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# Copyright (c) 2013-2014 Sandstorm Development Group, Inc. and contributors
# Licensed under the MIT License:
#
# Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
# of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
# in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
# to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
# copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
# furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
#
# The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
# all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
#
# THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
# IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
# FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
# AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
# LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
# OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN
# THE SOFTWARE.
@0xb312981b2552a250;
# Recall that Cap'n Proto RPC allows messages to contain references to remote objects that
# implement interfaces. These references are called "capabilities", because they both designate
# the remote object to use and confer permission to use it.
#
# Recall also that Cap'n Proto RPC has the feature that when a method call itself returns a
# capability, the caller can begin calling methods on that capability _before the first call has
# returned_. The caller essentially sends a message saying "Hey server, as soon as you finish
# that previous call, do this with the result!". Cap'n Proto's RPC protocol makes this possible.
#
# The protocol is significantly more complicated than most RPC protocols. However, this is
# implementation complexity that underlies an easy-to-grasp higher-level model of object oriented
# programming. That is, just like TCP is a surprisingly complicated protocol that implements a
# conceptually-simple byte stream abstraction, Cap'n Proto is a surprisingly complicated protocol
# that implements a conceptually-simple object abstraction.
#
# Cap'n Proto RPC is based heavily on CapTP, the object-capability protocol used by the E
# programming language:
# http://www.erights.org/elib/distrib/captp/index.html
#
# Cap'n Proto RPC takes place between "vats". A vat hosts some set of objects and talks to other
# vats through direct bilateral connections. Typically, there is a 1:1 correspondence between vats
# and processes (in the unix sense of the word), although this is not strictly always true (one
# process could run multiple vats, or a distributed virtual vat might live across many processes).
#
# Cap'n Proto does not distinguish between "clients" and "servers" -- this is up to the application.
# Either end of any connection can potentially hold capabilities pointing to the other end, and
# can call methods on those capabilities. In the doc comments below, we use the words "sender"
# and "receiver". These refer to the sender and receiver of an instance of the struct or field
# being documented. Sometimes we refer to a "third-party" that is neither the sender nor the
# receiver. Documentation is generally written from the point of view of the sender.
#
# It is generally up to the vat network implementation to securely verify that connections are made
# to the intended vat as well as to encrypt transmitted data for privacy and integrity. See the
# `VatNetwork` example interface near the end of this file.
#
# When a new connection is formed, the only interesting things that can be done are to send a
# `Bootstrap` (level 0) or `Accept` (level 3) message.
#
# Unless otherwise specified, messages must be delivered to the receiving application in the same
# order in which they were initiated by the sending application. The goal is to support "E-Order",
# which states that two calls made on the same reference must be delivered in the order which they
# were made:
# http://erights.org/elib/concurrency/partial-order.html
#
# Since the full protocol is complicated, we define multiple levels of support that an
# implementation may target. For many applications, level 1 support will be sufficient.
# Comments in this file indicate which level requires the corresponding feature to be
# implemented.
#
# * **Level 0:** The implementation does not support object references. Only the bootstrap interface
# can be called. At this level, the implementation does not support object-oriented protocols and
# is similar in complexity to JSON-RPC or Protobuf services. This level should be considered only
# a temporary stepping-stone toward level 1 as the lack of object references drastically changes
# how protocols are designed. Applications _should not_ attempt to design their protocols around
# the limitations of level 0 implementations.
#
# * **Level 1:** The implementation supports simple bilateral interaction with object references
# and promise pipelining, but interactions between three or more parties are supported only via
# proxying of objects. E.g. if Alice (in Vat A) wants to send Bob (in Vat B) a capability
# pointing to Carol (in Vat C), Alice must create a proxy of Carol within Vat A and send Bob a
# reference to that; Bob cannot form a direct connection to Carol. Level 1 implementations do
# not support checking if two capabilities received from different vats actually point to the
# same object ("join"), although they should be able to do this check on capabilities received
# from the same vat.
#
# * **Level 2:** The implementation supports saving persistent capabilities -- i.e. capabilities
# that remain valid even after disconnect, and can be restored on a future connection. When a
# capability is saved, the requester receives a `SturdyRef`, which is a token that can be used
# to restore the capability later.
#
# * **Level 3:** The implementation supports three-way interactions. That is, if Alice (in Vat A)
# sends Bob (in Vat B) a capability pointing to Carol (in Vat C), then Vat B will automatically
# form a direct connection to Vat C rather than have requests be proxied through Vat A.
#
# * **Level 4:** The entire protocol is implemented, including joins (checking if two capabilities
# are equivalent).
#
# Note that an implementation must also support specific networks (transports), as described in
# the "Network-specific Parameters" section below. An implementation might have different levels
# depending on the network used.
#
# New implementations of Cap'n Proto should start out targeting the simplistic two-party network
# type as defined in `rpc-twoparty.capnp`. With this network type, level 3 is irrelevant and
# levels 2 and 4 are much easier than usual to implement. When such an implementation is paired
# with a container proxy, the contained app effectively gets to make full use of the proxy's
# network at level 4. And since Cap'n Proto IPC is extremely fast, it may never make sense to
# bother implementing any other vat network protocol -- just use the correct container type and get
# it for free.
using Cxx = import "/capnp/c++.capnp";
$Cxx.namespace("capnp::rpc");
# ========================================================================================
# The Four Tables
#
# Cap'n Proto RPC connections are stateful (although an application built on Cap'n Proto could
# export a stateless interface). As in CapTP, for each open connection, a vat maintains four state
# tables: questions, answers, imports, and exports. See the diagram at:
# http://www.erights.org/elib/distrib/captp/4tables.html
#
# The question table corresponds to the other end's answer table, and the imports table corresponds
# to the other end's exports table.
#
# The entries in each table are identified by ID numbers (defined below as 32-bit integers). These
# numbers are always specific to the connection; a newly-established connection starts with no
# valid IDs. Since low-numbered IDs will pack better, it is suggested that IDs be assigned like
# Unix file descriptors -- prefer the lowest-number ID that is currently available.
#
# IDs in the questions/answers tables are chosen by the questioner and generally represent method
# calls that are in progress.
#
# IDs in the imports/exports tables are chosen by the exporter and generally represent objects on
# which methods may be called. Exports may be "settled", meaning the exported object is an actual
# object living in the exporter's vat, or they may be "promises", meaning the exported object is
# the as-yet-unknown result of an ongoing operation and will eventually be resolved to some other
# object once that operation completes. Calls made to a promise will be forwarded to the eventual
# target once it is known. The eventual replacement object does *not* get the same ID as the
# promise, as it may turn out to be an object that is already exported (so already has an ID) or
# may even live in a completely different vat (and so won't get an ID on the same export table
# at all).
#
# IDs can be reused over time. To make this safe, we carefully define the lifetime of IDs. Since
# messages using the ID could be traveling in both directions simultaneously, we must define the
# end of life of each ID _in each direction_. The ID is only safe to reuse once it has been
# released by both sides.
#
# When a Cap'n Proto connection is lost, everything on the four tables is lost. All questions are
# canceled and throw exceptions. All imports become broken (all future calls to them throw
# exceptions). All exports and answers are implicitly released. The only things not lost are
# persistent capabilities (`SturdyRef`s). The application must plan for this and should respond by
# establishing a new connection and restoring from these persistent capabilities.
using QuestionId = UInt32;
# **(level 0)**
#
# Identifies a question in the sender's question table (which corresponds to the receiver's answer
# table). The questioner (caller) chooses an ID when making a call. The ID remains valid in
# caller -> callee messages until a Finish message is sent, and remains valid in callee -> caller
# messages until a Return message is sent.
using AnswerId = QuestionId;
# **(level 0)**
#
# Identifies an answer in the sender's answer table (which corresponds to the receiver's question
# table).
#
# AnswerId is physically equivalent to QuestionId, since the question and answer tables correspond,
# but we define a separate type for documentation purposes: we always use the type representing
# the sender's point of view.
using ExportId = UInt32;
