The tick arm runs twenty-six housekeeping steps in sequence on the one
runtime thread, and is polled last, so anything slow in it holds up
inbound packets, TUN traffic and control commands behind it. Field
evidence says that happens for over a second at a time, but the
attribution behind that is two months old and predates the
connect-on-send gate, the control read isolation, and the peer lifecycle
rework. This measures it rather than continuing to reason about it.
Per step it records exact count, max and total into fixed static
counters; a dedicated writer thread drains them every ten seconds to a
TSV under /var/log/fips, one file per capture, capped at 32 MB. Nothing
accumulates: the counters are swapped to zero each interval and the
thread holds no history. Arming is `fipsctl profile tick on`, served in
the control accept task so the toggle cannot queue behind the very
behaviour it measures, and it does not survive a restart.
The whole thing is behind a Cargo feature that is off by default,
because the risk worth eliminating is the twenty-six edited call sites
in the hot loop. With the feature off the macro expands to the bare
expression, which makes the default build's neutrality something you
read off the generated code rather than something a benchmark fails to
disprove.
The measurement that matters is how late each tick is against the
deadline it was scheduled for, since the arm is polled last and that
lateness is the delay. Two earlier designs derived it from the interval
between entries and both under-reported: the schedule is fixed, so a
steady delay leaves every gap exactly one period and any gap-derived
figure reads zero under precisely the sustained overload this is meant
to find. The interval hands back its own deadline, so the delay is now a
subtraction with no model behind it, and a test drives three late ticks
at a constant gap to keep it that way.
CI gains a default-features clippy and a feature-on build and test on
both runners, closing the gap left by clippy already running with all
features.
Rename the Ethernet per-interface config flag from discovery to listen,
so the receive/transmit toggle pair reads as the symmetric announce
(transmit) / listen (receive) neighbor-beacon vocabulary. The old
discovery: key is still accepted via a serde alias, so deployed configs
load unchanged; to_yaml re-emits it under the canonical listen: name.
Marked deprecated for removal at the v2 cutover.
Updates the config field + accessor, the transport listen_enabled local,
the one struct-literal test consumer, the chaos sim config generator,
packaged fips.yaml examples, and the classified operator-facing docs
(ethernet neighbor-beacon subsystem prose; the generic Transport
discovery capability prose is left unchanged). Adds a compat parse test
asserting the legacy alias, the new key, and that deny_unknown_fields
still rejects unknown keys. Behavior-neutral.
Operator-facing IPs in user-visible configs/docs (examples, tutorials,
packaging, sidecar templates) are now the resolvable hostnames of the
public test fleet (test-us01.fips.network, etc.) so they keep working
without baking specific addresses into examples.
Doc-comment and test fixtures in src/config/transport.rs use RFC 5737
TEST-NET-2 (198.51.100.1) so they cannot accidentally point at a real
host.
Also resyncs the openwrt-ipk fips.yaml with the common reference
(merge from master) and applies the same DNS-name swap there.
The generic systemd install tarball is the catch-all install path
for systemd Linux distros that don't have a per-format package
(Fedora, RHEL/CentOS, openSUSE, Alpine, etc.). It had drifted
behind the .deb and AUR packages and was missing fips-gateway, the
mesh-interface firewall baseline, and the multi-backend DNS helper
in the shipped tarball. Bring it to parity:
- New `packaging/systemd/fips-gateway.service` (clone of the .deb
unit; ExecStart pointed at `/usr/local/bin/fips-gateway`). Not
enabled at install time; operator opt-in.
- New `packaging/systemd/fips-firewall.service` (clone of the .deb
unit; nft path unchanged at `/usr/sbin/nft`). Not enabled at
install time; operator opt-in.
- `build-tarball.sh` now bundles the `fips-gateway` binary, the two
new units, the `fips.nft` baseline conffile, and the
`fips-dns-setup` / `fips-dns-teardown` multi-backend helpers from
`packaging/common/`.
- `install.sh` now installs `fips-gateway` to `/usr/local/bin/`,
installs both new units to `/etc/systemd/system/` (without
enabling them), preserves `/etc/fips/fips.nft` on upgrade like
`fips.yaml`, and creates the `/etc/fips/fips.d/` operator drop-in
directory. Post-install messaging mentions both opt-in services.
