From 8ce8656de2ede82eacd91351b71f98e7fd7dd339 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Will Anderson <will.anderson@neurontechnologies.ai>
Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2026 10:14:43 -0500
Subject: [PATCH] epm: declare cross-module callees as extern fn so strict
 compilers accept generated C

epm's sibling modules (registry/install/update) call functions defined in other
modules and in the El runtime (config, read_installed, registry_find,
manifest_deps, manifest_name, registry_latest_version, registry_token,
install_vessel, installed_version) without importing them, so elc emits no C
prototype for those calls. gcc<=13 treated the resulting implicit declarations
as warnings; gcc>=14 and clang reject them as hard errors, which is why the
"Build epm" CI step fails and blocks the whole dev/stage pipeline.

Add `extern fn` forward declarations -- El's own separate-compilation mechanism
-- for each cross-module callee at the top of registry/install/update. This
gives elc the correct C prototype in every generated translation unit, so the
calls compile cleanly and still resolve at link time. Simply suppressing
-Wimplicit-function-declaration would be unsafe: an implicit int return
truncates the 64-bit pointer returns of config/registry_find into a latent
crash, so declaring the true signatures is the correct fix. Localized to epm;
touches neither elc nor the runtime.
---
 epm/src/install.el  | 10 ++++++++++
 epm/src/registry.el |  9 +++++++++
 epm/src/update.el   |  9 +++++++++
 3 files changed, 28 insertions(+)

diff --git a/epm/src/install.el b/epm/src/install.el
index 882fc90..1561cf8 100644
--- a/epm/src/install.el
+++ b/epm/src/install.el
@@ -17,6 +17,16 @@
 //   4. Append dep to order after all its transitive deps
 //   5. Deduplicate: skip already-ordered vessels
 
+// ── Cross-module forward declarations ─────────────────────────────────────────
+// Defined in sibling epm modules; resolved at link time. The `extern fn` decls
+// give elc the C prototypes so generated install.c compiles cleanly under strict
+// compilers (gcc>=14 / clang) that reject implicit function declarations.
+extern fn manifest_name(src: String) -> String                        // manifest.el
+extern fn manifest_deps(src: String) -> String                        // manifest.el
+extern fn registry_token() -> String                                  // registry.el
+extern fn registry_find(name: String, version: String) -> String     // registry.el
+extern fn registry_latest_version(name: String) -> String            // registry.el
+
 // ── Install paths ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
 // packages_dir returns the root directory for installed vessels.
diff --git a/epm/src/registry.el b/epm/src/registry.el
index 8e1b2b5..d6f9730 100644
--- a/epm/src/registry.el
+++ b/epm/src/registry.el
@@ -14,6 +14,15 @@
 //   EPM_REGISTRY_ORG — org name that hosts vessel repos (default: neuron-technologies)
 //   EPM_TOKEN      — Gitea personal access token (required for publish)
 
+// ── Cross-module forward declarations ─────────────────────────────────────────
+// These symbols are defined in sibling epm modules or the El runtime and are
+// resolved at link time. The `extern fn` decls give elc the C prototype so the
+// generated registry.c compiles cleanly under strict compilers (gcc>=14 / clang)
+// that reject implicit function declarations. Signature arity must match the
+// definition; return/param types are informational (all lower to el_val_t).
+extern fn config(key: String) -> String          // El runtime builtin
+extern fn read_installed() -> String              // install.el
+
 // ── Config helpers ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
 // registry_api_url returns the Gitea API base URL with no trailing slash.
diff --git a/epm/src/update.el b/epm/src/update.el
index 42f60a5..3804ab2 100644
--- a/epm/src/update.el
+++ b/epm/src/update.el
@@ -6,6 +6,15 @@
 // Depends on: registry.el (registry_latest_version, registry_find),
 //             install.el  (read_installed, install_vessel, installed_version)
 
+// ── Cross-module forward declarations ─────────────────────────────────────────
+// Defined in sibling epm modules; resolved at link time. The `extern fn` decls
+// give elc the C prototypes so generated update.c compiles cleanly under strict
+// compilers (gcc>=14 / clang) that reject implicit function declarations.
+extern fn read_installed() -> String                                  // install.el
+extern fn installed_version(name: String) -> String                   // install.el
+extern fn install_vessel(name: String, version: String) -> Bool      // install.el
+extern fn registry_latest_version(name: String) -> String            // registry.el
+
 // ── Semver helpers ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
 // semver_part extracts the Nth dot-separated component from a semver string.