# **(level 1)**
#
# Identifies an exported capability or promise in the sender's export table (which corresponds
# to the receiver's import table). The exporter chooses an ID before sending a capability over the
# wire. If the capability is already in the table, the exporter should reuse the same ID. If the
# ID is a promise (as opposed to a settled capability), this must be indicated at the time the ID
# is introduced (e.g. by using `senderPromise` instead of `senderHosted` in `CapDescriptor`); in
# this case, the importer shall expect a later `Resolve` message that replaces the promise.
#
# ExportId/ImportIds are subject to reference counting. Whenever an `ExportId` is sent over the
# wire (from the exporter to the importer), the export's reference count is incremented (unless
# otherwise specified). The reference count is later decremented by a `Release` message. Since
# the `Release` message can specify an arbitrary number by which to reduce the reference count, the
# importer should usually batch reference decrements and only send a `Release` when it believes the
# reference count has hit zero. Of course, it is possible that a new reference to the export is
# in-flight at the time that the `Release` message is sent, so it is necessary for the exporter to
# keep track of the reference count on its end as well to avoid race conditions.
#
# When a connection is lost, all exports are implicitly released. It is not possible to restore
# a connection state after disconnect (although a transport layer could implement a concept of
# persistent connections if it is transparent to the RPC layer).
using ImportId = ExportId;
# **(level 1)**
#
# Identifies an imported capability or promise in the sender's import table (which corresponds to
# the receiver's export table).
#
# ImportId is physically equivalent to ExportId, since the export and import tables correspond,
# but we define a separate type for documentation purposes: we always use the type representing
# the sender's point of view.
#
# An `ImportId` remains valid in importer -> exporter messages until the importer has sent
# `Release` messages that (it believes) have reduced the reference count to zero.
# ========================================================================================
# Messages
struct Message {
# An RPC connection is a bi-directional stream of Messages.
union {
unimplemented @0 :Message;
# The sender previously received this message from the peer but didn't understand it or doesn't
# yet implement the functionality that was requested. So, the sender is echoing the message
# back. In some cases, the receiver may be able to recover from this by pretending the sender
# had taken some appropriate "null" action.
#
# For example, say `resolve` is received by a level 0 implementation (because a previous call
# or return happened to contain a promise). The level 0 implementation will echo it back as
# `unimplemented`. The original sender can then simply release the cap to which the promise
# had resolved, thus avoiding a leak.
#
# For any message type that introduces a question, if the message comes back unimplemented,
# the original sender may simply treat it as if the question failed with an exception.
#
# In cases where there is no sensible way to react to an `unimplemented` message (without
# resource leaks or other serious problems), the connection may need to be aborted. This is
# a gray area; different implementations may take different approaches.
abort @1 :Exception;
# Sent when a connection is being aborted due to an unrecoverable error. This could be e.g.
# because the sender received an invalid or nonsensical message or because the sender had an
# internal error. The sender will shut down the outgoing half of the connection after `abort`
# and will completely close the connection shortly thereafter (it's up to the sender how much
# of a time buffer they want to offer for the client to receive the `abort` before the
# connection is reset).
# Level 0 features -----------------------------------------------
bootstrap @8 :Bootstrap; # Request the peer's bootstrap interface.
call @2 :Call; # Begin a method call.
return @3 :Return; # Complete a method call.
finish @4 :Finish; # Release a returned answer / cancel a call.
# Level 1 features -----------------------------------------------
resolve @5 :Resolve; # Resolve a previously-sent promise.
release @6 :Release; # Release a capability so that the remote object can be deallocated.
disembargo @13 :Disembargo; # Lift an embargo used to enforce E-order over promise resolution.
# Level 2 features -----------------------------------------------
obsoleteSave @7 :AnyPointer;
# Obsolete request to save a capability, resulting in a SturdyRef. This has been replaced
# by the `Persistent` interface defined in `persistent.capnp`. This operation was never
# implemented.
obsoleteDelete @9 :AnyPointer;
# Obsolete way to delete a SturdyRef. This operation was never implemented.
# Level 3 features -----------------------------------------------
provide @10 :Provide; # Provide a capability to a third party.
accept @11 :Accept; # Accept a capability provided by a third party.
# Level 4 features -----------------------------------------------
join @12 :Join; # Directly connect to the common root of two or more proxied caps.
}
}
# Level 0 message types ----------------------------------------------
struct Bootstrap {
# **(level 0)**
#
# Get the "bootstrap" interface exported by the remote vat.
#
# For level 0, 1, and 2 implementations, the "bootstrap" interface is simply the main interface
# exported by a vat. If the vat acts as a server fielding connections from clients, then the
# bootstrap interface defines the basic functionality available to a client when it connects.
# The exact interface definition obviously depends on the application.
#
# We call this a "bootstrap" because in an ideal Cap'n Proto world, bootstrap interfaces would
# never be used. In such a world, any time you connect to a new vat, you do so because you
# received an introduction from some other vat (see `ThirdPartyCapId`). Thus, the first message
# you send is `Accept`, and further communications derive from there. `Bootstrap` is not used.
#
# In such an ideal world, DNS itself would support Cap'n Proto -- performing a DNS lookup would
# actually return a new Cap'n Proto capability, thus introducing you to the target system via
# level 3 RPC. Applications would receive the capability to talk to DNS in the first place as
# an initial endowment or part of a Powerbox interaction. Therefore, an app can form arbitrary
# connections without ever using `Bootstrap`.
#
# Of course, in the real world, DNS is not Cap'n-Proto-based, and we don't want Cap'n Proto to
# require a whole new internet infrastructure to be useful. Therefore, we offer bootstrap
# interfaces as a way to get up and running without a level 3 introduction. Thus, bootstrap
# interfaces are used to "bootstrap" from other, non-Cap'n-Proto-based means of service discovery,
# such as legacy DNS.
#
# Note that a vat need not provide a bootstrap interface, and in fact many vats (especially those
# acting as clients) do not. In this case, the vat should either reply to `Bootstrap` with a
# `Return` indicating an exception, or should return a dummy capability with no methods.
questionId @0 :QuestionId;
# A new question ID identifying this request, which will eventually receive a Return message
# containing the restored capability.
deprecatedObjectId @1 :AnyPointer;
