mfer/README.md

# mfer

[mfer](https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/mfer) is a reference implementation library
and thin wrapper command-line utility written in [Go](https://golang.org)
and first published in 2022 under the [WTFPL](https://wtfpl.net) (public
domain) license. It specifies and generates `.mf` manifest files over a
directory tree of files to encapsulate metadata about them (such as
cryptographic checksums or signatures over same) to aid in archiving,
downloading, and streaming, or mirroring. The manifest files' data is
serialized with Google's [protobuf serialization
format](https://developers.google.com/protocol-buffers). The structure of
these files can be found [in the format
specification](https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/mfer/src/branch/main/mfer/mf.proto)
which is included in the [project
repository](https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/mfer).

The current version is pre-1.0 and while the repo was published in 2022,
there has not yet been any versioned release. [SemVer](https://semver.org)
will be used for releases.

This project was started by [@sneak](https://sneak.berlin) to scratch an
itch in 2022 and is currently a one-person effort, though the goal is for
this to emerge as a de-facto standard and be incorporated into other
software. A compatible javascript library is planned.

# Build Status

CI runs via `docker build .` which executes `make check` (formatting,
linting, tests). The `main` branch must always be green.

# Participation

The community is as yet nonexistent so there are no defined policies or
norms yet. Primary development happens on a privately-run Gitea instance at
[https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/mfer](https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/mfer) and issues
are [tracked there](https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/mfer/issues).

Changes must always be formatted with a standard `go fmt`, syntactically
valid, and must pass the linting defined in the repository (presently only
the `golangci-lint` defaults), which can be run with a `make lint`. The
`main` branch is protected and all changes must be made via [pull
requests](https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/mfer/pulls) and pass CI to be merged.
Any changes submitted to this project must also be
[WTFPL-licensed](https://wtfpl.net) to be considered.

See [`REPO_POLICIES.md`](REPO_POLICIES.md) for detailed coding standards,
tooling requirements, and workflow conventions.

# Problem Statement

Given a plain URL, there is no standard way to safely and programmatically
download everything "under" that URL path. `wget -r` can traverse directory
listings if they're enabled, but every server has a different format, and
this does not verify cryptographic integrity of the files, or enable them to
be fetched using a different protocol other than HTTP/s.

Currently, the solution that people are using are sidecar files in the
format of `SHASUMS` checksum files, as well as a `SHASUMS.asc` PGP detached
signature. This is not checksum-algorithm-agnostic and the sidecar file is
not always consistently named.

Real issues I face:

- when I plug in an ExFAT hard drive, I don't know if any files on the
  filesystem are corrupted or missing
  - current ad-hoc solution are `SHASUMS`/`SHASUMS.asc` files
- when I want to mirror an HTTP archive, I have to use special tools like
  debmirror that understand the archive format
  - the debian repository metadata structure is hot garbage
- when I download a large file via HTTP, I have no way of knowing if the
  file content is what it's supposed to be

# Proposed Solution

A standard, a manifest file format, and a tool for generating same.

The manifest file would be called `index.mf`, and the tool for generating such would be called `mfer`.

The manifest file would do several important things:

- have a standard filename, so if given
  `https://example.com/downloadpackage/` one could fetch
  `https://example.com/downloadpackage/index.mf` to enumerate the full
  directory listing.
- contain a version field for extensibility
- contain structured data (protobuf, json, or cbor)
- provide an inner signed container, so that the manifest file itself can
  embed a signature and a public key alongside in a single file
- contain a list of files, each with a relative path to the manifest
- contain manifest timestamp
- contain ctime/mtime information for files so that file metadata can be
  preserved
- contain cryptographic checksums in several different algorithms for each
  file
  - probably encoded with multihash to indicate algo + hash
  - sha256 at the minimum
  - would be nice to include an IPFS/IPLD CIDv1 root hash for each file,
    which likely involves doing an ipfs file object chunking
  - maybe even including the complete IPFS/IPLD directory tree objects and
    chunklists?
    - this is because generating an `index.mf` does not imply publishing on
      ipfs at that time
  - maybe a bittorrent chunklist for torrent client compatibility? perhaps a
    top-level infohash for the whole manifest?

