fix(abcip): unblock the controller-browse gate, and fix the decoder it exposed (#468)
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The AbCip controller browse could never be verified end to end: libplctag's
ab_server answers CIP service 0x55 (Get Instance Attribute List) on the Symbol
Object class with "unsupported", so the `@tags` walk had no backend. #468's own
definition of done offered a sim that serves `@tags` as an alternative to real
hardware; this is that.

The fixture now applies a vendored patch teaching ab_server to serve the Symbol
Object listing, with partial-transfer paging. Correctness is checked against
libplctag's own `list_tags_logix` rather than against our decoder — our decoder
is the thing under test, so its agreement would prove nothing. The clone is also
pinned to a concrete tag: the Dockerfile called `--branch release` "pinned" while
tracking a branch that moves.

That immediately exposed a real defect. CipSymbolObjectDecoder advanced to an
even byte boundary after each symbol name, but entries are packed with no
padding — libplctag walks them by sizeof(entry) + string_len, and a captured
reply confirms it. Any odd-length name therefore desynchronised every entry
behind it, and odd-length names are ordinary. In the live browse below,
`Motor_Run` is 9 bytes and first on the wire, so the old decoder would have
shown that one tag and silently dropped the other eight.

Every existing multi-entry test passed throughout, because the test builder
padded exactly as the decoder did: the two agreed with each other and neither
agreed with a controller. The builder no longer pads, and the layout is pinned
by a captured reply (CipSymbolObjectWireCaptureTests) instead of by a second
statement of the assumption. Restoring the alignment step reddens exactly the
three new tests and none of the 29 others.

Live gate on docker-dev, all three of #468's criteria:
  - populated tree — all nine seeded tags render as leaves, in wire order
  - refresh re-captures
  - leaf commit — Pump_1_Speed + TestDINT saved with their CIP tag paths

The gate also surfaced two things it was not asked about: browse-commit drops
the discovered data type, so a browsed REAL commits as a DINT and the driver
decodes it as one (filed as #536), and Test Connect fails against this fixture
regardless of the device because it probes `@raw_cpu_type` (documented).

TwinCAT and FOCAS still have no browsable backend; #468's AbCip half is closed,
theirs is not.

Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_015p7wGqy3YpZNCpDzTpGMKo
This commit is contained in:
Joseph Doherty
2026-08-01 12:25:15 -04:00
parent 1a1dbc3f00
commit c2c3c52274
8 changed files with 485 additions and 24 deletions
@@ -12,6 +12,47 @@ clone needs Docker Desktop and nothing else.
|---|---|
| [`Dockerfile`](Dockerfile) | Multi-stage: build from libplctag at pinned tag → copy binary into `debian:bookworm-slim` runtime image |
| [`docker-compose.yml`](docker-compose.yml) | One service per family (`controllogix` / `compactlogix` / `micro800` / `guardlogix`); all bind `:44818` |
| [`patches/`](patches/) | Applied to the libplctag checkout before the build — see [Local patches](#local-patches) |
## Local patches
`patches/0001-ab_server-serve-cip-symbol-object-listing.patch` teaches `ab_server`
to answer **CIP service 0x55 (Get Instance Attribute List) on class 0x6B**, the
Symbol Object listing a client reads through the `@tags` pseudo-tag to enumerate
a controller's symbol table. Upstream answers `unsupported`, which is what left
the AbCip controller browse unverifiable (Gitea #468) — the browse binding was
proven alive, but no backend ever returned a tag.
Two things worth knowing before touching it:
- **The reply layout is fixed to the attribute set libplctag asks for** —
`{0x02 symbol type, 0x07 element size, 0x08 array dimensions, 0x01 symbol
name}`. A request for a different set is refused rather than answered with a
differently-shaped reply the client would misparse.
- **Entries are packed with no padding.** The next entry begins on the byte
after the last name byte, even on an odd offset. This is not a detail of the
fixture: it is what a controller does, and assuming otherwise is exactly the
decoder defect the gate found.
Correctness is checked against **libplctag's own `list_tags_logix`** client, not
against our decoder — our decoder is the thing under test, so agreeing with it
would prove nothing. `list_tags_logix` is the reference implementation exercised
against real Logix hardware:
```bash
git clone --depth 1 --branch v2.7.0 https://github.com/libplctag/libplctag.git
cd libplctag && cmake -S . -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release && cmake --build build --parallel
./build/bin_dist/list_tags_logix 10.100.0.35 1,0 # expect all nine tags, "SUCCESS!"
```
Partial-transfer paging is exercised the same way by starting `ab_server` with a
few hundred tags: all of them should come back, with no duplicates and no gaps
at the page boundaries.
**Bumping `LIBPLCTAG_TAG` means re-checking the patch against the new tag.** It
is a concrete tag rather than the `release` branch precisely so that this stays
a deliberate act — the branch moves, and the Dockerfile previously called it
"pinned" while tracking it.
## Run
@@ -64,7 +105,7 @@ place means updating both.
| Family | Seeded tags | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| ControlLogix | `TestDINT` `TestREAL` `TestBOOL` `TestSINT` `TestString` `TestArray` | Widest-coverage; PR 9 baseline. UDT emulation missing from ab_server |
| ControlLogix | `TestDINT` `TestREAL` `TestBOOL` `TestSINT` `TestString` `TestArray` `Pump_1_Speed` `Line1_Count` `Motor_Run` | Widest-coverage; PR 9 baseline. UDT emulation missing from ab_server. The last three serve the controller-browse gate and are additive — the read/write suites key off the `Test*` tags. `Motor_Run` (9), `Line1_Count` (11) and `TestArray` (9) have **odd-length names on purpose**: entries are unpadded, so an odd name puts every following entry on an odd offset, and a decoder that assumes even alignment loses everything behind it |
| CompactLogix | `TestDINT` `TestREAL` `TestBOOL` | Narrow ConnectionSize cap enforced driver-side; ab_server accepts any size |
| Micro800 | `TestDINT` `TestREAL` | ab_server has no `micro800` mode; falls back to `controllogix` emulation |
| GuardLogix | `TestDINT` `SafetyDINT_S` | ab_server has no safety subsystem; `_S` suffix triggers driver-side classification only |
@@ -73,7 +114,17 @@ place means updating both.
- **No UDT / CIP Template Object emulation** — `ab_server` covers atomic
types only. UDT reads + task #194 whole-UDT optimization verify via
unit tests with golden byte buffers.
unit tests with golden byte buffers. The Symbol Object patch above lists
symbols, including their types; it does not add Template Object support, so a
browsed UDT still cannot be expanded into members here.
- **No `@raw_cpu_type`** — the driver's Test Connect probe falls back to that
pseudo-tag when a device has no authored tags, and `ab_server` answers
`ErrorBadParam`. So **Test Connect reports failure against this fixture even
when the device is fine**, and browse works regardless. Author one tag and the
probe uses it instead.
- **Controller-scope listing only** — a program-scope listing arrives with a
leading symbolic segment naming the program, and `ab_server` has no notion of
programs. `Program:`-scoped tags cannot be browsed here.
- **Family-specific quirks trust driver-side code** — ab_server emulates
a generic Logix CPU; the ConnectionSize cap, empty-path unconnected
mode, and safety-partition write rejection all need lab rigs for