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IBM-HElib / HElib

HElib is an open-source software library that implements homomorphic encryption. It supports the BGV scheme with bootstrapping and the Approximate Number CKKS scheme. HElib also includes optimizations for efficient homomorphic evaluation, focusing on effective use of ciphertext packing techniques and on the Gentry-Halevi-Smart optimizations.
https://ibm-helib.github.io/HElib/
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Maintenance/development status within IBM #13

Open taqtiqa-mark opened 9 months ago

taqtiqa-mark commented 9 months ago

What is the maintenance/development status of IBM's fork? It appears that upstream is dormant or not actively advancing on its objectives of "Reliability, Robustness & Serviceability, Performance, and most importantly Usability"

My main changes have been around changes to support Rust FFI bindings, and there are some further changes I believe that will improve the robustness and usability of the library.

Right now I'm looking for a project that is actively maintained.

What is the status of this project within IBM?

boland25 commented 8 months ago

Hi mark, thanks for inquiring. At this time there is no current activity on this fork. at least from the public standpoint. I am not sure what is happening with the upstream either, you will have to ask them. If you are looking for something that is currently being supported by IBM, we have transitioned to HElayers, our SDK. It contains support for many different open source FHE libraries including Helib as well as others. If there's something you are looking to do specifically please reach out and we'll do our best to accommodate. - thank you, greg

taqtiqa-mark commented 8 months ago

Hi Greg, Thanks for the additional detail.

I am not sure what is happening with the upstream either, you will have to ask them.

I've reached out, but looking at the issues list it appears stalled, or privately driven.

It contains support for many different open source FHE libraries including Helib as well as others.

Am I correct to assume the layers link to this fork?

If there's something you are looking to do specifically please reach out and we'll do our best to accommodate.

I'm happy to be corrected that these are the wrong things to do. I also understand they are best done incrementally:

Appreciate any comments and suggestions.

boland25 commented 8 months ago

Are your intentions on trying to keep Helib up to date? because that might be a tough task to do. Helib was built many years ago before some of these schemes existed, so they got retrofitted back into the library. It's not an easy feat to try and keep it modern. If that is something that you are intent on doing, I would try to get in touch with Flavio, as he's the one that is main admin on that library. I think his contact info is on the page.

Our HElayers SDK is an abstraction on top of multiple other open source libraries. We don't pick one, so that you can mix and match the library for your use case. The difference though is that we are not open sourced, although it is free to use, and there are pieces of it that have been open sourced.

If you are looking for an FHE cryptographic library that is actively maintained, there are a few around to choose from, I know Open FHE is active and has an active base.

taqtiqa-mark commented 8 months ago

Are your intentions on trying to keep Helib up to date?

Not beyond what is implemented upstream. The main changes relate to supporting FFI interfaces, what I indicated is pretty much the full extent - making the types explicit and some compile options. I don't (yet) see a need for the cryptographic details to change. That is not my domain, so that won't change - if anything I'd switch libraries as you indicate.

I would try to get in touch with Flavio

I'll try again.

Our HElayers SDK is an abstraction on top of multiple other open source libraries. We don't pick one,...

OK, but HElib is one of those choices? If so, this is the repo?

If you are looking for an FHE cryptographic library that is actively maintained, there are a few around to choose from, I know Open FHE is active and has an active base.

Agreed. However, there are other results I an interested in for which there are no published counterparts for OpenFHE or SEAL.