Johnathan Corgan
58664c7c77
Bump rand (0.8→0.10), rtnetlink (0.14→0.20), tun (0.7→0.8), simple-dns (0.9→0.11), socket2 (0.5→0.6), and criterion (0.5→0.8). Migrate all rand call sites: thread_rng()→rng(), gen()→random(), gen_range()→random_range(), RngCore→Rng trait. Work around secp256k1 0.30 requiring rand 0.8 by generating random bytes directly and constructing SecretKey from slice. Migrate rtnetlink to builder-based API: LinkSetRequest replaced with LinkUnspec builder + change(), RouteAddRequest replaced with RouteMessageBuilder. Remove bloom benchmark (criterion 0.8 incompatible with old harness config).
FIPS: Free Internetworking Peering System
A distributed, decentralized network routing protocol for mesh nodes connecting over arbitrary transports.
Status: Experimental / Pre-release
FIPS is under active development. The protocol and APIs are not stable. Expect breaking changes.
Overview
FIPS is a self-organizing mesh network that operates natively over a variety of physical and logical media — local area networks, Bluetooth, serial links, radio, or the existing internet as an overlay. Nodes generate their own identities, discover each other, and route traffic without any central authority or global topology knowledge.
FIPS uses Nostr keypairs (secp256k1/schnorr) as native node identities, making every Nostr user a potential network participant. Nodes address each other by npub, and the same cryptographic identity used in the Nostr ecosystem serves as both the routing address and the basis for end-to-end encrypted sessions across the mesh.
Features
- Self-organizing mesh routing — spanning tree coordinates and bloom filter candidate selection, no global routing tables
- Multi-transport — UDP/IP overlay today; designed for Ethernet, Bluetooth, serial, radio, and Tor
- Noise encryption — hop-by-hop link encryption plus independent end-to-end session encryption
- Nostr-native identity — secp256k1 keypairs as node addresses, no registration or central authority
- IPv6 adaptation — TUN interface maps npubs to fd00::/8 addresses for unmodified IP applications
- Metrics Measurement Protocol — per-link RTT, loss, jitter, and goodput measurement
- Operator visibility —
fipsctlcontrol socket interface for runtime inspection of peers, links, sessions, tree state, and metrics - Zero configuration — sensible defaults; a node can run with no config file
Quick Start
Requirements
- Rust 1.85+ (edition 2024)
- Linux (TUN interface requires
CAP_NET_ADMINor root)
Build
git clone https://github.com/jmcorgan/fips.git
cd fips
cargo build --release
Run
# With default configuration (ephemeral identity, default ports):
sudo ./target/release/fips
# With a configuration file:
sudo ./target/release/fips -c fips.yaml
See docs/design/fips-configuration.md for the full configuration reference.
Inspect
While a node is running, use fipsctl to inspect its state:
fipsctl show status # Node status overview
fipsctl show peers # Authenticated peers
fipsctl show links # Active links
fipsctl show tree # Spanning tree state
fipsctl show sessions # End-to-end sessions
fipsctl show bloom # Bloom filter state
fipsctl show mmp # MMP metrics summary
fipsctl show cache # Coordinate cache stats
fipsctl show connections # Pending handshake connections
fipsctl show transports # Transport instances
fipsctl show routing # Routing table summary
fipsctl communicates with the node via a Unix domain control socket
(enabled by default). All queries are read-only. Use -s <path> to
override the socket path.
Multi-node Testing
See testing/ for Docker-based integration test harnesses including static topology tests and stochastic chaos simulation.
Documentation
Protocol design documentation is in docs/design/, organized as a layered protocol specification. Start with fips-intro.md for the full protocol overview.
Project Structure
src/ Rust source (library + fips/fipsctl binaries)
docs/design/ Protocol design specifications
testing/ Docker-based integration test harnesses
benches/ Criterion benchmarks
License
MIT — see LICENSE.