Fix coverage checking not being able to deduce the original TypeScript
files due to lacking a way to link the compiled .js output files with
the .ts input files.
Messages are forwareded when received from another link, this means it's
too late to throw an error that bubbles up to the code trying to send
the incorrect message thus defeating the purpose of the validation.
Only the controller has access to the secret needed to sign user tokens
so it makes sense for the user signing code to live in the controller.
This saves about 20ms on the time ctl takes to start up due to lib no
longer needing to import jsonwebtoken.
Move all functions and classes currently available through lib/name and
libName to be under a single flat namespace in lib. This make
reorganising the lib namespace much simpler as the location of symbols
can move without breaking the consumers of lib.
The multi-entrypoint design was already problematic for the web plugin
system which couldn't effectively use it due to how webpack's shared
module system is awkward to set up with multiple entrypoints per package.
- react: Update to new root rendering method
- react-router: Replace useHistory with useNavigate
- react-router: Replace <Switch> with <Routes>
- reimplement sticky notice from scratch in ModPackViewPage
- remove isomorphic-ws as it's latest version doesn't work and only
saves one line of code.
- remove import of antd.dark.css
- fix misc css breakages.
Add type object to schemas specifying properties and minItems to schemas
specifying tuples. Disable strictTuples because it's desirable to be
able to add additional items to the tuples in the future.
Update non-web related dependencies to their latest version were
possible. It appears yargs has changed its parsing of command line
options to no longer remove a layer of quotes.
The LTS releases for v12 and v14 are already end of life and the v16 is
end of life in under two months from now on. Bump supported version up
to v18 as it does not make sense to continue to support EOL releases.
Even if we wanted to keep supporting them, our dependencies will not.
Note that Node.js v18 is currently not avaliable via the NodeSource PPA
on Ubuntu 19.10 and below or Debian 9 and below.
It makes more sense to put the address first then have the large
structure to send as the second argument to sendTo. The opposite order
was originally chosen to be similar to that of sendto in BSD sockets.
Format arguments to have nested structures start on a new line instead
of inline to make it easier to see where the structures starts and what
structure it is.
Keep track of requests that have been forwarded over a link in a similar
manner to requests that were initiated on a link in order to properly
return an error response to the sender of the request if the link goes
down while the request is still pending at the forwarded node.
Validate messages received on the controller from hosts and control
nodes before handling or forwarding them. This should prevent
performing actions that are not allowed by the role system and block
simple attacks such as spoofing the source address of a message.
The data class pattern used for request and event payloads require the
class names to be preserved as they are used for identifying the type of
the requests and events.
Split up the action of registring an event or request data class to be
decoded by the Link class and the action of registring a handler for
those requests and events. This moves the validation work from Link
instantiation time to startup initialisation which makes logic errors
fail on startup instead of failing instantiation of the link when a
connection attempt is made.
Additionally implement a partial validation logic for messages received
using the newly refactored message registration. This unfortunately
ended up merged with the registration refactor.
Reverse the direction of the API for sending messages from
messageDefinition.send(link, { content });
to
link.send(new MessageClass(content));
and convert all message definitions to use the JSON serialisable class
pattern and explicit registration of message handlers, along with a
end-to-end based routing of messages instead of link to link.
The experience I gained from the existing way messages were defined and
sent over links was that it was difficult to understand for people
unfamiliar with the system. The automatic registration of message
handlers ment that code was being called as if by magic from nowhere
with no easy way to discover it. The manual forwarding and rules for
what can be sent where and how obscured its working.
The use of pure JSON as both input and output from message handlers made
it tedious to work with. Data had to be manually converted between the
program representation and the over the wire format, which made handler
code unplesant to write. Particularly because the over the wire format
used snake_case while the program code uses camelCase for variables.
The idea behind the decision to do it this way was to make it more clear
which data came from the wire and which from the program, and while this
worked it didn't make message handlers any nicer to write.
The direction of the API and magic registration of message handlers also
meant that a future migration to TypeScript would be troublesome. While
it may be possible to implement, the degree of TypeScript magic required
would go starkly against the principle of keep it simple stupid.
By refactoring to using the JSON serialisable class pattern most of
these issues go away. There is no longer a need to distinguish the on
wire format of messages with the program representation because the only
place that deals with the wire format of messages are the toJSON and
fromJSON methods on the classes themselves. Message handlers will work
with proper instances of classes instead of raw data, something that
makes them easier to write, and trivial to type with TypeScript.
End-to-end routing also simplifies sending messages that need to do
mulitple hops to reach the destination. And removes the need for having
all messages be specified in plugin's info module, as they can be routed
without having to be parsed completely.
The explicit registration of message handlers is something that I
thought would be tedious boilerplate code that could be automated away.
But experience now shows it to be the opposite. Allthough dull
repetition, the purpose it serves is to link together the code in a way
that humans can easily find. With explicit registration searching the
name of the message handler in the editor will show the registration that
ties it together with the type of message it handles and the kind of
registration. With implicit registration searching the name of the
message handler turns up only the handler with no clue as to what calls
it.
Change the JSON seriasiable data classes to use an explicit static
fromJSON method and an optional toJSON method for turning them to and
from JSON.
This improves over the previous pattern of passing the JSON to the
constructor as it frees up the constructor to be able to take whichever
argument types suits the code instead of being beholden to the JSON
serialised form.
Hornwitser