# Decision 0003: Golden Reference Strategy

Status: `Locked`

## Context

The project needs software references for:

- early boot and subsystem trace comparison,
- broader behavior cross-checking,
- dispute resolution when implementations differ.

The main candidates were DobieStation, PCSX2, Play!, or a custom-purpose
reference.

## Options considered

1. DobieStation as sole primary reference.
2. PCSX2 as sole primary reference.
3. Multiple references with role separation.
4. Play! as primary reference.
5. Purpose-built minimal reference.

## Decision

Adopt `multiple references with role separation`.

Role split:

- DobieStation: early boot and subsystem-oriented trace comparison.
- PCSX2: breadth and behavior cross-checking.
- Sony documentation and authoritative hardware references: tiebreak when
  available.

This project does not treat PCSX2 as a mere fallback; it is a peer reference
used for a different purpose.

## Consequences

- Validation infrastructure must be able to normalize traces from more than one
  reference source.
- Some disagreements will require manual triage rather than simple "reference
  wins" logic.
- The project gets a smaller, more coherent early trace oracle while retaining
  access to broader real-world emulator behavior.
- The validation contract and stub-module plan should name which reference is
  used for each milestone.
