID,
@@ -226,6 +234,31 @@ impl Config {
         self
     }
 
+    /// Default per-actor stack reserve (RFC 019). A *virtual* reservation —
+    /// anonymous mmap is demand-paged, so RSS follows touched pages, not
+    /// this number — but overflowing it hits the guard and dies. Page-rounded.
+    /// Per-actor override: `SpawnOpts::stack_reserve`.
+    /// Default: [`DEFAULT_STACK_RESERVE`] (64 KiB) — the million-cheap-actors
+    /// story is unchanged; big stacks are opt-in.
+    pub fn stack_reserve(mut self, n: usize) -> Self {
+        assert!(n > 0, "stack_reserve must be non-zero");
+        self.stack_reserve = n;
+        self
+    }
+
+    /// Default PROT_NONE guard below each stack (RFC 019). Address space
+    /// only. Page-rounded. Rust overflow is caught by any single page
+    /// (probestack touches pages in order); the wide default exists for
+    /// unprobed FFI frames, which can step over a small guard in one
+    /// `sub rsp`. Per-actor override: `SpawnOpts::guard_size`.
+    /// Default: [`DEFAULT_STACK_GUARD`] (1 MiB — the kernel's
+    /// `stack_guard_gap` convention; see its doc for why width is free).
+    pub fn stack_guard(mut self, n: usize) -> Self {
+        assert!(n > 0, "stack_guard must be non-zero");
+        self.stack_guard = n;
+        self
+    }
+
     /// Capacity of the actor slot table — the maximum number of
     /// **simultaneously live** actors (total spawned over a run is unbounded;
     /// slots are recycled). The table is a fixed slab allocated once at
@@ -293,6 +326,8 @@ impl Default for Config {
             alloc_interval: crate::preempt::DEFAULT_ALLOC_INTERVAL,
             timeslice_cycles: crate::preempt::DEFAULT_TIMESLICE_CYCLES,
             stack_pool_cap: avail * 4,
+            stack_reserve: DEFAULT_STACK_RESERVE,
+            stack_guard: DEFAULT_STACK_GUARD,
             max_actors: DEFAULT_MAX_ACTORS,
             wake_slot: false,
             node_id: crate::pg::DEFAULT_NODE_ID,
@@ -383,7 +418,48 @@ impl RuntimeStats {
 // Slot — packed state word + hot atomics + cold lifecycle data
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-pub(crate) const ACTOR_STACK_SIZE: usize = 64 * 1024;
+/// Default usable stack reserve per actor (RFC 019). See [`Config::stack_reserve`].
+pub const DEFAULT_STACK_RESERVE: usize = 64 * 1024;
+
+/// Default PROT_NONE guard below each actor stack (RFC 019). Raised from one
+/// page so unprobed C frames cannot leap it. See [`Config::stack_guard`].
+///
+/// 1 MiB, following the kernel's own answer to the same problem: after Stack
+/// Clash (2017) the main-thread guard gap became `stack_guard_gap` = 256
+/// pages, because 4 KiB was jumpable by one honest `sub rsp` and no small
+/// constant was defensible. Guard pages are PROT_NONE: virtual address space
+/// only — zero RSS, zero page-table entries, no overcommit charge — so the
+/// wide default is free at any actor count (1 M actors ≈ 1 TiB of VA against
+/// a 128 TiB budget). A frame that jumps even this lands in the tier-2
+/// overshoot window of the SIGSEGV diagnostic (`signal.rs`) instead of
+/// silence.
+pub const DEFAULT_STACK_GUARD: usize = 1024 * 1024;
+
+/// RFC 019 §3: minimum releasable span (`sp − hwm` at park) before the
+/// park-path shrink spends a syscall. A constant, not a `Config` field
+/// (ratified): nobody tunes this well and the measured stakes are low — a
+/// threshold-sized `MADV_FREE` costs ~3 µs against a ~100 ns park, paid
+/// only on spike-recovery parks, which are rare by construction and *were*
+/// the spike. Steady-state actors never reach the syscall: their check is
+/// two Relaxed loads and a compare on a line the context-save just wrote.
+pub const SHRINK_THRESHOLD: usize = 256 * 1024;
+
+/// RFC 019 §3: parks between shrinks of one actor. Guards a few-µs cost, so
+/// it can be coarse (parks, not wall time); the kernel's
+/// reclaim-under-pressure-only handling of `MADV_FREE` is the real release
+/// hysteresis — re-touched-before-pressure pages cost a 0.24 µs/page
+/// cancel-write and no fault. A constant, not `Config` (ratified, same
+/// rationale as [`SHRINK_THRESHOLD`]).
+pub const SHRINK_COOLDOWN: u32 = 64;
+
+/// RFC 019 §6: the entry-end span (highest addresses — the frames the next
+/// actor faults first) a recycled stack keeps resident; everything below it
+/// is `MADV_DONTNEED`ed before the stack re-enters the pool. Ratified as a
+/// constant, not Config, alongside the shrink knobs; the 64 KiB value was a
+/// flagged Claude-solo call at ratification — it equals the default reserve,
+/// so with an unraised Config the zap is a no-op and only Configs that raise
+/// the default reserve pay it.
+pub const RECYCLE_RETAIN: usize = 64 * 1024;
 
 pub(crate) type Closure = Box<dyn FnOnce() + Send>;
 
@@ -426,6 +502,35 @@ pub(crate) struct Slot {
     /// Release transition out of Running; read after the Acquire transition
     /// Queued→Running. Relaxed is sufficient — ordering rides on `word`.
     sp: AtomicUsize,
+    /// RFC 019: sampled stack high-water — the minimum `sp` ever stored above,
+    /// i.e. the deepest excursion *observed at a switch point*. Advisory:
+    /// correctness never depends on it; its one job is "is a shrink worth a
+    /// syscall?". Declared adjacent to `sp` so the min-update dirties the
+    /// line the context-save just wrote. Same single-writer Relaxed
+    /// discipline as `sp`; reset to the fresh `sp` at install.
+    hwm: AtomicUsize,
+    /// RFC 019: parks since the last shrink (or install). Counted on every
+    /// pass through the Park arm by the owning scheduler thread; the shrink
+    /// fires only once this clears [`SHRINK_COOLDOWN`] *and* the releasable
+    /// span clears [`SHRINK_THRESHOLD`]. Single-writer Relaxed.
+    parks_since_shrink: AtomicU32,
+    /// RFC 019: shrinks performed on this incarnation (introspection lands
+    /// with the RFC's introspect surface; the counter exists from birth so
+    /// tests can rely on install resetting it). Single-writer Relaxed.
+    shrink_count: AtomicU32,
+    /// RFC 019 §7 — stack geometry for the SIGSEGV classifier, readable
+    /// without the cold lock (the `Stack` itself lives under it). Written in
+    /// `install_actor` before the Release publish; consulted by the handler
+    /// only while `preempt::CURRENT_SLOT` points here, i.e. while this actor
+    /// is on-CPU, so the values are never stale where they are read. 0 =
+    /// never installed. Usable top of the stack.
+    pub(crate) diag_stack_top: AtomicUsize,
+    /// See `diag_stack_top`: the reserve (usable) size.
+    pub(crate) diag_stack_reserve: AtomicUsize,
+    /// See `diag_stack_top`: the guard size.
+    pub(crate) diag_stack_guard: AtomicUsize,
+    /// See `diag_stack_top`: `(idx << 32) | generation`, for the message.
+    pub(crate) diag_pid: AtomicU64,
     /// Pointer into the actor's `Arc<AtomicBool>` stop flag. Set at spawn,
     /// nulled at finalize. The box outlives every read: it is only ever read
     /// on the resume path while the actor cannot be finalized (it is on-CPU).
@@ -497,6 +602,13 @@ impl Slot {
         Self {
             word: StateWord::new(),
             sp: AtomicUsize::new(0),
+            hwm: AtomicUsize::new(0),
+            parks_since_shrink: AtomicU32::new(0),
+            shrink_count: AtomicU32::new(0),
+            diag_stack_top: AtomicUsize::new(0),
+            diag_stack_reserve: AtomicUsize::new(0),
+            diag_stack_guard: AtomicUsize::new(0),
+            diag_pid: AtomicU64::new(0),
             stop_ptr: AtomicPtr::new(std::ptr::null_mut()),
             closure: AtomicPtr::new(std::ptr::null_mut()),
             overruns: AtomicU64::new(0),
@@ -550,6 +662,23 @@ impl Slot {
 
     /// Read the overrun tally (Relaxed; the snapshot reads cross-thread).
     #[inline]
+    /// RFC 019 §8 — the stack introspection tuple, all lock-free:
+    /// `(reserve, guard, top, hwm, parks_since_shrink, shrink_count)`.
+    /// Geometry from the c6 diag atomics (install-time, gen-coherent under
+    /// `read_slot`'s gen check exactly like the other counters); `hwm` is the
+    /// §2 sampled high-water (lowest saved sp). All zeros before first
+    /// install.
+    pub(crate) fn stack_introspect(&self) -> (usize, usize, usize, usize, u32, u32) {
+        (
+            self.diag_stack_reserve.load(Ordering::Relaxed),
+            self.diag_stack_guard.load(Ordering::Relaxed),
+            self.diag_stack_top.load(Ordering::Relaxed),
+            self.hwm.load(Ordering::Relaxed),
+            self.parks_since_shrink.load(Ordering::Relaxed),
+            self.shrink_count.load(Ordering::Relaxed),
+        )
+    }
+
     pub(crate) fn overruns(&self) -> u64 {
         self.overruns.load(Ordering::Relaxed)
     }
@@ -802,17 +931,23 @@ pub(crate) struct RuntimeInner {
     pub(crate) stack_pool: RawMutex<Vec<crate::stack::Stack>>,
     /// Maximum number of stacks to retain in the pool.
     pub(crate) stack_pool_cap: usize,
+    /// Default stack shape (RFC 019), pre-page-rounded so it compares exactly
+    /// against `Stack::shape()`. Only stacks of exactly this shape are pooled.
+    pub(crate) stack_reserve: usize,
+    pub(crate) stack_guard: usize,
 }
 
 impl RuntimeInner {
     // Private constructor taking the parsed Config fields one-for-one; a params
-    // struct would only move the same 8 values across the call boundary.
+    // struct would only move the same 10 values across the call boundary.
     #[allow(clippy::too_many_arguments)]
     fn new(
         thread_count: usize,
         alloc_interval: u32,
         timeslice_cycles: u64,
         stack_pool_cap: usize,
+        stack_reserve: usize,
+        stack_guard: usize,
         max_actors: usize,
         wake_slot: bool,
         node_id: crate::pg::NodeId,
@@ -854,6 +989,8 @@ impl RuntimeInner {
             process_groups: RawMutex::new(crate::pg::ProcessGroups::new()),
             stack_pool: RawMutex::new(Vec::new()),
             stack_pool_cap,
+            stack_reserve: crate::stack::round_to_pages(stack_reserve),
+            stack_guard: crate::stack::round_to_pages(stack_guard),
         })
     }
 
