Changes to PORTABLE_STORAGE.md
* More information about array entries (especially nesting) * Varint encoding examples * Expanded string and integer encoding information
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@ -15,15 +15,19 @@ documentation. Unfortunately, whilst the rest of the library is fairly
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straightforward to decipher, the Portable Storage is less-so. Hence this
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straightforward to decipher, the Portable Storage is less-so. Hence this
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document.
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document.
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## Preliminaries
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## String and Integer Encoding
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### String and integer encoding
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### Integers
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#### varint
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With few exceptions, integers serialized in epee portable storage format are serialized
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as little-endian.
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Varints are used to pack integers in an portable and space optimized way. The
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### Varints
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lowest 2 bits store the amount of bytes required, which means the largest value
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integer that can be packed into 1 byte is 63 (6 bits).
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Varints are used to pack integers in an portable and space optimized way. Varints are stored as little-endian integers, with the lowest 2 bits storing the amount of bytes required, which means the largest value integer that can be packed into 1 byte is 63
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(6 bits).
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#### Byte Sizes
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| Lowest 2 bits | Size value | Value range |
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| Lowest 2 bits | Size value | Value range |
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|---------------|---------------|-----------------------------------|
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|---------------|---------------|-----------------------------------|
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@ -32,20 +36,47 @@ integer that can be packed into 1 byte is 63 (6 bits).
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| b10 | 4 bytes | 16384 to 1073741823 |
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| b10 | 4 bytes | 16384 to 1073741823 |
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| b11 | 8 bytes | 1073741824 to 4611686018427387903 |
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| b11 | 8 bytes | 1073741824 to 4611686018427387903 |
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#### string
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#### Represenations of Example Values
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| Value | Byte Representation (hex) |
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|----------------------|---------------------------|
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| 0 | 00 |
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| 7 | 1c |
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| 101 | 95 01 |
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| 17,000 | A2 09 01 00 |
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| 7,942,319,744 | 03 BA 98 65 07 00 00 00 |
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These are simply length (varint) prefixed char strings.
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### Strings
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## Packet format
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These are simply length (varint) prefixed char strings without a null
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terminator (though one can always add one if desired). There is no
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specific encoding enforced, and in fact, many times binary blobs are
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stored as these strings. This type should not be confused with the keys
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in sections, as those are restricted to a maximum length of 255 and
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do not use varints to encode the length.
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"Howdy" => 14 48 6F 77 64 79
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### Section Keys
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These are similar to strings except that they are length limited to 255
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bytes, and use a single byte at the front of the string to describe the
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length (as opposed to a varint).
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"Howdy" => 05 48 6F 77 64 79
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## Binary Format Specification
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### Header
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### Header
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A packet starts with a header:
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The format must always start with the following header:
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| Header | Type | Value |
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| Field | Type | Value |
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|---------------|-----------|-----------------------|
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|------------------|----------|------------|
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| Signature | 8 bytes | 0x0111010101010201| |
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| Signature Part A | UInt32 | 0x01011101 |
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| Version | byte | 0x01 |
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| Signature Part B | UInt32 | 0x01020101 |
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| Version | UInt8 | 0x01 |
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In total, the 9 byte header will look like this (in hex): `01 11 01 01 01 01 02 01 01`
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### Section
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### Section
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@ -63,18 +94,12 @@ Which is followed by the section's name-value [entries](#Entry) sequentially:
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| Entry | Type |
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| Entry | Type |
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|-------------------|-----------------------|
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|-------------------|-----------------------|
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| Name | string<sup>1</sup> |
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| Name | section key |
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| Type | byte |
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| Type | byte |
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| Count<sup>2</sup> | varint |
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| Count<sup>1</sup> | varint |
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| Value(s) | (type dependant data) |
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| Value(s) | (type dependant data) |
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<sup>1</sup> Note, this is only present if the entry type has the array flag
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<sup>1</sup> Note, the string used for the entry name is not prefixed with a
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varint, it is prefixed with a single byte to specify the length of the name.
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This means an entry name cannot be more that 255 chars, which seems a reasonable
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restriction.
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<sup>2</sup> Note, this is only present if the entry type has the array flag
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(see below).
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(see below).
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#### Entry types
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#### Entry types
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@ -90,7 +115,7 @@ The types defined are:
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#define SERIALIZE_TYPE_UINT32 6
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#define SERIALIZE_TYPE_UINT32 6
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#define SERIALIZE_TYPE_UINT16 7
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#define SERIALIZE_TYPE_UINT16 7
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#define SERIALIZE_TYPE_UINT8 8
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#define SERIALIZE_TYPE_UINT8 8
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#define SERIALIZE_TYPE_DUOBLE 9
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#define SERIALIZE_TYPE_DOUBLE 9
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#define SERIALIZE_TYPE_STRING 10
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#define SERIALIZE_TYPE_STRING 10
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#define SERIALIZE_TYPE_BOOL 11
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#define SERIALIZE_TYPE_BOOL 11
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#define SERIALIZE_TYPE_OBJECT 12
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#define SERIALIZE_TYPE_OBJECT 12
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@ -103,11 +128,14 @@ The entry type can be bitwise OR'ed with a flag:
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#define SERIALIZE_FLAG_ARRAY 0x80
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#define SERIALIZE_FLAG_ARRAY 0x80
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```
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```
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This signals there are multiple *values* for the entry. When we are dealing with
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This signals there are multiple *values* for the entry. Since only one bit is
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an array, the next value is a varint specifying the array length followed by
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reserved for specifying an array, we can not directly represent nested arrays.
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the array item values. For example:
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However, you can place each of the inner arrays inside of a section, and make
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the outer array type `SERIALIZE_TYPE_OBJECT | SERIALIZE_FLAG_ARRAY`. Immediately following the type code byte is a varint specifying the length of the array.
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Finally, the all the elements are serialized in sequence with no padding and
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without any type information. For example:
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<p style="padding-left:1em; font:italic larger serif">name, type, count,
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<p style="padding-left:1em; font:italic larger serif">type, count,
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value<sub>1</sub>, value<sub>2</sub>,..., value<sub>n</sub></p>
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value<sub>1</sub>, value<sub>2</sub>,..., value<sub>n</sub></p>
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#### Entry values
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#### Entry values
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@ -123,18 +151,32 @@ Note, I have not yet seen the type `SERIALIZE_TYPE_ARRAY` in use. My assumption
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is this would be used for *untyped* arrays and so subsequent entries could be of
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is this would be used for *untyped* arrays and so subsequent entries could be of
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any type.
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any type.
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### Overall example
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Let's put it all together and see what an entire object would look like serialized. To represent our data, let's create a JSON object (since it's a format
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that most will be familiar with):
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```json
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{
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"short_quote": "Give me liberty or give me death!",
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"long_quote": "Monero is more than just a technology. It's also what the technology stands for.",
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"signed_32bit_int": 20140418,
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"array_of_bools": [true, false, true, true],
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"nested_section": {
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"double": -6.9,
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"unsigned_64bit_int": 11111111111111111111
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}
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}
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```
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This would translate to:
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![Epee binary storage format example](/docs/images/storage_binary_example.png)
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## Monero specifics
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## Monero specifics
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### Entry values
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### Entry values
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#### Strings
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These are prefixed with a varint to specify the string length.
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#### Integers
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These are stored little endian byte order.
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#### Hashes, Keys, Blobs
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#### Hashes, Keys, Blobs
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These are stored as strings, `SERIALIZE_TYPE_STRING`.
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These are stored as strings, `SERIALIZE_TYPE_STRING`.
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