2017-11-30 19:30:19 +01:00
|
|
|
# This — is The **Construct**
|
2015-02-25 03:32:08 +01:00
|
|
|
|
2017-10-16 06:12:18 +02:00
|
|
|
<img align="right" src="https://i.imgur.com/mHGxDyC.png" />
|
|
|
|
|
2017-11-30 19:30:19 +01:00
|
|
|
#### Internet Relay Chat daemon: *Matrix Construct*
|
2016-01-23 20:52:57 +01:00
|
|
|
|
2017-08-18 00:33:22 +02:00
|
|
|
IRCd is a free and open source server which facilitates real-time communication over the
|
2017-11-05 06:14:33 +01:00
|
|
|
internet. It was started by Jarkko Oikarinen in 1988 at the University of Oulu and [its
|
2017-10-25 18:24:50 +02:00
|
|
|
derivatives](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/IRCd_software_implementations.png)
|
2017-11-30 19:30:19 +01:00
|
|
|
underpinned the major IRC networks for decades.
|
2017-09-09 14:50:16 +02:00
|
|
|
|
2017-10-25 18:24:50 +02:00
|
|
|
In 2014 a new approach was proposed to reinvigorate real-time communication in lieu of growing
|
|
|
|
proprietary competition from opaque cloud services. This is known as the
|
|
|
|
[*Matrix Protocol*](https://matrix.org/docs/spec/): a superset of IRC that evolves it into a federation
|
|
|
|
of networks and provides a means for interoperability with the modern 21st century internet messaging
|
|
|
|
ecosystem.
|
2017-08-18 00:33:22 +02:00
|
|
|
|
2017-10-25 18:24:50 +02:00
|
|
|
**IRCd has been rewritten to implement the _Matrix Protocol_** using some of the latest techniques
|
2017-11-30 19:30:19 +01:00
|
|
|
available for modern C++ free software. Just like the first iteration of IRCd, the latest Construct
|
2017-10-25 18:24:50 +02:00
|
|
|
employs technologies in vogue for this era which provide a fulfilling experience for users and a
|
|
|
|
powerfully extensible environment for developers.
|
2017-08-18 00:33:22 +02:00
|
|
|
|
2017-11-30 19:30:19 +01:00
|
|
|
Construct is designed to be fast and highly scalable, and to be community
|
2017-10-25 18:24:50 +02:00
|
|
|
developed by volunteer contributors over the internet. This mission strives to make
|
|
|
|
the software easy to understand, modify, audit, and extend. It remains true to its
|
|
|
|
roots with its modular design and having minimal requirements. Even though almost all
|
|
|
|
of the old code has been rewritten, the same spirit and _philosophy of the
|
|
|
|
predecessor_ is still obvious throughout.
|
|
|
|
|
2017-11-30 19:30:19 +01:00
|
|
|
This is the first implementation of a Matrix homeserver written in C++. The roadmap
|
|
|
|
for service is as follows:
|
2017-11-05 06:14:33 +01:00
|
|
|
|
2017-11-30 19:30:19 +01:00
|
|
|
- [✓] Phase One: Matrix clients using HTTP.
|
2017-11-30 20:44:23 +01:00
|
|
|
- Phase Two: Legacy IRC networks using TS6 protocol (Atheme Federation).
|
|
|
|
- Phase Three: Legacy IRC clients using RFC1459/RFC2812 legacy grammars.
|
2017-09-26 23:10:02 +02:00
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
## Installation
|
2017-08-18 00:33:22 +02:00
|
|
|
|
2017-11-30 19:30:19 +01:00
|
|
|
Getting up and running with Construct is easy. A deployment can scale from as little as
|
2017-10-25 18:24:50 +02:00
|
|
|
a low-end virtual machine running a stock linux distribution to a large load balanced
|
2017-11-30 19:30:19 +01:00
|
|
|
cluster operating in synchrony over a network.
|
2017-10-25 18:24:50 +02:00
|
|
|
|
2017-08-18 00:33:22 +02:00
|
|
|
|
2017-09-26 23:10:02 +02:00
|
|
|
#### Dependencies
|
2017-08-18 00:33:22 +02:00
|
|
|
|
2017-09-23 07:19:47 +02:00
|
|
|
**Boost** (1.61 or later) - We have replaced libratbox with the well known and actively
|
|
|
|
developed Boost libraries. These are included as a submodule in this repository.