@@ -1045,6 +1182,9 @@ pub struct Runtime {
 
 /// Initialise the runtime with the given config. Returns a reusable handle.
 pub fn init(config: Config) -> Runtime {
+    // RFC 019 §7: one process-global SIGSEGV handler, installed before any
+    // scheduler thread (and so before any classifiable fault) can exist.
+    crate::signal::install_once();
     let n = config.resolved_thread_count();
     Runtime {
         inner: RuntimeInner::new(
@@ -1052,6 +1192,8 @@ pub fn init(config: Config) -> Runtime {
             config.alloc_interval,
             config.timeslice_cycles,
             config.stack_pool_cap,
+            config.stack_reserve,
+            config.stack_guard,
             config.max_actors,
             config.wake_slot,
             config.node_id,
@@ -1309,6 +1451,99 @@ pub const ROOT_PID: Pid = Pid::new(u32::MAX, u32::MAX);
 // Spawn-side slot installation
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// Stack shrink — RFC 019 §3 (park path only)
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+/// The per-park shrink check. Called from the `YieldIntent::Park` arm inside
+/// the owned window (see the assert-comment at the call site). Fast path —
+/// no spike since the last shrink — is two Relaxed loads, a compare, and the
+/// park counter bump, all on the slot line the context-save just wrote.
+///
+/// On a shrink: `MADV_FREE` the whole pages of `[hwm, sp − redzone)` (the
+/// inward-rounded range from [`crate::stack::shrink_range`]), then reset
+/// `hwm = sp` and the park counter. MADV_FREE only *marks*: the kernel
+/// reclaims under pressure, skips re-dirtied pages, and refaults zero pages
+/// for writes after reclaim — so an over-eager mark costs a cancel-write,
+/// never data.
+fn maybe_shrink_stack(slot: &Slot) {
+    let parks = slot.parks_since_shrink.load(Ordering::Relaxed).saturating_add(1);
+    slot.parks_since_shrink.store(parks, Ordering::Relaxed);
+
+    let sp = slot.sp.load(Ordering::Relaxed);
+    let hwm = slot.hwm.load(Ordering::Relaxed);
+    if sp.wrapping_sub(hwm) < SHRINK_THRESHOLD || sp < hwm {
+        return; // common case: nothing worth a syscall
+    }
+    if parks < SHRINK_COOLDOWN {
+        return;
+    }
+    let page = crate::stack::page_size();
+    if let Some((addr, len)) = crate::stack::shrink_range(hwm, sp, page) {
+        // Advisory: on the (kernel-config) chance MADV_FREE is unsupported,
+        // failing silently degrades to "never shrinks", which is correct.
+        unsafe {
+            libc::madvise(addr as *mut libc::c_void, len, libc::MADV_FREE);
+        }
+        slot.hwm.store(sp, Ordering::Relaxed);
+        slot.parks_since_shrink.store(0, Ordering::Relaxed);
+        slot.shrink_count.store(
+            slot.shrink_count.load(Ordering::Relaxed).saturating_add(1),
+            Ordering::Relaxed,
+        );
+    }
+}
+
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// Stack acquisition / recycling — RFC 019 pool rule
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+/// Get a stack of the shape `opts` requests (`None` fields ⇒ the runtime
+/// defaults).
+///
+/// Pool rule (RFC 019 §1): the pool is a uniform `Vec<Stack>` of
+/// default-shaped stacks and stays that way. Default-shaped requests try the
+/// pool first; custom shapes always mmap fresh (and `recycle_stack` never
+/// admits them, so a pooled stack is default-shaped by induction). The pool
+/// lock is dropped before any mmap: no syscall ever stalls another spawner.
+pub(crate) fn acquire_stack(
+    inner: &RuntimeInner,
+    opts: crate::scheduler::SpawnOpts,
+) -> crate::stack::Stack {
+    let reserve = opts.stack_reserve.unwrap_or(inner.stack_reserve);
+    let guard = opts.guard_size.unwrap_or(inner.stack_guard);
+    let default_shaped = crate::stack::round_to_pages(reserve) == inner.stack_reserve
+        && crate::stack::round_to_pages(guard) == inner.stack_guard;
+    if default_shaped {
+        if let Some(stack) = inner.stack_pool.lock().pop() {
+            return stack;
+        }
+    }
+    match crate::stack::Stack::new(reserve, guard) {
+        Ok(stack) => stack,
+        Err(e) => panic!("stack allocation failed: {e}"),
+    }
+}
+
+/// Return a dead actor's stack: pooled if default-shaped and under cap,
+/// otherwise dropped here → munmap (custom shapes and cap overflow alike).
+pub(crate) fn recycle_stack(inner: &RuntimeInner, stack: crate::stack::Stack) {
+    if stack.shape() == (inner.stack_reserve, inner.stack_guard) {
+        // RFC 019 §6: zap the dead spike before pooling, BEFORE taking the
+        // pool lock — acquire_stack's invariant is that no syscall ever
+        // stalls another spawner under it. On the rare cap-overflow the zap
+        // is wasted work ahead of the munmap; harmless, and cheaper than a
+        // second lock round-trip to find out.
+        stack.recycle_zap(RECYCLE_RETAIN);
+        let mut pool = inner.stack_pool.lock();
+        if pool.len() < inner.stack_pool_cap {
+            pool.push(stack);
+        }
+        // else: fall through — drop → munmap.
+    }
+    // Custom-shaped (or cap overflow): `stack` drops here → munmap.
+}
+
 /// Install a freshly spawned actor into the slot `idx` (which must have come
 /// from `allocate_slot`) and publish it as Queued. Returns the new `Pid`.
 /// Called by `scheduler::spawn_under`; lives here next to its inverse
@@ -1326,6 +1561,11 @@ pub(crate) fn install_actor(
     let pid = Pid::new(idx, gen);
 
     let stop = Arc::new(AtomicBool::new(false));
+    // RFC 019 §7: geometry for the SIGSEGV classifier, captured before the
+    // Stack moves under the cold lock. Ordered before readers by the
+    // publish below.
+    let (diag_reserve, diag_guard) = stack.shape();
+    let diag_top = stack.top() as usize;
     slot.stop_ptr.store(Arc::as_ptr(&stop) as *mut _, Ordering::Release);
     {
         let mut cold = slot.cold.lock();
@@ -1337,6 +1577,15 @@ pub(crate) fn install_actor(
         cold.pending_io_result = None;
     }
     slot.sp.store(sp, Ordering::Relaxed);
+    // RFC 019: a fresh incarnation starts with its high-water at the fresh
+    // top-of-stack `sp` and its shrink bookkeeping zeroed.
+    slot.hwm.store(sp, Ordering::Relaxed);
+    slot.parks_since_shrink.store(0, Ordering::Relaxed);
+    slot.shrink_count.store(0, Ordering::Relaxed);
+    slot.diag_stack_top.store(diag_top, Ordering::Relaxed);
+    slot.diag_stack_reserve.store(diag_reserve, Ordering::Relaxed);
+    slot.diag_stack_guard.store(diag_guard, Ordering::Relaxed);
+    slot.diag_pid.store(((idx as u64) << 32) | gen as u64, Ordering::Relaxed);
     slot.store_closure(closure);
     slot.reset_counters();
     inner.live_actors.fetch_add(1, Ordering::Relaxed);
@@ -1437,13 +1686,7 @@ fn finalize_actor(inner: &Arc<RuntimeInner>, pid: Pid, outcome: Outcome) {
     // (the trap sender can unpark its receiver — keep that outside too).
     let supervisor_pid = actor.supervisor;
     let Actor { stack, .. } = actor;
-    {
-        let mut pool = inner.stack_pool.lock();
-        if pool.len() < inner.stack_pool_cap {
-            pool.push(stack);
-        }
-        // else: drop here → munmap, same as before
-    }
+    recycle_stack(inner, stack);
 
     // Deliver to supervisor. ROOT_PID resolves to no slot → silently absorbed.
     let sender = inner.slot_at(supervisor_pid).and_then(|sup| {
@@ -1594,6 +1837,8 @@ fn fire_due_timers(inner: &Arc<RuntimeInner>, try_only: bool) {
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 fn schedule_loop(inner: &Arc<RuntimeInner>, slot_idx: usize) {
+    // RFC 019 §7: a guard hit leaves no stack to handle the signal on.
+    crate::signal::register_altstack();
     crate::preempt::configure_preempt(inner.alloc_interval, inner.timeslice_cycles);
     let stats = &inner.stats[slot_idx];
 
@@ -1841,7 +2086,15 @@ fn schedule_loop(inner: &Arc<RuntimeInner>, slot_idx: usize) {
         crate::preempt::clear_current_slot();
 
         let intent = YIELD_INTENT.with(|c| c.get());
-        slot.sp.store(get_actor_sp(), Ordering::Relaxed);
+        let saved_sp = get_actor_sp();
+        slot.sp.store(saved_sp, Ordering::Relaxed);
+        // RFC 019 §2: sampled high-water — one branch + at most one store
+        // into the line the store above just dirtied. Relaxed and advisory;
+        // it piggybacks the existing Relaxed-store-before-Release pattern
+        // (mod docs, "Memory ordering") and adds no edges.
+        if saved_sp < slot.hwm.load(Ordering::Relaxed) {
+            slot.hwm.store(saved_sp, Ordering::Relaxed);
+        }
 
         if is_actor_done() {
             crate::te!(crate::trace::Event::Done(pid));
@@ -1863,6 +2116,23 @@ fn schedule_loop(inner: &Arc<RuntimeInner>, slot_idx: usize) {
                     inner.enqueue(pid);
                 }
                 YieldIntent::Park => {
+                    // RFC 019 §3 shrink window (correctness obligation 1):
+                    // this site sits after the `sp` store above and before
+                    // the `park_return` Release transition below publishes
+                    // Parked — the scheduler is on its own stack and the
+                    // actor is saved but not yet stealable, so the madvise
+                    // races nothing (belt). MADV_FREE's cancel-on-write is
+                    // the suspenders: even a racing writer could lose
+                    // nothing written after the mark, and everything below
+                    // live `sp` is dead by definition. Runs on BOTH arms of
+                    // the park_return race — a consumed unpark flag means a
+                    // wasted-but-harmless madvise on a rare window.
+                    //
+                    // This is the ONLY shrink site: the preempt/yield path
+                    // deliberately never checks (§4's bounded leak under
+                    // saturation — syscalls must not fire when scheduler
+                    // cycles are scarcest).
+                    maybe_shrink_stack(slot);
                     if slot.word.park_return(gen) {
                         // RFC 007 audit: an in-site park drops its sample
                         // tail (nothing flushes it; on_resume re-arms).

src/scheduler.rs

@@ -259,6 +259,28 @@ impl Drop for JoinHandle {
 // spawn / spawn_under / self_pid
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
+/// Per-spawn stack shape overrides (RFC 019). `None` fields resolve to the
+/// runtime's [`Config`](crate::runtime::Config) defaults at spawn time, so
+/// struct-update syntax works anywhere without a runtime handle:
+///
+/// ```
+/// use smarm::SpawnOpts;
+/// let opts = SpawnOpts { stack_reserve: Some(8 * 1024 * 1024), ..SpawnOpts::default() };
+/// ```
+///
+/// Both sizes are page-rounded. The reserve is *virtual* (demand-paged):
+/// an 8 MiB reserve costs address space, not memory — RSS follows touched
+/// pages. The guard is PROT_NONE below the stack; raise it for FFI code
+/// with unusually large C frames. Custom-shaped stacks bypass the recycle
+/// pool: they are mmapped fresh at spawn and munmapped at death.
+#[derive(Clone, Copy, Debug, Default, PartialEq, Eq)]
+pub struct SpawnOpts {
+    /// Usable stack reservation. `None` ⇒ [`Config::stack_reserve`](crate::runtime::Config::stack_reserve).
+    pub stack_reserve: Option<usize>,
+    /// PROT_NONE guard below the stack. `None` ⇒ [`Config::stack_guard`](crate::runtime::Config::stack_guard).
+    pub guard_size: Option<usize>,
+}
+
 /// Start a new actor running `f`, and return a [`JoinHandle`] for it.
 ///
 /// The new actor runs concurrently with its caller and with every other
@@ -281,22 +303,34 @@ pub fn spawn(f: impl FnOnce() + Send + 'static) -> JoinHandle {
     spawn_under(parent, f)
 }
 
