397 lines
13 KiB
ReStructuredText
397 lines
13 KiB
ReStructuredText
======================================
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BitTorrent extension for DHT RSS feeds
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======================================
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.. include:: header.rst
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.. contents:: Table of contents
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:depth: 2
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:backlinks: none
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This proposal has been superseded by the dht_put_ feature. This may
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still be implemented on top of that.
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.. _dht_put: dht_store.html
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This is a proposal for an extension to the BitTorrent DHT to allow
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for decentralized RSS feed like functionality.
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The intention is to allow the creation of repositories of torrents
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where only a single identity has the authority to add new content. For
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this repository to be robust against network failures and resilient
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to attacks at the source.
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The target ID under which the repository is stored in the DHT, is the
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SHA-1 hash of a feed name and the 512 bit public key. This private key
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in this pair MUST be used to sign every item stored in the repository.
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Every message that contain signed items MUST also include this key, to
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allow the receiver to verify the key itself against the target ID as well
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as the validity of the signatures of the items. Every recipient of a
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message with feed items in it MUST verify both the validity of the public
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key against the target ID it is stored under, as well as the validity of
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the signatures of each individual item.
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As with normal DHT announces, the write-token mechanism is used to
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prevent IP spoof attacks.
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terminology
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-----------
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In this document, a *storage node* refers to the node in the DHT to which
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an item is being announce. A *subscribing node* refers to a node which
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makes look ups in the DHT to find the storage nodes, to request items
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from them.
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linked lists
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------------
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Items are chained together in a geneal singly linked list. A linked
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list does not necessarily contain RSS items, and no RSS related items
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are mandatory. However, RSS items will be used as examples in this BEP::
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key = SHA1(name + key)
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+---------+
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| head | key = SHA1(bencode(item))
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| +---------+ +---------+
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| | next |-------->| item | key = SHA1(bencode(item))
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| | key | | +---------+ +---------+
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| | name | | | next |------->| item |
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| | seq | | | key | | +---------+
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| | ... | | | ... | | | next |--->0
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| +---------+ | +---------+ | | key |
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| sig | | sig | | | ... |
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+---------+ +---------+ | +---------+
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| sig |
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+---------+
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The ``next`` pointer is at least 20 byte ID in the DHT key space pointing to where the next
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item in the list is announced. The list is terminated with an ID of all zeros.
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The ID an items is announced to is determined by the SHA1 hash of the bencoded representation
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of the item iteself. This contains all fields in the item, except the signature.
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The only mandatory fields in an item are ``next``, ``key`` and ``sig``.
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The ``key`` field MUST match the public key of the list head node. The ``sig`` field
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MUST be the signature of the bencoded representation of ``item`` or ``head`` (whichever
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is included in the message).
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All subscribers MUST verify that the item is announced under the correct DHT key
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and MUST verify the signature is valid and MUST verify the public key is the same
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as the list-head. If a node fails any of these checks, it must be ignored and the
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chain of items considered terminated.
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Each item holds a bencoded dictionary with arbitrary keys, except two mandatory keys:
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``next`` and ``key``. The signature ``sig`` is transferred outside of this dictionary
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and is the signature of all of it. An implementation should stora any arbitrary keys that
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are announced to an item, within reasonable restriction such as nesting, size and numeric
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range of integers.
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skip lists
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----------
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The ``next`` key stored in the list head and the items is a string of at least length
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20 bytes, it may be any length divisible by 20. Each 20 bytes are the ID of the next
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item in the list, the item 2 hops away, 4 hops away, 8 hops away, and so on. For
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simplicity, only the first ID (1 hop) in the ``next`` field is illustrated above.
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A publisher of an item SHOULD include as many IDs in the ``next`` field as the remaining
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size of the list warrants, within reason.
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These skip lists allow for parallelized lookups of items and also makes it more efficient
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to search for specific items. It also mitigates breaking lists missing some items.
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Figure of the skip list in the first list item::
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n Item0 Item1 Item2 Item3 Item4 Item5 Item6 Item7 Item8 Item9 Item10
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0 O----->
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20 O------------>
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40 O-------------------------->
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60 O------------------------------------------------------>
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*n* refers to the byte offset into the ``next`` field.
