D207 - orbistoun implements obSCEne's protocol

Status: decided Date: 2026-09-26

obSCEne owns the probe protocol and its record format; orbistoun implements them as a client that drives sessions and records the operator's assertion of machine identity, and as a responder that announces only what it serves and identifies itself as an emulator. Unknown commands are refused. No code is shared. Tests and CI never open a socket.

Why: the protocol asks about the platform, not about either program, so obSCEne stays useful to someone with no interest in this emulator. Shared code would couple the builds. A transcript of orbistoun's own answers is graded no higher than assumed, or the project marks its own homework.

Rejected:

• orbistoun shaping the protocol: the probe becomes this emulator's harness.
• A shared parser: a build-time dependency in both directions.
• Improvising an answer to an unknown command: plausible and wrong.