+/// [`spawn`] with per-actor stack shape overrides (RFC 019).
+pub fn spawn_with(opts: SpawnOpts, f: impl FnOnce() + Send + 'static) -> JoinHandle {
+    let parent = current_pid().unwrap_or_else(|| {
+        with_runtime(|_| crate::runtime::ROOT_PID)
+    });
+    spawn_under_with(parent, opts, f)
+}
+
 /// Like [`spawn`], but explicitly attaches the new actor to `supervisor`
 /// instead of the calling actor. Ordinary code should reach for [`spawn`];
 /// this exists for supervision trees (see [`supervisor`](crate::supervisor))
 /// and other cases that need to place a child under a specific ancestor
 /// rather than its true caller.
 pub fn spawn_under<A>(supervisor: Pid<A>, f: impl FnOnce() + Send + 'static) -> JoinHandle {
+    spawn_under_with(supervisor, SpawnOpts::default(), f)
+}
+
+/// [`spawn_under`] with per-actor stack shape overrides (RFC 019).
+pub fn spawn_under_with<A>(
+    supervisor: Pid<A>,
+    opts: SpawnOpts,
+    f: impl FnOnce() + Send + 'static,
+) -> JoinHandle {
     let supervisor = supervisor.erase();
-    // Stack + closure boxing happen before ANY runtime lock is taken: no
-    // syscall and no allocation ever stalls another scheduler thread.
-    let stack = with_runtime(|inner| inner.stack_pool.lock().pop())
-        .unwrap_or_else(|| {
-            match crate::stack::Stack::new(crate::runtime::ACTOR_STACK_SIZE) {
-                Ok(stack) => stack,
-                Err(e) => panic!("stack allocation failed: {e}"),
-            }
-        });
+    // Stack + closure boxing happen before the slot locks are taken; the
+    // pool lock inside acquire_stack is dropped before any mmap, so no
+    // syscall ever stalls another scheduler thread.
+    let stack = with_runtime(|inner| crate::runtime::acquire_stack(inner, opts));
     let sp = init_actor_stack(stack.top(), crate::actor::trampoline);
     let closure: crate::runtime::Closure = Box::new(f);
 
@@ -336,6 +370,18 @@ pub fn spawn_addr<A: crate::pid::Addressable>(
     crate::pid::assert_type::<A>(pid)
 }
 
+/// [`spawn_addr`] with per-actor stack shape overrides (RFC 019).
+pub fn spawn_addr_with<A: crate::pid::Addressable>(
+    opts: SpawnOpts,
+    body: impl FnOnce(crate::channel::Receiver<A::Msg>) + Send + 'static,
+) -> Pid<A> {
+    let (tx, rx) = crate::channel::channel::<A::Msg>();
+    let handle = spawn_with(opts, move || body(rx));
+    let pid = handle.pid();
+    crate::registry::install_for::<A::Msg>(pid, tx);
+    crate::pid::assert_type::<A>(pid)
+}
+
 use crate::context::init_actor_stack;
 
 /// The identity of the actor currently running. Use it to hand your own

src/signal.rs

@@ -0,0 +1,321 @@
+//! RFC 019 §7 — overflow diagnostics.
+//!
+//! One process-global SIGSEGV handler, installed once at [`crate::runtime::init`]
+//! (before any scheduler thread exists, so the PRIOR save is unracing), plus a
+//! per-scheduler-thread `sigaltstack` registered at `schedule_loop` entry — a
+//! guard hit means the faulting stack has no room to run anything, so the
+//! altstack is not optional.
+//!
+//! The handler classifies `si_addr` against the *current* actor only, reached
+//! through `preempt::CURRENT_SLOT` — a const-initialized `Cell<*const Slot>`
+//! whose access is a plain TLS load (no lazy init, no allocation, no dtor
+//! registration), and which every scheduler thread has materialized before an
+//! actor can run on it. The slot's diag atomics (`diag_stack_top` & co) are
+//! written in `install_actor` before the Release publish and are only consulted
+//! here while the actor is on-CPU, so they cannot be stale.
+//!
+//! Two classification tiers:
+//!  - **In-guard**: definitive. Rust frames probe pages in order
+//!    (`__rust_probestack`), so Rust overflow always lands here; so does any C
+//!    built with `-fstack-clash-protection` (distro-packaged libraries), and —
+//!    with the 1 MiB default guard — nearly every unprobed frame too.
+//!  - **Overshoot**: within [`OVERSHOOT_SLOP`] *below* the guard. An unprobed
+//!    frame (cargo-built C via `cc` almost never enables clash protection)
+//!    large enough to step over the guard in one `sub rsp`. Attribution is
+//!    "probable": the address is in unmapped VA that nothing else owns, an
+//!    actor was on-CPU, and the distance fits a frame — the diagnostic says so.
+//!
+//! Classified faults print one line (async-signal-safe: stack buffer +
+//! `write(2)`, no fmt, no alloc, no locks) and re-raise with default
+//! disposition — no unwind, no resume, no fail-soft (jarred; UB-adjacent from
+//! a handler). Unclassified faults reinstate the PRIOR handler and refault, so
+//! std's own "thread ... has overflowed its stack" diagnostics for OS-thread
+//! stacks survive our presence. Reinstating deregisters us for good, which is
+//! fine: the process is dying either way.
+
+use std::cell::Cell;
+use std::mem::MaybeUninit;
+use std::sync::atomic::Ordering;
+use std::sync::Once;
+
+/// Tier-2 window below the guard. Matches the guard default (and the kernel's
+/// `stack_guard_gap`): a frame that out-jumps both the guard and this window
+/// in one displacement is past what a diagnostic can honestly attribute.
+pub(crate) const OVERSHOOT_SLOP: usize = 1024 * 1024;
+
+/// Per-scheduler-thread signal stack. MINSIGSTKSZ is ~11 KiB on AVX-512
+/// hardware; 64 KiB leaves the formatter room without mattering to anyone.
+/// One per OS thread, never freed: scheduler threads live for the process in
+/// practice, and repeated `run()`s on reused threads re-use the registration
+/// (the TLS flag), so the leak is bounded by the OS thread count.
+const ALTSTACK_SIZE: usize = 64 * 1024;
+
+static INSTALL: Once = Once::new();
+/// The handler that was installed before ours (std's, typically). Written
+/// exactly once inside INSTALL — which completes in `runtime::init` before
+/// any scheduler thread (and thus any classifiable fault) can exist — and
+/// only read from the handler afterwards.
+static mut PRIOR: MaybeUninit<libc::sigaction> = MaybeUninit::uninit();
+
+thread_local! {
+    /// Whether this OS thread has registered its altstack.
+    static ALTSTACK_SET: Cell<bool> = const { Cell::new(false) };
+}
+
+/// Where a fault landed relative to the current actor's stack.
+#[derive(Debug, PartialEq, Eq)]
+pub(crate) enum FaultClass {
+    /// Inside `[top − reserve − guard, top − reserve)`: the guard region.
+    Guard,
+    /// Within `OVERSHOOT_SLOP` below the guard: stepped over it. Payload is
+    /// the distance below `guard_lo`.
+    Overshoot(usize),
+    /// Not ours to explain.
+    Foreign,
+}
+
+/// Pure classifier — all edges unit-tested below. `top` is the stack's usable
+/// top, `reserve`/`guard` its shape; both page-rounded by `Stack::new`.
+pub(crate) fn classify(addr: usize, top: usize, reserve: usize, guard: usize) -> FaultClass {
+    let guard_hi = top.wrapping_sub(reserve);
+    let guard_lo = guard_hi.wrapping_sub(guard);
+    if addr >= guard_lo && addr < guard_hi {
+        FaultClass::Guard
+    } else if addr < guard_lo && addr >= guard_lo.saturating_sub(OVERSHOOT_SLOP) {
+        FaultClass::Overshoot(guard_lo - addr)
+    } else {
+        FaultClass::Foreign
+    }
+}
+
+/// Install the process-global handler. Idempotent; called from
+/// `runtime::init`.
+pub(crate) fn install_once() {
+    INSTALL.call_once(|| unsafe {
+        let mut sa: libc::sigaction = std::mem::zeroed();
+        sa.sa_sigaction = handler as *const () as usize;
+        sa.sa_flags = libc::SA_SIGINFO | libc::SA_ONSTACK;
+        libc::sigemptyset(&mut sa.sa_mask);
+        let prior = &mut *std::ptr::addr_of_mut!(PRIOR);
+        libc::sigaction(libc::SIGSEGV, &sa, prior.as_mut_ptr());
+    });
+}
+
+/// Register this OS thread's altstack (idempotent per thread). Called at
+/// `schedule_loop` entry, so every thread that can run an actor has one.
+pub(crate) fn register_altstack() {
+    ALTSTACK_SET.with(|set| {
+        if set.get() {
+            return;
+        }
+        unsafe {
+            let sp = libc::mmap(
+                std::ptr::null_mut(),
+                ALTSTACK_SIZE,
+                libc::PROT_READ | libc::PROT_WRITE,
+                libc::MAP_PRIVATE | libc::MAP_ANONYMOUS,
+                -1,
+                0,
+            );
+            if sp == libc::MAP_FAILED {
+                // Degrade: no altstack means a guard hit dies without the
+                // message (handler can't run) — the pre-RFC behavior, never
+                // incorrectness.
+                return;
+            }
+            let ss = libc::stack_t {
+                ss_sp: sp,
+                ss_flags: 0,
+                ss_size: ALTSTACK_SIZE,
+            };
+            libc::sigaltstack(&ss, std::ptr::null_mut());
+        }
+        set.set(true);
+    });
+}
+
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// The handler
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+unsafe extern "C" fn handler(
+    _sig: libc::c_int,
+    info: *mut libc::siginfo_t,
+    _ctx: *mut libc::c_void,
+) {
+    let slot_ptr = crate::preempt::current_slot_ptr();
+    if !slot_ptr.is_null() {
+        let slot = &*slot_ptr;
+        let top = slot.diag_stack_top.load(Ordering::Relaxed);
+        if top != 0 {
+            let reserve = slot.diag_stack_reserve.load(Ordering::Relaxed);
+            let guard = slot.diag_stack_guard.load(Ordering::Relaxed);
+            let pid = slot.diag_pid.load(Ordering::Relaxed);
+            let addr = (*info).si_addr() as usize;
+            match classify(addr, top, reserve, guard) {
+                FaultClass::Guard => {
+                    let mut b = Buf::new();
+                    b.s("smarm: actor ");
+                    b.pid(pid);
+                    b.s(" overflowed its stack: fault in the guard region, depth-at-fault=");
+                    b.u(top - addr);
+                    b.s(" bytes (reserve=");
+                    b.u(reserve);
+                    b.s(", guard=");
+                    b.u(guard);
+                    b.s("). Raise stack_reserve (SpawnOpts or Config).\n");
+                    b.emit();
+                    die_by_default();
+                    return;
+                }
+                FaultClass::Overshoot(below) => {
+                    let mut b = Buf::new();
+                    b.s("smarm: actor ");
+                    b.pid(pid);
+                    b.s(" probably overflowed its stack: fault ");
+                    b.u(below);
+                    b.s(" bytes below the guard - an unprobed (FFI?) frame stepped over it (reserve=");
+                    b.u(reserve);
+                    b.s(", guard=");
+                    b.u(guard);
+                    b.s("). Raise stack_guard or stack_reserve.\n");
+                    b.emit();
+                    die_by_default();
+                    return;
+                }
+                FaultClass::Foreign => {}
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    // Not ours: put back whoever was there before us and refault into them.
+    let prior = &*std::ptr::addr_of!(PRIOR);
+    libc::sigaction(libc::SIGSEGV, prior.as_ptr(), std::ptr::null_mut());
+}
+
+/// Reset SIGSEGV to default disposition; returning from the handler then
+/// refaults at the same instruction and the process dies the normal death
+/// (core-dumpable, correct wait status), exactly as if we were never here —
+/// but with the message already on stderr.
+unsafe fn die_by_default() {
+    let mut dfl: libc::sigaction = std::mem::zeroed();
+    dfl.sa_sigaction = libc::SIG_DFL;
+    libc::sigemptyset(&mut dfl.sa_mask);
+    libc::sigaction(libc::SIGSEGV, &dfl, std::ptr::null_mut());
+}
+
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// Async-signal-safe formatting: fixed buffer, decimal itoa, one write(2).
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+struct Buf {
+    b: [u8; 320],
+    len: usize,
+}
+
+impl Buf {
+    fn new() -> Self {
+        Buf { b: [0; 320], len: 0 }
+    }
+    fn s(&mut self, s: &str) {
+        for &c in s.as_bytes() {
+            if self.len < self.b.len() {
+                self.b[self.len] = c;
+                self.len += 1;
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    fn u(&mut self, mut n: usize) {
+        let mut tmp = [0u8; 20];
+        let mut i = tmp.len();
+        loop {
+            i -= 1;
+            tmp[i] = b'0' + (n % 10) as u8;
+            n /= 10;
+            if n == 0 {
+                break;
+            }
+        }
+        for &c in &tmp[i..] {
+            if self.len < self.b.len() {
+                self.b[self.len] = c;
+                self.len += 1;
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    /// `idx.gen`, unpacked from the install-time packing.
+    fn pid(&mut self, packed: u64) {
+        self.u((packed >> 32) as usize);
+        self.s(".");
+        self.u((packed & 0xffff_ffff) as usize);
+    }
+    fn emit(&self) {
+        unsafe {
+            libc::write(2, self.b.as_ptr() as *const libc::c_void, self.len);
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// Classifier units — the arithmetic edges, before anything integrates.
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use super::{classify, FaultClass, OVERSHOOT_SLOP};
+
+    const PG: usize = 4096;
+    // A synthetic stack far from address-space edges: top at 1 GiB.
+    const TOP: usize = 1 << 30;
+    const RESERVE: usize = 16 * PG;
+    const GUARD: usize = 4 * PG;
+    const GUARD_HI: usize = TOP - RESERVE;
+    const GUARD_LO: usize = GUARD_HI - GUARD;
+
+    #[test]
+    fn inside_guard_both_edges() {
+        assert_eq!(classify(GUARD_LO, TOP, RESERVE, GUARD), FaultClass::Guard);
+        assert_eq!(classify(GUARD_HI - 1, TOP, RESERVE, GUARD), FaultClass::Guard);
+        assert_eq!(classify(GUARD_LO + GUARD / 2, TOP, RESERVE, GUARD), FaultClass::Guard);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn usable_region_is_foreign() {
+        // A fault inside the RW stack itself isn't a guard hit and must not
+        // be explained as one.
+        assert_eq!(classify(GUARD_HI, TOP, RESERVE, GUARD), FaultClass::Foreign);
+        assert_eq!(classify(TOP - 1, TOP, RESERVE, GUARD), FaultClass::Foreign);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn above_top_is_foreign() {
+        assert_eq!(classify(TOP, TOP, RESERVE, GUARD), FaultClass::Foreign);
+        assert_eq!(classify(TOP + PG, TOP, RESERVE, GUARD), FaultClass::Foreign);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn overshoot_window_edges() {
+        assert_eq!(
+            classify(GUARD_LO - 1, TOP, RESERVE, GUARD),
+            FaultClass::Overshoot(1)
+        );
+        assert_eq!(
+            classify(GUARD_LO - OVERSHOOT_SLOP, TOP, RESERVE, GUARD),
+            FaultClass::Overshoot(OVERSHOOT_SLOP)
+        );
+        assert_eq!(
+            classify(GUARD_LO - OVERSHOOT_SLOP - 1, TOP, RESERVE, GUARD),
+            FaultClass::Foreign
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn low_address_stack_saturates_not_wraps() {
+        // A stack mapped so low that the slop window would underflow: the
+        // window clips to 0 instead of wrapping around the address space.
+        let top = RESERVE + GUARD + PG; // guard_lo == PG
+        assert_eq!(classify(0, top, RESERVE, GUARD), FaultClass::Overshoot(PG));
+        // Null-page fault still classified only because it IS within slop
+        // here; with a normal-height stack it is Foreign (covered above by
+        // the window-edge test at realistic addresses).
+    }
+}