- `uninstall.sh` stops and disables the optional services in
dependency order (firewall, gateway, dns, daemon), removes the
new unit files, and removes the gateway binary. `--purge` already
handles `/etc/fips/` removal which covers `fips.nft` and
`fips.d/`.
- `README.install.md` documents all of the above: expanded
"What Gets Installed" table, new sections covering the firewall
baseline and the LAN gateway, refreshed DNS section reflecting
the multi-backend setup helper (systemd dns-delegate /
systemd-resolved drop-in / per-link resolvectl / dnsmasq /
NetworkManager-dnsmasq), and updated Service Management.
Also fixes a latent packaging bug: `install.sh` previously
referenced `${SCRIPT_DIR}/../common/fips-dns-setup`, a path that
exists only in the source-repo layout and not in the extracted
tarball. The script now resolves the helper from the staging
directory first (the tarball case), falling back to the source-repo
relative path. Bug latent since the multi-backend DNS helpers
landed.
CHANGELOG `[Unreleased]` documents the parity bump under Changed
and the path-resolution fix under Fixed.
Closes the longest-standing parity gap for non-Debian / non-Arch
systemd Linux distros installing from the release-distribution
tarball.
Drop the `tui`, `ble`, and `gateway` cargo features and replace
them with platform cfg gates. Plain `cargo build` now produces
every subsystem appropriate for the target platform with no
feature flags required.
Motivation:
- `default = ["tui", "ble"]` broke `cargo build` on macOS and
Windows because `ble` pulled in `bluer` (BlueZ, Linux-only).
Every non-Linux packager needed `--no-default-features`.
- The feature flags on `ble` and `gateway` were redundant with
their platform-gated deps (`bluer`, `rustables`). The parallel
gating was inconsistent and error-prone.
- `tui` feature protected against a ratatui binary-size concern
that no longer applies in 2026.
Cargo.toml:
- Remove `tui`, `ble`, `gateway` features; `default = []`.
- Promote `ratatui` to a non-optional top-level dependency.
- Move `rustables` from top-level optional into the Linux
target block, non-optional.
- Split `bluer` into its own target block with
`cfg(all(target_os = "linux", not(target_env = "musl")))`
— BlueZ isn't available on musl router targets and
`libdbus-sys` doesn't cross-compile to musl without pkg-config
sysroot setup.
- Drop `required-features` from the `fipstop` and `fips-gateway`
`[[bin]]` entries.
build.rs:
- Emit a `bluer_available` custom cfg when `target_os == "linux"`
and `target_env != "musl"`, for use in place of the verbose
full predicate in source cfg gates.
Source:
- Replace every `#[cfg(feature = "gateway")]` with
`#[cfg(target_os = "linux")]`. Gateway code works on both
glibc and musl Linux (rustables is fine on musl).
- Replace every `#[cfg(feature = "ble")]` with
`#[cfg(bluer_available)]`. BLE-specific code (BluerIo module,
bluer type conversions, BLE transport instance creation,
resolve_ble_addr) is excluded on musl and non-Linux. Generic
`BleAddr`, `BleIo` trait, `MockBleIo`, and `BleTransport<I>`
still compile on all targets.
- `src/bin/fips-gateway.rs`: always compiled, but `main()` is
gated to Linux. Non-Linux stub exits 1 with a diagnostic.
Existing non-Linux packaging scripts don't ship it, so the
stub binary sits unused.
Packaging and CI:
- Drop `--features` and `--no-default-features` flags from every
packaging script and workflow. Defaults now match each
platform's capabilities.
- AUR `fips-git` automatically aligns with stable `PKGBUILD`
(both build with defaults).
Verified: `cargo build --release` with no flags produces all
four binaries on glibc Linux; all unit and integration tests
pass across Linux/macOS/Windows/OpenWrt (musl) in CI.
Replace the resolvectl-only fips-dns.service with a detection script
that configures whichever DNS resolver is available:
1. systemd dns-delegate (systemd >= 258, declarative drop-in)
2. systemd-resolved via resolvectl (most systemd distros)
3. dnsmasq (standalone)
4. NetworkManager with dnsmasq plugin
5. Warning with manual instructions if none found
Service reloads are non-fatal — config is written and the backend
is recorded even if the reload fails, preventing state file cleanup
issues under set -e.
Teardown reads the recorded backend from /run/fips/dns-backend and
reverses the configuration, or cleans up all possible backends if
the state file is missing.
Includes a Docker-based test harness (testing/dns-resolver/test.sh)
covering all five backends across Debian 12, Debian 13, Fedora,
and bare systems.
