October 2025 focused on delivering a robust Baremetal ARM development environment and CI for MPS3 AN547, expanding build flexibility, stabilizing CI workflows, and advancing ML-DSA/OQS automation and native backend performance across two repositories.

2025-09 highlights: Delivered core MLD safety and configurability improvements across pq-code-package/mldsa-native and pq-code-package/mlkem-c-aarch64, focusing on business value and reliability. Key features delivered include memory operation wrappers (mld_memcpy/mld_memset) with usage migrations, and a new MLD configuration options framework with a custom random bytes pattern (MLD_CONFIG_CUSTOM_RANDOMBYTES). CI and tooling were modernized with configuration-options tests, randomness tests, and CI action upgrades, plus tooling updates (bitwuzla, Zig 0.15, and Nix shells). Deterministic builds were enabled via a basic deterministic example and a CI-exclusion option, along with guards to disable randomized APIs for compatibility. Verification and quality improvements were accelerated by standalone CBMC proofs for crypto_kem checks, expanded correctness checks, and lint/contract checks in mlkem-native.

August 2025 monthly summary for pq-code-package team: Delivered cross-repo enhancements in mldsa-native and dependency updates in mlkem-c-aarch64, focusing on robust testing, improved tooling UX, and code safety. Key outcomes include: advanced code size measurement tooling; ACVP multi-version testing with on-the-fly vectors and version argument; CI modernization with GCC 15 support; linting/formatting UX improvements with colorized output and license checks; correctness and bounds fixes in poly.c addressing overflow; upgraded Bitwuzla in nix build to 0.8.2 for more stable solving. These changes reduce risk, speed up validation cycles, and improve developer experience.

July 2025 monthly summary for pq-code-package/mldsa-native: Focused on strengthening cryptographic correctness and reliability through formal verification, in-depth signing module improvements, and CI-driven quality gates. Delivered formal verification proofs for critical crypto_sign paths, enhanced signing module reliability and code quality, and expanded CI/test coverage to prevent regressions. These efforts reduce risk in crypto signing/verification paths, improve maintainability, and enable broader future verification work.

June 2025 monthly summary focusing on developer work across pq-code-package/mldsa-native and pq-code-package/mlkem-c-aarch64. Emphasis on delivering features that improve CI stability, validation coverage, and build tooling, while strengthening verification and testing analytics. Key features delivered: - mldsa-native: • CI and testing infrastructure cleanup: removed deprecated Zig shells (0.10/0.11), dropped NISTKAT tests, and updated ACVP test data to 1.1.0.40 to streamline the pipeline while preserving coverage. • NTT scaling and verification improvements: added mld_fqscale for field element scaling, refactored invntt_tomont to use the new scaling, and strengthened CBMC proofs with tighter post-conditions and bounds for NTT operations. • SLOTHY dependency upgrade and build tooling: upgraded SLOTHY to HEAD (as of 2025-06-13) and added Neoverse-N1 models plus GCC as a build dependency to support mlkem-native functionality. - mlkem-c-aarch64: • Enhanced Testing Framework: Code Size Reporting and ACVP Test Vector Validation: added code size measurement in testing scripts and Makefiles across examples/root, integrated size reporting into tests, updated ACVP vectors to 1.1.0.40 with new key generation and encapsulation tests, and added crypto_kem_check_pk/check_sk validation functions, including a workaround for an ACVP vector format change. Major bugs fixed: - Reduced CI flakiness and maintenance burden by removing deprecated Zig shells and NISTKAT tests, which previously introduced CI-related brittleness. - Updated ACVP test data and formats to 1.1.0.40 to resolve vector-format discrepancies and ensure reliable test outcomes. Overall impact and accomplishments: - Significantly improved CI speed and reliability, resulting in more frequent and dependable validation cycles. - Strengthened cryptographic verification through stronger CBMC post-conditions and bounds for NTT/invntt operations. - Broadened build applicability by adding Neoverse-N1 support and GCC as a dependency, enabling more representative hardware footprints for mlkem-native. - Enhanced testing analytics with code size reporting, enabling better code growth management and performance budgeting. Technologies/skills demonstrated: - CI/CD optimization (Nix, Zig), ACVP protocol handling, CBMC formal verification, code size measurement, Makefile-centric automation, Neoverse-N1/GCC build tooling, and test data/version management.

May 2025 performance highlights for pq-code-package repositories. Delivered reliability, security, and maintainability improvements with verifiable cryptographic enhancements and up-to-date test data. Key outcomes include robust CI post-check behavior, alignment with the latest ACVP specification, and formal verification work using CBMC for cryptographic primitives.