src/stack.rs

@@ -1,32 +1,45 @@
-//! mmap-based growable stack with a guard page below.
+//! mmap-based actor stack with a PROT_NONE guard region below (RFC 019).
 //!
 //! Layout (low → high address):
-//!   [ guard page (PROT_NONE) | stack region ]
-//!                                            ^ top() — initial stack pointer
+//!   [ guard region (PROT_NONE) | stack region ]
+//!                                              ^ top() — initial stack pointer
 //!
-//! Stacks grow downward. Overflow lands in the guard page → SIGSEGV.
+//! Stacks grow downward. Overflow lands in the guard region → SIGSEGV.
+//!
+//! Both the usable reserve and the guard are caller-chosen (page-rounded).
+//! The reserve is a *virtual* reservation: anonymous mmap is demand-paged,
+//! so RSS is touched-pages, not reserve × actors. The guard costs address
+//! space only. A wide guard (the runtime defaults to 64 KiB) exists for
+//! unprobed FFI frames: Rust frames touch pages in order (probestack), so
+//! one page catches Rust overflow, but a C frame with a large local can
+//! step over a single page in one `sub rsp`.
 
 use std::io;
 
 pub struct Stack {
-    /// Bottom of the entire mmap'd region (start of guard page).
+    /// Bottom of the entire mmap'd region (start of the guard).
     base: *mut u8,
     /// Total mmap'd size: guard_size + stack_size.
     total_size: usize,
-    /// Usable stack size (excluding guard page).
+    /// Usable stack size (excluding the guard).
     stack_size: usize,
+    /// PROT_NONE region below the usable stack.
+    guard_size: usize,
 }
 
 // Stack owns its memory; safe to send across threads.
 unsafe impl Send for Stack {}
 
 impl Stack {
-    /// Allocate a new stack. `stack_size` is the usable region; one page is
-    /// added below as a guard page. Both are rounded up to the page size.
-    pub fn new(stack_size: usize) -> io::Result<Self> {
+    /// Allocate a new stack. `stack_size` is the usable region; `guard_size`
+    /// is mapped PROT_NONE below it. Both are rounded up to the page size
+    /// and must be non-zero.
+    pub fn new(stack_size: usize, guard_size: usize) -> io::Result<Self> {
+        assert!(stack_size > 0, "stack_size must be non-zero");
+        assert!(guard_size > 0, "guard_size must be non-zero");
         let page = page_size();
         let stack_size = round_up(stack_size, page);
-        let guard_size = page;
+        let guard_size = round_up(guard_size, page);
         let total_size = guard_size + stack_size;
 
         let base = unsafe {
@@ -53,7 +66,7 @@ impl Stack {
             return Err(err);
         }
 
-        Ok(Self { base, total_size, stack_size })
+        Ok(Self { base, total_size, stack_size, guard_size })
     }
 
     /// 16-byte-aligned top of the usable region.
@@ -62,14 +75,54 @@ impl Stack {
         (raw_top & !15) as *mut u8
     }
 
-    /// Pointer to the bottom of the usable region (just above the guard page).
+    /// Pointer to the bottom of the usable region (just above the guard).
     pub fn usable_base(&self) -> *mut u8 {
-        unsafe { self.base.add(page_size()) }
+        unsafe { self.base.add(self.guard_size) }
     }
 
     pub fn stack_size(&self) -> usize {
         self.stack_size
     }
+
+    pub fn guard_size(&self) -> usize {
+        self.guard_size
+    }
+
+    /// `(stack_size, guard_size)` after page rounding. The pool rule
+    /// (RFC 019 §1) compares this against the runtime defaults: only
+    /// default-shaped stacks are pooled.
+    pub fn shape(&self) -> (usize, usize) {
+        (self.stack_size, self.guard_size)
+    }
+
+    /// Pool-recycle zap (RFC 019 §6): `MADV_DONTNEED` everything below the
+    /// retained entry end `[top − retain, top)` — the span the next actor's
+    /// shallow frames land in stays resident, the dead spike below it is
+    /// released. The stack is unowned at the call site (its actor is dead),
+    /// so a synchronous eager zap races nothing and the RSS drop is
+    /// immediate — a museum of worst-case spikes is exactly what a pool must
+    /// not be; DONTNEED's ~8× per-page cost vs FREE is irrelevant off the
+    /// hot path. Advisory like the park-path shrink: a failure degrades to
+    /// "the pool keeps RSS", never to incorrectness. No-op (no syscall) when
+    /// `retain` covers the whole usable region — i.e. always, at the 64 KiB
+    /// default reserve.
+    pub(crate) fn recycle_zap(&self, retain: usize) {
+        if let Some((off, len)) = retain_range(self.stack_size, retain, page_size()) {
+            unsafe {
+                libc::madvise(
+                    self.usable_base().add(off) as *mut libc::c_void,
+                    len,
+                    libc::MADV_DONTNEED,
+                );
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+/// Round `n` up to whole pages — the same rounding `Stack::new` applies, so
+/// runtime defaults stored pre-rounded compare exactly against [`Stack::shape`].
+pub(crate) fn round_to_pages(n: usize) -> usize {
+    round_up(n, page_size())
 }
 
 impl Drop for Stack {
@@ -80,10 +133,170 @@ impl Drop for Stack {
     }
 }
 
-fn page_size() -> usize {
+pub(crate) fn page_size() -> usize {
     unsafe { libc::sysconf(libc::_SC_PAGESIZE) as usize }
 }
 
