the project lead, 4 Oct 2026 evening: "we need to make our miner better than anything else can be". The compile-ahead pipeline
built one kernel per program; it now builds a catalogue (unroll 2 or 8; the dataset load path __ldg, __ldcg, __ldcs
on NVIDIA; a register budget by --maxrregcount or __launch_bounds__, max_total_threads_per_threadgroup on Apple;
2, 4, 8 warps per block or 64 to 256 threads per threadgroup; combinations), self-tests each against the pack's
vector warps (NVIDIA) or the base kernel over 2^16 nonces (Metal), bit for bit or out, and times each for about two
seconds with the job loop paused (one mutex, mining resumes between variants). Base is the pack's text as shipped,
always first, never discarded; a race has a budget (default 120 s against the 600-DAA lead) and keeps the best so
far when it runs out, so the swap is never delayed. One line per race: variants, MH/s each, winner, gain, time.
A tuning file (--tuning, IGNEUM_TUNING_FILE) pins a variant or orders the candidates per card model.
NVIDIA: textual rewrites on the pack's own kernel_bound.cu with exact anchors from igneum-pow's emitter, so the
pack format, the miner and igneum-pow are untouched and old packs race. --race --pack <dir> runs the race alone.
Under IGNEUM_EMU the race is off (the stand-in checks the handed-over text is the pack's). Metal: the MSL hooks in
generateMSL, a lock-protected kernel slot per program, a pair compiled inline races after its first job,
--race-test --seed --day runs the race alone with a table. OpenCL is not raced yet. docs/design/miner-tuning.md.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5.1 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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