# ** DEPRECATED **
#
# A Vat may export multiple bootstrap interfaces. In this case, `deprecatedObjectId` specifies
# which one to return. If this pointer is null, then the default bootstrap interface is returned.
#
# As of version 0.5, use of this field is deprecated. If a service wants to export multiple
# bootstrap interfaces, it should instead define a single bootstrap interface that has methods
# that return each of the other interfaces.
#
# **History**
#
# In the first version of Cap'n Proto RPC (0.4.x) the `Bootstrap` message was called `Restore`.
# At the time, it was thought that this would eventually serve as the way to restore SturdyRefs
# (level 2). Meanwhile, an application could offer its "main" interface on a well-known
# (non-secret) SturdyRef.
#
# Since level 2 RPC was not implemented at the time, the `Restore` message was in practice only
# used to obtain the main interface. Since most applications had only one main interface that
# they wanted to restore, they tended to designate this with a null `objectId`.
#
# Unfortunately, the earliest version of the EZ RPC interfaces set a precedent of exporting
# multiple main interfaces by allowing them to be exported under string names. In this case,
# `objectId` was a Text value specifying the name.
#
# All of this proved problematic for several reasons:
#
# - The arrangement assumed that a client wishing to restore a SturdyRef would know exactly what
# machine to connect to and would be able to immediately restore a SturdyRef on connection.
# However, in practice, the ability to restore SturdyRefs is itself a capability that may
# require going through an authentication process to obtain. Thus, it makes more sense to
# define a "restorer service" as a full Cap'n Proto interface. If this restorer interface is
# offered as the vat's bootstrap interface, then this is equivalent to the old arrangement.
#
# - Overloading "Restore" for the purpose of obtaining well-known capabilities encouraged the
# practice of exporting singleton services with string names. If singleton services are desired,
# it is better to have one main interface that has methods that can be used to obtain each
# service, in order to get all the usual benefits of schemas and type checking.
#
# - Overloading "Restore" also had a security problem: Often, "main" or "well-known"
# capabilities exported by a vat are in fact not public: they are intended to be accessed only
# by clients who are capable of forming a connection to the vat. This can lead to trouble if
# the client itself has other clients and wishes to forward some `Restore` requests from those
# external clients -- it has to be very careful not to allow through `Restore` requests
# addressing the default capability.
#
# For example, consider the case of a sandboxed Sandstorm application and its supervisor. The
# application exports a default capability to its supervisor that provides access to
# functionality that only the supervisor is supposed to access. Meanwhile, though, applications
# may publish other capabilities that may be persistent, in which case the application needs
# to field `Restore` requests that could come from anywhere. These requests of course have to
# pass through the supervisor, as all communications with the outside world must. But, the
# supervisor has to be careful not to honor an external request addressing the application's
# default capability, since this capability is privileged. Unfortunately, the default
# capability cannot be given an unguessable name, because then the supervisor itself would not
# be able to address it!
#
# As of Cap'n Proto 0.5, `Restore` has been renamed to `Bootstrap` and is no longer planned for
# use in restoring SturdyRefs.
#
# Note that 0.4 also defined a message type called `Delete` that, like `Restore`, addressed a
# SturdyRef, but indicated that the client would not restore the ref again in the future. This
# operation was never implemented, so it was removed entirely. If a "delete" operation is desired,
# it should exist as a method on the same interface that handles restoring SturdyRefs. However,
# the utility of such an operation is questionable. You wouldn't be able to rely on it for
# garbage collection since a client could always disappear permanently without remembering to
# delete all its SturdyRefs, thus leaving them dangling forever. Therefore, it is advisable to
# design systems such that SturdyRefs never represent "owned" pointers.
#
# For example, say a SturdyRef points to an image file hosted on some server. That image file
# should also live inside a collection (a gallery, perhaps) hosted on the same server, owned by
# a user who can delete the image at any time. If the user deletes the image, the SturdyRef
# stops working. On the other hand, if the SturdyRef is discarded, this has no effect on the
# existence of the image in its collection.
}
struct Call {
# **(level 0)**
#
# Message type initiating a method call on a capability.
questionId @0 :QuestionId;
# A number, chosen by the caller, that identifies this call in future messages. This number
# must be different from all other calls originating from the same end of the connection (but
# may overlap with question IDs originating from the opposite end). A fine strategy is to use
# sequential question IDs, but the recipient should not assume this.
#
# A question ID can be reused once both:
# - A matching Return has been received from the callee.
# - A matching Finish has been sent from the caller.
target @1 :MessageTarget;
# The object that should receive this call.
interfaceId @2 :UInt64;
# The type ID of the interface being called. Each capability may implement multiple interfaces.
methodId @3 :UInt16;
# The ordinal number of the method to call within the requested interface.
allowThirdPartyTailCall @8 :Bool = false;
# Indicates whether or not the receiver is allowed to send a `Return` containing
# `acceptFromThirdParty`. Level 3 implementations should set this true. Otherwise, the callee
# will have to proxy the return in the case of a tail call to a third-party vat.
params @4 :Payload;
# The call parameters. `params.content` is a struct whose fields correspond to the parameters of
# the method.
sendResultsTo :union {
# Where should the return message be sent?
caller @5 :Void;
# Send the return message back to the caller (the usual).
yourself @6 :Void;
# **(level 1)**
#
# Don't actually return the results to the sender. Instead, hold on to them and await
# instructions from the sender regarding what to do with them. In particular, the sender
# may subsequently send a `Return` for some other call (which the receiver had previously made
# to the sender) with `takeFromOtherQuestion` set. The results from this call are then used
# as the results of the other call.
#
# When `yourself` is used, the receiver must still send a `Return` for the call, but sets the
# field `resultsSentElsewhere` in that `Return` rather than including the results.
#
# This feature can be used to implement tail calls in which a call from Vat A to Vat B ends up
# returning the result of a call from Vat B back to Vat A.
#
# In particular, the most common use case for this feature is when Vat A makes a call to a
# promise in Vat B, and then that promise ends up resolving to a capability back in Vat A.
# Vat B must forward all the queued calls on that promise back to Vat A, but can set `yourself`
# in the calls so that the results need not pass back through Vat B.
#
# For example:
# - Alice, in Vat A, calls foo() on Bob in Vat B.
# - Alice makes a pipelined call bar() on the promise returned by foo().
# - Later on, Bob resolves the promise from foo() to point at Carol, who lives in Vat A (next
# to Alice).
# - Vat B dutifully forwards the bar() call to Carol. Let us call this forwarded call bar'().
# Notice that bar() and bar'() are travelling in opposite directions on the same network
# link.
# - The `Call` for bar'() has `sendResultsTo` set to `yourself`.
# - Vat B sends a `Return` for bar() with `takeFromOtherQuestion` set in place of the results,
# with the value set to the question ID of bar'(). Vat B does not wait for bar'() to return,
# as doing so would introduce unnecessary round trip latency.
# - Vat A receives bar'() and delivers it to Carol.
# - When bar'() returns, Vat A sends a `Return` for bar'() to Vat B, with `resultsSentElsewhere`
# set in place of results.
# - Vat A sends a `Finish` for the bar() call to Vat B.
# - Vat B receives the `Finish` for bar() and sends a `Finish` for bar'().
thirdParty @7 :RecipientId;
# **(level 3)**
#
# The call's result should be returned to a different vat. The receiver (the callee) expects
# to receive an `Accept` message from the indicated vat, and should return the call's result
# to it, rather than to the sender of the `Call`.
#
# This operates much like `yourself`, above, except that Carol is in a separate Vat C. `Call`
# messages are sent from Vat A -> Vat B and Vat B -> Vat C. A `Return` message is sent from
# Vat B -> Vat A that contains `acceptFromThirdParty` in place of results. When Vat A sends
# an `Accept` to Vat C, it receives back a `Return` containing the call's actual result. Vat C
# also sends a `Return` to Vat B with `resultsSentElsewhere`.
}
}
struct Return {
# **(level 0)**
#
# Message type sent from callee to caller indicating that the call has completed.
answerId @0 :AnswerId;
# Equal to the QuestionId of the corresponding `Call` message.
releaseParamCaps @1 :Bool = true;
# If true, all capabilities that were in the params should be considered released. The sender
# must not send separate `Release` messages for them. Level 0 implementations in particular
# should always set this true. This defaults true because if level 0 implementations forget to
# set it they'll never notice (just silently leak caps), but if level >=1 implementations forget
# to set it to false they'll quickly get errors.
#
# The receiver should act as if the sender had sent a release message with count=1 for each
# CapDescriptor in the original Call message.
union {
results @2 :Payload;
# The result.
#
# For regular method calls, `results.content` points to the result struct.
#
# For a `Return` in response to an `Accept` or `Bootstrap`, `results` contains a single
# capability (rather than a struct), and `results.content` is just a capability pointer with
# index 0. A `Finish` is still required in this case.
exception @3 :Exception;
# Indicates that the call failed and explains why.
canceled @4 :Void;
# Indicates that the call was canceled due to the caller sending a Finish message
# before the call had completed.
resultsSentElsewhere @5 :Void;
# This is set when returning from a `Call` that had `sendResultsTo` set to something other
# than `caller`.
#
# It doesn't matter too much when this is sent, as the receiver doesn't need to do anything
# with it, but the C++ implementation appears to wait for the call to finish before sending
# this.
takeFromOtherQuestion @6 :QuestionId;
# The sender has also sent (before this message) a `Call` with the given question ID and with
# `sendResultsTo.yourself` set, and the results of that other call should be used as the
# results here. `takeFromOtherQuestion` can only used once per question.
acceptFromThirdParty @7 :ThirdPartyCapId;
