On 31/01/16 04:06, Sadao wrote: > Hi all. > > > Three years ago I started a thread on FMS with the topic "Efficiency of > various freenet message systems", where I proposed to implement a new key > type (PSK) in order to make a base for creating spam-protected moderated > messaging systems in freenet like usenet groups. Toad liked the idea and he > was going to implement PSK keys in freenet while I was going to write a new > client app (a Frost-like message system with moderation). But eventually Toad > switched his attention to WoT and other things and I completely lost interest > to freenet and left it. > > > Now I returned again just to see that there is no progress. I still have > spare time and willingness to write a new app, but there is no support of PSK > keys. In theory, I could try to implement them myself, but it would take me > years for that. On the other hand, it’s not so difficult for a person like > Toad who knows freenet code very well. So I’d like to ask again: is there any > chance that Toad could add the support of PSK keys to freenet in the near > future?
No. It'd be a fairly big project, and I'm busy until at least June. After which time I may volunteer a little for Freenet in between work; we no longer have any paid staff. IMHO it would be best to resolve the existing issues with keys first. SSKs are based on 1024-bit DSA, which is severely outdated and likely factorable by at least NSA, but it also has humongous keys compared to modern ECC-based asymmetric crypto. So the first step would be to implement modern ECC-based keys. This would IMHO include: - Merging the pubkey store and the SSK store into a single ~2KB/slot datastore. -- This should happen automatically. It should be well-tested and not cause a wrapper timeout for big stores (there are methods on WrapperManager that can help with it). I think it is reasonable to require that there be enough disk space to do a straightforward copy. - ECC-based SSKs. - Different sizes: -- ~ 800 bytes (an insert with full metadata etc fits in a single packet, great for FLIP) -- ~ 2KB (better for most purposes) -- 32KB (put it in the main datastore, so lifetime is limited, but carries more data; ideal for FMS) - Request level changes to support the above: -- We should always send the pubkey, rather than asking whether the node has it. -- Small ECC-SSKs an interesting low-latency special case. -- Big ECC-SSKs another interesting special case which will need more code. This is all documented in a reasonable degree of detail on the bug tracker. Different sized ECC-SSKs is a bonus really; but please try not to make it impossible, I suggest the basic ECC-SSKs should have a 2KB payload. You might want to think about how you're going to trade off space for PSK metadata as well... Of course, now I'm volunteering you for lots more work than you had at first anticipated. However, that's more or less what you were doing. :) I do think PSKs could be useful for a fairly wide range of tools on Freenet, including moderated forums (as you suggested), optimising WoT-like forums (I haven't actually done much work on WoT), collaboratively maintained search indexes etc. IMHO they should support arbitrary verification operations, with some built in crypto tools, but with the usual block size limits and severe limits on CPU time for a verification; we should not be afraid of Turing completeness, provided we can bound the runtime. IMHO the stuff about PSKs was actually rather disruptive. I felt I was being pulled in lots of different directions at once trying to keep up with volunteers. I guess that's not intended as a criticism, merely tactical advice: If a volunteer offers to do something after you implement a huge feature, which will take months, and you have lots of other more urgent stuff, explain why you can't do it and suggest that they get started on it instead... Please don't take this as hostile. I will try to help you if you have specific questions. But I don't have time to do substantial work on Freenet right now apart from my project (which is related to simulations). I am also occasionally helping out Steve with updater issues...
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