 fn round_up(n: usize, align: usize) -> usize {
     (n + align - 1) & !(align - 1)
 }
+
+/// The whole-page span the park-path shrink may `MADV_FREE` (RFC 019 §3):
+/// `[page_up(hwm), page_down(sp − redzone))`, or `None` if no full page fits.
+///
+/// `hwm` is the sampled high-water (deepest observed `sp`); everything in
+/// `[hwm, sp)` is below the live frame and dead by definition. One page of
+/// redzone stays resident under live `sp` — it covers the SysV 128-byte red
+/// zone plus spill margin with room to spare. Rounding is inward on both
+/// ends so the result can never touch the redzone, cross `sp`, or dip below
+/// `hwm`; all arithmetic is checked so adversarial inputs (`sp < redzone`,
+/// `hwm ≥ sp`, values near the address-space edges) collapse to `None`
+/// rather than a wild or negative-length range.
+pub(crate) fn shrink_range(hwm: usize, sp: usize, page: usize) -> Option<(usize, usize)> {
+    debug_assert!(page.is_power_of_two());
+    if hwm >= sp {
+        return None;
+    }
+    let redzone = page;
+    let end = sp.checked_sub(redzone)? & !(page - 1); // page_down(sp − redzone)
+    let start = hwm.checked_add(page - 1)? & !(page - 1); // page_up(hwm)
+    if end > start {
+        Some((start, end - start))
+    } else {
+        None
+    }
+}
+
+/// The `(offset_from_usable_base, len)` span the pool recycle DONTNEEDs
+/// (RFC 019 §6): everything below the retained entry end. "Bottom RETAIN of
+/// the stack" is read stack-wise (entry frames = highest addresses of a
+/// downward stack): the retained span is `[top − page_up(retain), top)`, the
+/// zapped span is the rest — retaining the low-address deep end instead
+/// would keep the coldest pages and release the ones the next actor faults
+/// first. `retain` rounds *up* to whole pages (retain more, zap less), so
+/// with `stack_size` page-rounded by `Stack::new` the result is always
+/// page-aligned. Checked math: `retain ≥ stack_size` (notably the default
+/// 64 KiB reserve with the 64 KiB RETAIN) and overflow collapse to `None`.
+pub(crate) fn retain_range(stack_size: usize, retain: usize, page: usize) -> Option<(usize, usize)> {
+    debug_assert!(page.is_power_of_two());
+    let retain = retain.checked_add(page - 1)? & !(page - 1); // page_up(retain)
+    let len = stack_size.checked_sub(retain)?;
+    if len == 0 {
+        return None;
+    }
+    Some((0, len))
+}
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use super::{retain_range, shrink_range};
+
+    const PG: usize = 4096;
+
+    #[test]
+    fn retain_covers_whole_stack_is_a_noop() {
+        // The default config: reserve == RETAIN == 64 KiB. No zap, no syscall.
+        assert_eq!(retain_range(16 * PG, 16 * PG, PG), None);
+        assert_eq!(retain_range(PG, PG, PG), None);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn retain_larger_than_stack_is_a_noop() {
+        assert_eq!(retain_range(16 * PG, 17 * PG, PG), None);
+        assert_eq!(retain_range(PG, usize::MAX, PG), None); // page_up overflows
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn retain_zero_zaps_everything() {
+        assert_eq!(retain_range(16 * PG, 0, PG), Some((0, 16 * PG)));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn retain_rounds_up_zapping_less() {
+        // 1 byte of retain keeps a whole page.
+        assert_eq!(retain_range(16 * PG, 1, PG), Some((0, 15 * PG)));
+        assert_eq!(retain_range(16 * PG, PG + 1, PG), Some((0, 14 * PG)));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn retain_one_page_short_of_stack() {
+        assert_eq!(retain_range(2 * PG, PG, PG), Some((0, PG)));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn retain_range_is_page_aligned() {
+        for size_pg in [1usize, 2, 3, 16, 1024] {
+            for retain in [0usize, 1, PG - 1, PG, PG + 1, 4 * PG, size_pg * PG] {
+                if let Some((off, len)) = retain_range(size_pg * PG, retain, PG) {
+                    assert_eq!(off, 0);
+                    assert_eq!(len % PG, 0);
+                    assert!(len <= size_pg * PG);
+                    assert!(len > 0);
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn empty_and_inverted_spans_are_none() {
+        assert_eq!(shrink_range(0x8000_0000, 0x8000_0000, PG), None); // hwm == sp
+        assert_eq!(shrink_range(0x8000_1000, 0x8000_0000, PG), None); // hwm > sp
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn span_smaller_than_redzone_plus_page_is_none() {
+        let sp = 0x8000_0000;
+        // Everything within redzone+1 page of sp: no full page clears both
+        // the redzone and the page_up(hwm) rounding.
+        assert_eq!(shrink_range(sp - PG, sp, PG), None);
+        assert_eq!(shrink_range(sp - 2 * PG + 1, sp, PG), None);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn exact_two_pages_frees_one() {
+        let sp = 0x8000_0000;
+        let hwm = sp - 2 * PG;
+        // [hwm, hwm+PG) frees; [sp−PG, sp) is redzone.
+        assert_eq!(shrink_range(hwm, sp, PG), Some((hwm, PG)));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn unaligned_ends_round_inward() {
+        let sp = 0x8000_0123; // live sp mid-page
+        let hwm = 0x7f00_0abc; // high-water mid-page
+        let (start, len) = shrink_range(hwm, sp, PG).unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(start % PG, 0);
+        assert_eq!(len % PG, 0);
+        assert!(start >= hwm); // never below the sampled high-water
+        assert!(start + len <= (sp - PG) & !(PG - 1)); // never into the redzone
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn result_never_crosses_sp() {
+        // Sweep hwm across every offset of the page straddling the boundary.
+        let sp = 0x8000_0000 + 137;
+        for hwm in (sp - 4 * PG)..(sp) {
+            if let Some((start, len)) = shrink_range(hwm, sp, PG) {
+                assert!(start >= hwm);
+                assert!(start + len + PG <= sp + PG); // end ≤ page_down(sp − PG) < sp
+                assert!(len > 0);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn underflow_near_zero_is_none() {
+        assert_eq!(shrink_range(0, PG - 1, PG), None); // sp < redzone
+        assert_eq!(shrink_range(0, 0, PG), None);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn big_span_frees_interior() {
+        let sp = 0x8000_0000;
+        let spike = 4 * 1024 * 1024;
+        let hwm = sp - spike;
+        let (start, len) = shrink_range(hwm, sp, PG).unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(start, hwm); // aligned input: starts exactly at hwm
+        assert_eq!(len, spike - PG); // everything but the redzone page
+    }
+}

tests/context.rs

@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ extern "C-unwind" fn actor_simple() {
 #[test]
 fn actor_runs_and_returns_to_scheduler() {
     reset_log();
-    let stack = Stack::new(64 * 1024).unwrap();
+    let stack = Stack::new(64 * 1024, 4096).unwrap();
     let sp = init_actor_stack(stack.top(), actor_simple);
     set_actor_sp(sp);
     unsafe { switch_to_actor() };
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ extern "C-unwind" fn actor_two_steps() {
 #[test]
 fn actor_yields_and_resumes() {
     reset_log();
-    let stack = Stack::new(64 * 1024).unwrap();
+    let stack = Stack::new(64 * 1024, 4096).unwrap();
     let sp = init_actor_stack(stack.top(), actor_two_steps);
     set_actor_sp(sp);
 
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ extern "C-unwind" fn actor_reg_check() {
 
 #[test]
 fn callee_saved_registers_survive_yield() {
-    let stack = Stack::new(64 * 1024).unwrap();
+    let stack = Stack::new(64 * 1024, 4096).unwrap();
     let sp = init_actor_stack(stack.top(), actor_reg_check);
     set_actor_sp(sp);
     unsafe { switch_to_actor(); switch_to_actor(); }
@@ -117,8 +117,8 @@ extern "C-unwind" fn actor_b() {
 
 #[test]
 fn two_actors_dont_corrupt_each_other() {
-    let stack_a = Stack::new(64 * 1024).unwrap();
-    let stack_b = Stack::new(64 * 1024).unwrap();
+    let stack_a = Stack::new(64 * 1024, 4096).unwrap();
+    let stack_b = Stack::new(64 * 1024, 4096).unwrap();
 
     let sp_a = init_actor_stack(stack_a.top(), actor_a);
     let sp_b = init_actor_stack(stack_b.top(), actor_b);

tests/introspect.rs

@@ -237,6 +237,13 @@ fn tree_from_nests_children_and_reroots_orphans() {
         overruns: 0,
         messages_received: 0,
         budget_cycles: 0,
+        stack: smarm::StackInfo {
+            reserve: 0,
+            guard: 0,
+            depth_high_water: 0,
+            parks_since_shrink: 0,
+            shrinks: 0,
+        },
     };
 
     let snap = RuntimeSnapshot {
@@ -352,3 +359,122 @@ fn budget_cycles_accumulate_when_enabled() {
         h.join().unwrap();
     });
 }
+
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// RFC 019 §8 — the stack introspection surface.
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+/// Burn ~`frames` × 4 KiB of stack with a yield at max depth, so the context
+/// save samples the high-water there (RFC 019 §2: hwm is SAMPLED at
+/// deschedule, not tracked continuously).
+#[inline(never)]
+fn burn_stack_yielding(frames: usize) -> u64 {
+    let mut local = [0u8; 4096];
+    local[0] = frames as u8;
+    let below = if frames == 0 {
+        smarm::yield_now();
+        0
+    } else {
+        burn_stack_yielding(frames - 1)
+    };
+    std::hint::black_box(&mut local);
+    below.wrapping_add(local[0] as u64)
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn stack_info_reports_defaults_and_sampled_depth() {
+    run(|| {
+        let (ready_tx, ready_rx) = channel::<()>();
+        let (gate_tx, gate_rx) = channel::<()>();
+
+        let h = spawn(move || {
+            // ~32 KiB deep with a yield at the bottom: the sample point.
+            std::hint::black_box(burn_stack_yielding(8));
+            ready_tx.send(()).unwrap();
+            gate_rx.recv().unwrap();
+        });
+        ready_rx.recv().unwrap();
+
+        let info = spin_until(h.pid(), |a| a.state == ActorState::Parked);
+        let s = info.stack;
+        assert_eq!(s.reserve, 64 * 1024, "default reserve");
+        assert_eq!(s.guard, 1024 * 1024, "default guard (kernel stack_guard_gap convention)");
+        assert!(
+            s.depth_high_water >= 8 * 4096,
+            "hwm sampled at the deep yield: expected ≥ 32 KiB, got {}",
+            s.depth_high_water
+        );
+        assert!(
+            s.depth_high_water < s.reserve,
+            "depth {} cannot exceed the reserve {}",
+            s.depth_high_water,
+            s.reserve
+        );
+        // Parked at the gate right now, never shrunk (64 KiB reserve cannot
+        // cross the shrink threshold).
+        assert!(s.parks_since_shrink >= 1, "the gate park must be counted");
+        assert_eq!(s.shrinks, 0);
+
+        gate_tx.send(()).unwrap();
+        h.join().unwrap();
+    });
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn stack_info_shrink_counters_are_live() {
+    use smarm::runtime::{Config, SHRINK_COOLDOWN, SHRINK_THRESHOLD};
+    use smarm::{spawn_with, SpawnOpts};
+
+    let rt = smarm::runtime::init(Config::exact(1));
+    rt.run(|| {
+        let (park_tx, park_rx) = channel::<()>();
+
+        let spike = 768 * 4096;
+        assert!(spike > SHRINK_THRESHOLD);
+        let worker = spawn_with(
+            SpawnOpts { stack_reserve: Some(8 * 1024 * 1024), ..SpawnOpts::default() },
+            move || {
+                std::hint::black_box(burn_stack_yielding(768));
+                for _ in 0..(SHRINK_COOLDOWN + 8) {
+                    park_rx.recv().unwrap();
+                }
+            },
+        );
+
+        let wpid = worker.pid();
+        // Before any parks complete: the spike depth is visible.
+        let info = spin_until(wpid, |a| a.state == ActorState::Parked);
+        assert!(
+            info.stack.depth_high_water >= spike,
+            "spike should be sampled: {} < {spike}",
+            info.stack.depth_high_water
+        );
+
+        // Cross the cooldown, then read the counters live while the worker
+        // is parked waiting for the remaining rounds (post-join the slot is
+        // reclaimed and the generation check correctly hides it).
+        for _ in 0..(SHRINK_COOLDOWN + 2) {
+            spin_until(wpid, |a| a.state == ActorState::Parked);
+            park_tx.send(()).unwrap();
+        }
+        let info = spin_until(wpid, |a| a.state == ActorState::Parked && a.stack.shrinks >= 1);
+        let s = info.stack;
+        assert!(s.shrinks >= 1, "cooldown was crossed with a spike above threshold");
+        assert!(
+            s.parks_since_shrink < SHRINK_COOLDOWN,
+            "counter must reset at shrink: {}",
+            s.parks_since_shrink
+        );
+        assert!(
+            s.depth_high_water < spike,
+            "hwm resets to the shallow park sp at shrink; got {}",
+            s.depth_high_water
+        );
+
+        for _ in 0..6 {
+            spin_until(wpid, |a| a.state == ActorState::Parked);
+            park_tx.send(()).unwrap();
+        }
+        worker.join().unwrap();
+    });
+}

