neuron-tai/.scratch/distributed-gguf-runtime/issues/029-create-the-native-cmake-skeleton-and-deterministic-cpu-lane.md

DGR-029: Create the native CMake skeleton and deterministic CPU lane

• Status / triage: specification only; ready-for-agent; passes: false
• Execution mode: AFK
• Milestone: M1
• Dependencies: DGR-027, DGR-028
• Blocks (derived): DGR-030, DGR-034
• Labels: area:build, type:toolchain, priority:p0, ready-for-agent
• Evidence class: model-free
• Hardware: none
• Model: generic
• Upstream: yes

Objective / description

Fresh Ralph session: read .scratch/distributed-gguf-runtime/RALPH-CONTEXT.md, source issue .scratch/distributed-gguf-runtime/issues/029-create-the-native-cmake-skeleton-and-deterministic-cpu-lane.md, and evidence READMEs for dependencies (DGR-027, DGR-028) before changing code. Inspect live source/tests rather than trusting legacy pass states. Objective: Establish an out-of-tree standalone native build with a deterministic CPU lane before accelerator matrix work.

Acceptance criteria

• Create the standalone native CMake target/skeleton and isolated out-of-tree configure/build preset for CPU.
• Build and run a deterministic model-free CPU smoke/CTest lane from a clean checkout with actionable toolchain failures.
• Keep fetched upstream sources, generated bindings, and all build outputs ignored and out of tree.
• Ensure build success alone does not advertise any backend/model/recipe capability.
• Applicable shared quality gates in prd.json pass, and the evidence handoff records exact commands/results, changed files, limitations, and dependency handoff.

Shared quality gates

• Targeted deterministic tests pass; Python changes also pass python -m compileall packages tests.
• git diff --check passes.
• Default tests are model-download-free, API-credit-free, and GPU-free.
• Evidence README records exact changed files, commands/results, limitations, and dependency handoff; no fabricated evidence or inherited completion credit.
• Native changes pass focused out-of-tree CMake build and CTest; patch changes verify clean apply/check/reverse against the exact llama.cpp pin.
• Runs are opt-in and record exact artifact/split hashes, runtime/upstream pin, backend/driver, hardware, network, commands, and raw metrics. Model artifacts use configured mounted-drive storage and never /home.
• Preserve existing Transformers behavior and backend-agnostic Tracker routing/load balancing/billing/relay semantics unless an explicit versioned contract says otherwise. One scoped story commit is expected during execution, but this specification-materialization change is not committed.

Evidence handoff

Write and verify .scratch/distributed-gguf-runtime/evidence/DGR-029/README.md. Until every criterion and applicable gate has real evidence, this story remains passes: false. Legacy evidence is provenance only, not completion credit.