mirror of
https://github.com/matrix-construct/construct
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201 lines
7.3 KiB
Markdown
201 lines
7.3 KiB
Markdown
# This — is The **Construct**
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<img align="right" src="https://i.imgur.com/TIf8kEC.png" />
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#### Internet Relay Chat daemon: *Matrix Construct*
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IRCd was a free and open source server which facilitated real-time communication over the
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internet. It was started by Jarkko Oikarinen in 1988 at the University of Oulu and [its
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derivatives](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/IRCd_software_implementations.png)
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underpinned the major IRC networks for decades.
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Due to its age and stagnation since the mid-2000's, a growing number of proprietary cloud services
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are now filling the vacuum of innovation. In 2014 a new approach was proposed to reinvigorate
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real-time communication for free and open source software: a *federation of networks* known as
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*the matrix*.
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<h4 align="right">
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IRCd has been rewritten for the global federation of networks  
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</h4>
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<img align="right" src="https://i.imgur.com/z8ENNrA.png" />
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**This is the Construct** — the first Matrix server written in C++. It is designed to be
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fast and highly scalable, and to be community developed by volunteer contributors over
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the internet. This mission strives to make the software easy to understand, modify, audit,
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and extend. It remains true to its roots with its modular design and having minimal
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requirements. Even though all of the old code has been rewritten, the same spirit and
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_philosophy of its predecessors_ is still obvious throughout.
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Similar to the legacy IRC protocol's origins, Matrix wisely leverages technologies in vogue
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for its day to aid the virility of implementations. A vibrant and growing ecosystem
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[already exists](https://matrix.org/docs/projects/try-matrix-now.html).
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## Installation
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Getting up and running with Construct is easy. A deployment can scale from as little as
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a low-end virtual machine running a stock linux distribution to a large load balanced
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cluster operating in synchrony over a network.
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#### Dependencies
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- **Boost** (1.66 or later)
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Replacing libratbox with the rich and actively developed libraries.
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- **RocksDB** (based on LevelDB):
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A lightweight and embedded database superseding sqlite3.
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- **Sodium** (NaCl crypto):
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Provides ed25519 required for the Matrix Federation.
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- **OpenSSL** (libssl/libcrypto):
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Provides HTTPS TLS / X.509 / etc.
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- **GNU C++ compiler**, **automake**, **autoconf**, **autoconf2.13**,
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**autoconf-archive**, **libtool**, **shtool**
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##### Additional dependencies
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- **libmagic** (~Optional~):
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Content MIME type recognition.
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- **zlib** or **lz4** or **snappy** (Optional):
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Provides compression for the database, etc.
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##### Planned dependencies
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- **Adobe GIL** (Optional):
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Image resizing & manipulation for the media system.
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- **libmozjs** (Optional JavaScript embedding):
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The matrix room is directly represented as a javascript object. :art:
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- **libpbc** (Pairing Based Cryptography):
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Heads up! Heavy items are falling from the ivory tower!
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- **libgmp** (Custom Maths):
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Experimental Post-Quantum Ideal Lattice Cryptography. :open_mouth:
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*Notes*:
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- libircd requires a platform capable of loading dynamic shared objects at runtime.
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#### Platforms
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[](https://github.com/jevolk/charybdis/tree/master)
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| <sub> Continuously Integrated Host </sub> | <sub> Compiler </sub> | <sub> Third party </sub> | <sub> Status </sub> |
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|:------------------------------------------- |:------------------------ |:------------------------ |:------------------- |
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| <sub> Linux Ubuntu 16.04 Xenial </sub> | <sub> GCC 6 </sub> | <sub> Boost 1.61 </sub> | [](https://travis-ci.org/jevolk/charybdis) |
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### Building from git (production)
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```
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./autogen.sh
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./configure
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make
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sudo make install
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```
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#### Building from git (DEVELOPER PREVIEW INSTRUCTIONS)
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*This is only intended to allow development with dependencies that have not made
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their way to mainstream systems yet.* **Not for release.**
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The developer preview will install Construct in a specific directory isolated from the
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system. It will avoid using system libraries by downloading and building the dependencies
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from the submodules we have pinned here and build them the way we have configured. You may
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need to set the `LD_LIBRARY_PATH` to the built libraries and/or maintain an intact build
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directory.
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```
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./autogen.sh
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mkdir build
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```
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- The install directory may be this or another place of your choosing.
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- If you decide elsewhere, make sure to change the `--prefix` in the `./configure`
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statement below.
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```
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CXX=g++-6 ./configure --prefix=$PWD/build --enable-debug --with-included-boost=shared --with-included-rocksdb=shared
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```
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- Many systems alias `g++` to an older version. To be safe, specify a version manually
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in `CXX`. This will also build the submodule dependencies with that version.
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- The `--with-included-*` will fetch, configure **and build** the dependencies included
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as submodules. Include `=shared` for now until static libraries are better handled.
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```
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make
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make install
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```
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## Developers
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[]() []()
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* Generate doxygen using `/usr/bin/doxygen tools/doxygen.conf` the target
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directory is doc/html. Browse to doc/html/index.html
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## Plan
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#### Roadmap for service
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- [x] **Phase One**: Matrix clients using HTTPS.
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- [ ] **Phase Two**: Legacy IRC networks using TS6 protocol.
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- [ ] **Phase Three**: Legacy IRC clients using RFC1459 / RFC2812 legacy grammars.
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#### Roadmap for deployments
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The deployment mode is a macro of configuration variables which tune the daemon
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for how it is being used. Modes mostly affect aspects of local clients.
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- [x] **Personal**: One or few users. Few default restrictions; higher log output.
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- [ ] **Company**: Hundreds of users. Moderate default restrictions.
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- [ ] **Public**: Thousands of users. Untrusting configuration defaults.
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#### Roadmap for innovation
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- [x] Phase Zero: **Core libircd**: Utils; Modules; Contexts; JSON; Database; HTTP; etc...
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- [x] Phase One: **Matrix Protocol**: Core VM; Core modules; Protocol endpoints; etc...
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- [ ] Phase Two: **Construct Cluster**: Kademlia sharding of events; Maymounkov's erasure codes.
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##### Experimental section
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- [ ] Phase Three: **Graduate Seminar**
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- Tromer/Virza's zkSNARK applied to JavaScript XDR evaluation verifying the distributed
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execution of a matrix room using MNT pairing curves.
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- [ ] Phase Four: **Dissertation Defense**
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- Phase Three _with RingLWE_; GPU accelerated matrix multiplication for
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the number theoretic transform...
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- [ ] Phase Five: **Habilitation**
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- Phase Four _under fully homomorphic encryption_.
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### IRCd Library
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This library can be embedded by developers creating their own server or those
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who simply want to use the library of routines it provides.
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Including libircd headers will not include any other headers beyond those in
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the standard library, with minimal impact on your project's compile complexity.
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The prototypical embedding of `libircd` is `construct` found in the
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`construct/` directory.
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- Can be embedded in your application with very minimal overhead.
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- Runs only one server at a time.
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- Is asynchronous and single-threaded✝.
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- Introduces its own userspace threading.
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- Leverages fast & safe formal grammars.
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See the `include/ircd/` and `ircd/` directories for more information.
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