[Sunrisepeak]

openkal 0.22.0 --- the null device at a position

KAL_SPAWN_NULL_IN, KAL_SPAWN_NULL_OUT and KAL_SPAWN_NULL_ERR give a position of a started program the environment's null device: the program reads the end of input there and every write is accepted and discarded. KAL_PROCESS_PROP_NULL_STREAMS claims them; an implementation that does not claim them reports kal_err_not_supported, and a flag beside a non-zero stream at the same position is kal_err_invalid (clause 7.15, clause 11 entry 47).

Why: an ok image of clangd on Windows starts every module worker with standard input and output sent to /dev/null (LLVM's ExecuteNoWait); the image's preopens there are volumes, the C library finds no such name, and each start fails with ENOENT. The device is the environment's (/dev/null, NUL); a C library can serve a program's own reads and writes of it without the environment, but a started program needs a handle of the environment at the position, which a library could otherwise supply only as a channel drained by the caller for as long as the program runs.

• No new name: kal_spawn's layout and SURFACE.txt are unchanged; a loader's binding table is unchanged.
• Conformance: a copy given the device at its three positions reads the end of input and writes in full; a flag beside a stream is invalid; an implementation that does not claim the flags refuses them; the capability word holds no unassigned position.
• Design record: .agents/docs/2026-11-03-openkal-0.22-design.md.

Implementations: openkal-linux 0.23.0, openkal-macos 0.20.0, openkal-windows 0.18.0, openkal-emscripten 0.11.0 (branches openkal-0.22).