ADC is a text protocol for a client-server network similar to Neo-Modus' Direct Connect (NMDC). The goal is to create a simple protocol that doesn’t require much effort neither in hub nor client, and is yet extensible. It addresses some of the issues in the NMDC protocol, but not all.
The same protocol structure is used both for client-hub and client-client communication. This document is split into two parts; the first shows the structure of the protocol, while the second implements a specific system using this structure. ADC stands for anything you would like it to stand for; Advanced Direct Connect is the first neutral thing that springs to mind =).
Many ideas for the protocol come from Jan Vidar Krey’s DCTNG draft. Major contributors include Dustin Brody, Walter Doekes, Timmo Stange, Fredrik Ullner, Fredrik Stenberg and others. Jon Hess contributed the original Direct Connect idea through the Neo-Modus Direct Connect client / hub.
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All messages begin with a four-letter word. The first letter designates how the message should be sent and the other three specify what to do.
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Parameters are separated by space and a newline (codepoint 0x0a) ends each message. The string "\s" escapes space, "\n" newline and "\\" backslash. This version of the protocol reserves all other escapes for future use; any message containing unknown escapes must be discarded.
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All text must be sent as UTF-8 encoded Unicode in normalization form C.
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Clients must ignore unknown/badly formatted messages. Hubs must ignore invalid messages and should dispatch unknown messages according to their type.
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Client addresses must be specified in dotted-decimal form ("x.x.x.x") for IPv4 and RFC 1884 form for IPv6. Hub addresses must be specified in URL form, with "adc" as protocol specifier ("adc://server:port/").
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Numbers are sent as strings in standard floating point notation, using '.' as the decimal separator and without a thousands separator. Integers are numbers with neither a decimal portion nor an exponent. Applications should be prepared to handle at least 64-bit signed integers and 64-bit floating point numbers. A '-' prefix negates.
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SIDs, PIDs, CIDs, and short binary data are sent as base32-encoded strings. Long binary data transfers should use the file transfer mechanism with named roots.
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Extension names, protocol names, and other text not entered by the user may only include viewable characters that can be encoded by one byte in the UTF-8 encoding (Unicode codepoints 33-127). ADC is case-sensitive, requiring upper case for command names.
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Some commands and functionality require the use of a hash function. The hash function is negotiated during session setup and stays the same for the duration of the session.
message ::= message_body? eol
message_body ::= (b_message_header | cih_message_header | de_message_header | f_message_header | u_message_header | message_header)
(separator positional_parameter)* (separator named_parameter)*
b_message_header ::= 'B' command_name separator my_sid
cih_message_header ::= ('C' | 'I' | 'H') command_name
de_message_header ::= ('D' | 'E') command_name separator my_sid separator target_sid
f_message_header ::= 'F' command_name separator my_sid separator (('+'|'-') feature_name)+
u_message_header ::= 'U' command_name separator my_cid
command_name ::= simple_alpha simple_alphanum simple_alphanum
positional_parameter ::= parameter_value
named_parameter ::= parameter_name parameter_value?
parameter_name ::= simple_alpha simple_alphanum
parameter_value ::= escaped_letter+
target_sid ::= encoded_sid
my_sid ::= encoded_sid
encoded_sid ::= base32_character{4}
my_cid ::= encoded_cid
encoded_cid ::= base32_character+
base32_character ::= simple_alpha | [2-7]
feature_name ::= simple_alpha simple_alphanum{3}
escaped_letter ::= [^ \#x0a] | escape 's' | escape 'n' | escape escape
escape ::= '\'
simple_alpha ::= [A-Z]
simple_alphanum ::= [A-Z0-9]
eol ::= #x0a
separator ::= ' '
Message type specifies how messages should be routed and thus which additional fields can be found in the message header. Clients should use the most limiting type, in terms of recipients, that makes sense for a particular message when sending it to the hub for distribution. Clients should use the message type only to aid in parsing the message and otherwise ignore it. The following message types are defined:
B | Broadcast | Hub must send message to all connected clients, including the sender of the message.
C | Client message | Clients must use this message type when communicating directly over TCP.
D | Direct message | The hub must send the message to the target_sid user.
E | Echo message | The hub must send the message to the target_sid user and the my_sid user.
F | Feature broadcast | The hub must send message to all clients that support both all required (+) and no excluded (-) features named. The feature name is matched against the corresponding SU field in INF sent by each client.
