--- layout: post title: Overview and Logs for the Dev Meeting Held on 2019-07-28 summary: Development status, Code & ticket discussion, Moving off GitHub, and miscellaneous tags: [dev diaries, core, crypto] author: el00ruobuob / rehrar --- # Logs **\<rehrar>** Alright, it's time to start ladies and gentlemen. **\<rehrar>** 1. Greetings **\<rehrar>** Anybody out there? **\<rbrunner>** Nope. All people on holiday. **\<rbrunner>** **\<vtnerd\_\_>** yes **\<rehrar>** well, the three of us can have a grant ol time then **\<rehrar>** just pinging hyc moneromooo dsc\_ selsta and dEBRUYNE also **\<rehrar>** maybe a luigi1111 and fluffypony in the mix too, who knows **\<rehrar>** either way **\<rehrar>** 2. What's been completed since last meeting? **\<dsc\_>** dont ping me broooo **\<rehrar>** \_csd **\<rehrar>** there, I took it back **\<dEBRUYNE>** CLI v0.14.1.2 has been released **\<dEBRUYNE>** Which is mostly bug fixes I guess **\<dEBRUYNE>** mooo is holding a vacation, but he provided me a list of stuff that is ready to be merged **\<dEBRUYNE>** So I am working with luigi to get the merge queue relatively empty **\<kinghat>** 🙏 **\<rehrar>** ah, did not know mooo was on vacation **\<rehrar>** I hope he ignores my ping then. Sorry! **\<dEBRUYNE>** For the GUI, we tagged 0.14.1.2 and we're waiting on pony to finish the builds **\<dsc\_>** I'm more than half way into integrating i2p-zero and tor into GUI **\<dEBRUYNE>** Main new feature is optimized Tails support **\<dEBRUYNE>** Perhaps dsc\_ can share a bit more detail **\<dsc\_>** Sure thing. **\<rehrar>** dsc\_: that's actually super exciting **\<dsc\_>** So Tails integration is a collection of improvements that improve user experience for our Tails users **\<dsc\_>** You would be suprised how big the audience is there **\<dsc\_>** So, starting from 0.14.1.2 it will be very easy to use GUI on Tails **\<dsc\_>** As for i2p-zero, I need a couple of days then that's done too **\<dsc\_>** I suggest to package i2p-zero with the GUI release **\<dsc\_>** Which can pose problems for our reproducible build efforts **\<dEBRUYNE>** I don't see much harm in packaging it with the GUI, especially if the user first has to check a checkbox to turn it on **\<dsc\_>** but that's a problem for later **\<dsc\_>** That also **\<rbrunner>** Shouldn't the CLI pack it also then? **\<dEBRUYNE>** I think most CLI users are able to download the package themselves **\<dEBRUYNE>** And get it running (especially given the instructions present on Github) **\<dEBRUYNE>** By contrast, GUI users need a checkbox and not tons of steps **\<rbrunner>** Ok, makes sense, more or less ... **\<dsc\_>** The fact we package i2p-zero is a convienence feature. I'm also 'integrating' support for Tor but we wont be packaging that. That's basically running Tor and using socks proxy at :9050 **\<rehrar>** we GUI people are scrubs **\<xmrmatterbridge> \<xmr-romine>** is there already some doc about running monerod over tor ? **\<dsc\_>** https://github.com/monero-project/monero/blob/master/ANONYMITY\_NETWORKS.md **\<dEBRUYNE>** https://github.com/monero-project/monero/blob/master/ANONYMITY\_NETWORKS.md & https://github.com/monero-project/monero#using-tor **\<xmrmatterbridge> \<xmr-romine>** thanks guys **\<rehrar>** hyc any update on randomx audit? **\<rehrar>** The last one? **\<dsc\_>** One more thing regarding i2p-zero.. It can take up to 1-2 minute(s) for the local socks proxy to become 'active' which means, if the user has i2p-zero enabled and starts up the GUI to create a quick tx ... might have to wait a minute or two **\<dsc\_>** This is related to how i2p-zero works **\<dsc\_>** so beware of that limitation **\<rbrunner>** So it's i2p-two, from "two minutes"? **\<kinghat>** can it check if i2p is currently running? **\<dsc\_>** rbrunner: haha **\<rehrar>** it's how i2p works in general, no? Getting bootstrapped into the network, I mean. **\<dsc\_>** rehrar: most likely **\<dsc\_>** kinghat: it can **\<rehrar>** under bad circumstances it can take even longer **\<rehrar>** I wonder if there can be some kind of notification to let users know this **\<vtnerd\_\_>** tor should have similar issue iirc, building circuits isn't immediate **\<kinghat>** also, are we still going to do the beta builds for the gui? **\<dsc\_>** vtnerd\_\_: Sure, but not 1-2 minutes? **\<dsc\_>** kinghat: yes **\<kinghat>** 👌 **\<vtnerd\_\_>** I think it might be longer than that, at least it seemed like forever yesterday when I was testing **\<vtnerd\_\_>** actually no, I've run tails once before, it takes some amount of minutes, just don't remember the exact time frame **\<dsc\_>** vtnerd\_\_: **\<dsc\_>** $ time (sudo service tor restart && sleep 2 && torify curl icanhazip.com) **\<dsc\_>** 171.25.193.77 **\<dsc\_>** real0m2.759s **\<vtnerd\_\_>** if your not using outbound