# **(level 3)**
#
# The caller should contact a third-party vat to pick up the results. An `Accept` message
# sent to the vat will return the result. This pairs with `Call.sendResultsTo.thirdParty`.
# It should only be used if the corresponding `Call` had `allowThirdPartyTailCall` set.
}
}
struct Finish {
# **(level 0)**
#
# Message type sent from the caller to the callee to indicate:
# 1) The questionId will no longer be used in any messages sent by the callee (no further
# pipelined requests).
# 2) If the call has not returned yet, the caller no longer cares about the result. If nothing
# else cares about the result either (e.g. there are no other outstanding calls pipelined on
# the result of this one) then the callee may wish to immediately cancel the operation and
# send back a Return message with "canceled" set. However, implementations are not required
# to support premature cancellation -- instead, the implementation may wait until the call
# actually completes and send a normal `Return` message.
#
# TODO(someday): Should we separate (1) and implicitly releasing result capabilities? It would be
# possible and useful to notify the server that it doesn't need to keep around the response to
# service pipeline requests even though the caller still wants to receive it / hasn't yet
# finished processing it. It could also be useful to notify the server that it need not marshal
# the results because the caller doesn't want them anyway, even if the caller is still sending
# pipelined calls, although this seems less useful (just saving some bytes on the wire).
questionId @0 :QuestionId;
# ID of the call whose result is to be released.
releaseResultCaps @1 :Bool = true;
# If true, all capabilities that were in the results should be considered released. The sender
# must not send separate `Release` messages for them. Level 0 implementations in particular
# should always set this true. This defaults true because if level 0 implementations forget to
# set it they'll never notice (just silently leak caps), but if level >=1 implementations forget
# set it false they'll quickly get errors.
}
# Level 1 message types ----------------------------------------------
struct Resolve {
# **(level 1)**
#
# Message type sent to indicate that a previously-sent promise has now been resolved to some other
# object (possibly another promise) -- or broken, or canceled.
#
# Keep in mind that it's possible for a `Resolve` to be sent to a level 0 implementation that
# doesn't implement it. For example, a method call or return might contain a capability in the
# payload. Normally this is fine even if the receiver is level 0, because they will implicitly
# release all such capabilities on return / finish. But if the cap happens to be a promise, then
# a follow-up `Resolve` may be sent regardless of this release. The level 0 receiver will reply
# with an `unimplemented` message, and the sender (of the `Resolve`) can respond to this as if the
# receiver had immediately released any capability to which the promise resolved.
#
# When implementing promise resolution, it's important to understand how embargos work and the
# tricky case of the Tribble 4-way race condition. See the comments for the Disembargo message,
# below.
promiseId @0 :ExportId;
# The ID of the promise to be resolved.
#
# Unlike all other instances of `ExportId` sent from the exporter, the `Resolve` message does
# _not_ increase the reference count of `promiseId`. In fact, it is expected that the receiver
# will release the export soon after receiving `Resolve`, and the sender will not send this
# `ExportId` again until it has been released and recycled.
#
# When an export ID sent over the wire (e.g. in a `CapDescriptor`) is indicated to be a promise,
# this indicates that the sender will follow up at some point with a `Resolve` message. If the
# same `promiseId` is sent again before `Resolve`, still only one `Resolve` is sent. If the
# same ID is sent again later _after_ a `Resolve`, it can only be because the export's
# reference count hit zero in the meantime and the ID was re-assigned to a new export, therefore
# this later promise does _not_ correspond to the earlier `Resolve`.
#
# If a promise ID's reference count reaches zero before a `Resolve` is sent, the `Resolve`
# message may or may not still be sent (the `Resolve` may have already been in-flight when
# `Release` was sent, but if the `Release` is received before `Resolve` then there is no longer
# any reason to send a `Resolve`). Thus a `Resolve` may be received for a promise of which
# the receiver has no knowledge, because it already released it earlier. In this case, the
# receiver should simply release the capability to which the promise resolved.
union {
cap @1 :CapDescriptor;
# The object to which the promise resolved.
#
# The sender promises that from this point forth, until `promiseId` is released, it shall
# simply forward all messages to the capability designated by `cap`. This is true even if
# `cap` itself happens to designate another promise, and that other promise later resolves --
# messages sent to `promiseId` shall still go to that other promise, not to its resolution.
# This is important in the case that the receiver of the `Resolve` ends up sending a
# `Disembargo` message towards `promiseId` in order to control message ordering -- that
# `Disembargo` really needs to reflect back to exactly the object designated by `cap` even
# if that object is itself a promise.
exception @2 :Exception;
# Indicates that the promise was broken.
}
}
struct Release {
# **(level 1)**
#
# Message type sent to indicate that the sender is done with the given capability and the receiver
# can free resources allocated to it.
id @0 :ImportId;
# What to release.
referenceCount @1 :UInt32;