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list-head
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---------
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The list head item is special in that it can be updated, without changing its
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DHT key. This is required to prepend new items to the linked list. To authenticate
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that only the original publisher can update the head, the whole linked list head
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is signed. In order to avoid a malicious node to overwrite the list head with an old
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version, the sequence number ``seq`` must be monotonically increasing for each update,
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and a node hosting the list node MUST not downgrade a list head from a higher sequence
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number to a lower one, only upgrade.
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The list head's DHT key (which it is announced to) MUST be the SHA1 hash of the name
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(``n``) and ``key`` fields concatenated.
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Any node MUST reject any list head which is announced under any other ID.
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messages
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--------
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These are the messages to deal with linked lists.
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The ``id`` field in these messages has the same semantics as the standard DHT messages,
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i.e. the node ID of the node sending the message, to maintain the structure of the DHT
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network.
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The ``token`` field also has the same semantics as the standard DHT message ``get_peers``
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and ``announce_peer``, when requesting an item and to write an item respectively.
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``nodes`` and ``nodes6`` has the same semantics as in its ``get_peers`` response.
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requesting items
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................
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This message can be used to request both a list head and a list item. When requesting
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a list head, the ``n`` (name) field MUST be specified. When requesting a list item the
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``n`` field is not required.
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.. parsed-literal::
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{
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"a":
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{
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"id": *<20 byte ID of sending node>*,
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"key": *<64 byte public curve25519 key for this list>*,
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"n": *<list name>*
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"target": *<target-id for 'head' or 'item'>*
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},
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"q": "get_item",
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"t": *<transaction-id>*,
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"y": "q",
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}
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When requesting a list-head the ``target`` MUST always be SHA-1(*feed_name* + *public_key*).
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``target`` is the target node ID the item was written to.
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The ``n`` field is the name of the list. If specified, It MUST be UTF-8 encoded string
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and it MUST match the name of the feed in the receiving node.
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request item response
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.....................
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This is the format of a response of a list head:
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.. parsed-literal::
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{
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"r":
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{
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"head":
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{
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"key": *<64 byte public curve25519 key for this list>*,
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"next": *<20 bytes item ID>*,
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"n": *<name of the linked list>*,
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"seq": *<monotonically increasing sequence number>*
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},
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"sig": *<curve25519 signature of 'head' entry (in bencoded form)>*,
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"id": *<20 byte id of sending node>*,
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"token": *<write-token>*,
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"nodes": *<n * compact IPv4-port pair>*,
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"nodes6": *<n * compact IPv6-port pair>*
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},
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"t": *<transaction-id>*,
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"y": "r",
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}
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This is the format of a response of a list item:
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.. parsed-literal::
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{
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"r":
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{
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"item":
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{
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"key": *<64 byte public curve25519 key for this list>*,
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"next": *<20 bytes item ID>*,
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...
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},
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"sig": *<curve25519 signature of 'item' entry (in bencoded form)>*,
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"id": *<20 byte id of sending node>*,
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"token": *<write-token>*,
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"nodes": *<n * compact IPv4-port pair>*,
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"nodes6": *<n * compact IPv6-port pair>*
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},
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"t": *<transaction-id>*,
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"y": "r",
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}
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A client receiving a ``get_item`` response MUST verify the signature in the ``sig``
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field against the bencoded representation of the ``item`` field, using the ``key`` as
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the public key. The ``key`` MUST match the public key of the feed.
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The ``item`` dictionary MAY contain arbitrary keys, and all keys MUST be stored for
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items.
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announcing items
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................
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The message format for announcing a list head:
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.. parsed-literal::
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{
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"a":
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{
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"head":
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{
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"key": *<64 byte public curve25519 key for this list>*,
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"next": *<20 bytes item ID>*,
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"n": *<name of the linked list>*,
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"seq": *<monotonically increasing sequence number>*
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},
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"sig": *<curve25519 signature of 'head' entry (in bencoded form)>*,
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"id": *<20 byte node-id of origin node>*,
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"target": *<target-id as derived from public key and name>*,
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"token": *<write-token as obtained by previous request>*
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},
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"y": "q",
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"q": "announce_item",
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"t": *<transaction-id>*
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}
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The message format for announcing a list item:
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.. parsed-literal::
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{
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"a":
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{
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"item":
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{
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"key": *<64 byte public curve25519 key for this list>*,
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"next": *<20 bytes item ID>*,
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...
