M5: Prelink vendor (php-cfg, php-types, php-llvm) — no composer at cold boot

[PurHur]

Problem

North Star 2 M5 requires no vendor/autoload.php at cold bootstrap while the compiler remains PHP (lib/ + ext/). Today Zend runs bin/compile.php; the self-host bundle uses PHP_COMPILER_SELFHOST_AOT stubs for compiler paths but still expects Composer vendor on disk for php-parser/php-cfg/php-llvm at link time.

Vendor PHP is not compiled from source inside the self-host binary today (see docs/bootstrap-selfhost.md non-goals).

Goal (M5 v1)

Prelink bootstrap vendor as native objects or bitcode (same pattern as lib/AOT/runtime/*.c):

Package	Role
nikic/php-parser	AST
ircmaxell/php-cfg	CFG
ircmaxell/php-types	Types
ircmaxell/php-llvm	LLVM FFI
pre/plugin	Parser plugin

Inventory: php script/bootstrap-vendor-inventory.php → docs/bootstrap-vendor-inventory.md (~497 PHP files).

Deliverable: linked native compiler binary runs script/bootstrap-wave-check.sh without vendor/ tree on PATH.

Implementation hints

Piece	Path	Notes
Inventory	script/bootstrap-vendor-inventory.php	Already lists files; extend with blocker tags
Build	Makefile target bootstrap-vendor-objects	Emit build/bootstrap-vendor/*.o via AOT or clang from generated C
Link	lib/AOT/Linker.php	Link prelinked archive + compiler_minimal / full spine objects
CI	BOOTSTRAP_VENDOR_PRELINK_GATE=0 → 1 in ci-local.sh tail	Opt-in until green
Docs	docs/bootstrap-m5-fast-path.md	Cold-boot story for #1492

Prerequisites (do not skip)

• M3: BOOTSTRAP_M3_HELLOWORLD_STRICT — native HelloWorld emit (no Zend fallback) #1493 / M3: Native HelloWorld runtime segfault in __hashtable__readStringKeyValue (helloworld_compile_smoke) #1514 — M3 native emit stable (hashtable Self-host M3: HashTable rehash for native AOT runtime (#66 → #1514) #1761)
• Self-host M2: land final 3 ext/standard Vm* units in compiler_lib_spine_smoke (578→586) #1821 — M2 spine 582→586 (compiler_lib_spine_smoke complete)
• M2/M5: Retire PHP_COMPILER_SELFHOST_AOT stubs on Compiler compile spine #1520 — shrink PHP_COMPILER_SELFHOST_AOT stub surface before vendor prelink

Acceptance criteria

php script/bootstrap-vendor-inventory.php --check
make bootstrap-vendor-objects   # when target exists
# Cold boot probe (no vendor/):
BOOTSTRAP_VENDOR_PRELINK_GATE=1 ./script/bootstrap-wave-check.sh
docker run --rm -v "$(pwd):/compiler" -w /compiler php-compiler:22.04-dev make bootstrap-selfhost-probe

• CI builds build/bootstrap-vendor/*.o (or .bc archive)
• lib/AOT/Linker.php links prelinked vendor + generated compiler .o
• Self-host probe runs without vendor/ on disk
• Documented in docs/bootstrap-m5-fast-path.md

Non-goals

• GitHub Actions packaging
• Compiling all of Packagist — curated vendor subset only
• Replacing North Star 1 web app work (🌐 North Star 1: Web-capable PHP application (living tracker) #1044)

Links

• Epic Epic: Self-host critical path — compiler compiles itself (M3→M5) #1492 (was 🔄 North Star 2: Compiler fully compiles itself (living tracker) #1056 closed)
• M3 M3: BOOTSTRAP_M3_HELLOWORLD_STRICT — native HelloWorld emit (no Zend fallback) #1493 · M4 M4: Bootstrap loop — native binary rebuilds next compiler revision #1498 · stub retirement M2/M5: Retire PHP_COMPILER_SELFHOST_AOT stubs on Compiler compile spine #1520
• ROADMAP 🗺️ ROADMAP: Self-host + web-capable PHP subset (living) #78 Phase 5 Self-host

[PurHur]

Implementation hints expansion (batch 93)

Prerequisites (updated counts)

Gate	Issue	Status
M3 native emit	#1493 / #1761	🚧 P0
M2 spine closure	#1922 / #1945	📋 595→603 files
Stub retirement	#1520	📋 shrink PHP_COMPILER_SELFHOST_AOT before vendor objects

Replace stale 582→586 references in older comments — SSOT is php script/bootstrap-spine-count.php (595/603 May 2026).

Suggested build pipeline

flowchart LR
  A[composer vendor tree] --> B[script/bootstrap-vendor-inventory.php]
  B --> C[AOT compile subset to .o]
  C --> D[lib/AOT/Linker.php archive]
  D --> E[link with compiler_lib_spine_smoke]
  E --> F[cold boot without vendor/]

Loading

Step	Script / target	Verify
Inventory	php script/bootstrap-vendor-inventory.php --check	file list frozen in md
Objects	make bootstrap-vendor-objects (new)	build/bootstrap-vendor/*.o
Link probe	BOOTSTRAP_VENDOR_PRELINK_GATE=1 ./script/bootstrap-wave-check.sh	no vendor/ on PATH
Docs	docs/bootstrap-m5-fast-path.md	cold-boot story for #1492

CI gate pattern (local only)

# script/ci-defaults.env
BOOTSTRAP_VENDOR_PRELINK_GATE="${BOOTSTRAP_VENDOR_PRELINK_GATE:-0}"

Opt-in in ci-local.sh llvm tail until probe green — same pattern as #1866 / #1921.

Files to touch first

• script/bootstrap-vendor-inventory.php — blocker tags per package
• lib/AOT/Linker.php — link prebuilt archive + spine objects
• Makefile — bootstrap-vendor-objects prerequisite on bootstrap-selfhost-link