MaidSafe Dev Update - 30th August 2016

[frabrunelle]

As we said in some of the previous Dev Updates, the goal of TEST 8 is just to minimally test the network until all the refactors and RFCs (secure name, disjoint groups, data chains, etc.) for routing and safe_vault are tested and implemented.

It has been running for one week and as it is using the same vaults as some of the previous tests, it’s expected that some data is being lost. For example, you might be unable to login into an account you previously created.

Data chain integration is getting focus as a solution to coping with many Vaults of varying capabilities. Routing and Vault teams will be concentrated in this area during this iteration with the goal of getting Alpha 2 all on one network.

Appendable Data RFC

Last week, Spandan submitted a pull request for the Appendable Data RFC. The content of the RFC was reviewed (on Reviewable) by other MaidSafe devs and it was also discussed in this forum topic.

Spandan made a few changes based on the feedback he received:

@ustulation

Hey guys, just finished updating the RFC. So we decided to make what was listed as the Alternative approach as our main approach as it is more type-safe (instead of dealing with Vec<u8> as previously). There were a few other changes regarding how things should be routed to final destination, hint on what APIs to use and how vaults should sort out partial deletion via POST. It would be nice if anybody has any comments before we finalise the rfc.

After most discussions concluding last week, we decided to merge the Appendable Data RFC yesterday. It’s now known as RFC 38 and it can now be accessed here:

maidsafe/rfcs/blob/master/text/0038-appendable-data/0038-appendable-data.md

Andreas is planning to start the implementation of RFC 38 (Appendable Data) this week.

Routing

Now that Andreas is back, the Routing team is discussing the immediate options and measures we can take to make groups of nodes more secure (there are many approaches here and the implementation schedule is important to get right). - i.e. prevent an attacker from getting enough nodes to reach quorum and control group consensus -, what level of group security can be achieved, and if necessary, how the network can deal with malicious groups.

In parallel, work is ongoing on RFC 37 (Disjoint Groups), and on implementing the routing / safe_vault side of RFC 38 (Appendable Data).

Launcher

Last week, Shankar started refactoring the UI code using React and Redux. Angular 1.0 was becoming hard to manage when there is more constant updates on the UI, for example the list of logs.

This week, Shankar is continuing the work in fixing the last lap of issues to complete the porting of the Launcher UI code. We are planning to work on improving the test module for testing the APIs and also integrate an e2e test suite for safe_launcher.

The RFC for Launcher API v0.6 is being worked on. The major update in the RFC is the exposure of low-level APIs, which should enable developers to create dynamic applications.

Once the Launcher API v0.6 RFC is raised, Krishna will start working on integrating the FFI changes from the latest safe_core master branch.

Core

The FFI interface of safe_core has been updated to a standard C-style interface. Spandan was waiting for this refactor to happen for a while and consciously stalled until the alpha was rolled out. Removing the JSON message pattern from the FFI will improve the efficiency between safe_core and safe_launcher. The current master branch of safe_launcher is not compatible with the changes made in the safe_core.

As a last minute addition to this Dev Update, the initial draft for the Low Level API RFC has just been raised. You can find the pull request here. This details how safe_core plans to give complete low-level access to apps via Launcher.

Dev Tutorials

This week we are starting to work on the first tutorial. There is some backend work needed before we can start working on the code example, but we should still be able to progress on a few aspects of the tutorial (e.g. requirements, overview, introduction, list of topics, placeholders…etc…). We will also decide which tools to use to generate and host the Dev Tutorials.

Team expansion

We are pleased to announce that we have added another engineer to the Crust team: Nikita Baksalyar

He will likely start working at MaidSafe on the 12th of September. He’ll be joining Spandan’s team, working on crust and safe_core. This takes the total team to 17 and something we will continue to grow in the coming months.

He has a very insightful blog, you can check it out here: Rust in Detail: Writing Scalable Chat Service from Scratch.

