---
title: "Hilde - The Idea"
date: "2021-06-26"
tags: [ 'rust', 'api', 'linux' ]
---

Welcome to the first devlog about Hilde, my latest passion project. This post
will be diving into what exactly Hilde is, and what I currently have planned
for the project.

## The idea

My idea behind Hilde is to create a smarter & more modern version of a Debian
repository. Currently, a repository simply consists of a file server (e.g.
Apache for the official repositories) that serves a strict directory structure.
Lots of the files & data stored in this system could however be perfectly
stored inside a database. Therefore, I'd like to take a different approach.
Instead of just using a file server, my plan is to "mimic" the official
structure of the file server, while serving as much content as possible from a
database. Control file data, file hashes, indexes, and many other types of
metadata could just be indexed and returned when requested.

I initially thought of this while brainstorming about which distro I should
switch to. I've been running Arch on my laptops for about a year now, but I've
come to distrust it (partially because I don't use it safely enough probably).
As I'm a CS student, I require a stable computer that I can rely on when
needed. Therefore, I'd like to switch to Debian. I would however like to keep
the luxury of the AUR or something similar, so my idea was to host my own Hilde
server that could serve this purpose.

## Roadmap

I have a broad idea of which features I would like to add to Hilde (if
possible):

### Mimic a Debian repository

The first part is pretty self-explanatory. Before I can do anything else, I
need to make sure the idea is possible, so I'll have to make a proof of concept
that works. My end goal is to have Hilde be the most compliant server possible,
by which I mean that it supports every feature that a Debian repository could
support. This includes:

* Arbitrarily nested dists & components
* Support for multiple architectures
* Support for `by-hash` directories
* ...

A full description of the Debian repository format can be found
[here](https://wiki.debian.org/DebianRepository/Format). Not all features are
required for the initial release, but eventually I would like to comply with
the entire document. The initial release will also contain a folder scanner, so
that existing packages can be added on startup.

### Allowing for package uploads

The second part of my "AUR" idea requires me to be able to add new packages to
the server (e.g. from a CI pipeline). Therefore, I want to be able to send HTTP
requests to the server to upload new binary or source packages. I don't have a
full grasp yet on how I plan to achieve this (e.g. what endpoints etc.) but the
basic idea is to be able to upload deb files to the server and it automatically
parsing them.

### Authentification

We can't just open up a server that allows uploads to the public, so I'll have
to add a form of authentification. I'm still debating on exactly how I plan on
doing this, but the basic idea is to use JWT tokens & a login endpoint that can
generate said tokens. Initially, I'll probably just use a single admin account,
but I have ideas for adding a user system that can generate tokens for specific
actions on specific packages (e.g. a token that allows for writing to a
particular package).

### Federation

This one is one of my more ambitious ideas, but it sounds really interesting to
work on. I have this idea of a network of Hilde servers communicating with each
other about which packages they have. When a user then requests a certain
package, the server can forward the package from another server.

I know this idea might be quite impossible for me, and it's still far down the
road, but it just sounded way too cool to not include it in this introduction
devlog.

## Conclusion

In my eyes, Hilde looks like a very interesting & fun project to work on, and I
hope to be posting a lot more of these devlogs as development progresses!
Speaking of development, the Git repo can be found
[here](https://git.roosens.me/Chewing_Bever/hilde). See you next time!