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4.0 KiB
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91 lines
4.0 KiB
Markdown
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---
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title: "Hilde - The Idea"
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date: "2021-06-26"
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tags: [ 'rust', 'api', 'linux' ]
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---
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Welcome to the first devlog about Hilde, my latest passion project. This post
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will be diving into what exactly Hilde is, and what I currently have planned
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for the project.
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## The idea
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My idea behind Hilde is to create a smarter & more modern version of a Debian
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repository. Currently, a repository simply consists of a file server (e.g.
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Apache for the official repositories) that serves a strict directory structure.
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Lots of the files & data stored in this system could however be perfectly
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stored inside a database. Therefore, I'd like to take a different approach.
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Instead of just using a file server, my plan is to "mimic" the official
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structure of the file server, while serving as much content as possible from a
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database. Control file data, file hashes, indexes, and many other types of
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metadata could just be indexed and returned when requested.
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I initially thought of this while brainstorming about which distro I should
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switch to. I've been running Arch on my laptops for about a year now, but I've
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come to distrust it (partially because I don't use it safely enough probably).
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As I'm a CS student, I require a stable computer that I can rely on when
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needed. Therefore, I'd like to switch to Debian. I would however like to keep
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the luxury of the AUR or something similar, so my idea was to host my own Hilde
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server that could serve this purpose.
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## Roadmap
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I have a broad idea of which features I would like to add to Hilde (if
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possible):
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### Mimic a Debian repository
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The first part is pretty self-explanatory. Before I can do anything else, I
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need to make sure the idea is possible, so I'll have to make a proof of concept
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that works. My end goal is to have Hilde be the most compliant server possible,
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by which I mean that it supports every feature that a Debian repository could
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support. This includes:
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* Arbitrarily nested dists & components
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* Support for multiple architectures
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* Support for `by-hash` directories
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* ...
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A full description of the Debian repository format can be found
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[here](https://wiki.debian.org/DebianRepository/Format). Not all features are
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required for the initial release, but eventually I would like to comply with
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the entire document. The initial release will also contain a folder scanner, so
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that existing packages can be added on startup.
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### Allowing for package uploads
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The second part of my "AUR" idea requires me to be able to add new packages to
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the server (e.g. from a CI pipeline). Therefore, I want to be able to send HTTP
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requests to the server to upload new binary or source packages. I don't have a
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full grasp yet on how I plan to achieve this (e.g. what endpoints etc.) but the
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basic idea is to be able to upload deb files to the server and it automatically
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parsing them.
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### Authentification
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We can't just open up a server that allows uploads to the public, so I'll have
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to add a form of authentification. I'm still debating on exactly how I plan on
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doing this, but the basic idea is to use JWT tokens & a login endpoint that can
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generate said tokens. Initially, I'll probably just use a single admin account,
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but I have ideas for adding a user system that can generate tokens for specific
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actions on specific packages (e.g. a token that allows for writing to a
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particular package).
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### Federation
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This one is one of my more ambitious ideas, but it sounds really interesting to
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work on. I have this idea of a network of Hilde servers communicating with each
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other about which packages they have. When a user then requests a certain
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package, the server can forward the package from another server.
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I know this idea might be quite impossible for me, and it's still far down the
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road, but it just sounded way too cool to not include it in this introduction
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devlog.
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## Conclusion
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In my eyes, Hilde looks like a very interesting & fun project to work on, and I
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hope to be posting a lot more of these devlogs as development progresses!
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Speaking of development, the Git repo can be found
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[here](https://git.roosens.me/Chewing_Bever/hilde). See you next time!
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