tests/runtime.rs

@@ -517,3 +517,37 @@ fn runtime_reusable_after_root_panic() {
     r.run(move || ran_t.store(true, Ordering::Relaxed));
     assert!(ran.load(Ordering::Relaxed), "runtime unusable after root panic");
 }
+
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// RFC 019 — Config stack knobs
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+/// Burn ~`frames` × 4 KiB of stack; probestack touches pages in order so
+/// exceeding the reserve would hit the guard and SIGSEGV the process.
+#[inline(never)]
+fn burn_stack(frames: usize) -> u64 {
+    let mut local = [0u8; 4096];
+    local[0] = frames as u8;
+    let below = if frames == 0 { 0 } else { burn_stack(frames - 1) };
+    std::hint::black_box(&mut local);
+    below.wrapping_add(local[0] as u64)
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn config_stack_reserve_permits_deep_recursion() {
+    // ~256 KiB of frames: four times the old fixed 64 KiB reserve. With
+    // Config::stack_reserve raised this must complete; before RFC 019 it
+    // could only segfault.
+    let rt = smarm::runtime::init(Config::exact(1).stack_reserve(1024 * 1024));
+    let done = Arc::new(AtomicBool::new(false));
+    let done2 = done.clone();
+    rt.run(move || {
+        spawn(move || {
+            std::hint::black_box(burn_stack(64));
+            done2.store(true, Ordering::SeqCst);
+        })
+        .join()
+        .unwrap();
+    });
+    assert!(done.load(Ordering::SeqCst));
+}

tests/spawn_opts.rs

@@ -0,0 +1,212 @@
+//! RFC 019 commit 2 — the `SpawnOpts` surface.
+//!
+//! Covers: per-spawn stack shape overrides on every spawn surface, the
+//! `None ⇒ Config default` resolution, the pool rule from the outside
+//! (obligation 4: a custom-shaped stack never enters the pool), and that a
+//! big reserve behaviorally takes effect (deep recursion completes).
+
+use smarm::runtime::{Config, DEFAULT_STACK_GUARD, DEFAULT_STACK_RESERVE};
+use smarm::{
+    self_pid, spawn, spawn_under_with, spawn_with, GenServerBuilder, SpawnOpts,
+};
+use std::sync::atomic::{AtomicBool, Ordering};
+use std::sync::Arc;
+
+fn rt1() -> smarm::runtime::Runtime {
+    smarm::runtime::init(Config::exact(1))
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn default_spawn_has_default_shape() {
+    rt1().run(|| {
+        let h = spawn(|| {
+            let shape = smarm::introspect::stack_shape(self_pid()).unwrap();
+            assert_eq!(shape, (DEFAULT_STACK_RESERVE, DEFAULT_STACK_GUARD));
+        });
+        h.join().unwrap();
+    });
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn spawn_with_overrides_reserve_and_guard() {
+    rt1().run(|| {
+        let opts = SpawnOpts {
+            stack_reserve: Some(1024 * 1024),
+            guard_size: Some(256 * 1024),
+        };
+        let h = spawn_with(opts, || {
+            let shape = smarm::introspect::stack_shape(self_pid()).unwrap();
+            assert_eq!(shape, (1024 * 1024, 256 * 1024));
+        });
+        h.join().unwrap();
+    });
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn spawn_with_partial_override_keeps_config_default_for_the_rest() {
+    rt1().run(|| {
+        let opts = SpawnOpts { stack_reserve: Some(1024 * 1024), ..SpawnOpts::default() };
+        let h = spawn_with(opts, || {
+            let shape = smarm::introspect::stack_shape(self_pid()).unwrap();
+            assert_eq!(shape, (1024 * 1024, DEFAULT_STACK_GUARD));
+        });
+        h.join().unwrap();
+    });
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn spawn_with_rounds_to_pages() {
+    rt1().run(|| {
+        let opts = SpawnOpts { stack_reserve: Some(64 * 1024 + 1), guard_size: Some(4097) };
+        let h = spawn_with(opts, || {
+            let (reserve, guard) = smarm::introspect::stack_shape(self_pid()).unwrap();
+            assert_eq!(reserve % 4096, 0);
+            assert_eq!(guard % 4096, 0);
+            assert!(reserve >= 64 * 1024 + 1);
+            assert!(guard >= 4097);
+        });
+        h.join().unwrap();
+    });
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn spawn_under_with_takes_opts() {
+    rt1().run(|| {
+        let me = self_pid();
+        let opts = SpawnOpts { stack_reserve: Some(128 * 1024), ..SpawnOpts::default() };
+        let h = spawn_under_with(me, opts, || {
+            let (reserve, _) = smarm::introspect::stack_shape(self_pid()).unwrap();
+            assert_eq!(reserve, 128 * 1024);
+        });
+        h.join().unwrap();
+    });
+}
+
+/// Obligation 4, from the outside: a dead custom stack must not be handed to
+/// the next default spawn. The pool is LIFO, so if the custom stack had been
+/// (wrongly) pushed at death, the very next default-shaped spawn on this
+/// single-threaded runtime would pop it and report a custom shape.
+#[test]
+fn custom_stack_never_enters_the_pool() {
+    rt1().run(|| {
+        spawn_with(
+            SpawnOpts { stack_reserve: Some(512 * 1024), guard_size: Some(128 * 1024) },
+            || {},
+        )
+        .join()
+        .unwrap();
+        let h = spawn(|| {
+            let shape = smarm::introspect::stack_shape(self_pid()).unwrap();
+            assert_eq!(shape, (DEFAULT_STACK_RESERVE, DEFAULT_STACK_GUARD));
+        });
+        h.join().unwrap();
+    });
+}
+
+/// The reverse direction of the pool rule: a default-shaped stack IS pooled
+/// and reused (cap = threads × 4 ≥ 1 here, pool empty at start).
+#[test]
+fn default_stack_is_recycled() {
+    rt1().run(|| {
+        spawn(|| {}).join().unwrap();
+        let h = spawn(|| {
+            let shape = smarm::introspect::stack_shape(self_pid()).unwrap();
+            assert_eq!(shape, (DEFAULT_STACK_RESERVE, DEFAULT_STACK_GUARD));
+        });
+        h.join().unwrap();
+    });
+}
+
+/// Burn ~`frames` × 4 KiB of stack (see tests/runtime.rs twin).
+#[inline(never)]
+fn burn_stack(frames: usize) -> u64 {
+    let mut local = [0u8; 4096];
+    local[0] = frames as u8;
+    let below = if frames == 0 { 0 } else { burn_stack(frames - 1) };
+    std::hint::black_box(&mut local);
+    below.wrapping_add(local[0] as u64)
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn big_reserve_behaviorally_takes_effect() {
+    // ~1 MiB deep on an 8 MiB per-spawn reserve, runtime default untouched.
+    rt1().run(|| {
+        let done = Arc::new(AtomicBool::new(false));
+        let done2 = done.clone();
+        spawn_with(
+            SpawnOpts { stack_reserve: Some(8 * 1024 * 1024), ..SpawnOpts::default() },
+            move || {
+                std::hint::black_box(burn_stack(256));
+                done2.store(true, Ordering::SeqCst);
+            },
+        )
+        .join()
+        .unwrap();
+        assert!(done.load(Ordering::SeqCst));
+    });
+}
+
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// Builder surfaces
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+struct Echo;
+impl smarm::GenServer for Echo {
+    type Call = ();
+    type Reply = (usize, usize);
+    type Cast = ();
+    type Info = ();
+    type Timer = ();
+    fn handle_call(&mut self, _c: ()) -> (usize, usize) {
+        smarm::introspect::stack_shape(self_pid()).unwrap()
+    }
+    fn handle_cast(&mut self, _c: ()) {}
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn gen_server_builder_stack_opts() {
+    rt1().run(|| {
+        let server = GenServerBuilder::new(Echo)
+            .stack_opts(SpawnOpts { stack_reserve: Some(256 * 1024), ..SpawnOpts::default() })
+            .start();
+        let (reserve, guard) = server.call(()).unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(reserve, 256 * 1024);
+        assert_eq!(guard, DEFAULT_STACK_GUARD);
+        server.shutdown();
+    });
+}
+
+struct Probe;
+impl smarm::Machine for Probe {
+    type Ev = smarm::channel::Sender<(usize, usize)>;
+    fn state_timeout_ev() -> Self::Ev {
+        unreachable!("no timers in this test")
+    }
+    fn timeout_ev(_name: &'static str) -> Self::Ev {
+        unreachable!("no timers in this test")
+    }
+    fn on_start(&mut self, _cx: &mut smarm::Cx<Self::Ev>) {}
+    fn handle(
+        &mut self,
+        ev: Self::Ev,
+        _cx: &mut smarm::Cx<Self::Ev>,
+    ) -> smarm::gen_statem::Step<Self::Ev> {
+        let _ = ev.send(smarm::introspect::stack_shape(self_pid()).unwrap());
+        smarm::gen_statem::Step::Stayed
+    }
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn gen_statem_spawn_with_stack_opts() {
+    rt1().run(|| {
+        let m = smarm::gen_statem::spawn_with(
+            SpawnOpts { stack_reserve: Some(256 * 1024), ..SpawnOpts::default() },
+            Probe,
+        );
+        let (tx, rx) = smarm::channel::channel();
+        m.send(tx).unwrap();
+        let (reserve, guard) = rx.recv().unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(reserve, 256 * 1024);
+        assert_eq!(guard, DEFAULT_STACK_GUARD);
+    });
+}

tests/stack.rs

@@ -7,13 +7,13 @@ use smarm::stack::Stack;
 
