#include <stdint.h>
#define ptr uintptr_t

int H(ptr p, ptr i)
{ // Determine infinitely nested x86 emulation
}

void P(ptr x)
{ H(x, x);
}

int main()
{ printf("H is called in infinitely nested emulation = ", H(P, P));
}

H would use an x86 emulator to emulate its input in debug step mode.

Since people are telling me that my solution is incorrect I am giving
them an opportunity to either correct my errors or failing that show
that their software engineering skills are insufficient to analyze the
problem as presented.

--
Copyright 2021 Pete Olcott

"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre
minds." Einstein

On Thursday, September 23, 2021 at 1:30:27 PM UTC-5, olcott wrote:
> #include <stdint.h>
> #define ptr uintptr_t
>
> int H(ptr p, ptr i)
> {
> // Determine infinitely nested x86 emulation
> }
>
> void P(ptr x)
> {
> H(x, x);
> }
>
> int main()
> {
> printf("H is called in infinitely nested emulation = ", H(P, P));
> }
>
> H would use an x86 emulator to emulate its input in debug step mode.
>
> Since people are telling me that my solution is incorrect I am giving
> them an opportunity to either correct my errors or failing that show
> that their software engineering skills are insufficient to analyze the
> problem as presented.
>
>

Ok. Consider it from a practical point of view. You need to detect
when the state of the system (registers+memory contents) returns
to a previous state. So any information-destroying operation needs
to trigger a copy in your list of memory states and after every
operation you need to check the current state against the list.

After very few operations, the data you have to comb through and
compare against gets large (and will keep getting larger). As the
emulation continues, progress on the computation will grind to a halt,
going slower and slower towards a receeding goal.