|
2017-08-18 00:33:22 +02:00
|
|
|
|
2017-09-23 07:19:47 +02:00
|
|
|
**RocksDB** (based on LevelDB) - We replace sqlite3 with a lightweight and embedded database
|
|
|
|
and have furthered the mission of eliminating the need for external "IRC services"
|
2017-08-18 00:33:22 +02:00
|
|
|
|
2017-10-01 04:14:45 +02:00
|
|
|
*Other dependencies:* **sodium** (NaCl crypto), **OpenSSL**, **zlib**, **snappy** (for rocksdb)
|
|
|
|
|
2017-11-30 19:30:19 +01:00
|
|
|
*Build dependencies:* **GNU C++ compiler**, **automake**, **autoconf**, **autoconf2.13**,
|
2017-09-23 07:19:47 +02:00
|
|
|
**autoconf-archive**, **libtool**, **shtool**
|
|
|
|
|
2017-12-02 22:14:30 +01:00
|
|
|
*Notes*:
|
|
|
|
- libircd requires a platform capable of loading dynamic shared objects at runtime.
|
|
|
|
|
2017-08-18 00:33:22 +02:00
|
|
|
|
2017-11-30 19:30:19 +01:00
|
|
|
#### Platforms
|
|
|
|
|
2017-11-30 21:39:43 +01:00
|
|
|
[![Construct](https://img.shields.io/SemVer/v5.0.0-dev.png)](https://github.com/jevolk/charybdis/tree/master)
|
2015-02-25 03:32:08 +01:00
|
|
|
|
2017-11-30 19:30:19 +01:00
|
|
|
| <sub> Continuously Integrated Host </sub> | <sub> Compiler </sub> | <sub> Third party </sub> | <sub> Status </sub> |
|
|
|
|
|:------------------------------------------- |:------------------------ |:------------------------ |:------------------- |
|
2017-11-30 21:39:43 +01:00
|
|
|
| <sub> Linux Ubuntu 16.04 Xenial </sub> | <sub> GCC 6 </sub> | <sub> Boost 1.61 </sub> | [![POSIX Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/jevolk/charybdis.svg?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.org/jevolk/charybdis) |
|
2017-09-23 07:19:47 +02:00
|
|
|
|
2017-08-18 00:33:22 +02:00
|
|
|
|
2017-09-26 23:10:02 +02:00
|
|
|
### Building from git (production)
|
2017-09-09 14:50:16 +02:00
|
|
|
|
2017-11-30 19:30:19 +01:00
|
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
./autogen.sh
|
|
|
|
./configure
|
|
|
|
make
|
|
|
|
sudo make install
|
|
|
|
```
|
2017-09-23 07:19:47 +02:00
|
|
|
|
2017-09-09 14:50:16 +02:00
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
#### Building from git (DEVELOPER PREVIEW INSTRUCTIONS)
|
|
|
|
|
2017-09-26 23:10:02 +02:00
|
|
|
*This is only intended to allow development with dependencies that have not made
|
|
|
|
their way to mainstream systems yet.* **Not for release.**
|
|
|
|
|
2017-11-30 19:30:19 +01:00
|
|
|
The developer preview will install Construct in a specific directory isolated from the
|
2017-09-26 23:10:02 +02:00
|
|
|
system. It will avoid using system libraries by downloading and building the dependencies
|
|
|
|
from the submodules we have pinned here and build them the way we have configured. You may
|
|
|
|
need to set the `LD_LIBRARY_PATH` to the built libraries and/or maintain an intact build
|
|
|
|
directory.
|
2017-09-23 07:19:47 +02:00
|
|
|
|
2017-11-30 19:30:19 +01:00
|
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
./autogen.sh
|
|
|
|
mkdir build
|
|
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
|
2017-09-23 07:19:47 +02:00
|
|
|
- The install directory may be this or another place of your choosing.
|
|
|
|
- If you decide elsewhere, make sure to change the `--prefix` in the `./configure`
|
|
|
|
statement below.
|
|
|
|
|
2017-11-30 19:30:19 +01:00
|
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
CXX=g++-6 ./configure --prefix=$PWD/build --enable-debug --with-included-boost=shared --with-included-rocksdb=shared
|
|
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
|
2017-09-23 07:19:47 +02:00
|
|
|
- Many systems alias `g++` to an older version. To be safe, specify a version manually
|
|
|
|
in `CXX`. This will also build the submodule dependencies with that version.
|
|
|
|
- The `--with-included-*` will fetch, configure **and build** the dependencies included
|
|
|
|
as submodules. Include `=shared` for now until static libraries are better handled.
