2019-08-26 14:16:32 +00:00
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# Status Client Specification
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> Version: 0.1 (Draft)
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>
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> Authors: Oskar Thorén <oskar@status.im>, Dean Eigenmann <dean@status.im>
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## Table of Contents
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- [Abstract](#abstract)
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- [Design Rationale](#design-rationale)
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- [Footnotes](#footnotes)
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- [Acknowledgements](#acknowledgements)
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## Abstract
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In this specification, we describe how to write a Status client for
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communicating with other Status clients.
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We present a reference implementation of the protocol <sup>1</sup> that is used
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in a command line client <sup>2</sup> and a mobile app <sup>3</sup>.
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This document consists of two parts. The first outlines the specifications that
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have to be implemented in order to be a full Status client.
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2019-08-26 14:28:59 +00:00
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## P2P Overlay
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Status clients run on the public Ethereum network, as specified by the devP2P
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network protocols. devP2P provides a protocol for node discovery which is in
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draft mode
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(here)[https://github.com/ethereum/devp2p/blob/master/discv5/discv5.md]. See
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more on node discovery and management in the next section.
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To communicate between Ethereum nodes, the (RLPx Transport
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Protocol, v5)[https://github.com/ethereum/devp2p/blob/master/rlpx.md] is used, which
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allows for TCP-based communication between nodes.
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2019-08-26 14:36:04 +00:00
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On top of this we run the RLPx-based subprotocol (Whisper
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v6)[https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-627] for privacy-preserving messaging.
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2019-08-26 14:28:59 +00:00
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## Node discovery and roles
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- Bootstrap nodes
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- Whisper relayers
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- Mailservers
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- Mobile nodes (Status Clients)
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2019-08-26 14:16:32 +00:00
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## Design Rationale
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2019-08-26 14:29:06 +00:00
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### P2P Overlay
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#### Why devp2p? Why not use libp2p?
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At the time the main Status clients were being developed, devp2p was the most
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mature. However, it is likely we'll move over to libp2p in the future, as it'll
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provide us with multiple transports, better protocol negotiation, NAT traversal,
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etc.
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For very experimental bridge support, see the bridge between libp2p and devp2p
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in [Murmur](https://github.com/status-im/murmur).
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2019-08-26 14:32:46 +00:00
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#### What about other RLPx subprotocols like LES, and Swarm?
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Status is primarily optimized for resource restricted devices, and at present
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time light client support for these protocols are suboptimal. This is a work in
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progress.
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For better Ethereum light client support, see (Re-enable LES as
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option)[https://github.com/status-im/status-go/issues/1025]. For better Swarm
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support, see (Swarm adaptive
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nodes)[https://github.com/ethersphere/SWIPs/pull/12].
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For transaction support, Status clients currently have to rely on Infura.
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Status clients currently do not offer native support for file storage.
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2019-08-26 14:16:32 +00:00
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## Footnotes
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1. <https://github.com/status-im/status-protocol-go/>
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1. <https://github.com/status-im/status-console-client/>
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1. <https://github.com/status-im/status-react/>
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## Acknowledgements
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