SAFE Browser RFP

Two days ago, @joshuef released Windows, OS X and Linux binaries for the SAFE Beaker Browser. See this dev update for more details:

SAFE Browser Application Packages || Dev Update

A wee update for any folks looking to get rid of the proxy setup. I’ve spent the last days setting up basic app provisioning for the SAFE Beaker Browser, with some success. We now have windows, linux and osx builds! (I’ve had no linux feedback yet, but windows/osx are looking good!). Which means you can download a browser and run it alongside the SAFE Launcher to have proxy-free access to the network. Download the SAFE Beaker Browser You can grab the windows build here. And osx/linux packag…

Dev Forum

We created a discussion topic for RFC 38 (Appendable Data) and another one for RFC 29 (Data Chains).

We also added a new category called Apps and modified the description of the General category. Thanks to @DavidMtl for his suggestions

And now that the SAFE Dev Forum is open for registration, we are planning to close the original MaidSafe-Development Google Group (by making it read-only). All the content of that Google Group will still be easily accessible and searchable, but users won’t be able to create new topics.

If there are no objections, we will do this next week.

[TheGift73]

Great update and really happy with the progress that the team is doing.

Welcome to Nikita as well.

[rand_om]

Nice! It’s very encouraging to see the team grow! Welcome!

[BambooGarden]

thanks for the update. there is no mention though about our new logo. we have
a clear winner: 620 - where do we go from here? can we put a high-res version on the brand
assets page? and where/when do we plan to sport this new logo?

[leonmeitor]

<3<3<3<3 i love tuedays

[Nigel]

Great update @frabrunelle I’m on the edge of my seat, there are so many huge things happening at once!

[anon40790172]

@frabrunelle

As a last minute addition to this Dev Update, the initial draft for the Low Level API RFC has just been raised. You can find the pull request here. This details how safe_core plans to give complete low-level access to apps via Launcher.

You did read that in the the Pre-Dev-Update Thread! Yay!-topic didn’t you ;-)? A lot of freaks in that topic.

@frabrunelle

Team expansion

We are pleased to announce that we have added another engineer to the Crust team: Nikita Baksalyar

Great news, will read the blog after updating the rest of the internet on this update. Nice post Francis .

[nicklambert]

Yes we’re just doing that at the moment, if not today then tomorrow. Apologies for the delay in getting this added, if we get some time we should be able to get @Scott to provide some images and wallpapers using the brand.

[Nigel]

That’ll be cool! Most likely be hearing more about Bnktothefuture next week or the week after as well?

[gonefarmin]

after updating the rest of the Internet

What about, Oldnet, Lastnet, Fathernet… Legacynet?

[nice]

Thank you for the bucket of good news, it is really nice to see things getting more and more structured.

I will keep listening for new about these development tutorials, lots of interest here !

[nice]

@gonefarmin

What about, Oldnet, Lastnet, Fathernet… Legacynet?

ah, you must mean Crapnet, do you ?

[19eddyjohn75]

Thanks Maidsafe devs for your hard work as always, happy to see another dev join your team (always helpfull).

I’m super exited about the tutorials, I hope they’ll also get dumped on tut sites.

Keep up the good work

[MyLegacyKit]

@frabrunelle

We are pleased to announce that we have added another engineer to the Crust team: Nikita Baksalyar

Awesome, thanks for joining MaidSafe and toi toi toi working there!

[goindeep]

Awesome! Welcome Nikita!

[Blindsite2k]

@frabrunelle

Dev Tutorials

This week we are starting to work on the first tutorial. There is some backend work needed before we can start working on the code example, but we should still be able to progress on a few aspects of the tutorial (e.g. requirements, overview, introduction, list of topics, placeholders…etc…). We will also decide which tools to use to generate and host the Dev Tutorials.

Woot Dev Tutorials! This is badly needed. Best keep the tools simple. Languages people are likely to know and such. KISS method. Awesome stuff.

And welcome Nikita, the team keeps growing and growing.

[tfa]

@frabrunelle

it’s expected that some data is being lost. For example, you might be unable to login into an account you previously created.

I don’t see any resources in this dev update devoted to debugging this specific problem. Data chains, appendable data, secure groups, … are interesting features, but I think the priority should be to insure that infrastructure is solid before building upon it.

[nbaksalyar]

Hi,

Thank you everyone, I’m very excited to start at MaidSafe!

@frabrunelle

He’ll be joining Spandan’s team, working on crust and safe_core

Besides that, I’d love to translate tutorials and documentation into Russian to bring more interest and developers to the platform.

[nicklambert]

Yes you will, probably before next Tuesday though