/* Package yggdrasil implements the core functionality of the Yggdrasil Network. Introduction Yggdrasil is a proof-of-concept mesh network which provides end-to-end encrypted communication between nodes in a decentralised fashion. The network is arranged using a globally-agreed spanning tree which provides each node with a locator (coordinates relative to the root) and a distributed hash table (DHT) mechanism for finding other nodes. Each node also implements a router, which is responsible for encryption of traffic, searches and connections, and a switch, which is responsible ultimately for forwarding traffic across the network. While many Yggdrasil nodes in existence today are IP nodes - that is, they are transporting IPv6 packets, like a kind of mesh VPN - it is also possible to integrate Yggdrasil into your own applications and use it as a generic data transport, similar to UDP. This library is what you need to integrate and use Yggdrasil in your own application. Basics In order to start an Yggdrasil node, you should start by generating node configuration, which amongst other things, includes encryption keypairs which are used to generate the node's identity, and supply a logger which Yggdrasil's output will be written to. This may look something like this: import ( "os" "github.com/gologme/log" "github.com/yggdrasil-network/yggdrasil-go/src/config" "github.com/yggdrasil-network/yggdrasil-go/src/yggdrasil" ) type node struct { core yggdrasil.Core config *config.NodeConfig log *log.Logger } You then can supply node configuration and a logger: n := node{} n.log = log.New(os.Stdout, "", log.Flags()) n.config = config.GenerateConfig() In the above example, we ask the config package to supply new configuration each time, which results in fresh encryption keys and therefore a new identity. It is normally preferable in most cases to persist node configuration onto the filesystem or into some configuration store so that the node's identity does not change each time that the program starts. Note that Yggdrasil will automatically fill in any missing configuration items with sane defaults. Once you have supplied a logger and some node configuration, you can then start the node: n.core.Start(n.config, n.log) Add some peers to connect to the network: n.core.AddPeer("tcp://some-host.net:54321", "") n.core.AddPeer("tcp://[2001::1:2:3]:54321", "") n.core.AddPeer("tcp://1.2.3.4:54321", "") You can also ask the API for information about our node: n.log.Println("My node ID is", n.core.NodeID()) n.log.Println("My public key is", n.core.EncryptionPublicKey()) n.log.Println("My coords are", n.core.Coords()) Incoming Connections Once your node is started, you can then listen for connections from other nodes by asking the API for a Listener: listener, err := n.core.ConnListen() if err != nil { // ... } The Listener has a blocking Accept function which will wait for incoming connections from remote nodes. It will return a Conn when a connection is received. If the node never receives any incoming connections then this function can block forever, so be prepared for that, perhaps by listening in a separate goroutine. Assuming that you have defined a myConnectionHandler function to deal with incoming connections: for { conn, err := listener.Accept() if err != nil { // ... } // We've got a new connection go myConnectionHandler(conn) } Outgoing Connections If you know the node ID of the remote node that you want to talk to, you can dial an outbound connection to it. To do this, you should first ask the API for a Dialer: dialer, err := n.core.ConnDialer() if err != nil { // ... } You can then dial using the 16-byte node ID in hexadecimal format, for example: conn, err := dialer.Dial("nodeid", "24a58cfce691ec016b0f698f7be1bee983cea263781017e99ad3ef62b4ef710a45d6c1a072c5ce46131bd574b78818c9957042cafeeed13966f349e94eb771bf") if err != nil { // ... } Using Connections Conn objects are implementations of io.ReadWriteCloser, and as such, you can Read, Write and Close them as necessary. Each Read or Write operation can deal with a buffer with a maximum size of 65535 bytes - any bigger than this and the operation will return an error. For example, to write to the Conn from the supplied buffer: buf := []byte{1, 2, 3, 4, 5} w, err := conn.Write(buf) if err != nil { // ... } else { // written w bytes } Reading from the Conn into the supplied buffer: buf := make([]byte, 65535) r, err := conn.Read(buf) if err != nil { // ... } else { // read r bytes } When you are happy that a connection is no longer required, you can discard it: err := conn.Close() if err != nil { // ... } Limitations You should be aware of the following limitations when working with the Yggdrasil library: Individual messages written through Yggdrasil connections can not exceed 65535 bytes in size. Yggdrasil has no concept of fragmentation, so if you try to send a message that exceeds 65535 bytes in size, it will be dropped altogether and an error will be returned. Yggdrasil connections are unreliable by nature. Messages are delivered on a best-effort basis, and employs congestion control where appropriate to ensure that congestion does not affect message transport, but Yggdrasil will not retransmit any messages that have been lost. If reliable delivery is important then you should manually implement acknowledgement and retransmission of messages. */ package yggdrasil