# The amount by which to decrement the reference count. The export is only actually released
# when the reference count reaches zero.
}
struct Disembargo {
# **(level 1)**
#
# Message sent to indicate that an embargo on a recently-resolved promise may now be lifted.
#
# Embargos are used to enforce E-order in the presence of promise resolution. That is, if an
# application makes two calls foo() and bar() on the same capability reference, in that order,
# the calls should be delivered in the order in which they were made. But if foo() is called
# on a promise, and that promise happens to resolve before bar() is called, then the two calls
# may travel different paths over the network, and thus could arrive in the wrong order. In
# this case, the call to `bar()` must be embargoed, and a `Disembargo` message must be sent along
# the same path as `foo()` to ensure that the `Disembargo` arrives after `foo()`. Once the
# `Disembargo` arrives, `bar()` can then be delivered.
#
# There are two particular cases where embargos are important. Consider object Alice, in Vat A,
# who holds a promise P, pointing towards Vat B, that eventually resolves to Carol. The two
# cases are:
# - Carol lives in Vat A, i.e. next to Alice. In this case, Vat A needs to send a `Disembargo`
# message that echos through Vat B and back, to ensure that all pipelined calls on the promise
# have been delivered.
# - Carol lives in a different Vat C. When the promise resolves, a three-party handoff occurs
# (see `Provide` and `Accept`, which constitute level 3 of the protocol). In this case, we
# piggyback on the state that has already been set up to handle the handoff: the `Accept`
# message (from Vat A to Vat C) is embargoed, as are all pipelined messages sent to it, while
# a `Disembargo` message is sent from Vat A through Vat B to Vat C. See `Accept.embargo` for
# an example.
#
# Note that in the case where Carol actually lives in Vat B (i.e., the same vat that the promise
# already pointed at), no embargo is needed, because the pipelined calls are delivered over the
# same path as the later direct calls.
#
# Keep in mind that promise resolution happens both in the form of Resolve messages as well as
# Return messages (which resolve PromisedAnswers). Embargos apply in both cases.
#
# An alternative strategy for enforcing E-order over promise resolution could be for Vat A to
# implement the embargo internally. When Vat A is notified of promise resolution, it could
# send a dummy no-op call to promise P and wait for it to complete. Until that call completes,
# all calls to the capability are queued locally. This strategy works, but is pessimistic:
# in the three-party case, it requires an A -> B -> C -> B -> A round trip before calls can start
# being delivered directly to from Vat A to Vat C. The `Disembargo` message allows latency to be
# reduced. (In the two-party loopback case, the `Disembargo` message is just a more explicit way
# of accomplishing the same thing as a no-op call, but isn't any faster.)
#
# *The Tribble 4-way Race Condition*
#
# Any implementation of promise resolution and embargos must be aware of what we call the
# "Tribble 4-way race condition", after Dean Tribble, who explained the problem in a lively
# Friam meeting.
#
# Embargos are designed to work in the case where a two-hop path is being shortened to one hop.
# But sometimes there are more hops. Imagine that Alice has a reference to a remote promise P1
# that eventually resolves to _another_ remote promise P2 (in a third vat), which _at the same
# time_ happens to resolve to Bob (in a fourth vat). In this case, we're shortening from a 3-hop
# path (with four parties) to a 1-hop path (Alice -> Bob).
#
# Extending the embargo/disembargo protocol to be able to shorted multiple hops at once seems
# difficult. Instead, we make a rule that prevents this case from coming up:
#
# One a promise P has been resolved to a remote object reference R, then all further messages
# received addressed to P will be forwarded strictly to R. Even if it turns out later that R is
# itself a promise, and has resolved to some other object Q, messages sent to P will still be
# forwarded to R, not directly to Q (R will of course further forward the messages to Q).
#
# This rule does not cause a significant performance burden because once P has resolved to R, it
# is expected that people sending messages to P will shortly start sending them to R instead and
# drop P. P is at end-of-life anyway, so it doesn't matter if it ignores chances to further
# optimize its path.
target @0 :MessageTarget;
# What is to be disembargoed.
using EmbargoId = UInt32;
# Used in `senderLoopback` and `receiverLoopback`, below.
context :union {
senderLoopback @1 :EmbargoId;
# The sender is requesting a disembargo on a promise that is known to resolve back to a
# capability hosted by the sender. As soon as the receiver has echoed back all pipelined calls
# on this promise, it will deliver the Disembargo back to the sender with `receiverLoopback`
# set to the same value as `senderLoopback`. This value is chosen by the sender, and since
# it is also consumed be the sender, the sender can use whatever strategy it wants to make sure
# the value is unambiguous.
#
# The receiver must verify that the target capability actually resolves back to the sender's
# vat. Otherwise, the sender has committed a protocol error and should be disconnected.
receiverLoopback @2 :EmbargoId;
# The receiver previously sent a `senderLoopback` Disembargo towards a promise resolving to
# this capability, and that Disembargo is now being echoed back.
accept @3 :Void;
# **(level 3)**
#
# The sender is requesting a disembargo on a promise that is known to resolve to a third-party
# capability that the sender is currently in the process of accepting (using `Accept`).
# The receiver of this `Disembargo` has an outstanding `Provide` on said capability. The
# receiver should now send a `Disembargo` with `provide` set to the question ID of that
# `Provide` message.
#
# See `Accept.embargo` for an example.
provide @4 :QuestionId;
# **(level 3)**
#
# The sender is requesting a disembargo on a capability currently being provided to a third
# party. The question ID identifies the `Provide` message previously sent by the sender to
# this capability. On receipt, the receiver (the capability host) shall release the embargo
# on the `Accept` message that it has received from the third party. See `Accept.embargo` for
# an example.
}
}
# Level 2 message types ----------------------------------------------
# See persistent.capnp.
# Level 3 message types ----------------------------------------------
struct Provide {
# **(level 3)**
#
# Message type sent to indicate that the sender wishes to make a particular capability implemented
# by the receiver available to a third party for direct access (without the need for the third
# party to proxy through the sender).
#
# (In CapTP, `Provide` and `Accept` are methods of the global `NonceLocator` object exported by
# every vat. In Cap'n Proto, we bake this into the core protocol.)
questionId @0 :QuestionId;
# Question ID to be held open until the recipient has received the capability. A result will be
# returned once the third party has successfully received the capability. The sender must at some
# point send a `Finish` message as with any other call, and that message can be used to cancel the
# whole operation.
target @1 :MessageTarget;
# What is to be provided to the third party.
recipient @2 :RecipientId;
# Identity of the third party that is expected to pick up the capability.
}
struct Accept {
# **(level 3)**
#
# Message type sent to pick up a capability hosted by the receiving vat and provided by a third
# party. The third party previously designated the capability using `Provide`.
#
# This message is also used to pick up a redirected return -- see `Return.acceptFromThirdParty`.
questionId @0 :QuestionId;
# A new question ID identifying this accept message, which will eventually receive a Return
# message containing the provided capability (or the call result in the case of a redirected
# return).
provision @1 :ProvisionId;
# Identifies the provided object to be picked up.
embargo @2 :Bool;
# If true, this accept shall be temporarily embargoed. The resulting `Return` will not be sent,
# and any pipelined calls will not be delivered, until the embargo is released. The receiver
# (the capability host) will expect the provider (the vat that sent the `Provide` message) to
# eventually send a `Disembargo` message with the field `context.provide` set to the question ID
# of the original `Provide` message. At that point, the embargo is released and the queued
# messages are delivered.
#
# For example:
# - Alice, in Vat A, holds a promise P, which currently points toward Vat B.
# - Alice calls foo() on P. The `Call` message is sent to Vat B.
# - The promise P in Vat B ends up resolving to Carol, in Vat C.
# - Vat B sends a `Provide` message to Vat C, identifying Vat A as the recipient.
# - Vat B sends a `Resolve` message to Vat A, indicating that the promise has resolved to a
# `ThirdPartyCapId` identifying Carol in Vat C.
# - Vat A sends an `Accept` message to Vat C to pick up the capability. Since Vat A knows that
# it has an outstanding call to the promise, it sets `embargo` to `true` in the `Accept`
# message.
# - Vat A sends a `Disembargo` message to Vat B on promise P, with `context.accept` set.
# - Alice makes a call bar() to promise P, which is now pointing towards Vat C. Alice doesn't
# know anything about the mechanics of promise resolution happening under the hood, but she
# expects that bar() will be delivered after foo() because that is the order in which she
# initiated the calls.
# - Vat A sends the bar() call to Vat C, as a pipelined call on the result of the `Accept` (which
# hasn't returned yet, due to the embargo). Since calls to the newly-accepted capability
# are embargoed, Vat C does not deliver the call yet.
# - At some point, Vat B forwards the foo() call from the beginning of this example on to Vat C.
# - Vat B forwards the `Disembargo` from Vat A on to vat C. It sets `context.provide` to the
# question ID of the `Provide` message it had sent previously.
# - Vat C receives foo() before `Disembargo`, thus allowing it to correctly deliver foo()
# before delivering bar().
# - Vat C receives `Disembargo` from Vat B. It can now send a `Return` for the `Accept` from
# Vat A, as well as deliver bar().
}
# Level 4 message types ----------------------------------------------
struct Join {
# **(level 4)**
#
# Message type sent to implement E.join(), which, given a number of capabilities that are
# expected to be equivalent, finds the underlying object upon which they all agree and forms a
# direct connection to it, skipping any proxies that may have been constructed by other vats
# while transmitting the capability. See:
# http://erights.org/elib/equality/index.html
#
# Note that this should only serve to bypass fully-transparent proxies -- proxies that were
# created merely for convenience, without any intention of hiding the underlying object.
#
# For example, say Bob holds two capabilities hosted by Alice and Carol, but he expects that both
# are simply proxies for a capability hosted elsewhere. He then issues a join request, which
# operates as follows:
# - Bob issues Join requests on both Alice and Carol. Each request contains a different piece
# of the JoinKey.
# - Alice is proxying a capability hosted by Dana, so forwards the request to Dana's cap.
# - Dana receives the first request and sees that the JoinKeyPart is one of two. She notes that
# she doesn't have the other part yet, so she records the request and responds with a
# JoinResult.
# - Alice relays the JoinAnswer back to Bob.
# - Carol is also proxying a capability from Dana, and so forwards her Join request to Dana as
# well.
# - Dana receives Carol's request and notes that she now has both parts of a JoinKey. She
# combines them in order to form information needed to form a secure connection to Bob. She
# also responds with another JoinResult.
# - Bob receives the responses from Alice and Carol. He uses the returned JoinResults to
# determine how to connect to Dana and attempts to form the connection. Since Bob and Dana now
# agree on a secret key that neither Alice nor Carol ever saw, this connection can be made
# securely even if Alice or Carol is conspiring against the other. (If Alice and Carol are
# conspiring _together_, they can obviously reproduce the key, but this doesn't matter because
# the whole point of the join is to verify that Alice and Carol agree on what capability they
# are proxying.)
#
# If the two capabilities aren't actually proxies of the same object, then the join requests
# will come back with conflicting `hostId`s and the join will fail before attempting to form any
# connection.
questionId @0 :QuestionId;
# Question ID used to respond to this Join. (Note that this ID only identifies one part of the
# request for one hop; each part has a different ID and relayed copies of the request have
# (probably) different IDs still.)
#
# The receiver will reply with a `Return` whose `results` is a JoinResult. This `JoinResult`
# is relayed from the joined object's host, possibly with transformation applied as needed
# by the network.
#
# Like any return, the result must be released using a `Finish`. However, this release
# should not occur until the joiner has either successfully connected to the joined object.
# Vats relaying a `Join` message similarly must not release the result they receive until the
# return they relayed back towards the joiner has itself been released. This allows the
# joined object's host to detect when the Join operation is canceled before completing -- if
# it receives a `Finish` for one of the join results before the joiner successfully
# connects. It can then free any resources it had allocated as part of the join.
target @1 :MessageTarget;
# The capability to join.
keyPart @2 :JoinKeyPart;
