lib: Update FRCP implementation

2026-05-20T06:17:07+00:00

The Flow and Retransmission Control Protocol (FRCP) runs end-to-end between two peers over a flow. It provides reliability, in-order delivery, flow control, and liveness. Note that congestion avoidance is orthogonal to FRCP and handled in the IPCP. A fixed 16-octet header, network byte order, is prefixed to every FRCP packet: 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ | flags | hcs | +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ | window | +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ | seqno | +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ | ackno | +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ | payload (variable) ... +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ hcs is a CRC-16-CCITT-FALSE checksum over the PCI (and the stream extension when present), verified before any flag-driven dispatch. A single packet can simultaneously carry DATA + ACK + FC + RXM by OR-ing flag bits. An optional CRC trailer covers the body on DATA when qs.ber == 0, and on every SACK packet; an optional AEAD wrap (per-flow keys) sits outermost. Flag bits (MSB-first; bits 13..15 reserved, MUST be zero): +------+--------+--------+----------------------------------------+ | Bit | Mask | Name | Meaning | +------+--------+--------+----------------------------------------+ | 0 | 0x8000 | DATA | Carries caller payload | | 1 | 0x4000 | DRF | Start of a fresh data run | | 2 | 0x2000 | ACK | ackno field valid | | 3 | 0x1000 | NACK | Pre-DRF nudge (seqno informational) | | 4 | 0x0800 | FC | window field valid (rwe advertisement) | | 5 | 0x0400 | RDVS | Rendezvous probe (window-closed) | | 6 | 0x0200 | FFGM | First Fragment of a multi-fragment SDU | | 7 | 0x0100 | LFGM | Last Fragment of a multi-fragment SDU | | 8 | 0x0080 | RXM | Retransmission | | 9 | 0x0040 | SACK | Block list follows in payload | | 10 | 0x0020 | RTTP | RTT probe / echo (payload follows) | | 11 | 0x0010 | KA | Keepalive | | 12 | 0x0008 | FIN | End of stream marker | | 13-15| -- | -- | Reserved (MUST be zero) | +------+--------+--------+----------------------------------------+ (FFGM, LFGM) encodes the fragment role of a DATA packet (SCTP-style B/E): 11=SOLE, 10=FIRST, 00=MID, 01=LAST. Each fragment carries its own seqno; Retransmission recovers fragments individually, reassembly runs at consume time. In stream mode FFGM/LFGM are unused; per-byte position is carried by the stream extension below and end-of-stream is signalled by FIN on a 0-byte DATA packet. SACK payload (FRCT_ACK | FRCT_FC | FRCT_SACK): 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ | n_blocks | padding (2 octets) | +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ | start[0] | +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ | end[0] | +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ ... n_blocks pairs total ... Each block describes a *present* (received) range strictly above the cumulative ACK in the PCI ackno. D-SACK (RFC 2883) is signalled in-band as block[0] - no flag bit, no extra framing - and consumed by the RACK reo_wnd_mult scaler (RFC 8985 sec. 7.2). RTTP payload (FRCT_RTTP only; 24 octets): 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ | probe_id | +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ | echo_id | +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ | | + nonce (16 octets, echoed verbatim) + | | +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ Stream PCI extension (in_order == STREAM only; 8 octets after the base PCI on every DATA packet): 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ | start | +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ | end | +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ start, end are monotonic 32-bit byte offsets; end - start equals the on-wire payload length. Stream mode is negotiated at flow allocation; the extension is present iff stream mode is in use, never on a per-packet basis. Service modes are an orthogonal (in_order, loss, ber) vector selected at flow_alloc; the cubes above map to the axes: +----------------+---------+------+-----+-----------------------+ | Cube | in_order| loss | ber | Engaged | +----------------+---------+------+-----+-----------------------+ | qos_raw | 0 | 1 | 1 | Raw passthrough | | qos_raw_safe | 0 | 1 | 0 | Raw + CRC trailer | | qos_rt | 1 | 1 | 1 | FRCP, no FRTX, no CRC | | qos_rt_safe | 1 | 1 | 0 | FRCP, no FRTX, CRC | | qos_msg | 1 | 0 | 0 | FRCP + FRTX | | qos_stream | 2 | 0 | 0 | FRCP + FRTX, stream | +----------------+---------+------+-----+-----------------------+ in_order=0 sends raw datagrams with no PCI (UDP-equivalent); in_order=1 engages FRCP with SDU framing; in_order=2 (stream) requires loss=0 and is rejected otherwise. loss=0 engages the FRTX retransmit machinery. ber=0 appends the CRC-32 trailer; QOS_DISABLE_CRC at build time forces ber=1 for development. Encryption is a separate per-flow attribute layered as an AEAD wrap outside the FRCP packet. Heritage: delta-t (Watson 1981) supplies timer-based connection management - no SYN/FIN handshake, the DRF marker, the t_mpl / t_a / t_r timers. RINA (Day 2008) supplies the unified flow_alloc(name, qos, ...) primitive and the orthogonal QoS-cube axes. Loss detection follows TCP/QUIC practice (RFCs 2018, 2883, 6582, 6298, 8985); RTT probing is nonce-authenticated like QUIC PATH_CHALLENGE. Adds oftp, a minimal file-transfer tool over an FRCP stream flow. The client reads from stdin or --in FILE and writes through a flow_alloc(qos_stream); the server (--listen) calls flow_accept and writes to stdout or --out FILE. Both sides compute a CRC-64/NVMe over the bytes they handle and print the result. The server rejects flows whose negotiated qs.in_order != STREAM. Two FRCP knobs are exposed via env vars on either side: OFTP_FRCT_RTO_MIN fccntl FRCTSRTOMIN (ns) OFTP_FRCT_STREAM_RING_SZ fccntl FRCTSRRINGSZ (octets) The ocbr_client gains an OCBR_QOS env var to pick the cube the client uses for flow_alloc; recognised values are raw, safe, rt, rt_safe, msg, stream. Unknown values fall back to raw with a warning on stderr. Without the env set behaviour is unchanged. Removes the deprecated lib/timerwheel.c Signed-off-by: Dimitri Staessens Signed-off-by: Sander Vrijders

build: Update licenses to 2024

2024-01-13T09:20:14+00:00

Slow but steady. Signed-off-by: Dimitri Staessens Signed-off-by: Sander Vrijders

lib: Don't use pointer to set FRCT flags

2021-12-29T08:12:39+00:00

The fccntl call FRCTSFLAGS was using a pointer to a flags so set flags, which should just be a regular uint16_t. For instance, the FRCTLINGER flags can now be turned off using fccntl(fd, FRCTSFLAGS, FRCTFRESCNTL | FRCTFRTX) leaving only resource control (flow control, FRCTFRESCNTL) and retransmission enabled. Note that retransmission (FRCTFRTX) can't be enabled or disabled on a live flow, it will be set on flow allocation. Updates the man page for fccntl to add these FRCT options. Signed-off-by: Dimitri Staessens Signed-off-by: Sander Vrijders

build: Update email addresses

2021-01-03T10:57:05+00:00

The ugent email addresses are shut down, updated to Ouroboros mail addresses. Signed-off-by: Dimitri Staessens Signed-off-by: Sander Vrijders

build: Update copyright to 2021

2021-01-03T10:56:28+00:00

Happy New Year, Ouroboros! Signed-off-by: Dimitri Staessens Signed-off-by: Sander Vrijders

build: Update copyright to 2020

2020-01-02T14:07:36+00:00

Signed-off-by: Dimitri Staessens Signed-off-by: Sander Vrijders

lib: Add per-message encryption with OpenSSL

2019-08-03T10:10:57+00:00

This adds a per-message symmetric encryption using the OpenSSL library. At flow allocation, an Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman exchange is performed to derive a shared secret, which is then hashed using SHA3-256 to be used as a key for symmetric AES-256 encryption. Each message on an encrypted flow adds a small crypto header that includes a random 128-bit Initialization Vector (IV). If the server does not have OpenSSL enabled, the flow allocation will fail with an -ECRYPT error. Future optimizations are to piggyback the public keys on the flow allocation message, and to enable per-flow encryption that maintains the context of the encryption over multiple packets and doesn't require sending IVs. Signed-off-by: Dimitri Staessens Signed-off-by: Sander Vrijders

doc: Update documentation to new website URL

2019-03-18T10:09:32+00:00

The documentation and package point to the imec site, which is now moved to ouroboros.rocks Signed-off-by: Dimitri Staessens Signed-off-by: Sander Vrijders

2019-02-05T08:58:08+00:00

Updates the copyright notice in all sources to 2019. Signed-off-by: Dimitri Staessens Signed-off-by: Sander Vrijders

doc: Update man page for broadcast IPCPs

2019-01-16T12:16:06+00:00

The Ouroboros man page will now include broadcast IPCPs and are updated to reflect the latest API. Signed-off-by: Dimitri Staessens Signed-off-by: Sander Vrijders

ouroboros/doc/man/flow_alloc.3, branch 0.24.0