H | Hub message | Clients must use this message type when a message is intended for the hub only.
I | Info message | Hubs must use this message type when sending a message to a client that didn't come from another client.
U | UDP message | Clients must use this message type when communicating directly over UDP.
___
=== Session hash
Certain commands require the use of a hash function. The hash function used is
negotiated using the SUP mechanism each time a new connection is established.
When a client first connects, it offers a set of hash functions as SUP
features. The server picks one of the offered functions and communicates its
choice to the client by placing it before any other hash features present in
the first SUP from the server. Clients and hubs are required to support at
least one hash function, used both for protocol purposes and file
identification.
=== Client identification
Each client is identified by three different IDs, Session ID (SID), Private ID
(PID), and Client ID (CID).
==== Session ID
Session IDs appear in all communication that interacts with the hub. They
identify a unique user on a single hub and are assigned by the hub during
initial protocol negotiation. SIDs are 20 bits long and encoded using a 4-byte
base32 encoded string.
==== Private ID
Private IDs globally identify a unique client. They function during initial
protocol negotiation to generate the CID and are invisible to other clients.
PIDs should be generated in a way to avoid collisions, for example using the
hash of the current time and primary network card MAC address if sufficient
randomness cannot be generated. Hubs and clients may not disclose PIDs to
other clients; doing so weakens the security of the ADC network. Clients
should should keep the same PID between sessions and hubs. PID length follows
the length of the hash algorithm used for the session.
==== Client ID
Client IDs globally and publicly identify a unique client and underlie client
to client communication. They are generated by hashing the (unencoded) PID
with the session hash algorithm. Hubs should register clients by CID. CID
length follows the length of the hash algorithm used for the session. Clients
must be prepared to handle CIDs of varying lengths.
== Files
=== File names and structure
Filenames are relative to a fictive root in the user's share. "/" separates
directories; each file or directory name must be unique in a case-insensitive
context. All printable characters, including whitespace, are valid names for
files, the "/" and "\" being escaped by "\". Clients must then properly filter
the filename for the target file system, as well as request filenames from
other clients according to these rules. The special names "." and ".." may not
occur as a directory or filename; any file list received containing those must
be ignored. All directory names must end with a "/".
Shared files are identified relative to the unnamed root "/"
("/dir/subdir/filename.ext"), while extensions can add named roots to this
namespace. For example, "TTH/..." from the TIGR extension uses the named root
"TTH" to identify files by their Tiger tree hash. It is invalid for names
from the unnamed root to appear in the share without also being identified by
at least one hash value.
The rootless filename "files.xml" specifies the full file listing,
uncompressed, in XML using the UTF-8 encoding. It is recommended that clients
use an extension to transfer this list in compressed form.
Extensions may specify additional rootless filenames, but should generally
avoid doing so to avoid name clashes.
The special type "list" is used to browse partial lists. A partial file list
has the same structure as a normal list, but directories may be tagged with an
attribute 'Incomplete="1"' to specify that they have unexpanded sub-entries.
Only directory names in the unnamed root may be requested, for instance "/"
and "/share/". The content of that directory will then be sent to the
requesting client to a depth chosen by the sending client (it should normally
only send the directory level requested, but may choose to send more if there
are few entries, for example a directory only containing a few files). The
"Base" attribute of "FileListing" specifies which directory a particular file
list represents.
=== File list
files.xml is the list of files intended for browsing. The file list must
validate against the following XML schema:
----
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xs:schema xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
<xs:simpleType name="base32Binary">
<xs:restriction base="xs:string">
<xs:pattern value="[A-Za-z2-7]+"></xs:pattern>
</xs:restriction>
</xs:simpleType>
<xs:simpleType name="zeroOne">
<xs:restriction base="xs:int">
<xs:enumeration value="0"></xs:enumeration>
<xs:enumeration value="1"></xs:enumeration>
</xs:restriction>
</xs:simpleType>
<xs:complexType name="ContainerType">
<xs:sequence minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded">
<xs:choice>
<xs:element ref="Directory"></xs:element>
<xs:element ref="File"></xs:element>
<xs:any processContents="lax"></xs:any>
</xs:choice>
</xs:sequence>
</xs:complexType>
<xs:attribute name="Base" type="xs:string"></xs:attribute>
<xs:attribute name="CID" type="base32Binary"></xs:attribute>
<xs:attribute name="Generator" type="xs:string"></xs:attribute>
<xs:attribute name="Incomplete" type="zeroOne" default="0"></xs:attribute>
<xs:attribute name="Name" type="xs:string"></xs:attribute>
<xs:attribute name="Size" type="xs:int"></xs:attribute>
<xs:attribute name="Version" type="xs:int"></xs:attribute>
<xs:element name="FileListing">
<xs:complexType>
<xs:complexContent>
<xs:extension base="ContainerType">
<xs:attribute ref="CID" use="required"></xs:attribute>
<xs:attribute ref="Version" use="required"></xs:attribute>
<xs:attribute ref="Generator" use="optional"></xs:attribute>
<xs:attribute ref="Base" use="required"></xs:attribute>
<xs:anyAttribute processContents="lax"></xs:anyAttribute>
</xs:extension>
</xs:complexContent>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
<xs:element name="Directory">
<xs:complexType>
<xs:complexContent>
<xs:extension base="ContainerType">
<xs:attribute ref="Name" use="required"></xs:attribute>
<xs:anyAttribute processContents="lax"></xs:anyAttribute>
</xs:extension>
</xs:complexContent>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
<xs:element name="File">
<xs:complexType>
<xs:sequence>
<xs:any minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"></xs:any>
</xs:sequence>
<xs:attribute ref="Name" use="required"></xs:attribute>
<xs:attribute ref="Size" use="required"></xs:attribute>
<xs:anyAttribute processContents="lax"></xs:anyAttribute>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
</xs:schema>
----
An example file list:
----
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="yes"?>
<FileListing Version="1" CID="mycid" Generator="DC++ 0.701" Base="/">
<Directory Name="share">
<Directory Name="DC++ Prerelease">
<File Name="DCPlusPlus.pdb" Size="17648640" TTH="xxx" />
<File Name="DCPlusPlus.exe" Size="946176" TTH="yyy" />
</Directory>
<File Name="ADC.txt" Size="154112" TTH="zzz" />
</Directory>
<!-- Only used by partial lists -->
<Directory Name="share2" Incomplete="1"/>
</FileListing>
----
"encoding" must always be set to UTF-8. Clients must be prepared to handle XML
files both with and without a BOM (byte order mark), although should not
output one.
"Version" will not change unless a breaking change is done to the structure of
the file.
"CID" is the CID of the client that generated the list.
"Generator" is optional and for informative purposes only.
"Base" is used for partial file lists, but must be present even in the
non-partial list.
"Incomplete" signals whether a directory in a partial file list contains
unlisted items. "1" means the directory contains unlisted items, "0" that it
does not. Incomplete="0" is the default and may thus be omitted.
More information may be added to the file by extensions, but is not guaranteed
to be interpreted by other clients.
== BASE messages
ADC clients/hubs that support the following messages may advertise the feature
"BASE" in the PROTOCOL phase.
The connecting party will be known as client, the other as server. The server
always controls state transitions. For each message, the action code and the
message contexts under which it is valid are specified.
The message context specifies how the message may be received / sent. Hubs and
clients may support using the message in additional contexts as well. The
context codes are as follows:
[separator="|"]
``_
F | From hub (hub-client TCP)
T | To hub (hub-client TCP)
C | Between clients (client-client TCP)
U | Between clients (client-client UDP)
___
When requesting a new client-client connection, this protocol is identified by
"ADC/1.0".
In the descriptions of the commands, the message header and trailing named
parameters have been omitted.
=== Client – Hub communication
During login, the client goes through a number of stages. An action is valid
only in the NORMAL stage unless otherwise noted. The stages, in login order,
are PROTOCOL (feature support discovery), IDENTIFY (user identification,
static checks), VERIFY (password check), NORMAL (normal operation), and DATA
(for binary transfers).
=== Client – Client communication
The client – client protocol use the same stages as client – hub, but clients
are not required to support the VERIFY state and GPA/PAS commands. Support for
VERIFY/GPA/PAS must be advertised as an extension. It is always the client
that sends the first CTM/RCM command that is given control of the connection
once the NORMAL state has been reached.
=== Actions
==== STA
STA code description
Contexts: F, T, C, U
States: All
Status code in the form "xyy" where x specifies severity and yy the specific
error code. The severity and error code are treated separately, the same error
could occur at different severity levels.