# A part of the join key. These combine to form the complete join key, which is used to establish
# a direct connection.
# TODO(before implementing): Change this so that multiple parts can be sent in a single Join
# message, so that if multiple join parts are going to cross the same connection they can be sent
# together, so that the receive can potentially optimize its handling of them. In the case where
# all parts are bundled together, should the recipient be expected to simply return a cap, so
# that the caller can immediately start pipelining to it?
}
# ========================================================================================
# Common structures used in messages
struct MessageTarget {
# The target of a `Call` or other messages that target a capability.
union {
importedCap @0 :ImportId;
# This message is to a capability or promise previously imported by the caller (exported by
# the receiver).
promisedAnswer @1 :PromisedAnswer;
# This message is to a capability that is expected to be returned by another call that has not
# yet been completed.
#
# At level 0, this is supported only for addressing the result of a previous `Bootstrap`, so
# that initial startup doesn't require a round trip.
}
}
struct Payload {
# Represents some data structure that might contain capabilities.
content @0 :AnyPointer;
# Some Cap'n Proto data structure. Capability pointers embedded in this structure index into
# `capTable`.
capTable @1 :List(CapDescriptor);
# Descriptors corresponding to the cap pointers in `content`.
}
struct CapDescriptor {
# **(level 1)**
#
# When an application-defined type contains an interface pointer, that pointer contains an index
# into the message's capability table -- i.e. the `capTable` part of the `Payload`. Each
# capability in the table is represented as a `CapDescriptor`. The runtime API should not reveal
# the CapDescriptor directly to the application, but should instead wrap it in some kind of
# callable object with methods corresponding to the interface that the capability implements.
#
# Keep in mind that `ExportIds` in a `CapDescriptor` are subject to reference counting. See the
# description of `ExportId`.
#
# Note that it is currently not possible to include a broken capability in the CapDescriptor
# table. Instead, create a new export (`senderPromise`) for each broken capability and then
# immediately follow the payload-bearing Call or Return message with one Resolve message for each
# broken capability, resolving it to an exception.
union {
none @0 :Void;
# There is no capability here. This `CapDescriptor` should not appear in the payload content.
# A `none` CapDescriptor can be generated when an application inserts a capability into a
# message and then later changes its mind and removes it -- rewriting all of the other
# capability pointers may be hard, so instead a tombstone is left, similar to the way a removed
# struct or list instance is zeroed out of the message but the space is not reclaimed.
# Hopefully this is unusual.
senderHosted @1 :ExportId;
# The ID of a capability in the sender's export table (receiver's import table). It may be a
# newly allocated table entry, or an existing entry (increments the reference count).
senderPromise @2 :ExportId;
# A promise that the sender will resolve later. The sender will send exactly one Resolve
# message at a future point in time to replace this promise. Note that even if the same
# `senderPromise` is received multiple times, only one `Resolve` is sent to cover all of
# them. If `senderPromise` is released before the `Resolve` is sent, the sender (of this
# `CapDescriptor`) may choose not to send the `Resolve` at all.
receiverHosted @3 :ImportId;
# A capability (or promise) previously exported by the receiver (imported by the sender).
receiverAnswer @4 :PromisedAnswer;
# A capability expected to be returned in the results of a currently-outstanding call posed
# by the sender.
thirdPartyHosted @5 :ThirdPartyCapDescriptor;
# **(level 3)**
#
# A capability that lives in neither the sender's nor the receiver's vat. The sender needs
# to form a direct connection to a third party to pick up the capability.
#
# Level 1 and 2 implementations that receive a `thirdPartyHosted` may simply send calls to its
# `vine` instead.
}
attachedFd @6 :UInt8 = 0xff;
# If the RPC message in which this CapDescriptor was delivered also had file descriptors
# attached, and `fd` is a valid index into the list of attached file descriptors, then
# that file descriptor should be attached to this capability. If `attachedFd` is out-of-bounds
# for said list, then no FD is attached.
#
# For example, if the RPC message arrived over a Unix socket, then file descriptors may be
# attached by sending an SCM_RIGHTS ancillary message attached to the data bytes making up the
# raw message. Receivers who wish to opt into FD passing should arrange to receive SCM_RIGHTS
# whenever receiving an RPC message. Senders who wish to send FDs need not verify whether the
# receiver knows how to receive them, because the operating system will automatically discard
# ancillary messages like SCM_RIGHTS if the receiver doesn't ask to receive them, including
# automatically closing any FDs.
#
# It is up to the application protocol to define what capabilities are expected to have file
# descriptors attached, and what those FDs mean. But, for example, an application could use this
# to open a file on disk and then transmit the open file descriptor to a sandboxed process that
# does not otherwise have permission to access the filesystem directly. This is usually an
# optimization: the sending process could instead provide an RPC interface supporting all the
# operations needed (such as reading and writing a file), but by passing the file descriptor
# directly, the recipient can often perform operations much more efficiently. Application
# designers are encouraged to provide such RPC interfaces and automatically fall back to them
# when FD passing is not available, so that the application can still work when the parties are
# remote over a network.
#
# An attached FD is most often associated with a `senderHosted` descriptor. It could also make
# sense in the case of `thirdPartyHosted`: in this case, the sender is forwarding the FD that
# they received from the third party, so that the receiver can start using it without first
# interacting with the third party. This is an optional optimization -- the middleman may choose
# not to forward capabilities, in which case the receiver will need to complete the handshake
# with the third party directly before receiving the FD. If an implementation receives a second
# attached FD after having already received one previously (e.g. both in a `thirdPartyHosted`
# CapDescriptor and then later again when receiving the final capability directly from the
# third party), the implementation should discard the later FD and stick with the original. At
# present, there is no known reason why other capability types (e.g. `receiverHosted`) would want
# to carry an attached FD, but we reserve the right to define a meaning for this in the future.
#
# Each file descriptor attached to the message must be used in no more than one CapDescriptor,
# so that the receiver does not need to use dup() or refcounting to handle the possibility of
# multiple capabilities using the same descriptor. If multiple CapDescriptors do point to the
# same FD index, then the receiver can arbitrarily choose which capability ends up having the
# FD attached.
#
# To mitigate DoS attacks, RPC implementations should limit the number of FDs they are willing to
# receive in a single message to a small value. If a message happens to contain more than that,
# the list is truncated. Moreover, in some cases, FD passing needs to be blocked entirely for
# security or implementation reasons, in which case the list may be truncated to zero. Hence,
# `attachedFd` might point past the end of the list, which the implementation should treat as if
# no FD was attached at all.
#
# The type of this field was chosen to be UInt8 because Linux supports sending only a maximum
# of 253 file descriptors in an SCM_RIGHTS message anyway, and CapDescriptor had two bytes of
# padding left -- so after adding this, there is still one byte for a future feature.
# Conveniently, this also means we're able to use 0xff as the default value, which will always
# be out-of-range (of course, the implementation should explicitly enforce that 255 descriptors
# cannot be sent at once, rather than relying on Linux to do so).
}
struct PromisedAnswer {
# **(mostly level 1)**
#
# Specifies how to derive a promise from an unanswered question, by specifying the path of fields
# to follow from the root of the eventual result struct to get to the desired capability. Used
# to address method calls to a not-yet-returned capability or to pass such a capability as an
# input to some other method call.
#
# Level 0 implementations must support `PromisedAnswer` only for the case where the answer is
# to a `Bootstrap` message. In this case, `path` is always empty since `Bootstrap` always returns
# a raw capability.
questionId @0 :QuestionId;
# ID of the question (in the sender's question table / receiver's answer table) whose answer is
# expected to contain the capability.
transform @1 :List(Op);
# Operations / transformations to apply to the result in order to get the capability actually
# being addressed. E.g. if the result is a struct and you want to call a method on a capability
# pointed to by a field of the struct, you need a `getPointerField` op.
struct Op {
union {
noop @0 :Void;
# Does nothing. This member is mostly defined so that we can make `Op` a union even
# though (as of this writing) only one real operation is defined.
getPointerField @1 :UInt16;
