The Radicle P2P platform, version 1.0, was released. It aims to create a decentralized service for collaborative code development and storage, similar to GitHub and GitLab, but not tied to specific servers, uncensored, and powered by the resources of P2P network participants. The 1.0 release marked the stabilization of the protocol and the platform's readiness for widespread use. Starting with this release, the protocol will be modified while maintaining backward compatibility, and the tooling will include features for seamlessly upgrading existing systems to the new version. The project's developments are written in Rust and distributed under the Apache 2.0 and MIT licenses. Builds are available for Linux и macOSThe desktop client, web interface, and console interface are also being developed.
Radicle allows you to be independent of centralized platforms and corporations when developing and distributing code, since being tied to them introduces additional risks (a single point of failure, the company may close or change its operating conditions). Radicle uses the familiar Git to manage code, expanded by means of defining repositories in a P2P network. All data is primarily saved locally (the local-first concept) and is always available on the developer's computer, regardless of the state of the network connection.
Contributors provide access to their code and related artifacts, such as patches and issues, which are stored locally and replicated to other interested developers' nodes connected to a common decentralized P2P network. The end result is a global decentralized Git repository, with data replicated and duplicated across contributors' systems.
The Gossip protocol is used to identify neighboring nodes in the P2P network, and the Heartwood protocol, based on Git, is used to replicate data between nodes. Since the protocol is based on Git, the platform can be easily integrated with existing Git development tools. Public-key cryptography is used to identify nodes and verify repositories, without the use of accounts.
Each repository in the P2P network has its own unique identifier and is self-certified, i.e. all actions in the repository, such as adding commits and leaving comments to an issue, are certified by the owner with a digital signature, which allows you to verify the correctness of the data on other nodes without using centralized certification authorities. To gain access to the repository, it is enough for at least one node to be online, which has a replicated copy of it.
Nodes in a P2P network can subscribe to specific repositories and receive updates. It is possible to create private repositories that are only accessible to specific nodes. The concept of "delegates" is used to manage and own a repository. A delegate can be either a single user or a bot or group, linked to a special identifier. Delegates can accept patches into the repository, close issues, and set access rights to the repository. Each repository can have multiple delegates linked to it.
On user systems, Radicle repositories are stored as regular git repositories, with additional namespaces to store data about peers and forks that are being worked on. Discussions, proposed patches, and review organization components are also stored in the git repository as Collaborative Objects (COBs) and replicated between peers.
Radicle 1.0 includes:
- Implementation of an extensible protocol for organizing the operation of a P2P network and data synchronization.
- Social interaction elements such as issues, patches and code reviews.
- A public key-based authentication and authorization protocol that operates without centralized authorities. servers.
- A CLI interface familiar to users familiar with Git.
- Web interface for navigating repositories and nodes.
- Privacy features include support for private repositories and the ability to work through the Tor anonymous network.
- Support for repeatable builds to verify that Radicle executables distributed are built from the declared source code.
Features that are not yet ready and are still in development:
- Built-in tools for continuous integration (CI) and continuous delivery (CD).
- Radicle TUI (Terminal User Interface) console interface.
- Enhanced review capabilities for changes.
- A system for receiving notifications about changes in the repository.
- Support for user profiles and the ability to link multiple devices.
- Tag support.
- Utilities for moderating and managing nodes.
- Desktop application.
Source: opennet.ru