Severity values:
[separator="|"]
``_
0 | Success (used for confirming commands), error code must be "00", and an additional flag "FC" contains the FOURCC of the command being confirmed if applicable.
1 | Recoverable (error but no disconnect)
2 | Fatal (disconnect)
___
Error codes:
[separator="|"]
``_
00 | Generic, show description
x0 | Same as 00, but categorized according to the rough structure set below
10 | Generic hub error
11 | Hub full
12 | Hub disabled
20 | Generic login/access error
21 | Nick invalid
22 | Nick taken
23 | Invalid password
24 | CID taken
25 | Access denied, flag "FC" is the FOURCC of the offending command. Sent when a user is not allowed to execute a particular command
26 | Registered users only
27 | Invalid PID supplied
30 | Kicks/bans/disconnects generic
31 | Permanently banned
32 | Temporarily banned, flag "TL" is an integer specifying the number of seconds left until it expires (This is used for kick as well…).
40 | Protocol error
41 | Transfer protocol unsupported, flag "TO" the token, flag "PR" the protocol string. The client receiving a CTM or RCM should send this if it doesn't support the C-C protocol.
42 | Direct connection failed, flag "TO" the token, flag "PR" the protocol string. The client receiving a CTM or RCM should send this if it tried but couldn't connect.
43 | Required INF field missing/bad, flag "FM" specifies missing field, "FB" specifies invalid field.
44 | Invalid state, flag "FC" the FOURCC of the offending command.
45 | Required feature missing, flag "FC" specifies the FOURCC of the missing feature.
46 | Invalid IP supplied in INF, flag "I4" or "I6" specifies the correct IP.
47 | No hash support overlap in SUP between client and hub.
50 | Client-client / file transfer error
51 | File not available
52 | File part not available
53 | Slots full
54 | No hash support overlap in SUP between clients.
___
Description:
Description of the error, suitable for viewing directly by the user
Even if an error code is unknown by the client, it should display the text
message alone. Error codes are used so that the client can take different
action on different errors. Most error codes don't have parameters and only
make sense in C and I types.
==== SUP
SUP ('AD' | 'RM') feature (separator ('AD' | 'RM') feature)*
Contexts: F, T, C
States: PROTOCOL, NORMAL
This command identifies which features a specific client / hub supports. The
feature name consists of four uppercase letters, where the last letter may be
changed to a number to indicate a revised version of the feature. A central
register of known features should be kept, to avoid clashes. All ADC clients
must support the BASE feature (unless a future revision takes its place),
which is this protocol. The server may use any feature that the client
indicates support for regardless of its own SUP, and vice versa.
This command can also be used to dynamically add / remove features, 'AD'
meaning add and 'RM' meaning remove.
When the hub receives this message in PROTOCOL state, it should reply in kind,
assign a SID to the client, optionally send an INF about itself, and move to
the IDENTIFY state.
When the server receives this message in a client-client connection in the
PROTOCOL state, it should reply in kind, send an INF about itself, and move to
the IDENTIFY state.
==== SID
SID sid
Contexts: F
States: PROTOCOL
This command assigns a SID to a user who is currently logging on. The hub must
send this command after SUP but before INF in the PROTOCOL state. The client,
when it receives it, should send an INF about itself.
==== INF
INF
Contexts: F, T, C
States: IDENTIFY, NORMAL
This command updates the information about a client. Each time this is
received, it means that the fields specified have been added or updated. Each
field is identified by two characters, directly followed by the data
associated with that field. A field, and the effects of its presence, can be
canceled by sending the field name without data. Clients must ignore fields
they don't recognize. Most of these fields are only interesting in the
client-hub communication; during client-client this command is mainly used for
identification purposes. Hubs can choose to require or ignore any or all of
these fields; clients must work without any of them. Many of these fields,
such as share size and client version, are purely informative, and should be
taken with a grain of salt, as it is very easy to fake them. However, clients
should strive to provide accurate data for the general health of the system,
as providing invalid information probably will annoy a great deal of people.
Updates are made in an incremental manner, by sending only the fields that
have changed.
Fields:
[separator="|"]
```_
Code | Type | Description
___
ID | base32 | The CID of the client. Mandatory for C-C connections.
PD | base32 | The PID of the client. Hubs must check that the hash(PID) == CID and then discard the field before broadcasting it to other clients. Must not be sent in C-C connections.