# Get a pointer field within a struct. The number is an index into the pointer section, NOT
# a field ordinal, so that the receiver does not need to understand the schema.
# TODO(someday): We could add:
# - For lists, the ability to address every member of the list, or a slice of the list, the
# result of which would be another list. This is useful for implementing the equivalent of
# a SQL table join (not to be confused with the `Join` message type).
# - Maybe some ability to test a union.
# - Probably not a good idea: the ability to specify an arbitrary script to run on the
# result. We could define a little stack-based language where `Op` specifies one
# "instruction" or transformation to apply. Although this is not a good idea
# (over-engineered), any narrower additions to `Op` should be designed as if this
# were the eventual goal.
}
}
}
struct ThirdPartyCapDescriptor {
# **(level 3)**
#
# Identifies a capability in a third-party vat that the sender wants the receiver to pick up.
id @0 :ThirdPartyCapId;
# Identifies the third-party host and the specific capability to accept from it.
vineId @1 :ExportId;
# A proxy for the third-party object exported by the sender. In CapTP terminology this is called
# a "vine", because it is an indirect reference to the third-party object that snakes through the
# sender vat. This serves two purposes:
#
# * Level 1 and 2 implementations that don't understand how to connect to a third party may
# simply send calls to the vine. Such calls will be forwarded to the third-party by the
# sender.
#
# * Level 3 implementations must release the vine only once they have successfully picked up the
# object from the third party. This ensures that the capability is not released by the sender
# prematurely.
#
# The sender will close the `Provide` request that it has sent to the third party as soon as
# it receives either a `Call` or a `Release` message directed at the vine.
}
struct Exception {
# **(level 0)**
#
# Describes an arbitrary error that prevented an operation (e.g. a call) from completing.
#
# Cap'n Proto exceptions always indicate that something went wrong. In other words, in a fantasy
# world where everything always works as expected, no exceptions would ever be thrown. Clients
# should only ever catch exceptions as a means to implement fault-tolerance, where "fault" can
# mean:
# - Bugs.
# - Invalid input.
# - Configuration errors.
# - Network problems.
# - Insufficient resources.
# - Version skew (unimplemented functionality).
# - Other logistical problems.
#
# Exceptions should NOT be used to flag application-specific conditions that a client is expected
# to handle in an application-specific way. Put another way, in the Cap'n Proto world,
# "checked exceptions" (where an interface explicitly defines the exceptions it throws and
# clients are forced by the type system to handle those exceptions) do NOT make sense.
reason @0 :Text;
# Human-readable failure description.
type @3 :Type;
# The type of the error. The purpose of this enum is not to describe the error itself, but
# rather to describe how the client might want to respond to the error.
enum Type {
failed @0;
# A generic problem occurred, and it is believed that if the operation were repeated without
# any change in the state of the world, the problem would occur again.
#
# A client might respond to this error by logging it for investigation by the developer and/or
# displaying it to the user.
overloaded @1;
# The request was rejected due to a temporary lack of resources.
#
# Examples include:
# - There's not enough CPU time to keep up with incoming requests, so some are rejected.
# - The server ran out of RAM or disk space during the request.
# - The operation timed out (took significantly longer than it should have).
#
# A client might respond to this error by scheduling to retry the operation much later. The
# client should NOT retry again immediately since this would likely exacerbate the problem.
disconnected @2;
# The method failed because a connection to some necessary capability was lost.
#
# Examples include:
# - The client introduced the server to a third-party capability, the connection to that third
# party was subsequently lost, and then the client requested that the server use the dead
# capability for something.
# - The client previously requested that the server obtain a capability from some third party.
# The server returned a capability to an object wrapping the third-party capability. Later,
# the server's connection to the third party was lost.
# - The capability has been revoked. Revocation does not necessarily mean that the client is
# no longer authorized to use the capability; it is often used simply as a way to force the
# client to repeat the setup process, perhaps to efficiently move them to a new back-end or
# get them to recognize some other change that has occurred.
#
# A client should normally respond to this error by releasing all capabilities it is currently
# holding related to the one it called and then re-creating them by restoring SturdyRefs and/or
# repeating the method calls used to create them originally. In other words, disconnect and
# start over. This should in turn cause the server to obtain a new copy of the capability that
# it lost, thus making everything work.
#
# If the client receives another `disconnected` error in the process of rebuilding the
# capability and retrying the call, it should treat this as an `overloaded` error: the network
# is currently unreliable, possibly due to load or other temporary issues.
unimplemented @3;
# The server doesn't implement the requested method. If there is some other method that the
# client could call (perhaps an older and/or slower interface), it should try that instead.
# Otherwise, this should be treated like `failed`.
}
obsoleteIsCallersFault @1 :Bool;
# OBSOLETE. Ignore.
obsoleteDurability @2 :UInt16;
# OBSOLETE. See `type` instead.
trace @4 :Text;
# Stack trace text from the remote server. The format is not specified. By default,
# implementations do not provide stack traces; the application must explicitly enable them
# when desired.
}
# ========================================================================================
# Network-specific Parameters
#
# Some parts of the Cap'n Proto RPC protocol are not specified here because different vat networks
# may wish to use different approaches to solving them. For example, on the public internet, you
# may want to authenticate vats using public-key cryptography, but on a local intranet with trusted
# infrastructure, you may be happy to authenticate based on network address only, or some other
# lightweight mechanism.
#
# To accommodate this, we specify several "parameter" types. Each type is defined here as an
# alias for `AnyPointer`, but a specific network will want to define a specific set of types to use.
# All vats in a vat network must agree on these parameters in order to be able to communicate.
# Inter-network communication can be accomplished through "gateways" that perform translation
# between the primitives used on each network; these gateways may need to be deeply stateful,
# depending on the translations they perform.
#
# For interaction over the global internet between parties with no other prior arrangement, a
# particular set of bindings for these types is defined elsewhere. (TODO(someday): Specify where
# these common definitions live.)
#
# Another common network type is the two-party network, in which one of the parties typically
# interacts with the outside world entirely through the other party. In such a connection between
# Alice and Bob, all objects that exist on Bob's other networks appear to Alice as if they were
# hosted by Bob himself, and similarly all objects on Alice's network (if she even has one) appear
# to Bob as if they were hosted by Alice. This network type is interesting because from the point
# of view of a simple application that communicates with only one other party via the two-party
# protocol, there are no three-party interactions at all, and joins are unusually simple to
# implement, so implementing at level 4 is barely more complicated than implementing at level 1.
# Moreover, if you pair an app implementing the two-party network with a container that implements
# some other network, the app can then participate on the container's network just as if it
# implemented that network directly. The types used by the two-party network are defined in
# `rpc-twoparty.capnp`.
#
# The things that we need to parameterize are:
# - How to store capabilities long-term without holding a connection open (mostly level 2).
# - How to authenticate vats in three-party introductions (level 3).
# - How to implement `Join` (level 4).
#
# Persistent references
# ---------------------
#
# **(mostly level 2)**
#
# We want to allow some capabilities to be stored long-term, even if a connection is lost and later
# recreated. ExportId is a short-term identifier that is specific to a connection, so it doesn't
# help here. We need a way to specify long-term identifiers, as well as a strategy for
# reconnecting to a referenced capability later.
#
# Three-party interactions
# ------------------------
#
# **(level 3)**
#
# In cases where more than two vats are interacting, we have situations where VatA holds a
# capability hosted by VatB and wants to send that capability to VatC. This can be accomplished
# by VatA proxying requests on the new capability, but doing so has two big problems:
# - It's inefficient, requiring an extra network hop.
# - If VatC receives another capability to the same object from VatD, it is difficult for VatC to
# detect that the two capabilities are really the same and to implement the E "join" operation,
# which is necessary for certain four-or-more-party interactions, such as the escrow pattern.
# See: http://www.erights.org/elib/equality/grant-matcher/index.html
#
# Instead, we want a way for VatC to form a direct, authenticated connection to VatB.
#
# Join
# ----
#
# **(level 4)**
#
# The `Join` message type and corresponding operation arranges for a direct connection to be formed
# between the joiner and the host of the joined object, and this connection must be authenticated.
# Thus, the details are network-dependent.
using SturdyRef = AnyPointer;
