Plasma

Plasma is a system for platform- and language-independent data encapsulation and distributed, multipoint transmission. Its principal implementations are in C and C++, though 'bindings' exist for (at least) Java, Python, Javascript, Clojure (sort of), and Guile (mm!).

Arbitrarily complex -- in the senses of aggregation and nesting -- data structures are represented by objects called 'Slawx' (the plural of 'Slaw') and, when intended for cross-process relay, by elaborated Slawx called 'Proteins'. Slawx and Proteins are schemaless but self-describing, meaning that a recipient can interrogate any of these objects to discover its structure, the component data types at each sublocation, and of course the data itself.

A process deposits Proteins into, and retrieves Proteins from, network-soluble ring buffers called 'Pools'. Multiple processes can be simultaneously connected (via 'Hoses') to a single pool, with each both depositing and retrieving Proteins. The ordering of Proteins stored in a Pool is monotonic and immutable, such that all retrieving processes observe the same sequence. Processes most typically read from Pools in something like real time, with Proteins being retrieved immediately after being deposited; but Pools are also 'rewindable' so that, for example, a new process joining a distributed system might attach to a Pool already in use and begin reading Proteins from a time far enough in the past to be able to reconstruct system context.

The Plasma framework embodies a philosophy of system design that appeals to an endocrinology (rather than telegraphy) metaphor. The name 'Plasma' accordingly refers not to the superheated & ionized intrastellar substance but rather to the liquid medium by which biological organisms' messaging molecules are transported and diffused.

Libraries in this repository

libLoam is a library which contains basic portability and utility functions. libPlasma is the library which implements slawx and pools, and is built on top of libLoam.

Both loam and plasma consist of a core library written in C, and an optional library written in C++. The C++ library provides a C++ interface to the C library, and in some cases also adds additional functionality.

building the thing

Docker and Make Build

Platforms that can muster Docker and Make can do:

make docker-build

Once built, you can open a shell into the built image with:

make shell

This repo is mounted to /work within the shell. The plasma binaries are on the PATH (p-list, p-create, and friends).

CMake and Ninja Build

Natively building Plasma requires these dependencies:

ninja
cmake
libyaml
boost
icu4c
openssl
libavahi-client-dev (on linux)

Use your package manager (brew, apt, yum, zypper, etc) to install them.

To build on Linux/Intel MacOS, assuming you're in the same directory as this README:

mkdir build
cd build
cmake -GNinja ..
ninja

Building on Apple Silicon is a bit more complicated:

brew install ninja cmake libyaml boost icu4c openssl
export CXXFLAGS="-I/opt/homebrew/opt/openssl@3/include -I/opt/homebrew/opt/icu4c/include"
export CFLAGS="-I/opt/homebrew/opt/openssl@3/include -I/opt/homebrew/opt/icu4c/include"
export LDFLAGS="-L/opt/homebrew/opt/openssl@3/lib -L/opt/homebrew/opt/icu4c/lib -L/opt/homebrew/lib"
mkdir build
cd build
cmake -GNinja ..
ninja

... aaaaaand it gets even worse, with versions of OSX (yeah, that's what this sentence calls it) at 13.6 or later, or with the M2 chip, or both, or something. Anyway, somewhere along the way homebrew starts putting yaml in a different place, requiring the further enbloatening of the compile (but not link) environment variables with -I/opt/homebrew/opt/libyaml/include -- that is, replace the first two in the sequence above with the following:

export CXXFLAGS="-I/opt/homebrew/opt/openssl@3/include -I/opt/homebrew/opt/libyaml/include -I/opt/homebrew/opt/icu4c/include"
export CFLAGS="-I/opt/homebrew/opt/openssl@3/include -I/opt/homebrew/opt/libyaml/include -I/opt/homebrew/opt/icu4c/include"

N.B.: it's not a problem to use the two overspecified compilation flags-exports foregoing with an Apple Silicon machine for which the simpler one would suffice.

Installing

If you wish to install Plasma, you can specify the target install path with CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX, as well as CMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR. To install to the directory /opt/plasma, follow these steps: