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Background reading: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conflict-free_replicated_data_type][CRDT]]
This packages implements the Logoot split algorithm
~André, Luc, et al. "Supporting adaptable granularity of changes for massive-scale collaborative editing." 9th IEEE International Conference on Collaborative Computing: Networking, Applications and Worksharing. IEEE, 2013.~
The CRDT-ID blocks are implemented by text property ='crdt-id=. A continous range of text with the same ='crdt-id'= property represent a CRDT-ID block. The ='crdt-id= is a a cons of =(ID-STRING . END-OF-BLOCK-P)=, where
=ID-STRING= represent the CRDT-ID of the leftmost character in the block. If =END-OF-BLOCK-P= is =NIL=, the block is a non-rightmost segment splitted from a larger block, so insertion at the right of this block shouldn't be merged into the block by sharing the base CRDT-ID and increasing offset.
=ID-STRING= is a unibyte string representing a CRDT-ID (for efficient comparison).
Every two bytes represent a big endian encoded integer.
For base IDs, last two bytes are always representing site ID.
Stored strings are BASE-ID:OFFSETs. So the last two bytes represent offset,
and second last two bytes represent site ID.
* Protocol
Text-based version
(it should be easy to migrate to a binary version. Using text for better debugging for now)
Every message takes the form =(type . body)=
type can be: insert delete cursor hello challenge sync desync overlay-(add,move,put,remove)
body takes the form =(buffer-name crdt-id position-hint content)=
- =position-hint= is the buffer position where the operation happens at the site
which generates the operation. Then we can play the trick that start search
near this position at other sites to speedup CRDT ID search
- =content= is the string to be inserted
body takes the form =(buffer-name position-hint (crdt-id . length)*)=
=(buffer-name site-id point-position-hint point-crdt-id mark-position-hint mark-crdt-id)=
=*-crdt-id= can be either a CRDT ID, or
- =nil=, which means clear the point/mark
- =""=, which means =(point-max)=
body takes the form
=(site-id name address port)=
when name is =nil=, clear the contact for this =site-id=
This message is sent from client to server, when a client connect to the server.
body takes the form =(client-name &optional response)=
- leave ::
This message is sometime sent from client to server to indicate disconnection,
if the underlying proxy doesn't handle it properly.
body takes the form =()=
It's always sent after server receives a hello message.
Assigns an ID to the client
body takes the form =(site-id session-name)=.
This message is sent from server to client to get it sync to the state on the server.
Might be used for error recovery or other optimization in the future.
One optimization I have in mind is let server try to merge all CRDT item into a single
one and try to synchronize this state to clients at best effort.
body takes the form =(buffer-name . crdt-id-list)=
- =crdt-id-list= is generated from =CRDT--DUMP-IDS=
- ready ::
body takes the form =(buffer-name major-mode-symbol)=
Indicates the end of a batch of synchronization messages
(which usually contains some =cursor= messages, a =sync= message,
and some =overlay-*= messages).
The client should now try to enable =major-mode-symbol= in the
synchronized buffer.
- add ::
Indicates that the server has started sharing some buffers.
body takes the form =buffer-name-list=
- remove ::
Indicates that the server has stopped sharing some buffers.
body takes the form =buffer-name-list=
body takes the form
#+BEGIN_SRC
(buffer-name site-id logical-clock species
front-advance rear-advance
start-position-hint start-crdt-id
end-position-hint end-crdt-id)
#+END_SRC
body takes the form
#+BEGIN_SRC
(buffer-name site-id logical-clock
start-position-hint start-crdt-id
end-position-hint end-crdt-id)
#+END_SRC
body takes the form =(buffer-name site-id logical-clock prop value)=
body takes the form =(buffer-name site-id logical-clock)=
- process ::
body takes the form =(buffer-name string)=
Sent from client to server, request sending =string=
to the process buffer associated to =buffer-name=.
* Emacs as a collaborative operating system
The goal: With a few annotations, developer should be able to make any Emacs application
collaboration-powered. Emacs should be one of the most powerful collaboration platforms.
How: There're plenty of Emacs applications centered around the buffer and buffer-local-variables.
By implementing synchronization primitives for all components in a buffer,
pretty much everything can be made collaborative.
Synchronize arbitrary buffer-local-variable reasonably is hard, but user annotations can help.
** TODO list
- [X] synchronize buffer text (insert/delete)
- [X] synchronize overlays
- [-] synchronize major/minor modes
+ [X] initial synchronization of major modes
+ [ ] toggle minor modes on the fly
+ [ ] change major modes on the fly
- [ ] set of synchronization primitives for buffer local variables
+ [ ] server dictated
+ [ ] a library of CRDTs
- [ ] synchronize text properties (any use case for this?)
- [ ] synchronize markers (any use case for this?)