ac488464c0
* Rework client/server authentication. - Remove Signature from all requests, and instead expect a signature in HTTP header "VSP-Client-Signature". - Remove CommitmentSignatures from the database. - Use a bool flag to indicate when a ticket is missing from the database rather than an error. This commit introduces a lot of duplication into each of the authenticated HTTP handlers. This should be removed in future work which moves the authentication to a dedicated middleware. * Introduce auth and rpc middleware. This removed the duplication added in the previous commit, and also removes the duplication of RPC client error handling.
102 lines
4.2 KiB
Markdown
102 lines
4.2 KiB
Markdown
# dcrvsp
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[](https://github.com/jholdstock/dcrvsp/actions)
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[](http://copyfree.org)
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[](https://goreportcard.com/report/github.com/jholdstock/dcrvsp)
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## Overview
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User purchases a ticket, doesnt need any special conditions, indistinguishable
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from solo ticket. User can then choose to use a VSP on a per-ticket basis. Once
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the ticket is mined, and ideally before it has matured, the user sends the
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ticket details + fee to a VSP, and the VSP will take the fee and vote in return.
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## Advantages
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### For Administrators
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- bbolt db - no database admin required.
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- Database is not used outside of dcrvsp server.
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- No stakepoold.
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- Client accountability.
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- No need to use the same wallet seed on each voting wallet.
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- Fees can change regularly - previously cached by wallet.
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### For Users
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- No redeem script to back up.
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- No registration required. No email.
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- Multiple VSPs on a single ticket.
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- Voting preferences per ticket.
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- Server accountability.
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- No address reuse.
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- VSP fees are paid "out of band", rather than being included in the ticket
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itself. This makes solo tickets and VSP tickets indistinguishable from
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eachother, enabling VSP users to purchase tickets in the same anonymity set
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as solo stakers.
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## Design Decisions
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- [gin-gonic](https://github.com/gin-gonic/gin) webserver.
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- Success responses use HTTP status 200 and a JSON encoded body.
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- Error responses use either HTTP status 500 or 400, and a JSON encoded error
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in the body (eg. `{"error":"Description"}')
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- [bbolt](https://github.com/etcd-io/bbolt) k/v database.
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- Tickets are stored in a single bucket, using ticket hash as the key and a
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json encoded representation of the ticket as the value.
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- [wsrpc](https://github.com/jrick/wsrpc) for RPC communication between dcrvsp
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and dcrwallet.
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## Architecture
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- Single server running dcrvsp, dcrwallet and dcrd. dcrd requires txindex so
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`getrawtransaction` can be used.
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- Multiple remote "Voting servers", each running dcrwallet and dcrd. dcrwallet
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on these servers should be constantly unlocked and have voting enabled.
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## MVP Features
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- When dcrvsp is started for the first time, it generates a ed25519 keypair and
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stores it in the database. This key is used to sign all API responses, and the
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signature is included in the response header `VSP-Server-Signature`. Error responses
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are not signed.
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- Every client request which references a ticket should include a HTTP header
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`VSP-Client-Signature`. The value of this header must be a signature of the
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request body, signed with the commitment address of the referenced ticket.
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- An xpub key is provided to dcrvsp via config. The first time dcrvsp starts, it
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imports this xpub to create a new wallet account. This account is used to
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derive addresses for fee payments.
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- VSP API as described in [dcrstakepool #574](https://github.com/decred/dcrstakepool/issues/574)
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- Request fee amount (`GET /fee`)
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- Request fee address (`POST /feeaddress`)
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- Pay fee (`POST /payFee`)
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- Ticket status (`GET /ticketstatus`)
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- Set voting preferences (`POST /setvotechoices`)
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- A minimal, static, web front-end providing pool stats and basic connection
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instructions.
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- Fees have an expiry period. If the fee is not paid within this period, the
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client must request a new fee. This enables the VSP to alter its fee rate.
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## Future Features
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- Write database backups to disk periodically.
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- Backup over http.
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- Status check API call as described in [dcrstakepool #628](https://github.com/decred/dcrstakepool/issues/628).
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- Accountability for both client and server changes to voting preferences.
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- Consistency checking across connected wallets.
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## Backup and Recovery
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- Regular backups of bbolt database.
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- Restore requires manual repair of fee wallet. Import xpub into account "fees",
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and rescan with a very large gap limit.
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## Issue Tracker
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The [integrated github issue tracker](https://github.com/jholdstock/dcrvsp/issues)
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is used for this project.
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## License
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dcrvsp is licensed under the [copyfree](http://copyfree.org) ISC License.
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