|
|
|
|
|
2017-11-30 19:30:19 +01:00
|
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
make
|
|
|
|
make install
|
|
|
|
```
|
2016-03-23 21:10:44 +01:00
|
|
|
|
2017-11-30 19:30:19 +01:00
|
|
|
## Developers
|
2015-02-25 03:32:08 +01:00
|
|
|
|
2017-12-12 22:58:10 +01:00
|
|
|
[![](https://img.shields.io/badge/License-BSD-brightgreen.svg)]() [![](https://img.shields.io/badge/PRs-welcome-brightgreen.svg?style=flat-square)]()
|
|
|
|
|
2017-11-30 19:30:19 +01:00
|
|
|
* Generate doxygen using `/usr/bin/doxygen tools/doxygen.conf` the target
|
|
|
|
directory is doc/html. Browse to doc/html/index.html
|
2016-03-06 00:49:13 +01:00
|
|
|
|
2017-11-30 19:30:19 +01:00
|
|
|
### IRCd Library
|
2016-03-06 00:49:13 +01:00
|
|
|
|
2017-11-30 19:30:19 +01:00
|
|
|
The purpose of `libircd` is to facilitate the execution of a server which
|
|
|
|
handles requests from end-users. The library hosts a set of pluggable modules
|
|
|
|
which may introduce the actual application features (or the "business logic")
|
|
|
|
of the server. These additional modules are found in the `modules/` directory;
|
2015-02-25 03:32:08 +01:00
|
|
|
|
2017-11-30 19:30:19 +01:00
|
|
|
This library can be embedded by developers creating their own server or those
|
2017-11-30 20:44:23 +01:00
|
|
|
who simply want to use the library of routines it provides.
|
2015-02-25 03:32:08 +01:00
|
|
|
|
2017-11-30 19:30:19 +01:00
|
|
|
##### libircd can be embedded in your application with very minimal overhead.
|
2016-03-23 21:10:44 +01:00
|
|
|
|
2017-11-30 19:30:19 +01:00
|
|
|
Linking to libircd from your executable allows you to customize and extend the
|
|
|
|
functionality of the server and have control over its execution, or, simply use
|
|
|
|
library routines provided by the library without any daemonization. Including
|
|
|
|
libircd headers will not include any other headers beyond those in the standard
|
|
|
|
library, with minimal impact on your project's compile complexity. The
|
|
|
|
prototypical embedding of `libircd` is `construct` found in the `construct/`
|
|
|
|
directory.
|
2017-08-23 23:45:41 +02:00
|
|
|
|
2017-11-30 19:30:19 +01:00
|
|
|
##### libircd runs only one server at a time.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Keeping with the spirit of simplicity of the original architecture, `libircd`
|
|
|
|
continues to be a "singleton" object which uses globals and keeps actual server
|
|
|
|
state in the library itself. In other words, **only one IRC daemon can exist
|
|
|
|
within a process's address space at a time.** Whether or not this was a pitfall
|
|
|
|
of the original design, it has emerged over the decades as a very profitable
|
|
|
|
decision for making IRCd an accessible open source internet project.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
##### libircd is single-threaded✝
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The library is based around the `boost::asio::io_service` event loop. It is
|
|
|
|
still an asynchronous event-based system. We process one event at a time;
|
|
|
|
developers must not block execution. While the `io_service` can be run safely
|
|
|
|
on multiple threads by the embedder's application, libircd will use a single
|
|
|
|
`io_service::strand`.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
This methodology ensures there is an uninterrupted execution working through
|
2017-12-02 22:14:30 +01:00
|
|
|
a single event queue providing service. If there are periods of execution
|
|
|
|
which are computationally intense like parsing, hashing, cryptography, etc: this
|
2017-11-30 20:44:23 +01:00
|
|
|
is absorbed in lieu of thread synchronization and bus contention. Scaling this
|
|
|
|
system is done through running multiple instances which synchronize at the
|
|
|
|
application level.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
✝ However, don't start assuming a truly threadless execution for the entire
|
|
|
|
address space. If there is ever a long-running background computation or a call
|
|
|
|
to a 3rd party library which will do IO and block the event loop, we may use an
|
2017-11-30 19:30:19 +01:00
|
|
|
additional `std::thread` to "offload" such an operation. Thus we do have
|
|
|
|
a threading model, but it is heterogeneous.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
##### libircd introduces userspace threading✝
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
IRCd presents an interface introducing stackful coroutines, a.k.a. userspace context
|
|
|
|
switching, or green threads. The library avoids callbacks as the way to break up
|
|
|
|
execution when waiting for events. Instead, we harken back to the simple old ways
|
|
|
|
of synchronous programming where control flow and data are easy to follow.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
✝ If there are certain cases where we don't want a stack to linger which may
|
|
|
|
jeopardize the c10k'ness of the daemon the asynchronous pattern is still used.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
##### libircd innovates with formal grammars
|
|
|
|
|
2017-12-02 22:14:30 +01:00
|
|
|
We leverage the `boost::spirit` system of parsing and printing through formal grammars,
|
2017-11-30 19:30:19 +01:00
|
|
|
rather than writing our own parsers manually. In addition, we build several tools
|
|
|
|
on top of such formal devices like a type-safe format string library acting as a
|
2017-12-02 22:14:30 +01:00
|
|
|
drop-in for `::sprintf()`, but accepting objects like `std::string` without `.c_str()`
|
2017-11-30 19:30:19 +01:00
|
|
|
and prevention of outputting unprintable/unwanted characters that may have been
|
|
|
|
injected into the system somewhere prior.
|