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},
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"sig": *<curve25519 signature of 'item' entry (in bencoded form)>*,
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"id": *<20 byte node-id of origin node>*,
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"target": *<target-id as derived from item dict>*,
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"token": *<write-token as obtained by previous request>*
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},
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"y": "q",
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"q": "announce_item",
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"t": *<transaction-id>*
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}
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A storage node MAY reject items and heads whose bencoded representation is
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greater than 1024 bytes.
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re-announcing
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-------------
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In order to keep feeds alive, subscriber nodes SHOULD help out in announcing
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items they have downloaded to the DHT.
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Every subscriber node SHOULD store items in long term storage, across sessions,
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in order to keep items alive for as long as possible, with as few sources as possible.
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Subscribers to a feed SHOULD also announce items that they know of, to the feed.
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Since a feed may have many subscribers and many items, subscribers should re-announce
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items according to the following algorithm.
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.. parsed-literal::
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1. pick one random item (*i*) from the local repository (except
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items already announced this round)
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2. If all items in the local repository have been announced
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2.1 terminate
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3. look up item *i* in the DHT
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4. If fewer than 8 nodes returned the item
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4.1 announce *i* to the DHT
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4.2 goto 1
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This ensures a balanced load on the DHT while still keeping items alive
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timeouts
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--------
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Items SHOULD be announced to the DHT every 30 minutes. A storage node MAY time
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out an item after 60 minutes of no one announcing it.
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A storing node MAY extend the timeout when it receives a request for it. Since
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items are immutable, the data doesn't go stale. Therefore it doesn't matter if
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the storing node no longer is in the set of the 8 closest nodes.
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RSS feeds
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---------
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For RSS feeds, following keys are mandatory in the list item's ``item`` dictionary.
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ih
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The torrent's info hash
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size
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The size (in bytes) of all files the torrent
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n
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name of the torrent
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example
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.......
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This is an example of an ``announce_item`` message:
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.. parsed-literal::
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{
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"a":
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{
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"item":
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{
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"key": "6bc1de5443d1a7c536cdf69433ac4a7163d3c63e2f9c92d
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78f6011cf63dbcd5b638bbc2119cdad0c57e4c61bc69ba5e2c08
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b918c2db8d1848cf514bd9958d307",
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"info-hash": "7ea94c240691311dc0916a2a91eb7c3db2c6f3e4",
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"size": 24315329,
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"n": "my stuff",
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"next": "c68f29156404e8e0aas8761ef5236bcagf7f8f2e"
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}
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"sig": *<signature>*
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"id": "b46989156404e8e0acdb751ef553b210ef77822e",
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"target": "b4692ef0005639e86d7165bf378474107bf3a762"
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"token": "23ba"
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},
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"y": "q",
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"q": "announce_item",
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"t": "a421"
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}
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Strings are printed in hex for printability, but actual encoding is binary.
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Note that ``target`` is in fact SHA1 hash of the same data the signature ``sig``
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is the signature of, i.e.::
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d9:info-hash20:7ea94c240691311dc0916a2a91eb7c3db2c6f3e43:key64:6bc1de5443d1
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a7c536cdf69433ac4a7163d3c63e2f9c92d78f6011cf63dbcd5b638bbc2119cdad0c57e4c61
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bc69ba5e2c08b918c2db8d1848cf514bd9958d3071:n8:my stuff4:next20:c68f29156404
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e8e0aas8761ef5236bcagf7f8f2e4:sizei24315329ee
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(note that binary data is printed as hex)
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RSS feed URI scheme
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--------------------
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The proposed URI scheme for DHT feeds is:
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.. parsed-literal::
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magnet:?xt=btfd:*<base16-curve25519-public-key>* &dn= *<feed name>*
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Note that a difference from regular torrent magnet links is the **btfd**
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versus **btih** used in regular magnet links to torrents.
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The *feed name* is mandatory since it is used in the request and when
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calculating the target ID.
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rationale
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---------
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The reason to use curve25519_ instead of, for instance, RSA is compactness. According to
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https://cr.yp.to/, curve25519 is free from patent claims and there are open implementations
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in both C and Java.
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.. _curve25519: https://cr.yp.to/ecdh.html
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