# Critical Blocker: ARM64 NIP Static Build

## Status: LINK PHASE FAILING

### Root Cause Analysis
The `nim c` command compiles all source files to ARM64 object files successfully, but the **final link step is silently failing**. 

**Evidence:**
1. All `.c` → `.o` compilation succeeds (ARM64 object files created in `/tmp/nip-arm64-cache/`)
2. Linker command executes but **lacks `-o` flag specifying output path**
3. Build returns exit code 0 (success) but no binary produced
4. `-o:build/arm64/nip` argument to `nim c` is being ignored or not passed to linker

### Linker Command (from diagnostic output):
```bash
aarch64-linux-gnu-gcc [hundreds of .o files] \
  -pthread -lm -lrt \
  -L/path/to/zstd-1.5.5/lib \
  -L/path/to/libressl-3.8.2/ssl/.libs \
  -L/path/to/libressl-3.8.2/crypto/.libs \
  -L/path/to/libressl-3.8.2/tls/.libs \
  -static -lssl -lcrypto -ltls -lzstd -lpthread -ldl -lm -lresolv \
  -Wl,-O1 -Wl,--sort-common -Wl,--as-needed -Wl,-z,relro -Wl,-z,now -Wl,-z,pack-relative-relocs
```

**MISSING:** `-o /path/to/output/binary`

### Attempted Solutions
1. ✅ Built LibreSSL 3.8.2 static (16MB crypto + 3.5MB ssl + 550KB tls) for ARM64
2. ✅ Built Zstd 1.5.5 static (1.2MB) for ARM64  
3. ✅ Created GCC wrapper to filter x86 flags (`-mpclmul`, etc.)
4. ✅ Used `--dynlibOverride:ssl --dynlibOverride:crypto` to prevent dlopen()
5. ❌ Multiple output path specifications (`-o:`, `--out:`) all ignored
6. ❌ Force rebuild with `-f` - still no output
7. ❌ Absolute paths - still no output

### Hypothesis
Nim's ARM64 cross-compilation may have a bug where the `-o` flag isn't being passed through to the final linker invocation when using `--gcc.linkerexe:aarch64-linux-gnu-gcc`.

### Recommended Next Steps

**Option A: Manual Link (Immediate)**
1. Use the object files already compiled in `/tmp/nip-arm64-cache/`
2. Manually invoke `aarch64-linux-gnu-gcc` with proper `-o` flag
3. Create binary directly

**Option B: Different Nim Output Strategy**
1. Try `--compileOnly` to generate C code
2. Use custom Makefile for linking phase
3. Bypass Nim's linker invocation entirely

**Option C: Investigate Nim Bug**
1. Check if this is a known Nim cross-compilation issue
2. Try older/newer Nim version
3. Report bug to Nim if not known

**Current Time Impact:** ~3 hours spent debugging LibreSSL/Zstd static linking - successfully resolved. ~1 hour on output path issue - unresolved.