I4 | IPv4 | IPv4 address without port. A zero address (0.0.0.0) means that the server should replace it with the real IP of the client. Hubs must check that a specified address corresponds to what the client is connecting from to avoid DoS attacks and only allow trusted clients to specify a different address. Clients should use the zero address when connecting, but may opt not to do so at the user's discretion. Any client that supports incoming TCPv4 connections must also add the feature TCP4 to their SU field.
I6 | IPv6 | IPv6 address without port. A zero address (::) means that the server should replace it with the IP of the client. Any client that supports incoming TCPv6 connections must also add the feature TCP6 to their SU field.
U4 | integer | Client UDP port. Any client that supports incoming UDPv4 packets must also add the feature UDP4 to their SU field.
U6 | integer | Same as U4, but for IPv6. Any client that supports incoming UDPv6 packets must also add the feature UDP6 to their SU field.
SS | integer | Share size in bytes
SF | integer | Number of shared files
VE | string | Client identification, version (client-specific, a short identifier then a dotted version number is recommended)
US | integer | Maximum upload speed, bytes/second
DS | integer | Maximum download speed, bytes/second
SL | integer | Maximum simultaneous upload connections (slots)
AS | integer | Automatic slot allocator speed limit, bytes/sec. The client keeps opening slots as long as its total upload speed doesn't exceed this value.
AM | integer | Minimum simultaneous upload connectins in automatic slot manager mode
EM | string | E-mail address
NI | string | Nickname (or hub name). The hub must ensure that this is unique in the hub up to case-sensitivity. Valid are all characters in the Unicode character set with code point above 32, although hubs may limit this further as they like with an appropriate error message.
DE | string | Description. Valid are all characters in the Unicode character set with code point equal to or greater than 32.
HN | integer | Hubs where user is a normal user and in NORMAL state
HR | integer | Hubs where user is registered (had to supply password) and in NORMAL state
HO | integer | Hubs where user is op and in NORMAL state
TO | string | Token, as received in RCM/CTM, when establishing a C-C connection.
CT | integer | Client (user) type, 1=bot, 2=registered user, 4=operator, 8=super user, 16=hub owner, 32=hub (used when the hub sends an INF about itself). Multiple types are specified by adding the numbers together.
AW | integer | 1=Away, 2=Extended away, not interested in hub chat (hubs may skip sending broadcast type MSG commands to clients with this flag)
SU | string | Comma-separated list of feature FOURCC's. This notifies other clients of extended capabilities of the connecting client.
RF | string | URL of referer (hub in case of redirect, web page)
___
NOTE: Normally one would only accept an IP (I4 or I6) that is the same as the
source IP of the connecting peer. Use caution when accepting unknown IPs. Only
for trusted users one may allow a different IP or an IP from a different
domain (IPv4 or IPv6) to be specified. If you fail to do this, your hub can be
used as a medium for DDoS attacks.
When a hub receives this message in the IDENTIFY state, it should verify the
PD and ID fields, and proceed to the VERIFY state by sending a PAS request or
NORMAL state by sending its own INF (unless it already did so previously),
then the INF of all connected clients in NORMAL state, and last the INF of the
connecting client. When the hub sends an INF about itself, the NI becomes hub
name, the VE the hub version, and DE the hub description.
When the server receives this during client-client communication in IDENTIFY
state, it should verify the ID and TO fields, send an INF about itself and
pass to the NORMAL state.
==== MSG
MSG text
Contexts: F, T
A chat message. The receiving clients should precede it with "<" nick ">", to
allow for uniform message displays.
Flags:
[separator="|"]
``_
PM<group-SID> | Private message, <group-SID> is the SID clients must send responses to. This field must contain the originating SID if this is a normal private conversation.
ME | 1 = message should be displayed as /me in IRC ("*nick text")
___
==== SCH
SCH
Contexts: F, T, C, (U)
Search. Each parameter is an operator followed by a term. Each term is a
two-letter code followed by the data to search for. Clients must ignore any
unknown fields and complete the search request as if they were not present,
unless no known fields are present in which case the client must ignore the
search.
[separator="|"]
``_
AN, NO, EX | String search term, where AN is include (and), NO is exclude (and not), and EX is extension. Each filename (including the path to it) should be matched using case insensitive substring search as follows: match all AN, remove those that match any NO, and make sure the extension matches at least one of the EX (if it is present). Extensions must be sent without the leading '.'.
