Re: Guix - GNUnet binary ditribution roadmap

[Sree Harsha Totakura]

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On 03/11/2014 08:14 PM, Pierre-Antoine Rault wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> Sorry for contacting you directly (without the guix mailing list),
> but Ludovic Courtès recommanded me to contact you as I would like
> to work [1] on integrating GNUnet in Guix as a binary deployment
> and sharing system.
> 
> [1]
> http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/guix-devel/2014-03/msg00106.html

No problem; I was also following your thread on guix-devel.

> 
> For now I'm afraid I have to catch up with what has been said and
> thus made the following requirements/ideas list (all ideas are not
> from me): * required: users may run a server to share binaries
> (HTTP or GNUnet server).
Let's just stick with the GNUnet server (we call such a server as a
service in GNUnet, let's call it Guix service) as of now.  HTTP can be
done optionally.  Moreover the currently binary distribution is made
through a HTTP server.

> * required: users should use a gpg key to sign their packages.
OK, sounds good.

> * required: users would look for hashes on a dht node (GNUnet node)
> to find user servers.
I am assuming the hash lookup will be against the package and the
result will contain the peers offering the package.  This requires all
nodes which are running the Guix service to publish into DHT the
packages they built or downloaded from others.

> * required: users should be able to add/remove keys to their
> keyring of trusted keys (which would have official keys as a
> basis).

Yes.

> * optional: users' servers could be dht nodes themselves.
This may not be possible.  If you are running the Guix server, you
would want to publish the packages you built into the DHT and for this
you need to run the DHT service.

Anyway, why do you want this option at all?

> * optional: users should be able to share a magnet link [2][3] to 
> one's binaries.
> 
> [2] http://magnet-uri.sourceforge.net/ [3]
> http://magnet-uri.sourceforge.net/magnet-draft-overview.txt
> 
OK, this is a convenience feature.

> I am still reading the GNUnet manual at the moment and have tested
> the GNUnet package on my distribution successfully. Now I am trying
> to come up with a roadmap to develop the system. Do you have an
> idea of what such a roadmap should include/begin with ?

The requirements from Guix side are missing here.  IMO, you have to:
* Understand the current protocol used over HTTP to search and
download packages from Guix Hydra server.
* Implement a equivalent client/downloader in Guix using Guile to
download the packages using GNUnet.
* Extend the Guix daemon to publish package updates into GNUnet DHT,
whenever new packages are added to the Guix store.

The roadmap should contain a plan for implementing these requirements,
the order in which the implementation happens and estimates of how
long each step takes.

To begin with, I suggest you should start experimenting with GNUnet's
DHT by writing an service which publishes periodically some (key,
value) pairs.  In parallel, you may also try to understand the Hydra
protocol.

Regards,
Sree

PS: I could not find your PGP key on keyservers.
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