212 lines
5.9 KiB
Markdown
212 lines
5.9 KiB
Markdown
The git-annex P2P protocol is a custom protocol that git-annex uses to
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communicate between peers.
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There's a common line-based serialization of the protocol, but other
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serializations are also possible. The line-based serialization is spoken
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by [[git-annex-shell], and by git-annex over tor.
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One peer is known as the client, and is the peer that initiates the
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connection and sends commands. The other peer is known as the server, and
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is the peer that the client connects to. It's possible for two connections
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to be run at the same time between the same two peers, in different
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directions.
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## Errors
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Either the client or the server may send an error message at any
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time.
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When the client sends an ERROR, the server will close the connection.
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If the server sends an ERROR in response to the client's
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request, the connection will remain open, and the client can make
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another request.
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ERROR this repository is read-only; write access denied
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## Authentication
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The protocol generally starts with authentication. However, if
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authentication already occurs on another layer, as is the case with
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git-annex-shell, authentication will be skipped.
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The client starts by sending an authentication command to the server,
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along with its UUID. The AuthToken is some arbitrary token that has been
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agreed upon beforehand.
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AUTH UUID AuthToken
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The server responds with either its own UUID when authentication
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is successful. Or, it can fail the authentication, and close the
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connection.
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AUTH-SUCCESS UUID
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AUTH-FAILURE
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Note that authentication does not guarantee that the client is talking to
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who they expect to be talking to. This, and encryption of the connection,
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are handled at a lower level.
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## Protocol version
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The default protocol version is 0. The client can choose to
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negotiate a new version with the server. This must come after
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any authentication.
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The client sends the highest protocol version it supports:
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VERSION 2
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The server responds with the highest protocol version it supports
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that is less than or equal to the version the client sent:
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VERSION 1
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Now both client and server should use version 1.
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## Binary data
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The protocol allows raw binary data to be sent. This is done
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using a DATA message. In the line-based serialization, this comes
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on its own line, followed by a newline and the binary data.
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The Len value tells how many bytes of data to read.
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DATA 3
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foo
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Note that there is no newline after the binary data; the next protocol
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message will come immediately after it.
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If the sender finds itself unable to send as many bytes of data as it
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promised (perhaps because a file got truncated while it was being sent),
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its only option is to close the protocol connection.
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And if the receiver finds itself unable to receive all the data for some
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reason (eg, out of disk space), its only option is to close the protocol
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connection.
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## Checking if content is present
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To check if a key is currently present on the server, the client sends:
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CHECKPRESENT Key
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The server responds with either SUCCESS or FAILURE.
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## Locking content
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To lock content on the server, preventing it from being removed,
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the client sends:
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LOCKCONTENT Key
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The server responds with either SUCCESS or FAILURE.
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The former indicates the content is locked. It will remain
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locked until the connection is broken, or the client
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sends:
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UNLOCKCONTENT Key
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The server makes no response to that.
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## Removing content
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To remove a key's content from the server, the client sends:
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REMOVE Key
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The server responds with either SUCCESS or FAILURE.
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## Storing content on the server
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To store content on the server, the client sends:
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PUT AssociatedFile Key
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Here AssociatedFile may be the name of a file in the git
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repository, for information purposes only. Or it can be the
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empty string. It will always have unix directory separators.
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(Note that in the line-based serialization. AssociatedFile may not contain any
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spaces, since it's not the last token in the line. Use '%' to indicate
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whitespace.)
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The server may respond with ALREADY-HAVE if it already
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had the conent of that key. Otherwise, it responds with:
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PUT-FROM Offset
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Offset is the number of bytes into the file that the server wants
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the client to start. This allows resuming transfers.
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The client then sends a DATA message with content of the file from
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the offset to the end of file.
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In protocol version 1, after the data, the client sends an additional
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message, to indicate if the content of the file has changed while it
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was being sent.
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INVALID
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VALID
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If the server successfully receives the data and stores the content,
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it replies with SUCCESS. Otherwise, FAILURE.
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## Getting content from the server
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To get content from the server, the client sends:
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GET Offset AssociatedFile Key
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The Offset is the number of bytes into the file that the client wants
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the server to skip, which allows resuming transfers.
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See description of AssociatedFile above.
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The server then sends a DATA message with the content of the file
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from the offset to end of file.
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In protocol version 1, after the data, the server sends an additional
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message, to indicate if the content of the file has changed while it
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was being sent.
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INVALID
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VALID
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The client replies with SUCCESS or FAILURE.
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## Connection to services
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This is used to connect to services like git-upload-pack and
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git-receive-pack that speak their own protocol.
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The client sends a message to request the connection.
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Service is the name of the service, eg "git-upload-pack".
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CONNECT Service
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Both client and server may now exchange DATA messages in any order,
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encapsulating the service's protocol.
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When the service exits, the server indicates this by telling the client
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its exit code.
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CONNECTDONE ExitCode
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## Change notification
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The client can request to be notified when a ref in
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the git repository on the server changes.
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NOTIFYCHANGE
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The server will block until at least
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one of the refs changes, and send a list of changed
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refs.
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CHANGED ChangedRefs
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For example:
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CHANGED refs/heads/master refs/heads/git-annex
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Some servers may not support this command.
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