init in compile mode is ~2.4 s (tier loading, analyzer self-compile, macro
recompilation), paid by every process that builds a ctx from source — each
jpm-test file, embedders, workers. init-cached marshals the built ctx to a
disk image (same root-env dicts as snapshot/fork) and later processes
unmarshal it in ~5 ms, any process: nothing from the baking process is
needed at load.
The cache key fingerprints the embedded .clj stdlib (which covers jolt-core:
analyzer, IR, core tiers), the .janet seed sources next to the module, the
janet version, the init opts, and the env knobs that shape a ctx (JOLT_PATH/
MUTABLE/AOT_CORE/FEATURES) — any change rebuilds. Corrupt or non-ctx images
fall back to a rebuild (unmarshal of garbage can 'succeed' with a scalar, so
the shape is checked, not just the throw). Writes are atomic (tmp + rename)
so racing cold starts never publish a torn image. JOLT_NO_IMAGE_CACHE=1
opts out; JOLT_IMAGE_CACHE_DIR overrides the location (default TMPDIR).
Test consumers switch to init-cached (harness, suite-worker, conformance,
the behavioral unit/integration tests); tests that validate the bootstrap
itself (bootstrap-fixpoint, staged-bootstrap, aot round-trip, direct-linking)
and the deps tests (tmp-dir :paths would fragment the key) keep real init.
Full jpm test: 2:46 -> 1:58 (~29%). New ctx-image-test covers cold/warm,
cross-process load (subprocess runs defn/redef/macros/protocols/multimethods
off the baked image), per-opts keying, and corrupt-image fallback.
The Clojure stdlib namespaces (clojure.string/set/walk/edn/zip, jolt.http/
interop/shell/nrepl) were loaded cwd-relative, so the built binary couldn't
load them outside the repo. Now stdlib_embed slurps them all at build time into
a {ns -> source} map frozen in the image, and the loader falls back to it when a
namespace isn't found on disk. The artifact is self-contained — clojure.string
works from any directory.
Drops the one-off nREPL source embed (jolt.nrepl is covered by this now). The
baked-in stdlib is excluded from uberscript bundles since it's part of the
runtime. clojure.core is unchanged (Janet, auto-referred).
Test: embedded-stdlib-test requires from the embedded copy with FS roots cleared.
