This is GSOC propsal for Libreswan Org, please comment the suggestions to this Gist.

GSOC_PROPOSAL_LIBRESWAN.md

Candidate Introduction

• OM PARIKH
• Sophomore, Part-time blockchain Layer 2 scaling intern @ Matic
• Member @ Appwrite, contributed to 10+ OSS projects
• Github Stackoverflow Ethereum-StackExchange LinkedIn

Task Statement

• Implement ipsec add command to make it easier to add connections

Task Analysis

• This requires experience with python3, bash, conf files and Makefile
• ipsec add <args> is intended to generate config file from the arguments provided via CLI and hence making the software more user-friendly
• After successful implementation, it should be able to parse all args which are part of config file as per docs, write them in a config file section-wise and include the generated file into main(default, ipsec.conf) config file.

What I have done so far

• Read the General documentation and Developer documentation
• set up dev env on Linux machine
• Tried several client and server configurations using amazon EC2 for VPN
• Subscribed to mailing and joined IRC community
• Walked through the libreswan codebase and tried to understand architecture
• Studied the previous pull request and open issues, especially ones closely related to the task statement

Task Breakdown

• building the core scripts for CLI parsing and creating config file
• adding tests and steps for CI/CD pipeline
• writing extensive documentation

1. Writting Core Program module

• from what i understand, all CLI commands scripts are place under programs/ folder
• Each subcommand has atleast 3 files in their subdirectory, .in file which deals with all parsing, XML file/s dealing with metadata and docs realated stuff and Makefile.
• I will use python for writing core logic and have studied the past PRs implementing the similiar functionality
• For parsing the arguments passed via CLI, i will use argparse and OS module.
• After parsing the relevant flags and validating the arguments, A dict with key as section name will have dict as object, having key value pairs parsed from args. For example,

  {
      "mytunnel" : {
          "leftid": "@west",
          "left": "192.1.2.23",
          "leftrsasigkey": "0sAwEAAb42X0gw....."
          "rightrsasigkey": "0sAwEAAesFfVZqFzRA9F...","
          "authby": "rsasig",
          "auto": "add"
      }
  }
  

  so that, it will be easier to write .conf file and do the necessary testing.\
• Make provision for default values if arguments are not provided
• For writing the .conf file from dict object, I think it would be better to make a new file such as /etc/generated.conf and include it into ipsec.conf. There are multiple choices available for writing the object as specificed ipsec format in docs, plain-text string formatting, ipsecparse if use of external libs are permitted and ConfigParse's write method (will require some research to modify default writing format).
• Expeceted time : 70 hours (+/- 10 hours) for a beta working version, before first evalutation

2. Writing the documentation

• As this utility is aimed at users not wanting to write .conf, i will provide very clear documentation with examples, defaults values, and advance usage (incase somebody wants to modify the behaviour)
• It will include modifications under docs/ and adding XML file
• Expected time: 35 hours (+/- 5 hours)

3. Extensive testing and inclusion in CI

• This will go under programs/testing (and maybe some more directories which i am unaware of currently)
• I will get more familiar with how testing works in libreswan and add the required test cases including empty input test, proper error ouptupt, edge cases covering, etc.
• After finishing writing tests, make necessary changes to docker environment if needed and include it in the CI pipeline
• Expected time: 40 hours (+/- 7 hours)

Community Bonding

• Get more familiar with CI and testing guidelines
• Discuss about the default values of the arguments if not passed and other implementation specific details
• Get more comfortable with codebase and differnt entry points of execution

Others

• I will be able to devote 45+ hours a week at minimum
• After finishing primary task, i can work pending issues with elliptic-curve encyption, arch linux and debian packaging, more test coverage, etc.
• It would be also good to add ipsec remove <args> command