 #[test]
 fn top_is_16_byte_aligned() {
-    let s = Stack::new(64 * 1024).unwrap();
+    let s = Stack::new(64 * 1024, 4096).unwrap();
     assert_eq!(s.top() as usize % 16, 0);
 }
 
 #[test]
 fn top_is_within_allocation() {
-    let s = Stack::new(64 * 1024).unwrap();
+    let s = Stack::new(64 * 1024, 4096).unwrap();
     let top = s.top() as usize;
     let base = s.usable_base() as usize;
     assert!(top > base);
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ fn top_is_within_allocation() {
 
 #[test]
 fn write_and_read_top_of_stack() {
-    let s = Stack::new(64 * 1024).unwrap();
+    let s = Stack::new(64 * 1024, 4096).unwrap();
     let sentinel: u64 = 0xDEAD_BEEF_CAFE_1234;
     unsafe {
         let ptr = s.top().sub(8) as *mut u64;
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ fn write_and_read_top_of_stack() {
 
 #[test]
 fn write_and_read_bottom_of_usable_region() {
-    let s = Stack::new(64 * 1024).unwrap();
+    let s = Stack::new(64 * 1024, 4096).unwrap();
     let sentinel: u64 = 0x0102_0304_0506_0708;
     unsafe {
         let ptr = s.usable_base() as *mut u64;
@@ -44,17 +44,17 @@ fn write_and_read_bottom_of_usable_region() {
 
 #[test]
 fn small_stack_allocates() {
-    assert!(Stack::new(4096).is_ok());
+    assert!(Stack::new(4096, 4096).is_ok());
 }
 
 #[test]
 fn large_stack_allocates() {
-    assert!(Stack::new(8 * 1024 * 1024).is_ok());
+    assert!(Stack::new(8 * 1024 * 1024, 4096).is_ok());
 }
 
 #[test]
 fn stack_size_at_least_requested() {
-    let s = Stack::new(64 * 1024).unwrap();
+    let s = Stack::new(64 * 1024, 4096).unwrap();
     assert!(s.stack_size() >= 64 * 1024);
 }
 
@@ -68,15 +68,28 @@ use std::process::Command;
 fn run_as_child_if_requested() {
     match env::var("SMARM_SUBTEST").as_deref() {
         Ok("guard_page_direct") => {
-            let s = Stack::new(64 * 1024).unwrap();
+            let s = Stack::new(64 * 1024, 4096).unwrap();
             unsafe {
                 let guard_ptr = s.usable_base().sub(1);
                 guard_ptr.write_volatile(0xAB);
             }
             std::process::exit(0);
         }
+        Ok("wide_guard_top") => {
+            // One byte below the usable region, 64 KiB guard: must fault.
+            let s = Stack::new(64 * 1024, 64 * 1024).unwrap();
+            unsafe { s.usable_base().sub(1).write_volatile(0xAB); }
+            std::process::exit(0);
+        }
+        Ok("wide_guard_bottom") => {
+            // The very bottom page of a 64 KiB guard: an unprobed C-style
+            // leap over a small guard lands here — must still fault.
+            let s = Stack::new(64 * 1024, 64 * 1024).unwrap();
+            unsafe { s.usable_base().sub(64 * 1024).write_volatile(0xAB); }
+            std::process::exit(0);
+        }
         Ok("stack_overflow") => {
-            let s = Stack::new(64 * 1024).unwrap();
+            let s = Stack::new(64 * 1024, 4096).unwrap();
             unsafe {
                 let mut ptr = s.top().sub(1);
                 let stop = s.usable_base().sub(1);
@@ -121,3 +134,58 @@ fn stack_overflow_causes_sigsegv() {
         assert_eq!(status.signal(), Some(11), "expected SIGSEGV, got: {:?}", status);
     }
 }
+
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// RFC 019 — explicit shape: rounding, guard accessor, wide-guard coverage.
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+#[test]
+fn sizes_round_up_to_page() {
+    let s = Stack::new(64 * 1024 + 1, 4096 + 1).unwrap();
+    assert_eq!(s.stack_size() % 4096, 0);
+    assert_eq!(s.guard_size() % 4096, 0);
+    assert!(s.stack_size() >= 64 * 1024 + 1);
+    assert!(s.guard_size() >= 4096 + 1);
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn shape_reports_rounded_sizes() {
+    let s = Stack::new(64 * 1024, 64 * 1024).unwrap();
+    assert_eq!(s.shape(), (64 * 1024, 64 * 1024));
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn usable_base_sits_above_guard() {
+    let s = Stack::new(64 * 1024, 64 * 1024).unwrap();
+    // The usable region must start exactly guard_size above the mapping
+    // base: a write at usable_base is legal, one byte below is not (the
+    // subprocess tests below prove the "not").
+    let sentinel: u64 = 0x1111_2222_3333_4444;
+    unsafe {
+        let ptr = s.usable_base() as *mut u64;
+        ptr.write_volatile(sentinel);
+        assert_eq!(ptr.read_volatile(), sentinel);
+    }
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn wide_guard_faults_at_top() {
+    run_as_child_if_requested();
+    let status = spawn_subtest("wide_guard_top");
+    #[cfg(unix)]
+    {
+        use std::os::unix::process::ExitStatusExt;
+        assert_eq!(status.signal(), Some(11), "expected SIGSEGV, got: {:?}", status);
+    }
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn wide_guard_faults_at_bottom() {
+    run_as_child_if_requested();
+    let status = spawn_subtest("wide_guard_bottom");
+    #[cfg(unix)]
+    {
+        use std::os::unix::process::ExitStatusExt;
+        assert_eq!(status.signal(), Some(11), "expected SIGSEGV, got: {:?}", status);
+    }
+}

tests/stack_diag.rs

@@ -0,0 +1,141 @@
+//! RFC 019 §7 — overflow diagnostics, observed from outside via subprocess
+//! (mirrors tests/stack.rs's harness, plus stderr capture).
+//!
+//! Four cases:
+//!  - Rust recursion at defaults: probed frames walk into the guard →
+//!    tier-1 definitive message, death by SIGSEGV.
+//!  - FFI canary (96 KiB unprobed C local) at defaults: first touch lands
+//!    inside the 1 MiB guard → tier-1 message.
+//!  - FFI canary with the guard shrunk to 4 KiB: the frame steps over it
+//!    into unmapped VA below → tier-2 "stepped over" message. This is the
+//!    RFC's motivating incident (cargo-vendored gz build) reproduced.
+//!  - FFI canary with reserve raised to 256 KiB: fits, runs clean, exits 0 —
+//!    the §1 knob is the fix, proven by the same frame.
+
+use std::env;
+use std::process::Command;
+
+unsafe extern "C" {
+    fn smarm_canary_burn();
+}
+
+/// Unbounded probed recursion; each frame dirties 4 KiB. black_box defeats
+/// tail-call elision so the walk is real.
+#[inline(never)]
+#[allow(unconditional_recursion)]
+fn recurse_forever(depth: u64) -> u64 {
+    let mut local = [0u8; 4096];
+    local[0] = depth as u8;
+    std::hint::black_box(&mut local);
+    recurse_forever(depth + 1).wrapping_add(local[0] as u64)
+}
+
+fn run_as_child_if_requested() {
+    let mode = match env::var("SMARM_DIAG_SUBTEST") {
+        Ok(m) => m,
+        Err(_) => return,
+    };
+    use smarm::runtime::Config;
+    use smarm::{spawn_with, SpawnOpts};
+    let rt = smarm::runtime::init(Config::exact(1));
+    rt.run(move || {
+        let opts = match mode.as_str() {
+            "rust_overflow" | "ffi_tier1" => SpawnOpts::default(),
+            // Small guard: the canary's 96 KiB displacement clears it.
+            "ffi_tier2" => SpawnOpts { guard_size: Some(4096), ..SpawnOpts::default() },
+            // Enough reserve: the same frame simply fits.
+            "ffi_clean" => SpawnOpts { stack_reserve: Some(256 * 1024), ..SpawnOpts::default() },
+            other => panic!("unknown subtest {other}"),
+        };
+        let is_rust = mode == "rust_overflow";
+        spawn_with(opts, move || {
+            if is_rust {
+                std::hint::black_box(recurse_forever(0));
+            } else {
+                unsafe { smarm_canary_burn() };
+            }
+        })
+        .join()
+        .unwrap();
+    });
+    std::process::exit(0);
+}
+
+fn spawn_subtest(name: &str) -> std::process::Output {
+    let exe = env::current_exe().unwrap();
+    Command::new(exe)
+        .env("SMARM_DIAG_SUBTEST", name)
+        .args(["--test-threads=1", "--quiet"])
+        .output()
+        .expect("failed to spawn subprocess")
+}
+
+#[cfg(unix)]
+fn assert_died_sigsegv(out: &std::process::Output) {
+    use std::os::unix::process::ExitStatusExt;
+    assert_eq!(
+        out.status.signal(),
+        Some(11),
+        "expected death by SIGSEGV, got {:?}; stderr:\n{}",
+        out.status,
+        String::from_utf8_lossy(&out.stderr)
+    );
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn rust_overflow_dies_with_tier1_message() {
+    run_as_child_if_requested();
+    let out = spawn_subtest("rust_overflow");
+    assert_died_sigsegv(&out);
+    let err = String::from_utf8_lossy(&out.stderr);
+    assert!(
+        err.contains("overflowed its stack") && err.contains("in the guard region"),
+        "missing tier-1 diagnostic; stderr:\n{err}"
+    );
+    assert!(err.contains("reserve=65536"), "wrong reserve in message:\n{err}");
+    assert!(err.contains("guard=1048576"), "wrong guard in message:\n{err}");
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn ffi_canary_at_defaults_dies_with_tier1_message() {
+    run_as_child_if_requested();
+    let out = spawn_subtest("ffi_tier1");
+    assert_died_sigsegv(&out);
+    let err = String::from_utf8_lossy(&out.stderr);
+    // 96 KiB displacement from a 64 KiB reserve lands ~32 KiB into the
+    // 1 MiB guard: definitively classified.
+    assert!(
+        err.contains("in the guard region"),
+        "wide guard should catch the unprobed frame in tier 1; stderr:\n{err}"
+    );
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn ffi_canary_over_small_guard_dies_with_tier2_message() {
+    run_as_child_if_requested();
+    let out = spawn_subtest("ffi_tier2");
+    assert_died_sigsegv(&out);
+    let err = String::from_utf8_lossy(&out.stderr);
+    assert!(
+        err.contains("stepped over it") && err.contains("below the guard"),
+        "expected tier-2 overshoot attribution; stderr:\n{err}"
+    );
+    assert!(err.contains("guard=4096"), "wrong guard in message:\n{err}");
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn ffi_canary_with_enough_reserve_runs_clean() {
+    run_as_child_if_requested();
+    let out = spawn_subtest("ffi_clean");
+    assert!(
+        out.status.success(),
+        "canary should fit in 256 KiB reserve, got {:?}; stderr:\n{}",
+        out.status,
+        String::from_utf8_lossy(&out.stderr)
+    );
+    let err = String::from_utf8_lossy(&out.stderr);
+    assert!(
+        !err.contains("smarm: actor"),
+        "no diagnostic expected on the clean path; stderr:\n{err}"
+    );
+}