Fixes#52.
macOS platform:
- Platform-native TUN interface management with shutdown pipe
- Raw Ethernet transport with macOS socket backend (socket_macos.rs)
- EthernetTransport and TransportHandle::Ethernet ungated from Linux-only
- macOS .pkg packaging (build-pkg.sh, launchd plist, uninstall script)
- CI: macOS build and unit test jobs; x86_64 cross-compiled from
macos-latest via rustup target add x86_64-apple-darwin
Gateway feature flag:
- New opt-in `gateway` Cargo feature activates optional `rustables` dep
- `pub mod gateway` and `Config.gateway` gated behind the feature so
macOS builds never pull in Linux-only nftables bindings
- `fips-gateway` bin has `required-features = ["gateway"]`
- All Linux/OpenWrt/AUR packaging passes `--features gateway`
CI / packaging:
- package-linux, package-macos, package-openwrt now trigger on push to
master/maint/next and on pull requests; release uploads remain tag-gated
- Bloom filter routing fix: fall through to tree routing when no candidate
is strictly closer
- MMP intervals: raise MIN to 1s / MAX to 5s with 5-sample cold-start phase
- Add package-linux.yml: builds tarball and .deb for x86_64 and aarch64
on v* tag push, uploads artifacts to GitHub release with checksums
- Make build-tarball.sh target-aware: --target, --version, --arch, --no-build
- Make build-deb.sh target-aware: --target, --version, --no-build
- Configurable strip binary via STRIP env var
Add log_level field to NodeConfig (case-insensitive, default: info).
The daemon now loads config before initializing tracing so the
configured level takes effect. RUST_LOG env var still overrides if
set.
Remove hardcoded Environment=RUST_LOG=info from systemd units and
OpenWrt procd init script — these prevented config-driven log levels
from working.
BLE transport implementation using L2CAP Connection-Oriented Channels
(SeqPacket mode) via the bluer crate, behind cfg(feature = "ble").
Core transport:
- BleTransport<I> generic over BleIo trait (BluerIo prod, MockBleIo test)
- Connection pool with priority eviction (static > discovered, max 7)
- Connect-on-send via connect_inline() matching TCP behavior
- Per-connection receive loops with pool cleanup on disconnect
Discovery and probing:
- Combined scan_probe_loop using select! over scanner events and a
BinaryHeap delay queue with per-entry random jitter (0-5s) to prevent
herd effects when multiple nodes see the same beacon simultaneously
- Pre-handshake pubkey exchange ([0x00][pubkey:32]) for IK identity
- Cross-probe tie-breaker: smaller NodeAddr's outbound wins (same
convention as FMP/FSP rekey dual-initiation)
- Probed peers reported to DiscoveryBuffer; pool fills through normal
node-layer auto-connect -> send_async -> connect_inline path
Beacon management:
- Periodic advertising: 1s burst every 30s (configurable via
beacon_interval_secs / beacon_duration_secs)
- FIPS service UUID for scan filtering
Configuration (all fields optional with defaults):
- adapter, psm, mtu, max_connections, connect_timeout_ms
- advertise, scan, auto_connect, accept_connections
- beacon_interval_secs (30), beacon_duration_secs (1)
Hardware validated with two BLE nodes:
- 2048-byte MTU, ~60-160ms RTT, zero-config auto-connect
- BLE spike tool at testing/ble/ for standalone adapter validation
42 unit tests + 4 node-level integration tests, all CI-compatible
via MockBleIo (no hardware required). tokio test-util added for
time-dependent scan/probe tests.
build-tarball.sh only applied --mtime when SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH was
explicitly set, and did not sort tar entries. This produced different
tarballs across builds due to varying timestamps and filesystem
ordering. Default SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH to the git commit timestamp and
add --sort=name for deterministic output.
Pin Rust toolchain to 1.94.0 via rust-toolchain.toml for deterministic
compiler output across environments. Set SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH from git
commit timestamp in CI workflows and packaging scripts to normalize
embedded timestamps.
Make packaging archives reproducible: pass --mtime=@$SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH
to tar in .deb, .ipk, and systemd tarball builds. Normalize ownership
to root:root in systemd tarballs. Pin cargo-zigbuild to 0.19.8 for
cross-compilation stability.
Add SHA-256 hash output to CI build and OpenWrt packaging workflows
for binary verification.