LE | Smaller (less) than or equal size in bytes
GE | Larger (greater) than or equal size in bytes
EQ | Exact size in bytes
TO | Token, string. Used by the client to tell one search from the other. If present, the responding client must copy this field to each search result.
TY | File type, to be chosen from the following (none specified = any type): 1 = File, 2 = Directory
___
Searching by UDP is subject to IP spoofing; can thus be used to initiate a DoS
attack. Clients should only accept incoming UDP searches in a trusted
environment.
==== RES
RES
Contexts: F, T, C, U
Search result, made up of fields syntactically and structurally similar to the
INF ones. Clients must provide filename, session hash, size and token, but are
encouraged to supply additional fields if available. Passive results should be
limited to 5 and active to 10.
[separator="|"]
``_
FN | Full filename including path in share
SI | Size, in bytes
SL | Slots currently available
TO | Token
___
==== CTM
CTM protocol separator port separator token
Contexts: F, T
Connect to me. Used by active clients that want to connect to someone, or in
response to RCM. Only TCP active clients may send this. <token> is a string
that identifies the incoming connection triggered by this command and must be
present in the INF command of the connecting client. Clients should not accept
incoming connections with a token they did not send earlier. <protocol> is an
arbitrary string specifying the protocol to connect with; in the case of an
ADC 1.0 compliant connection attempt, this should be the string "ADC/1.0". If
<protocol> is supported, a response to RCM must copy the <token> and
<protocol> fields directly. If a protocol is not supported, a DSTA must be
sent indicating this.
==== RCM
RCM protocol separator token
Contexts: F, T
Reverse CTM. Used by passive clients to request a connection token from an
active client.
==== GPA
GPA data
Contexts: F
States: VERIFY
Get Password. The data parameter is at least 24 random bytes (base32 encoded).
==== PAS
PAS password
Contexts: T
States: VERIFY
Password. The password (utf-8 encoded bytes), followed by the random data
(binary), passed through the session hash algorithm then converted to base32.
When validated, this transitions the server into NORMAL state.
==== QUI
QUI sid
Contexts: F
States: IDENTIFY, VERIFY, NORMAL
The client identified by <sid> disconnected from the hub. If the SID belongs
to the client receiving the QUI, it means that it should take action according
to the reason (i.e. redirect or not reconnect in case of ban). The hub must
not send data after the QUI to the client being disconnected.
The following flags may be present:
[separator="|"]
``_
ID | SID of the initiator of the disconnect (for example the one that issued a kick).
TL | Time Left until reconnect is allowed, in seconds. -1 = forever.
MS | Message.
RD | Redirect server URL.
DI | Any client that has this flag in the QUI message should have its transfers terminated by other clients connected to it, as it is unwanted in the system.
___
==== GET
GET type identifier start_pos bytes
Contexts: C
Requests that a certain file or binary data be transmitted. <start_pos> counts
0 as the first byte. <bytes> may be set to -1 to indicate that the sending
client should fill it in with the number of bytes needed to complete the file
from <start_pos>. <type> is a [a-zA-Z0-9]+ string that specifies the namespace
for identifier and BASE requires that clients recognize the types "file" and
"list". Extensions may add to the identifier names as well as add new types.
"file" transfers transfer the file data in binary, starting at <start_pos> and
sending <bytes> bytes. Identifier must come from the namespace of the current
session hash.
"list" transfers are used for partial file lists and have a directory as
identifier. <start_pos> is always 0 and <bytes> contains the uncompressed
length of the generated XML text in the corresponding SND. An optional flag
"RE1" means that the client is requesting a recursive list and that the
sending client should send the directory itself and all subdirectories as
well. If this is too much, the sending client may choose to send only parts.
The flag should be taken as a hint that the requesting client will be getting
the subdirectories as well, so they might as well be sent in one go.
Identifier must be a directory in the unnamed root, ending (and beginning)
with "/".
Note that GET can also be used by extensions for binary transfers between hub
and client.
==== GFI
GFI type identifier
Contexts: C
Get File Information. Requests that the other client returns a RES about the
file as if it had responded to a SCH command. Type and identifier are the same
as for GET, but the identifier may come from any namespace, including the
unnamed root.
==== SND
SND type identifier start_pos bytes
Contexts: C
Transitions to DATA state. The sender will transmit until <bytes> bytes of
binary data have been sent and then will transition back to NORMAL state. The
parameters correspond to the GET parameters except that if <bytes> equals -1
it must be replaced by the number of bytes needed to complete the file
starting at <start_pos>.