tests/stack_recycle.rs

@@ -0,0 +1,123 @@
+//! RFC 019 commit 5 — pool recycle zaps a dead stack down to its retained
+//! entry end, observed from the outside.
+//!
+//! A default-shaped stack that spiked deep and then died must not carry its
+//! spike into the pool as resident RSS: `recycle_stack` DONTNEEDs everything
+//! below the top `RECYCLE_RETAIN` bytes before pushing. The zap is
+//! synchronous on the death path, so the drop is immediate — but the death
+//! path itself races the observer's `join` return, hence the brief poll.
+//!
+//! Residency is measured with `mincore`, not smaps: a neighboring rw anon
+//! mapping can land flush against the stack top and the kernel merges the
+//! VMAs (observed under the full test run), so per-mapping smaps fields
+//! over-count. The PROT_NONE guard below can never merge, so the usable
+//! base is exactly the anchor VMA's start, and `mincore` counts pages
+//! within [usable_base, usable_base + reserve) regardless of merging.
+
+use smarm::runtime::{Config, RECYCLE_RETAIN};
+use smarm::{channel, spawn, yield_now};
+
+const RESERVE: usize = 4 * 1024 * 1024;
+
+/// Burn ~`frames` × 4 KiB of stack, dirtying every frame.
+#[inline(never)]
+fn burn_stack(frames: usize) -> u64 {
+    let mut local = [0u8; 4096];
+    local[0] = frames as u8;
+    let below = if frames == 0 { 0 } else { burn_stack(frames - 1) };
+    std::hint::black_box(&mut local);
+    below.wrapping_add(local[0] as u64)
+}
+
+/// Resident-page count over [lo, lo + len) via mincore (len page-aligned).
+fn resident_pages(lo: usize, len: usize) -> usize {
+    let page = 4096;
+    let mut vec = vec![0u8; len / page];
+    let ret = unsafe {
+        libc::mincore(lo as *mut libc::c_void, len, vec.as_mut_ptr())
+    };
+    assert_eq!(ret, 0, "mincore failed: {}", std::io::Error::last_os_error());
+    vec.iter().filter(|&&b| b & 1 != 0).count()
+}
+
+/// The [start, end) of the VMA containing `addr`.
+fn vma_containing(addr: usize) -> (usize, usize) {
+    let maps = std::fs::read_to_string("/proc/self/maps").unwrap();
+    for line in maps.lines() {
+        if let Some((range, _)) = line.split_once(' ') {
+            if let Some((a, b)) = range.split_once('-') {
+                if let (Ok(start), Ok(end)) =
+                    (usize::from_str_radix(a, 16), usize::from_str_radix(b, 16))
+                {
+                    if start <= addr && addr < end {
+                        return (start, end);
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    panic!("no VMA contains {addr:#x}");
+}
+
+fn vma_exists(addr: usize) -> bool {
+    let maps = std::fs::read_to_string("/proc/self/maps").unwrap();
+    for line in maps.lines() {
+        if let Some((range, _)) = line.split_once(' ') {
+            if let Some((a, b)) = range.split_once('-') {
+                if let (Ok(start), Ok(end)) =
+                    (usize::from_str_radix(a, 16), usize::from_str_radix(b, 16))
+                {
+                    if start <= addr && addr < end {
+                        return true;
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    false
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn recycle_zaps_dead_stack_down_to_retain() {
+    // Default reserve raised so the pool holds big stacks (default-shaped ⇒
+    // pooled) and the zap has something to bite; single scheduler.
+    let rt = smarm::runtime::init(Config::exact(1).stack_reserve(RESERVE));
+    rt.run(|| {
+        let (tx, rx) = channel::<usize>();
+
+        let h = spawn(move || {
+            let probe = 0u8;
+            let anchor = &probe as *const u8 as usize;
+            // The guard below is PROT_NONE and can never merge with the
+            // usable region, so the anchor VMA's start IS the usable base.
+            let (vlo, _) = vma_containing(anchor);
+            // Dirty ~3 MiB of the 4 MiB reserve, then die.
+            std::hint::black_box(burn_stack(768));
+            tx.send(vlo).unwrap();
+        });
+
+        let usable_base = rx.recv().unwrap();
+        h.join().unwrap();
+
+        // The zap span is everything below the retained entry end. DONTNEED
+        // on private anon discards synchronously and unconditionally, so
+        // this must go to exactly zero resident pages; the poll only covers
+        // the death path racing join's return.
+        let zap_len = RESERVE - RECYCLE_RETAIN;
+        let mut resident = usize::MAX;
+        for _ in 0..10_000 {
+            resident = resident_pages(usable_base, zap_len);
+            if resident == 0 {
+                break;
+            }
+            yield_now();
+        }
+        assert_eq!(
+            resident, 0,
+            "recycled stack's zap span still resident: {resident} pages in \
+             [{usable_base:#x}, +{zap_len:#x})"
+        );
+        // Pooled, not munmapped: the mapping must still be there.
+        assert!(vma_exists(usable_base), "default-shaped stack was unmapped instead of pooled");
+    });
+}

tests/stack_shrink.rs

@@ -0,0 +1,152 @@
+//! RFC 019 commit 3 — park-path stack shrink, observed from the outside.
+//!
+//! The one integration-level claim of the shrink machinery: an actor that
+//! spikes deep, returns shallow, and then parks past the cooldown gets its
+//! dead span MADV_FREE'd — visible as `LazyFree` in `/proc/self/smaps`
+//! within the stack's address range — while everything live survives.
+//!
+//! The high-water mark is *sampled* at context-save, so the spike yields
+//! once at max depth to guarantee a sample there (in production, preemption
+//! provides the quasi-random samples; a test must not rely on luck).
+
+use smarm::runtime::{Config, SHRINK_COOLDOWN, SHRINK_THRESHOLD};
+use smarm::{actor_info, channel, spawn, spawn_with, yield_now, ActorState, SpawnOpts};
+
+/// Burn ~`frames` × 4 KiB of stack, yielding once at the bottom so the
+/// context-save samples `sp` at max depth.
+#[inline(never)]
+fn burn_stack_yielding(frames: usize) -> u64 {
+    let mut local = [0u8; 4096];
+    local[0] = frames as u8;
+    let below = if frames == 0 {
+        yield_now();
+        0
+    } else {
+        burn_stack_yielding(frames - 1)
+    };
+    std::hint::black_box(&mut local);
+    below.wrapping_add(local[0] as u64)
+}
+
+/// Sum the `LazyFree:` kB of every smaps mapping intersecting [lo, hi).
+fn lazy_free_bytes_in(lo: usize, hi: usize) -> usize {
+    let smaps = std::fs::read_to_string("/proc/self/smaps").unwrap();
+    let mut total_kb = 0usize;
+    let mut in_range = false;
+    for line in smaps.lines() {
+        if let Some((range, _)) = line.split_once(' ') {
+            if let Some((a, b)) = range.split_once('-') {
+                if let (Ok(start), Ok(end)) =
+                    (usize::from_str_radix(a, 16), usize::from_str_radix(b, 16))
+                {
+                    in_range = start < hi && end > lo;
+                    continue;
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        if in_range {
+            if let Some(rest) = line.strip_prefix("LazyFree:") {
+                let kb: usize = rest.trim().trim_end_matches(" kB").trim().parse().unwrap();
+                total_kb += kb;
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    total_kb * 1024
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn spike_then_parks_marks_lazyfree_and_keeps_live_data() {
+    // Single scheduler: the controller can gate on the worker being Parked.
+    let rt = smarm::runtime::init(Config::exact(1));
+    rt.run(|| {
+        let (park_tx, park_rx) = channel::<()>();
+        let (done_tx, done_rx) = channel::<(usize, u64)>();
+
+        let spike = 768 * 4096; // ~3 MiB, well past SHRINK_THRESHOLD
+        assert!(spike > SHRINK_THRESHOLD);
+
+        let worker = spawn_with(
+            SpawnOpts { stack_reserve: Some(8 * 1024 * 1024), ..SpawnOpts::default() },
+            move || {
+                // Live data that must survive the shrink, and an anchor
+                // address inside the stack for the smaps scan.
+                let live = [0xA5u8; 64];
+                let anchor = live.as_ptr() as usize;
+
+                // Spike: ~3 MiB deep, sampled at the bottom, unwound.
+                std::hint::black_box(burn_stack_yielding(768));
+
+                // Park past the cooldown. Each recv on the drained inbox is
+                // one park; the controller sends only when it sees us Parked.
+                for _ in 0..(SHRINK_COOLDOWN + 8) {
+                    park_rx.recv().unwrap();
+                }
+
+                // Measure from inside: the stack spans ≤ 8 MiB below anchor.
+                let lazy = lazy_free_bytes_in(anchor - 8 * 1024 * 1024, anchor + 4096);
+                let checksum = live.iter().map(|&b| b as u64).sum();
+                done_tx.send((lazy, checksum)).unwrap();
+            },
+        );
+
+        let wpid = worker.pid();
+        for _ in 0..(SHRINK_COOLDOWN + 8) {
+            // Gate: send only once the worker is genuinely parked so every
+            // round is a real park-on-empty-mailbox.
+            loop {
+                match actor_info(wpid) {
+                    Some(info) if info.state == ActorState::Parked => break,
+                    Some(_) => yield_now(),
+                    None => panic!("worker died early"),
+                }
+            }
+            park_tx.send(()).unwrap();
+        }
+
+        let (lazy, checksum) = done_rx.recv().unwrap();
+        // The spike was ~3 MiB; demand at least 2 MiB marked to leave slack
+        // for the redzone, rounding, and pages the unwind re-dirtied.
+        assert!(
+            lazy >= 2 * 1024 * 1024,
+            "expected ≥ 2 MiB LazyFree in the stack range, got {} bytes",
+            lazy
+        );
+        assert_eq!(checksum, 64 * 0xA5u64, "live stack data corrupted by shrink");
+        worker.join().unwrap();
+    });
+}
+
+/// Steady-state actors must never pay the syscall: an actor that parks a lot
+/// but never spikes past the threshold ends with zero LazyFree in its stack.
+#[test]
+fn shallow_actor_never_shrinks() {
+    let rt = smarm::runtime::init(Config::exact(1));
+    rt.run(|| {
+        let (park_tx, park_rx) = channel::<()>();
+        let (done_tx, done_rx) = channel::<usize>();
+
+        let worker = spawn(move || {
+            let probe = 0u8;
+            let anchor = &probe as *const u8 as usize;
+            for _ in 0..(SHRINK_COOLDOWN + 8) {
+                park_rx.recv().unwrap();
+            }
+            done_tx.send(lazy_free_bytes_in(anchor - 64 * 1024, anchor + 4096)).unwrap();
+        });
+
+        let wpid = worker.pid();
+        for _ in 0..(SHRINK_COOLDOWN + 8) {
+            loop {
+                match actor_info(wpid) {
+                    Some(info) if info.state == ActorState::Parked => break,
+                    Some(_) => yield_now(),
+                    None => panic!("worker died early"),
+                }
+            }
+            park_tx.send(()).unwrap();
+        }
+
+        assert_eq!(done_rx.recv().unwrap(), 0, "steady-state actor was shrunk");
+        worker.join().unwrap();
+    });
+}