From ea477b8786ed0194099de77a7e4bbc3fb701af1c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: samuelburnham <45365069+samuelburnham@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 2026 15:28:27 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] zisk/sp1: make guest crates standalone workspace roots
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The zkVM guest crates (zisk/guest, zisk/agg-guest, sp1/guest) are compiled
out-of-tree for the riscv target by the zkVM build scripts, never as part
of the host workspace. They carried no `[workspace]` of their own and
relied purely on the ancestor manifests' `exclude` lists to be treated as
standalone.

That breaks under a NESTED checkout. The benchmark base-run (bench-pr.yml)
checks the base repo out under `base/` INSIDE the PR checkout, so the base
guest lives at `base/zisk/guest`. The root manifest's `exclude = ["zisk",
"sp1"]` is relative, so it covers `./zisk` but not `./base/zisk`; cargo's
workspace search for the base guest walks up past `base/zisk` (which
excludes it) to the outer PR-checkout root, which neither lists nor
excludes it, and `ziskbuild`'s `cargo metadata` call panics with "current
package believes it's in a workspace when it's not". The base-side
`zisk-host` build then fails and the main column of the bench comparison
comes up empty (seen on the zisk-InitStd-execute base run).

Give each guest its own empty `[workspace]` table so cargo pins its
workspace to the crate itself and never walks up to an ancestor,
regardless of nesting — exactly what the cargo error recommends. Verified
by reproducing the nested layout: without the table cargo emits the exact
error; with it, resolution no longer reaches the outer workspace. The
guests use no `workspace = true` inheritance, so a standalone root changes
nothing else.
---
 sp1/guest/Cargo.toml      | 10 ++++++++++
 zisk/agg-guest/Cargo.toml | 10 ++++++++++
 zisk/guest/Cargo.toml     | 10 ++++++++++
 3 files changed, 30 insertions(+)

diff --git a/sp1/guest/Cargo.toml b/sp1/guest/Cargo.toml
index 9caf05403..08ac08645 100644
--- a/sp1/guest/Cargo.toml
+++ b/sp1/guest/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,3 +1,13 @@
+# Standalone workspace root. This guest crate is compiled out-of-tree for
+# the zkVM target and never joins the host Cargo workspace; its own (empty)
+# `[workspace]` pins cargo's upward workspace search to this directory.
+# Without it, a NESTED checkout — e.g. the benchmark base-run, which checks
+# the base repo out under `base/` inside the PR checkout — lets cargo walk
+# past the relative `exclude` paths in the outer manifests and resolve this
+# crate to the outer workspace, failing the build script with "current
+# package believes it's in a workspace when it's not".
+[workspace]
+
 [package]
 name = "sp1-guest"
 version = "0.1.0"
diff --git a/zisk/agg-guest/Cargo.toml b/zisk/agg-guest/Cargo.toml
index 5f7d55e59..a20515c99 100644
--- a/zisk/agg-guest/Cargo.toml
+++ b/zisk/agg-guest/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,3 +1,13 @@
+# Standalone workspace root. This guest crate is compiled out-of-tree for
+# the zkVM target and never joins the host Cargo workspace; its own (empty)
+# `[workspace]` pins cargo's upward workspace search to this directory.
+# Without it, a NESTED checkout — e.g. the benchmark base-run, which checks
+# the base repo out under `base/` inside the PR checkout — lets cargo walk
+# past the relative `exclude` paths in the outer manifests and resolve this
+# crate to the outer workspace, failing the build script with "current
+# package believes it's in a workspace when it's not".
+[workspace]
+
 [package]
 name = "zisk-agg-guest"
 version = "0.1.0"
diff --git a/zisk/guest/Cargo.toml b/zisk/guest/Cargo.toml
index 060b5f523..fe3b6e2b9 100644
--- a/zisk/guest/Cargo.toml
+++ b/zisk/guest/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,3 +1,13 @@
+# Standalone workspace root. This guest crate is compiled out-of-tree for
+# the zkVM target and never joins the host Cargo workspace; its own (empty)
+# `[workspace]` pins cargo's upward workspace search to this directory.
+# Without it, a NESTED checkout — e.g. the benchmark base-run, which checks
+# the base repo out under `base/` inside the PR checkout — lets cargo walk
+# past the relative `exclude` paths in the outer manifests and resolve this
+# crate to the outer workspace, failing the build script with "current
+# package believes it's in a workspace when it's not".
+[workspace]
+
 [package]
 name = "zisk-guest"
 version = "0.1.0"