# Design Goals

- Replace SHASUMS/SHASUMS.asc files
- be easy to download/resume a whole directory tree published via HTTP
- be easy to use across protocols (given an HTTPS url, fetch manifest, then
  download file contents via bittorrent or ipfs)
- not strongly coupled to HTTP use case, should not require special hosting,
  content types, or HTTP headers being sent

# Non-Goals

- Manifest generation speed
  - likely involves IPFS chunking, bittorrent chunking, and several
    different cryptographic hash functions over the entirety of each and
    every file
- Small manifest file size (within reason)
  - 30MiB files are "small" these days, given modern storage/bandwidth
  - metadata size should not be used as an excuse to sacrifice utility (such
    as providing checksums over each chunk of a large file)

# Open Questions

- Should the manifest file include checksums of individual file chunks, or just for the whole assembled file?
  - If so, should the chunksize be fixed or dynamic?

- Should the manifest signature format be GnuPG signatures, or those from
  OpenBSD's signify (of which there is a good [golang
  implementation](https://github.com/frankbraun/gosignify)?

- Should the on-disk serialization format be proto3 or json?

# Tool Examples

- `mfer gen` / `mfer gen .`
  - recurses under current directory and writes out an `index.mf`
- `mfer check` / `mfer check .`
  - verifies checksums of all files in manifest, displaying error and
    exiting nonzero if any files are missing or corrupted
- `mfer fetch https://example.com/stuff/`
  - fetches `/stuff/index.mf` and downloads all files listed in manifest,
    optionally resuming any that already exist locally, and assures
    cryptographic integrity of downloaded files.

# Implementation Plan

## Phase One:

- golang module for reusability/embedding
- golang module client providing `mfer` CLI

## Phase Two:

- ES6 or TypeScript module for reusability/embedding
- ES6/TypeScript module client providing `mfer.js` CLI

# Hopes And Dreams

- `aria2c https://example.com/manifestdirectory/`
  - (fetches `https://example.com/manifestdirectory/index.mf`, downloads and
    checksums all files, resumes any that exist locally already)
- `mfer fetch https://example.com/manifestdirectory/`
- a command line option to zero/omit mtime/ctime, as well as manifest
  timestamp, and sort all directory listings so that manifest file
  generation is deterministic/reproducible
- URL format `mfer fetch https://exmaple.com/manifestdirectory/?key=5539AD00DE4C42F3AFE11575052443F4DF2A55C2`
  to assert in the URL which PGP signing key should be used in the manifest,
  so that shared URLs have a cryptographic trust root
- a "well-known" key in the manifest that maps well known keys (could reuse
  the http spec) to specific file paths in the manifest.
  - example: a `berlin.sneak.app.slideshow` key that maps to a json
    slideshow config listing what image paths to show, and for how long, and
    in what order

# Use Cases

## Web Images

I'd like to be able to put a bunch of images into a directory, generate a
manifest, and then point a slideshow client (such as an ambient display, or
a react app with the target directory in a query string arg) at that
statically hosted directory, and have it discover the full list of images
available at that URL.

## Software Distribution

I'd like to be able to download a whole tree of files available via HTTP
resumably by either HTTP or IPFS/BitTorrent without a .torrent file.

## Filesystem Archive Integrity

I use filesystems that don't include data checksums, and I would like a
cryptographically signed checksum file so that I can later verify that a set
of archive files have not been modified, none are missing, and that the
checksums have not been altered in storage by a second party.

## Filesystem-Independent Checksums

I would like to be able to plug in a hard drive or flash drive and, if there
is an `index.mf` in the root, automatically detect missing/corrupted files,
regardless of filesystem format.

# Collaboration

Please email [`sneak@sneak.berlin`](mailto:sneak@sneak.berlin) with your
desired username for an account on this Gitea instance.

# TODO: Remaining Work for 1.0

## Design Questions (Owner Decision Required)

These require @sneak's input before implementation. Answers should be added
inline below each question.

**1. Should `MFFileChecksum` be simplified?** Currently it's a separate
message wrapping a single `bytes multiHash` field. Since multihash
already self-describes the algorithm, `repeated bytes hashes` directly on
`MFFilePath` would be simpler and reduce per-file protobuf overhead. Is
the extra message layer intentional (e.g. planning to add per-hash
metadata like `verified_at`)?

> _answer:_

**2. Should file permissions/mode be stored?** The format stores
mtime/ctime but not Unix file permissions. For archival use this may not
matter, but for software distribution or filesystem restoration it's a
gap. Should we reserve a field now (e.g. `optional uint32 mode = 305`)
even if we don't populate it yet?