# **(level 2)**
#
# Identifies a persisted capability that can be restored in the future. How exactly a SturdyRef
# is restored to a live object is specified along with the SturdyRef definition (i.e. not by
# rpc.capnp).
#
# Generally a SturdyRef needs to specify three things:
# - How to reach the vat that can restore the ref (e.g. a hostname or IP address).
# - How to authenticate the vat after connecting (e.g. a public key fingerprint).
# - The identity of a specific object hosted by the vat. Generally, this is an opaque pointer whose
# format is defined by the specific vat -- the client has no need to inspect the object ID.
# It is important that the object ID be unguessable if the object is not public (and objects
# should almost never be public).
#
# The above are only suggestions. Some networks might work differently. For example, a private
# network might employ a special restorer service whose sole purpose is to restore SturdyRefs.
# In this case, the entire contents of SturdyRef might be opaque, because they are intended only
# to be forwarded to the restorer service.
using ProvisionId = AnyPointer;
# **(level 3)**
#
# The information that must be sent in an `Accept` message to identify the object being accepted.
#
# In a network where each vat has a public/private key pair, this could simply be the public key
# fingerprint of the provider vat along with a nonce matching the one in the `RecipientId` used
# in the `Provide` message sent from that provider.
using RecipientId = AnyPointer;
# **(level 3)**
#
# The information that must be sent in a `Provide` message to identify the recipient of the
# capability.
#
# In a network where each vat has a public/private key pair, this could simply be the public key
# fingerprint of the recipient along with a nonce matching the one in the `ProvisionId`.
#
# As another example, when communicating between processes on the same machine over Unix sockets,
# RecipientId could simply refer to a file descriptor attached to the message via SCM_RIGHTS.
# This file descriptor would be one end of a newly-created socketpair, with the other end having
# been sent to the capability's recipient in ThirdPartyCapId.
using ThirdPartyCapId = AnyPointer;
# **(level 3)**
#
# The information needed to connect to a third party and accept a capability from it.
#
# In a network where each vat has a public/private key pair, this could be a combination of the
# third party's public key fingerprint, hints on how to connect to the third party (e.g. an IP
# address), and the nonce used in the corresponding `Provide` message's `RecipientId` as sent
# to that third party (used to identify which capability to pick up).
#
# As another example, when communicating between processes on the same machine over Unix sockets,
# ThirdPartyCapId could simply refer to a file descriptor attached to the message via SCM_RIGHTS.
# This file descriptor would be one end of a newly-created socketpair, with the other end having
# been sent to the process hosting the capability in RecipientId.
using JoinKeyPart = AnyPointer;
# **(level 4)**
#
# A piece of a secret key. One piece is sent along each path that is expected to lead to the same
# place. Once the pieces are combined, a direct connection may be formed between the sender and
# the receiver, bypassing any men-in-the-middle along the paths. See the `Join` message type.
#
# The motivation for Joins is discussed under "Supporting Equality" in the "Unibus" protocol
# sketch: http://www.erights.org/elib/distrib/captp/unibus.html
#
# In a network where each vat has a public/private key pair and each vat forms no more than one
# connection to each other vat, Joins will rarely -- perhaps never -- be needed, as objects never
# need to be transparently proxied and references to the same object sent over the same connection
# have the same export ID. Thus, a successful join requires only checking that the two objects
# come from the same connection and have the same ID, and then completes immediately.
#
# However, in networks where two vats may form more than one connection between each other, or
# where proxying of objects occurs, joins are necessary.
#
# Typically, each JoinKeyPart would include a fixed-length data value such that all value parts
# XOR'd together forms a shared secret that can be used to form an encrypted connection between
# the joiner and the joined object's host. Each JoinKeyPart should also include an indication of
# how many parts to expect and a hash of the shared secret (used to match up parts).
using JoinResult = AnyPointer;
# **(level 4)**
#
# Information returned as the result to a `Join` message, needed by the joiner in order to form a
# direct connection to a joined object. This might simply be the address of the joined object's
# host vat, since the `JoinKey` has already been communicated so the two vats already have a shared
# secret to use to authenticate each other.
#
# The `JoinResult` should also contain information that can be used to detect when the Join
# requests ended up reaching different objects, so that this situation can be detected easily.
# This could be a simple matter of including a sequence number -- if the joiner receives two
# `JoinResult`s with sequence number 0, then they must have come from different objects and the
# whole join is a failure.
# ========================================================================================
# Network interface sketch
#
# The interfaces below are meant to be pseudo-code to illustrate how the details of a particular
# vat network might be abstracted away. They are written like Cap'n Proto interfaces, but in
# practice you'd probably define these interfaces manually in the target programming language. A
# Cap'n Proto RPC implementation should be able to use these interfaces without knowing the
# definitions of the various network-specific parameters defined above.
# interface VatNetwork {
# # Represents a vat network, with the ability to connect to particular vats and receive
# # connections from vats.
# #
# # Note that methods returning a `Connection` may return a pre-existing `Connection`, and the
# # caller is expected to find and share state with existing users of the connection.
#
# # Level 0 features -----------------------------------------------
#
# connect(vatId :VatId) :Connection;
# # Connect to the given vat. The transport should return a promise that does not
# # resolve until authentication has completed, but allows messages to be pipelined in before
# # that; the transport either queues these messages until authenticated, or sends them encrypted
# # such that only the authentic vat would be able to decrypt them. The latter approach avoids a
# # round trip for authentication.
#
# accept() :Connection;
# # Wait for the next incoming connection and return it. Only connections formed by
# # connect() are returned by this method.
#
# # Level 4 features -----------------------------------------------
#
# newJoiner(count :UInt32) :NewJoinerResponse;
# # Prepare a new Join operation, which will eventually lead to forming a new direct connection
# # to the host of the joined capability. `count` is the number of capabilities to join.
#
# struct NewJoinerResponse {
# joinKeyParts :List(JoinKeyPart);
# # Key parts to send in Join messages to each capability.
#
# joiner :Joiner;
# # Used to establish the final connection.
# }
#
# interface Joiner {
# addJoinResult(result :JoinResult) :Void;
# # Add a JoinResult received in response to one of the `Join` messages. All `JoinResult`s
# # returned from all paths must be added before trying to connect.
#
# connect() :ConnectionAndProvisionId;
# # Try to form a connection to the joined capability's host, verifying that it has received
# # all of the JoinKeyParts. Once the connection is formed, the caller should send an `Accept`
# # message on it with the specified `ProvisionId` in order to receive the final capability.
# }
#
# acceptConnectionFromJoiner(parts :List(JoinKeyPart), paths :List(VatPath))
# :ConnectionAndProvisionId;
# # Called on a joined capability's host to receive the connection from the joiner, once all
# # key parts have arrived. The caller should expect to receive an `Accept` message over the
# # connection with the given ProvisionId.
# }
#
# interface Connection {
# # Level 0 features -----------------------------------------------
#
# send(message :Message) :Void;
# # Send the message. Returns successfully when the message (and all preceding messages) has
# # been acknowledged by the recipient.
#
# receive() :Message;
# # Receive the next message, and acknowledges receipt to the sender. Messages are received in
# # the order in which they are sent.
#
# # Level 3 features -----------------------------------------------
#
# introduceTo(recipient :Connection) :IntroductionInfo;
# # Call before starting a three-way introduction, assuming a `Provide` message is to be sent on
# # this connection and a `ThirdPartyCapId` is to be sent to `recipient`.
#
# struct IntroductionInfo {
# sendToRecipient :ThirdPartyCapId;
# sendToTarget :RecipientId;
# }
#
# connectToIntroduced(capId :ThirdPartyCapId) :ConnectionAndProvisionId;
# # Given a ThirdPartyCapId received over this connection, connect to the third party. The
# # caller should then send an `Accept` message over the new connection.
#
# acceptIntroducedConnection(recipientId :RecipientId) :Connection;
# # Given a RecipientId received in a `Provide` message on this `Connection`, wait for the
# # recipient to connect, and return the connection formed. Usually, the first message received
# # on the new connection will be an `Accept` message.
# }
#
# struct ConnectionAndProvisionId {
# # **(level 3)**
#
# connection :Connection;
# # Connection on which to issue `Accept` message.
#
# provision :ProvisionId;
# # `ProvisionId` to send in the `Accept` message.
# }