Rekey dual-initiation race (FMP + FSP):
When both sides' rekey timers fire simultaneously on high-latency links
(Tor ~700ms RTT), both msg1s cross in flight before dampening can
suppress the second initiation. Each node acts as both initiator and
responder, with set_pending_session() from the responder path destroying
the initiator's in-progress state. Each side ends up with a
pending_new_session from a different Noise handshake, causing AEAD
verification failure after cutover and link death. Fix: deterministic
tie-breaker in both FMP msg1 handler and FSP SessionSetup handler
(smaller NodeAddr wins as initiator). Also guard against pending session
overwrite from retransmitted msg1s.
Parent selection SRTT gate:
Peers without MMP RTT data are excluded from parent candidacy via
has_srtt() filter, preventing freshly reconnected peers from appearing
artificially attractive. First-RTT triggers immediate parent re-eval.
The gate in evaluate_parent() skips unmeasured candidates when any peer
has cost data, but falls back to default cost 1.0 during cold start
when no peer has MMP data yet.
Auto-reconnect on all peer removal paths:
The excessive-decryption-failure and peer-restart epoch-mismatch removal
paths were missing schedule_reconnect() calls, causing auto-connect peers
to be permanently abandoned after those events.
Control socket accessibility:
Socket and parent directory chowned to root:fips with mode 0770/0750 so
group members can use fipsctl/fipstop without root.
Log level changes:
Default RUST_LOG changed to debug in systemd service files. "Unknown
session index" log reduced from debug to trace.
Add resolve_socket_addr() with IP fast path and tokio::net::lookup_host()
fallback for DNS hostnames. Peer addresses can now use hostnames like
"peer1.example.com:2121" alongside IP addresses.
UDP transport adds a per-transport DNS cache (60s TTL) to avoid
per-packet resolution. TCP resolves at connect time (one-shot).
Update design docs, config examples, and changelog to reflect hostname
support in transport addressing.
The fips-dns.service unit had three issues:
1. Wants=systemd-resolved.service caused systemd to start systemd-resolved
on systems that weren't using it, breaking existing DNS by rewriting
/etc/resolv.conf to the stub resolver at 127.0.0.53.
2. The ExecStart busy-wait loop for fips0 had no timeout, hanging forever
if fips.service failed to create the TUN device.
3. Installers unconditionally enabled fips-dns.service regardless of whether
systemd-resolved was present.
Fix by replacing Wants= with ConditionPathExists=/run/systemd/resolve (skips
cleanly if resolved isn't running), adding Requires=fips.service (won't start
without the daemon), bounding the fips0 wait loop to 30 seconds, and making
the installers conditional on systemd-resolved being active.
Add a HostMap that resolves human-readable hostnames to npubs,
enabling `gateway.fips` instead of the full `npub1...xyz.fips`.
Two sources populate the map: peer `alias` fields from the YAML
config and an operator-maintained hosts file at /etc/fips/hosts.
The DNS responder auto-reloads the hosts file on each request by
checking the file modification time, so operators can update
mappings without restarting the daemon.
- New src/upper/hosts.rs: HostMap, HostMapReloader, hostname
validation, hosts file parser with auto-reload on mtime change
- DNS resolver checks host map before falling back to direct npub
- Node uses host map for peer display names
- Default hosts file added to both .deb and tarball packaging
- 26 new tests (789 total)
Packaging directory structure:
- packaging/common/ — shared config (fips.yaml) used by all formats
- packaging/systemd/ — systemd-specific installer and service units
Systemd packaging includes:
- build-tarball.sh: builds release binaries and creates a self-contained
install tarball with stripped binaries
- fips.service: systemd unit running the daemon with security hardening
- fips-dns.service: oneshot unit configuring resolvectl to route .fips
domain queries to the FIPS DNS shim on 127.0.0.1:5354
- install.sh: deploys binaries to /usr/local/bin, installs systemd units,
creates fips group for non-root control socket access
- uninstall.sh: removes service and binaries, optional --purge for
config and identity key files
- README.install.md: installation and configuration guide
Default config enables UDP (2121), TCP inbound (8443), TUN, and DNS
resolver. Identity is ephemeral by default for privacy; operators can
uncomment persistent: true to maintain a stable npub for static peer
publishing. Ethernet transport is commented out for per-node setup.
Johnathan Corgan
Arjen
Origami74
joandJohnathan Corgan