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authorDamir Jelić <poljar@termina.org.uk>2018-07-08 12:19:16 +0200
committerHubert Chathi <hubert@uhoreg.ca>2018-07-18 17:44:32 -0400
commite3d66733712e161d9287ea3f0116e5b57477b0d8 (patch)
tree846678302027f772f5d8e0ef30d4e0ac79a526f9 /python/README.md
parent2fccf44015dfb27865ddb50ed66afdedbd4e03e6 (diff)
python: Import improved python bindings.
This commit imports the python bindings from: https://github.com/poljar/python-olm The bindings are imported at commit c44b145818520d69eaaa350fb95afcb846125e0f Minor modifications were made while importing: - Removed travis config - Removed Arch Linux PKGBUILD - Removed the html docs, they can be rebuild by running make html in the docs folder - Slightly modified the README The new bindings feature some improvements over the old ones: - Python 2 and 3 support - Automatic memory management - Automatic memory clearing before it is freed - Type signatures via the python typing module - Full test coverage - Properties are utilized where it makes sense (e.g. account.id) Signed-off-by: Damir Jelić <poljar@termina.org.uk>
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+python-olm
+==========
+
+[![Travis Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/poljar/python-olm.svg?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.org/poljar/python-olm)
+[![Codecov Coverage Status](https://codecov.io/gh/poljar/python-olm/branch/master/graph/badge.svg)](https://codecov.io/gh/poljar/python-olm)
+
+Python bindings for Olm.
+
+The specification of the Olm cryptographic ratchet which is used for peer to
+peer sessions of this library can be found [here][4].
+
+The specification of the Megolm cryptographic ratchet which is used for group
+sessions of this library can be found [here][5].
+
+An example of the implementation of the Olm and Megolm cryptographic protocol
+can be found in the Matrix protocol for which the implementation guide can be
+found [here][6].
+
+The full API reference can be found [here][7].
+
+# Accounts
+
+Accounts create and hold the central identity of the Olm protocol, they consist of a fingerprint and identity
+key pair. They also produce one time keys that are used to start peer to peer
+encrypted communication channels.
+
+## Account Creation
+
+A new account is created with the Account class, it creates a new Olm key pair.
+The public parts of the key pair are available using the identity_keys property
+of the class.
+
+```python
+>>> alice = Account()
+>>> alice.identity_keys
+{'curve25519': '2PytGagXercwHjzQETLcMa3JOsaU2qkPIESaqoi59zE',
+ 'ed25519': 'HHpOuFYdHwoa54GxSttz9YmaTmbuVU3js92UTUjYJgM'}
+```
+
+
+## One Time keys
+
+One time keys need to be generated before people can start an encrypted peer to
+peer channel to an account.
+
+```python
+>>> alice.generate_one_time_keys(1)
+>>> alice.one_time_keys
+{'curve25519': {'AAAAAQ': 'KiHoW6CIy905UC4V1Frmwr3VW8bTWkBL4uWtWFFllxM'}}
+```
+
+After the one time keys are published they should be marked as such so they
+aren't reused.
+
+```python
+>>> alice.mark_keys_as_published()
+>>> alice.one_time_keys
+{'curve25519': {}}
+```
+
+## Pickling
+
+Accounts should be stored for later reuse, storing an account is done with the
+pickle method while the restoring step is done with the from_pickle class
+method.
+
+```python
+>>> pickle = alice.pickle()
+>>> restored = Account.from_pickle(pickle)
+```
+
+# Sessions
+
+Sessions are used to create an encrypted peer to peer communication channel
+between two accounts.
+
+## Session Creation
+```python
+>>> alice = Account()
+>>> bob = Account()
+>>> bob.generate_one_time_keys(1)
+>>> id_key = bob.identity_keys["curve25519"]
+>>> one_time = list(bob.one_time_keys["curve25519"].values())[0]
+>>> alice_session = OutboundSession(alice, id_key, one_time)
+```
+
+## Encryption
+
+After an outbound session is created an encrypted message can be exchanged:
+
+```python
+>>> message = alice_session.encrypt("It's a secret to everybody")
+>>> message.ciphertext
+'AwogkL7RoakT9gnjcZMra+y39WXKRmnxBPEaEp6OSueIA0cSIJxGpBoP8YZ+CGweXQ10LujbXMgK88
+xG/JZMQJ5ulK9ZGiC8TYrezNYr3qyIBLlecXr/9wnegvJaSFDmWDVOcf4XfyI/AwogqIZfAklRXGC5b
+ZJcZxVxQGgJ8Dz4OQII8k0Dp8msUXwQACIQvagY1dO55Qvnk5PZ2GF+wdKnvj6Zxl2g'
+>>> message.message_type
+0
+```
+
+After the message is transfered, bob can create an InboundSession to decrypt the
+message.
+
+```python
+>>> bob_session = InboundSession(bob, message)
+>>> bob_session.decrypt(message)
+"It's a secret to everybody"
+```
+
+## Pickling
+
+Sessions like accounts can be stored for later use the API is the same as for
+accounts.
+
+```python
+>>> pickle = session.pickle()
+>>> restored = Session.from_pickle(pickle)
+```
+
+# Group Sessions
+
+Group Sessions are used to create a one-to-many encrypted communication channel.
+The group session key needs to be shared with all participants that should be able
+to decrypt the group messages. Another thing to notice is that, since the group
+session key is ratcheted every time a message is encrypted, the session key should
+be shared before any messages are encrypted.
+
+## Group Session Creation
+
+Group sessions aren't bound to an account like peer-to-peer sessions so their
+creation is straightforward.
+
+```python
+>>> alice_group = OutboundGroupSession()
+>>> bob_inbound_group = InboundGroupSession(alice_group.session_key)
+```
+
+## Group Encryption
+
+Group encryption is pretty simple. The important part is to share the session
+key with all participants over a secure channel (e.g. peer-to-peer Olm
+sessions).
+
+```python
+>>> message = alice_group.encrypt("It's a secret to everybody")
+>>> bob_inbound_group.decrypt(message)
+("It's a secret to everybody", 0)
+```
+
+## Pickling
+
+Pickling works the same way as for peer-to-peer Olm sessions.
+
+```python
+>>> pickle = session.pickle()
+>>> restored = InboundGroupSession.from_pickle(pickle)
+```
+[1]: https://git.matrix.org/git/olm/about/
+[2]: https://git.matrix.org/git/olm/tree/python?id=f8c61b8f8432d0b0b38d57f513c5048fb42f22ab
+[3]: https://cffi.readthedocs.io/en/latest/
+[4]: https://git.matrix.org/git/olm/about/docs/olm.rst
+[5]: https://git.matrix.org/git/olm/about/docs/megolm.rst
+[6]: https://matrix.org/docs/guides/e2e_implementation.html
+[7]: https://poljar.github.io/python-olm/html/index.html