Updated docs

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Mark Qvist
2023-02-02 19:04:52 +01:00
parent 08e480387b
commit 86ae42a049
8 changed files with 30 additions and 30 deletions

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@@ -337,12 +337,12 @@ needs to be purchased.</p>
</section>
<section id="introduction-basic-functionality">
<span id="understanding-basicfunctionality"></span><h2>Introduction &amp; Basic Functionality<a class="headerlink" href="#introduction-basic-functionality" title="Permalink to this heading">#</a></h2>
<p>Reticulum is a networking stack suited for high-latency, low-bandwidth links. Reticulum is at its
<p>Reticulum is a networking stack suited for high-latency, low-bandwidth links. Reticulum is at its
core a <em>message oriented</em> system. It is suited for both local point-to-point or point-to-multipoint
scenarios where all nodes are within range of each other, as well as scenarios where packets need
to be transported over multiple hops in a complex network to reach the recipient.</p>
<p>Reticulum does away with the idea of addresses and ports known from IP, TCP and UDP. Instead
Reticulum uses the singular concept of <em>destinations</em>. Any application using Reticulum as its
Reticulum uses the singular concept of <em>destinations</em>. Any application using Reticulum as its
networking stack will need to create one or more destinations to receive data, and know the
destinations it needs to send data to.</p>
<p>All destinations in Reticulum are _represented_ as a 16 byte hash. This hash is derived from truncating a full
@@ -442,7 +442,7 @@ addressable, because their public keys will differ.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>In actual use of <em>single</em> destination naming, it is advisable not to use any uniquely identifying
features in aspect naming. Aspect names should be general terms describing what kind of destination
is represented. The uniquely identifying aspect is always achieved by the appending the public key,
is represented. The uniquely identifying aspect is always achieved by appending the public key,
which expands the destination into a uniquely identifiable one. Reticulum does this automatically.</p>
<p>Any destination on a Reticulum network can be addressed and reached simply by knowing its
destination hash (and public key, but if the public key is not known, it can be requested from the
@@ -468,7 +468,7 @@ indirectly, but must first be established through a <em>single</em> destination.
</dl>
</li>
</ul>
<p>To communicate with a <em>single</em> destination, you need to know its public key. Any method for
<p>To communicate with a <em>single</em> destination, you need to know its public key. Any method for
obtaining the public key is valid, but Reticulum includes a simple mechanism for making other
nodes aware of your destinations public key, called the <em>announce</em>. It is also possible to request
an unknown public key from the network, as all transport instances serve as a distributed ledger
@@ -509,7 +509,7 @@ certain pattern. This will be detailed in the section
protocols such as IP, where an address is always expected to stay within the network segment it was assigned in.
This limitation does not exist in Reticulum, and any destination is <em>completely portable</em> over the entire topography
of the network, and <em>can even be moved to other Reticulum networks</em> than the one it was created in, and
still become reachable. To update its reachability, a destination simply needs to send an announce on any
still become reachable. To update its reachability, a destination simply needs to send an announce on any
networks it is part of. After a short while, it will be globally reachable in the network.</p>
<p>Seeing how <em>single</em> destinations are always tied to a private/public key pair leads us to the next topic.</p>
</section>
@@ -565,7 +565,7 @@ is the default setting.</p>
</section>
<section id="the-announce-mechanism-in-detail">
<span id="understanding-announce"></span><h3>The Announce Mechanism in Detail<a class="headerlink" href="#the-announce-mechanism-in-detail" title="Permalink to this heading">#</a></h3>
<p>When an <em>announce</em> for a destination is transmitted by from a Reticulum instance, it will be forwarded by
<p>When an <em>announce</em> for a destination is transmitted by a Reticulum instance, it will be forwarded by
any transport node receiving it, but according to some specific rules:</p>
<ul>
<li><div class="line-block">
@@ -590,7 +590,7 @@ announces is set at 2%, but can be configured on a per-interface basis.</div>
</li>
<li><div class="line-block">
<div class="line">If any given interface does not have enough bandwidth available for retransmitting the announce,
the announce will be assigned a priority inversely proportional to its hop count, and be inserted
the announce will be assigned a priority inversely proportional to its hop count, and be inserted
into a queue managed by the interface.</div>
</div>
</li>
@@ -639,7 +639,7 @@ expect. Reticulum offers two ways to do this.</p>
<li><div class="line-block">
<div class="line">A packet is always created with an associated destination and some payload data. When the packet is sent
to a <em>single</em> destination type, Reticulum will automatically create an ephemeral encryption key, perform
an ECDH key exchange with the destinations public key, and encrypt the information.</div>
an ECDH key exchange with the destinations public key, and encrypt the information.</div>
</div>
</li>
<li><div class="line-block">
@@ -665,8 +665,8 @@ packet.</div>
<li><div class="line-block">
<div class="line">Once the packet has been received and decrypted by the addressed destination, that destination can opt
to <em>prove</em> its receipt of the packet. It does this by calculating the SHA-256 hash of the received packet,
and signing this hash with its Ed25519 signing key. Transport nodes in the network can then direct this
<em>proof</em> back to the packets origin, where the signature can be verified against the destinations known
and signing this hash with its Ed25519 signing key. Transport nodes in the network can then direct this
<em>proof</em> back to the packets origin, where the signature can be verified against the destinations known
public signing key.</div>
</div>
</li>
@@ -689,7 +689,7 @@ forward the packet will take note of this <em>link request</em>.</div>
</li>
<li><div class="line-block">
<div class="line">Second, if the destination accepts the <em>link request</em> , it will send back a packet that proves the
authenticity of its identity (and the receipt of the link request) to the initiating node. All
authenticity of its identity (and the receipt of the link request) to the initiating node. All
nodes that initially forwarded the packet will also be able to verify this proof, and thus
accept the validity of the <em>link</em> throughout the network.</div>
</div>