connections tor destroys the circuits and goes into an idle mode too, which isn't a problem if "noise" is enabled (because its always sending) **\<rehrar>** there goes dsc\_ bragging about his internet again **\<dsc\_>** yes, my internet. **\<vtnerd\_\_>** it keeps state in a file that it might re-use, so you'd have to a cold restart **\<dsc\_>** vtnerd\_\_: fair enough **\<rehrar>** alright, anything else? **\<dEBRUYNE>** vtnerd\_\_: I was wondering if you intend to pick this up somewhere in the future? https://github.com/monero-project/monero/pull/2317 **\<vtnerd\_\_>** see https://github.com/monero-project/supercop/pull/2 **\<vtnerd\_\_>** this one and the next one after that PR is a bit rough because its x86 ASM **\<rehrar>** that was a hilarious conversation to witness **\<rehrar>** person 1: i was wondering if git link **\<rehrar>** person 2: Well you see it's like git link **\<dEBRUYNE>** Thanks **\<vtnerd\_\_>** Im also not certain that having a separate repo for this is beneficial, but I guess some other project could make use of the custom hooks **\<vtnerd\_\_>** my original code should need some re-working since the device/ledger stuff got slammed in, but I look at recently and I think its possible to rebase/update that without crying **\<vtnerd\_\_>** Im also not certain whether that supercop repo should be an external git thing, or something that you manually have to do **\<vtnerd\_\_>** I'm thinking the latter, since people are blasted without another submodule **\<vtnerd\_\_>** \*are not **\<dEBRUYNE>** I see, seems like a thing that warrants more in depth discussion in a future dev meeting **\<rehrar>** With more attendees? **\<rehrar>** serious question **\<rbrunner>** And maybe some more background info to prepare **\<rehrar>** who should be present for such a discussion? **\<rehrar>** we can add it to next meeting as an item and try to ping the people to be there **\<vtnerd\_\_>** the background is either the supercop code goes as a submodule and it must be synced by every person **\<vtnerd\_\_>** or only those that which to accelerate wallet scanning drop the repo into a folder and toggle a cmake bit **\<rbrunner>** So that's not something for the normal, general release then? **\<vtnerd\_\_>** its not needed for testing, unless you need to test the feature specifically **\<vtnerd\_\_>** no, likely it would be in the normal general release, but I suppose it doesn't have to be **\<vtnerd\_\_>** this came up because ryo recently added support for basically the same thing, and it should cut wallet-scanning time in half **\<vtnerd\_\_>** although its probably dependent on your HD speeds too **\<rehrar>** alright, any more discussion on this? **\<hyc>** re: randomx audit, Quarkslab are finalizing their report, said we may get it by middle of next week **\<rehrar>** nice! **\<rehrar>** does anyone have anything else that they want to discuss? **\<hyc>** since they've been opening github issues as they arose, there's not likely to be anything in the report we haven't already seen **\<ErCiccione>** yep! https://github.com/monero-project/meta/issues/236#issuecomment-515669422 **\<ErCiccione>** GitHub is starting to censor people coming from countries under US sanctions, we should definitely migrate away **\<ErCiccione>** i don't know how the core team feel about it **\<rehrar>** do people here have any thoughts about the Github/Gitlab thing, especially in light of the recent Github things? **\<vtnerd\_\_>** those countries listed probably require some vpn/tor/i2p opsec to contribute anyway ... ? I'm certainly not attempting to stop a switch to a self-hosted gitlab, but meh **\<rbrunner>** If such a switch was so easy it would probably have happened already, I think, after the Microsoft acquisition ... **\<vtnerd\_\_>** or maybe not, but they would have to after that hammer that was thrown **\<rbrunner>** With all submodules still on GitHub, for example **\<vtnerd\_\_>** the support team for the gitlab instance are probably the most relevant for this **\<ErCiccione>** rbrunner: the point was to test monero-site on the self-hosted gitlab first, and then see what to do with the other repos. But has been almost an year now **\<hyc>** I've always favored moving to self-hosted gitlab and away from github **\<rbrunner>** Yeah, I remember. But I think the site is a particularly simple case **\<vtnerd\_\_>** I mean most devs should have a copy of the code and history luckily, but its the discussions that can get purged if not backed up properly **\<hyc>** but this particular issue only affected private, paid github accts **\<hyc>** (i.e., github closing off accts from sanctioned countries) **\<ErCiccione>** hyc: i guess that depends by how they are forced to enforce the sanctions **\<hyc>** https://twitter.com/natfriedman/status/1155533738278699008 **\<hyc>** https://twitter.com/natfriedman/status/1155311121038864384 **\<hyc>** they're splitting some hairs I guess. trade sanctions only affect commerce. if you paid for a private acct, you're affected. **\<rbrunner>** Has any other notable cryptocurrency team already made such a switch? **\<hyc>** if you're on a public/free acct, you're not affected **\<rehrar>** rbrunner: define notable? **\<rbrunner>** I mean, some "interesting" team. Top 100 coin, maybe? Sizeable community, I mean **\<ErCiccione>** thanks for the links. it's still a very precarious situation. **\<ErCiccione>** rbrunner: sia **\<rbrunner>** And complexity of the code **\<hyc>** ErCiccione: agreed. as I already said, I'm in favor of moving off. **\<kinghat>** i think ppl are worried about contributions after moving off github. i dont think it would make a difference. **\<hyc>** again, just my perspective: the OpenLDAP Project maintains our own repo. we only mirror to github, because it seems you're not a real project these days if you're not on github **\<hyc>** out github mirror is read-only **\<hyc>** our\* **\<ErCiccione>** kinghat: i agree. **\<dsc\_>** I keep repeating myself but I question people whose first thought is 'gitlab' when thinking of a git alternative **\<dsc\_>** There is more! Noooo.. Yes!! **\<dsc\_>** Consider it... **\<hyc>** gitea? **\<dsc\_>** for example, yep **\<hyc>** I don't really care which alternative is used. all I care is self-hosted. **\<ErCiccione>** iirc gitea was considered **\<hyc>** you could make an argument that being off github adds a barrier to entry - people don't like having to create accounts just to interact with another project **\<rehrar>** In favor of gitea **\<dsc\_>** Even more so when considered gitlab is a company, enterprise, they have funding, maybe they have shareholders - and capitalism is evil. Therefor, gitea **\<rehrar>** hyc which is why I am arguing for a federated git ecosystem **\<rehrar>** open issues on another git based project management site from yours, etc **\<ErCiccione>** let's not forget that we already have half repos on github and half on gitlab. That's not ideal **\<hyc>** rehrar: agree, federated identity would be preferable **\<rehrar>** let's build it **\<rehrar>** we can have it out by Wednesday at the latest **\<hyc>** +1 **\<dsc\_>** ok sounds good **\<ErCiccione>** i want 2 **\<rehrar>** that'll take an extra day **\<hyc>** this could be a long conversation, but totally - we need to rethink the notion of accounts and identities **\<rehrar>** But for reals though this is an ongoing discussion and... **\<rehrar>** ^ hyc **\<rehrar>** we have the issue open about this that ErCiccione **\<rehrar>** although that one is about moving to gitlab, I think **\<rehrar>** so maybe another one can be opened for discussion on which platform? **\<dsc\_>** +1 for centralized authentication service **\<dsc\_>** (hosted by monero) **\<rbrunner>** Oh the added complexity **\<dsc\_>** rbrunner: for whom? **\<rbrunner>** The system in general, I mean. **\<dsc\_>** It could simplify things **\<hyc>** not quite centralized authent. just public key based. **\<rbrunner>** Something more that can go wrong **\<ErCiccione>** rehrar it is yes, as hyc says for me the important is to move away from a centralized place. I think gitlab is the best choice because we have been testing it for an year, but sure let's discuss alternatives **\<hyc>** we could use monero wallet addresses as our identities **\<rehrar>** hyc I've been thinking of using Monero signatures as password alternatives **\<dsc\_>** thats a cool idea **\<rehrar>** public key as ID **\<rehrar>** signature from private key as password **\<kinghat>** does that work with subaddys or am i missing something? **\<rehrar>** but then losing your seed is even a bigger deal **\<rehrar>** or getting it stolen **\<hyc>** good point **\<rehrar>** as long as there are standard ways of resetting or something **\<rehrar>** it's no more annoying than losing or getting your regular password stolen **\<hyc>** having a reset facility implies a centralized admin authority **\<dsc\_>** Call the Monero helpdesk and provide them your miaden name, your first car brand and your date of birth **\<hyc>** ^ **\<rehrar>** enforced 2/3 MFA then **\<hyc>** should we wrap up the mtg before continiung this conv? **\<rehrar>** but yeah, we'll call it here **\<rehrar>** unless anyone has any last minute things? **\<vtnerd\_\_>** I hope to finally issuing some PRs related to the i2p/tor white noise stuff, took some time to architect this bt hopefully. nothing else needs to be reported by that really other than look for more stuff to review **\<rehrar>** cool deal! **\<rehrar>** well everyone, thanks for making the time today. **\<rehrar>** You're all free to disperse. Coffee on the little table outside the meeting room.