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diff --git a/botan/doc/internals.tex b/botan/doc/internals.tex new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5b1650f --- /dev/null +++ b/botan/doc/internals.tex @@ -0,0 +1,179 @@ +\documentclass{article} + +\setlength{\textwidth}{6.75in} % 1 inch side margins +\setlength{\textheight}{9in} % ~1 inch top and bottom margins + +\setlength{\headheight}{0in} +\setlength{\topmargin}{0in} +\setlength{\headsep}{0in} + +\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{0in} +\setlength{\evensidemargin}{0in} + +\title{Botan Internals} +\author{Jack Lloyd (lloyd@randombit.net)} +\date{August 20, 2006} + +\newcommand{\filename}[1]{\texttt{#1}} +\newcommand{\manpage}[2]{\texttt{#1}(#2)} + +\newcommand{\function}[1]{\textbf{#1}} +\newcommand{\type}[1]{\texttt{#1}} +\renewcommand{\arg}[1]{\textsl{#1}} + +\begin{document} + +\maketitle + +\tableofcontents + +\parskip=5pt + +\section{Introduction} + +This document is intended to document some of the trickier and/or more +complicated parts of Botan. This is not going to be terribly useful if +you just want to use the library, but for people wishing to understand +how it works, or contribute new code to it, it will hopefully prove +helpful. + +I've realized that a lot of things Botan does internally are pretty +hard to understand, and that a lot of things are only inside my head, +which is a bad place for them to be (things tend to get lost in there, +not to mention the possibility that I'll get hit by a truck next +week). + +This document is currently very incomplete. I'll be working on it as I +have time. + +\pagebreak + +\section{Filter} + +\type{Filter} is one of the core abstractions of the library. It is +used to represent any sort of transformation. Nearly all +\type{Filter}s are linear; they take input from a single source and +send their output (if any) to another single \type{Filter}. The one +exception is \type{Fanout\_Filter}, which uses friend access to +\type{Filter} in order to allow for multiple \type{Filter}s to attach +to its output. This special access is used by the Chain and Fork +filters; Chain encapsulates one or more \type{Filter}s into a single +Filter, and Fork sends its input to a set of several \type{Filter} +objects. + +The majority of the relations between filters is maintained by the +\type{Pipe} object which ``owns'' the \type{Filter}s. + +\section{Pipe} + +\type{Pipe} is, conceptually, a tree structure of \type{Filter} +objects. There is a single unique top, and an arbitrary number of +leaves (which are \type{SecureQueue} objects). \type{SecureQueue} is a +simple \type{Filter} that buffers its input. + +Writing into the pipe writes into the top of the tree. The filter at +the top of the tree writes its output into the next \type{Filter}, and +so on until eventually data trickles down into the bottommost +\type{Filter}s, where the data is stored for later retrieval. + +When a new message is started, \type{Pipe} searches through the tree +of \type{Filter}s and finds places where the \arg{next} field of the +\type{Filter} is NULL. This implies that it was the lowest layer of +the \type{Filter} tree that the user added. It then adds +\type{SecureQueue} objects onto these \type{Filter}s. These queues are +also stored in an deque; this is so \type{Pipe} can read from them +later without doing a tree traversal each time. + +\type{Pipe} will, if asked, destroy the existing tree structure, in +order to create a new one. However, the queue objects are not deleted, +because \type{Pipe} might be asked to read from them later (while +\type{Pipe} could delete all the messages in this case, the principle +of least astonishment suggested keeping them). + +What I wrote about \type{Pipe} keeing the queues in a deque is a +lie. Sort of. It keeps them in an object called +\type{Output\_Buffers}, which keeps them in a +deque. \type{Output\_Buffers} is intended to abstract away how message +queues are stored from \type{Pipe}. After a queue has been added to +the output buffers object, \type{Pipe} keeps no references to it +whatsoever; all access is mediated by the \type{Output\_Buffers}. +This allows queues which have been read to be deleted, rather than +leaving empty queue objects all over the place. + +\section{Library Initialization} + +WRITEME + +\section{Lookup Mechanism} + +Most objects know their name, and they know how to create a new copy +of themselves. We build mapping tables that map from an algorithm name +into a single instance of that algorithm. The tables themselves can be +found in \filename{src/lookup.cpp}. + +There are a set of functions named \function{add\_algorithm} that can +be used to populate the tables. We get something out of the table with +\function{retrieve\_x}, where x is the name of a type +(\texttt{block\_cipher}, \texttt{hash}, etc). This returns a const +pointer to the single unique instance of the algorithm that the lookup +tables know about. If it doesn't know about it, it falls back on +calling a function called \function{try\_to\_get\_x}. These functions +live in \filename{src/algolist.cpp}. They are mostly used to handle +algorithms which need (or at least can have) arguments passed to them, +like \type{HMAC} and \type{SAFER\_SK}. It will return NULL if it can't +find the algorithm at all. + +When it's asked for an algorithm it doesn't know about (ie, isn't in +the mapping tables), the retrieval functions will ask the try-to-get +functions if \emph{they} know about it. If they do, then the object +returned will be stored into the table for later retrieval. + +The functions \function{get\_x} call the retrieval functions. If we +get back NULL, an exception is thrown. Otherwise it will call the +\function{clone} method to get a new copy of the algorithm, which it +returns. + +The various functions like \function{output\_length\_of} call the +retrieval function for each type of object that the parameter in +question (in this case, \texttt{OUTPUT\_LENGTH}) might be meaningful +for. If it manages to get back an object, it will return (in this +case) the \texttt{OUTPUT\_LENGTH} field of the object. No allocations +are required to call this function: all of its operations work +directly on the copies living in the lookup tables. + +\section{Allocators} + +A big (slow) mess. + +\section{BigInt} + +Read ``Handbook of Applied Cryptography''. + +\section{PEM/BER Identification} + +We have a specific algorithm for figuring out if something is PEM or +BER. Previous versions (everything before 1.3.0) requried that the +caller specify which one it was, and they had to be right. Now we use +a hueristic (aka, an algorithm that sometimes doesn't work right) to +figure it out. If the first character is not 0x30 (equal to ASCII +'0'), then it can't possibly be BER (because everything we care about +is enclosed in an ASN.1 SEQUENCE, which for BER/DER is encoded as +beginning with 0x30). Roughly 99.9% of PEM blocks \emph{won't} have a +random 0 character in front of them, so we are mostly safe (unless +someone does it on purpose, in which case, please hit them for me). +But to be sure, if there is a 0, then we search the first \emph{N} +bytes of the block for the string ``-----BEGIN ``, which marks the +typical start of a PEM block. The specific \emph{N} depends on the +variable ``base/pem\_search'', which defaults to 4 kilobytes. + +So, you can actually fool it either way: that a PEM file is really +BER, or that a BER file is actually PEM. To fool it that a BER file is +PEM, just have the string ``-----BEGIN `` somewhere (I can't imagine +this string shows up in certificates or CRLs too often, so if it is +there it means somebody is being a jerk). If a file starts with 0 and +has at least ``base/pem\_search'' byte more junk in the way, it won't +notice that its PEM at all. In either case, of course, the loading +will fail, and you'll get a nice exception saying that the decoding +failed. + +\end{document} |