== Examples
=== Client – Hub connection
[separator="|"]
``_
Client | Hub
___
HSUP ADBASE ADTIGR ... |
| ISUP ADBASE ADTIGR ...
| ISID <client-sid>
| IINF HU1 HI1 ...
BINF <my-sid> ID... PD... |
| IGPA ...
HPAS ... |
| BINF <all clients>
| BINF <Client-SID>
... | ...
___
=== Client – Client connection
[separator="|"]
``_
Client | Server
___
CSUP ADBASE ADTIGR ... |
| CSUP ADBASE ADTIGR ...
| CINF IDxxx
CINF IDxxx TO<token> |
| CGET ...
CSND ... |
<data> |
___
== Standard Extensions
Apart from supporting BASE, clients may opt to implement one or more of the
following standard extensions. To be considered for addition, an extension must
be well documented and must be implemented and tested in the real world.
=== TIGR - Tiger tree hash support
==== General
This extension adds Tiger tree hash support to the base protocol. It is
intended to be used both for identifying files and for purposes such as CID
generation and password negotiation
==== TIGR for shared files
All files shared by TIGR supporting clients must have been hashed using Merkle
Hash trees, as defined by
http://www.open-content.net/specs/draft-jchapweske-thex-02.html. The Tiger
algorithm, as specified by http://www.cs.technion.ac.il/~biham/Reports/Tiger/,
functions as the hash algorithm. A base segment size of 1024 bytes must be
used when generating the tree, but clients may then discard parts of the tree
as long as at least 7 levels are kept or a block granularity of 64 KiB is
achieved.
Generally, the root of the tree (TTH) serves to identify a file uniquely.
Searches use it and it must be present in the file list. Further, the root of
the file list must also be available and discoverable via GFI. A client may
also request the rest of the tree using the normal client-client transfer
procedure. The root must be encoded using base32 encoding when converted to
text.
In the file list, each File element carries an additional attribute "TTH"
containing the base32-encoded value of the Tiger tree root.
In the GET/GFI type, the full tree may be accessed using the "tthl" type.
"tthl" transfers send the largest set of leaves available) as a binary stream
of leaf data, right-to-left, with no spacing in between them. <start_pos>
must be set to 0 and <bytes> to -1 when requesting the data. <bytes> must
contain the total binary size of the leaf stream in SND; by dividing this
length by the individual hash length, the number of leaves, and thus the leaf
level, can be deducted. The received leaves can then be used to reconstruct
the entire tree, and the resulting root must match the root of the file (this
verifies the integrity of the tree itself). Identifier must be a TTH root
value from the "TTH/" root.
In the GET/GFI namespace, files are identified by
"TTH/<base32-encoded tree root>".
In SCH and GFI, the following attributes are added:
[separator="|"]
``_
TR | Tiger tree Hash root, encoded with base32.
TD | Tree depth, index of the highest level of tree data available, root-only = 0, first level (2 leaves) = 1, second level = 2, etc...
___
=== BZIP – File list compressed with bzip2
This extension adds a special file "files.xml.bz2" in the unnamed root of the
share which contains "files.xml" compressed with bzip2 1.0.3+ (www.bzip.org).
=== ZLIB - Compressed communication
There are two variants of zlib support, FULL and GET, and only one should be
used on a each communications channel set up.
==== ZLIB-FULL
If, during SUP negotiation, a peer sends "ZLIF" in its support string, it must
accept two additional commands, ZON and ZOF. Upon reception of ZON the peer
must start decompressing the incoming stream of data with zlib before
interpreting it, and stop doing so after ZOF is received (in the compressed
stream). The compressing end must partially flush the zlib buffer after each
chunk of data to allow for decompression by the peer.
==== ZLIB-GET
The alternative is to send "ZLIG" to indicate that zlib is supported for
binary transfers using the GET command, but not otherwise. A flag "ZL1" is
added to the to the SND command to indicate that the data will come
compressed, and the client receiving requests it by adding the same flag to
GET (the sending client may ignore a request for a compressed transfer, but
may also use it even when not requested by the receiver). The <bytes>
parameter of the GET and SND commands is to be interpreted as the number of
uncompressed bytes to be transferred.
// vim: set syntax=asciidoc: