This branch will add routed messages (ManagerNormal::routeMessage()) support to the node.
Status:
This branch is a work-in-progress. There are no routed messages implemented yet, so this just implements the basic support in ManagerNormal and the net/p2p/encoding module, and documents how it is supposed to be used.
Rationale:
The Broadcast message concept and type is really meant for messages whose intented recipient is "every node", that is, they do not have a known and specific subset of NodeIDs in the network as the inteded recipients. In that case, routing is straightforward: you send the message to all your peers unless the Broadcast message you received is a duplicate or you think a given direct peer already has the message.
The Routed message concept is intended for messages that have one or more NodeIDs encoded in the Message itself as the target recipient list. That means other nodes in the network that aren't the intended recipients will only receive the message if their help is needed to eventually reach the target node(s).
Since Routed messages need a list of recipients in them, this branch opts to keep the message header standard and fixed-size, and instead encode the recipient list as the first data field of the message itself. Thus, each message command and type (say Notification/Notifying type + NotifyRoutedXYZ command) will map to an encoder and decoder that is aware that the first field is necessarily a list of NodeIDs, which uses the standard NodeID encoder and decoder helpers from the net/p2p/encoding module. The routing decision on each hop is then implemented via cooperation between the implementation of ManagerNormal::routeMessage() in the P2P engine, and the message handler in ManagerNormal::handleNotification() that is contributed by the message application that runs on top of the basic P2P engine.
This branch will add routed messages (
ManagerNormal::routeMessage()) support to the node.Status:
This branch is a work-in-progress. There are no routed messages implemented yet, so this just implements the basic support in
ManagerNormaland thenet/p2p/encodingmodule, and documents how it is supposed to be used.Rationale:
The
Broadcastmessage concept and type is really meant for messages whose intented recipient is "every node", that is, they do not have a known and specific subset ofNodeIDs in the network as the inteded recipients. In that case, routing is straightforward: you send the message to all your peers unless theBroadcastmessage you received is a duplicate or you think a given direct peer already has the message.The
Routedmessage concept is intended for messages that have one or more NodeIDs encoded in theMessageitself as the target recipient list. That means other nodes in the network that aren't the intended recipients will only receive the message if their help is needed to eventually reach the target node(s).Since
Routedmessages need a list of recipients in them, this branch opts to keep the message header standard and fixed-size, and instead encode the recipient list as the first data field of the message itself. Thus, each message command and type (sayNotification/Notifyingtype +NotifyRoutedXYZcommand) will map to an encoder and decoder that is aware that the first field is necessarily a list of NodeIDs, which uses the standard NodeID encoder and decoder helpers from thenet/p2p/encodingmodule. The routing decision on each hop is then implemented via cooperation between the implementation ofManagerNormal::routeMessage()in the P2P engine, and the message handler inManagerNormal::handleNotification()that is contributed by the message application that runs on top of the basic P2P engine.