mirror of https://github.com/perkeep/perkeep.git
156 lines
6.3 KiB
Plaintext
156 lines
6.3 KiB
Plaintext
============================================================================
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Camlistore: Content-Addressable Multi-Layer, Indexed Store
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============================================================================
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-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
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Design goals:
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-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
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* Content storage & indexing & backup system
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* No master node
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* Anything can sync any which way, in any directed graph (cycles or not)
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(phone -> personal server <-> home machine <-> amazon <-> google, etc)
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* No sync state or races on arguments of latest versions
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* Future-proof
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* Very obvious/intuitive schema (easy to recover in the future, even
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if all docs/notes about Camlistore are lost, or the recoverer in
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five decades after I die doesn't even know that Camlistore was being
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used....) should be easy for future digital archaeologists to grok.
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-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
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Design assumptions:
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* disk is cheap and getting cheaper
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* bandwidth is high and getting faster
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* plentiful CPU & compression will fix size & redundancy of metadata
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-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
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Layer 1:
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-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
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* content-addressable blobs only
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- no notion of "files", filenames, dates, streams, encryption,
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permissions, metadata.
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* immutable
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* only operations:
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- store(digest, bytes)
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- check(digest) => bool (have it or not)
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- get(digest) => bytes
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- list([start_digest]) => [(digest[, size]), ...]+
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* amenable to implementation on ordinary filesystems (e.g. ext3, vfat,
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ntfs) or on Amazon S3, BigTable, AppEngine Datastore, Azure, Hadoop
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HDFS, etc.
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-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
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Schema of files/objects in Layer 1:
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-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
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* Let's start by describing the storage of files that aren't self-describing,
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e.g. "some-notes.txt" (as opposed to a jpg file from a camera that might
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likely contain EXIF data, addressed later...). This file, for reference,
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is in doc/json-signing/example/some-notes.txt
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* The bytes of file "some-notes.txt" are stored as-is in one blob,
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addressed as "sha1-8ba9e53cbc83c1be3835b94a3690c3b03de0b522".
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(note the explicit naming of the hash function as part of the name,
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for upgradability later, and so all parties involved know how to
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verify it...)
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* The filename, stat(2) metadata (modtime, ctime, permissions, etc) now
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also need to be stored. The key design point here is that file
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metdata is ALSO just a blob, content-addressed. The blob is a JSON
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file (for human readability, compactness). XML and Protocol Buffers
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were both also considered, but the former is too redundant, bloaty,
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tree-ish (overkill) and out of vogue, while Protocol Buffers don't
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stand up to the human readable future digital archaeologist test,
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and they're also not self-describing with the proto schema declared
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in-line.
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This file would thus be represented by a JSON file, as seen in
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docs/json-signing/example/some-notes.txt.camli, and addressed as
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"sha1-7e7960756b39cd7da614e7edbcf1fa7d696eb660", its sha1sum. This identifier
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can be used in directory listings, etc. Note that camli files do not have any
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magical filename, as they're not typically stored with their filename. (they
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are in the doc/json-signing/examples/ directory just to separate them out, but
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that's a rare case.) Instead, a camli JSON object is known as such if the
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bytes of the file begin exactly with the bytes:
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{"camliVersion"
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... which lets upper layers know what it is, and how to index it.
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See the doc/schema/ directory for details on Camli JSON objects and their
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schema.
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* Note that camli files can represent:
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-- files
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-- directories
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-- trees/snapshots (git-style)
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-- tags on other objects
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-- stars/ratings on other objects
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-- deletion claims/requests (since everything is immutable, you can
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only request a deletion, and wait/hope for GC later...)
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-- signed statements/claims on other objects
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(think decentralized commenting/starring on the web,
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verifying claims with webfinger lookups to find
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public keys to verify signatures)
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-- references to encrypted/split files
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-- etc... (extensible over time)
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-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
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Syncing
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-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
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-- nodes can push/pull between storage layers without thought. No
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chance of overwriting stuff.
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-- the assumption is that users control and trust and secure all their
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storage nodes: e.g. your phone, your home server, your internet
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server, your Amazon S3 node, your App Engine appid / datastore
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instance, etc.
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-- users configure which nodes push/pull to which other nodes, forming
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their own sync topology. For instance, your phone may not need a
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full copy of all content you've ever saved/produced... its primary
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goal in life is probably to quickly push out any unique content it
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produces (e.g. photos) to another machine for backup. And maybe
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cache other recently-accessed content locally, but not worry about
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it being destroyed when you drop and break your phone.
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-- no encryption is assumed at the Camli storage layer, though you may
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run a Camli storage node on an encrypted filesystem or blockdevice.
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-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
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Indexing Layer
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-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
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* scans/mapreduces over all blobs, provides higher-level APIs to list
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objects, list directories, see snapshots of trees at points in time,
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traverse graphs of objects (reverse indexing e.g. tags/stars/claims
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object<->object)
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* ... TODO: document
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-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
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Mid layer
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* It'll often be the case that a client (e.g. your phone) knows about
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a file (e.g. a photo) and has its metadata, but doesn't have its raw
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JPEG blob bytes, which might be several MB, and slow to transfer
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over a wireless connection. Camli storage nodes may also declare
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their support for helper APIs for when the client knows/assumes the
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type of a given blob.
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In addition to the operations in layer 1 above, you could also assume
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most Camli storage nodes would support any API such as:
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getThumbnail(blobName, [ ... sizeParams .. ]) -> JPEG thumbnail
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.. which would make mobile content browsers lives easier.
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TODO: finish documenting
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