> _answer:_

**3. Should the `manifest` type be exported?** Currently unexported with
exported constructors (`NewManifestFromReader`, `NewManifestFromFile`).
Consumers can't declare `var m *mfer.manifest`. Export the type, or
define an interface?

> _answer:_

**4. What should the Go module path be for 1.0?** Currently
`sneak.berlin/go/mfer` in `go.mod` but `git.eeqj.de/sneak/mfer/mfer` in
the proto `go_package` option. Which is canonical?

> _answer:_

**5. GPG vs pure-Go crypto for signatures?** Shelling out to `gpg` is
fragile (may not be installed, version-dependent output).
`github.com/ProtonMail/go-crypto` provides pure-Go OpenPGP, or we could
use Ed25519/signify (simpler, no key management). Which direction?

> _answer:_

**6. Should we add a version byte after the magic?** Currently
`ZNAVSRFG` is followed immediately by protobuf. Adding a version byte
(`ZNAVSRFG\x01`) would allow future framing changes without requiring
protobuf parsing to detect the version. `MFFileOuter.Version` serves
this purpose but requires successful deserialization to read. Worth the
extra byte?

> _answer:_

**7. Should we add a length-prefix after the magic?** Protobuf is not
self-delimiting. If we ever want to concatenate manifests or append data
after the protobuf, the current framing is insufficient. Add a varint or
fixed-width length-prefix?

> _answer:_

## Implementation Tasks

### Repo Infrastructure

- [ ] Add `.golangci.yml` (fetch from
      `https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/prompts/raw/branch/main/.golangci.yml`)
- [ ] Add `.editorconfig`
- [ ] Add `.gitea/workflows/check.yml` that runs `docker build .`

### Format & Correctness

- [ ] Resolve proto `go_package` path inconsistency
      (`git.eeqj.de/sneak/mfer/mfer` vs `sneak.berlin/go/mfer`)
- [ ] Reserve `optional uint32 mode = 305` in `MFFilePath` for future
      file permissions (pending design question answer)
- [ ] Add version byte after magic — `ZNAVSRFG\x01` for format version
      1 (pending design question answer)

### Library

- [ ] Export the `manifest` type or define a public interface (pending
      design question answer) — currently consumers cannot hold a reference
      to a loaded manifest in their own type declarations
- [ ] Replace GPG subprocess calls with pure-Go crypto (pending design
      question answer) — current implementation shells out to `gpg` which
      may not be installed

### CLI

- [ ] Wire `--version` flag properly (currently only a `version`
      subcommand exists; top-level `--version` shows urfave/cli generic
      output)
- [ ] Add `--deterministic` flag documentation — deterministic output is
      the default, but this isn't obvious from CLI help
- [ ] Add retry logic to `fetch` — currently no retries on transient
      HTTP errors; needs exponential backoff
- [ ] `fetch` command uses bare `http.Get` with no timeout — needs
      `http.Client` with configurable timeout

### Testing & Robustness

- [ ] Add fuzzing tests for `NewManifestFromReader` — protobuf
      deserialization of untrusted input needs fuzz coverage
- [ ] Add integration test for `freshen` CLI command — current tests
      only verify setup, not the actual freshen operation end-to-end
- [ ] Add test for `fetch` CLI command end-to-end (currently only
      `downloadFile` is tested)

### Documentation

- [ ] Write standalone format specification document — `FORMAT.md`
      exists but should be promoted to the primary spec reference; README
      should link to it more prominently
- [ ] Audit and update all error messages for consistency and
      helpfulness
- [ ] Document the signature scheme more thoroughly (canonical string
      format, verification steps)

### Release

- [ ] Finalize Go module path
- [ ] Update version constant in `mfer/constants.go`
- [ ] Add `--version` output matching SemVer
- [ ] Tag `v1.0.0`

# See Also

## Prior Art: Metalink

- [Metalink - Mozilla Wiki](https://wiki.mozilla.org/Metalink)
- [Metalink - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metalink)
- [RFC 5854 - The Metalink Download Description Format](https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc5854)
- [RFC 6249 - Metalink/HTTP: Mirrors and Hashes](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc6249.html)

## Links

- Repo: [https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/mfer](https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/mfer)
- Issues: [https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/mfer/issues](https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/mfer/issues)

# Authors

- [@sneak <sneak@sneak.berlin>](mailto:sneak@sneak.berlin)

# License

- [WTFPL](https://wtfpl.net)